Tuesday Morning At The Cabin

Well it's difficult to describe the beauty of the Blue Ridge Mountains especially in the mornings. We are surrounded by the wonders of the natural we often take for granted; except for the out buildings everything here is in its pristine state and we love it. The smell of the earth as I worked it up for my gardens as well as the perfumed scent of the peonies is delicious. There is something about walking in the woods and catching the various odors from the stages of the leaves decaying. The fresh mowed grass smell is probably the best smell but the least natural as that indicates I had something to do with its causation. All of these smells wake up your senses to the beauty of GOD'S creation; it's just so intoxicating.

Monday was one of our busiest days as I started with a 6'ish roll out. I was a little stiff in the joints, back and legs as my body is trying to adjust to this uneven earth as well as the stairs in the cabin plus all of the physical labor that went on until nearly dark. After a hot cup of green tea, a handful of vitamins and supplements, a few moments to give thanks and to lift up several we know who need some special attention from our Maker and the posting of this ramble, I headed out with my gum boots on to walk around the yards and gardens. It was so quiet with none of the city sounds in the distance except for an occasional bird singing before sunup and a lonely crow cawing somewhere off in the distant.

The seedlings all looks if they would make it although some looked better than others. The ground had lots of moisture and I have found the soil retains wetness much better than the sandy soil in my Florida garden where I water sometime twice a day. I did give a little water to some flower seedlings and a couple tomato plants that had wilted. After a bowl of oatmeal with a banana and some fresh blueberries I headed on the golf cart to the top of the mountain to pick up my friends rotor-tiller to work up the much larger lower garden which is probably 20x75 feet or more. That took me a couple hours to work this ground up and once more gathered a bucket of pretty good size rocks. I know conventional wisdom is that rocks don't grow but these here in my garden almost make me a believer they do grow or migrate from some place nearby. Anyhow I worked up a sweat despite the low 50's temperature. I had put a flannel shirt and long breeches on to start the outside morning activities and by lunch time I had was once again in cutoffs and a t-shirt. The sun was beautiful as it started over the mountain and it rays streamed through the heavy foliaged trees surrounding the cabin and the gardens and yards.

I laid off several rows in the freshly plowed garden for sugar peas, spinach, 1/2 runner beans, bush beans, sweet corn, okra, yellow squash, cucumbers and lettuce. Wow if all this makes I can feed my neighbors who don't garden. That kept me busy until that bowl of oatmeal wore out so it was time for some calories that meant one of my favorites which is quick and easy but I love the taste of the two when combined; peanut butter and sliced raw onion. I know I'm weird but try it at least once and while most people who eat asparagus can't smell it in their urine right away but I do..I know that's weird, oh well!!

After lunch we both were working in the yards; Nancy was on her knees and backside weeding her many flower beds and what a mess they were. She had piles of weeds, grass and debris that had blown in them over the winter. I got out the weed whacker and commenced to trimming the whole property which not only worked the back and shoulders but the legs as it was up and down the whole time. Finally I got to sit down on the riding mower for a couple hours as I mowed the whole place and then mowed up much of the grass piles Nancy had accumulated. By then it was close to a glass of the fruit of the vine as it was close to supper time. We stopped and congratulated ourselves on what a difference a day makes when we put our energy towards beautifying this part of GOD'S creation we have been blessed with. After a supper of hamburgers on the grille and a fresh salad we headed back out to continue our beautifying process as I trimmed dead briars from the wineberry bushes which took me right up to dark.

After a hot shower it was going on 9 ish and I managed to watch about 30 minutes of the Fox News channel then the sandman was putting me out. We finally got our land line fixed after many phone calls and some trouble shooting on my part that the problem was with the phone company and not my phone or the wiring in the cabin. Some time around 3 PM Nancy checked and we finally had a dial tone. I was a little disappointed with the attitude of the phone company and we never even got a call to see if we were back in operation. They must have hired someone from Florida for their customer service as we have always received a courtesy call from the local folks and that is one of the things we love about the folks who live and work here, oh well, LATER