Off to Florida

I am in Florida for some canoeing with friends from the Georgia Wilderness Society and the Florida Sport Paddlers Club.

Hope to have some photos when I return.

Think warm thoughts...the weather for the first few days is supposed to be cool, but warming toward the end.

Sunday afternoon's snow

A bit of snow fell up on top of the Chestnut Knob near my Mom and Dad's house. It was very pretty!

Nu-Way Afterdark

Like their slogan says, "I'd go a long way for a Nu-Way"

This is one of the nation's oldest hotdog restaurants! It is as old as Nathan's in New York City, but has a better flavor....and it is right here in Macon, GA!

Sidewalk Splendor

I really liked the way the light fell onto the sidewalk from this walkway light in Macon the other night.

Scrolls in Repetition

While walking in downtown Macon, I spotted this line of decorative scrollwork beneath a balcony on Mulberry Street. It was taken at night, so that is reason for the slightly strange coloring...which I actually like!

I just love repetitive patterns!

Downtown Macon's Christmas at Night

Last night, Bonnie and I strolled around downtown for a while. The air was cool and brisk, but that just made the yummy Cuban sandwich even better at the end of the evening. Here are a couple shots of the big tree. On the left is the old Armory Ballroom and to the right are the twin spires of St. Joseph's Catholic Church. To see a 360 view of the inside the church, click here, then click on one of the green symbol to the right of the interior shot that you want to see. Use then controls at the bottom or place the mouse over part of the image to move it about. The stained glass really is quite lovely.

And why did I eat too much at Thanksgiving?

Why did I eat so much? Because I have no will power!

Ate way too much!

Oh my...how could I possibly have eaten that much?

Happy Thanksgiving!

While I am far from a vegan, I did think that this little ad did make you think about the way our food is raised. That being said, I will still probably devour a fair bit of turkey over the next few days.




Happy Thanksgiving!

Skype

Oh, by the way, if any of you use Skype and want to add me to your contacts, use the Skype button on the left side and add me to your contact list. I finally got my camera working again. It had quit when I had Vista...but since the Windows 7 upgrade disk arrived in the mail, it is back working again.

Really Fast Food Pizza

On a cold, wet, dreary day like today, there really isn't anything better than something hot from the oven. So I went all out and made a homemade pizza pie. An hour and a half later, my belly was full; but the kitchen was a disaster: flour was all over the counter top, pans were dirty with sauce, and don't get me started about the burnt cheese in the bottom of the oven.

If there was only a way to get hot pizza in a jiffy that didn't involve any clean up....yes, that is what it looks like. I found a pizza vending machine on the internet! Is that crazy or what?

Aliens? No...just a GEICO advertisement

While out yesterday, I spotted this very odd pattern coming across the sky toward me. What could it be? Aliens? UFO?


It was only later that it came closer and could see that it was being done by a group of small planes, very high up. I wondered what it could be. Then I realized it was skywriting....an advertisement for GEICO insurance!

Collecting Indian Artifacts

I spent most of today on my hands and knees with about 20 other people, looking for Native American artifacts at Waterworks Park in Macon, GA. Someone screwed up and partially plowed up an archeological area a few weeks ago and exposed quite a bit of material. Area archeologists are working to collect and map the material that is at the surface due to the damage, and are planning for future dig areas.




We collected about 500 or so pieces of pottery, a few spearpoints, a couple of other tools, and flint flakes in about 5 hours of looking. This is on top of about 1,000 pieces that have already been collected in the last 2 weekends. One more weekend, and the site should be fully searched.

The top photo is of a bead (split) that was found, and below it are two typical pieces of pottery. Most of the stuff we found was from the recent past (1600-1750), although one of the spearpoints was of a style common around 10,000 years ago.

Fall Leaves

I joined a small group of friends and hiked around 7.5 miles on the Pine Mountain Trail as a dayhike. It reminded me how out of shape that I have gotten. It took 2 days for my calves to stop hurting! Walking on flatground is a lot different that up and down the hills and over the rocks!

The trees were turning toward their oranges and reds in a few places. In others, the leaves were already beginning to fall.

Smoky Mountain Trip

A few people said that they couldn't see my Smoky Mountain shots over on my Facebook page, and wanted to see them here. So here are a few....as always, click to see a bigger version of the photo.

Downtown Macon

Downtown Macon, GA seems so quiet when you see if from up on the roof.

Spirits in the Cemetery

Last night, Bonnie and I took the walking tour of Riverside Cemetery just before sunset. They had about a ten actors at various gravesites portraying the dearly departed. They told stories, funny and sad, and gave a lot of history in a very entertaining way.

At the end of the walk, we were at the Hart Mausoleum, where they had a nice spread of cheese, fruit, crackers, and wine. I thought it sort of funny looking to see the actress, who was still in her habit as one of the Sisters of Mercy, popping open a Bud Light at the reception.

Off to go get my truck

Tomorrow morning, I will be dropping off my rental and heading north with a friend to fetch my truck and its new engine. Yes, I am a few thousand dollars lighter than I used to be, and yes, it has been a rough couple of weeks; however, hopefully it will all come to an end soon.

If all goes well, I should be back behind the wheel of my truck by sundown tomorrow!

Auto-Tune the News #9: Nobel. health care. United Nations.

They did a great job on this one

Sorry for the absence...

To the few people who are regular viewers of this webpage, I must apologize for my recent absence of posts. This last week has been rough for me.

My truck is still in the shop, getting a new engine installed. Hopefully, it will be back up and running by this weekend though. My camper is stranded at my parents' home in the meantime. I borrowed my Dad's old car....actually my grandmother's old car in the meantime to use to get to work and around town. On Saturday night, I was in a wreck in it (not my fault, but still a very horrific accident in which to be involved). After dealing with the police and all the emotional baggage of the accident, I was still left without a car. Eventually, I was able to get a rental car, and reportedly my Dad's car made it out of the police impound lot over the weekend. I am still waiting to hear if the insurance company will call it a total loss or if it is repairable. Most likely, a loss.

So now, I am waiting to hear how much the truck will end up being, how much of a loss the car is, plus dealing with the longer term emotional impact of the accident. So as a result, I just have not been posting much online. Things will get better with time, and the posts will be back soon, once I can travel a little bit easier in my own vehicle.

Cades Cove Photos

Several other photos from the trip to the Smokies are posted here. Hope you enjoy them!

To the left is a pic of some of my photo taking buddies reviewing their shots while they waited on me to finish shooting a small waterfall by the roadside.

I am still waiting to hear from the garage on the total cost estimate on the truck.

Great fun, but expensive

I had a great time at Cades Cove and the Smokies in general....with one major exception. On the way up there, my truck started making very loud noises. Eventually, I had to abandon it at a Dodge dealership in Lenoir City, TN. The good news is that Dad saved my trip by driving over and hauling my camper (which was in tow behind my truck) to the campground, so I could still spend a few days there. The bad news is that the dealership figured out what the problem was. My spindle rod bearings bit the dust, and the repair cost is so labor intensive, that it will be "cheaper" to buy a new engine for the truck. Notice that "cheaper" is a very relative term.

So today, my Dad came back to the campground and hauled me and the RV to his house. I borrowed their spare car and drove it the other 4 hours home. So now, my truck is about 6 hours away, sitting in the dealership's parking lot, waiting on a tow. I have arranged for it to be towed to a neighbor of my parents' who is a mechanic on Wednesday. He is going to check on prices for a rebuilt engine to replace my dead one, and gently break the news to me in a day or two on that, so I don't go into cardiac arrest the way I did when I heard the price the dealership wanted to do the same thing ($6,200). He said he could do it for MUCH less, which is a good thing.

Oh well, it was a nice trip other than that. We spotted 2 bears, 30 turkey, 30 elk, and about 50 deer. Photos will come in a day or two. Back to work tomorrow morning first though.

I am off to Cades Cove

The camper is packed and I am off to Cades Cove in the Smokies for the weekend. Here is a video of the area and some of the wildlife. Not sure that I will actually see that much wildlife, but would be nice.

It finally feels like Fall

After many weeks of temperatures hovering around 90 degrees, it finally feels like Fall is here! The first real cold front managed to push deep into the South yesterday evening and the temperature has dropped about 10 to 15 degrees. As I wake up this morning, it is a very nice 53 degrees outside! And the high today is only going up to 78. True enough that the highs do creep back up to the mid 80's over the next few days...but compared to the past few months, that is a welcome relief.

I am heading up to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in a few days, where the forecast is calling for highs around 70 and lows around 50 each night. I am so ready for Autumn to get here!

Wet Hiking

Dockery Lake is normally a busy little campground through the summer. The lovely small mountain lake is surrounded by miles of wilderness with good hiking trails and interesting nearby points of interest. There are only eleven campsites, so getting one is usually a hit or miss chance.

Not during a weekend in late September, when four GWS members camped along the shoreline. In fact, the first two nights, we were alone!

How could this be? It might have had something to do with the buckets of rain that fell from time to time. However, in between, were many hours of cool, foggy weather that was perfect for short hikes.

Crash in my front yard!

A truck blew a tire, ran off the road, hit a power pole, and then flipped...right in front of my house tonight! The power pole is snapped in half, so I am not sure how long I will have power.

Click to enlarge the images!







And here is a little bit of video of the aftermath (below)

Baby Rat Snake

This little gray rat snake (Elaphe obsoleta spiloides) was perched upon a wire fence next to my garage today. He must have had some good luck in hunting as you can see by the large lump in his middle!

Just for Laughs

Photos from Sapelo Island

Here are a bunch of photos from this past weekend's trip to Sapelo.

Click on them to see it enlarged, then use your BACK button to return here.