The Prince Makes His First Solo Visit

GrammySue, Emrick and Poppy

Friday, September 10, 2010 Red letter day at our house. Emrick was left in our care for a WHOLE WEEKEND for the first time. Jonathan and Bailey flew out to Missoula, Montana on Friday for the wedding of Jonathan's college buddy, Colt after having spent the night at our house on Thursday. Colt was one of Jonathan's groomsmen when he and Bailey were married three years ago and although Jonathan wasn't in the wedding party, Colt invited them to the rehearsal dinner so they could catch up and visit. The wedding was Saturday and on Sunday they drove up to Glacier National Park, just a few hours north of Missoula on the Canadian border. Bailey had never been in that part of the country and she really enjoyed it. I'm glad they got to go and enjoy themselves without the boy. Every couple needs some alone time every now and then. They flew back on Monday, finally arriving in Charlotte, late Monday evening after several hours of plane delays. You gotta love air travel.

Meanwhile, GrammySue and Poppy had Emrick ALL TO OURSELVES for four whole days. On Friday the five of us drove up to Bear Bottom. Emrick, the Prince of Bear Bottom, Max, the King of Bear Bottom and Bristol, Emrick's older, four-legged brother, GrammySue and Poppy. What a sight this must have been. These two 50+ adults with a fifteen month old and two dogs and a weeks worth of luggage in a small SUV. Babies need a LOT of stuff. Glad we didn't bring the big stroller and we already have a bed for him at BB or we would have had to pull a trailer. Anyway we arrived Friday night after stopping at Cracker Barrel in Elkin for dinner. The little guy can eat. We didn't order separate food for him, instead deciding he could just eat off of our plates. Almost a mistake. I wasn't sure I was going to get any dinner. He loves just about anything you put in front of him. After dinner and a 45 minute drive "up the mountain" he was tired and almost ready for bed. Good thing, cause Poppy sure was. We got Emrick to sleep around 9 and we settled in and went to bed around 10:30.

Saturday morning we were up on Emrick time about 7:15. Grammy brought him to our bed as we generally do when we are together. He loves cuddling as he wakes up and playing in the covers and pillows. I made breakfast for us all of grits and eggs. I was planning to head to town to pick up a couple of VFW BBQ chickens, the last of the season, when the phone rang. It was neighbor David offering to pick up some for us as he was already in line and the line was long and chickens were running low as everyone was stocking up, it being the last day and all. I willingly accepted his gracious offer and about thirty minutes later he was in our driveway with two BBQ Chickens. One for lunch and one for the freezer. David was planning to have someone come and do some painting so I offered to help him move some firewood that was stacked behind his garage so the painters could get to the walls. It was the least I could do for the friend who delivered VFW chicken at 9am. David and I are always working with each other and trying to help each other out. Sometimes big projects (I'll write about the bridge in a future blog) but many times just little things that just go easier with a helping hand and some friendly conversation. GrammySue took full advantage of this alone time with Emrick and they struck out for Sparta and the grocery store while David and I worked. Only took a couple of hours and in between some rain showers we got the job done; moving, splitting as needed and restacking. Nice easy morning compared to some of our "projects". Even the rain seemed to be a welcome element. As I always say, even a bad weather day in the mountains is worth 10 great weather days anywhere else.

After our BBQ chicken lunch I put on a big pot of chili at Susan's request. Perfect day for it. A little cool and rainy. It made the house smell wonderful as it simmered. Emrick took a nap and we took advantage and did the same. David and Laura Lee joined us for dinner around 6:30 as we had planned earlier while stacking wood. Laura Lee brought a welcome surprise for little e. A tote full of toys and little boy things. A book, a ball, stacking/nesting barrels, a cool rolling dog and a car that plays music and makes neat sounds. What a sweet surprise. Now he has toys for the mountains when he comes to visit. Not to be outdone, I had a surprise for David and Laura Lee, their favorite bread, Texas Toast to accompany the chili with shredded cheddar cheese. We also had a Spiced Apple Cake made with fresh apples (Bailey had brought us the cake mix and the apples when they dropped off Emrick) and vanilla ice cream for dessert. David and Laura Lee went home around 8:45 and then it was Emrick's bath time. He was cleaned, dried and in bed by 9:30. We weren't far behind at 10:30. What a great day.

Sunday was another great day. Emrick had us up about 7:10 with more bed play time and then breakfast of apple pancakes. Today's weather turned out to be sunny and bright after a dreary, rainy, foggy day yesterday. After Emrick's morning nap we took a ride around the property on our Bulldog (the four-wheeler) and walked up to the cemetery. We took lots of great pictures to document this momentous occasion of Emrick's first solo weekend at Bear Bottom. Hopefully there will be many, many more. After naps all around and some time in Emrick's swing while Poppy stretched out on the hammock we packed up after lunch of leftover chili and headed down the mountain. We stopped in Mooresville for Emrick's first (and ours too) meal at a Steak and Shake. He loved the hat and the fold-up paper car and especially loved the grilled cheese, applesauce and french fries and all the activity. He just couldn't keep up with all the people coming and going, serving and clearing. We made it home around 9. Just in time as the Prince was down and out by 9:30.

What a great weekend. One we will remember for a long, long time. Now Emrick will be able to read about it when he gets older, even if he doesn't remember. What a special time for his GrammySue and his Poppy. We love you little man.

July 4th, 2010 - Freedom and Family

Well here it is October and I'm just getting around to writing about July 4th. Maybe I'll get to Labor Day by Christmas. That would be about right I guess. I just can't seem to find the right time to blog so here I am at 11pm when everything is quiet and I can get my head around things.

Bear Bottom all decked out for July 4th, 2010!

July 4th 2010 was a great time at Bear Bottom near Sparta, NC. My wife's brothers, Peter and Steven and their families joined us for the long weekend. They both have travel trailers and pulled them up to our place and "camped out" on my neighbor David's property near his barn where he had installed electric sometime last year for just this purpose so they could plug in and enjoy their electric lights and fans and such. Peter, his wife Angela, and their son Austin along with Angie's niece Ashleigh, from Puerot Rico, Stephen and his wife Amy and their kids, Brooke, Blake and Madison were all on hand for all the fun... and we had lots of fun. We roasted marshmellows over an open fire in our fire pit a couple of nights, took a hike, ate lunch at The Bluff's Restaurant on the BRP, watched the 4th of July Parade in downtown Sparta (on Saturday the 3rd), fished (actually CATCHING fish) in David's pond, grilled hamburgers and hot dogs and even went to dinner at Brown's one night. Austin and Madison spent hours catching crawfish and salamanders and chasing butterflies and fireflies. Some even flew a kite and we pitched horseshoes until my shoulder hurt. My Mom and Dad even drove over from Julian Price Park near Boone on the BRP where they were camping and spent Saturday night in our guest room.

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The makeshift "campground" beside Davids barn.

I think the most fun for me was preparing Hungarian Goulash and Spaetzle for the entire crew on our last night, Sunday, July 4th. My nephew Blake, Susan's brother Stephen's middle child, requested it. This is a dish that my wife's mother, Sibylla, used to make for the family, even after they had all moved out. One she had learned when she was a girl back in Germany, and one she had taught me how to make not long afer Susan and I were married. It's basically a beef stew with onions and LOTS of paprika served over spaetzle, a kind of boiled dumpling made from flour, water and eggs. As I said Stephen's son Blake requested it and I agreed to make it after it was decided by the group that this was what they wanted for our last night together. We went shopping for together as a family for all of the ingredients. It was awesome sitting with family after hours of preperation and devouring such comfort food. Sort of like Christmas morning as a child. Anticipation, excitement, planning, preparation and all too quickly its over. It made me feel pretty good that I could provide something that meant so much to everyone, especially on a day when celebrating our freedom. Thanks, Blake for giving your old uncle a very special gift. The perfect end to the day was climbing the our hill in the near darkness and witnessing several July 4th fireworks displays. We could see the fireworks from Sparta, and Indepence, VA and one a little closer that we couldn't identify. It was truly a great weekend and one that will be forever engrained in my book of memories.

Here's our crew.

Next time I'LL share photos of the weekend that the Prince of Bear Bottom made his inaugural solo visit. He came in September so I should have it posted by Christmas, don't you think? ;)

Catching up!

Out of the blue! A great old saying. Sometimes the best things in life come just that way, out of the blue! I received an email several days ago from a friend to whom I haven't spoken in months asking if I was still alive and functioning as I had not updated my blog for some time. He reminded me that every time he checked back I was still shown building my fire pit. (The fire pit has long since been finished and used several times with great results.) He understood perfectly my reasons for not writing. Just being busy with "stuff" in general. Ailing parents, new grandson, work, trying to work on projects around the mountain home that we so much enjoy. He did inspire me to get back to writing so thanks T.J.

Since my last posting in October of 2009 a lot has happened. I'll try not to bog down with too much details but just the highlights to bring us up to present.

First of all I had what I consider to be the best Christmas of my life. It was my first "White Christmas". It was my grandson's first Christmas period. It was our first Christmas morning at Bear Bottom. Our son Jonathan, our lovely daughter-in-law, Bailey, grandson Emrick and granddog Bristol spent Christmas with us this year. What a Christmas!!! It started to snow the Friday before Christmas and Jonathan, Bailey and Emrick along with Bristol, the dog, arrived at Bear Bottom that Sunday. They had to hike in to the house as the four-wheeler would only make it half-way due to the deep snow. We had over 16 inches and more in drifts along the driveway. By the time we arrived a couple of days before Christmas our kind and generous neighbors had plowed out the driveway so that the four-wheeler was able to make the trip up and back. That four-wheeler would prove to be our best friend over the next few months as snow continued to come down and stayed on the ground through mid-March 2010. We arrived in time to enjoy all the snow and even ventured into town to the grocery store and a meal out with our little family before Sparta closed down for the holiday.

Bailey cooked Shrimp and Grits (Susan's favorite dish) for Christmas Eve dinner. Brownie points were definitely earned. It was fantastic. I put in these pictures just to prove to the doubting Thomas' that she really does cook even though she claims she can't. Don't let her fool you. She's a good cook. Sweet and beautiful to boot. Jonathan did good.

Christmas morning Santa had arrived amid all the snow and ice and we were all excited to see what Santa had brought. My favorite images are the beautiful white snow and little Emrick lying on the black bear rug Santa brought for him. We weathered the Christmas Day ice storm cooking our standing rib roast and hoping that the power would stay on. It did and dinner was wonderful. Emrick enjoyed chewing the paper as much as opening and enjoying his gifts. What a wonderful day. Susan and I stayed through New Years although the kids left us the Sunday after Christmas.

What a great Christmas.

We came up several times in January and February and I made the trip alone a couple of times while Susan spent some time with her mom who fell and broke her hip in early February. She is healing nicely and getting around without a cane these days.

I came up alone in mid-March (12-14) and the snow was mostly gone. At least the driveway was clear. This was the first time I had driven up the driveway since before Christmas. Max and I finally got out to survey all the tree damage from the snow and ice. Lot's of limbs down but no real damage.

I brought my parents up in late March (25-28) while Susan attended a meeting and visited her mom. Dad helped me work on the pantry cabinet that I have been planning since moving in.

Susan and I spent Easter weekend, April 2-4, cutting and hauling limbs to our burn pile.

In late April (19-25) Susan had a meeting in Kentucky so we broke up the trip and overnighted at Bear Bottom. After her meeting we drove back to Bear Bottom and spent the balance of the week and weekend planting the rest of the daffodil bulbs. Put out shrubs we had purchased and planted several trees I had dug up and brought from home. Also transplated some forsythia, "Yellow Bell", that our neighbors had shared with us. We also worked on the pantry/bookcase cabinet.

Our 26th anniversary was April 28th but since we had been at Bear Bottom the previous week we didn't come up until the 29 and stayed until Sunday, May 2nd.

Our good friends Franklin and Aliene joined us the weekend of May 21-23. We acheived one of our long-time goals; hiking to the Caudill cabin at the base of Wildcat Rocks below Doughton Park. We drove 40 minutes to Longbottom Road off of Hwy 18 and hiked the nearly 10 miles round trip from the trail head to the cabin and back. We ate a tasty lunch in the cabin that Aliene had prepared. Chicken salad on pitas and banana nut muffins with chocolate chips. The Sparkman's are much more active than us hiking and mountain biking. While we hike SOME this was our longest hike of record. We made huffing and puffing and were extremely proud of ourselves. We lived to tell the tale. It was a great weekend.

We were back Memorial Day weekend doing some chores around the house including a coat of roof sealer.

Father's Day was very special this year. Jonathan, Bailey and Emrick were here. They actually came up with Bristol a couple of days earlier. Laura Lee and David, our wonderful neighbors, joined us for steaks on Saturday night. Father's Day the girls took us to the Bluff's Lodge Restaurant for breakfast. It was very special having both my son and my grandson with me. Words can never express it and I only hope my son realizes how very special that weekend was for me. I am so proud of him and his family.

Hope this gets me caught up without boring you, dear reader, to tears. I'll cover our great July 4th weekend next.