Outside My Windows III - Around the Campfire

[MountainMan]

This is the official start of the third thread in the “Outside My Windows” series:

Outside My Windows III – Around the Campfire

The first OMW thread was started as a feel good place where friends would gather and post on subjects they could share with forum friends that made them feel good.  This theme continues.

The original OMW thread went 18 pages and was stopped as a courtesy to those without a high speed connection. OMW II went 16 pages.

“Around the Campfire” seems like a fitting name for part 3 as we go into summer.

Posters are encouraged to drift and hijack the OMW III thread in any direction they wish at any time.

[MountainMan]

Tom,

At the end of OMW II you asked about how the "women in my life", are doing.  Thanks for asking.  Nancy's second operation on the same foot within three months is slowly healing - hopefully there won't be a, "Nancy's foot operation III".

Unfortunately my mother's health is still declining.  We have to have her on such high pain medication that she is out of it most of the time.  My daughter is coming from CA to probably see her the last time next weekend.  I hope they will be able to talk together.

Thanks again for asking.  I hope all is going well with Kathleen as she approaches her operation.

Dave

[R9SCarry]

Well done Dave - ''the tradition continues''

Ahh saw your comment re Nancy's foot - hope that continues well, and less trouble than last time.

How is your wife doing Tom?

[MountainMan]

Figured we needed a few pictures to start  - of course my two favorite companions - don't ask who is number 1.


Waking up at sunrise.






Nancy feeds Spencer - her right foot was just operated on - excuse the Sunday newspaper clutter.  Yes he is spoiled - this is how he eats all evening meals.  He has to eat his breakfast without it being held though - need to draw the line somewhere.

[theirishguard]

Dave, I can't let Isley, my service dog, see that. Then it will be all kinds of trouble at cafes.
Tom

[Richard S]

Dave:

Thanks for starting No. III!  It would appear that Nancy is on the mend and that Spencer is living in the style to which he deserves to be accustomed.

Your mother and your family are in our thoughts and prayers.

[Richard S]

As you all know, folk art is a thriving cottage industry in East Tennessee.  I think I mentioned in OMW II that a tree had fallen during a storm at Critter Creek and that I had been down there cutting up wood.  It was a tall yellow pine which snapped about 20 feet up the trunk.  But what do you do about the stump?

One thing you can do is call "Granny's Bears and Birds" up on English Mountain.  "Granny" comes down one afternoon with her chainsaw and her husband and a nephew to do the heavy lifting and carves the stump into a bear.  

 

[theirishguard]

Richard, that is great, its like looking into a mirror
Tom

[Michigunner]

I also like that stone fence.

Bill

[Richard S]

I also like that stone fence.

Bill:

Those old rock walls are fairly common in that area, which is aptly known as "Rocky Flats" -- not to be confused with the "Rocky Top" of Tennessee song and legend.  And legend has it that the walls were built by Scotch/Irish settlers in the late 18th and early 19th Centuries to mark the boundaries of their farms and to serve as barricades in defense against marauding Cherokees.  (The Cherokees' defeat and the "Trail of Tears" to the Indian Territory in what is now known as the State of Oklahoma came later.)  The wall in the photograph is described in the recorded title as marking the southernmost boundary of the property known as "Critter Creek."

[Richard S]

Richard, that is great, its like looking into a mirror
Tom

Tom:

You and I are much better looking!  

Joyce and I wish your Kathleen all success with her treatment.  You both are in our thoughts and prayers.  Stay strong.

[theirishguard]

Richard, thanks you are too kind.
Tom

[MountainMan]

Richard

Boy could I use Granny to carve up some of my ten foot plus high stumps - she could do a zoo of animals.  I have lived here in the oak forest for going on three years and I never have had an oak fall over from the roots.  A number though have snapped off from ten feet up or higher.  

[Richard S]

The first messengers of Spring have arrived at Critter Creek!

[MountainMan]

Wonderful Richard - I think they are talking about some snow here.