Thursday

Well we sure wanted cooler weather and yesterday was a perfect example of Fall temps. The early morning was a cold 37 degrees and it warmed up to the low 60's with bright sunshine and actually in the direct sunlight I was rather warm which caused me to shed some outer clothing. Nancy had the oven on to take the chill off of the cabin when we rolled out from under the quilts and once more I have installed the curtain rod with a blanket between the floors to keep the downstairs heat from heading up the stairs. We were heading out for Nancy's doctor appointment in Independence, Va. for her 6 months blood work and check up around 9 AM.

After our quiet times and a couple poached eggs for me from neighbor Gerald's hens we headed out. Nancy had to fast as they were checking for all kinds of abnormal conditions because she is on Lipitor, blood pressure and thyroid medicines. We noticed a little more color in the higher peaks as we headed over and along the New River Basin. There were areas of mist, fog and steam as the sun warmed up the landscape and we could actually see steam from several roof tops as the sun heated the shingles.

Nancy spent about an hour or so with Doctor K. whom we both admire and trust his medical knowledge and judgement more than any other physician we have know. He is an internist, cardiac specialist as well as a general practitioner and we thoroughly trust his care for her and myself as I have used him a couple times in emergencies. It's too bad he got tired of Sparta and moved his practice to Independence which isn't that much further away as the crow flies but is in another state. I taught him pickle ball which he thoroughly enjoyed as well as he is quite a tennis player and fisherman. The distance from his practice is over an hour to play pickle ball so he has foregone playing with our group anymore.

After leaving the doctors office we headed onto Galax for some lunch and shopping and then gassed up at $3.12 a gallon before heading back to the cabin on the parkway. The temps had reached a balmy 62 degrees in town and as we approached the cabin it dropped back down into the high 50's. We took off on our daily hike to the top of the mountain. The air was so clear I could see the building in downtown Winston-Salem from the top of the mountain. We stopped and visited briefly with Jetta and Zeke and Zeke decided he wanted to walk with us and actually came down to the cabin with us. He messed around for a few minutes then headed back up the trail to his place. He wanted to go for a walk as Jetta was busy gathering pine cones along the back road. He is such a sweet friendly dog and Ava and Sam will just love him as did Annsley and Gabe when they were here earlier this summer.

Well I piddled around in the garden feeding the lettuce and spinach with a little Miracle Grow and dusting my cabbage plants that I planted in June and have never come to a head yet. The worms and slugs took up eating again during the warm snap while we were away so I'm trying to salvage at least a couple plants. I decided to sit on the deck in the sunlight and read for an hour or so before supper and it was very nice out of the wind. I actually had to move into the shade a couple times as it got that warm. We finished up the tortilla soup for supper and my that is one awesome soup especially on chilly days. After the cleanup I continued to read as Nancy was on the Internet and then watching her shows of dancing with kids or something like that.

I stayed interested in a book until Duck Dynasty at 10 then headed to the shower afterwards and it wasn't long before it was horizontal time around 11, LATER