Here's hoping that all of you had a wonderful holiday season and that you enter the new year rested in body and spirit, and looking forward to another year's progress in meeting your life's goals. Jim and I had a wonderful season, though I confess to being glad to be back into a routine.
We actually celebrated Christmas in fits and starts...with my mother the week or so before Christmas; with Jon and his family, a day or two before Christmas; with our friends, the Longs, on Christmas Day; and with my sister and her family the week after Christmas. It was fun on all fronts, but my tree was up for over a month as were the other decorations, and I was really, really glad to get back to normal.
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| "Reni Oakley" |
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| JJ "Shooter" |
Now a little history is in order. Jim and our grandson, JJ, love to go to the gun store in Charlotte. JJ squats down in front of the display cases and picks out guns that he would like to have, so Jim decided that this was the year to give him a Daisy Red Ryder BB gun. If you have ever seen that wonderful Christmas movie "A Christmas Story" you will know what that gun is like. Anyway, he bought it for him, waited with breathless suspense, and had it under the tree when they came up right before Christmas. It was rainy and foggy the day they arrived, but the day after dawned crisp and clear, so the game was on! Jim and Jon took JJ and sister Lauren outside to teach them to target shoot. The barrel was too long for each of them, but Lauren compensated well by developing a rather unorthodox stance, and became a "Dead Eye Dick" We started calling her Reni Oakley. JJ, on the other hand handled a rifle like he does video game controls. We don't think he ever really hit anything since his plan seemed to be "Fire, Aim, Ready". Katie watched these goings-on from the inside for awhile and then apparently decided that her 11 year old self was not too good to try this activity. The gun was not too long for her and she was an equally good shot when compared to Reni. So now, we have the Oakley Sisters. Reni asks her dad everyday when they are going back to shoot. Included are some pics of the "Young Guns".
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| "Katie Oakley" |
Snow Update: We have had two snows since Christmas Day, both very moderate with only about a 1-2 inch accumulation. Those of you familiar with snow know that this is negligible. The latest snow came on Monday night. I had a hair appointment yesterday and JR said that he would take me down and then we would go do some rat killing. Now, mind you, we have
TWO 4-wheel drive vehicles sitting in our driveway. However, JR decided that we would take his company car (a Ford Fusion) because "It'll be fine." Yeah, it was fine for getting down the drive, but when we got back the car (after 4 tries) wouldn't go back up. So, we parked it and walked straight up hill for a little over 1/2 mile. I was okay, but JR's knee hurt. I volunteered to go up and get the truck or the 4Runner and come get him, but he had to be Macho Man. So...I let him walk and declined to feel sorry for him when he complained about his knee the rest of the night! I had to take him down this morning to get his car...no problem for ye old 4Runner!
Water Update: I still don't have regular water. The hold-up now is Duke Energy which has to come up and hook up the power to the new barn. The water pump at the spring will be run from there, and we currently do not have water that continually pumps from there . I do, however, have a pump in the holding tank at the top of the drive (see last post) so the inside water is normal acting. However, the plumber has to come out about once every 5 days or so to top off the tank, which requires hooking up a generator to the pump at the spring and about 2 hours labor. It's just like paying for water in Charlotte!! To date, I have been without normal water since November 30. Do I need to say that I'm over it?
It's beautiful here and I will leave you with a landscape from the ridge.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!
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| Above it all on the ridge |
