The Cradle of Forestry in NC

Entering the Forestry Discovery trail.

Making the uphill trek.  One day during the fall, several llamas are brought here so little children can lead them as they walk to the top of the hill on site.

After a trek up hill to the summit, we enjoyed the lunch we had brought from home.  The ICE is a drink we had brought.  Evelyn is actually having a good time despite her look.

On the way downhill on the return trip to the welcome center, we encountered a restored locomotive like the one used to haul logs to sawmill in upcoming photos.

We were able to climb into the cab.  Notice the narrow tracks the train ran on.

It is easier getting into the engineer’s cab than it is getting out.

This is the log trailer and crane that carried and lifted the logs.  The cuttings were carefully taken to preserve the forests.

The non working model of the sawmill in the forest.

The machine that powered the saw.  It was powered by a wood burning steam engine.  Click on the picture to enlarge it for a better look.

Thursday time off.

Here we are parked and hiking the East Fork Trail.  It was nice and cool in the rock covered trails.

How can we be so busy?

Tuesday we exercised and then went to meet Karen and Dallas for the baseball game.  The weather lately has been gorgeous.  The night was calm and we saw a very good ball game.  The Tourists won on a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the 10th.  The game was over early, and we planned to stop for a Blizzard on the way home.  The game wasn’t over early enough, and the DQ was closed.  We were still home earlier than after any game this season.  Tonight was our 4th game attended.

Wednesday the weather began to heat up again.  The summer has been pleasant as autumn is usually, but the summer may just be arriving.  The temperatures are supposed to return to the mid-80s.  Evelyn served her normal afternoon at the hospital.  I went with her because I had an appointment to explore serving as a volunteer in hospice.  During the interview, I learned that I would probably be more interested in doing chaplain type work.  There are many other opportunities but the home visitations and work around the homestead were more in cleaning things.  Since I am a trained chaplain, I hate to waste my training.  I forgot to mention that gumbo was served in the cafeteria.  I was ecstatic and nearly ran to the serving area.  Everyone who works there got a big laugh out of my exuberance.  We finished the evening by attending our  choir practice.

The 4th Friday in each month is a free day for Evelyn.  Normally she leads a Bible study for the women of our church.  Today, since she had no obligation, we drove off to find a place to take a hike.  This area is full of hiking trails, so we drove up 276 toward Brevard.  The highway leads to the Cradle of Forestry in America and Sliding Rock.  We stopped at the first trailhead we found, parked and walked about half a mile on some moderate terrain.  We are not in great hiking shape and didn’t go far.  it was cooler in the woods along the east fork of some river.  We then drove on the Cradle of Forestry.  There are hiking trails there, but they are paved.  We took the longest one and had the lunch we had taken.  It was much warmer there than on the former trail.  It featured a long, semi steep hill and we ate lunch at the top.  On the way down the other side we saw an old locomotive that hauled logs to the saw mill that we saw on down the trail.  The unique thing about the engine was that the wheels were not set apart as wide as other train tracks.  The standard width matches that of the old Roman chariots.  This was about 8 inches more narrow.  We left and drove to sliding rock and took a few pictures.  We remember when some of our grandchildren enjoyed the slide down to the 40 degree pond at the bottom.  We took the Blue Ridge Parkway back to Asheville and then I-40 to Canton where we enjoyed the blizzard that we were too late for Tuesday night.  We came home for the evening.  The sad news for us is that Gary is resigning as the president of our living area.  He sites only personal reasons.

We were up and preparing for our guests early.  I had split and deseeded 6 jalapeno peppers last night, preparing to make jalapeno poppers.  We had gone to talk with Gary and Linda, and I had rubbed my eye.  Big mistake!  My eyes burned so badly that I had to hold an ice bag on them until we got home.  I found some old plastic gloves I had got while working at Taco Bell years ago and used them to protect my hands.  Evelyn supervised while I followed Emeril’s recipe and stuffed the peppers.  We put them into the toaster oven and baked them 15 minutes.  I baked them the other 15 when the guests were about to arrive.  I watched the Purdue/Western Michigan game until they arrived at 2:30.  Tom and I ate snacks and watched the rest of the game while Evelyn and Melanie talked.  I don’t think Evelyn had a very good time.  We drove to the Country Vineyard and bought us dinner.  We had decided to take them out because Evelyn didn’t want to cook.  Tom and I consumed the growler we had brought from Roswell last week.  We talked about going on a cruise together next year because Melanie has retired. 

August activities

My 2nd place jalapeno peppers

This tomato we grew weighs 1 1/2 pounds!  It was delicious.

Tom and LuAnn Jones surprised us with a visit from San Antonio.

Guess what these are?

Trying to keep the tomatoes off the ground.  They are too heavy for the stakes I used in the beginning.

Action weekend

We have had to call Terminex for ant control three times this summer and today was the 4th.  The number of ants was much lower, but I had found a trail up the foundation and sprayed it.  I think I fixed the problem but thought it best to check with the professional.  He found many dead ones under the house and none inside.  Thank God for His mercy.  We had made arrangements to meet Karen and Dallas for dinner before a baseball game.  We went to a Latin restaurant and had more than we could eat as usual.  We took what was left and went to the ball park only to find that they were not playing at home.  Karen had a discount coupon but for the wrong week.  They invited us over, but we went to the Krispy Kreme store for doughnuts we had been given at a previous game and visited.  I said something that made Karen go into a laughing spasm not doing anything good for her recent incisions.  We were home earlier than usual.

Thursday Gary and I played golf at Lake Junaluska.  I had a usual poor round, but it was quick.  I was home before noon.  Evelyn led her Bible study and was home after 1.  We rested in the afternoon and stayed in the house in the evening. 

Friday morning we drove to Roswell, arriving at noon.  Stacy prepared lunch for us and had brought some Negra Modelo for me.  We had a nice visit until we went to the La Quinta where we rested and changed into our evening wear.  Tom and Stacy picked us up and drove us to the Pavilion, the name of the place where Emmy’s Bash was held.  This is fundraiser for an academy for special needs kids.  She died when she was 4, and her parents felt called to make this academy in memory of her.  It cost $140 for us to go to the dinner and sort of dance.  It was all inclusive, featuring free drinks and heavy hors de hoverers.  Virtually everyone in attendance had a special needs child.  We had a good time and even danced a few numbers.  We were the only ones until right at the end.  We didn’t get to the motel until about midnight. 

Saturday we went to lunch at Zoes where Olivia works.  We had a nice lunch before we went to a Growler brewery.  The growler is a 64 ounce glass container of beer.  Tom wanted me to buy one, but I didn’t want to take one home.  Before we left, he made me take one.  We drove home and naturally filled our gas with cheaper fuel.  It was 3.179 per gallon.  We were home before dark and ate some of the leftovers from lunch.

We went to worship after sleeping late.  I assisted with Holy Communion again.  We came home and ate more leftovers for lunch.  We rested in the afternoon before going to a neighbor’s to play hand and foot.  We have a real thing going with Gary, Linda and Sam and Barbara.  We try to have a game every other week.  We also talked about having an ice cream party on Labor Day weekend.  We will try to find someone other than we or Gary and Linda hosted.  I don’t like the weekends because the 10 o’clock news is not on, making me stay up too late to see it. 

Monday we slept a bit late and then went to exercise for an hour.  On the way home, we went to the fairground to pick up my red ribbon awarded for my jalepeno peppers.  I will post pictures of it later.  We cleaned the inside and outside of the car in the late afternoon and watched a movie at night.  It has been a wonderful weekend here.  It was very hot in Atlanta but temperate here.  We needed to have our New Guinea Impatiens watered when we were gone, so I watered them today. 

It has been rainy.

Sunday was a great worship.  We were late for Bible study because we had slept late.  I always enjoy visiting with our Lutheran Christian friends.  We returned Betty’s container with some of the flatbread we had brought from our supper last night.  We came home and Evelyn finished preparing a delicious meal of beef stroganoff.  We ate on our porch because it has been quite temperate lately.  It was again today.  We did hear thunder while we ate, but it was still nice.  We rested a bit and talked with Emily.  We tried to call Stacy, but she was working.  Just as we were ready to walk to Gary and Linda’s for the evening, a downpour began.  It was a continuation of the rains we have had much of the summer.  We packed our things into the car and drove the 100 yards to their house.  Sam and Barbara met us there, and we had snacks and an evening of fun playing hand and foot as we did last Sunday at our house.

Monday we went to exercise at the rec center.  We returned home for lunch shortly after noon and spent most of the afternoon pulling some weeds from our flower bank.  Then Evelyn wanted to rent the movie, God’s Not Dead, through Direct TV.  I did and decided to invite the neighborhood to watch it with us.  We had seen it last winter but wanted to see it again.  I took printed invitations to each home in our Cypress Meadows group.  I even invited 2 neighbors outside of it.  Only Gary and Linda came even though they had seen it also.  We were all blessed by watching it again, and I am sorry no one else was able or didn’t want to come.  I think I have recorded it on our DVR, so we might invite someone again.

This morning we slept in.  Evelyn had not been able to sleep until 3 AM.  We cannot figure out what causes this to happen.  She rarely takes a nap for fear of not being able to sleep.  We normally go to bed around 10:30 each evening.  I am blessed to be able to go to sleep almost immediately.  We had a light breakfast and lunch today but did exercise a bit.  We made 2 loops around our street in the evening.  Our group tries to go out to dinner once each month, so Evelyn and I had checked out Dickey’s Barbecue in Canton last week, so she took some invitations around to the homes in the afternoon.  She got 13 commitments and possibly 16.  I called to make reservations but only got an answer machine.  I left a message but remember that the one I made at Sid’s on Main was never heard.  It rained again this afternoon, but each rain has been unusually gentle, without much wind.  Driving rains are usually harmful.

Keeping things on the move

It is well that I rested more Tuesday because I worked hard Wednesday morning at church.  Brent had asked Neil and I to help him spread mulch around the shrubs.  It was not too warm but work increases the heat.  Evelyn came to get me to take her to the hospital to volunteer.  I drove her there and returned to finish our work.  I started to leave at 1 but couldn’t start the car.  It occurred to me that she had the fob in her purse, permitting me to start the car to take her there, but she had forgotten to give it to me.  Brent took me the hospital—just across the expressway—and brought me back to the car.  I came home and cleaned myself and vacuumed the carpet before I picked her up.  We came home for a snack and returned to church for choir practice. 

Thursday Gary picked me up and we headed for Whittier and the Smokey Mountain Country Club.  It is about 40 minutes away, so we left about 7:30.  We had time to hit some range balls before teeing off.  We both began poorly because we were rushing.  We only improved periodically and both finished over 100.  I must confess that is only an accurate score.  We play with both an accurate score and a legitimate score.  We often don’t remember the legitimate score.  Oddly enough, I  beat Evelyn home from her Bible study by half an hour.  That was at 1:30.  She had gone to the library to renew a book by Dr. Ben Carson, the man I hope carries the Republican nomination for President in 2016.  We were both tired and rested in the afternoon before walking around the Loop here several times. 

I thought of going to Asheville for a movie today.  We went to exercise in the morning and then showered before leaving for the east.  We went to the Grovewood Inn for lunch.  I had a Groupon for $20 that I had paid $11 for a few weeks ago.  We had eaten there a few years ago and liked it.  We shared a trout entrée.  From there we went to buy Karen Norris a plant when we visited her.  She is recovering from surgery and we wanted to visit and pray with her.  We visited for half an hour and went on to a place to see if we could get Evelyn’s purse repaired.  The shop here in Waynesville has closed, and the nearest one is in Asheville.  The proprietor promised it by Thursday.  We went on from there to see the movie, The Hundred Foot Journey.  Evelyn thought it moved too slow, but I loved it.  I recommend the movie for families and Christians who like good character studies.  I decided to make it an entire day out and took us to the Indigo Hotel where I had another coupon.  We had to spend $37.50, but the coupon was for $25.  I had paid $4 for it.  We ordered what turned out to be a huge plate of nachos.  They were different and good, but we couldn’t eat all of it.  This meant we had to take our 2 entrees home.  We did enjoy the dessert of rhubarb/strawberry tort but took the rest home.

Saturday allowed us to sleep late.  We did have orange juice before we went to the r rec center at around 11.  We had a pretty good workout before coming home for lunch around 1.  We had half of the flatbread entrees we had brought home last night.  We liked one but not the other.  We ate half of each and have the other 2 halves left for another day.  We are just lazy and demonstrated that during the afternoon.  I did call our friends, the Oefingers, and John and Sue Hamel.  We had over an inch of rain yesterday and an 80% chance today.  So far we have had a sprinkle.  I plan to go to a local square dance to visit with some friends and invite them for dinner during the next 2 weeks.   I spent most of the evening watching the Cubs.  I am really encouraged by some of the young players they have. I just hope they can pick up some better pitchers during the off season.

Settling down

Saturday we helped with the memorial service until 4.  There were more people we had planned for and we had to clean up and reset all the tables.  We were tired and didn’t go to the Shindig on the Green as we had planned.  We did make an appearance at the festival down in Frog Level but there was a light rain which really ruined the party.

We had a great worship service and then took Betty Golden to her new apartment where she had invited us for dinner.  She is quite old and was barely able to get around but did get the dinner served with Evelyn’s help.  She served a German dish we had never heard of.  We wrote the name down but can’t find it.  We came home around 3:3o and took a nap before our guests came to play hand and foot.  We had Sam and Barbara, Gary and Linda, and us.  We played with 3 on each team and the men won.  We served only popcorn and drinks, and we all had a great time.  We broke up shortly after 9 because Linda gets up at 4:30 each morning to work out, so she needs to be in bed by 9—usually.  We cleaned up the kitchen and went to bed.

Monday we went to exercise after breakfast.  Evelyn decided that she didn’t want to continue with the high protein diet, so I made a breakfast for us.  After exercise, I dropped Evelyn at home and went to the Open Door to serve in the soup kitchen.  We had stopped at the church to get the DVD she needs for Thursday and found some friends there working on the plumbing.  I watered our plants when I came home and am always surprised to find how quickly and thoroughly that perks them up.  We spent the evening at home.

Our neighbor Diane had flown to Florida yesterday, so we decided to go visit her husband Bill at the nursing home about a half mile from here.  We listened to our voice mail and decided to go to town to get some earrings that Evelyn had left at a jewelers.  He was not there, and we there before 5.  We mailed a card to a friend who had undergone surgery yesterday, and then decided to go to the GO Grocery for some yogurt.  They had none, but we bought $38 worth of other things before coming home.  After we had stored the items, we walked down to the nursing home to visit Bill.  We took a bear claw candy to him.  We also visited Peggy Thomas again.  We walked back home and ate the roasting ears we had bought this afternoon.  It was delicious.  We watched TV in the evening.  We are expecting rain on Friday.  Strangely, even though we have had several promises of rain, we have had only half of what we had last year.  We will look forward to it.

Some of the fun early on in the visit.

National travelers arrive in Greenville, SC.  It is now 11:30 PM local time.

The contestants in the Iron Chef competition feverishly gathering and combining the ingredients for their masterpieces.

These are the Iron Chef contestants showcasing their entrees.  Also illustrating their serious determination and fight to the end intention.

The winner of the entrée explains the intricate details of the creation.

The judges complete their evaluations of the finished products.  They decided they had the best jobs in the contest.

Elizabeth wanted to make spring rolls and this is the consumption in action.

Beeli kids

Last night’s sleeping arrangements.  Elizabeth is on the brown Lazy Boy.

Rain cancelled much of the Arts festival.

Creative artists at work.

Admiring glass creations.

Admiring the glass blower’s work.

We visited a hostel for hikers on the Appalachian Trail in Tennessee.

Settling back into normal

Wednesday brought more exercise before we went to the hospital to volunteer.  We usually get a free lunch when we work, but the new cafeteria managers have ruined the place that used to be quite good.  Today, however, the General Tao’s Pork, was very good.  Evelyn worked on the 4th floor ICU station, and I worked at patient escort near the information desk.  I had a moderately busy day as did Evelyn.  We came home for a small meal and went to choir practice early.  One of our parishioners died last week, and we helped set up the church basement for the lunch after the memorial service Saturday.  We sang after that and welcomed a new soprano to our midst.  Maggie King, director of children’s Bible classes, came to join.  We were home and to bed a bit early.

Thursday Gary and I played golf at Iron Tree.  I broke 100 and played fairly well.  We were home in time for lunch.  Evelyn had stayed home and did some light housework while enjoying being alone.  We received an order from Omaha Steaks and had to unpack it and put some of the things into the freezer.  We did enjoy some ice cream pie that we had left over.  We are trying to live on a low carb diet but have had little success so far.  We had to eat this because we had no room for the meat in the freezer. 

Friday Evelyn helped set up for tomorrow’s memorial service while I talked to an insurance agent about bundling our auto and homeowner’s insurance.  They couldn’t help me because we vote in Texas.  I picked up Evelyn and we enjoyed some sole stuffed with scallops and crab we had bought from Omaha Steaks.  It was very good.  We left home around 3 to go to town to deposit money to cover a check for Peter’s tuition for college.  While in town we walked around and looked at some of the art shops who will host Art after Dark tonight.  We spent the evening at home.  Evelyn felt a bit nauseous but went to sleep comfortably.  We did receive some good news about a contest the county was in.  Ty Pennington offered to come to a site and rebuild it to specifications.  He issued a challenge throughout the country and the abandoned local prison site won the contest.  He is to turn it into a homeless shelter and soup kitchen.  We voted for this and sent solicitations to many friends.  They must have responded.  We pray that things will be a blessing to the county.

Whitewater rafting

A glorious surprise visit

This week has been quiet except for Tuesday.  We spent much of Monday after exercise making preparations for guests tomorrow.  Our dear friends, Tom and Luann Jones, were making a journey from San Antonio to visit his mother in New Jersey.  They were gracious enough to come here to spend the afternoon and evening with us.  We had a nice visit here until just before 5 when we took them to the Country Vineyard Café for dinner.  They loved it as did we.  We have been there 2 times before and end up sharing the same dinner: Crawfish Linguini.  They shared the same meal and we had.  We were finished early enough to walk around Lake Junaluska and play a few hands of Phase 10 before bed.  I had sliced some of our red skin potatoes and fried eggs and some Grands for breakfast.  That is right.  When we visit them at AFVII, we eat breakfast in the “mess hall”  in the “big house”.  It is actually a nice restaurant in the high rise building on  the campus.  We thought it would be a big surprise to have them; it was and much appreciated.  They left for New Jersey after eating.  We will stay with them one of the evenings before we fly to LA from San Antonio on September 23.  They have planned a cruise through the Panama Canal for 8 couples.  We are one of them.  This will be the 3rd trip they have planned on which we have traveled.  The others were to South America and Israel.  We went to exercise after they left and napped in the afternoon because we had risen at 6:15 to prepare breakfast.