Well Thursday was a busy fun day that also saw us saying goodbye to kin folk from Miami and getting ready for neighbors from Seminole. Wow, we run a b&b at no charge but it's worth it and so much fun. The kin folks are husband and 5 sons of niece Erica who is the oldest child of Nancy's brother Eric. She has a total of 10 youngun's and one on the way and this gang was here for the first time ever. They wanted to camp outside in tents which they brought which made it so much easier for Nancy with little or no extra laundry, house cleaning as we get ready for house guest for the next week. We did cook extra and these 5 boys are growing and can put away the chow and we even ate outside on the picnic table on the deck which also helped with keeping the cabin clean.
I started the day with a 6'ish roll out and the boys were already anticipating my wake up. I had some warm coals from the night before camp fire so I got that going for them and they played with sticks they burned in the fire until breakfast. I did manage my usual routines that started with a cup of hot green tea laced with turmeric on this cool chilly morning with temps a little less than 60. These boys were not fazed by the chill in the air and I don't think they wore shoes the whole time here and even on a hike later in the day at Stone Mountain Park.
I fried up nearly 5 pounds of sausage patties and a skillet of left over taters as well as a couple eggs each and a couple of biscuits each along with a gallon of juice. They cleaned it all up and then again for lunch we had a dozen or more of hand paddy burgers along with all the fixin's as well as several kinds of chips and and once again the platter was empty. Wow can these boys put away the chow and the night before was an even bigger supper, oh well they are growing boys and very mannered and quite helpful. We enjoyed their stay and invited them back next year for a camping experience. This was their first time camping in the mountains.
Nancy took off to town to grocery up and I showed the gang Doughton Park just south of us on the BRParkway as they were thinking of camping there two more nights. We did a small hike up to the scenic over look and then looked at the camp sites that were somewhat primitive with no electric or water on the camp site but a community one. They really liked the area and we saw a large doe in the area but I wanted to show them Stone Mountain Park last which I thought was so much better with more to do than just camp. Well we ventured down off of our mountain to the 2300 ft level of the top of the Stone Mountain and they fell in love with the area. I showed them the sliding rock waterfall which I once slid down several times a couple years ago and Max the second oldest slipped and got wet which was par for the course for him as he is somewhat clumsy. Anyhow we took an hour or more hike back part ways to the huge waterfall and stopped at the old 19th century Hutchinson Farm in the valley at the base of the mountain. Most of the old real log buildings have been restored and lot of the old horse drawn farm machinery is still present and available to peruse. What a tough way of life in those days and then to think you had to travel in through the mountain to get to the farm land.
We saw several well marked trails and I showed them where to further explore the area. This state park is well maintained and free except for in expensive camping sites which were half the cost of the one they stayed in S.C. They choose a site and reserved it for one night thus far and we came back and had lunch and they packed up their belongings and headed out around 3'ish. We went to work to get the cabin ready once again with vacuuming, washing windows and cleaning house as well as I worked in the yard picking up and putting away. The boys did a good job of leaving the yard in good shape but they are somewhat messy eaters with food on the deck; we are so glad the weather was great for eating outside so I just swept the deck off, oh well. What a fun time.
After a light supper of left over green beans Nancy made a vegetable soup so we could have on hand light lunches as the Botbyl's are on another fad diet and eating little or no starches which doesn't bother me. I have tons of lettuces coming in and ready for harvesting so the fresh veggies is right up my alley. I piddled around in the circle driveway flower beds weeding and then I transplanted a couple dozen Zinnias that were growing close together and then hand watered all the flower beds and gardens. We surely could use some rain but the cool temps have saved the gardens and yard. I'm looking forward to some rain in the forecast for this weekend and thrilled the boys had good weather for tent camping the last couple of nights.
Nancy wanted a campfire so we sat and watched that until nearly 9'ish as it was so peaceful and quiet with just the two of us for a change. I headed in and hit the showers then got ready for some horizontal lab around 10'ish, LATER
