Well Friday was a bit unusual to start the day as temps were down into the high 50's for the last day of July and since we've had a ton of rain this past week and I've had this huge brush pile down in the gully behind the backwoods yard, so I thought it would be a good time to burn and I did after a lite breakfast of oatmeal and fruit. I was up at my usual 6'ish roll out to start the day and after a few quiet moments and the posting of this ramble I loaded up the golf cart with some newspaper and petrified pine knots called "lighter knot" and an ax and a pitchfork and headed down below to tackle this job.
I've always been a stickler for starting fires with one match and once again the paper and knots did the trick as I used only the single match again. It took me awhile to get this brush pile roaring with a fire hot enough to burn up brush from a couple years with wet leaves under the pile which had stacked up from the water that runs down into the gully when it rains hard. But by late afternoon it had all burned up except for a large oak stump which was at the bottom of the pile and it smoldered throughout the night and hopefully is reduced to just ashes by this morning. I want to take the ashes when they cool and spread them on some of the moss that is starting to show it's self in the backwoods yard once again. I read where ashes neutralize the acid soil which moss thrives on.
After lunch I fired up the mower and Nancy wanted to help as well as she took the golf cart with weed whacker and headed down the driveway. She was gone quite awhile and I saw where she had just about completed mowing the grass at the foot of the driveway and along the ditches on the way up. She finally stopped and told me she couldn't raise her arms any longer to work the whacker. Her muscles were give out and she trembled when trying to raise a glass for a drink. She wondered how I use that whacker with one arm at times and managed to do everything at one time, oh well its called conditioning and stamina.
The yards and gardens looked so beautiful and while I occasionally headed down to round up the burning pile of brush with the pitchfork we sat on the porches and read for a spell before supper. She had a sirloin steak in the marinate so along with fresh peppers from the garden and herbs we had fajitas for a supper right off the grill and they were delicious. We ate rather lite for the day with sardines and crackers with mustard and onions for lunch and sliced cucumbers, yeow one of our favorites and then just steak fajitas on a wrap for supper with sauteed onions and peppers but we did use a dollop of sour cream our only extra fat for the day. I of course use a jalapeno from the garden along with fresh cilantro and thyme.
We took off after letting the supper digest for an hour on our daily hike. Nancy was still experiencing some tremors in the arm muscles and this morning they are sore but back to normal. We saw the Frampton's( Gordon and Sonja) who were about to take a walk so we partnered up with them for rest of our hike. They are trying to sell their house with 7 acres of land on the outskirts of the Charlotte area and move to the mountains permanently. They both are getting up there in age and want to settle in one area. She is from Montana and he is from S.C. We had a nice chat with them as we walked along.
We headed on back down the mountain as we hiked the back road and left them to continue the circuit on back to their place at the very top of Cliffside Drive where it intersects with Rich Hill Mountain Road. This is our usual route as we pass their cabin each day on our hike. The distant views down off the mountain were some what obstructed except for Pilot Mountain through the haze. What a beautiful hike we had with no humidity, a gentle breeze and temps in the middle 70's.
Nancy had on sweats to start the day and we closed most of the windows before retiring for bed. It was once again in the 50's this AM and just delightful with some dew dripping from the tin roof onto the upstairs dormer. Except for that noise it was so quiet in the early morning and just as day break occurred the beautiful "heavenly blue" morning glories erupted in their beauty on the arbor. There must be close to a dozen each day along the sides and top of the arbor and usually last until the direct sunlight strikes them about lunchtime. The zinnias are really blooming as well with their multi heads of color on a single stalk. They are yellows, oranges, reds and browns all on a single stalk and their beauty is awesome as well. I picked cucumbers again and they are succulent with little or no seeds and just so mild in flavor.
Well after the hike we turned on Fox News and once more we are incredulous this Attorney General the highest office of law enforcement is not taking any action on Planned Parenthood for the selling of baby parts for profit while we the tax payer is funding this sleazy operation that kills innocent babies. What kind of people have we become all to appease this puppet potus to the secular progressives on the left funded by billionaire George Soros. We are in the thresh hold of some very serious culture shock and change that could mean the end of the way we are perceived on the world stage. We are weak militarily because we have no commander in chief who has surrounded himself with incompetent leaders like Clinton and Kerry who have sold us down the river to those who want to kill us. She is corrupt and a money hungry person and he was a traitor in Viet Nam. Where has the scrutiny gone from our media and the unbiased investigative reporting gone all except for Fox News, LATER
