I started the day much the usual with a 6'ish roll out to my cup of hot green tea laced with turmeric while I posted this ramble and then spent some quiet time with my Creator in thanksgiving for another day and then lifting up several by name for healing and comfort. Paw Paw is still at home with daughter Pat, his caregiver but is having some health issues which comes to all men who live long enough, yuck I'm not looking forward to that, oh well. Everyone else seems to be about the same as I've heard nothing to the contrary. Helen's sister seems to be improving as well as she is back home on her own.
I piddled around outside pulling my onions as I didn't want them to rot in the wet ground from all the rain and wet soggy conditions the past few days. They were about the size of a golf ball but oh so sweet. I squashed a few green worms with my fingers and left the residue on my collard plants which should help with reducing their proliferation and then picked a couple cucumbers. I noticed the leaves are starting to turn yellow but the hundreds of blooms are still viable and I have several small ones maturing. The okra is still only about a couple feet tall and haven't started to bloom yet which is puzzling to me. I have several small lettuces up in the back yard garden and I will move them up into separate 6 packs today for transplanting in a couple weeks. The cool nights should be perfect for them to mature.
We headed out around noon and made a Walgreens stop for Nancy's scripts before meeting the Tracy's at their cabin then we headed south down the twisty 221 towards Boone. That road is being 4 lane from Jefferson to Boone and is in various stages of construction with some stop and go traffic. Once that road is completed it will be like a freeway through the mountains and what an engineering feat with some of the mountain removed in various places. We made several shopping stops for different article which could only be found at specific stores. First it was Walmart and then Publix for their Boars Head lunch meat and some items on sale before a lite lunch of a KFC sandwich which we ate outside across the street at Starbucks. They all had their specialty drinks but I'm not a fan of them so I had water with my grilled chicken breast sandwich.
We sat in the outside eating area which was awesome before heading over to the Todd General Store area. The road took us through the mountains where the scenery was beautiful with old farms many still in operation and some old abandoned family houses now covered with vines and growth. It was sad to see several of those at one time majestic places gone to ruins. The many fields of corn still show that farming is still done in the area with many of the fields dotted with cattle and horses. We did see a few goats as well. We took some roads never taken before and that is always a pleasant surprise. The Todd Store has changed hands and is now open only on weekends and it too has changed in its appearance from what we remembered from several years back. The annex which we don't remember is still in daily operation selling baked goods, desserts and lite lunches with tons of "what nots" as we call them which is your basic touristy goods.
We next stopped at Shatley Springs to refill the Tracy's water jugs from the ever present non stop cold water coming out of the mountain. The restaurant was starting to gather folks outside on their huge porches waiting to dine on home cooking but we wanted to try a different eatery just reopened about two months ago called the Red Dog. We heard good things about the food and they were true but you needed a jacket as the a/c was working quite well. We had ice sickles hanging by the time we left around 8'ish. It's a small dining room which seats about 8-9 tables and does have a bar area which seats 6-7 folks. We only waited about 10 minutes for a table and the service was quite good and the only down side was the attitude of a couple servers who we knew were busy but quite abrupt and not very gracious. A couple of the owners were there and maybe that was the reason which we could see the lack of real friendliness which is very unusual for this area. The food was prepared and presented in good fashion and while we would go back again the distance from our place is over an hour which is a draw back.
We got back to the Tracy's before dark and transferred our goodies then headed home. The cooler was still showing frozen ice packs which as great since I put them in the chest around noon. We had purchased some goodies for the orphanage down off the mountain that Cornerstone supports with a service, a cookout and then some needed supplies for their daily needs. We won't attend that meeting but we all chipped in for some of their needs. We got back on the hill just about dark and could feel the temps dropping which was perfect for a good nights sleep. It wasn't long after a hot shower and watching the Ray's once again blow their chances of making the playoffs as a wild card. They got blown out 15-1 the night before and was now down 6-3 with a couple innings to go. I hit the sack around 10:30 and never heard Nancy come to bed as she is a night owl and a "sleep in" morning person. It was a fun day and the weather was almost perfect and supposed to be this way through the weekend. We are watching a hurricane which is projected to hit Florida in the coming days, so we may have family headed this way depending on the severity of the storm and where its coming ashore, LATER
