A Rainy Saturday Morning

Well Friday was a really nice day with some rain clouds around and lots of fog and mist on top of the mountains, but for the most part it stayed dry with nice temps and some sunshine; enough that Nancy dried a load of clothes outside on the clothesline. After our usual hot drinks, quiet time and my posting of this ramble I headed out to check on the chickens and the gardens. I actually gave the lettuce that survived the floods a little drink as they looked a little peaked with just a little miracle grow mixed in. I saw some new growth in the Swiss chard and in the spinach the past couple days. The chickens laid another egg down 50% from yesterday.

I rescreened a couple window screens as during the winter months pine cones and debris are blown by the wind into the screens causing small holes which when we have the lights on at night over the table while playing games; little buggies manage to squeeze through and become a nuisance. We decided to get our hike out of the way early so off we went to the top of the mountain. Well, we ran into Ann and Sandy once again as they were doing some mowing and little odd jobs outside. He was burning some sticks, limbs and leaves that had accumulated while they had been away for over a year. His attitude seemed better with the physical work and being outside after being laid up for so long. We visited for awhile then Joe another neighbor came by and we chatted with him before continuing on. It was great to see some folks on this side of the mountain for a change. Sarah was up but she never ventured outside her cabin.

We headed on across and saw Norm was outside with who we thought may have been one of his sons visiting. He was up and about and that was a good sign. The Browning were gone as they deliver meals on wheels on Friday so we headed on back down the mountain. It was a nice day for hiking with no humidity. We ate a salad for lunch with the left over venison on top and some of the delicious rosemary bread Nancy picked up on Thursday. After lunch we decided to put the orange fence up around the porches and deck railing. That usually takes a couple hours but we've done it so many times and now have a system worked out. The fence helps to protect any of the grand kids from accidentally slipping through the railing onto the ground below. In some spots the distance to the ground is 10 or more feet. Afterwards we fired up the golf cart and took our first ride over to Helen's our "mountain moms" beautiful place and cabin.

We had a nice visit and her yards are so lush and green. It's amazing at her young age of 85 she keeps it looking great. She is quite the worker and one of her biggest joys is on her riding Kubota mower with the trailer hooked behind filled with her tools working her land. There were some nasty looking rain clouds so we headed home but they dissipated and once more we were rain free. I had set up a pickle ball match at 6:30 with 3 other guys at the Roaring Gap Club. Since we had a large lunch we decide to just boil a couple dogs and make dog tacos with cukes, onions and mustard on a soft burrito wrap. Very tasty and not real heavy as I was about to enter into some strenuous  exercise.

I picked up neighbor Gerald and we played for over 2 hours. He and I with a combined age of around 130 years putting a whupping on 2 younger fellow of about 75 combined years. We had a great workout with lots of wet shirts. The skies had some dark and ominous clouds but the rain stayed away. On the way back to the cabin the roads were wet in some areas but none

at the cabin until the wee hours of the morning when the skies opened up and a steady pour hasn't stopped as I make this post. At times the lightning flashes and there are deep rumbles of thunder in the distance with extremely heavy rains. There goes the rest of the garden as well as more deep ruts in the road from the run off. Luckily Gerald has a tractor and scrapper and keeps those ruts filled in.

Sometime in the night when the rain fell on the tin roof, I awaken with severe pain in my left shoulder and arm as I must have slept on it wrong; so it was some ibuprofen and a rub down with some good pain relieving gel by nurse Nancy. I was able to get some relieve until this AM but needed another run down on my non-playing arm, what's that all about?? Oh well just another page in as we age, LATER Nancy put up a few pics of our beautiful Rose of Sharon which I started from a seedling given to us by Jetta many years ago and of the fried bass we caught at our "mountain moms' pond.