Wednesday

Well it was one of those days that started sorta late with a 7 AM wake up as the rain beating on the roof caused us all to roll over at our usual time of arising at 6 ish. We decided since we were heading down off the mountain to visit our nephew in the Charlotte area we would forego a huge breakfast. After showers and hair workups we finally got away from here around 11 AM. The rain hasn't let up much in days with only a few times the down pour turned to sprinkles. I think I emptied the rain gauge and it had over 2 inches again, yuck for our company and double yuck for the garden as I noticed all of the new lettuce seedlings have washed away.

We took 2 vehicles as we headed south to Austin and Meghan place in a suburb called Waxhaw. Their back yard is on the South Carolina border and is in a sub division called Millbrooke, Yeow what a beautiful place. The trip down was uneventful except for the rain and fog. Part of our mountain on Rt.21 had washed away so the road department had it barricaded off into one of the slow truck lanes but other than that the traffic was exceptionally heavy the closer we got to Charlotte. That brought back memories of where we live in the Tampa Bay area.

We stopped of at a grocery called Harris-Teeter for some goodies as we had made plans to make some Everett/Triplett soul food for Austin and his family. We loaded up 3 carts loads of groceries to make 2 chicken casseroles, 3 zuchinni pies, 1 meat loaf, 2 spinach casseroles plus I made my infamous guacomola for when we arrived to snack on while GG made her infamous bacon, egg and onion for sandwiches for lunch when we arrived albeit it was after 3 before we ate. After loving up on that new baby boy, Tyler and lots of hugs for the Betts family members; Lauren(mom), John(Sophomore in high school) and 11 year old Genevee as well as Elise age 12 (the youngest sibling in the Everett Family) some of us headed out to the neighborhood pool.

Well pool is quite an understatement as this was a complex much like some water world you would find at a theme park. The kiddie pool was enormous as well as the adult Olympic size swimming area and the best part was the 3-4 story circular slide that emptied into a small river like area that surrounded the slide. Yikes was that ever a bit scary at first with the height and then the speed at which you head downwards in a circular motion. We made several trips down the slide and worked up quite an appetite climbing the stairs back to the top.

Well we sampled some of the food prepared earlier during the course of the afternoon with lots of participants lending a hand chopping, slicing and preparing these delicious dishes. We finally had everything ready to set down and eat wherever you could find a spot around 8 PM. The food was awesome and we left plenty of cooked as well as uncooked food for them to eat for days to come. It was after 9 before we decided we should head back up to the mountain cabin.

We encounter heavy rain and some fog on the way home and very dark outside. I shut the lights off as we approached the cabin and you couldn't see your hand in front of you. We did see a deer or two but luckily they stayed on the side of the road. It was such a great time to visit family and friends but just as comforting to be back in the cabin dry and snugly. I checked the rain gauge and we received another 2 inches while we were gone. Thursday promises to be another fun filled day as we meet with Arianne and Errol who flew in to Charlotte sometime during the early morning hours from Miami. We will meet up with them in Dobson at the Shelton Winery for a tour and then come back to the cabin for some 4th of July celebration. Happy Birthday America as we celebrate our freedom from England. Lets hope we never let ourselves be lead down that road again where a few of elites in government set up different rules to subjugate the masses, LATER