Friday morning and the cold is coming with snow this weekend

Well Thursday turned out to be rather nice day after a cool start. I had ice all over the windshield on the truck but it quickly melted as the sun made it's debut. The skies were a beautiful deep blue and the sunshine was abundant for most of the day with an occasional cloud. I was able to work outside until our friends Sam and Marcia arrived in the late afternoon then we took a nice leisurely hike to the top of the mountain.

The morning started with us once again all snuggly in the flannel sheets and it was going on 8'ish before we made our selves roll out. After a few quiet minutes, a bowl of boring oatmeal and the posting of this ramble I wanted to get outside as the sun was shining through the now mostly leafless trees. I fired up the leaf blower and had another huge pile of leaves heading out of the yards. Neighbor Gerald came around 10'ish with his tractor and pulled down a stubborn limb that had been broken during my last tree falling project but was still precariously hanging down. We got that down with a chain and a rope then loaded up his bucket on the front of the tractor several times with sawed wood to ferry it to the top of the hill and into his trailer. We hauled 3 full trailer loads of oak and maple fire wood to compliment his stack for the winter.

After a lunch of chicken salad on a tortilla I headed back out to clean up the area of the fallen trees. Once again I employed the leaf blower herding the leaves down off the yards and into the dry gully in the backwoods yard. That kept me busy until it was time to clean up for our supper guests. They had a bit of difficulty locating our place as they had followed Patrick and Kathryn the first and only time here several weeks ago. They unfortunately used map quest which had them all discombobulated. After they arrived we headed out to the top of the mountain on a hike.

We met a couple from West Palm Beach as we strolled up the steep incline who were looking at some of the property on top of the mountain and offered to show them Ann and Sandy Cline's place tomorrow. Sandy entrusted me with the key to help them with showing his cabin as they are an hour plus away. This couple seemed to be about our age and already own some land in the county but were looking for a view. Who knows they may become our newest neighbors. They were impressed with this property for sale at this reasonable price.

We had a nice leisurely stroll across the top and the buildings from downtown Winston were visible as the bright sunshine was reflected off of them. We came back down the back side of the mountain and the temp's were dropping quickly with the evening shadows. I dug Sam some white pine and popular tree seedlings that were growing down below my compost area. Some were as high as 3 feet or more and he wanted to plant them alongside his beautiful log cabin in Elk Creek, Va. We headed in to the delicious smells coming from within and dined on steak cooking in a gravy since early morning

along with smashed taters, cooked carrots and Marcia brought a very tasty salad. We later enjoyed a peach cobbler as we taught them to play Euchre. Well the gals beat us despite Marcia's faking her "not knowing what she was doing" remarks throughout the game. It was a fun time had by all and they left for their long ride home somewhere going on 9"ish.

We cleaned up the dishes then I settled in to the college game between FSU and Louisville and the Panthers vs the Saints. FSU prevailed in the final quarter and the Cat's were losing to the Saint's as I headed for the shower.  It wasn't long afterwards the sandman calleth.

This is a FYI for those who are interested in helping a worthy young lady who wants to go to Peru next year to work in the medical field with some of the indigenous people of that country. Kallie Dalton is a beautiful, bright and down home gal with great spiritual and moral values and is raising funds for her trip there. If anyone is interested in helping to support her and her travel to and from Peru PLEASE feel free to do so. Check out her Facebook page and see where you can make a donation for her efforts. You can check her out at Katherine Dalton and her campaign at GoFundMe, LATER