Monday

Well I must take some time to talk about Saturday and Sunday as I was away from this laptop for awhile. Saturday was the big birthday(s) celebration with a cookout at Jill's folks house in Riverview for both Annsley who turns 6 and Gabe who just turned 3. Both sets of their grand parents; Brian, Susan and Nancy and myself where there as well GG(Nancy's mom) their only living great grand parent. The Kuyatt's(Jill's folks) have a beautiful 2 story house they have completely remodeled with a pool. It's very nice but now they have decided they want to down size to a smaller place with no yard or pool to keep up and be much closer to where he works as a professor at a small Christian college in Clearwater.

Saturday morning for us was spent getting the house ready for our month away in October at the cabin and packing for that trip. I wanted to have everything done except for loading the truck when we got back from Riverview after dropping GG off at her house. We had everything ready except for a few items we forgot when we left early Sunday morning around 4:30 AM for the mountains. Needless to say I never sleep the night before we depart and was wide awake when the alarm set for 3:30 went off(actually I turned it off before it sounded).

The food at the party was great with grilled dogs, kielbasa and smoked sausages along with mac and cheese, layered taco dip and chips, a concoction of several beans which were tasty, a fresh salad and fruit. The kiddos were in the pool where Melody, Tyler and Brian entertained them with the big Shamu float. We had a small group with Jill's sister Laura and her son Jackson; Melody and Chris Farrell with their 2 daughters Breana and Kayla, Amy and Tyler with Ava and Sam and us the grand parents. The kiddos had a grand time playing in the cardboard castle Laura designed and made as well as the pool time.

Sunday was 11 hours getting to the foot of the mountain in Elkin at Wal-Mart where we always stop and get what goodies we need before climbing the mountain. The temp's were in the middle 80's but no humidity and as we climbed the mountain they quickly dropped into the low 70's. We noticed lots of color the higher we climbed and also noticed it looked very dry as well. We learned there has been no rain since we left for Florida 12 days ago but that quickly changed overnight as a rain and thunder moved into the mountain. I did hand water the plants when we first arrived but the overnight rain which has been falling for several hours now took care of that dryness.

Well it sure is good to be away from that almost intolerable heat and humidity that was ever present in Florida. We wonder how did I ever work in those conditions especially wearing a uniform for 30 years. Oh well! We actually donned long sleeve shirts and long pants after our showers last evening before retiring. Once again my adrenaline was running high after the long drive and I slept sparingly especially once the rains started on the tin roof. It took me a couple days to adjust to the a/c running during the night in Florida as well. It's good to be back in the high country and especially to see the color change.

  The deer made off with all or most of our flowering plants and garden veggies' eating them off close to the ground. I sure hope my neighbor does well with his hunting and I will be eating them later this year.

Just and FYI our son Bob is quite the author. He has a trilogy called the Epic of Haven and the first book is titled THE GREAT DARKENING. Check out the website; http://epicofhaven.com/ if you get the chance. Also don't forget to check out the bogo's on All Nutrilite Products this month of October from our website at; www.amway.com/JNTriplett . LATER, Here are a few pics from Saturday and Sunday