Farm Animal Free-for-all!

I just lost 12 pounds! Obviously not in the hind end. I told Jim to not take the picture with me in it!!! Can you say "Blue Bllooorrpp." The horses, pigs, and emus all showed up at the same time.

Big Piggy is very sweet (and dirty)

Sorry, no apples today.

Emu Close-ups

This is a male emu that wanted to take on Sonic. Sonic wasn't afraid and stood his ground-on his side of the fence! Males hiss and females drum.

Off to Carmel

I flew into Oakland yesterday to visit with Linda and Heidi for a few days. On Saturday we're going to Carmel for 3 days. Yeah, feel sorry for me. Then I'm spending some time in San Francisco with my cousin, Sarah Catterson.

Also, we're remodeling our dining room into an office so my computer is going to be down until after the 4th of July weekend. I have a couple of posts set to pop up here and there, though. We'll see if that really happens.

Sonic and Penny say HI

Isn't Penny cute in her bin?? I just couldn't resist including these pictures of her.

Happy 92nd Birthday to Grandma Harris

Are you enjoying these pictures from Grandma Harris's birthday party? Yeah, I brought the camera and forgot to take any pictures. I'm so mad. Well, Dad will have to take some pictures of Grandma next week.

Anyway, we got together with Leslie, Dickie, along with the birthday girl and had Mexican food and cake. Boy, Grandma's plate was piled high and she finished off the whole thing. She's hanging in there pretty well even though she's shrinking by the minute.

Here are some interesting facts about her. She worked as a nurse during World War II and up until her kids were born. She met her husband on a blind date and he proposed that same night. She said they would wait a year and see how they felt. So one year later they met again for only the second time and she said "yes".

Her Dad died when she was 4 years old. Her mom died of breast cancer around the time of her marriage in 1945. All of her siblings have now past on. She is the only remaining of the 2 brothers and 4 sisters. She was the 3rd oldest (or close to that). She grew up a good part of her young years in a house with no indoor plumbing or electricity in a tiny town called Dunbar in southwestern Pennsylvania. It's a coal mining town about an hour from Pittsburgh. Well, that's all I can think of at the moment and this was off the top of my head somewhat.

What do you say to someone turning 92? Here's to another 92? At the rate she's going there's bound to be another birthday next year!

Dad's Favorite Bird

Here is a nice picture of a cardinal under a dogwood tree in our backyard. Their bright red feathers sure look pretty against the dark green foliage.

The New Baby

Check out "our" new baby! It's a colt (as opposed to a filly). Also, note the state of one of the fence rails.

Oak Ridge

Do you kids remember being at this dam near Oak Ridge? We stopped there in Oct. of '88. Also, check out the size of the Oak Ridge municipal swimming pool! Dad said it was spring fed and freezing all the time. Had to be a minimum of 85 degrees before one even considered taking a dip.

The Last of the Smoky Mountain Pictures

Dad and I had Sunday Morning devotional by one of the creeks in the National Park.

Then he couldn't resist wading. He said his feet really tingled from the cold but felt invigorated afterwards. I resisted the urge.

Our Mountain Cabin on Roaring Fork Creek

Here's our cabin which hugs the side of a hill on the Roaring Fork Creek in Gatlinburg. I suspect it was built in the 60's and represented no great luxury but it filled Dad's request to be near a creek. He wanted to enjoy the sounds of a rushing stream. It was cozy enough except for the hideous giant whirlpool tub located in the master (and only) bedroom. You can see it was added later at the expense of the bathroom sink area. Notice that we had to park on one side of the creek and tote our stuff across a bridge to get to the cabin. All in all it was a snug place and fun to BBQ practically hanging out over the creek!

Smoky Mountain Scenes

Notice the "smoke" coming off the cabin roof in the early morning after a rain the night before. This is how the Smoky Mountains got their name. Evaporation floating up and out of the forests made it seem like the mountains were smoking. Looks really cool! Most of these pictures are from our hike to Grotto Falls last Saturday morning. 1.5 miles uphill! The other falls is called Place of a Thousand Drips. Stay tuned for more pictures from our trip.

Sam Houston taught here.

Long before Sam Houston become president of the new Republic of Texas he taught school here in this (reconstructed) log school house near the town or Maryville which is close to the entrance to the Smokies. Seems he loved to read but was allergic to manual labor and decided that teaching school was the way to earn the money he needed to retire a sizable debt of $100-huge for that time in 1812. Evidently this was the first public school built in Tennessee. He later went on to serve as a congressman and even governor of Tennessee! This was all before all his escapades in Mexican Texas. He lead a fascinating life. I think Dad's read his biography.