Hi y'all!
So, this past week and weekend were fairly eventful. I don't know if I mentioned earlier, but my youngest, Ren, has been staying with my sister-in-law and her family in the Raleigh/Durham area of North Carolina for the last month or so.
They came home on Wednesday. Hooray! I seriously missed this kid!
Thursday was the First Day of Summer. We had plans on going to one of the first games of the season of the new minor league baseball team in town...
... but it was calling for thunderstorms in the evening, so we just chilled at home. It never did rain, and it was a gorgeous evening. Oh well. I did get some much needed sleep. Slept 12 hours that day!
On Friday, Christopher and I went to see the new Jurassic World movie. I'd made plans with the kids to attempt to grab that geocache from last year that resulted in Austin breaking his foot (too bad I didn't blog last year y'all, it was crazy!) after it cooled off outside and the parking lot was less crowded. Unfortunately, there were 40 MINUTES of commercials and trailers before this stupid movie, AND the theater was so full, we had to sit ONE ROW back from the screen! It was terrible! But that wasn't even the worst part. The people next to me had brough 3 kids under the age of 5 and there were multiple babies in the theater somewhere and all of the cried at some point, or all together. We raised 4 kids, and never went to the movies with them until they were old enough to sit and be quiet. Seriously people WTF? Get a freaking babysitter! A 4 year old likes dinosaurs, sure, but wait til you can rent it so he can fall asleep 10 minutes into the movie when he gets bored!
So, yeah, anyway, the movie let out a lot later than I'd expected, and some of them have to get up early for work, so no geocaching. That really sucks too, because my 2nd oldest, Rhiannon and her husband Joe are moving to the DC area on July 1st, so we only have a few days left with them, and she was one of the original group that was there when Austin broke his foot. I'm really shooting for this coming Thursday. It's got to happen!
Saturday was a new day, and was pretty nice weather. Christopher and most of the kids had friends over playing Dungeons and Dragons all day in a campaign I'm not playing in, so I had the day free. I'd gone grocery shopping very late Friday night after Christopher went to bed, so I didn't have to do it Saturday. So, Ren and I decided to go do some geocaching of our own and grab some new ones. They just got a new iPhone from their brother as an early birthday present, so they made an account on the app, so they could log finds too. I grabbed a premium one she couldn't log (I didn't realize it when I stopped there), then I took her to grab one I already had, then we got a couple that neither of us had. It was pretty fun doing this with her. Then I saw one on the map that was nearby, but not on a road we usually traveled. It was at an old country store in the bend of a rural road. Most of those stores are all closed and dilapidated these days, but this one was still thriving. In fact, the parking lot was full as well as the church's next door, and there was a bluegrass band playing on the front sidewalk with folks sitting around listening and having a grand old time. So, since it was so crowded, I decided to pass on that one and looked for somewhere to turn around.
Ren thinks it was fate that I chose the place I did, but it turned out to be a manufactured home (the nice name for trailers) community with lots for sale. So, we drove in and looked around. There was one lot at the end of the main dead end street that had the most amazing view of fields and hills and mountains, but there was no sign, so I wasn't sure if they were actually for sale or how big it was etc. I'm thinking our trailer might even be too old, but I'm not sure. It's a 2000 model. So, we drove down the side streets that were also cul-de-sacs or just dead ends, and found one lot for sale by owner where the trailer had just been moved out. That means the lot is already set up for a trailer. No grading, pylon pouring, sewer lines running, electric lines running etc! Sweet! So, we decided to get out and have a look around.
It's not got the sweeping mountain views I have always dreamed of, but the hills are nice. It certainly beats the view we have now anyway.
The lot down the hill is nice and flat and empty. So views to the hills are pretty unobstructed that way.
Looking up the other side of the lot is a doublewide, but it's not like right up on us, like in a trailer park. There's some room between the houses.
And across the street...
The houses are set back from the road and they have big yards and trees, and it was so quiet!
The lot we were looking at looks kind of small in the photos I guess since the slab for the trailer is closer to the road that most of the other houses are, but it has an enormous back yard!
Now we're not *seriously* looking at moving soon, but it has been in the backs of our minds recently. Now that Ren is going to an online high school, we don't have to stay in the city limits for her to attend the same high school her siblings went to. But Ren's big sister and grandmother live down the road from us now, and maybe this is where we're meant to be for a while. It was fun dreaming of owning our own land again though. Believe me, when you've lived in the trailerhood for 27 years, the thought of owning the land you sleep on is HUGE! We'll do it someday. Hopefully while we're both here on this Earth and healthy enough to enjoy it!
So, when we got back home that evening, it was getting dark. I'd promised myself I would mow that back yard, no matter what. So, I did. I grabbed a small bright flashlight and got to mowing...
Now this was not just any normal mowing. My back yard had only been mowed once all year! AND there is a portable rabbit hutch back there that had seed of some sort scattered around it from their feed, which grew some huge weeds in addition to the normal jungle growth.
I didn't think to get a photo in the daylight of the whole thing. It was seriously scary. I couldn't even walk back there without a stick to check for snakes! We couldn't get to the garden unless we went out the front door and around the house!
As a reminder, this is what the back yard looked like last year...
And there are the pics I thought to take while I was mowing. These were taken after I'd already mowed about 3/4 of the back yard, and this was still left:
That tall patch of weeds in front of the mower there... the ENTIRE yard had been like that! You couldn't even see two of the chairs or the rabbit hutch anymore.
It's still not totally done. The kids finished their game and headed to bed since some had work early the next day, so I couldn't run the mower. I did have Austin and Duck move the swing for me. That cute seating area in the pics above from last year... no one ever used it. And the chairs and stuff made mowing the back yard a pain in the ass, obviously. So, I had them move the swing out to the shaded area at the end of the house facing out to the street.
I haven't gotten a pic of that area in daylight yet either. I've been busy or it's been raining ever since that night, so of course I haven't even been able to go out there and sit in the mornings after work. I kind of want to get a new cushion for the swing, so maybe I'll do a post on the whole finished project this weekend.
Ok, so that brings us up to Sunday. Faelyn and Austin wanted to take Ren to Paint Creek and invited me to go along, so I did. I definitely didn't get enough sleep though, but that's normal for Sundays.
It's a LONG way to get out to the Paint Creek Recreational Area from where we live. About 45-55 minutes, and it's the same county! We do live in the largest county by area in Tennessee though. Paint Creek is called that because of Native American pictograph paints on a huge rock on the side of the mountain there. I've never actually seen it in person though. I need to put that on my bucket list!
In fact, I've lived in this county for 30 years, and had never been to Paint Creek! My kids had because they went to youth groups who would take them on excursions we couldn't since had more little kids at home usually. Even with Ren, now we're just working all the time, and never get much of a chance to take Ren to do cool stuff. So, they were well familiar with the area, and I was glad to tag along.
I was actually really impressed with the whole area. You can tell it's well loved (and crowded on a hot summer day!), and the Rangers take care of it. There's three main swimming holes, but we lucked out and found one no one else was at. We had it all to ourselves the whole time!
I didn't think to get any pictures, but Faelyn took a few right before we had to take off back home.
Right after that above photo was taken, Ren rode a floatie over a small waterfall (just a bunch of rocks really), and ended up getting tossed the wrong way and hit her wrist on a rock wall. We should not have encouraged her, but to be honest, it didn't really look that dangerous. It was just bad luck that it sent her the wrong way.
We got to the ER and were met by Corina, Nathan and Christopher with dry clothes for us since I'd texted everyone about it, and it takes an hour to get back to our side of town. We got into the dry clothes, and Faelyn and Austin went to get us food while we waited. She got Xrays and they determined it was not broken, just banged up and sprained. Have to keep it iced 20 minutes each hour and they wrapped it up. If it still hurts really badly in 5 days, we got back for another Xray to see if a hairline fracture was missed.
As of today, their hand is even more sore, but that's to be expected with a sprain. But overall, she seems to be fine with it. She definitely doesn't miss a dose of ibuprofen when that starts to wear off, but she's not screaming in pain or anything. It's her left hand and she's left handed too. So here's hoping it heals soon and life gets back to normal!
So, that was some of the slightly interesting things that happened around here the past few days. For me, work is basically all there is from Sunday night through Thursday morning, but then I get my 3 days off every weekend. This Thursday is supposed to be a trip to Watauga Lake with Christopher, Rhiannon, Joe and Ren at least. It's an hour away (2 counties away in the other direction from Paint Creek lol). Then back home in time to go get that foot-breaking geocache to get some closure lol.
Friday will likely be a chill day. Have to work on games for the family reunion a week from then. Our date night tv shows with Christopher. And then Saturday is the D&D game I play in with the rest of the group. So that'll last all day and into the evening. To be honest, I kind of wish the D&D games were put on hiatus during the summer so we could go do summertime things on Saturdays... but the people in the games are all home from college in the summer, so I guess for them, the game is a summertime activity. They're making some pretty great memories anyway, even if it's just from sitting inside all day. At least in their minds, they're off on grand adventures!
And then Sunday, Rhiannon and Joe are moving away. Apparently the whole rest of the family knew their move had been pushed up, but me! I though they'd be here til late August, and I found out otherwise just a few days ago :( In a year or so, when they're more established and have a place with a guest room, I'm sure we'll go visit them a few times a year - I hope anyway. And they should still be coming home for some holidays. The rest of his family are all in North Carolina, but his mamaw lives here still, but so I can hope at least.
Well, this turned into another ramble fest. Sorry! If you actually read it this far, leave me a comment! I'd love to know who out there is reading my blog and where you're from and how your summer is going! I hope it's a great one!
Patty
So, this past week and weekend were fairly eventful. I don't know if I mentioned earlier, but my youngest, Ren, has been staying with my sister-in-law and her family in the Raleigh/Durham area of North Carolina for the last month or so.
They came home on Wednesday. Hooray! I seriously missed this kid!
Thursday was the First Day of Summer. We had plans on going to one of the first games of the season of the new minor league baseball team in town...
... but it was calling for thunderstorms in the evening, so we just chilled at home. It never did rain, and it was a gorgeous evening. Oh well. I did get some much needed sleep. Slept 12 hours that day!
On Friday, Christopher and I went to see the new Jurassic World movie. I'd made plans with the kids to attempt to grab that geocache from last year that resulted in Austin breaking his foot (too bad I didn't blog last year y'all, it was crazy!) after it cooled off outside and the parking lot was less crowded. Unfortunately, there were 40 MINUTES of commercials and trailers before this stupid movie, AND the theater was so full, we had to sit ONE ROW back from the screen! It was terrible! But that wasn't even the worst part. The people next to me had brough 3 kids under the age of 5 and there were multiple babies in the theater somewhere and all of the cried at some point, or all together. We raised 4 kids, and never went to the movies with them until they were old enough to sit and be quiet. Seriously people WTF? Get a freaking babysitter! A 4 year old likes dinosaurs, sure, but wait til you can rent it so he can fall asleep 10 minutes into the movie when he gets bored!
So, yeah, anyway, the movie let out a lot later than I'd expected, and some of them have to get up early for work, so no geocaching. That really sucks too, because my 2nd oldest, Rhiannon and her husband Joe are moving to the DC area on July 1st, so we only have a few days left with them, and she was one of the original group that was there when Austin broke his foot. I'm really shooting for this coming Thursday. It's got to happen!
Saturday was a new day, and was pretty nice weather. Christopher and most of the kids had friends over playing Dungeons and Dragons all day in a campaign I'm not playing in, so I had the day free. I'd gone grocery shopping very late Friday night after Christopher went to bed, so I didn't have to do it Saturday. So, Ren and I decided to go do some geocaching of our own and grab some new ones. They just got a new iPhone from their brother as an early birthday present, so they made an account on the app, so they could log finds too. I grabbed a premium one she couldn't log (I didn't realize it when I stopped there), then I took her to grab one I already had, then we got a couple that neither of us had. It was pretty fun doing this with her. Then I saw one on the map that was nearby, but not on a road we usually traveled. It was at an old country store in the bend of a rural road. Most of those stores are all closed and dilapidated these days, but this one was still thriving. In fact, the parking lot was full as well as the church's next door, and there was a bluegrass band playing on the front sidewalk with folks sitting around listening and having a grand old time. So, since it was so crowded, I decided to pass on that one and looked for somewhere to turn around.
Ren thinks it was fate that I chose the place I did, but it turned out to be a manufactured home (the nice name for trailers) community with lots for sale. So, we drove in and looked around. There was one lot at the end of the main dead end street that had the most amazing view of fields and hills and mountains, but there was no sign, so I wasn't sure if they were actually for sale or how big it was etc. I'm thinking our trailer might even be too old, but I'm not sure. It's a 2000 model. So, we drove down the side streets that were also cul-de-sacs or just dead ends, and found one lot for sale by owner where the trailer had just been moved out. That means the lot is already set up for a trailer. No grading, pylon pouring, sewer lines running, electric lines running etc! Sweet! So, we decided to get out and have a look around.
 | ||
| Looking at the lot from the road. |
It's not got the sweeping mountain views I have always dreamed of, but the hills are nice. It certainly beats the view we have now anyway.
The lot down the hill is nice and flat and empty. So views to the hills are pretty unobstructed that way.
 |
| Pardon my finger. It was in a bunch of these pics lol. |
And across the street...
The lot we were looking at looks kind of small in the photos I guess since the slab for the trailer is closer to the road that most of the other houses are, but it has an enormous back yard!
Now we're not *seriously* looking at moving soon, but it has been in the backs of our minds recently. Now that Ren is going to an online high school, we don't have to stay in the city limits for her to attend the same high school her siblings went to. But Ren's big sister and grandmother live down the road from us now, and maybe this is where we're meant to be for a while. It was fun dreaming of owning our own land again though. Believe me, when you've lived in the trailerhood for 27 years, the thought of owning the land you sleep on is HUGE! We'll do it someday. Hopefully while we're both here on this Earth and healthy enough to enjoy it!
So, when we got back home that evening, it was getting dark. I'd promised myself I would mow that back yard, no matter what. So, I did. I grabbed a small bright flashlight and got to mowing...
Now this was not just any normal mowing. My back yard had only been mowed once all year! AND there is a portable rabbit hutch back there that had seed of some sort scattered around it from their feed, which grew some huge weeds in addition to the normal jungle growth.
I didn't think to get a photo in the daylight of the whole thing. It was seriously scary. I couldn't even walk back there without a stick to check for snakes! We couldn't get to the garden unless we went out the front door and around the house!
As a reminder, this is what the back yard looked like last year...
And there are the pics I thought to take while I was mowing. These were taken after I'd already mowed about 3/4 of the back yard, and this was still left:
That tall patch of weeds in front of the mower there... the ENTIRE yard had been like that! You couldn't even see two of the chairs or the rabbit hutch anymore.
It's still not totally done. The kids finished their game and headed to bed since some had work early the next day, so I couldn't run the mower. I did have Austin and Duck move the swing for me. That cute seating area in the pics above from last year... no one ever used it. And the chairs and stuff made mowing the back yard a pain in the ass, obviously. So, I had them move the swing out to the shaded area at the end of the house facing out to the street.
I haven't gotten a pic of that area in daylight yet either. I've been busy or it's been raining ever since that night, so of course I haven't even been able to go out there and sit in the mornings after work. I kind of want to get a new cushion for the swing, so maybe I'll do a post on the whole finished project this weekend.
Ok, so that brings us up to Sunday. Faelyn and Austin wanted to take Ren to Paint Creek and invited me to go along, so I did. I definitely didn't get enough sleep though, but that's normal for Sundays.
It's a LONG way to get out to the Paint Creek Recreational Area from where we live. About 45-55 minutes, and it's the same county! We do live in the largest county by area in Tennessee though. Paint Creek is called that because of Native American pictograph paints on a huge rock on the side of the mountain there. I've never actually seen it in person though. I need to put that on my bucket list!
In fact, I've lived in this county for 30 years, and had never been to Paint Creek! My kids had because they went to youth groups who would take them on excursions we couldn't since had more little kids at home usually. Even with Ren, now we're just working all the time, and never get much of a chance to take Ren to do cool stuff. So, they were well familiar with the area, and I was glad to tag along.
I was actually really impressed with the whole area. You can tell it's well loved (and crowded on a hot summer day!), and the Rangers take care of it. There's three main swimming holes, but we lucked out and found one no one else was at. We had it all to ourselves the whole time!
I didn't think to get any pictures, but Faelyn took a few right before we had to take off back home.
 |
| That's me! Hi! |
 |
| Faelyn (left) and Ren |
 |
| Faelyn, Austin and Ren |
Right after that above photo was taken, Ren rode a floatie over a small waterfall (just a bunch of rocks really), and ended up getting tossed the wrong way and hit her wrist on a rock wall. We should not have encouraged her, but to be honest, it didn't really look that dangerous. It was just bad luck that it sent her the wrong way.
We got to the ER and were met by Corina, Nathan and Christopher with dry clothes for us since I'd texted everyone about it, and it takes an hour to get back to our side of town. We got into the dry clothes, and Faelyn and Austin went to get us food while we waited. She got Xrays and they determined it was not broken, just banged up and sprained. Have to keep it iced 20 minutes each hour and they wrapped it up. If it still hurts really badly in 5 days, we got back for another Xray to see if a hairline fracture was missed.
 |
| Not a happy camper. |
As of today, their hand is even more sore, but that's to be expected with a sprain. But overall, she seems to be fine with it. She definitely doesn't miss a dose of ibuprofen when that starts to wear off, but she's not screaming in pain or anything. It's her left hand and she's left handed too. So here's hoping it heals soon and life gets back to normal!
So, that was some of the slightly interesting things that happened around here the past few days. For me, work is basically all there is from Sunday night through Thursday morning, but then I get my 3 days off every weekend. This Thursday is supposed to be a trip to Watauga Lake with Christopher, Rhiannon, Joe and Ren at least. It's an hour away (2 counties away in the other direction from Paint Creek lol). Then back home in time to go get that foot-breaking geocache to get some closure lol.
Friday will likely be a chill day. Have to work on games for the family reunion a week from then. Our date night tv shows with Christopher. And then Saturday is the D&D game I play in with the rest of the group. So that'll last all day and into the evening. To be honest, I kind of wish the D&D games were put on hiatus during the summer so we could go do summertime things on Saturdays... but the people in the games are all home from college in the summer, so I guess for them, the game is a summertime activity. They're making some pretty great memories anyway, even if it's just from sitting inside all day. At least in their minds, they're off on grand adventures!
And then Sunday, Rhiannon and Joe are moving away. Apparently the whole rest of the family knew their move had been pushed up, but me! I though they'd be here til late August, and I found out otherwise just a few days ago :( In a year or so, when they're more established and have a place with a guest room, I'm sure we'll go visit them a few times a year - I hope anyway. And they should still be coming home for some holidays. The rest of his family are all in North Carolina, but his mamaw lives here still, but so I can hope at least.
Well, this turned into another ramble fest. Sorry! If you actually read it this far, leave me a comment! I'd love to know who out there is reading my blog and where you're from and how your summer is going! I hope it's a great one!
Patty
Comments
Post a Comment
I love getting comments, and I read every one. Thanks for coming by my site and reading my ramblings. I hope you have a wonderful day! -Patty