I started the day much the usual with a 6'ish roll out to my cup of green tea laced with turmeric while I posted this ramble and then spent some time in thanksgiving with my Creator for my many blessings as well as lifted up several by name. Paw Paw came home during the afternoon after an extra day in the hospital with daughter Pat to her place in Wardensville, where he will be under her constant care and supervision. It's a big time job and she had taken it upon herself now that she is retired to handle and to care for him as we are just too far away to be of any assistance and both Josie and Dee still work. We know just what she is experiencing as we too were both involved with Nancy's dad before he passed and then somewhat with her mom as we cared for her before she moved to Michigan. It's not an easy obligation and very demanding.
After a breakfast of left over deer sausage, eggs and a home grown tomato and jalapeno pepper I headed out to check on the gardens and the yards. The deer did eat off the new growth on my raspberry bushes which despite new growth they are still prickly, oh well. They love my beets greens and Swiss chard but other than those few plants they haven't bothered anything else. I loaded up the golf cart with a rake and headed down the driveway as we had some rain which loosened the soil so I could work the driveway. I smoothed out some ruts and loose gravel making it easier to get up the hill without spinning your tires and then opened up some ditches for the the rain runoff which is in the forecast. I worked up a good sweat before finishing the job but the temps were down into the low 70's which was perfect for work.
Nancy was ready for a hike so we took off around 10:30 for a nice hike up to the top of the mountain. The long distant views were better as some of the mist and haze were nearly gone and we could make out Pilot Mountain but the building in Winston-Salem were still obscured with haze. The birds were singing as were the cicadas which is a sure sign summer is on the wand and fall isn't far off. The temps were down considerably and this coming weekend the highs are in the 60's. We stopped and chatted briefly with Larry, one of the workers who helped us as he and his son were finishing up a major restoration and painting job for neighbor Bertie on her cabin. Everyone else was gone on top so we headed down the mountain and had a lite lunch of guacamole and chips.
After lunch I decided to do some major restoration on the old out house/tool shed which sits near the fire circle. Mr. Roy built that back around 1994-95 and its been a great useful out building as well as a symbol of what it was originally used for; and outhouse which set on the septic tank instead of a portable toilet the girls used before we had a bathroom. The walls on the upper side were given away to dry rot as well as the lower portion of the back wall. I had a piece of this great plywood type board that Larry used for the flooring in the upstairs bathroom leftover which was perfect for this job. It took some sawing out the rotted areas on my hands and knees but the job came out better than expected and the wood is supposed withstand weather better than anything yet. I forget the name of it but a 4x8 sheet was around 40 bucks or so which came in handy for this job. I just need to paint it once the rain stops which started overnight and is still raining now as I make this post.
Well we loaded up the trash and made a dumpster stop on the way to Galax, stopped by the bank in town then headed to Walmart for some items before gassing up at 2.29 a gallon and then to a new Mexican eatery in town. I had heard this place was great and they have a second place in Independence which we had eaten at before and the food was terrific there. We met the Tracy's around 6'ish after also seeing them at Walmart. When we came through Galax we noticed the main street was blocked off for a car show as we at first had planned on visiting the Rex Theatre again in town at 7 for some mountain music. After a delicious filling supper our plans changed on the spur of the moment.
I had the special which was chicken chimichanga's with refried beans and a salad with guacamole and Nancy had enchiladas with a white sauce, beans and rice. The salsas and chips were endless and she even had a glass of sangria and I a margarita all for about 20 bucks. This place is a definite once again while in Galax for eating out. It was nearly 7 when we left the eatery and headed for downtown Galax. At the last minute instead of going into the Rex we saw the old cars parked next door so decided to walk around the areas and saw many beautiful old restored original cars and trucks then we heard music on a side street playing oldies from the 60's and 70's and the vocals were awesome as well. There was a parking lot set up with a bandstand and these 5 guys were very good and the crowd was quite large as was the area in front of the bandstand with lots of old folks dancing, jitterbugging, the twist etc. Well we joined them for several fast numbers and even did a couple slow dances. The music was fantastic and they took requests which they did. We left around 8:30 after working off our supper and working up a nice sweat. It was a great fun spur of the moment event.
We headed home and it was pitch black on the mountain as the days of light until 9'ish are over until next year and now the mornings are still dark when I roll out at 6'ish whereas day break was evident a few weeks ago. After unloading the ice chest of our goodies we settled into the Ray's game which was on the TV and then I saw where the Bucs preseason game was on another channel. Well the Ray's beat the Orioles 7-1 and the Bucs beat the browns 13-12. Both now hometown teams won for a change. It wasn't long until it was my horizontal time, LATER
