Another trip......

I know I haven't posted to the blog in awhile. Chuck and I are getting ready to make a trip to the land so will come home with lots of fun pictures and stories to tell, I'm sure. It will be time for the pretty daffodils to be blooming and maybe if we are lucky, we just might get to see some snow, like we did last year. We're planning on making the lean to in the garden area to keep all our gardening tools. Of course, there will be a day or two of bush hogging and a day hiking in the forest. Will be packing the explorer to the hilt as always, of stuff to be stored in the barn. We will be stopping at Gene and George's to spend the night before going on up to the land because of the problems that I have been having with my back. Not a good idea to sit in the car for so long at a time. It's always fun to visit with Gene and George.....we always laugh our butts off with them. Now, who doesn't need a smaller butt? lol. Hope everyone is enjoying winter. ...I have been. We have actually had a " winter" here in Florida this year. Most of the transplants have been complaining about the cold here, but May will be here soon enough with summer hot weather that will last well into Nov. (along with hurricane season....ugh) We have actually been able to use our fire place a few times. Haven't used the heater. It's funny how your prospective is so different on what cold is....when you spend a week in the TT with no heat and you can write on the ice that is on the inside of the windows. What adventures we have had and hoping for a lot more. Will post again when we get back.

Under, over, up and down.....hike

Our hike the day after Thanksgiving turned out to be a seven hour hike and we actually only hiked around four miles. Four miles...up, down, under, over, through a canyon and down the middle of the creek. We met up with a hunter coming out of the woods as we were going in and he informed us that we should wear orange to be safe. We were wrong when we thought certain parts of the forest, there was no hunting aloud. By permit, you can hunt the entire forest during hunting season. We had packed our orange ponchos because there was a good chance of rain that day, so Shell and I wore those and Chuck had his orange hat. Our hike started out with just climbing over and under a lot of fallen trees. It wasn't long before we came upon a pretty little waterfall. After having to walk down the middle of the creek several times because the walls of the canyons coming straight down to the water edge and climbing up and down lots of slopes, with a lot of slipping and sliding, we finally found the waterfalls that filled up the stone gourges that we were looking for. We decided that was the perfect place for our picnic lunch. Little did we know what was ahead of us on this hike. Chuck checked the map, along with the compass and GPS, several times. We ended up having to climb a waterfall and slide down some pretty steep hills....and find our way through the rocks of a canyon. The hardest thing was climbing up the side of a canyon that went straight " UP". Thinking we were getting close to the explorer, we still had to hike over more fallen trees and up and down hills before coming to the road. There it was...just a few feet away...." the explorer". We were never so happy to see it ever. Even though this hike was a pretty intense one and I'm not sure if I would want to do it all over again but once we were back at the explorer, I can say...I was glad we did it!!!! It sure was an adventure.

Skating Rink

When I was little...real little...like 3 years old, my mother took me to the skating rink every day of my life. When I was four, I was in competition skating. ..so I grew up knowing how to skate pretty well. My brother who was eight years older than I, also skated. When he was in the Air Force he was an MP and one of his duties was guarding the under ground missals out in the desert. He used to get bored with it so he'd take his skates and would skate around the tops of the cement slabs that were over the missals. My Mom would worry about him cause she said if anyone ever came up that he had to stop them from doing anything they weren't suppose to do, he'd have his skates on and couldn't get off the cement slabs....lol. Luckly, nothing ever happened that he couldn't have done on skates. Well, when the slab to the barn was poured, all I could think about was .." wow!....I have my very own skating rink". That summer, Chuck bought me a pair of new skates so I could have fun skating in the barn. When I told my brother about my very own skating rink, he said that I needed one of those mirrored balls to hang from the middle of the barn and that he was going to make me one. He called me one day to tell me that he had the perfect thing to use for the ball, all he had to do was glue little mirrors on it. Sad to say, my brother died this last July and never got to finish my mirrored ball. Every time I put my skates on and skate around the barn , I think of my brother and wish that he was there to skate with me.

Merry Christmas Ya'll

Twas the night before Christmas in Alabama, ya know.
Way out in the country, with the woods covered in snow.
Asleep in their tacky trailer, were Barb and Chuck,
A dreamin’ of Christmas, and hoping for luck.

Not stockings, but rubber boots, at the foot of their beds
For this was Alabama, what more need to be said.
When all of a sudden, from out of the still night,
There came such a ruckus, it gave them a fright.

And Chuck saw ‘cross the drive, like a shot from a gun,
A loaded up John Deere, come on at a run.
The driver was “ Geein” and Hawin” with a will.
The cows ( not reindeer) he drove with such skill.

“Come on there Daisy May, Mary Lucy & Suzie Jane, to the right,
There’ll be plenty of travelin’ for you all tonight.
The driver in overalls and a shirt that was red,
Had a straw hat on top of his head.

As he stepped from the John Deere, he was really a sight,
With his beard and moustache, so curly and white.
As he burst into the Tacky Trailer, Barb and Chuck awoke,
And were so astonished, that neither one spoke.

And he filled up their boots with such presents galore,
That neither could think of a single thing more.
When Chuck recovered the use of his jaws,
He asked in a whisper, “ Are you really Santa Claus?”


“Am I the real Santa? Well, what do you think?”
And he smiled as he gave a mysterious wink.
Then he leaped into the John Deere, and called back in his drawl,
“ To all the good hearted people in Alabama, Merry Christmas ‘Ya’ll”.

Gathering of the Gourds.....

The first thing we did when we arrived on the land for Thanksgiving, was walk down to the very over grown garden to see what kind of gourds where left growing. It was like having an Easter Egg hunt.....here a gourd, there a gourd,every where a gourd, gourd and two in a tree. We made sure that we found all there was to be found because we knew we would be bush hogging the garden area the next day. We even found a couple of little acorn squash and two or three summer squash, all not eatable any more. The bugs made one little acorn squash look like a cute little jack o lantern. Shell said it looked like it was saying " Boo Ya'll". lol. We put all the gourds on the picnic table until we had time to take them to the barn and then Chuck figured a way to hang them without touching each other....to dry. I bet there aren't too many people who have gourds hanging off of their canoe stand.... but ya just never know in Alabama.

First time Bush Hogger.......

After a fun day of Thanksgiving, just before sunset, Chuck taught Shell how to run the tractor and to Bush Hog. Not only was it fun for Shell, but fun for us to watch her. Her comment was the same as mine...." it's like riding a ride"....you don't want to stop. So, anyone who wants to come ride the most fun ride at Brambly Pines.....(once we move up there) ya'll come!!

Thanksgiving 2008

We had a great Thanksgiving with all the trimmings, even though we didn't have water or electricity to do it with. All my holiday decorations are in the barn so it's easy to make it look like home. It felt like a real "family Thanksgiving" because the table we ate on was my Dad's, the side table we use for the food, was my Uncle Joe's, the table cloth was Auntie Barbara's ( who I was named after) and we even used Nana's ( Chuck's mom) good silverware. Even though all these people are no longer with us any more, it's a nice feeling that we have part of them there. Shell did a wonderful job of collecting things off the land to make our Thanksgiving Bouquet.( Martha Stewart has nothing on her...lol) She even found a pretty little bird's nest. The pheasant feathers were from our yummy dinner the night before over at the the BNOE. After Thanksgiving lunch, Shell and I went to our " annual" shopping spree at the import shop a couple miles out in the country. Everything was 65% off. What fun we had. While we were gone, Chuck hooked up the bush hog to the tractor and mowed the drive way and paths. Sure makes a difference after it's all mowed. ...like someone actually lives on the land. I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving like we had. Wish it was time to do it all over again.