Snowing in Leiper's Fork

Although there was snow in the forecast, Becky and I headed to church yesterday and returned home to find a light dusting of snow on the ground.  Our Sunday School Christmas Party was at 6 pm so we enjoyed a leisurely afternoon watching the "light snow" forecasted by channel 4 weather getting heavier and heavier.  Just before we left for our 30 mile trek to Mt. Pleasant for the party, I called our elder, Jimmy, who assured us that the party was still on.  We drove two miles and could not see the road so drove back home and advised our host and hostess that we would not be able to attend.  We woke up this morning to 12 degrees and between 3 and 7 inches of snow on the ground and its officially not even winter.  We haven't heard much from Al Gore since last year.  I wonder why?

Picture from our front porch

Picture taken just after we returned from our failed trek to Mount Pleasant

Our home taken early this morning

Our dog, Belle, is in the middle of the picture

A Visit from Julianna

With twelve grandchildren (the 13th due in June), it is challenging to have one on one time with each of them but in October, Becky and I had a weekend visit from our granddaugher Julianna Warren (Katie and Matthew youngest child).  We had a great time with her and were reminded how precisous and truly a blessing children are from our Lord.

Julianna helping in Nonie's garden

Julianna is so proud of what she picked that she wanted a picture.  She is definitely a little country girl.

Having fun in the hay maze at Gentry's Pumpkin Farm

Julianna and Nonie (Becky).

Panama City Beach Trip 2010

Becky and I decided to do something in 2010 that we have not done in a very long time, and that is to take a vacation by ourselves.  So,  in October we headed to the white sandy beaches of Panama City Beach, FL and spent a week of swimming, walking, reading, eating and just plain relaxing. 

Becky and I on our evening walk with our condo in the background

We really had some amazing sunsets while we were there.

Becky after eating seven pounds of shrimp at Dirty Dicks Crab Shack.  The necklace was awarded to her for this outstanding accomplishment.

Becky enjoying life

We spent a lot of our time on the balcony just looking at the gulf.  We saw dolphins every morning and several stingrays. 

Sunflower Seeds

One of many lessons from this year's garden is the lack of waste we have experienced.  The garbage disposal is hardly used because of the compost pile and the leaves and grass clippings that had been driven to the landfill are now been added to the garden.  This year the garden yielded three volunteer sunflowers and Becky decided to harvest their seeds and now we have a bag of homegrown roasted sunflower seeds for the winter.  I just love living in the country.

The Last Rodeo - Brooks and Dunn

Shortly after moving to Middle Tennessee, Becky became a country music fan.  It was an amazing transformation to watch and even included a taste for beer.  My wife has become a country girl.  Last year, when she read that Brooks and Dunn were ending their 20 year career on September 2nd with their final concert in Nashville, I purchased tickets for this historic event.   We ate dinner downtown and were in our seats by 7:30 pm.  It was a great concert and Brooks and Dunn put on quite a show.  I normally can get bored at these types of events but not this one.  They sang one hit after another for three hours and when it was over, I thought it was intermission.  Reba McEntire was their guest and with them sang Cowgirls Don't Cry and they ended the evening singing Only in America with confetti and the U.S. Marines.  It doesn't get much better. 

Road Trip to in Charlottesville, VA

Becky and I drove to Charlottesville, VA this past weekend to visit Mimi Payne and enjoyed four great days of updating each other on our busy schedules.  We were able to worship at South Plains Presbyterian Church and see the evidence of their new building project.  Of course there was our traditional shopping day for groceries and a dinner out one evening but this visit had the added event of a PEO meeting that Becky and Mimi attended.  I was able to find a wifi connection in the upstairs library so caught up on email while they were attending the meeting.   Thanks Mom for a great visit.

Becky and Mimi ready for their PEO meeting

South Plains Presbyterian Church, Keswick, VA, Organized in 1819

The new construction project at South Plains Presbyterian Church

The sanctuary (my dad made the small Celtic cross)

My dad is buried in the South Plains Presbyterian Church cemetery behind the sanctuary

My Mom and I during dinner after worship

Labor Day at the Fish Lake House

Becky and I are enjoying our visit with Mimi Payne in Charlottesville, VA and will be driving home on Wednesday.  During Labor Day, we enjoyed our first stay at the Fish's Lake House at Center Hill Lake near Smithville, TN and had a great time boating and visiting.  Below are just a few pictures for a taste of our fun filled weekend.  Hopefully, later this week I will post some pictures of the Brooks and Dunn concert as well as our trip to VA.

Anna Blair



Mother of six showing her stuff

Leah and Josiah

Leah after showing us her knee boarding skills

Ruth showing her stuff (under protest)

Tim and Caleb showing the girls how knee boarding is supposed to be done.  Note: they wiped out shortly after this picture was taken.

The new Captain Fish

Tim on one ski.  His goal for the summer

The big room before the big sweep before our departure

Relaxing on the porch

The House on the hill

Nonie and Lydia

Hay, Iris, Popcorn and Birthday

How much hay can you get in the bed of a pickup? At Katie's invitation, Becky and I set off on another hay adventure to Robertson County to find out. A friend of Katie's had graciously given us a large quantity of spoiled hay for the garden so on a recent Monday, we went up to pick it up and have lunch with Katie. Katie, of course, had a camera to record the historical event. Thanks Katie for the pictures, for the hay and for not being too embarrassed to eat out at a nice restaurant with your farmer-dressed parents. The old in ground barbecue pit, that has been an eye sore in our yard since we moved to Leiper's Fork, has recently been converted to an iris bed which should be a great improvement. Early this Spring, Becky brought home some popcorn seed from Katie and instructions from Rebecca on how to plant and harvest it correctly. We decided to plant the seed in the garden and recently enjoyed the fruit of our (actually it was Becky's) labor. This past Friday was my brother Paul's 63rd birthday and another reminder that if he is 63 then I must be 64. Happy birthday Paul.

Becky reaches the summit,  with some assistance

Queen of the mountain

New Iris Bed

Part of the Popcorn harvest

It actually was pretty good

Paul caught in the act of stealing my birthday cake.  The cut little boy to the left is me.

Truck, Garden and Reflections on Life

It has been a interesting week of reminders that there is a correlation between age and and things wearing out.  My little red 1996 Nissan truck has been my faithful companion for 14 years and has not given me one bit of trouble.  In the last few weeks I have invested in a new battery, 4 new tires, a broken steering wheel and the phantom horn blowing.  The steering issue all started when I was turning hard to get out of a parking spot when something popped in the steering wheel.  Shortly afterward, anytime I turned (right or left), the horn would blow. Initially I didn't think this would be a big deal but when people began to make obscene hand gestures at me on my drive to work, I took it to a mechanic to repair what I thought would be a simple repair.  The estimate was around $1100 to replace the steering wheel and horn switch.  I decided to have the mechanic disconnect the horn and let me think about it.  I wonder if it is legal for me to drive in Tennessee without a horn?   Today, my aging truck has a loud squeak in the engine so maybe there is another trip to the mechanic in my future.  Our little dog Belle is really slowing down in the last few months.  She is approaching 15 years old and is not the pup that she thinks she is.  During my recent doctor's visit, I was told that I have high cholesterol, need to exercise and need to lose some weight but that I wasn't in bad shape for my age.  Not sure what he meant by that but will take it as a complement...I guess.  The bright side of life is I still have most of my hair, Becky looks 20 years young than me and I will retire in less than two years.  This week we started to put the garden "asleep" for the winter by spreading hay in the areas that were no longer producing.  This new system of gardening is great and we have been really blessed with a great yield this growing season.  For the last three years we have thoroughly enjoyed our neighbors three miniature donkeys.  Last month, they were moved since our neighbors have moved and put their home on the market.  It is sad to look over to their pasture and not see the "girls" anymore.   I have included some appropriate pictures for your viewing pleasure in yet another humble attempt at blogging. 

My faithful but aging little red truck

Former home of our 3 little donkey friends.  We miss you.

Garden starting to be put "asleep" for the winter

Another view of our garden