Fairwell Tacky Trailer

hooked up!!

never thought I'd see the TT THAT close to the porch

It's ready to go

backing it up the path

going past BNOE barn

going across the second pasture

The truck was stuck...now what? 

stuck in the muck!

On the road again

Pine needles flying off the roof

The empty hole

While JR left with the porch, the other guys started prepping the TT to move.  They had to replace an axle and then put all the tires on it.  After lunch, it was ready to move.  It was just amazing how JR got that trailer out of the hole without having to cut down a single tree.  Even the tree that was right up against the kitchen window.  The hard part was backing it up the path way to Charlotte and Raimey's.  Every foot or so, they had to stop and trim the tree branches so it would fit.  That took a couple of hours.  We thought it was home free once they backed it into the pasture and turned it to go past the BNOE barn and out the other pasture, to the road.  ....BUT....the culvert to the road was very narrow and it had rained last weekend.  That meant the pasture was really wet.  Yep...you guessed it!  The moving truck got stuck!!!  No problem. ..ha.  They had the wrecker truck, so they pulled the steel cable out of the front of that truck, ran it under the TT and hooked it to the back of the other truck.  Then pulled!  Out of the mud it came.  Next was to come up with how they were going to get this big truck and the TT over the small culvert without getting stuck again.  They put down everything they had in both trucks in the mud so they wouldn't sink again.  It worked!  Two hours later, the TT was being pulled past our mailbox and the carpet of pine needles were flying off the roof of it left and right.  As I stood there and watched it being pulled away until I couldn't see it any more, I didn't feel sad as I thought I would. I even felt great full that it was gone.   It was one of the best times in my life but there are more great things to come.  

Our First Porch

The steps Chuck slid off of when they were covered in ice

The trailer to carry the porch away

Taking the supports off of the porch

Ready to go

Just the Tacky Trailer again.

We sold the Tacky Trailer!!!  We told Raimey to get the word out that the TT was for sale.  I think it only took a week or so and we got a phone call asking about the TT.  Two guys came out to look at it, paid us a deposit to hold it and said they would be back in a couple of days with the rest of the money.  We suggested that they call JR to move it out of here.  He was the one that parked it smack dab up against the trees in the hole in the woods that we made, eight years ago.  The same day the guys left the deposit, JR came out to look at the situation.  He said he wished he had known that the TT was for sale.  If the deal fell through with the other guys, JR said he would buy it from us.  Then, he offered us money for the porch to it since we were going to have to take it down.  This was great!  It saved Chuck a lot of back breaking work of taking the porch all apart.  Soooooo....Thursday morning around 9:00 am, JR shows up with his crew and starts getting the porch off and ready to move.  By noon, the porch was on the trailer that JR had brought to haul it away with.  Man! that little porch sure made a difference in the look of the TT.  It was like it added a room to it.  Many hours were spend on that porch.  What memories we have.  In the freezing cold to talk on our phones to waiting early mornings with our coffee for the construction guys to show up to build the house.  Then there were the many meals we ate out there and getting George kitty to come to us for the first time.  I'm so glad to have pictures of it all.  Like I said, " what happy memories" we have.

A Kayaking We Go

There were gazillions of turtles along the river

Cave People

Grant, Chuck, Charlie and Jim

Jim

Beautiful site

Charlie at lunch time

Chuck

Jackie

Charlie

at the pick up point ten miles later. 

Twice in two weeks.  I'm really making up for not being able to kayak for all those months.  Charlie called and wanted to know if we wanted to go on a kayaking trip with him and three other people.  Chuck knew everyone from his hiking group and I knew Jim.  He's the artist that we went to his house on my birthday for dinner and to play cards.  After meeting Grant and Jackie, it was like I had known them all along.  After a two hour ride in Charlie's truck with three of the kayaks in the back of his truck, we all met up at Buffalo river in Tennessee.  We put in at the Crazy Horse camp grounds and started our ten mile float/paddle adventure.  The weather was perfect and so was the scenery.  We must have seen ten million turtle's sunning themselves on the fallen trees in the river.  All sizes, from really big to babies.  They were the pretty painted kind, with the yellow stripes on their necks.  Then, out of the blue....was a bald eagle.  He flew down the river in front of us for several yards.  A few minutes later, here he came back and flew into the trees next to us.  A little over half way into our ten miles, we decided to stop for lunch.  Jim had kayaked this river before and he knew of a pebble beach for us to pull up onto.  Plus, there was this really neat cave to explore.  It was a bit dark to really explore  so Charlie at least took our picture in front of it.  By the end of the ten miles and 4 1/2 hours later, I was feeling pretty good.  All but my " kayaking butt".  It was glad to get out and not get back in for the rest of the day.  The pick up guy was there waiting for us with the van and trailer to haul us all back to the starting point.  What a really fun day!!!  Met new friends ( Jackie and Grant are having us over for dinner soon, at their lake house) and spent the day in beautiful surroundings.  Oh, yeah....on the way home we stopped at one of my favorite restaurants for dinner.  Can't ask for any more than that.

Kayaking again!!

Chuck

ME!

Charlie shooting Chuck

US!!

Charlie

Well, I FINALLY got to go kayaking again after almost a year.  Charlie called last week and wanted to know if we wanted to go with him on Sunday afternoon.  Of course the answer was YES!  We took the kayaks to Limestone bay and paddled up Limestone creek.  We came across an inlet where a couple of alligators live.  Two guys where just sitting in their kayaks watching the water, hoping to catch a glimpse of the large gator.  We were headed to a waterfall in a cove that Charlie knew about.  We came across a down tree but was able to pull the kayaks over it by holding onto one of the branches and pulling.  At the end where the waterfall was suppose to be, was a big fallen mess.  We think all of the rain that we got on July 4th, washed everything away.  No waterfall!!  So, we headed back. We stopped off at the inlet where the gators were and we actually got to see a couple of eye balls sticking out of the water.  They sank and we decided not to wait for them to come back up again.   It was getting late since we hadn't started until around 3:30.  It was a good 6 mile trip to paddle for my first time back at it.  It took us around 3 hours.  I think it's a start of many Fall kayaking trips for us.  I'm so happy to be back at it!!! Don't think my core muscles are though..ha.

Unattended Garden

Pretty okra bloom 

when the okra gets too big it curls.....funny!

so far...it's still growing

have had lots of green peppers

The garden has been on it's own for a couple of months now.  Funny thing is...there are still things growing.  It's time to pull everything up but when you walk down there and see veggies trying to produce you don't have the heart to give up on it just yet.  I just keep telling myself, " soon" it will all need to be pulled up and tilled under for the winter.

Fat Cat

Two Fat Cats

Silly George 

Some times I just have to grab the camera and take pictures of silly George.  He makes me laugh.  He sure makes a fun addition to our yard here at Brambly Pines. He's a very smart, loving, fat, hunter cat.  I've never had one like him.  How lucky we were to have him come walking through Brambly Pines three years ago when we were building the house.  How lucky for him too.

Miss Brooder

One of our girls have decided that she should try and hatch all the eggs that are laid every day.  Poor little lady.  She is "brooding".  She has been doing this for a couple of months now but we have noticed here lately, she has been going outside with the rest of the girls, more.  Hopefully she is getting over this brooding stuff.  I'm sure she would make a very good " mama hen" if there just was a daddy around.  Not going to happen though.

Pre-Fall Yard

It won't be long before everything will be dying back for the winter.  It's kind of a sad time of year for me but then again, I just have to think about how all winter long, I don't have to go out and water and weed.  That changes my mind fast...ha. It always surprises me come Spring and everything pops their little heads out of the ground.  Sometimes I forget what I have planted where.  It's like getting all new plants come Spring.  Our yard is actually starting to look like we have lived here awhile.  Three years ago today, we moved into our new house.  How old does a house have to be before you have to stop calling it your new house?  I think I'll give it a couple more years.

Apple Time

After a morning of tomato picking, we headed to Spradlins where we pick our blackberries and blueberries.  They also have an apple orchard.  Strange thing was, when we got there, they were closed. It's not like them to be closed at apple time and on a Saturday afternoon.  We sure hope nothing has happen in their family to make them close their stand.  So, we continued down the road a bit to Steele's Orchard.  You can't pick apples there but they have all kinds for you to buy.  We ended up buying a 1/2 peck so I could make apple butter.  Once I tasted how good the apples were, I didn't want to use them for apple butter.  I just wanted to eat them.  Might make an apple pie out of them also.  Just might go back and get more if I really get the inkling to make apple butter this Fall.  It is one of my favorite things that I make in the kitchen.