Visitor from Norway

A very good friend of ours recently came to visit us in North Carolina.  Although a relatively short visit of a couple of days, we ended up having a super time.  Here are a few photos from his visit.

Relaxing at home.

A photo at the top of our property.

Velkommen å våre huset



It doesn't get any better than this.





Anticipation is written all over our faces.  Bring on the pig roast.



Trying to get the chef to reserve a special section of pork.



Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!

From the Great Smoky Mountains National Park - We wish you a Happy New Year!

And a belated Merry Christmas.  As you can see, we were all tuckered out and couldn't get to the blog!

Visitor on the hill

Do you know who I am?

How about now?



I am an Eastern Boxer Turtle and I have come to visit.  Party on Garth!



Adult Easter Egg Hunt

Anxiously awaiting the hunt






The Master Egg hider busy at work

 





A happy customer!



On the hunt



 

This is hard work, time for some refreshment

  

Determined to find the golden egg

You go left, I'll go right.  We can do this!

A leisurely walk down the hill



I won!  33 Eggs, I am the champion!! I raise my basket to the Great Easter Bunny!!!



Another satisfied hunter checking out a prize



New Family member

Welcome to our newest family member....This photo

says it all!!!  We went round and round on naming

her...Hannah, Beemer, Asta, Bullet, LT (Little Terror),

but finally decided on SCOUT.  So, welcome to the

family Scout.

 

She is a rescue dog.  We were on our way to Tractor
Supply (a store) to go look at chicks and ducks, just
for fun.  As we were walking towards the store we
heard the sound of barking.  Turns out that a local
animal rescue was there at the back of the store.  I
warned Chris not to venture out back, but the draw of
the "help me" barks was too strong.  Long story short,
we ended up with this docile, cute, lovable puppy. Oh,
did I say docile....wrong answer, well for at least now.

LT, I mean Scout, has some Terrior in her.  We think
Jack Russell and a bit of something else.  The Rescue
society didn't have much info, other than she was picked
up as a stray and thought she was about 3-4 months old.

Here are assorted photos of our bundle of energy...

Out amongst the violets with Daddy...

Time for a treat....

Welcome to North Cacolacki....

How do I look in black and white?

What do you think, is this my best side?

Play time with my buddy....

Sharing a laugh with Mom...

Daddy's girl....

Happy New Year to all...

Happy New Year!!

We had a nice little party for 15 people

yesterday, a great way to start off 2011.

Our guests were all people who have

made our life in the "Mush" all that

more enjoyable, comfortable and

downright pleasant.

We hope your New Year started off

with just as much fun.

It hardly ever snows in the Mush...

Here we are, same Bat time, same Bat channel
as last year.


Chris on the walk home from the neighbor's
house. Notice the head lamp, courtesy of
LL Bean's shop.


The morning after the snowfall. Good thing
we moved the car down the hill this year. Live
and learn they say. No power outage this year,
but we made sure the solar batteries were on
"Full charge" this year. Chris also put some
spare water in jugs and we had our weather
alert channel on. We have learned to control
the heat in the house better as well, with the
radiant floor heat, the furnace and the wood
stove. Here's to staying warm and a mild
winter!!

Just call me "Lefty"

For those of you who did not know,
I had an "Arthroscopic Mumford"
done to attempt to relieve "bone-on-
bone" action going on in my shoulder.
Alas, this was a result of an injury
suffered in a Navy flag football game
back in Nov 2009.

Here I am on day 5 of recovery. My
little friend attached to my shoulder
is a Polar Care 300. It certainly
beats the heck out of slapping a bag
of frozen peas on my shoulder!


And I get to wear this nifty blue
sling for the next 2-4 weeks, bonus!


Day five was the day I got to
remove the dressing. It was also
the day I finally got to shower as
well, certainly a welcome relief
to anybody who got within 5 feet
of me during this stage of recovery.


A close up of the entry points, 3 of
them. Got to love the ink drawing
on my body, a mental image of
"Please stay within the lines" come
to mind. One hopes the Doc was
good with his crayons as a kid!


Well, this posting was a bit slow in
forming up, don't know how hard
it is to not be able to use your right
hand until forced to do so.

Chris has been a trooper with taking
great care of me... Thanks Honey!

Timber!!!

Good morning! This is a shot of a typical
morning view, the fog comes rolling around
in the morning only to disappear later in the
day. Sometimes the fog is so thick that we can't
even see the big mountain across the valley.
For those of you have been here, you may
notice we had some of the trees in the back
cleared out. It feels a lot different back there,
a feeling of openness, it also let us clear some
of the trees that had a chance to hit the house
should they have fallen.

Well, lately it feels like there is someone coming
and going all the time. We are still cleaning up
from the blizzard of '09. Here's the latest crew,
a couple of local men with their country truck,
saw mill and crew of dogs. Notice the tomatoes
on the side rail of the truck. Chris has been
keeping these two guys supplied with coffee and
ice tea, even fed them lunch one day. So in return,
they brought us some homegrown tomatoes. Stuff
like this really makes us happy, it is the simple
country life that we had hoped for.

For those of you who have never seen a saw mill...

The younger of the two gentlemen. Check out
the hat. Got to have one of these hats if you
are going to be working out in the sun all day
long.

Manual labor in its simplest form...

Last but not least... The support crew...
Cash and Yoda, country dogs on watch duty.

Boaters Beware

You know how sometimes you are traveling
around with your spouse and you take turns
photographing your adventures, then a kind
stranger comes along and offers to snap a
photo with both of you in it...Well, buyers
beware...nice photo, heh?


Fortunately, he realized his mistake. See honey,
I told you we would have some fun on this trip.
We rented a canoe at Cascade Lake, NC. What
a pleasant 2 hour adventure we had. Our goal
was to paddle down to a place called "Hooker
Falls", no not where a lady of the night gets her
high heel stuck in the crack of the sidewalk, but
this...


Proof that we had fun....


After, we went into Brevard and had a nice lunch,
and met this interesting fellow on the bench. He
owns the Chocolate Shop behind him. Story goes that
he had no desire to run a chocolate shop, knew
absolutely nothing about how to make chocolate,
but managed to end up running a successful
business. Something about an "odd couple"
leasing the empty shop from him, with the
intent on running a chocolate shop, set it up
with all the equipment, then supposedly got
another calling from higher above and split
town. Well, this guy's daughter bought him
a book on how to make chocolate and after
692 attempts at making chocolate that was
edible, he was in business. Willy Wonka, eat
your heart out! Didn't see any little men with
green hair though, rather disappointing one
might say.