August and some of September

Hello again. This has been a weird week for me. There were many things that I wanted to do: exercise, stick to a healthy menu, do crafts with Mary, go to the Relief Society Activity, maybe go to the biscuit-making ward activity, get lots of work done, etc.  However, I decided to get sick instead. Nothing too dangerous, just a cold that was just serious enough to cause me to miss doing mostly all of those activities. It's still around now and I'm hope hope hoping it isn't going to turn into sinusitis, but having already had that once this year, I'm pretty familiar with the symptoms and it may be on the verge since I have a good amount of head congestion with little in my nose.

Anyways, one of the thrills of working at home is, unless you are really debilitated, you can work right through most sickness. Sometimes this is actually nice because you can be productive and take your mind off how yucky you feel and how you can't/shouldn't do things with other people because you don't want to spread the love. This would have been one of those times when work is a good activity to occupy me if I weren't in one of those work lulls when I am waiting on information, files, etc. to come back to me before I could do much work. Oh well. I did end up watching the first two seasons of Downton Abbey, making chicken soup for myself, and laying in bed.

We also finished watching a really great show that I would recommend to pretty much anyone. It is called Avatar: The Last Airbender. It is an animated series that was on Nickelodeon a few years ago. There are three seasons and we watched them all in the last few weeks. I really liked this show. It has little details that I really like, it is funny, and the whole story is engaging and interesting. You should watch it. They have it on Netflix.

Jessica came to visit over Labor Day(-bor) weekend. We went canoeing at Cane Creek reservoir in Orange county. We were hoping to see some bald eagles but alas. We did see many turtles. a heron or two an egret, and some little fish. We were the only canoers on the water (that we could see) but there were quite a few fishermen in little electric motorboats. There was a tree that from a distance looked like it was just growing out of the water in the middle of the lake. When we got closer it turns out it was on a very low-lying peninsula of land that was partially flooded. The tree still looked pretty sweet.

Mom and Dad also came to visit for a day or two. We went to dinner and shopping and church. Sadly I did not take a single picture.

I went to the dentist and had no cavities. I like getting my teeth cleaned. I remember when I was younger the hardest thing about the dentist was keeping my mouth open so long. Now it takes most of my concentration to keep my tongue from following the dental hygienist's hands around with my tongue. I'm sure they are used to that but it seems so weird and should not be so hard to keep it down out of the way. Anyone else have this problem? Or even think about this...?

I also went to the optometrist and my prescription has changed slightly. I need to get new glasses. Last time I just got new lenses in my ten-year-old frames and I think I need cuter ones so if I don't want to put my contacts in one day, I won't feel silly going out in glasses.

This post is probably misnamed because I can't really think of much that we did in August. Probably just same old, same old. Jeran gave a department seminar presentation and did awesome. That's about it.

Weekday Camping

Last night we went camping overnight. It was really wonderful. We went to Jordan Lake's Poplar Point camping area. It was right on the lake with trees all around and a sandy beach right by our campsite. There was only one other tent campsite in use in the campground (according to the ranger) and we never even saw them, so it was very quiet and peaceful.

We set up our tent and started a fire and then made our traditional camping dinner: a creamy Bear Creek Soup cooked over our awesome Brunton Raptor camp stove, and a loaf of french bread. Actually this time we got an artisan rosemary peasant loaf (or something...) because it was on sale, but usually it's a loaf of french bread and we pull off chunks to dip in the soup. Mmmmm.  Then I carved a stick and ate a lot of marshmallows and Jeran ate some more jerky. Hard to say which is better.

Then we sat in silence (mostly) and watched the fire and the stars. It was just cool enough that a fire felt really nice but warm enough not to have one side of you freezing at any time. We saw some shooting stars and waited for our wood to run out and the fire to burn down and just had a wonderfully peaceful evening.

As always, we were wakened slightly earlier than desired by the substitute Tobys, which were crows today (the squirrels must have been too busy). We cleaned up some, made hot chocolate, ate powdered donuts, and sat by the lake watching the fish jump, an egret wading, and the sun rising. All in all, a practically perfect campout. We decided we should have been doing this more often: work a later day from 11 AM until 8-9 PM so we could go camping on a weekday.

Waterfalls Road Trip

We just got back from a little three day roadtrip in Western North Carolina. We also ventured into Northern Georgia, drove through South Carolina, and stuck our toes over the border into eastern Tennessee. Although it was forecasted to be stormy the entire time we only got any significant rain a few times while we were driving - I was worried about the camping conditions but it turned out just fine!

First we saw Catawba Falls, which was one of Jeran's favorites.

Then we camped for the night. It was an all right little campground that focused on tube rentals and shuttles for tubing the Green River. They had a pond near the campsites that had tons of - I identified it when I got home - bullfrogs! They are so noisy (here's what they sound like). Imagine probably 20 of those off and on every 10 minutes all night. Plus about a billion cicadas, also squawking all night. And campers arriving at all hours of night for Coon Dog Days, which has nothing to do with hotdogs or corndogs as was my first naive guess, and everything to do with hound dogs. That night, I did not sleep very well but at least that was not due to rain! Jeran slept much better, which is good because he did all of the driving.

First off that morning we went to Sliding Rock, where we had thought about swimming (and sliding) but it was too early in the day and was still cold and empty. You can slide down the falls into the pool at the base - they even have a lifeguard.

Looking Glass Falls is very pretty. There were tons of berries all along the short path (blackberries or raspberries) but they weren't ripe and I don't know if I would have eaten any if they were.

We drove on the Blue Ridge Parkway through Pisgah National Forest.

We hiked to a few little falls in an area called Graveyard Ridge. This is Lower Falls:

And after a little mile-long detour (because we were working with the trail map only in our memories), we made it to Upper Falls, which I did not take any pictures of because there were lots of people there, including a breastfeeder sitting almost under the falls and it seemed weird to pull out the camera. All in all, we hiked about 4.5 miles for those two falls and got sore feet and soon-to-be sore legs.

Next we saw some very pretty areas. Shoal Creek Falls and French Broad Falls sit right below a church-owned building in a little ravine. These two falls are adjacent to each other in a little semicircle.

Looking the other direction from these two falls.

A trail continues down the river with several little falls and then Bird Rock Falls aka Cathedral Falls. There was a nice area where we waded and looked at the tall rock walls of the little canyon. This was probably my favorite area and the pictures do not do it justice.

We saw Toxaway Falls, which is hard to see because you are at the top of it where it runs under the road and then over the falls.

Then we hiked down to Whitewater Falls, which was pretty spectacular. It is supposedly the highest waterfall east of the Mississippi, and was very big and beautiful.

We then saw Bridal Veil Falls, which was a bit lame even though it had been raining recently. Also, those people were never going to leave. But it was fun to it to see the variety of waterfalls. This one you can actually drive behind, and walk under.

Next we saw Dry Falls, which was awesome. The sheer volume of water pouring over the falls was amazing, even more so because you can walk around behind the falls on a paved path and get sprayed by the mist (which feels very nice on a hot, humid day) and see the water exactly as it shoots over the edges.

We drove on more of the Blue Ridge Parkway, which was very spectacular and reminded me a little of road trips with my family growing up were I was certain we were about to plummet to our deaths over the side of the cliff. The roads are actually not tooooo near the edge, but when I look to either side of me and can see the ground falling away drastically into forest, I do get a little nervous. At some point, Jeran and I discussed how long it would be before anyone missed us and sent out a search party if we went over the edge somewhere when no one was around. I think Jeran said a month... Seriously?!

We saw Glen Falls, which was pretty with lots of little cascades.

After this we ventured into northern Georgia to stay the night and then go to Tallulah Gorge, which is a spectacular, deep gorge with a river cutting through it. We trekked down the one billion stairs to the Hurricane Falls viewing area.

The Tallulah Gorge dam was built in 1913 and looks like it, but it is pretty amazing what they could do, even back then.

Some views of the Gorge:

Apparently at least two persons have crossed this on tightropes. Crazy.

Jeran crossing the suspension bridge over the gorge:

Leaving Georgia, we headed home, stopping en route to see the view from Clingman's Dome, the tallest mountain in the Smokies and in Tennessee. Getting to the top of this mountian entails a long curvy drive along another section of the Blue Ridge Parkway through Smoky Mountain National Forest behind a very slow truck (confirmed on the way back down). Clingman's Dome is topped by a tall tower for an improved view over the trees. You have to hike a grueling, climbing half mile to the tower and it was very hot and steep. Unfortunately, it was not a very clear day so we couldn't see too far, but it was a nice view anyways.

On top of Old Smoky!

In all, we saw at least 12 waterfalls and many spectacular vistas and I have never gotten more sweaty from hiking. It was a gorgeous trip and it was nice to get away for a few days! Now I feel we've sampled a good amount of North Carolina - it would be a shame to live here for a time and miss out on these treasures!

"Additionally, the doctor believed that the pleasure of homecoming was more than recompense for the pains of setting out, and that therefore it was always worth departing." - Louis de Bernieres in Corelli's Mandolin

Look what the cat dragged in

So I was sitting outside on the back porch enjoying the nice sunny weather. The back door was open (the bugs aren't too bad yet, the A/C and heat are both off, and our kitchen can't look any worse). Toby had been poking around the back yard area for a while. He is a wimp when it comes to the great outdoors so he would look around and then when he heard a car motor over on the next street or a neighbor outside talking, he would run back inside for safety. Well, one when he ran in, I saw him going crazy over something on the floor in the kitchen.

I dropped my book and ran inside in time to see Toby pick something up in his mouth and dash down the hall and into the living room. When I got there I saw that he had a lizard! Not just a tiny little reptile, but a decent-sized, bona fide lizard. In my living room! He kept setting it down and letting it run a ways before running over and (usually) gently picking it up in his mouth and carrying it to the middle of the room.

As he was doing this, I was trying to make sure it didn't get under any furniture where it would be harder to catch and finding something to catch it with. I finally found a metal bucket and a wrapping paper roll. It took a while and a few tries, but I finally managed to herd the lizard into the bucket without Toby scaring it off in a different direction. I took the lizard out back and let him free in the woods.

Poor little guy. He didn't look too worse for the wear so hopefully he makes it.

My favorite road

Since moving to Durham, NC, I have come to really enjoy the area and its beauty. I love the greenness and the trees and the vines. There is one road in particular near where we live that I have fallen in love with. It is called Massey Chapel Road and I get to drive on it almost every day.

It starts out with some lovely, cute, nice little houses with awesome country yards.


Then you go around a bend and it becomes very pastoral. There is an old shed or barn with flowering vines growing all over it.

Across the road from the building is a pasture sloping down to a small lake. There are usually some nice cows and a few horses grazing in this pasture, as well as many geese that stop by. Down the road a bit there is a Volunteer Agricultural Farm with lots of mature grape vines and lots of garden space and a pond.

Then there is a lot of trees (which are basically everywhere along most roads) and a creek - Jeran rescued a turtle crossing the road by this creek once. There is a power line alley through the trees with an old blue bus posing in it.

Further along there are some more country houses. There is one house that Jeran and I would consider buying if it were for sale and we were feeling brave. Think Joe Dupnick. Ah, what potential. Anyhow, I love this road and the beautiful drive it is.

Nature! part 2

Besides lovely birds, we also have many other interesting wildlives. Here are some animals we have seen around our house. These are pictures that Jeran or I actually took.

American Toad
Treefrog
Garden Orb Weaver Spiders
Carpenter Bumblebee
Dragonflies
Large beetles
Cockroaches
Squirrels
Rabbits
Lizards

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