2011

2012-02-11T15:59:00.000-05:00

We can judge the heart of a man according to his love for animals.

Immanuel Kant

Peyton's Book, 2012

2012-02-08T09:14:00.001-05:00

Peyton Daughtry Recent Work by Peyton Crawford Daughtry

Make Your Own Book

P.C.Daughtry recent art works

2012-02-06T10:14:00.005-05:00

This is a book I recently put together showing recent art work by Peyton, click on link below and enjoy.

http://www.blurb.com/my/book/detail/2968820#share-pane

2012-01-30T19:27:00.002-05:00

The Bridges of Big Creek by Thomas B. Daughtry

Make Your Own Book

2012-01-30T19:22:00.002-05:00

2012-01-30T13:01:00.002-05:00

Brody and Dad

Peyton and Brayden playing on the computer.

Brody walks....a little

Brayden and friends at the basketball game

Brayden and Bricen

Bric, Janette the boys and the minister in the process of christening Brody

2012-01-30T12:30:00.003-05:00

From, "Summers at Big Creek"

2012-01-11T10:05:00.007-05:00

Weeds in Heaven

Of all the plants pictured above I am pretty sure that I have weedeated (if that's a word) and continue to weedeat most of them while working in the yard here at Big Creek. There is just something about working and cleaning up in and around the garden and yard that causes me to put all my love of plants on the back burner and "go for it!" There is something about the powerful hum coming from the engine with weeds and grass being thrown confetti like into the air that is intoxicating and gets me into the mood for total annihilation of anything that gets in the way. Also the smell of gasoline and motor oil makes anything else seem unimportant. It makes me want to put on a t-shirt like Marlon Brando wore in "A Streetcar Named Desire," curse the weeds, drink a beer, chew tobacco, kick things and sweat. Damn the weeds full speed ahead (thanks Admiral Farragut)! The act of weed eating, however, I do actually enjoy. The goal of having an orderly and weedless garden is not something for me to strive for anymore since clearly I cannot manage such lofty ambition, despite what I once believed. A weedeater helps but only a little. Being older now could also be a factor in my lack of interest and motivation.

Before I retired I thought, "When I don't work any more I will have the time to keep all the weeds and unwanted plants out of my garden altogether!" Ha, fat chance! That will never happen. Now I know that I do not have the resolution or will power for even coming close to managing anything like a weedless garden. For even a reasonable man, which I do think I am; a weedless garden is not something to aspire to in this lifetime, even when you are retired. Maybe it's for when you die and live in heaven, if you believe in heaven and if you go there and if there is a heaven, If you can have a garden there....questions, questions, questions.

Anyway, the vegetation that one thinks of as weeds are just plants that are in a place that you do not want them. Of course there are plants that you never want any place, anytime or anywhere like chickweed. This particular plant has some use in the feeding of chickens; they love it, thus the name.

About Chickens

2012-01-09T12:20:00.005-05:00

O.K. I know everyone has heard about the resurging interest in keeping chickens, especially in urban areas. While it is very satisfying to have chickens and benefit from the delicious "farm fresh eggs" there are a few drawbacks that one should consider before getting into the chicken business. For me the first drawback is the smell that chickens always generate. During rainy times the smell seems to be more significant than when it is dry. If you keep their pen scrupulously clean the smell is not really a problem. However if you do not then you have to deal with the odor.

The second thing that bugs me about having chickens is that the egg is vastly made up of water above any thing else and consequently if you want really good eggs you have to supply them with fresh, clean water. Why would anyone keep chickens except for the eggs? You never see anyone walking a chicken on a leash, do you? Well; actually I did see a woman walking a chicken on a leash in Piedmont park several years ago but I have seen a lot of strange things in Piedmont Park that you would never expect to see anywhere else. I will say no more about that. The water you supply has to be available all day, every day. In winter months you may have to go to the coup and dump the ice out and refill the water container with fresh water often. Even when the temperature is minus 15 degrees and you have a head cold. Get up, get out of your sick bed and hike down to the chicken coup and give them fresh water, no matter what!

Finally concerning drawbacks, chickens can be noisy. It never bothers me but if you have persnickety neighbors this might be a serious problem. They cluck and chortle on and off most of the day. I love to hear them down in the garden talking to each other in exotic chickeneze. We do however live way out in the country and do not have people living so close by that might find all that noise bothersome. I personally say, "Screw them!" This might however not be the best position if you live in town or even in the country if you have large belligerent neighbors who have guns.

That is pretty much all of the complaints I have concerning chickens. Below are a few points I do like very much: Fresh eggs, fresh eggs, fresh eggs, fresh eggs, fresh eggs and finally, fresh eggs. The chickens I have are Plymouth Barred Rocks and are great layers hardy and easy to deal with as chickens go. Did I mention that their dropping make terrific fertilizer if you don't over do it and if you compost it first. My neighbor, Dave has chickens and when I am out of town he takes care of mine and when he is out of town I return the favor. You might not think this is important but it becomes quite a problem if you are going on an extended trip and have dogs, cats, fish and chickens to provide for. There is no such thing as chicken sttters (be careful how you say this) up here at Big Creek.

If you live in town you will likely not have to deal with any serious predation, probably dogs and cats will be the largest problem. Up here at Big Creek we have fox, opossums. raccoons, bobcats, coyotes, hawks and other predators that love to eat chickens. It is not really their fault because everyone knows that chickens taste very good, don't really fly very well and are fairly easy to catch, especially if you are extremely hungry.

Now that the topic has come up I will have to admit that we do not kill and eat our chickens. They are retired and freed to walk around the yard when they quit reliably laying eggs. The chickens become like pets to us and since we do not eat any of the dogs and cats we have; we do not eat the chickens either.

Most people do however because they really are delicious.

tbd

A Foggy Morning in January

2012-01-08T10:30:00.004-05:00

This morning I walked up to the koi pond at the top of the driveway through a fog that had descended on the area like a sheet someone had thrown over a bed. The koi were very active for this time of year and looked like living iridescent jewels moving through the crystal clear water. The recent cold weather has almost completely done away with the algae that have fogged the water with its bloom for the entire summer months and has now made the fish so much easier to see and appreciate. They really are amazing creatures.

The spillway that drains the excess water from the large koi pond was stopped up with detritus from the leaves, fallen limbs and assorted vegetable matter deposited in the water by recent rain and wind. Although I keep a leaf rake up there for the express purpose of cleaning the spillway of all that is left there by natural events; it is a constant challenge. The fish seem very healthy at this point with all the gravity water exchange from recent rains and the output from the natural watershed above the house and up the side of the mountain. We are usually blessed with an abundant amount of water in the winter, spring and late fall. The summer months tend to see the water diminished to the point where in some years many of the koi are imperiled with draught conditions and some summers cause fish kills that are significant, like last summer, 2011.

There was a time when we first came to Big Creek that it was common to see rainbow trout and brown trout swimming up and down the creek. Frequently when Bric and Peyton were small boys playing in the creek they would find large clusters of trout eggs attached to the undersides of rocks in the swiftly moving water. It always thrilled them to make such discoveries. The place was wilder then than it is now and it is still pretty wild, evidenced by the deer, turkey, beaver, snakes and a multitude of other creatures. All these critters we appreciate and love to occasionally see but do wish that they would leave the garden plants alone and not eat all my hostas. It is of course absurd to expect that there is any chance of that happening when the deer and other animals do this for survival, not sport. Luckily we have Dave the hunter to help keep the deer population limited by harvesting the occasional specimen and even shares some of the pieces with us. We appreciate the venison, Dave.

The koi in the large pond this morning

The boys from Birmingham, at Christmas

2012-01-07T18:26:00.000-05:00

Bricen Brayden Brody

January 3, 2012 snow

2012-01-03T11:17:00.000-05:00

The water fall after the freeze

The driveway

Moose in the snow

The Miata, snowed

The All You Can Eat Buffet, (2011)

2011-12-29T20:10:00.008-05:00

This year for Christmas Linda, Peyton and I drove to Birmingham Alabama from Big Creek to spend two nights with Bric and his family. The little grandboys were so cute and we all had a picture perfect Christmas, including likely the cutest puppy you have ever seen in your life. She is an eight week old blue merle great Dane, soft as velvet with an amazing personality and one crystal blue eye, named Flower. Bric prepared sushi the first night we arrived and it was excellent. All the food in fact was fantastic, Bric has become a first rate cook. Janette is so sweet to us when we are there and so patient, considering that we are the "in-laws." She is a perfect match for Bric and I think he is perfect for her also. If only Peyton could find the perfect girl and who knows maybe he has or he will. Time will tell. There is real comfort for a parent knowing that someone loves and values their child as much as they do.

My story however does not really include Bric, Janette and the grandboys. It is very short, to the point and it concerns our trip back to Georgia. We left the morning of the 27th and had an uneventful trip. When we were near the Six Flags exit we stopped for gasoline. Peyton went into the station for a potty break and I started to pump the gas into the car. As I stood there holding on to the nozzle feeling the chilly gasoline race through the metal into the tank of the car I noticed a dark figure coming towards me across the parking lot. Never would I claim to be psychic in any way but I have for the entirety of my life had certain feelings about things that are about to happen and on occasion, they do happen the way I thought they would. Usually I ignore the feelings because right or wrong they do not amount to anything. A man in jeans and dark jacket walked obliquely towards me. As he drew closer I could hear him mumbling. From what I could understand he was having a conversation with himself and I did my best not to pay any attention to him. After a few seconds it became apparent that he was speaking to me in a rather low nonstop diatribe and said, "I am fifty years old and today is my birthday." He muttered speaking so fast I could almost not understand him. "All I want is one decent meal! I have four dollars in my pocket; all I need is five bucks and I can pay for my lunch at the "All You Can Eat Buffet" across the street!" he exclaimed. "I done been cussed out twice today and I ain't done nothing but ask for a dollar; if you got one mister I sure would appreciate is if you could help me out." The man continued rattling on at forty miles an hour, repeating himself talking so fast that I had to cup my hand around my ear to understand him. The wind was really blowing hard and it made understanding him very difficult, especially since he would not look directly at me and tended to speak down into his jacket. Once I lived in a really bad section of Atlanta in a low rent apartment and became slightly acquainted with a "junkie" or at least that's what another resident told me he was. He acted exactly like this stranger standing off to my side, hyper, shifting his feet, eyes darting around and rapidly talking. I was pretty wary as there was no one around that side of the station but me; Linda was in the car reading, I assumed. After a minute or two I had decided to give the man a few dollars but knew I had three twenties and a single one dollar bill. The twenties I was not willing to give him and the one dollar, even though that was all he was asking for seemed a little paltry.

The tank of the car was almost filled and I could hear the tight swirling sound of the gasoline in the neck of the gas tank becoming more constricted and racing faster. I thought as wound up as the man was he probably would misunderstand if I turned and walked into the station for change and who knew, maybe he would walk away, thinking I might complain to the management inside. He was clearly a desperate man in a desperate situation. In my life I have rarely been truly hungry but do remember what it felt like. I pushed the nozzle back into the slot where it came from and pulled the receipt out of the dispenser. The man took another step towards me. As I turned to the car I noticed that Linda had her arm sticking out of the window and between her fingers she held a ten dollar bill. Taking the bill from her hand I turned and walked towards the man. He at first started to back away. "I didn't ask for no ten," he exclaimed! "I just wanted a one, that's all I need! I can give you change if you want mister." I tried to speak in a calming voice and said, "Please, let me do this. It would be my pleasure to buy your lunch.” The man acted as though he might cry. I assured him that it would make me and my wife very happy if we could buy him a nice lunch the day after Christmas. He went on and on thanking me, seemingly on the verge of tears. "Thank you mister, thank you so much and God bless you and your family and Merry Christmas and a happy new year to you," the man insisted as he hurriedly left stepping between the speeding cars headed towards the “All You Can Eat Buffet” across the four lane highway.

Peyton came back and got into the car as the wind whipped around the two of us. He asked, "What was that all about?" I got into the warm car where Linda sat with a curious smile on her face. It occurred to me at that point how we had grown old together and had at long last, such similar minds .

We arrived back home at Big Creek after picking the dogs up at the kennel. Thoughts of the homeless man stayed with me and I wondered if he had indeed eaten his fill at the buffet down at the Six Flags exit. I don't really care what he did with the money but my encounter with him made me look at my lot in life and be a little more grateful with what I have and overlook the things I do not have. Sure, we have our share of problems and more will likely come our way. One thing I am hopeful about is that if there is any such thing as karma, perhaps one day after Christmas if I find myself standing by the roadside on a cold and windy day, homeless and hungry, maybe just maybe a stranger (who seems to have so much) will give me that desperately needed ten dollar bill and I too can have a meal at the "All You Can Eat Buffet."

The beautiful "Flower" and the beautiful grands.

2011-12-25T14:13:00.006-05:00

Flower

The new puppy is "Flower" the great dane. She is the Christmas present for my grand children living in Hoover Alabama from their parents and us grand parents. Santa brought her last night and if I do say so myself she is adorable. Quite affable and gregarious I want to take her home with me really bad. She will ultimately be larger than all my dogs put together and will probably eat a lot more than they all do combined.

The Reluctant Visitor

2011-12-20T22:20:00.010-05:00

The first time I saw J.D. her name was not J.D. It was Jeannie or something like that. Bobby (a neighbor that lives down the road from us) had given her a name just to have something to call her. She was a feral dog living at his house in the bushes and covered areas when the weather was bad. She is about 12 or 14 inches high and had no discernible personality; skittish would be the best way to describe her. While she lived with Bobby he had made some small inroads with her but since he worked a lot he did not have the time to concentrate on domesticating her. Bobby did feed her but she almost never allowed him to get close enough to touch or pet her. Many of the people living here in the Big Creek community supposed she was a feral dog that was born in the woods and never had contact with humans. Maybe some was made but it was probably of the most negative kind. She was likely the target of rocks as people tried to chase her away. She was very thin and if you looked at her directly in the eye she would run away until she was out of sight. If you noticed her at all she was very uncomfortable and would disappear into the bushes with her tail between her legs. She existed only in my peripheral vision for a year and a half and I did not touch her for longer than that. She did get to the point to where she followed me around in the yard and garden. One afternoon I walked down into the garden to check on the chickens. She followed me closely but just out of reach. I carried with me a length of rope in which I had, for some reason tied a slip knot. I held one end of the rope in my hand and the other end trailed behind, dragging along the ground following me. J.D. inadvertently stepped into the small circle of the slip knot and the pressure from her foot snatched the knot closed around her paw. She quickly realized that she had been caught and had an immediate panic attack. She reared up; she did several flips which only further tightened the knot and she howled in protest. When none of this relieved her situation she turned and raced directly at me with her teeth bared and did her best to bite me. I leaped and cavorted around in order to escape her snapping teeth and narrowly avoided them. Eventually I dropped the rope and when it fell the knot loosened and her foot came out of the loop. I did not see J.D. for several days following this incident but eventually she showed back up..

Her coat is black and white, large spots, dull with little shine but all in all not a bad looking little ordinary dog. Her feet are freckled with many tiny black spots. Some who saw her referred to her as a feist, whatever that is. I always thought feist was some sort of adjective, like feisty, that or maybe a verb. When J.D. first showed up she was in heat which made her even less desirable than her looks did. My male dog Jesse was probably a pretty lonely dog living here with no companion to interact with. J.D. must have realized this. Either that or she was just in heat and looking for a male dog to procreate with. Whatever the reasons she started staying down at our house more than she stayed at Bobby’s. I tried to chase her back to Bobby’s numerous times but she would have none of it. Frequently I would look out in the driveway and see J.D. standing there with Jesse behind her his hips pumpimg the air trying, frantically to mount her in a desperate effort to copulate. Jesse was too big and could not get down low enough for intercourse with the much smaller dog. She eventually passed out of heat with no puppies. We planned on having her neutered in the following months but could never get close enough to catch her. Six months passed and of course she came back into heat. She and Jesse disappeared into the woods for almost two weeks and during that time he apparently managed to complete the copulation. Perhaps she stood on a tree stump or maybe he stood in a hole. Really there is no way to know just how they managed it but they did. They were both significantly thinner when they finally returned home.

On the first day of May J.D. delivered four puppies under the front porch of our house. It was an impossible area, almost inaccessible and could only be reached by crawling on your stomach. Hearing her cries of distress around 10:30 in the evening I crawled on my belly till I could just glimpse her pushing these huge puppies from her back end. It was very touching seeing her struggle so determinedly under the front porch in the darkness under the porch illuminated only by the trembling spot of light from the flashlight. I left her to her business and went back into the house pretty sure that everything would be all right. The next morning early I went out to check on her. She had carried all four puppies up to the front porch before daylight where Jesse had pawed three of them. Not knowing what they were he pawed them till he tore the skin open on the back of one and injured two of the others. We quickly separated him from J.D. and the puppies but even after rushing them to the vet’s that morning the most damaged one died later when we returned home. She lived only a few hours. I buried her underneath one of the espaliered pear trees in the garden. She was a beautiful infant puppy already covered with spots. The surviving puppies were amazingly healthy. They were large puppies, rolling with fat and enthusiasm, pawing the air and searching for J.D. with their little feet. They sucked on her tiny teats till I thought she would be pulled inside out. That morning was the first time J.D. ever let me touch her. She shook with fear and trembling but finally knew that I meant her no harm. After that morning she began to be friendlier and allowed me to furtively touch her and not run away when I neared her. The puppies grew like I could not believe. Many afternoons I would take them all over to the other side of the creek and let them run in the sun through the fresh green grass and tumble over each other in a puppy tangle. They were adorable, a mass of soft black and white puppies. A favorite memory will always be those puppies, soft and yielding, tumbling, yapping with that amazing puppy breath.

Six weeks passed before I could believe it and the time came to find the puppies new homes. They were all so cute I couldn’t imagine having any trouble placing them. We didn’t. After posting photos of them in several of the local businesses, Tractor Supply, Ingle's and on line, we began to get calls from people wanting them. In no time at all we placed the two puppies we planned on not keeping. Calls wanting information about them continued for months following the placement of the final one. The puppy we decided to keep we named Moose. He was adorable, covered in the tiny spots like those that freckled his mother's feet. He also had three large black patches, one on his right hip and the other two on each of his incredibly soft ears. During all this passing time J.D. became more and more gregarious with our immediate family and even with some of the neighbors. She has become a pretty good dog and has adapted to the point that she seeks our company voluntarily, especially mine. Sometimes I bring her into the house and she dutifully sits in my lap and watches television as long as I want her to. She is still not all that comfortable visiting the inside of the house but tolerates it at my insistence. She is frightened by the large screen television and I believe she thinks it is real. Three of our four dogs are not primarily inside dogs but they do spend many nights in front of the fireplace sleeping while we watch television. AT 10:00 all but Brownie (actually Peyton’s dog) go outside and sleep on the side porch where I have heat lamps rigged up for them in colder weather. They frequently have disagreements in the wee hours of the mornings and wake us up. There is a time when one or the other of the dogs has to go out into the night to relieve themselves. It causes a small riot when they return and try to reclaim their warm spot. Usually there is very little bloodletting and after a minute or so of nonstop barking they settle back down and sleep soundly the rest of the night, or until something else disturbs them and they all go racing out into the night barking hysterically after whatever woke them up, a deer, a raccoon, an opossum or maybe the neighborhood ax murderer.

By the way I completely forgot to explain how J.D. got her name. During the first long months of her coming to live here she would not have anything to do with any of us and tenaciously clung to Jesse and him alone. He was the only one that could get near her and they were constant companions. They slept curled within each other’s warmth. We needed some way to identify her from Jesse and the other neighborhood dogs so we called her Jesse’s dog. The moniker stayed but we shortened it to J.D. We all really like her and have enjoyed having the “reluctant guest” stay with us for the past several years. We hope she continues to stay and she is more than welcome since she is now spayed. Jesse I am afraid would not agree with our decision concerning this matter.

A recent snow, Moose again

2011-12-20T17:49:00.000-05:00

On Seeing Stars

2011-12-19T18:13:00.009-05:00

Everyone knows that growing up is difficult even for the most well adjusted people. Anyone who knew me as a child, knows even before I start that I was a lot of things but well adjusted was not one of those things. Being the youngest of four boys I struggled with finding who and what I was from a very early age. The fourth boy in a line of four boys is not an enviable position to be in. It requires actions of an extreme nature even to get noticed. After all someone has all ready done any and everything you can think of. Well, for the most part this is true.

The title of this story comes from a great deal of time watching cartoons as a child. Not feeling that I exactly fit in with my family I spent a lot of time doing things that did not put me into direct contact with my brothers and parents too much. Not that I didn’t love them, I did. I loved my mother desperately and it always seemed to amuse her that I was so committed. She was not really a hugger or a kisser. When you tried to give her a peck on the cheek or a hug, she looked as though you were shoving a skunk at her. Television became popular when I was in the fifth grade and I loved it. The cartoons were a great source of entertainment for me even though our reception was very poor. Everything appeared to be happening in a snow storm. This did not deter me at all. I watched it regardless of the reception. The Mickey Mouse club came to us broadcast from Montgomery and was so snowy you could only occasionally see the Micky Mouse ears floating across the screen in a field of black and white snow. It was totally worth it at the time.

The thing about seeing stars has to do with cartoons and what happened when a cartoon character was wounded in some way or hit in the head. It was so cool to see the stars circling the toon’s head after some sort of mishap. It never happened to me but I was always pretty careful not to get hit anywhere, much less in the head. One afternoon I was out in the back yard playing on the slide with a neighbor friend when I had a terrific idea. If coming down the slide was so much fun while you were sitting on it just think how much fun it would be to come down the underside holding on with your hands and feet. It seemed like a good idea at the time.

When I got approximately half way down I lost my grip and fell a number of feet to the ground landing directly on my back. It knocked the breath out of me. If this has ever happened to you, you know how terrible it feels; you can’t breathe. You lay there desperately trying to suck air into your lungs and it just will not come in. It was as close to death (at least I thought it was) as I had ever come at that point in my life. Later on I got much closer. After a period of what seemed like an eternity I finally began to breathe normally again. It was a wonderful feeling but there were no stars. Not anywhere, not even one, much less a ring of them circling around my head. Perhaps I had briefly blacked out and had missed the stars. It was a mystery because it had really hurt and yet, no stars.

Water skiing one time at Phillip’s Inlet at Panama City beach I skied over a sand bar that was just barely under the water, maybe a half an inch or so. My ski struck the sand and practically stopped. I however continued on across the shallow water and sand at an alarming rate, doing flips and something akin to cartwheels eating a great deal of sand and sucking a lot of water into my lungs. Somehow in the tumbling one of the skis struck the side of my head and knocked a rather large gash in my temple. It really did not hurt all that much but there was an incredible amount or blood covering my neck and chest, clotting in my hair and surrounding me in the salty water staining it a dark pink color. My friends in the boat all leaped at once into the water and made their way to me as I sat dazed in an half inch of water. They thought I was done for. All this trauma and not one star.

Much later when I was working in Mississippi I was involved in a car wreck. It was not actually my fault but I got the blame anyway. There was a girl in the car with me at the time and she was injured pretty seriously. I too was injured but no bones were broken, at least not mine. My head however did bang against the driver’s side window so hard that it shattered the glass altogether. Still no stars! The phenomenon of stars was obviously something that I was incapable of experiencing, sad.

After we had been married a number of years Linda and I bought a cabin up in the north Georgia mountains. One of the reasons we bought it was because I was used to having a second home (a cabin my parents bought at Panama City Florida) and thought it was what we should do after receiving part of an inheritance from my parents. Buying the mountain cabin turned out to be one of the best things we ever did. It has been a source of a great deal of joy and pleasure.

Muscadine vine I wanted to plant. The post hole diggers amounted to two wooden poles with a rounded half circular shovel like metal piece on each end, attached together near the bottom with a hinge. When you squeezed the tops of the poles together the shovel bottom of the apparatus opened wide and you stabbed it into the ground. When you pulled the poles apart the metal tines gripped the dirt in the bottom of the hole and you lifted it up out and dumped it to one side. Repeat over and over and sooner or later you would have a hole. It is an ingenious devise.

There are a couple of problems you might encounter in rocky ground. The main problem is of course rocks. Especially rocks that are too large to fit in the jaws of the post hole digger. Your only option is to position the digger to where you can sort of feel the shovel end gripping the edges of the oversize rock. Then you pull apart the top of the devise until you have a grip on the obstruction. It helps if you kind of wedge your chest down between the two poles. You then push your right fist, gripping the right pole and push forward. At the same time gripping the left pole with your left fist, pull it towards you. This creates a torque like situation and hopefully will unscrew the rock and dislodge it deep in the dirt. Pushing my chin down between the two poles I twisted it with all my might. I could feel the rock beginning to move in the hole. Suddenly and without warning, as the rock came loose, the pole in my right fist shot forward in a counter clock wise motion and struck the right side of my chin with my fist, carrying with it a great deal of force. Everything began to turn black and I had to quickly sit down in the warm dirt before I went unconscious. As I sat there I became aware that there were a great number of iridescent stars circling my head. Actually it was all quite beautiful and although I was pretty dazed and had a really large bruise on my chin I finally knew two things; stars actually do circle your head in real life under certain circumstances, not only in cartoons and I obviously have a glass jaw..

tbd

Peyton and Brody T

2011-12-06T08:35:00.000-05:00

Will put up more tomorrow for you to have more that one choice. Dad

2011-12-01T21:18:00.002-05:00

Thanksgiving 2011

2011-11-24T16:10:00.004-05:00

A visit from Helen

2011-11-23T19:26:00.000-05:00

A very short story from last spring

2011-11-06T08:32:00.002-05:00

An afternoon on the reading Porch

The breeze from the ceiling fan washed over me. The only sound was the rustling of the creek, just at the edge of our property, briskly rushing down the mountain towards Lake Blue Ridge. The soft clicking of the poplar leaves in the adjacent trees added to the softness of the afternoon. Nothing could have been more bucolic and perfectly tranquil that afternoon, lying on the napping bed on the front screened in porch reading my latest book. Sleep would over take me as surely as the marauding squirrels would steal the sunflower seed from the bird feeder hanging just outside the screen wire. I noticed the silent hornets dodging around the hummingbird feeder as my eyes slowly closed. Sleep claimed me in its dark arms and unconsciousness enveloped me. I slept.

Sleeping soundly I dreamed I was in heavy traffic coming through Atlanta on I-75 in my Jeep and someone behind me was insistently blowing the horn of their car. It was very regular and extremely annoying, beep, beep, beep. The sound slowly roused me from a sleep that felt almost drug induced. Coming to I realized the horn being blown so regularly was not a car horn at all but an insistently barking dog. It was Jesse, my Dalmatian and he was hysterically barking as he usually did when a timber rattlesnake or a copperhead was in the vicinity. Groggily I rolled myself off the small bed and started for the door. The book I was reading fell onto the small table by the bed and continued on, overturning a half finished glass of sweet iced tea on its way to the floor. Looking through the screen and dense foliage I could see Jesse’s white spotted body dodging and lunging through the bushes, definitely in the pursuit of something. I saw no snake but knew I had to go investigate anyway. Having no direct exit from the screened porch I walked through the house to the front door and went down to the front yard, grabbing a hoe on my way just in case it was a poisonous snake that was causing all the commotion.

Rounding the vegetation filled space just beyond the porch I saw Jesse jerkily attacking something. It took me a minute to realize that it was no snake but a baby deer with spots covering his small body. Bambi! He was somehow hung in the fence surrounding the vegetable garden. The lumps on his head where antlers would eventually grow had been pushed with such force as he struggled to escape the dog that they had become wedged between two of the stiff rectangular parallel wires in the fence. Grabbing a handful of dirt I threw it into Jesse’s face. He briefly ceased his barking and retreated a few steps shaking his head. I looked at the small deer hung in the fence and tried to understand just what had happened. The bony humps had spread the wires with such force that they briefly allowed the apex of his head to slip through the small opening. They sprang back after that portion of his head passed through and held him fast in the grip of the fence, within Jesse’s reach. Moving to the head area of the now hysterical deer I carefully grasp his neck and pulled gently trying not to frighten him any more than he already was. He could not be extricated from the fence’s unexpected embrace by my hands no matter how hard I pulled. He would certainly be killed by the dogs or by shock if I could not remove him. Finally in desperation I moved to the back end of the small animal’s body and grabbed him by his spotted rump and began to pull. As it turned out this was not such a wise position to occupy on an animal with hooves, no matter how small he was. What followed is somewhat of a blurry conjecture to me but piecing it together following the incident this is what I assume happened. Suddenly and without warning the small apparently defenseless animal kicked me in the middle of the chest with such force that it propelled me backward into the adjacent bushes. This I assume because of the two perfectly round purple bruises I found in the middle of my chest later that afternoon, one on each side of my sternum.

Not knowing just how long I had been lying in the bushes I looked over at the place where the deer had been hung in the fence. He was gone and Jesse was sitting there looking at me intently. There was no sign of the deer, unless you count the dark purple stained places in the middle of my chest. Returning to the front porch I had visions of the Road runner and Wile E. Coyote and had a great deal more sympathy for him than I had ever felt before. Also that Walt Disney “Bambi” movie took on a whole different meaning for me and should be re-titled…."Bambi, the beast from Hell" or ”Godzilla” or something more appropriate and not so misleading.

tbd

Fall at Big Creek

2011-10-30T19:13:00.000-04:00

Witch hazel blooming by the front porch

The bridge under the bald cypress

Collards growing in the garden

Moose in the garden

Stuffed pepper made by Peyton

Label for brother Jean's wines........maybe

2011-10-29T08:50:00.004-04:00

Photo Bric posted on Facebook this morning. Brody Thomas Daughtry

2011-10-24T11:58:00.001-04:00

Big Boy, Brody!

I'm thinking the starting Quarter back in fall 2029 for the University of Alabama.

Starr and Virginia, two of my favorite people in the world, both beautiful, both delightful!

2011-10-22T19:18:00.000-04:00

Dinner by Peyton, who knew he could cook???

2011-10-22T19:16:00.000-04:00

Brody in the tub, Brayden and Bricen warming their feet and other assorted photos including, Burt's Pumpkin Farm, October 15, 2011

2011-10-16T16:55:00.008-04:00

Rub a dub dub

Cold feet at Big Creek

Relaxing by the fire at home

On Dad's shoulders

Bric, Janette, Linda and the boys

Brody Thomas

Brody again

Bricen

Peyton and Brody

At Burt's pumpkin farm

Bricen in the pumpkins

Bricen in the indian corn

Three boys in a wheelbarrow

Dad pushing

Up close

Brothers and sisters have I none but this man's father is my father's son.

Janette and Brody

Walking down Big Creek road

Winslow the cat has eaten six chipmunks so far in the past week.

2011-10-12T21:28:00.000-04:00

Some photos from Big Creek this morning

2011-10-12T12:42:00.000-04:00

Basil before pesto

Plymouth Barred Rock chicken

Lettuce, freckles

The rock steps

Recent photo of the Brayden and Bricen, (the grand boys) by Peyton.

2011-10-12T11:54:00.000-04:00

A view of the Washington monument.

2011-10-11T20:02:00.002-04:00

The view from the top floor of 999 Peachtree Street at Alexander's wedding last night September 24, 2011.

2011-09-25T13:14:00.002-04:00

The apple houses are open.

2011-09-18T08:22:00.001-04:00

Mutzu apples

Veggies from the garden (swiss chard, marvel of Venice beans and blue pop corn)........not the lemon, it's probably from Guatemala!

2011-09-04T09:24:00.000-04:00

Bricen at Pepper place in Birmingham.

2011-08-27T17:23:00.000-04:00

Cover design for Moonshine and Magnolias for Historical Jonesboro, 2011

2011-08-20T18:21:00.002-04:00

Recent photos of Emma

2011-08-16T15:16:00.000-04:00

Life is a beach!

2011-08-13T08:52:00.005-04:00

Brayden, Brody and Bricen

Brody

Janette, Brody and Bricen

Janette and Brody

Bric, Brayden and Bricen

Sunset at Orange Beach

Bric and Brody

(L to R) Brayden, Me, Linda, Bricen, Bric and Brody

Janette, Bricen, Bric, Brody and Brayden

Sunset 2 on Orange Beach

Bricen

Brayden

Linda and Brody

Silver Queen corn

2011-08-08T08:40:00.000-04:00

Ahhhhhhh, Silver queen corn from the garden last night.What could be better?

Sunday July 31

2011-08-01T08:04:00.000-04:00

Yesterday I took a number of photos for friends of their daughters. It has been a while since I did anything like this but it was fun and I think everybody enjoyed it.

Brayden, Bricen and Brody, the boys from Birmingham.

2011-07-28T19:53:00.000-04:00

Bricen

Me and Brody

Brody

Brayden

Linda and Brody

Lucky man

2011-07-25T17:10:00.000-04:00

I am a lucky man. To have three beautiful grand boys and one beautiful grand daughter is more than I ever expected. There is no way I could have known what a wonderful blessing they would be. We are truly lucky to get to see the boys as often as we do and they are so lucky to have the parents they were born with.

Hot, hot, hot!

2011-07-23T09:01:00.003-04:00

Good grief what's up with this weather? It is to hot too get outside and do anything in the garden, even to walk around. This year, at long last I put in a little timer that waters the garden and the bonsai area so that I do not have to do it every day. What a difference it makes in my life. Wow! All you need is a faucet with running water. It is so easy to set and operate; I can't believe it.

A month or so ago Linda and I went down to exit 20 on 575 and bought a blueray played that has an ap that allows you to go on line and watch Netflix movies by streaming them. While I am not getting any fees from Netflix, I must say that this is fantastic. During the heat of the day I can come into the "somewhat" cooler house and watch from an endless assortment of movies, anything in their selection. The choices are amazing. Some times I just sit and scroll through the titles that are available and am fascinated by what's there and never get around to watching anything. Selections can be chosen from very old movies to current things, foreign, scifi, Horror, documentaries, TV series and many other things you just can't believe. If you like movies at all you should get into this. The player was less that 200 dollars and cheaper if you search on line and shop around. For years I collected dvd movies and now have a vast assortment to choose from, for 8 dollars a week. You can't beat this.

tbd

Brody Faces

2011-07-18T08:11:00.000-04:00

Snake

2011-07-14T08:18:00.005-04:00

Yesterday when I was walking down to the creek I heard Jesse behind me barking his head off. While this happens quite often and usually means nothing, this time his voice was somehow more urgent. Returning to where his barking came from I looked carefully around and under the picnic table near the walkway and at first saw nothing. Jesse was on point looking intently at the space beneath the outdoor table. On this particular table, which is under a large canoe bark birch tree I had placed a number of impatiens in pots and covered them with bird netting to prevent the deer browsing them. Just under the table where the netting lapped onto the ground a medium sized copperhead was inextricably entangled in the bird netting mesh. This has happened often and I was not surprised to see a snake trapped in the netting. Linda thinks I should spread the netting all around in places here we frequent, to serve as a snake trap. I haven't done that yet because more times than not it is me that gets tangled in the mesh, or worse the weedeater! The trapped copperhead was dead but none the less scary with the white of his mouth open and exposed though entangled in the netting, an aggressive posture even in death. We have copperheads here all the time (I am sure) although they are rarely seen. The water snakes that lounge around the koi ponds and sun on the many rocks are much more apparent than their more secretive cousins, the copperheads and the rattlesnakes. Water snakes are disposed of as often as I see them with a 22 rifle with a scope on it, usually with rat shot. The reason is that they eat all the small koi and comets that are born in the pond if I don't. The copperheads and rattlesnakes too are disposed of as humanely and quickly as I can manage, because of all the traffic from us, visitors, grand children and dogs. When I occasionally see a rattle snake or copperhead in the road while driving, which is not uncommon I dodge them to avoid their being injured. Snakes rid the country of many rodents and other undesirable vermin which would over run us otherwise.

In the past when we have run across the occasional copperhead there is always a second one nearby; they travel in pairs apparently. For the next few days (or weeks), I will have to be very cautious because the other copperhead will probably turn up at the least expected moment in the least expected place. Somehow they always do.

Thank goodness for my dogs, who have prevented me from being snake bitten probably more times than even I know! The cats would be a big help too but unfortunately they are usually in the house watching TV.

The boys from Birmingham!

2011-07-02T16:57:00.008-04:00

Brody Thomas Daughtry

Brody again

Bricen

Brayden

Janette and Brody

Me and the Brody

The group

At the parade in Ellijay

And again

And yet again.

The Brody

Peyton and Bricen

Bric and Brody

Bricen floats

Bricen in the creek

Savanna's visit to Big Creek

2011-06-28T08:20:00.002-04:00

Photos from this year's garden, or at least what's left of it after the hail storm!

2011-06-22T16:36:00.000-04:00

Peyton's drawing of Brownie.

2011-06-19T18:51:00.000-04:00

Bric and two of his boys

2011-06-19T15:24:00.001-04:00

Two of the grandchildren with their Dad

Happy Father's Day, to my Dad

2011-06-19T08:34:00.004-04:00

I am the cute one!

The big boy

2011-06-17T11:08:00.000-04:00

Brody Thomas Daughtry, threee montls old

The boys from Birmingham 2

2011-06-16T08:40:00.001-04:00

Iris in the Koi pond, 2011, June 11

2011-06-11T16:31:00.001-04:00

More photos of the boys.

2011-06-09T08:22:00.000-04:00

A vine given to me by my sister in law. What is it.........? I have no idea.

2011-06-07T17:51:00.003-04:00

Peyton at DeSoto falls

2011-06-06T08:59:00.000-04:00

Photo by R. Williams

Roses, onions and English peas

2011-06-05T16:59:00.000-04:00

Brody Thomas Daughtry, the new baby in the family

2011-06-02T11:43:00.003-04:00

J.D. and the rose bush

2011-05-31T08:46:00.000-04:00

Roses from the garden

2011-05-27T19:01:00.000-04:00

These are the David Austin roses I planted a year and five monthe ago. There is really not enough sun to succesfully grow roses here but I am trying.

Close up

Brody Thomas Daughtry

2011-05-27T17:00:00.004-04:00

Here he is, Brody Thomas and I think he looks a lot like me.....

he's almost bald, slightly pot bellied.....

and fusses a lot; if he only had a beer in his right hand......

Brayden graduates from pre-school

2011-05-25T12:18:00.000-04:00

Scenes from chicago

2011-05-24T22:08:00.004-04:00

Linda just before the flying saucer took her

A distant view, the things on top of the bean are sea gulls

Linda in front of an interesting art work

The fountain

From the top of the John Hancock building, Lake Michigan

The home of Frank Loyd Wright

Window of the F.L.W. house

Lion in front of the Chicago Institute of Art

(this is the one I dreamed about last night!)

T-Rex from the Natural History Museum

Me in front of the Picasso sculpture

The edible garden near the lake

My Four Dogs

2011-05-19T17:45:00.001-04:00

Moose

Brownie

Jesse

J.D.

David Austin English roses

2011-05-15T18:46:00.001-04:00

Dinner last night

2011-05-15T08:38:00.001-04:00

Last night I went up to the top of the mountain and had dinner with Dave and Lynn. The Venison was amazing and the baked potatoes were awesome. The salad, (from greens grown here at Big Creek) was excellent and the peanut butter pie too. The deer was a Big Creek deer and absolutely delicious. Anyone who does not like venison has never had it prepared by Dave and Lynn. I am sorry for you because it was wonderful and we ate it all!

I did not mention the wine which was perfect too, and the bourbon. You should open a restaurant!

Magnolia macrophylla ashei

2011-05-14T12:15:00.000-04:00

The Garden

2011-05-09T20:31:00.001-04:00

For the past few days I have been working in the garden really hard. My rototiller wouldn't crank this spring and it took me till the last of last week to get it repaired. Catch up in the garden is really hard when you are this far behind. The potatoes should have been planted months ago and mine were put in yesterday. Even then it was only possible because Peyton helped me dig the furrows, otherwise the potatoes would still be in the sacks in the garden house.

Hops covering the garden arch

So far I have planted cabbage, rutabagas, leeks, English peas, pole beans ( Marvel of Venice), sweet corn, onions, French fillet beans, beets, Basil and other assorted herbs.

Photos from yesterday

2011-05-09T20:14:00.001-04:00

Jesse on the front porch, guarding the house

Boxwoods and Butter Cups

Moose

Yellow Lady's Slipper at Susie's

Leek soup...Ummmmmm!

2011-05-08T08:44:00.000-04:00

Today at Big Creek

2011-05-05T07:42:00.001-04:00

This morning the temperature was 39 degrees. It is going to be a warm, good day but has started off pretty cold. I got my roto-tiller back on Tuesday and hope today will be the day I can get the garden tilled and prepared for planting. The potatoes should have been planted months ago but I guess it will be better late than never. I planted some of the heirloom tomatoes I got in B'ham yesterday and had to cover them up for last night just in case it got to frosty.

The snake Peyton shot last weekend finally floated to the surface of the small koi pond yesterday. I disposed of him and am now waiting for the next one to show up. There is always another one that comes to replaces the last one.

More photos from Mobile

2011-05-01T22:30:00.000-04:00

Ashville

2011-05-01T18:09:00.001-04:00

What a great time we had in Ashville with Bill And Peg. It is always so much fun to be with them and there is always something wonderful to do there. This time we went to two very good plant sales and got some interesting things. We also went to the Ashville Arboretum and saw the bonsai. Excellent, really classy trees. Below are a few examples of what we saw. There was also a Quilt show...sorta and that was fun too, dolls.

The Dinosaur naming party was too much fun and the final name was chosen was, "PegnBillapod", Strange at first but it grows on you. Say it several times fast and it still doesn't make much sense but that's it anyway. So there!

Bric, Janette and the boys in Mobile

2011-05-01T17:33:00.000-04:00

From Yesterday in B'ham!

2011-04-29T15:58:00.004-04:00

Brayden in the play house

Two Brothers

Me and Brody T

Mom, Dad and Brody Thomas

paPa's hands with Brody's feet

Grandpa's hands and Brody's hands

paPa kissing the Brody

Mom and Brody

Again

Brayden again

Bricen

Brody

Bric and the boys!

H2O

2011-04-26T07:36:00.002-04:00

Yesterday afternoon Linda and I drove down with Bob and Sue for lunch at Ably Asian and to see "Water For Elephants" in Canton. I read the book and really liked it. The movie did a great job telling the story.
I think it was well done and recommend it to all.

Brody Thomas Daughtry

2011-04-21T21:17:00.000-04:00

Morels are here

2011-04-20T20:13:00.004-04:00

This afternoon I was taking a photo of one of my Trilliums down near the creek and what should I see but a perfectly shaped Morel, right at the base of the plant. I love them, food of the Gods! Tomorrow I will spend the day searching for more of them. Lauren and Zack are coming for a couple of nights and we can go collecting them up in the woods.

The Visit

2011-04-15T09:14:00.001-04:00

Bill and Peg came by yesterday afternoon and we had a great time visiting and drinking wine and talking and laughing. Dave came by and met them for a little while and it was fun for them to reacquaint with him. They took a hydrangea and a kerria and a couple of other things. I wish they had needed more plants. They left this morning on their way to Tate, Ga. and were going to pick up some marble scraps there.

The boy's school photos

2011-04-12T21:22:00.000-04:00

The new revised book about Big Creek

2011-04-12T16:40:00.003-04:00

http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/2099225?ce=blurb_ew&utm_source=widget

Two new photos of Brody Thomas

2011-04-08T16:17:00.001-04:00

Storm Damage

2011-04-05T13:07:00.000-04:00

I am not sure how much you can tell but the place is a big mess.The Frazier Fir tree that came down was huge and fell in the storm last night while we were watching the Howard vs UConn basketball game. A medium size cherry tree came down as well but I have mostly gotten it cleaned up, mostly.

Things in the yard

2011-04-03T19:45:00.000-04:00

Bloodroot

Pachysandra

Avanash

2011-03-28T21:00:00.003-04:00

This afternoon I had a visit from Penny and Avanash the guest botanist from CSU. I had a great time. Visiting and being around someone who is really into botany is a refreshing experience and one I would love to repeat sometimes.

A view from Butler Creek

Bloodroot

Violets

Today

2011-03-25T14:54:00.000-04:00

Today at noon Rick stopped by and I dug him up three Bottle Brush Buckeye plants. I had already potted up some Japanese Roof Top Iris. He seemed to like the plants I got for him.

My books

2011-03-23T12:36:00.002-04:00

http://www.blurb.com/my/store

Got this photo from Bric this afternoon

2011-03-21T19:03:00.000-04:00

2011-03-18T19:53:00.019-04:00

The Brody, 2011

"Every baby born into the world is a finer one than the last."
Charles Dickens

Brody and the boys

A sweet child is the sweetest thing in nature.
Charles Lamb

Brody Thomas

There is no better investment that putting milk into a child.
Winston Churchill

Brayden, Bricen and Brody

A child is fed with milk and praise.

Mary Lamb

Your children are not your children. /They are the sons and daughters of life's longing for itself.

Kahlil Gibran

Brody

Brayden, Janette and Brody

Never have children, only grandchildren.

Gore Vidal

Brody's foot and Bric

Parents learn a lot from their children about coping with life..

Muriel Spark

paPa with Brody Thomas

Who knows the thoughts of a child?

Nora Perry

Brody up close

There was never a child so lovely but his mother was glad to see him asleep.

Ralph Waldo Emmerson

More of the feet, which are huge, to be so little

It goes without saying, you should never have more children than you have car windows.

Erma Bombeck

Big fingers, medium size fingers and little fingers

Children are poor men's riches.

English proverb

Brody Yawns

Even when freshly washed and relieved of all obvious confections, children tend to be sticky.

Fran Leibowitz

Brody and Brayden

Some of my best friends are children. It fact, all of my best friends are children.

J.D. Salinger

Brody again

Children sweeten labours, but they make misfortunes more bitter.

Francis Bacon

Bricen

Don't set your wit against a child.

Jonathan Swift

Bayden and Brody

.......we are linked by blood and blood is language without memory.

Joyce Carol Oates

Brayden checking out Brody

Heridity is nothing but stored environment.,

Luther Burbank

We are the buffoonsof our children.

Pietro Aretino

Book on Meteora, Greece...for preview

2011-03-18T11:09:00.002-04:00

Time in Greece

Magical Meteora

By Thomas B. Daughtry

Book Preview

Brody

2011-03-17T16:00:00.003-04:00

Brody Thomas Daughtry

Last night Linda and I were watching "The Social Network" when the phone rang. It was Bric and he informed us that the baby was in the process of being born. they needed me to drive over and keep the boys while the newest arrival was coming into the world. He came! He weighed 9 pounds and 3 ounces. He is a beautiful healthy chubby baby. Beautiful! I got to Hoover at 12:45 and was here for the boys this morning. I had such fun keeping them today. They have such unique personalities. Bric stayed at the hospital with Janette and Brody while I entertained the boys. Linda will come over this weekend and I will be at Big Creek. Our family is growing in size and nothing could be better.

This afternoon when Brayden and Bricen left the hospital with me we went by Chick Filet and had lunch. They had a big time playing in the little play area there at Chick Filet and weren't ready to leave when we did. After we returned home I took them out into the front yard and let them ride their bikes in the driveway with the little neighbor boy. They did great but managed to run into each other an unreasonable number of times. They would T-bone each other and hit the pavement pretty hard but recovered fairly quickly. Luckily they did have on their riding helmets, all three of them. They are such tough little boys for being so young.

Jesse

2011-03-15T12:38:00.000-04:00

Jesse is not only an awful dog, he is also rude, threatening and as you can see immodest.

and he only seems to get worse with each passing day!

Fishing with Dave

2011-03-15T09:03:00.004-04:00

Yesterday morning at 7:00 Dave came down to the house and we left for the Coosa River expecting a day of catching white bass and eating venison meatloaf sandwiches, maybe a beer or two. It worked in part. We ate our sandwiches, no beer, no fish! The fish were just not there, not white bass, bream, cat fish or even tiny minnows. Dave had said earlier that the Bass were running and you could haul them in wholesale. I personally believe the white bass had been washed down to the Atlantic Ocean or the Gulf of Mexico, depending on just where the river spills out. It was running at about 40 miles an hour and was very muddy. Debris and tree limbs, indeed even whole logs raced past us as we stood on the pier foolishly casting our plastic lures out into the speeding water. I expected at any moment to see a body, a house or maybe a milk cow go speeding past. They informed us later that no one had caught a fish in three days.

The drive over was pleasant and the landscape different enough to be interesting. I did not take my camera but wish that I had. I could have taken a photo of Dave after I pushed him into the river....which did cross my mind but I decided it would be too hard explaining to Lynn why I came back without him ,so I didn't.

On the way back we had a flat tire and had to deal with that. It never went quite flat so we stopped at a Quick Mart and bought a can of compressed air and sealant, which worked well enough to get us back to Big Creek. The only experience I have ever had with that stuff was in Jonesboro one afternoon when I was running late for a class and squirted the compressed sealant into the tire at a service station. The sealant went every where except into the tire, all over me, the rim of the tire, up onto the side of the car and all over the ground. What a mess! I let Dave air up the tire while I hid behind the gas pump. He managed to get the treacherous can to work as advertised which was more than I could ever do. I haven't checked this morning to see if it is still holding air.

I will drive back over in the near future and will insist that Dave come with me, just in case I have a flat tire. I will take the camera.

My latest book effort "Time in Greece"is the link below.

http://www.blurb.com/my/store

Friday

2011-03-11T19:49:00.003-05:00

This morning Bobby and I drove over to Bishop Ga. and bought a few plants at Piccadilly's. They didn't seem to be aswell stocked as I remember but still I managed to spend a few bucks. It was fun to get out and go somewhere and I enjoyed Bobby's company. On the way back we stopped and ate at Loco's in Winder and had a nice lunch. We got home around 4:00 or 4:30 and later drove over to Wright's Dairy and bought some milk, bacon , sausage and a few other things. Afterwards I drove Bobby back, dropped him off and came home. Linda made us bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwiches. They were really good.

Scenes from Greece

2011-03-10T17:06:00.005-05:00

Rain all day pretty much and nothing to do outside. So I went through some old photos from Greece and tampered with them a little. Since I have started making books I think some of these photographs will wind up in a book at some point.

Convent of the Grand Meteora

The St. Nicholas Anapafetas Monastery in Meteora

A rock pinnacle in Meteora with climbers.

A small town perched on the side of the mountain.

Wednesday

2011-03-09T17:03:00.002-05:00

This morning I drove over to Dalton and met PCD for lunch. We then drove to Big Creek where he loaded some of his stuff and took it back to his new apartment in Chattanooga.

Tuesday

2011-03-08T10:55:00.001-05:00

What a beautiful day it is here at Big Creek. The sun is shining, the birds are singing and the dormant plants are just beginning to show some small signs of green. That means is time to replant all the things that are in pots and many of the things in the ground which are in the wrong place.....which is everything!.

The english peas I planted two weeks ago are beginninng to break ground. More work down in the garden as well.

I would do anything to be able to work in the yard and garden the way I did when I was younger......except for eating right and working out.

Movie

2011-03-06T21:08:00.002-05:00

This afternoon Peyon and I drove down to exit 20 to see a movie. The movie we chose to see was The Adjustment Bureau and was not very good. The premise was all right but the acting was abysmal. The female lead (Emily Blunt)was exceptional but Matt Damon was MISERABLE! I have always liked him OK but he was just awful in this part. I also thought he was pretty horrible in True Grit but he was infinitely worse in this movie.

Emily Blunt was also in the movie Young Victoria and was amazing in it. She was also in The Wolfman and despite the problems with the rest of that movie she was again incredible.