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.