“High Five” To the Hodgepodge

Wow! Imagine my surprise when I came here to my blog to participate in the Wednesday Hodgepodge, and discovered everything has changed! The new blogging format is completely foreign to me! I’m too old and tired to learn a lot of new tricks, but I’ll give it a try…Thanks to our hostess, Joyce, for this fun distraction each week.

1. Five years ago this month hubs and I relocated from New Jersey to the Palmetto State. What were you doing five years ago this month?

At first, I had no idea what I was doing five years ago, and then the year 2015 hit me like a ton of bricks! 2015 was the year everything went wrong (or right, depending on how you look at it) for us.

In January Ed lost his job, in April we discovered termites and mold under our house, and my back “went out” for the first time! I had back surgery in September. We bought a new vehicle the first part of October, then Ed had a heart attack late in October. In November my daughter and I both discovered we had skin cancer on our faces, requiring Mohs surgery, followed by plastic surgery! It makes me stressed just thinking about 2015!

In answer to the question, five years ago, at this time, I was a very miserable person, anticipating my upcoming sixty-first birthday, and back surgery!

2. What was the last 9-5 job you worked? Tell us about it.

My last 9-5 job was being the care taker of five month old twin girls. The hours were 7:30 to 5:30. I retired, after two years, to spend more time with family. Those twin girls are now fifteen years old!

3. Plead the fifth, high five, take five, it’s five o’clock somewhere, or the big 5-0…which number five phrase relates to your life in some way currently? Tell us how.

“Take five” currently relates to my life because I often have to “take five” when scrolling through Facebook or watching the evening news. We are living in some trying times.

4. During this season of spending so much time at home, what distractions get in the way of being your most productive? Or have you been extra productive since this whole thing started?

Health issues tend to be my biggest road block to being productive, but it’s also very easy to get distracted by social media–or that 300 piece puzzle sitting beside my chair! (my latest hobby)

5. Give us a list here of your top five anything.

Five of my favorite gospel songs: (in no special order, and it was hard to stop at just five!)

1. Precious Memories- Alan Jackson
2. What a Beautiful Day (for the Lord to Come Again)- Brian Free
3. 10,000 Reasons (Bless the Lord)- Matt Redman
4. Amazing Grace (My Chains are Gone)-Chris Tomlin
5. Turn Your Back- Gold City

Random:

I’ve used a ton of bird seed this spring and summer! We have five different bird feeders, and Ed and I’ve been doing some serious bird watching, while being stuck at home. We have cardinals, blue jays, mocking birds, brown thrashers, and two different kinds of dove that regularly visit our bird feeders. We’ve even had some woodpeckers visit our feeders! We didn’t know woodpeckers ate bird seed!

It’s been rewarding to watch the adults raise their babies in nests and bird houses, located around our yard, then watch the babies growing up into adults as they come to feed daily.

I have a once-in-a-lifetime tale of the rescue and survival of one of these babies… but I think I’ll save the story of “Flutterbee” for another day!

R

Call 911, Your Shed’s On Fire…

I’m beginning this post with a little commercial clip that shows a glimpse of how our day went, about a month ago.  The only difference was our adventure involved a “He Shed” and a lawnmower…

It was Friday, June 21, and I had a nine o’clock appointment for a mammogram.  What a way to start the day, but that mammogram was only the beginning of unpleasant things to come–and that whole mammogram experience is a story for another day!

Ed decided to ride along with me for my appointment, so he was late in starting his chores that day.  Friday is often “grass mowing day”, and once we got home, Ed was anxious to get started.  It was already 11:30 when he started, so I asked him to stop at 12:30 so we could eat lunch.

Ed parked the lawn mower and came inside at 12:30, just like I’d asked.  He quickly changed his clothes and we sat down to make  sandwiches for our lunch.  While making the sandwiches we heard what sounded like a car door slam.  One of us asked, “What was that?”, but kept on making our lunch.  A couple of minutes later, our daughter came running over from next door, yelling “Call 911, your shed’s on fire!”  The look of terror on her face was something I won’t soon forget.  (I later learned that our daughter thought Ed was involved the fire.)

Ed jumped up and ran outside with our daughter, while I quickly dialed 911.  After I gave the information to the 911 dispatcher, I ran outside, too.  I was not prepared for what I saw.  Our tool shed and the adjoining shelter were already engulfed in huge flames!  Flames were climbing two trees next to the shed, as well!  I turned around, came back inside, and called 911 again to tell them the fire had spread to the woods, too.

The dispatcher assured me the trucks were on the way.  By then, Ed had the water hose stretched out and yelled for me to turn the water on, while Brandy rushed to move our car away from the fire.  (Our carport/utility house is located around twelve feet away from the burning shed).  I stood powerless as I watched all of our lawn/garden equipment go up in flames.  That was one HOT fire!  Meanwhile, Ed kept spraying those huge flames with his garden hose. (and yes, he looked somewhat like the man with the pitiful water hose, in the State Farm commercial)

It seemed like forever, but was only ten minutes until the fire department arrived.  I’ve never been so happy to see a fire truck in my whole life!  A couple of fire trucks came, as well as several cars of volunteers.  Friends and neighbors also began arriving to see what was going on.  Within a few minutes, the fire was extinguished, and only a pile of rubble remained.  Anything related to lawn/garden had been burned to a crisp!

Upon inspection, the firemen told us the fire originated with our lawnmower, where the fire had burned the hottest.  It was then we realized what the explosion was that we heard while making our sandwiches!  Within ten minutes after Ed had shut the mower off, it exploded and burst into flames, which leads me to believe it may have been smoldering when he parked it.

At first, we couldn’t believe how quickly this fire burned or how hot it was! When I first saw the shed, the inside of the it looked like an inferno, with flames  shooting up the two massive pine trees on either side of it!  Afterward, we remembered, that Ed had bought extra fuel for his mower, his tractor, and the pressure washer, and all of it was stored inside of the shed!

In retrospect, Ed and I have several things to be thankful for, to God, regarding this fire.  First of all, I’ve never given Ed a time to stop mowing–ever.  He always mows on his own time table.  If I had I not asked him to stop, he’d have finished mowing the grass before he stopped for lunch, therefore, he could have been on the mower when it caught fire and exploded (with a full tank of gas).

Next, we are thankful that our daughter is vigilant, and has a little dog who barks at everything.  It was because of  Jack she went outside to investigate the explosion and subsequent noises that quickly followed, therefore discovering the fire before it had a chance to spread.

Third, we are thankful for our fire department, who was able to respond so quickly and efficiently!  Thanks to them, the fire was contained and extinguished quickly.  From the time Ed shut off the mower until the time the fire department finished their work and drove away, was exactly one hour.

At first, Ed was a bit bummed about losing his “He Shed”.  He lost a very large collection of garden tools (many of them special because his daddy had given them to him).    He lost several grills, a smoker, several ladders, a wheel barrow, a garden wagon, and a lot more. Of course, the most important [and expensive] item he lost was his zero turn lawnmower.

Fortunately, Ed was able to find and purchase a new lawnmower within a week of the fire.  (The frantic search for a new mower would also make another good post!)  So far, he’s mowed the grass two or three times with the new, bigger and better mower, and he really seems to really like it.

Recently, after exploring all options, Ed decided to replace his “He Shed” with a pre-built “Handi House”.  The house was delivered yesterday, and Ed’s already beginning to make it his own.   I guess we’ll call it “Ed’s Handy House”.

They say, “all’s well that ends well.”  Thankfully, nobody was hurt in our fire, it didn’t spread far, and the shed was insured–although filing an insurance claim could cause a person to have a ‘stress induced’ heart attack!   Ed’s still in the process of replacing items and filing, but life is slowly getting back to normal.  Normal is good!

 

That Was The Week That Was…

I’m going to try to ease my way back into blogging on a regular basis.  I think I’ll start with a weekly post, and see how it goes; hence, the title of this post.  By the way, does anybody remember the little news skit that used to come on television by the same title?  I think there was a comedy skit, with that title, included on the show Laugh Inn, back in the late 60’s or early 70’s.

This week started out busy, like Mondays often do.  I cleaned up the house, while my husband, Ed, mowed the lawn.  After lunch, we went over and helped clean the church.  It was our first time being put on a regular “cleaning crew”, since joining the church in February.  Our church has six cleaning crews, with approximately six people on each crew.  January and July will be our cleaning months.

Tuesday was not a typical day because Ed had an appointment with his ophthalmologist, to have a laser procedure performed.  Ed had cataract surgery done about five years ago, but, since then, he’d developed some scar tissue behind the lens of his left eye.  The laser procedure was to break up the scar tissue, which it did.  We didn’t quite know what to expect, but the procedure was quick and painless.

On Wednesday, Ed and I had a surprise visit from our pastor.  (He stopped by to see how Ed was doing after the laser procedure.)  Boy was I thankful the house wasn’t in the mess it sometimes is!  When our pastor arrived Ed was out working in the garden, while I was inside struggling to sew a hook and eye on the jacket of a church dress.  As I struggled with threading the needle and getting the hook and eye straight, I was thinking to myself, Why does everything have to get so difficult when we get older? In the end, Ed and I had a nice visit with our pastor, and were glad he came to see us.  Our pastor is about the same age as our grown children.  Ed and I are getting old!!!

One thing I’ve discovered about our new church–they like to eat, and they do a lot of it!  Wednesday night was no exception, when someone brought an ice cream cake in celebration of an upcoming birthday.  Will I ever lose the unwanted pounds I’ve gained since coming there?  Probably not anytime soon, since we’re having “finger foods” tomorrow night after church, and next Wednesday is “Family Night” during which we also eat.

I’ve been wanting to go to St. Simon’s Island for the past several months.  I finally got the opportunity on Thursday.  Ed, our daughter, our granddaughter, and I piled into our van and made the two hour trip.  We unloaded and set up our chairs under our favorite oak tree.  About twenty minutes later, it began to rain!  The sun was still shinning while it sprinkled, so we stuck it out until the rain stopped a few minutes later.  The tree shielded us from most of the rain, plus we also covered up with the straw mats we’d brought along.  What a sight we must have been, all covered with those huge striped mats!!!

Finally, after two of those “sunshine showers”, the skies clouded over and heavy rain began.  We gave up and called it “quits”.  By then it was lunchtime, so we rode over to our favorite eating place, “Southern Soul Bar-b-que”.  The place was crowded, but, almost immediately, four bar stools [in a row] opened up so we could all sit down together.  As always, the food was delicious, and by the time we finished eating, the skies had cleared!

We rode back over to “The Village”, toured a few of the shops, then spent the rest of our time under the gazebo beside the water.  Our trip didn’t turn out quite like we’d planned, but we had a good time–and we laughed a lot!  I’m sorry I didn’t take any pictures.  On second thought, I’m not… Our daughter took a couple of pictures with her phone, and they’re awful–at least the ones of me are.  Just think beached whale…and you’ll get the idea.

Today (Saturday) I’m still a bit tired.  So far, I’ve only managed to change the sheets on my bed, then bake a pound cake for tomorrow night’s church supper.  The cake turned out ugly…sigh.  I hate when that happens.  Grandma always said, “ugly cakes taste best.”  If that’s true, this cake should be delicious!

Until next time…

 

 

 

 

 

 

Remember Me, Wednesday Hodgepodge?

I’m back!  It’s been a while, and I’ve missed being here.  I’m so thankful to our hostess, Joyce, for keeping The Hodgepodge going, and I’m thankful for the friends I’ve made here.  I’m also looking forward to visiting everyone today!

1. I feel most energized when I …have a restful night’s sleep, which doesn’t happen often.

2. Where were you ten years ago?

Ten years ago, I was living in this same house, but had only been living here about 8 months.  Back then, things were still relatively new and uncluttered.  These days, not so much.

3. July 17th is World Emoji Day. Do you use emojis? Which one’s your favorite? Your most used?

Yes, I use emojis occasionally.  The plain ole’ smiley face is my favorite, and it’s also my most used.

4. What song would you put on a wedding DO NOT PLAY list?

At first I had no idea of what to answer, then I ‘googled’ this question and had a good laugh at some of the titles.  I chose this one, for obvious reasons:

Some of my other favorites were “All My Exes Live in Texas, Suspicious Minds, Lyin’ Eyes,  and D-I-V-O-R-C-E.

5. What deserves less of your attention? More of your attention?

Although I only watch about two hours of television per day, it’s really a useless activity when I think about it, so I’ll say television deserves less of my attention.  As for what deserves more of my attention?  That would be my family.

Random:

I am still alive and doing okay!  I apologize for my absence in The Hodgepodge, but it’s been a busy summer!  My time has been consumed by our garden, and traveling to and from [out-of-town] doctor’s appointments with our daughter.  Then our oldest son and his family decided to buy a new home.  There’s been a lot going on around here!

Believe it or not,  Ed and I haven’t even had a chance to visit St. Simon’s Island yet, but we did manage to celebrate 46 years of marriage on June 18th.  However, I wasn’t feeling well on our anniversary, so we postponed our yearly anniversary trip to KFC until the day after our anniversary.  Our daughter invited us over [next door] to her house for supper on our actual anniversary, and it was delicious.

Our garden is now history, and we’ve had another bountiful season!  All vegetables are now tucked away in the freezer or in jars.  Our daughter’s doctor’s appointments are now less frequent.  We are thankful that our daughter finally has a diagnosis, after several years of suffering, (psoriatic arthritis) plus a treatment (regular injections) that seems to be helping her.  Our son and his family are still in the process of getting moved into their new home, but the worst of that is over (for us, not for them).  Life is slowing down and all is well, once again.  I think I can hear St. Simon’s Island calling my name!

Wednesday Hodgepodge # 352…

 

Last week, this time, I was packing for a quick trip to Florida.  We had a great time visiting with my brother and sister-in-law, but, as usual, time passed quickly.

This week we’ve been picking and shelling garden peas, digging and eating “new potatoes” and pulling up sweet Vidalia onions!  What a difference a day (or seven) makes!  We’re finally getting some much-needed rain on our garden, and we are so thankful for it!!!  It’s been quite a challenge trying to keep a garden the size of ours watered.

With all that being said, now let’s get on with The Hodgepodge!  As always, thanks to our gracious hostess, Joyce.

1. What would you say is your biggest day to day challenge?

These days, thanks to rheumatoid arthritis, my biggest day to day challenge is just getting out of bed and getting moving in the mornings.  Many days, the old joints are stiff, and don’t want to move.  Then there’s the fatigue that goes along with RA.  I’m always tired.

2. May 16th is National Biographers Day. What’s a biography you really enjoyed reading? Is this a genre you read regularly?  I’m not sure if autobiographies count, but  I thoroughly enjoyed reading both of [country singer] Loretta Lynn’s autobiographies.  The first is entitled, Coal Miner’s Daughter and the second is entitled Still Woman Enough.  Both were very good and quite entertaining.  I enjoy reading biographies/autobiographies, and read them fairly often.  Dolly Parton’s autobiography, My Life and Other Unfinished Business, was a good read, too.

3. How important is keeping a clean house? 

I enjoy having a clean house, but it doesn’t always happen.  If I feel well, I clean; if not, I don’t worry about it.  I’ve learned to clean the rough spots, and let the rest ride.  Yesterday I had a good day, so I tackled cleaning underneath my bed.  Whew!  What a job that turned out to be!

Do you need to de-clutter your life?  Yes, I do need to de-clutter.  I have accumulated too much stuff, but can’t seem to bring myself to part with much of it, yet.  So, I put everything back underneath my bed, yesterday, except for the dust!  I really must do better in the near future!

4. You’re the 8th dwarf. What’s your name?

Just call me “Nappy” because I look forward to my afternoon nap every day around 2 o’clock.

5. What’s surprised you the most about your life or life in general?

The thing that’s surprises me most about my life is how quickly it’s passing by, now that I’m retired.  I kid you not, time didn’t pass this quickly when I worked!  Several folks we know have passed away, lately, which has also been another reminder of how quickly life is passing.

Random:  The saga of “The Man With the Can” has ended…

Last week I mentioned that “Trouble”, the cat, had been missing for a few days.  Part of the mystery concerning her disappearance has been solved.  Last week, our son began noticing a foul odor, and discovered the decomposing body of “Trouble” underneath his home, on Thursday.  Upon investigating, further, our daughter-in-law discovered that the guy who pressure washed their home had heard the sounds of a cat meowing, loudly, on the day he was washing the house.  The sounds were coming from under the house, he said.  What we don’t know is why “Trouble” was meowing so loudly, or why she failed to come out from under the house.  We wonder if she was sick or injured, and how long it was before she died under there.  She’d been missing about 10 days when our son found her body.  On Saturday morning, “Trouble” was retrieved and buried in Ed’s parents’ yard.  It seemed only fitting that she was laid to rest in the place where her life began, over eighteen years ago.  This cat truly must have had nine lives, and she enjoyed every one of them.  RIP, “Trouble”.

‘May’ I Present The Wednesday Hodgepodge?

We’re kicking off the month of May by experiencing cool nights and hot days.  It’s also dry, dry, dry!  As I mentioned, last week, all of these things make growing a garden quite a challenge, but we’re hanging in there.

While we’re ‘hanging’, how about we participate in another Wednesday Hodgepodge?  As always, thanks to our gracious hostess, Joyce, for keeping The Wednesday Hodgepodge up and running!

1. April showers bring May flowers or so the saying goes. Is there a flower you associate with a particular memory? Explain.

I always associate “azaleas” with “Easter Sunday” because about 80% of the family Easter pictures we have [in our collection] were taken beside some kind of azalea bush.  For the other 20% of our Easter pictures it either rained on Easter, or Easter fell too late for the azaleas to still be blooming.

Whenever possible, before our annual egg hunt, we always take a “family Easter photo” with everybody standing in front of a backdrop of our very old, very large azalea bushes.  We’ve done this for several years.

Easter 2015 (a few azaleas)

Easter 2017 (no azaleas)

April 1987…a family of five (beside those same azaleas)

Oh, my goodness!  Where does time go?  The ‘young’ couple in the photo, above, is now the ‘old’ couple in the two photos preceding it,  and those three children are now the middle aged adults we used to be.

2. Last time you helped someone? Tell us how.

A few days ago, Ed and I kept our two oldest grandsons while their mama went to a doctor’s appointment.  And, last week, I prompted Ed to build those same grandsons a fence for their blackberry bushes to run on.

3. It’s National Salsa Month (the food, not the dance) so tell us, do you like salsa?  I’ll eat salsa, but I can live without it.

Hot, medium, or mild? Mild or medium, not hot!

Homemade, store-bought, or from your favorite restaurant only?  I only eat salsa at Mexican restaurants, and that’s not very often.

4. When I was twelve years old… I was in the seventh grade, and had a crush on the person who would later end up becoming my husband!  That’s right, when I was twelve (and in 7th grade), and Ed was seventeen (and in 12th grade), I had a crush on him.  He didn’t even know I existed, back then, but I knew who he was!

5. It’s the first of May so let’s run with it-first things first, don’t know the first thing about it, first dibs on something, first impression, first-rate, first cousin, first string, first come first served, at first light-which phrase can best be applied to something in your life currently or even recently?

Ed and I always begin our days by doing some Bible reading, then feeding our animals, then we eat breakfast ourselves. First things first!

Random:  “Perils of Farm Living”

Ed and I live in the country, and have always gotten our water from a shallow well, located in the corner of our yard.  One evening, many years ago, while brushing his teeth, Ed remarked to me that the water coming out of our faucet smelled bad.  I told him I really hadn’t noticed, and thought it was okay.  Thankfully, he didn’t listen, but went out to investigate the well.

It turned out we had a dead snake floating in our well!!!  Needless to say, our entire family turned a bit ‘green’ at the thought of the water we’d been drinking!  Ed rigged up a contraption with a stick and some string, and had a grand old time trying to lasso that dead snake out of 23 feet of water!  Finally, he succeeded in removing the snake from our well.

We sanitized our well, with chlorine, but continued using bottled water for cooking/drinking, for quite sometime.  (I won’t even elaborate about what heavily chlorinated well water does to your dark laundry!)  Last, but not least, Ed made sure any openings in the top of the well were sealed and secure.

Flash forward about twenty years.  This time it was me who noticed the foul smell of the water!  It was after 10 p.m., on Sunday night, but when I said something, Ed immediately grabbed his flashlight and headed to the well!  This time he discovered a dead rat floating in our well!  Once again, we felt our stomachs growing queasy, and once again, Ed rigged up another contraption and went ‘fishing’ in our well–at 11 o’clock that night!

Ed accomplished the mission of removing the intruder, and we’re about to begin the process of sanitizing the well, today. (Trying to get all of our laundry washed up first)  Needless to say, we’re using bottled water for cooking and drinking purposes! Now, what were the chances of this happening to us twice in our lifetime, but we weren’t alone in our misery, this time?!

Our daughter and her family, who now live in that house next door, also get their water from this same well.  They’ve been dealing with some queasy feelings, as well, and are also using bottled water for cooking/drinking.  I guess Ed and I won’t be the only ones wearing faded clothes, either.

You know what they say, misery loves company!

 

Goodbye April, Hello Hodgepodge…

Can you believe this is already the last Hodgepodge of April?  It’s crazy how quickly time is flying by!  I don’t believe time passed this quickly when I was younger.  I KNOW it didn’t pass this quickly when Ed was serving his overseas tour of duty, back in the early 70’s, but that was then, and this is now…

How about we get on with The Wednesday Hodgepodge, before any more time slips away?  As always, thanks to our hostess, Joyce, for the fantastic questions she provides!

1. They say you learn something new every day. What did you learn yesterday?
I learned that being cooped, up in the house, with Ed, while trying to change out the seasonal decor is stressful for both of us!  Ed usually ‘flies the coop’ when I drag out those plastic storage boxes, but he was trapped inside, yesterday, because of rain.
2. Have you ever had a now or never moment? Elaborate.

I’m going to say it was when Ed and I finally decided to start our family.  We’d been married for almost six years, when we began trying, and people had already stopped asking us when we were going to have a baby.  Boy were some folks surprised when we ended up having three babies within the next seven and a half years!

3.  April 25th is National Telephone Day. Do you still have a land line or have you gone mobile only?

We actually still have our land line.  Ed and I both have cell phones, but rarely turn them on when we’re at home.  I use my cell to make any long distance calls, since I’ve dropped that service from our land line, but that’s about the only time I use my cell phone, unless I call Ed in Wal-mart to find out where [in the store] he is!

When you receive a text message do you respond immediately?

I don’t text at all, and Ed texts only on rare occasions.

Last time you turned your phone off?

My phone stays turned off most of the time.  I refuse to be “tied” to a telephone. (see memory below)

 In two or three sentences share with us a story/memory/incident from your childhood (or something current if that’s too hard) where the telephone is featured.

My phone memories are not from my childhood, but from my days of being married and raising a family.  For many years, my husband, Ed, worked as a radiology technician for a very small, rural hospital, which meant he had to be “on call” every 3rd night and every 3rd weekend.  On those days (and nights), our lives revolved around the telephone.  In the early years, Ed didn’t  have a beeper, so we had to literally stay beside the telephone!  At one point, we even had a bell installed on the outside of our house, so Ed could go outside and still be able hear the phone. (this was before the days of cordless phones)  This was also before the era of “call waiting”, so we had to keep the phone line free in case the hospital tried to call Ed.  Try explaining this to teens!  On more than one occasion, our family had their phone conversations rudely interrupted by the operator!  We laugh about these memories (sometimes).  I can’t begin to tell you how many hot meals Ed had to get up and leave or how many nights of sleep he had interrupted (often more than once) because of the telephone.  Ed was “on call” for twenty years of our marriage!

4. Close call, at someone’s beck and call, call the shots, call a meeting, call it quits, call in sick, call on the carpet, wake up call…which call have you ‘heard’ recently? Explain.

Since we recently went on a four-day/three-night bus tour, I’m going to say “wake up call”.  Ed and I had to set our alarm clock every night, so we’d be ready to board the bus bright and early the next morning!

5. What subject do you wish you’d paid more attention to in school?

I don’t know… perhaps history.  I never liked history, and had a hard time paying attention in that class.  It didn’t help that the teacher was boring, either!

Random: 

Gardening season 2018 has proven to be a bit of a challenge for us, so far.  Lack of rainfall, in addition to unseasonably cold temperatures sure is keeping us on our toes!  For the first time, we’re having to replant a few things.  Here’s what we have growing, so far:

left to right: tomatoes, several rows of beans, (a black cat!), lettuce/cabbage, potatoes, garden peas, onions, radishes, and carrots

Also, I’m slowly writing a series about our recent trip to Kentucky.  If anyone’s interested in what I’ve shared on my blog, so far, you can find it HERE and HERE.

Encounter With An Ark (part two)…

Our travel group spent our first night in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, but our visit there was brief.  We had to be loaded and ready to roll by 7:30 the following morning, so most of us were having breakfast by 6:30!  The hotel provided a continental breakfast, complete with fresh fruit.  As we usually do, Ed and I each picked up a banana, to save for later in the day.

Soon we were on the road, again, retracing a few of our steps from the day before…

There was the upside down building

 

and King Kong!

and even a car on top of an awning!

Before long, we were on our way out of Tennessee, headed toward Kentucky.  The tour host pointed out several interesting places along the way and told us the interesting history of Colonel Sanders of Kentucky Fried Chicken fame.

As we neared the Kentucky state line, and our next scheduled rest stop, the tour guide made an announcement.  He told us the Department of Agriculture often stops vehicles crossing the state line.  He said they’re really particular about fruit being carried across state lines–in particular, bananas.  My eyes grew large, and my throat grew tight!  What in the world was I going to do?  I had two bananas in my purse!   It turned out that another lady on the bus had bananas in her purse, as well, and her son had put the tour guide up to playing a joke on her!  (Little did the son know his mom wasn’t the only one carrying bananas from the hotel!!!)  Our group is still laughing about this joke, but it sure wasn’t funny [to me] at the time 🙂

As we rolled on through the hills of Kentucky, I quickly discovered I could easily become a “Kentucky Girl”!  I quickly fell in love with the blue grass and rolling hills of Kentucky.  Of course, my view of the landscape was limited to a bus window, flying down the interstate at 75 miles per hour, but I certainly loved what I could see!

Before long, we arrived in Williamstown, Kentucky, and at The Ark Encounter.  It was shortly before eleven, and would soon be lunch time.

 our first glimpse of the ark

 One of my biggest complaints at The Ark Encounter was finding something to eat in a timely manner.  They could definitely use more eating places, since there were only two places to choose from, and both were very crowded!  Ed and I settled on a pulled pork sandwich from the small vendor, but it took us almost thirty minutes to get it!

Once our stomachs were filled, we began exploring the replica of Noah’s Ark.  The ark is the length of one and one-half football fields, seventy-five feet wide, and forty-five feet high.  It contained three different decks, which meant a lot of walking, but you can move at your own pace.  There are lots of things to see.

I can’t begin to describe all of the things we saw, but they were interesting!  Since there’s so little information in the Bible, regarding the Ark, most exhibits are designed from pure speculation.  There are many exhibits depicting rooms on the ark (such as living quarters, kitchen area, etc.), as well as models of animals, their cages, and feeding/watering methods that may have been used. Pictures simply do not do it justice, but I’ll share a few of mine anyway:

a glimpse of the ark’s inner construction

living quarters

garden area

the aviary (notice Noah sending out the dove)

animal replicas (in cage)

I enjoyed visiting the ark, but felt like some of the living quarters were a bit over-decorated.  I found it hard to believe that such elaborate furnishings would have existed in Noah’s time, but I could be wrong.

After about five hours of touring the ark, we boarded our bus, again, bound for The Chart House, a restaurant located beside the Ohio River.  We weren’t able to see everything in The Ark Encounter within those five hours, but we hit the high spots.  I believe a person would need an entire day to truly see and enjoy everything available at The Ark Encounter, and  I wished we’d had a little more time there.

It turned out, our tour group was a bit early for our dinner reservations at The Chart House, so the bus driver took us across the Ohio River and into Cincinnati, for a brief tour of the city.  It appeared to be very busy and very crowded, like most large cities.  Our bus soon crossed back over the Ohio River and back into Kentucky, where our evening meal awaited us.  (to be continued)

 

 

Encounter With An Ark (part one)…

Our journey to the ark began on the day after Easter–early on the day after Easter.  After months of waiting, and weeks of planning, the big day of our trip finally arrived!  Taking a bus tour someplace was something Ed and I had always wanted to do.

packed and ready to ride

Ed and I did our usual morning chores, then loaded the car and headed toward the church about 7:30.  The bus was scheduled to pick us up at 8 a.m.  When we arrived, the bus was there, and already half full! In all, about forty of us would be making the journey to visit The Ark Encounter, in Kentucky.  As the trip progressed, I soon figured out why so many folks had arrived early and filled the front half of the bus.  The front of the bus gets to unload first!

our bus for the next four days

Ed and I added our suitcases to the pile, then headed for a seat toward the back of the bus.  One of our favorite couples from church took the seat right behind ours, so we knew this was going to be a fun trip!  Soon our bus was rolling and headed for Pigeon Forge, Tennessee.

Everyone was excited, as the open highway lay before us.  We chatted and joked among ourselves.  Before long, the tour guide popped the first [of several] movies into the dvd player, and everyone settled down to watch Courageous.  About an hour into this movie, I began to realize that I might have a problem–motion sickness!  I’d never watched a movie on a bus, therefore, it never occurred to me this might happen!  Sitting in the back of the bus probably didn’t help either.

Fortunately, my daughter had suggested packing some Dramamine, which I promptly took at the next rest stop.  However, once motion sickness occurs, it’s difficult to shake as long as you’re still in motion.  Sadly, I spent a good portion of Monday’s trip riding with my eyes closed!

We stopped at a large mall, about four hours from where we live, and ate lunch at their food court.  I was able to eat, and actually began feeling better while we were stopped.  Unfortunately, the queasy feeling kept coming and going for much of the trip, that first day, even though I didn’t watch any more movies.

Thank goodness, I was finally feeling almost normal by the time we reached Pigeon Forge–nearly nine hours after leaving our church!  THAT WAS SOME BUS RIDE!!!

Our bus pulled up at the “Dolly Stampede” (formerly known as the “Dixie Stampede”) about 5:45 p.m.  The dinner show was scheduled to begin at 6:00, so we were cutting it close!  The guide quickly took a group photo, then herded us into the building to be seated. (I apologize for the quality of the few photos that I took. It was dark in there.)

a glimpse of the show at Stampede

Ed and I had never been to the “Dolly Stampede”, so we didn’t know much about it, other than they put on a show for you while you eat dinner.  We didn’t know they don’t furnish you with eating utensils or that they bring your meal one item at a time!  Imagine our surprise when they brought our soup to us, and we didn’t have a spoon!  However,  we quickly figured out why that handle was on the side of the bowl 🙂

The show soon began, with an assortment of horses, riders, cattle, covered wagons, and even some buffalo!  There was a story line behind the show, of course, and even a little friendly audience competition.  At one point in the show, they solicited volunteers, from the audience,  to participate in part of the show.  We soon discovered that our pastor and his wife had been selected to be participants!  (This was actually their second time going to “The Stampede” and being chosen as participants!)  How exciting that they participated in the bucket relay race, and won a medal!

our pastor and his wife participating in the bucket relay

While the entertainment in front of us played out, the servers continued to bring food to us–one piece at a time!  Following the soup and biscuit, a Cornish hen was served, again with no eating utensils!

 What?  No fork and knife?!

This was later followed by a slice of pork, one half of a baked potato, an ear of corn, and an apple turn over!  To say our stomachs were stuffed and our hands were very messy would be an understatement!  Fortunately, they did provide us with a warm, wet towel at the end of the meal, but I’d much have preferred a fork, knife, and spoon!

After our meal was over, we exited through the Stampede gift shop and boarded our bus which took us to our hotel for the evening.  Ed and I got separated in the gift shop, and lost from each other for a bit, but that’s another whole story!

Once we made the short journey to our hotel for the evening, we exited the bus as they called our names and presented us with our room keys. Happily, mine and Ed’s names were the first two called!

upper view of  our hotel lobby in Pigeon Forge

Imagine our surprise when our room key didn’t work!  In fact, nobody’s room key worked!  It turned out our keys hadn’t been activated, but within a matter of minutes, everyone was finally able to enter their rooms.

I’m told some folks soon went to the pool, but the only place Ed and I went was to find the place where breakfast would be held the following morning, then off to bed we went!  We were exhausted! (to be continued)

A ‘Restful’ Kind Of Hodgepodge…

I’ve entitled today’s post “A Restful Kind of Hodgepodge” because rest is what I need most, right now!  Ed and I have just completed two very busy weeks, and this blogger is worn out– but in a good sort of way.  As I write this,  I’ve just returned from a six hour ordeal of having my yearly exam at the gynecologist’s office (3 hours of travel, 3 hours of wait time), but, for now, I’ll press on a while longer, with today’s Hodgepodge.  I’ve missed the last two weeks, and hate to let another week pass.  As always, thanks to our gracious hostess, Joyce, for everything that she does!

Here are today’s questions:

1. Three things on your spring bucket list? If you don’t have an actual list that’s fine, pretend you do.

#1-Plant another garden (done), #2- go on a bus tour to Kentucky (done), #3- have yearly exam done at gynecologist (done)

2. Where do you find rest?  Are you speaking literally? If so, then  in my bed, at night, or stretched out on the couch, during the day.

What restores your soul? Reading my Bible, meeting with like-minded believers, singing hymns, listening to a good preacher, and, sometimes, just sitting under those oak trees on St. Simon’s Island!

When was the last time you did whatever it was you answered here?    Last week, our church had revival, on Wednesday through Sunday, so I did lots of everything listed above, with the exception of visiting St. Simon’s Island.  It was a great week, and I’m feeling revived and restored!

3. April is National Celery Month. Who knew?  Not me!

Do you like celery?  Not very much.

What’s your favorite dish made with celery? Cornbread stuffing, or what we folks in “Gooseneck” like to call “dressing”.

On a veggie and dip platter which would you reach for first-carrot sticks, celery sticks, cucumbers or cherry tomatoes? 

I’d probably go for the carrot sticks first, especially if there’s dip.

4. I read here eight things to do before 8 am to make your day less hectic-Start one load of laundry, drink water, empty the dishwasher, read your Bible, know what you’re having for dinner, get dressed, brain dump (two lists-one what you’re thankful for and one what’s weighing on your mind), and after the brain dump make your to-list for the day

How many of these are you currently doing?  Usually, the only thing on the list that I do before 8 a.m. is drink a glass of water (while taking my morning medication).  I do my “chicken chores” and take a walk from 7:30 until 8.  Afterward,  I read my Bible,  then read/write in my prayer journal,  eat breakfast, get dressed, then start a load of laundry–usually in that order. (And for those who may be wondering– we live in the country, so I often do my chores and take a walk wearing my pajamas and a coat.)

Which one do you think would help the most if you added it to your early morning routine?  I’d probably look a little better if I got dressed first!

5. Describe the view from your window.

From my chair, I can see Ed’s little red tractor (parked under the little shelter he built).  Next to that, I see the large Sycamore tree that Ed planted for me, years ago, (against his wishes), and the little Mimosa tree he dug up from some nearby woods, and planted for me on our last (45th) anniversary (also against his wishes).  Both trees are thriving.  I’m thinking my Ed is a mighty good man!

Random:

The day after Easter, Ed and I left on our four-day trip to Kentucky to visit The Ark Encounter and The Creation Museum.  We had a wonderful time, and saw many interesting places!

The replica of the ark is very large and very interesting.  I loved The Creation Museum, as well.  I highly recommend visiting both places, if you’re ever in Kentucky.  It will be even more fun if you’ll travel with a group of church folks on a tour bus, like we did!  Fun times!

in front of the replica of Noah’s Ark

in front of The Creation Museum

In case you can’t tell by the looks of my hair, it was windy in Kentucky!  It turned cold, overnight, and we even saw some snow flurries while at The Creation Museum!  This was quite a change from the 80 degree temperatures we left behind in Georgia!

I’m planning to blog more about our trip as soon as I rest up a bit more.  It’s been non-stop, here, since before Easter!  Calgon, take me away…