Pears

 

This pear tree has never done all that much. It makes pretty flowers and produces lots of really small fruit. I think over the years it got too tall. It was full of broken limbs. We finally decided over winter that we would pull it down and start a new tree. I mentioned this to Eli on Saturday in passing, and later that same day he took off a representative sample of small limbs. Today it was ropes and ladders galore, as he and Briggs tore into the project in a big way. Eli made sure they were safe; Briggs made sure they got a lot done. I have encouraged them to work from the top of the tree down, taking off manageable pieces. That seems to have worked well. Because of the pandemic, the town is not picking up debris like they usually do, so that part of the project will have to wait. But the boys will probably have the whole thing down tomorrow. Briggs has been getting frustrated with the chainsaw's malfunctions (chain slipping off the bar). I explained that it was a cheapo device 30 years ago, and that he shouldn't expect to much from it. It's probably done more in 24 hours than it has in the past 24 years! We'll have to figure out how to deal with the stump. But the new tree is ready and waiting.

Play structure, revisited

Not much has been happening with the play structure for quite some time. Every now and then I would spot Calvin upon it. But it remains unfinished, with weeds overtaking the sand box area. But the past couple of weeks have seen some renewed energy surrounding it. I have kept out of the way, but noted as Calvin has used tools and materials out there. I haven't kept much track of what he was doing, just seeing that he has been busy. One night last week he had things to such a point that he declared he was ready to spend the night outside on the structure, in a hammock borrowed from Eli. He tried, but lasted only until about midnight. He reported that the wind was very strong (which it was) and that made sleeping impossible. These are some pictures of the "finished" project, minus a hammock.
 

March and April 2020

 

It's hard to believe it's been more than a year since my last post. And hard to believe I'll break the dry spell with this!

Covid-19 is all about. The boys have been out of school for a couple of weeks, with at least a couple more to go. They have been good about keeping themselves occupied. Schoolwork via remote hookup has been part of that. A couple of days ago I remembered that I had some spare fence posts lying around to work on the fence between us and the Griffiths. I replaced a couple a few years ago. I rented a digger then, which was kind of pricey. However, Briggs has gotten to the point he could easily dig the holes with a manual post hole digger, so I set him up for a trial run. Dottie Allen was out there almost immediately checking in on everything! She said she could not remember the posts ever having been changed in the 35+ years she's lived in her house. The first one kind of leaned, mostly due to the way the fence was placed. His second one was very nicely done. He did a couple more the next day. The hardest part is removing the nails holding the fence material to the old posts. He's used a couple of different tools. On one of the holes we got a little ahead of ourselves when backfilling the new post. We managed to shovel/rake a cheap flathead screwdriver into the hole along with the dirt. Neither of us was interested in re-digging to get it. Archeologists in ages to come will spends hours wondering "why."

I think the immediacy of Facebook has sapped my interest in writing in the blog format. Every now and then though I get an urge to write up something. Of late it's felt like too much hassle to use this form, but in the age of corona-virus in 2020, I have the time.

Backyard camping

 

The weather the past few days has been glorious, and quite unlike typical July-August weather. Low temps and low humidity have made for a delightful few days. Calvin often asks about camping during summer, which is tricky especially since a good combination of available time and agreeable weather is hard to come by. So I seized this opportunity: I asked Calvin if he would like to set up the tent in the yard, and he took me up on it. We set up the tent Sunday evening, and Calvin slept outside by himself. He said it was a little chilly Monday morning, but otherwise just fine. Monday we invited a friend, Tyler, over for Monday night. I decided to go for the whole camping experience by doing dinner over the fire pit. The boys had a blast. Tyler and Calvin tried to sleep in the tent but Tyler was too distracted by critter noises, and they finally came inside about midnight. I suggested to Calvin on Tuesday that it might be time to bring down the tent, and he asked for a third night. He stayed outside by himself again last night!After supper Monday catching marshmallows in the air got to be the big thing with Tyler and Briggs. They actually caught a few! We also learned that Tyler prefers gooey bits of carbon on his s'mores.

Christmas outside 2016

Some years it gets done; sometimes not. This year we had outdoor decorations for Christmas. Libby did the old basketball post as a giant tree. Pretty stunning actually. The boys got in on the act with an abstract creation that required the ladder and numerous tools to install. Somewhere I have a picture of the product at night, but I can't find it at the moment.

Sous chefs

Eli has done plenty of cooking away from home, especially at Rockmont. But he has never done much here. I can't remember exactly what led to this shot, but here he is in the kitchen. I seem to recall that he was being very precise with everything as a beginner would be.

This is Briggs a few nights ago. Out of the blue he wanted to bake a cake. We had a box of cake flour around with three possible recipes on the back. He chose one and charged in. The result was dandy.

It will be interesting to see if and when the cooking bug bites Calvin. Funny how both boys wanted to bake something (sweet). The first thing I recall trying was ratatouille!

The day I fell in

This was December 2015. I took Briggs and Calvin to Cawtawba Falls, which is near us in Old Fort. I seem to recall it was a fairly warm day. We were all wearing shorts. We had a great time and made it all the way to the top of the falls. We had exercised caution on the way up when we had to cross the creek: uneventful. Not the case coming down. I slipped on a rock and the left side of my whole body landed in the creek. I happened to be holding my new phone/camera in my right hand. Luckily we really were on our way out and I didn't suffer very long with the cold water on me. Still a fun day and lessons learned.

Sam's Knob Hike, December 2016

 

I took Calvin and Briggs up on the Parkway today for a short hike. I had heard of Sam's Knob for a while, but we had never been. Over the weekend a Facebook friend went with his family; I was inspired. We went at midday to Brevard for a fast-food lunch. We ate that on the final leg of the trip: up US 276 to the Parkway. The access to Sam's Knob is just a few miles south. We were on the trail at about 130pm. The trail cuts across a glen before heading up the small-ish mountain.

 

We missed a switchback and found ourselves scrambling almost vertically! We picked the trail back up and made it the rest of the way with no trouble. On the way back down I realized that some of the tree trunks and limbs were arranged in such a way (at the point we missed the turn) to try to indicate the right direction. We had missed the signs on the way up. The view from the top was great. The past few days had been cloudy, typical December weather for us. But this day had really blown clear, prompting me to blow off a meeting at the office and spirit us away. After descending we headed back toward Asheville via the Parkway, seeing some places that we had visited before. The tunnels were a big hit (again). We got home about 430pm.

Helos

View of the staging area, fuel trucks and helicopters

The plan today was for me to take Briggs and Calvin up to Tweetsie Railroad in Blowing Rock for the day. The only dicey part was that Briggs spent the previous night with a friend and wasn't ready to go early like he often is, and too he had a football practice in the evening we had to be back for. On the way up we passed a sign cautioning about traffic related to the Forest Service trying to put out a brush fire, north of Marion. I slowed and stole a glance as a rudimentary staging area, including 3 helicopters. There was a tent, several Forest Service vehicles and several folks. One of those folks was a member of our church! He's a "smoke jumper." I mentioned all this to the boys and made note to tell Eli when we got home.

Well, our travel tanked at Linville: traffic everywhere. There was a jam in Linville. There was another at Banner Elk. And finally a miles-long back-up going into Blowing Rock. We endured it as long as we could. But finally the boys asked if we could just turn around and go home. I didn't need much convincing! We drove back to Banner Elk and had fastfood for lunch. Briggs remarked that it was a case of 4 hours of driving for a fastfood lunch! We set off for home.

Waiting in the parking area for the helicopter to take off

As we made our way back toward Marion, I wondered if there might still be people at the brush fire heliport, and how much trouble I would encounter for stopping to see if our church-friend was still around. I tried to be discreet as I pulled into the parking area, but we were greeted by a very friendly Forest Service employee. We exchanged introductions, and I explained what I was interested in (seeing the church guy if he was still around). The short answer was that he had left. But we got shuffled up to various others in the staging area, including ultimately the captain, or boss, or chief of the heliport. I was struck by the several layers and branches of command: personnel for fighting fires, personnel for the helicopters and personnel to run the impromptu heliport. There was Kenny who first met us; then a heliport supervisor-trainee whose name I forgot; and finally Denise, from Rome, GA who was boss of the whole place. We met several other fire-fighters and pilots, and the radio-operator. Denise guided us through what was going on.

Crews' hangout: middle of a field

We were told that indeed Steve was no longer there, but that we were welcome to hang out and see what was what. We got word that a flight would be leaving soon (30 minutes) and once it had left we could get a close-up look at the remaining helicopters. The boys were game to stay. We got invited into the tented shelter area the crews use. We watched the pre-flight briefing and its take-off and then got escorted on a tour of a Bell 407 helicopter by its pilot, and guy named Brad from Colorado who (with his wife) worked for a helicopter leasing agency in Atlanta.He has been flying for 10 years, servicing oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico, running EMS in Colorado, and finally supporting fire-fighters for the US Forest Service.

You can't tell it but the rotor on the second helicopter is turning

We had a blast, though most of the time I regretted that Eli was not along. Realizing that we're only 45 minutes from the place, I covenanted with myself to bring Eli back soon.

At home later, Eli filled us in on specifics of the helicopter was saw, and was able to track down a news report on the fire in McDowell County they were trying to contain. The plan is to go back Friday morning and see if Eli can score some quality time at the same place.

 

 

Personal tour!

Personal tour!

Take-off!

Grandfather mountain

I was on vacation (post-Easter) last week, and enjoyed some much-needed alone time. Eli went on a camping trip with kids from church Friday-Sunday. Libby and I heard Sam Bush Friday evening (with Martha and Russ) at Isis (standing!!! hated that, but enjoyed the music, including the opening act, Wisewater, and dinner was nice). Sunday I took the younger brothers to Grandfather Mountain, giving Libby some of her own alone-time. We packed a picnic lunch and had a good time. It was a bit chillier up there than it was at home. Briggs may be developing a slight fear of heights: he made it only about 1/3 across the mile-high bridge and then had to turn back.But he did scamper up the split rock near the entrance to the park.

Blue Shirt

Libby no doubt knew what she was doing every time she dressed the boys for picture day. But it was only this most recent time with Calvin in October that it dawned on me. One shirt, three boys. The shirt being ready at just the right time for the size of the boy. With the variations in lighting, and the goofy grins, you really don't notice that it's the same shirt!

Eli

Briggs

Calvin

South Mountain State Park, Summer 2013

The Friday after the 4th of July this year found me at home with all three boys and rainy weather in the offing. It had been raining quite a bit for most of a week, so everyone was kind of edgy with boredom. On a whim I decided to take everyone to South Mountain State Park. We had been in 2008 also. I figured Eli and Briggs would remember it a bit, even if Calvin didn't. Herewith some before and after pictures. In 2008 the weather had been "normal" so the river was what one might expect. The contrast with the state of the river after a month of rain was quite remarkable.

Briggs in 2008. We spent most of our time on the 2008 trip near the parking area. There is a picnic area, and the water in 2008 was pretty, perfect for exploring.

 Calvin in 2008, about 9 months old.

Eli near the falls in 2008. Notice the flow level.

 

 The falls in 2008. Pretty enough, and tame enough.

At the falls in 2013. Gush-a-licious. Sorry it's a little blurry: the spray in the air, and the general cloudiness of the area gave the camera on my phone fits.

Calvin in 2013. He hiked the whole way up to the falls, around the top and back down, in pouring rain for the last 45 minutes. He was not willing to call it a "great adventure" until long after we had gotten home! But at this point the sun had actually broken through for a few minutes; true "calm before the storm."

Briggs in 2013, about half-way up to the falls. We knew the water level was up, and got a good indication of that here. Many places we had walked around on in 2008 were completely submerged this year.

 

There is a sheer rock face along the way up to the fall. Usually it's dry; water was pouring around it this time around. Above, Eli in 2013; below in 2008.

Calvin at the falls overlook. Standing there for just a few moments led to total drenching. There was no rain at this point, but the effect of the water coming off the falls was as if it were pouring.