theOutpost

Early Spring

2012-01-17T18:16:00.000-08:00

We were out and about in Cades Cove on Sunday - it was a beautiful sunny day, not a cloud in the sky, though it was a bit chilly and there was still a dusting of snow in the terminally shady spots.
This Winter has been much milder than the last couple years and going along with that, it seems that Spring is getting a jump on things.
After finishing our hike along Rich Mtn Rd and coming back down via an old roadbed, we popped out in the field next to the concrete fire ring(?) across the road from the Missionary Baptist Church and discovered a patch of daffodils almost getting ready to bloom.
This seems very early.
I imagine the large patch near the north end Hyatt Lane will be coming along as well.... didn't get to check on it.

Christmas Day in Cades Cove

2011-12-27T07:22:00.000-08:00

Every year we try to go hiking on Christmas Day and this year's hike was in Cades Cove along Cooper Road Trail.

It was a nice day in the Cove, temps in the low 40's with cloudy morning skies that cleared in the afternoon. A little drizzle did not dampen our spirits but recent rains had water levels up and we did have minor difficulty crossing Arbutus Branch along the way.

Stopped by the pond to check out the water level.... not a lot, but for winter pretty good I guess.

I always enjoy visiting the little cemeteries in the open fields. Feels so good out under the sun when it's chilly.

There was a lot of traffic in the Cove on Christmas. Despite the fact that bear madness is done for the season we were still caught up in multiple deer-jams, especially on the notoriously clogged far end of the loop. Inevitable. Not sure what goes thru people's heads once they get on that side..... maybe they are desperate to see a bear before they leave the Cove (because you always hear "Cades Cove is THE place to see bears!!") and they are scanning the forest as they roll along at 0.2 miles per hour.

All in all, it was a very nice Christmas in Cades Cove!

Thanksgiving Hike

2011-11-25T08:28:00.001-08:00

Hope everyone had a great holiday :-)
We woke up to a foggy, cold morning.

We took a Thanksgiving hike on Brushy Mountain Trail. We had done the summit before from the other side, and have hiked the lower/mid portions multiple times but I've been wanting to complete Brushy Mtn to Trillum Gap for a while and finally had the chance yesterday.
Started out on Porters Creek Trail at 11:30am, quite a few others were out enjoying the Smokies on a holiday morning.

Always have to stop by the old hiking cabin when passing by.....

The hike was quiet and mostly uneventful. Recent rain and a bit of horse traffic had made some muddy spots in the trail. Coupled with deep leaves and slick rocks, constant alertness was vital. We kept a rapid pace so were alternately sweaty then cold as we wove in-and-out between shady hollows and sunny ridges, pushing ever upwards.

View of Greenbrier Pinnacle through trees and tangle of grapevines. I want to get back up there again sometime this season.

1st crossing of Trillium Branch. Heavy rain a couple days before had waters running higher than usual, but had subsided enough to allow a doable rock-hop. We did see a handful of kayakers running the Little Pigeon River as we drove in, river was still flowing pretty high down there.

This tree disapproves.

I think he may be related to Plankton.

Three hikers coming down from Mt. LeConte passed by. This is the only time we've ever seen anyone on this trail.

Second crossing of Trillium Branch, a nice little cascade here and a quick leap across the water.

Almost there...... relentless pace continues.....

Trillium Gap, at last, in 2 hours 40 minutes. From the Porter's Creek parking lot to Trillium Gap the elevation gain is around 2,700ft. Arrived at 2:10pm to complete silence. The lodge is closed for the season now, so way less foot traffic. It was boisterously loud when last we were at this gap via Trillium Gap Trail, lots of hikers were passing thru then.

We briefly debated continuing on to the Brushy Mtn summit (which btw is 0.4mi not 0.2mi) but decided against it. Safer not to push too close to sunset, especially since it was much colder up there and we had hoodies and not jackets plus were already tired. Back down we went.

Arrived at the parking lot at 4:15pm, still quite a few cars were there.

Back in Pigeon Forge, we saw this homemade 3-wheel-madmax-motorcycle-dunebuggy-2-seater-thingy

Happy Thanksgiving!

Harvest!

2011-10-01T07:18:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I picked the 1st ear of the bucket sweet corn.
Last night I boiled it and we ate buttered corn on the cob, it was pretty tasty, can't believe I grew that in a 5-gallon bucket!

Sadly the watermelon that grew to the size of a junior football started to shrivel at one end, made an icky spot. We cut it open and it was mostly rind with a red star-shaped center and some tiny brownish seeds. Oh well.... since I picked it off the vine, a few more tiny melons have started to increase but the vine itself is dying off due to the season/weather, so I don't expect anything from them.
Also, the female flower has shriveled and dropped off the pumpkin vine before blooming, just like the last one.
I totally have to get an earlier start in the garden next year and hopefully it won't be so darn dry!

How does the garden grow?

2011-09-22T18:04:00.001-07:00

The garden is growing very well now that the weather has cooled off a bit and it rains sometimes.

The bucket sweet corn is getting big and has a lot of ears.

I can't help but think this tuft of corn silk looks like Wembley Fraggle is hiding in the stalk.

The watermelon is slowly expanding and the vine has made two more attempts at melons - one appears to be shriveling and the other looks to be growing. I'll start monitoring that one more closely.

Beautiful watermelon flower.

A female pumpkin flower starting to form. I'll have to watch and when it opens I'll need to polinate it with one of the male flowers. This is only the second one I've seen on the vine and I didn't try to polinate the other one and it shriveled up.

Caterpillar season

2011-09-21T10:13:00.000-07:00

It's caterpillar time again! I found the usual gulf fritillaries on my passion vines and have discovered some caterpillars that are new to me - tomato hornworms:

Three of them were working on decimating my scant bell pepper plants. I never got around to googling them until today and I only did that because, upon checking their status this morning, I discovered 2 were gone and the 3rd was forming a cocoon so I figured I better find out what is it.

At 11:30am, tomato hornworm was doing this. Kinda looks like in Men in Black II where the alien takes over the guy's body & the skin doesn't fit right, heheh.

I got all excited & thought I'd be in for a chance to watch the transformation up close, it's hard to time these things right so I usually miss them.
When I checked on the caterpillar at 1pm sadly the hornworm's typical enemy, the wasp, had found it and eaten most of it. Perhaps that is what happened to the other 2 caterpillars as well...... A shame, the hummingbird moths are so beautiful. Anyway, it is always interesting to witness part of the cycle of nature.

New Blog

2011-09-15T20:08:00.000-07:00

Not that I keep up with this one so great! But I started a new blog that is specifically for basic records of future hikes. If only I'd kept totals during our whole hiking career..... I know we have done over a thousand miles, it would be interesting to know just how much. Maybe I'll get a chance to look back through my pictures and add some more totals from past hikes.
http://outposttraillog.blogspot.com/

Garden again

2011-08-27T12:51:00.001-07:00

Seems like all I do is talk about the garden!
Here I go again :-)

I'm growing corn in 5-gallon buckets on the back patio. The tassels are emerging and I'm excited! I currently have 10 healthy stalks, been having to water them like crazy due to the small-ish containers and the super-dry weather. They're pretty happy so far.

This morning I picked the second cucumber to grow on the vine in the front flowerbed. It's a fatty!

I think one of the shadier vines has a cuke the size/shape of a golf ball, will have to crawl under the elephant ears to find out.

Behold: Baby watermelon.
Cute!
It's about 3/4 inch (2cm) long.

Lastly, the mango tree growing by the patio door. It is thriving and periodically puts out a new segment of leaves.

Garden Update

2011-07-30T08:11:00.001-07:00

I'm busy busy busy, so here's just a quick update on what's happening around the garden:
The new hydrangea is adjusting nicely, no longer drooping over terribly in the heat of the afternoon. Its blooms are so big and beautiful considering how small the shrub is yet. I think it is beginning to shift from blue to purple.

Ahhhh, the sunflowers.... so bright and cheerful :-)
There's about 8 of them and 3 have begun to bloom. They are getting about 4-5 feet tall now.

A nice, juicy cucumber in the front flowerbed. They sure are spiky when they're little! A few more tiny ones are under the leaves, but it looks like all the vine's energy is going into this particular cuke.

I've got corn sprouting in a couple 5-gallon buckets, and some watermelon vines and red peppers plants in the works, more pics later. Happy gardening!

Mothra!

2011-07-21T22:13:00.000-07:00

Ok, not Mothra. But still....... a multitude of moths.
I see them around quite a lot and am amazed how many there are. It's pretty cool how they can blend in seamlessly to some surroundings but stand out radically in others.

I found a fat Spiny Oakworm Moth (Anisota stigma) hanging in the shrubs while I was pruning them. It did a very convincing job of looking like a dead leaf. But on a totally green, non-leafy plant.... yeah, that kinda stood out.

So fuzzy! I wanna rub rub rub that abdomen.

This Lesser Maple Spanworm Moth (Speranza pustularia) was on the side of the garage one morning. I love the delicate coloring, almost like inkblot stains of coffee on a piece of white paper.

This is a Large Lace- Border Moth (Scopula limboundata). It looked like an angel resting on the stonecrop in the front flowerbed.

The Clymene Moth (Haploa clymene), on the garage siding.
I see a sword, or an arrow, or a fleur de lis. Or maybe an ear of corn.

So, last night, while I was googling to id these moths, I lamented the fact that I had not yet seen one with (as I think of it) 'a curly butt'. This morning I was treated to one. Yay! On the side of the garage where there is usually one sort of moth or another, there it was - Spotted Apatelodes (Apatelodes torrefacta)

Love the wing structure and coloring, not to mention the curled-up tuchus!

Here's my very favorite view of this moth:

omg.
beyond.
cute.
The legs!!

In the Garden

2011-07-20T14:47:00.000-07:00

I recently bought a lovely blue hydrangea shrub.
Hope it will stay blue, I know they are prone to changing based on soil pH. Over time I may have to try different stuff on it to adjust the color.

It was really difficult for me to plant because the location we agreed upon has the best grass in the lawn. It was literally paaaaainful for me to dig into that lush green carpet!
I separated and replanted plugs of the grass in some of the bare spots around the yard.

Then I had to prune back part of the Russian sage along the front walk. It was becoming huge, unruly, hanging into the pathway and is usually full of bees so that was sort of an obstacle course getting to the front door.

Shame to cut all these pretty little flowers, they smell nice, too. Still a lot left growing, though.
I'll have to try pruning it back earlier in the season next year to promote bushier growth as opposed to the current leggy state.

Wordless Wednesday

2011-07-13T19:56:00.001-07:00

A death at the Townsend Wye

2011-07-12T12:26:00.000-07:00

Monday morning we headed into Tremont for a hike. We finished the 8-mile-r/t to Indian Flats Falls and were back at the car by 11:45am. On the drive out, there was a mass of Search and Rescue vehicles, Fire Rescue, ambulances, Park Rangers, etc at the parking area of the Townsend Wye (a very popular swimming/tubing spot on the Little River).

Obviously a search was underway for a person in the water. We stopped and talked to a young couple sitting on the sidewalk in bathing suits, they'd been in the water when the event occurred but didn't see anything. They had heard from others that the search was on for a man who was tubing with a 2-year-old girl when the tube flipped and they both fell into the water. The child was said to have been recovered safely but the man was unaccounted for and reportedly could not swim. We heard this same story repeated a few times, including from one emergency responder guy (with fire?rescue?not sure) who said he'd heard the baby was ok.

All swimmers/tubers had been ordered from the river and a handful of swift-water rescue searchers were scouring the rocks, ledges and logs in the rushing waters downstream from the Wye (the intersection of Little River and Laurel Creek).

By now, scuba divers had suited up and entered this deeper pool upstream from the swift-water searchers, which was reportedly where the tube flipped and the last place the man was seen.

A swift-water searcher assists a weighted deep-water scuba diver to move back upstream in the Little River.

We left as the search appeared to be wrapping up, and as we drove into town we saw police had temporarily blocked southbound traffic heading into Cades Cove. A few minutes later an ambulance with lights, no sirens, passed us headed north toward Blount Memorial. Indeed, we checked the news via phone and saw the victim had been recovered and was being transported to the hospital. He was pronounced dead shortly after 1pm.

I've not read anything official mentioning the involvement of a child.

Here are some news links:
http://www.knoxvilledailysun.com/news/2011/july/texas-man-drowns-at-townsend-wye.html
http://www.wbir.com/news/article/175882/2/Texas-man-drowns-while-tubing-in-the-Little-River

Such occurrences really underscore the uncertainty of life. One moment you can be having a wonderful time, and in the blink of an eye.... it's all gone.
Also important to think about is safety and preparedness. The man (reportedly) could not swim, yet participated in an activity that included both deep and rushing water. Tubes can be highly fickle and should not be considered life-safety devices. They tip over, they are easy to lose hold of or fall out from; they are heavy and awkward to move. River rocks are slippery, shift around and are difficult to walk on. It can be very hard to judge water depth. Please be very careful when tubing, especially with young children. If you can't swim, strongly consider wearing a life jacket or avoiding participation.

Abrams Falls, after "The Tornado"

2011-07-11T20:26:00.000-07:00

We hiked out to Abrams Falls in Great Smoky Mtns on July 4th. Hadn't been out there since what we refer to as "the night of the tornadoes" on April 27, when over 50 tornadoes touched down in east Tennessee, including a confirmed EF4 tornado that ripped through the western half of the National Park, impacting (and closing) about 30 miles of trails west of Cades Cove.

Abrams Falls Trail was one of those closed trails (signage photo from our May 3 visit to the trailhead) and it was the first to be re-opened, as it is a massively popular summertime hike for tourists and locals.

If you hadn't hiked to the falls before the storm, the change might not look too impressive, but we could really tell the difference in a few places. Definitely a lot of trees were downed, but the workers did a great job shifting debris and filling in the trail beds.

Where some of the largest uprooted trees created hot tub-sized holes in the trail, log retaining walls were built for stabilization and prevention of erosion.

Looking to the opposite ridge from our trail, out across the river gorge, you can see a path of damage through the forest.

Despite the areas of damage, Abrams Falls Trail is still a fine hike with some pretty scenery.

The Falls were, as always, a beautiful sight.
We arrived at 8:30 am after the 2.5 mile-hike and were the second ones there. On the way back, between the Falls and the trailhead, we passed exactly 100 people.

Now, let me say this:

For the Love of All That is Holy, people..... Trash in, Trash OUT. Leave No Trace.
The amount (and kind) of garbage we found there was a disgrace. Litter seems to be getting worse in general around the park, but I was especially disgusted at the state of affairs on this holiday weekend. Just be glad I didn't pan down in that Falls photo.

Misty morning

2011-07-05T06:55:00.000-07:00

On July 4th, we were up before dawn to head out for sunrise in Cades Cove in the Great Smoky Mtns. We haven't been in the Cove that early before, I'm not a morning person. It was well worth the effort. Not only did we see some wonderful misty sights, we also beat the heat and most of the crowds.

I imagine it was packed later in the day; we were out by 11:00 am (as always in the back half of the loop, we were stuck behind the ubiquitous Cove traffic-jammer, who drives 5mph and never pulls over).

The breaking of day was magical.

It was cool and quiet, we saw plenty of crows and a handful of deer, some playfully frolicking in the fields.

The road to Abrams Falls.

My next post will cover our hike to the falls and tornado damage.

Freaky Friday 7.1.11

2011-07-01T08:59:00.000-07:00

Today's Freaky Friday comes from yesterday's hike in the Smokies, on trails out of Elkmont. Nice weather, lots of people out and about along the Little River. We went out to the Goshen Gate Bridge and I waded in the river; we saw a mink running along the opposite bank. Met a large group of young backpackers headed for bc #23 then up to the AT today.

On the way back, we diverted onto Huskey Gap Trail over to bc#21 (the new one) to see if anybody was there (spotted at least 1 tent). Along the HGT we passed what I guess is a timber rattlesnake chillin at the edge of the trail.

It was motionless, it never rattled or showed aggression. It was determined to be best to encourage it away from the trail with a long branch.

It was a big fat beauty, and I didn't know they came so dark - that's the only reason I noticed it.... the blackness stood out in the brown terrain. Steve Irwin over there with the stick was in heaven and lamenting the fact that he couldn't bring this snake home. *eyetwitch*

Also here's a freaky fungus. I'm going to be classy and say it looks like a heart.

Friday Feathers

2011-05-20T07:16:00.000-07:00

It ain't easy being busy and trying to get multitudinous things done when you've got a bird attached to your chest. But who could say "enough, go away!" to this adorable little face?? Not me, that's for sure :-)

Mango Madness

2011-05-17T07:24:00.001-07:00

There have been some nice mangoes in the grocery lately and we've enjoyed eating them up. I, being a bit of a budding plant junkie, saved the seeds to try my hand at growing mango trees. Why not?
Let's begin.

Here we have a big juicy Mexican mango and the cleaned, dried seed from a previously eaten mango on a tea saucer. That's a big seed, eh? One of the largest in the plant kingdom.
After eating the fruit, rinse and scrape the pulp from the seed and let it dry out for a couple days - it's much easier to handle when it isn't wet and slimy.

I used a pair of pliers and a screwdriver to carefully open the hull without damaging the tender seed inside. You can feel where the seed is inside and where the "slack" places are on the hull so you can grab on with the pliers and bend the hull a bit to loosen it up/snap it open.
Once opened, you can see the seed is enveloped in a material that looks and feels exactly like parchment paper.

Here is the emptied hull, the 'parchment' and the seed, which is partially removed from the innermost encasement of a flexible, woody-type brown material. Oh yeah, I've got all the proper technical terms here, sure.

This seed had begun to sprout a thick root while still in its hull inside the mango fruit.

(note: the seed pictured here is from a smaller mango variety than the big red shown above, which will be discussed later)

Once the mango seed is free and clear of it's enclosure, I loosely wrap it in a napkin and moisten with water and place inside a zip-seal bag. Here I have a holding station of 3 mango seeds and a nectarine seed resting atop an egg carton, which has been a handy little storage solution.
Every few days I peel back the napkin and check to see what's happening inside and add a few drops of water if needed.

It has been great fun to watch the progress. Much more has happened already (I've been slow to post this) and I will be providing updates on my little mango farm as I have time, so check back!

It's Saturday, so it must be.....

2011-05-14T13:03:00.000-07:00

..... cleaning day! And when it's cleaning day I run the vacuum. And when I run the vacuum, Shamsie goes berserk. Because to this bird, vacuum = bath time. Without fail, I turn on the machine and that bird is having a bath. She's so smart, she knows "clean"!

She does a much more thorough bath and less running around the cage when I'm actually pushing the vacuum. I'm amazed she let me video her this much, I suppose the call of the tub was too strong.

Freaky Friday

2011-04-08T09:32:00.000-07:00

It has been an exceptionally long time since I blogged, not because I forgot about the blog or didn't have any ideas or adventures to share..... I just took a break. Sometimes it is good to step away from a thing for a while.
Today my blogifying resumes with a post I call "Freaky Friday" because I'm sharing a couple things that are, shall we say, odd.

While hiking yesterday on Old Settlers Trail in the National Park, we encountered 2 very interesting things:

An emerging plant (appears to be mayapple) pushes its way up through the soil and directly into the opening of an empty, sun bleached snail shell, lifting it off the ground. Amazing!

I have seen a lot of hand carved grave markers around the park, many are so old you can't read them anymore.
This is one is somewhat legible but the drawing is still perfect - a hand with index finger pointing up to Heaven. Fantastic!

Middle Prong, Panther Creek, Blanket Mountain hike

2010-10-14T07:08:00.000-07:00

On Oct.12th, we headed to the Tremont area of the Smokies. The leaves are getting gorgeous and I feel the pressing time limit to see everything possible during this, in my opinion, most magical of mountain seasons. The day was pleasant with intermittent drizzles that didn't reach too much below the canopy to dampen us.
The trailhead was packed like I've never seen it here - a wad of horse trailers, a herd of bikes, and a whole troop of what appeared to be a hiking club gathering. *cringe* We generally try to avoid crowds and this was a fairly big one considering the location. Luckily, we'd gotten a late start and it seemed they (at least the hikers/bikers) were finishing up their adventure.

We geared up and blazed through the gathering onto the Middle Prong Trail.

A long, steep cascade near the start of the trail. Hard to tell by the pic but I'm hanging on the edge of a high drop-off over the river. Beautiful, quiet spot.

The Middle Prong Trail is along an old railroad grade that parallels Lynn Camp Prong river on a gentle incline.
We passed a few casual strollers and 5 horses along this portion of our hike.
After 2.3 miles, we reached the junction with Panther Creek Trail. Immediately you must wade or carefully rock-hop (as we did) across Lynn Camp Prong - it is tricky under normal conditions, after a big rain it would be considerably more difficult.
Usually when we reach this point there's a few somebodies resting on the rocks - surprisingly, today there was nobody.

From this point the trail is narrower, rockier and gains much more elevation. Horse traffic had obviously been this way, leaving an obstacle course of poop piles and stirred up rocks/dirt. Thank goodness it wasn't too rainy or it'd be a messy mud pit.
PCT is a nice trail, no real views or standouts, but quite peaceful and the leaves were lovely. We didn't encounter anyone along the way.

After another 2.3 miles, we ascended to Jakes Gap. We'd been up here once before, came up from Elkmont via Jakes Gap Trail, which is a bit shorter approach. Due to the elevation gain, humidity, and wearing a daypack, I'd sweated thru my tshirt - the chill air at this level prompted me to doff that and done my hoody instead.

Here's where things got weird.

Technically, we'd completed the day's plan - 4.6 miles up to Jakes Gap. I should've been happy. Technically. But it's never enough! There's the manway to the summit of Blanket Mountain still to be done, and there it is, and we're right here, and let's just man-up and do this thing, yo!
However..... the huz, still wallowing in the depths of a post-Vikings-loss and the latest Favre controversy, was about 1/2 a second away from a hissy fit. I'd already squeezed nearly 5 miles out of him, was it possible to squeeze a little more?? Of course. *squeeze squeeze*
Unfortunately, in his misery, he'd misread the trail sign (which makes NO mention of the manway at all, btw) but didn't say anything, and thought he was in for another 2.4 miles of trail torture when it's probably between 3/4 to 1 mile. So off we go.

The Blanket Mountain manway is easy to follow but it is getting very grown over as it probably doesn't receive too much foot traffic and isn't maintained by the park service. Most of the way, it is a tight rhododendron tunnel. Part of that tunnel is so thick that we were literally hiking stooped over with branches constantly slapping us in the face. It was awesome :-)
This photo shows a more easily-traveled tunnel section, I didn't get any shots in the really tight spots, didn't want to damage the camera.
Plus, by now I was also dealing with the hissy fit which finally erupted. Not so awesome.

But *I* look happy, right? :-)

Looking extremely pleased with myself. Just leave me here, I'll be home eventually!!
This is a nice little open spot about halfway to the summit.

I'm sorry, but how can you NOT be enjoying yourself with this kind of view?
Stupid football.

Finally we achieved the summit. There are a couple small clearings and hardly any view. The foundations of the old fire tower are in one clearing.......

....the fallen chimney stack of the watchman's cabin (so I've read) is in the other clearing.
Elevation is about 4,600 feet.
There was a godawful stench, most likely fungal, I assume it was fungus since I didn't locate the stack of rotting corpses it smelled like.
Suddenly, just as I was darting about the area trying to see all, it began drizzling in earnest. I didn't have a chance to pinpoint the benchmark. Will have to make a return trip for that (cue evil laugh).

What? I can't live in a fallen chimney surrounded by a foul stink?
*sigh*
Ok..... but I'll be back!

Upon returning to Jakes Gap, we encountered 4 horsemen (not of the Apocalypse variety) who appeared surprised to see us emerge from the manway. They eventually overtook us as we headed back down Panther Creek Trail, leaving us dodging more poop on the way out.
Total hiking time - about 5 hours
Total distance hiked - just under 11.5 miles
Total elevation gain - 2,700 feet

All said, another fantastic day in the Smoky Mountains.

Signs of Autumn

2010-10-10T17:41:00.000-07:00

Things are starting to get colorful here. Today was a gorgeous sunny day and while mowing the lawn I admired some of the beauty surrounding our house.

The vacant lot next door is full of fall flowers, including some pointy spikes of goldenrod. In the heat of the afternoon, the smell of wildflowers was heavy - the same rich, wild scent I can taste in the delicious wildflower honey I love. In fact, a few honey bees were lazily moving about the various blooms.

The soft layers of color makes me want to start an impressionist painting!
Yellow is the dominant color at the moment, another week or so and we'll probably be seeing more orange and red.

Speaking of red.....

Bam! Now there' a shot of color!

Chrysalis City

2010-09-25T09:27:00.000-07:00

We're loaded with caterpillars, chrysalids, butterflies and moths. I keep finding them all around the house and it is very distracting and I filled up the memory stick in my camera.
I have to quit going outside.
I was pulling dead caladium leaves in the garden and keeping an eye out for chrysalids but still I managed to overlook this one - of a sulphur butterfly. It was on the ground and ants would likely have gotten to it soon.
I tied the dead leaf to my bamboo trellis. After about a week the butterfly emerged:

I found this sulphur butterfly chrysalis around back a few days ago hanging from the siding - it's much darker to blend with the colorings here.
It emerged today and hung around on the patio while its wings dried - it had the same wing curl as the one pictured above. After it started flying clumsily, it landed in my hair twice and sat for a few minutes, then flew over to my dead/dying sunflowers stalks.

This is (I believe) a swallowtail butterfly chrysalis, also found in the back hanging from the siding.

Unfortunately I discovered the ants had infiltrated when I went out to check on it. They also took out a gulf fritillary chrysalis in the front yard. %*^@&!!

Gulf Fritillary Butterflies

2010-09-03T09:22:00.000-07:00

The passion vine growing on the trellis by our front window has attracted a bunch of Gulf Fritillary butterflies. They are quite pretty and flutter around maniacally. Apparently passion vine is one of their favorite buffets, and they've laid lots of tiny eggs that have recently hatched.

The eggs develop into caterpillars that are bright orange with scary black spikes. They've been chewing up the leaves of my passion vines and I was pleased to discover a few chrysalises several days ago.

Here a larva begins to transform. Its rear end is attached to a vine with the head hanging down, and its bright orange changes to a sickly, milky shade.

Both these chrysalises were hanging from the same bamboo stake. They formed at the same time, but they stayed different colors throughout their span. I don't know why the difference.... is one male and one female?

I went out to check them this morning at 9:30.... the dark chrysalis was now empty (darn, I missed it) and the lighter one's butterfly was already fully emerged and drying its wings. Such a beauty! After a few minutes it flew to the ground and briefly walked on my hand. A lovely way to start my day :-)

Rainbow Cake

2010-08-25T16:15:00.000-07:00

This week I finally had an excuse to make a cake. I've been foaming at the mouth to try making a rainbow cake as I've seen posted so many times on the interwebs (just Google "rainbow cake" and see!). I especially enjoyed this and based mine mostly on this.
Here we go:

I've never done a 'complicated' cake so this was both exciting and worrisome. I bought 2 boxes of cake mix because I didn't know if one would be enough as I wanted to divide the cake into 6 layers. I mixed just one box first to check and it looked like enough batter for my purpose. I prepared the batter following the box instructions.
The Wilton gel colors are very vibrant, it was fun shading the cake batter. The box mix created 4 cups and I divided it into 6 portions and colored each using 6 of the 8 gel colors provided (brown and pink were the other shades in the set).

I greased three 8-inch cake pans with shortening, dusted with all-purpose flour and poured in the red, yellow and orange batter. They baked for about 18 minutes at 325F and after cooling 15 minutes they were turned out and cooled on wire racks.

The pans were washed, dried, greased, floured and filled with green, blue, and violet batter.
While they were baking, I shifted the cooling cakes to plates and put them in the fridge.

After cooling the last 3 layers, they went in the fridge, too.
I was getting ready to ice the cake and they say getting the cake cold will keep it from being as crumbly and getting the icing funked up when you start working it.... seemed to be a success, not much crumbage.

Mmmmm, icing. This icing is really good. I ended up having to run out and buy a 2nd can of it, not because I ate a bunch! but one just wasn't enough to spread between 6 layers AND cover the whole outside. I kinda knew I'd need 2 but I didn't want to risk only using one and then having a tub of icing sitting in the cabinet haunting me, calling me.
I have a horrible icing-binge memory.... don't ask. *urp*

This is the 'dirty icing' step, to get everything mostly covered with the frosting then put the cake in the fridge to let the it harden and contain the crumbs. I'm a total novice with an icing spatula but did a fair enough job. I used the trick of putting 4 strips of wax paper between the bottom cake layer and the plate so when you're done frosting you just slip them out and the plate is clean. Super cool.

After it chilled for a couple hours, I frosted the cake with the rest of the 2nd can of icing, then removed the wax paper strips. I'm so ready to cut this thing! But had to wait several more hours *omg suspense*
It doesn't look too exciting hanging out in the fridge, just a plain homemade cake. But that's part of the surprise :-)
Another part of the surprise was that the blue candles also had blue flames - yahoooooo!

Finally the moment arrived..... time to cut the cake......

Wheeeeeeeee! It's perfect! Ok it's not *perfect* perfect, but it is a perfect surprise.
And it tastes really really good, too.

Somebody reported pooping a rainbow this morning but there were no witnesses to substantiate this claim.

All this thinking about cake...... I'm off to have another slice :-D

Double Rainbow

2010-07-19T19:20:00.000-07:00

Lately we've been having some minor drizzles near sunset which have resulted in some brilliant rainbows. Several times they have appeared as double rainbows, but the doubles have been so faint they didn't show up in my pictures. Today I was able to capture one on film:

One of my sunflowers (with a tiny raindrop) looks on....

This was quite a surprise. Just as I snapped the photo, a streak of lightning began to spider across the sky. I didn't catch it in full glory but you can see the start of it at the top right of the shot and it extends down through the rainbow.

A raindrop on the lens blurs the rainbow.

Backyard Turkeypalooza

2010-07-09T07:24:00.000-07:00

On July 3rd I was washing dishes, looked out the window and was stunned to see a herd of turkeys strolling through the yard.

*gasp*
Turquita has peeps! Awesome!

There's 18 chicks here.... probably a few more around.

Awwwww who's makin poopies in my yard, is it you?? Yes it is!

A brief video, sorry for the bad quality, I was shooting into the sun and trying to hide because they were watching me:

Buggin' Out

2010-07-02T19:11:00.000-07:00

A walk around the yard leads to beautiful discoveries if you take the time to stop and smell the roses. Just be careful where you poke your nose!

Huge bumblebees are frequenting the garden, they dive bomb me sometimes but mostly I'm ignored, they're too busy eating up all that juicy pollen.
See how the passion flower rubs pollen on the bee's back as it works? Click to enlarge the photo and see better how much it's caked on!

Some kind of neato beetle, I love it's b&w stripey pants. There was a big beetle orgy in one of the plants on the vacant lot next door and they were flying all over the place.

Pretty wildflower, right? Look closer....

My trellis

2010-06-28T12:46:00.000-07:00

I finished building the bamboo trellis for the front garden a couple weeks ago and now the passion flower vines are growing on it nicely.

It's constructed of 33 pieces of bamboo and measures 100 inches wide by 72 inches tall. I built it inside due to the heat and then moved it out for installation..... that was quite a job shifting it by myself! Only possible because it's not heavy. I drove 3 metal plant stakes deep into the ground and tied the trellis to them so hopefully it'll withstand any wind gusts. I anchored the west side a bit closer to the house to minimize the chance of wind catching it from that direction and flopping it over.

Where the flowers die a fruit begins to form. Last I looked, there were 4 fruits on the vines.
I've also spotted several variegated fritillary caterpillars roaming about, they appear to be big fans of the passion vines. Spiky little thing's eating the end off this leaf.

It's My Birthday! and a garden update

2010-06-13T17:06:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday to me! I've been chillin most of the day aside from some Etsy listings, housework and gardening.
It's been about a month and a half since I posted the before/after of our front garden so I thought I'd give an after/after update, things have really grown!
Mouse over to see today's photo:

We have mixed caladiums, elephant ears, creeping jenny, phlox, hostas, mondo grass, sage bush, and that vine growing up the window is passion flower (which planted itself, oddly enough).
I bought a ready made trellis for my bday for the vine to run on, but now I think I might prefer a larger, hand built bamboo one.
I also bought two pretty Illustris elephant ear plants, here's one of them:

Finally, here's the planter on the front porch, jammed with caladiums, coleus, and ivy. I think it's quite pretty but I'm envious of one at a local nursery, it's gorgeous and *huge* - I'll try to snag a photo of it.

Campin'

2010-06-11T18:08:00.001-07:00

This week we took our annual camping trip to see the synchronized fireflies. We decided to stay two consecutive nights. The campground was full, but I'd booked reservations weeks ago (you have to if you expect to get a site) and managed to get one of the last creek-side spots.
Our new favorite site:

Right next to the creek, but about 12 feet above it. Which is nice because the campground has experienced evacuation due to flooding in the recent past..... and also because it rained on us FOUR times. Not just a drizzle. Herds of dogs n cats wielding pitchforks. There wasn't any flooding though. And our tent stayed nice and dry inside. The screen house, not so much. In fact just about everything in there was soaked a couple times.
Somehow there's always somebody near us with a 7 billion candle power light and they like to stay up late. At least they weren't loud. In fact it was nice and quiet except for the restoration work on the cabin across the river. Surprised to hear a jackhammer out there when trying to have a nap!
The Canadian Geese and their 4 goslings are still hanging around the riverbank on the way to the campground. The babies are so fuzzy! Here's a photo of them from a May 25th:
That hungry little beak is killin me with cuteness!

The fireflies were simply amazing. We've been going for several years now and this was the best show, must be the peak days. First night was cool and dry. Second was cool and wet - in fact it began raining (again) as darkness fell and we'd hiked just over 2 miles out. At least that was more a drizzle, we weren't soaked through, and it stopped around 10pm just as the fireflies begin to get good. We heard what sounded like a bear breaking up a rotting tree as we headed back to the campground.
In the morning we packed up and headed out and we saw a bear cub in the campground just down the way from our site, sniffing around someone's travel trailer. The rangers had been notified and were presumably staging a capture as we saw rangers gathered around a park service vehicle towing a metal culvert trap/transport/cage thingy similar to this one a little further down the road.
Of course I couldn't dig my camera bag out from under all the wet gear in time to get photos of either the bear or the trap. Did manage to get one lousy photo of another bear we drove by a few minutes later just east of Laurel Falls parking lot - often see bears in that area:

About 10 minutes later we encountered a large bear along one of the quite walkways, a large adult in the brush about 20 feet away along Agana Branch. I looked at it, it looked at me, and it turned tail and lumbered off in the opposite direction as most bears will seem to do. So.... 3 separate bears within 1/2 hour, I think that's our record.
Other sightings of note - Mondo Snails:

Eating a mushroom

And finally, a white moth I thought was very pretty.

Look, up in the trees....

2010-06-04T20:45:00.001-07:00

..... it's Turquita!

I was weeding in the yard when I heard her flapping around up there. She's been around a lot lately (on the ground) and it's always a treat to see her.

Flea market fun

2010-05-16T13:12:00.000-07:00

Once every couple months there's a big weekend flea market at the Expo center and I cruised on down there this weekend. It was quite busy and most of the usual vendors were there, though I was sad to see the tool guys weren't since I'd planned to get more diamond drill bit sets (for only $2.00!) After running the gauntlet of avoidance between Dippin Dots, cotton candy, fudge, jerky, not to mention the flavored coffee and dip samples....
I finally settled on buying a handful of broken watches for the parts and a jar of delicious wildflower honey from the cutest little old guy.

It was fun sifting through the old watches, a really nice selection of colors and all solid heavy pieces.

In the Yard

2010-05-07T14:53:00.000-07:00

I've been in the yard a lot lately and I'll share a few things going on out there. First up, our azaleas are blooming beautifully this year:

I was planting some caladiums next to the azaleas a few days ago and got an amazing up-close look at a bumblebee in pollinating action.
Next, I've potted two kinds of sunflower seeds, crimson red and Russian giant. Can't decide yet where to put them in the backyard so we'll see what happens with the sprouts first.

A couple mondo crinum bulbs I've planted by the mailbox in full sun. They look like mutant onions!

Hope mine bloom as pretty as the picture.

Better get back to the yard....
I bought more bulbs today, omg the shame!!

Splendid Sunsets

2010-04-28T17:48:00.001-07:00

Tonight's sunset was beautiful:

As was the golden lining on April 15th:

She's Baaaaaack!

2010-04-27T14:25:00.000-07:00

Been a while since I've seen her but today, just before a thunderstorm, she was eating birdseed in the backyard. Yay!
I call her "Turquita".

Adventures in Landscaping

2010-04-25T08:46:00.000-07:00

So, we've lived in our new house for a year & a half, and I've gotten around to doing a little landscaping. A couple flower beds out front just need something, they're pretty basic with some shrubs and azaleas.... I want more variety.
I've added a few kinds of hosta, phlox, mondo grass, creeping jenny (ha!), as well as some elephant ear and mixed caladium bulbs, which haven't sprouted yet.
Now, prepare yourself to be impressed. Here's the before/after photos. Ok the photos aren't spectacular but I managed to figure how to do mouseover script again after several years (and on blogger no less) so I should get at least 1 point for that.
And possibly a cookie.

Wildflower Extravaganza

2010-04-23T16:58:00.000-07:00

On April 2oth, we took a hike through one of the popular Spring wildflower destinations in the Smokies. A drizzly weekday & therefore not too busy, only encountered a handful of people.

Catesby's Trillium

There were many different flowers to enjoy, but the stars of the area were certainly the huge patches of blue phlox covering the greening landscape.

Miterwort, Bishop's Cap

Eastern Red Columbine

Stunning carpet of phlox

What's this? A stinkweed amongst the flowers?! Bah! A dainty rosebud am I.

One of several caves in the area. Normally entry is allowed (with a permit only) but currently all entry is forbidden... & Big Brother is watching...

....due to the presence of White Nose Syndrome, which is unfortunately killing bats in huge, huge numbers.

There are multiple manways winding through the area. In past visits we'd followed several of them and I'd wondered where the others led. This time I'd done some research and printed an old topo map which was helpful. We were all over the place exploring, it was great.

Old gears

Still, there are other old paths yet to be explored among the heavily traveled ones.

A small waterfall plunges into a deep, slippery cavern. Once again, entirely no cave entry at the moment, on a normal basis entry by permit only.
We normally leave via the steep slope next to the falls, but today we exited on an old route to create a longer hike.

This little patch of stunning common blue violets near Schoolhouse Gap was an incredible shade of purple.

First sighting of the season! Crested dwarf iris blooming along the upper portion of the main trail.

Back in the parking lot, saw this growing in a large patch of horse poop.... looks like wild greens, maybe red veined sorrel? I don't know, but I could've eaten a pretty big salad at that point ;-) Off to find lunch.

Old Settlers Trail

2010-04-12T16:22:00.000-07:00

Another hike along Old Settlers Trail, 4.11.10. We've hiked the area from both sides but I'm on a terrain covering spree and trying to connect up some loose ends. The goal was to travel from the trailhead in Greenbrier to the Soak Ash Creek area where a short trail meets coming from Steiner Bell Lodge. Distance was somewhere around 5.5 miles.

It was a fantastic day with a cool start and crystal clear weather. Spring growth is beginning to thrive, though I perceived the terrain to be dry while creeks were running a little high probably due to end of the snow melt.

Nice views as you work your way up the ridge.

Yellow trilliums are in bloom....

...as are trout lilies.

Ferns are spreading their fronds.

Down low along the creeks is becoming lush and green.

Higher up along Copeland Divide things are slower to sprout.

Trail winds upward through a moss-lined tunnel of rhododendron and mountain laurel.
Crossing Copeland Creek and Snakefeeder several chimneys can be seen. Many homesites were along the length of the OST.

Now the trail parallels Snakefeeder Branch.....

...and heads into Soak Ash, which is a remarkably flat and pretty area.

We reach the junction & goal. The trail behind the sign leads up to Steiner Bell Lodge (somebody has noted on back of sign). To the right (east), OST leads to Campsite 33 around 1 mile away, then after that and about 16 miles you'd reach the Cosby campground area.
We turned back the way we came.

Back between the Bird creeks we encountered a 3 foot black rat snake in the middle of the trail. It kinda 'hid' in the shadow of a tree before moving back into the warm sunshine as we continued on.

Our hike was about 11 miles roundtrip and took 5 hours, and we encountered 2 backpackers and 2 dayhikers going out as we came back.

Spring flowers at home

2010-04-06T17:35:00.000-07:00

We had some wonderful blooms pop out recently, a pretty combination of daffodils, tulips and hyacinths. Unfortunately the unseasonably early heat has begun to beat them down, but here are some shots from a few days ago:

Easter eggs

2010-04-04T05:09:00.001-07:00

Easter - a great time to 'resurrect' my blog! I've been out of town, visiting my folks in Louisiana (and had a wonderful time) and other things have kept me busy.
Of course I had to make time for the traditional dying of eggs this weekend. I tried something new this time, using artist's masking fluid as a dye resist. Let's see how it turned out, shall we?

Plain dye tablets from a dollar-store kit in the usual colors: yellow, orange, pink, blue, green. A little vinegar and water does the trick.

The blue was strongest, only took a second.... the pink took forevah and a day.

If I'd had more vinegar the shades might have been more vibrant, but I think the results are nice, colorful and very fun.

I love the dotted texture on this green mehndi-inspired egg.

My "basket".

Enjoy the day!

Appalachian Trail snow hike

2010-03-09T16:51:00.001-08:00

We thought last week was our deepest snow hike, but this week's hike was even deeper. We drove up to Newfound Gap (which was crowded due to Spring Break) and headed out along the Appalachian Trail toward Clingman's Dome. There had been minimal foot traffic along the trail so it was tough going.

Though the sun was out and temps were in the 40s, there was still over 30 inches of snow on the ground.... difficult to gauge the depth. We indulged in some snowball rolling along the way.

The trail runs parallel to Clingman's Dome road, here we're below it looking up at a retaining wall... a couple people had climbed up or down. From this point on, we were following the tracks of one person wearing snowshoes. The going was much tougher, post-hole hiking.
As you can see, it was particularly deep in some places. With the day pack on, I'm about 50 lbs under the other one, who was really sinking in. Much whining ensued. Snowball hurling commenced.

Onward.....

Some nice views along this stretch of the trail, the photos don't do justice at all to the feeling of being along the ridgeline in the cold, crisp air.

We stop for a breather, he's lagging behind.... out of snowball range. My aim sucks anyway.

There's a fenced area with metal ramp designed to keep wild hogs from damaging the plants/trees in the 'exclosure'. Snow completely topped the fence in some places.

We reached Indian Gap, only 1.7 miles from Newfound Gap but the snow made it feel like about 4.

Behind me is the Indian Gap parking lot. Clingman's Dome Road is closed to vehicles for the season as usual, but this season it's also closed to foot and bike traffic as they're trying to work on it... which is why it is being kept clear of snow. We wandered a bit further on the road to rest and stretch our legs, as it was Sunday and roadwork unlikely. We've hiked the road several times in past.

Backtracked onto the Appalachian Trail. Along the way we passed several groups that all looked like Spring Breakers. First were 4 boys that looked to be headed up to Mt. Collins Shelter. They were sinking in deep and huffing along. About 3/4 of the way back we passed 2 sets of dayhikers and a couple of backpackers headed to the shelter. It was about 4:30pm and they had nearly 5 miles ahead of them, with very deep snow. I cynically wondered if anybody had a camping permit.

So we made it back to Newfound Gap, which was still busy. There were a few crows hanging out as usual, they got really close to me as somebody had dropped bread by the cars.

Along Hwy 441 below Newfound Gap heading to Gatlinburg, still a lot of snow and ice but the road was nicely cleared.

Sign almost buried.
Warm temps and rain moving in the next few days will significantly impact the remaining snow. It may be the last for this season. I sure "enjoyed the hell out of it", as the other one says. :-)

Major snow at Newfound Gap

2010-03-05T14:08:00.000-08:00

On March 1st we drove up to Newfound Gap, which is near the top of the Smokies and is at the border between Tennessee and North Carolina.

It's been a long, cold winter and the snow had piled up to 36 inches at the Gap. That's the most we've hiked in.... and it was a lot of work, but so beautiful.

We worked our way along the old road (which runs parallel below current road into NC) and went out about 1.5 miles. The going was made tough for several reasons: firstly, there had been little-to-no foot traffic ahead of us to compress the snow into a trail.

Secondly, it was unpredictable... impossible to determine the depth, and conditions varied often. Sunnier areas were beginning to soften and you'd sink in up to a foot deep, colder pockets were frozen solid and like walking on concrete.
Thirdly, many trees have fallen in the last year (it's quite messy on the 'unnamed' trails that don't get cleared) and when they're buried under snow that can get dangerous and result in damaging falls. The other one has taken a couple nasty slides off the edge of buried logs in the last month.

Everything was coated with snow in some places. I've never seen real trees like the fake flocked Christmas trees, it was a pretty and magical sight.
Our legs got tired and we turned back, and it was still rougher going..... uphill now and rising temp was softening the upper layer of snow crust, making us sink a bit deeper.
We rested a while at the Gap enjoying the view, then crossed over the road to the Appalachian Trail. The snow was really deep and some amazing ice formations were found, as the wind comes whipping across the Gap and down this side of the trail.

This is new ice formed sideways on an old icicle. Pretty cool!

Back in the parking lot, out of my snow pants and boots and backpack... and as always, I still don't want to leave :-)

Wordless Wednesday

2010-03-03T15:10:00.000-08:00

Growing onions

2010-02-23T15:30:00.000-08:00

Somebody tweeted a link to this Instructable: Grow Onions from Discarded Onion Bottoms and it looks easy so I'm going to try it.
I've cut and dried a couple of onion bottoms and think they look like 'onion roses'.... pretty.

They'll be planted root-side down in small pots I got from the dollar store and kept in the kitchen. I don't know if they're too dry or not, but it'll be interesting to see what happens!

My jewelry in treasuries

2010-02-16T11:09:00.000-08:00

Two of my pieces were recently featured in Etsy treasuries, it was very exciting and they are so beautiful! Thanks to both of the curators :-) Have a look:

"Have a Heart"
curated by CountyByTheBumpkins
featuring my Keyhole Heart Bracelet

"Necklaces for all occasions"
curated by YellowViolet
featuring my Star Necklace

Let's Get Ready to Garden!

2010-02-16T10:57:00.000-08:00

This has been the coldest, snowiest winter since we've lived in Tennessee. I'm enjoying the heck out of it, yet I find myself yearning for the brightness of Spring. And of course, once Spring is here I'll be missing the snow :-) Gah!!
So to tide myself over, I created this garden-y Etsy Treasury full of things that are sure to make you ready to dig in the soil. Enjoy!

Hearts All Around, pt.4

2010-02-14T06:54:00.000-08:00

It's here, the day of love! Let's start out with a 'heart' I discovered on my bathroom counter:
My ponytail holder, doesn't it look cute?

Next, some pretty heart-shaped leaves growing amongst moss in the Smokies......

Finally, some tasty Brittania heart biscuits I picked up at the Indian grocery. They're rather like a slightly sweet pretzel.

We're back into the mountains again today, I'll certainly be on the lookout for more hearts.....
Happy Valentine's Day!

Hearts All Around, pt.3

2010-02-13T07:27:00.001-08:00

I do a fair amount of cooking and while whipping up a batch of shami kebabs I noticed a bit of red spice shaped *exactly* like a heart stuck on the side of the mixing bowl. How sweet! The rest looks kinda gross this close up.... but it tastes good :-)

Treasury time again

2010-02-12T11:51:00.000-08:00

I was surprised to open the Etsy Treasury and see that new slots were opening in just a minute, and I was able to curate one.....

The theme is Water (since we've had so much of it lately in the form of rain and snow)

Hearts All Around, pt.2

2010-02-12T07:47:00.001-08:00

Valentine's Day is creeping closer......
Another heart specimen in a dead tree trunk in the Sugarlands area of Great Smoky Mtns Nat'l Park. This one is a sort of country-style, elongated heart.

It was a good day for spotting hearts in the mountains!

Oh deer

2010-02-11T17:01:00.000-08:00

Another sign of Spring, the whitetail deer showed up today near dusk, haven't seen them in months:

Spring has sprung

2010-02-11T08:01:00.000-08:00

Sorta. We've been having a particularly cold and often snowy winter, but you can tell Spring is in the air. The days are getting longer, I've seen birds checking out last year's nests, and now my tulips and daffodils are starting to break through the soil. We're still in for more cold and snow showers, though....

Hearts All Around, pt.1

2010-02-10T09:22:00.000-08:00

Last year I began seeing natural "hearts" in many places prior to Valentine's Day, so this year I kept my eyes peeled again for interesting ones to pop up. Time for this year's installment!
Up first:

A lovely knot hole in the Sugarlands area of Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

peachy keen peachy green

2010-02-09T08:37:00.000-08:00

One of my heart faces has been included in a beautiful Etsy Treasury curated by Monarchdancer:

And the fortune cookie says......

2010-02-08T18:35:00.000-08:00

"God will give you everything that you want."

And I've gotten TWO of them!
Maybe I'll start making a list.

Inspiration - Implementation - Issue

2010-02-05T21:26:00.001-08:00

Inspiration: One of my favorite pairs of winter shoes are these Skechers. While putting them on one morning, I was inspired to translate the rivet detailing into a jewelry design.

Implementation: Copper heart and tin strip are hand cut and drilled, sitting on the bench block and ready for texturing/joining.

Issue: A heavy metal heart as strong as the love of your Valentine :-)

Available shortly in my Etsy shop!

Wordless Wednesday

2010-02-03T18:31:00.000-08:00

Snowed in

2010-01-30T10:25:00.000-08:00

Well, not really. We did get about 3 inches of snow in our part of town, then it switched to freezing rain/sleet which has compacted the snow and made a crunchy, slushy, icy mess. A few people are driving around, the mailwoman delivered as usual, but most are staying in (as we are). A couple of the neighbors with 4-wheelers have been enjoying themselves.... shredding up a bit.
We've had slow steady freezing drizzle/sleet (it seems like) all day. It is picking up right now, switching back to snow as of 1:30pm.

Our back patio at 4:30pm, Fri. and 12noon, Sat.

Ahhhh..... refreshing!!

The calm before the storm

2010-01-28T12:44:00.000-08:00

A storm is coming. We're under a "winter storm warning" Friday and Saturday, supposed to get a couple inches of snow at least, possibly some freezing rain at some point. Hard to believe it since the weather is beautiful today, sunny and 50F degrees.
Me and everyone else in town ran around getting stuff done today, it was a zoo on Kingston Pike (more than usual). Now I've got enough 'real' food and junk food to last for several weeks.... or maybe just til Monday.
I've got a long list of art face requests that should keep me busy for the duration, not to mention all the half-finished jewelry projects scattered around the place. If I was snowed in for a solid month I might get caught up!!

edit:
Just after I posted this, I checked the weather forecast again and naturally they've changed it, now saying less snow is coming. By tonight, the forecast will probably be "warm and sunny". Trying not to think anything obnoxious about weatherpersons right now.

Wordless Wednesday

2010-01-27T09:47:00.000-08:00

Haha!

2010-01-27T07:20:00.000-08:00

My cousin forwarded this little funny to me.... I thought you might enjoy it, too, as it's particularly timely:

Cajun in Hell

A Cajun who died went to hell.
The devil assigned him the usual punishment...put him in the mass pit where the heat was melting others. The devil came back sometime later surprised to find the Cajun just sitting around, not even misting, much less sweating. "How come you're not so much as sweating here where everyone else is screaming for relief from the heat?"

The Cajun laughed and said, "Man, I was raised in the bayous of Sout Looziana. Dis ain't nothin' but May in Morgan City to me!"

The devil decided to really put the Cajun through it. He put him in a sealed off cave in the pit with open blazes and four extra furnaces blasting. When he came back, days later, the Cajun was sitting pretty, had barely begun to bead up with sweat. The devil was outraged. "How is this possible!? You should be melted to a shrieking puddle in these conditions!."

The Cajun laughed even harder than before. "Hey, man! I done tole you. I was raised in Sout Looziana. You tink dis is heat?! Dis ain't nothin' but August in Cow Island !"

So the devil thought, 'Alright, a little reverse ought to do the trick.' He put the Cajun into a corner of hell where no heat ever reached. It was freezing and to add to the Cajun's misery, he added massive icebergs and blasting frozen air. When he returned, the Cajun was shivering, ice hung from every part of him but he was grinning like it was Christmas.
Exasperated, the devil asked "HOW!? How is it possible?! You're impervious to heat and here you sit in conditions you can't be used to...freezing cold and yet you're happier than if you were in heaven. WHY?!"

The Cajun kept grinning and asked, "Don't dis mean de Saints won da Super Bowl?"

Who Dat ...... Go Saints !!!!!!

Treasury time

2010-01-21T15:07:00.000-08:00

Been a while since I made a Treasury on Etsy, just happened to notice an opening tweet by 3squares (who makes awesome jewelry) and was able to grab one!
Check it out.... "Darkness in the Trees".

A Treasury is like curating a small online art gallery for a few days... you pick a theme or color or random items from Etsy that please you. Treasuries 'expire' and then new ones can be made. Great fun!

Wordless Wednesday

2010-01-20T19:22:00.001-08:00

Football and food

2010-01-17T15:17:00.000-08:00

It's been a rainy, cold day and we've stayed at home - one of us watching nonstop football and the other in the kitchen, nonstop cooking. The outcome was an impending grudge match between us, AKA The Vikings (boo/hiss) vs. The Saints (geaux!!).........as well as a loaf of strawberry bread made using this recipe...
It turned out nicely, it is drier than the apple-banana bread I made recently, more like a traditional crusty bread loaf.

....and a batch of vegetable pakoras with a side of tamarind chutney:

I'm ready for a nap.

In progress

2010-01-15T10:15:00.001-08:00

Among other things, here are a few items currently on my worktable:

Inspiration - Implementation - Issue

2010-01-14T16:15:00.000-08:00

Inspiration: While uncovering my bird's cage of his "nightgown", a pretty beach towel, I was inspired by the colors to create a new bamboo bead, featuring mehndi (traditional henna tattoo) designs.

Implementation:
Tape used in masking the edges of the wood bead during painting.

Issue: a reversible bead that's bright, cheerful and fun!

Available in my Etsy shop

Wordless Wednesday

2010-01-13T21:16:00.001-08:00

Laurel Falls (again)

2010-01-10T17:59:00.000-08:00

On Tuesday we headed over to the National Park for a little snow hiking. Along the way we passed a herd of turkeys all fluffed up against the cold. Temp was about 15F degrees with wind chill around 10F.

We decided to hike out to Laurel Falls (again) because the sub-freezing temps were sure to have created some interesting ice formations. We'd last been out about a month ago to see the high water volume after heavy rains.
The Falls trail was fairly busy, being one of the most hiked trails in the park and a short 2.6-mile roundtrip paved outing. But with the cold it wasn't as crowded as usual.

Ice flow, created just like cave formations... except waaaay quicker.

Below the Falls the river was freezing over.

Here are a couple comparison shots, taken at the overspill below the Falls, one after heavy rain and one in snow/ice:

And now a comparison of Laurel Falls itself, heavy rain vs. snow/ice:

As usual we hiked on past the Falls and the crowd thinned out, but not completely. There were other groups headed toward the old fire tower... more traffic on the trail likely due to roads being closed around the park and thereby limiting hikers' trail choices. We turned back before reaching the trail junction as we got too cold, about 2.6 miles out.

Ice ice baby

2010-01-06T20:59:00.000-08:00

The Arctic blast continues, with some snow expected tomorrow. We had a few flurries the other day, and with the temps being so cold the flakes were perfect.

New Year

2010-01-03T13:55:00.000-08:00

*administers CPR*
Live, blog, live!
Let's get this baby rolling again.... here we go.

Happy New Year!
Here in Tennessee we're entrenched in an "Arctic blast", as the weathermen are prone to say. It is definitely frigid. The low was 13F this morning. I ventured out to see the nifty ice crystals forming around the yard:

Why does everyone in the neighborhood drive by when I've gone out in my PJs?
Back inside... a snotty, frozen mess.

The cure?
Steaming hot tea and a warm apple-banana muffin.

I used this recipe with a few modifications to make one tasty loaf and 6 yummy muffins.

Here's my version:

To prepare the apples:
2 tbsp margarine/butter
3 tbsp firmly packed brown sugar
1 apple (peeled, cored, and cut into 1/4-inch pieces
½ tsp ground cinnamon
3/4 tsp pure vanilla extract

To prepare the banana bread:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp salt
8 tablespoons (1 stick) butter/margarine
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
¼ cup skim milk
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
2 very ripe bananas, mashed

Directions for the Apples:
Preheat a medium skillet at medium-high heat.
Add butter and brown sugar and heat till it bubbles.
Add in cinnamon and apples, saute until golden and tender, about five minutes.
Stir in the vanilla and allow the mix to cool.

Directions for the Banana Bread:
Preheat the oven to 180°C / 350°F / gas mark 4 and grease a small loaf pan and a muffin pan with butter.
In a bowl, mix flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt.
In a separate bowl, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, 1 to 2 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time and mix well after each. In a cup, combine the milk and vanilla.
Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture in three batches, alternating with the milk/vanilla mixture. Stir well after each addition.
Add the mashed bananas and mix well.
Finally, stir in the apple mix prepared earlier.
Pour into the loaf and muffin tins.
Muffins bake about 25-30 minutes.
Loaf bakes around 55 to 60 minutes.
They're done when a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

The muffins will be (are being) eaten now *munch munch*. The loaf will be sliced *nibble nibble* and frozen.
The frozen slices will later be thawed, toasted and possibly buttered *unbuttons jeans*.

Update

2009-11-24T08:26:00.000-08:00

I've been out of the country for the last month, hence my lack of blogging. But now I have soooooo much to share! Once I get a bit more organized (and caught up with proper sleep) I will make some new posts.

Etsy Treasury

2009-10-16T08:04:00.001-07:00

One of my art doll faces has been included in a pretty Etsy Treasury curated by jennjohn:

Meigs Creek Trail summary

2009-10-11T10:50:00.000-07:00

On Sept.21 we hiked out Meigs Creek Trail, which begins at The Sinks parking lot between Gatlinburg and Townsend. The Sinks is an area of rapids/falls that runs under a vehicle bridge and empties into large pools. I've heard two stories of how the name developed - first, that a locomotive derailed and sank to the bottom; second, because the waters swirl around like the draining of a sink.

This day, surveyors were on the job sighting for upcoming renovations and a handicap accessible viewing ramp.

Often on days like this one (after a very heavy rain) you can find kayakers braving the rapids..... as we geared up and headed out the trail we saw two trucks with kayaks pulling into the parking lot.

Meigs Creek Trail runs 3.5 miles to Buckhorn Gap, our goal.

The start of the trail crosses through a marshy boar wallow (I've never seen so much activity as here, this was just a bit of it).

Then you head steadily upward, climbing a few hundred feet along a ridge.

Some nice views along this stretch.

There are at least eighteen stream crossings. That's well over 30 times, out and back, which is a lot. The most I'm aware of in the National Park.....
I was prepared, I'd packed our aqua socks... you know, those water shoes?... but somebody refused to wear his due to a blister incident several years ago that resulted from not wearing *real* socks under the aqua socks and walking a couple miles while tubing in Deep Creek. Anyway...

I wore mine nearly the whole time (~6 miles) and it was great - no worries about slipping while trying to rock hop with a pack, no blisters... just wade thru the water and keep going.
He did end up with wet shoes ... how could he not? Those rocks were plenty slick due to the drizzle and slowly receding high waters.

We hiked most of the way with ponchos draped over our backs.

All the creek crossings meant plenty of opportunities for salamander spotting and we weren't disappointed. Neat little creatures.

A brief ascent after the final creek lead thru a field of ferns and up to Buckhorn Gap. Meigs Creek Trail intersects with Meigs Mountain Trail heading east toward Elkmont and Lumber Ridge Trail heading west toward Tremont.

Closer inspection of the sign revealed a very large walking stick insect.

At back of the sign, a fairly-worn manway was visible. I followed it a brief way down a steep hill and saw it continued on.... later research revealed this is the Spruce Flats manway, which we plan to hike as a loop with Lumber Ridge Trail in future.

Heading back, we slowed the pace and looked around more.... some highly interesting fungi were observed, including this one that looks like either a pimento olive or egg yolk.

Here's a couple pretty ones....

Roughly halfway back, while admiring Meigs Cascade, a yellow jacket stung me on the back of the right calf just below the knee. It's a scientific fact that cursing reduces pain, so I self-medicated heavily along the rest of the hike. I apologize for any blue air still hanging about the vicinity.

As we reached the parking lot, the kayakers were peeling off their wetsuits and leaving as well, so we missed that action.
We were out about 5 hours and didn't see anyone else on the trail.

Husky Gap Trail hike

2009-10-08T20:22:00.000-07:00

A couple weeks ago we hiked out Huskey Gap Trail (HGT) in the Smokies. The leaves were just starting to turn and the feeling of fall was setting in, but still a bit warm and humid.

The trail begins along Newfound Gap road at about 1,800 ft and winds 2.0 miles upward along the side of Sugarland Mountain.

A break in the trees affords a beautiful view toward Gatlinburg.

Husky Gap, and the intersection with Sugarland Mountain Trail (SMT), as viewed from a nice sittin' log.
We've been here once before, via SMT from Fighting Creek Gap. But that's for another trail log.....

We turned left onto SMT, as our goal of the day was visiting 'old' backcountry campsite #21. Apparently the park is phasing it out for a 'new' #21, which is further along HGT toward Elkmont. The bear cables are still there.

At about 3,200 ft now and continuing a bit upward. More rhododendron at this elevation and fewer large trees.

Tunneling through a rhodo thicket.... becoming a bit rockier.

A few spots of intense red among mostly green and yellowing leaves.

After about 3/4-1 mile we reached the campsite. At first glance it seemed to be only one spot, but further investigation revealed additional sites uphill from the trail.

A small creek runs under this huge rock, and a fire ring is right under it as well.

On the way back to Husky Gap, we saw a young bear. I'd spotted a very dark shadow under a tree about 150 feet off the trail, and as we stood and contemplated it I saw this bear moving about 25 feet behind that. It moved along, crossed the trail in front of us about 75 feet away and headed downhill. Never did determine if the shadow was one as well....
Here's a video of the bear:

Survival tips from The Naturist

2009-09-17T10:44:00.001-07:00

Huh. It's almost like being in the woods with my husband.

I nearly died laughing.

Jakes Creek Trail summary

2009-09-13T19:10:00.000-07:00

On August 23rd we hiked out Jakes Creek Trail in the Smokies past backcountry campsite #27 to Jakes Gap. It is about 6.5 miles round trip, depending on where you park.

The beginning of the trail is an old gravel railroad bed that runs parallel to and above Jakes Creek. The area was logged in the late 1800s/early 1900s.

A small side trail leads to the Avent Cabin. We were surprised to see a sign here, the last time we visited there was none and the trail was easy to miss. It was wet and muddy as usual getting down to the creek.

The highlight of the day was an amazing variety of fungi. Lots of photos ensue.

The roadbed ends in a circle and a footbridge crosses the creek.

A downed tree, with rocks captured in its roots.

Somebody lost a boot.

More magical mushrooms:

(I spent more time crouched on the ground than walking, I think.)

Fall is on the way.

This is the *omgcute* mushroom of the day! Smaller than a green pea.

After about 2.5 miles and at about 3500ft elevation, we reached campsite #27. A nice spot with a couple bear cables and several decent camp spots. Nobody was there. Pushing on..... passed a lone hiker heading back down the trail.
At 3.3 miles we reached Jakes Gap. The elevation is about 4055ft and the wind had picked up a bit.

Stopping there after our sweaty uphill climb lead to a rapid chilling. We went a little way onto the Blanket Mountain manway but decided to put that off until later in the season. We'd need pants or gaiters on to comfortably pass through the damp underbrush. Saw an astoundingly huge fresh bear poop on the manway, but didn't see any bears all day.
This will be an excellent fall/winter hike, also want to head over to campsite #26 on Dripping Spring Mtn.
On the way back we passed a couple backpackers.
I believe we were out about 4 hours.

Treasury feature

2009-09-06T20:01:00.000-07:00

Yaaaarrrr, matey! My copper skull necklace was included in a wonderful pirate-themed Etsy treasury created by paintandink. Some really neat stuff!

Forney Creek Trail to campsite #68

2009-09-05T19:25:00.000-07:00

On August 16th we went up high in the Smokies to escape the summer heat and enjoyed some cool temps and cloudy, misty conditions part of the day. Along Clingman's Dome road we saw a bear digging in the grass.

From the Clingman's Dome parking lot we hiked down Forney Ridge Trail to reach Forney Creek Trail, and down to Forney Creek Cascades and backcountry campsite #68.

Distance: 6.2 miles roundtrip. Time: 5.25 hours

The trail is downhill the majority of the way, and is extremely rocky in many areas. Some sections along the Ridge trail have been stabilized with logs and steps.

These fresh logs were so slippery when wet! I almost went sailing off one....

The spruce-fir forest smelled wonderfully of dampness and Christmas trees.

After 1.1 miles we reached the flat, green intersection with Forney Creek Trail. Downhill from there....

....and mostly felt like hiking in a narrow, rocky creek bed. A wet one, since it'd rained just before.
Yes, I've posted a lot of trailbed pics here but I found the terrain very interesting. One spot in the trail is a tad precarious, room enough for one footwidth with an incline on one side and drop-off on the other.

According to my National Geographic Smokies trail map, Forney Creek Cascade is the small rocky area you cross through in the sharp bend of the trail about 1/2 mile northeast of the campsite... not sure about that. But I am sure you should continue on down to the campsite to enjoy a more exhilarating water feature.

We passed two backpackers coming up from the camp who told us there were some nice swimming areas down there. We crossed the long split rocks and Forney Creek on this wobbly log. Almost there.....

Success! We reached #68.
This is really pretty site right next to the creek with several good spots to pitch a tent. Great atmosphere.
Some gear was hanging but nobody was around, must have taken off for a day hike.

After entering the camp you see where the water flows rapidly down a long rock slide with some impressively large embedded quartz lines. Although the depth is shallow, the force is quite strong. The backpackers were right, there are a few nice swimming spots here. I took off my shoes and waded for a few minutes; the air temp was pleasant but the water was too cold for a dip.

We had a snack and a rest before heading out. Along the way we passed two backpackers working their way down and a few other people. Upon reaching the intersection with Forney Ridge Trail (which leads to the popular Andrews Bald) and then upwards to the parking lot, we passed about 20 people.

A very enjoyable outing, well worth the effort.

No 'poo, part 2

2009-08-27T07:29:00.001-07:00

Status: 1 week.
So far I'm fairly pleased with the results of substituting 1 tbsp wet baking soda for shampoo and diluted vinegar/bottled water for a rinse. I no 'poo-d last Thursday, then on Sunday & Monday, and again today.
My hair has felt less greasy between washings since trying this, I hope that continues!
Yesterday I bought some apple cider vinegar and used it today instead of the white vinegar... the smell was a little stranger but results seemed about the same.
I've not used any other of my hair products (detanglers, root lifters, mousse, shine serum) since starting this project. If my ends feel fried I've rubbed on a small amount of jojoba oil.
Also, I'm allowing my hair to air-dry... if I must use the blow dryer, only on the cool setting and for a minute or two at a time.
The experiment continues.....
(No 'poo, part 1)

"No 'poo"

2009-08-20T21:42:00.000-07:00

So today I decided to try the "no shampoo" regimen on my hair, wherein you wash with 1 tbsp of baking soda mixed with water, then rinse with diluted apple cider vinegar... I substituted white vinegar instead and used just a little. I've been feeling like my scalp is unbalanced and I'm trying various things to see what might make a difference.
A few months ago I ditched the 'regular' shampoo and conditioner for an organic variety with no sulfates, which helped some because before that my scalp was sometimes so irritated. I also think our hard water may have an effect - I keep thinking of that tv show where the guy's water was turned off and he had to wash his hair with bottled water and loved it, then he brainstormed a water filter for showerheads.
Now I'm willing to give no 'poo a go, and I'm hoping it will work out. Reading comments from others on the net makes me a bit leery as a few girls with long, fine hair reported negative results.... but everyone is different and you never know until you try, so here goes.
I'd already done a light oil treatment on my dry hair before 'washing' so I anticipated that it might not feel clean at all with no 'poo. Actually it came out looking pretty well and with a nice texture. I used no conditioners or sprays and let it air dry, then gently combed and braided it.
I'm aware of the potential for a transition period where the oil-production part of my head may go into shock and wonder, "wth? no shampoo?! then let's kick this grease up a notch!" I just hope it doesn't get too out of control, and certainly hope it doesn't go in the other direction and frizz out, either.
It'll be interesting to see how this progresses.... wish me luck! If you've tried no 'poo and loved it or hated it, drop a comment - any suggestions, tips or observations would be appreciated.
(No 'poo, part 2)

Indian Flats Falls hike

2009-08-19T09:02:00.001-07:00

A couple weeks ago we hiked in the Tremont area of the Smokies in effort to check another waterfall of our list. There'd been a hard rain previously, the day was mostly cloudy and we anticipated showers and good water flow at the falls - we weren't wrong.
The access to Indian Flats Falls is via Middle Prong Trail, an old railroad bed which parallels Lynn Camp Prong. It is just under 4 miles to reach the Falls, but if you don't want to go the whole distance there are many attractive little cascades to enjoy along the way.
Heavy rain had contributed to a fresh rock slide near the beginning of the trail.... that large rock is about the size of a bean bag chair.

A nice bench to view Lynn Camp Prong Cascade.

Rain did fall, slowly at first then progressed to a steady downpour then sporadic showers - we broke out the ponchos and continued onward.

Some serious force to pile these huge rocks.

A small creek falls on the right of the trail, runs under it and feeds into Lynn Camp Prong.

By now it was really raining hard and as we approached from a distance I saw the handrails of this bridge and thought maybe we could shelter underneath it until the downpour slacked off.... then again, maybe not.

When you get to the downed log across the trail, look for a well-worn footpath to the right for viewing the old car.

At 2.3 miles is the intersection with Panther Creek Trail, which branches off on the other side of the swiftly flowing Lynn Camp Prong... one would get majorly wet crossing there on this day.

A brick chimney still stands.

Old fire ring behind a tree growing on top of a rock in a wide clearing. Iron rail is nearby.

Occasional bursts of color punctuate an otherwise green and brown landscape.

The trail bed becomes quite rocky along the way and by the return trip I'd developed a stone bruise on my left arch, which was uncomfortable but not unmanageable.

A wooden bridge crosses the river at about 3.5 miles, then you climb a few switchbacks to a wide muddy spot with a scraped tree (probably from horses being tied to it). To the back and right of that tree is the narrow footpath to Indian Flats Falls. Use caution as the footing is a little treacherous in spots, especially when wet.

The falls are quite wonderful and have a nice little area to spread out and enjoy the atmosphere. We spotted a crawfish in the shallows. I took off my shoes and waded for a couple minutes until the icy waters made my feet numb.... yeah, in August. Then some aggressive honey bees discovered us and sent us packing along.

Video at the falls - showing the main/upper portion of 4 drop-offs, then panning over to the second drop-off.

We encountered several groups and an individual moving toward the falls as we headed back. Always pays to get an early start, as we are finding it more common to encounter folks on nearly all trails lately. Summertime + the most-visited national park = running into others is just about inevitable these days.

Rainbow Falls hike

2009-08-05T19:36:00.000-07:00

A couple Sundays ago we hiked out Rainbow Falls Trail in the Smokies. As many times as we've traveled along the Roaring Fork Road (which is a LOT), this was our first time out to the falls because we generally try to avoid crowds.
Already having visited Laurel Falls, Grotto Falls and Abrams Falls (along with various less popular Smokies falls) we decided to finally bag this busy one.
The distance is 2.6 miles from trailhead to falls, with an elevation gain of about 1500 feet.

We started early and enjoyed our typical hiking weather - cloudy with sporadic showers. At one point we broke out the ponchos but after about 5 minutes it slacked off.

The trail is very heavily traveled with many eroding 'shortcuts' at switchbacks along the way, probably caused mostly by kids.

Lots of neat things to see if you're as obsessed with observation as I am.... I kinda feel sad to see others plod along viewing mostly their feet the entire way. I'm not gonna name any names or claim that I LIVE with anybody like that. Uh-uh. (Uh-huh.)

The obligatory tree-beats-rock photo :-)

That's a big tree, right there!
I think the ones on Ramsey Cascades trail are larger but this one is quite impressive nonetheless.

We overtook several groups along the way including several people wearing flimsy footwear and most were carrying no water.

You're probably saying, "seen one log bridge, seen 'em all".... well look, here's another!

We reached the falls. The water was low due to a dry spell; just a couple days after a great deal of rain caused some flooding around the park - I'd imagine the falls were fairly strengthened then.

One other group had arrived just before us and we observed as they frolicked about the place (see them in the photo for scale). We decided to hike a little farther up the trail in hopes they'd leave and we could enjoy some quiet at the falls. With luck on our side it worked out perfectly and when we returned they were gone. I enjoyed 10 minutes of bliss exploring and photographing before the next hikers arrived.

And another video from underneath the falls.

On the return trip, many people we passed asked if we'd made it all the way to the falls and of course, the most-asked trail question ever: "How much farther is it?" A lot of the folks we talked to said everyone else they'd met coming down before us had turned back before they'd reached the falls..... much to our surprise, as we've built up to 8-mile round-trip hikes and we felt the 'shortness' of this one in comparison. Hey, for sure we huffed and puffed going up, too. After all, it is uphill all the way....

I counted: we passed 140 people while on the trail (+/- 5)

Upon return to the parking lot, there was commotion over a mother bear and 2 or 3 cubs foraging. We've seen bears within that same area (far end of the Rainbow Falls parking lot) on several occasions. People crowded around much too closely (IMO) and one teen boy had even fled to the roof of the family mini van after the mother bear hissed at him.... last year a young boy was attacked by a bear near the start of Rainbow Falls Trail. Park rangers shot and killed a bear there shortly thereafter.

Skunk

2009-07-29T18:16:00.000-07:00

This evening I was in the backyard messing with my plants.... when I looked up for a moment there was the skunk. I almost trampled myself trying to get inside before he noticed me. Then, whilst running to grab the camera to snap the little stinker because I can never get a decent pic of him, I almost broke my toe on the stairs. By the time I made it back out, he'd traipsed across the street. Little fink.
So I didn't do all that in vain, I present for your viewing pleasure the crappy skunk shot:

Ramsey Cascades Trail

2009-07-24T17:07:00.000-07:00

On Sunday we hiked out Ramsey Cascades Trail in the Smokies. A really interesting trail, lots to see along the way. It is a 4-mile hike to reach the falls with an elevation gain of about 2,200 feet. The most strenuous section is within the last 1/2 mile of the falls.... due to combination of steady incline and tiredness of legs :-) But definitely worth the effort - the falls are spectacular!

The trail starts as an old gravel roadbed. After 1.5 miles, you reach a turn-around loop.... the unnamed footpath branching off left of the loop heads up toward Greenbrier Pinnacle. The falls trail continues on at the back of the loop.

The first log footbridge is about the halfway point. We hiked up here this winter but turned back due to snow and ice, which made the log slick as a sheet of glass.

Erosion along the trailbed.... thousands of feet and countless storms have exposed the root system.
Paying attention is high priority, one small misstep can lead to a twisted ankle or a tumble.

Beautiful bee balm was spotted along the trail in several places.
Lots of rhododendron in bloom .

Traveling onward, the trail winds by three of the biggest trees I've ever seen - pass through two huge sentries to the hall of the giant king, of record proportions!
Cross over another footbridge, just rebuilt in May and still smelling fresh of sawdust (one of my favorite aromas).

Finally after some diligent rock scrambling, the roar of the falls could be heard. As they came into view, so did a grim reminder of the dangers associated with waterfalls. A fun day of enthusiastic exploration can turn deadly in a second..... and so often we witness foolish or careless acts within view of such signs.

We were the first to reach the falls that day and were lucky to enjoy them all on our own for about 10 minutes, until the rest of the hikers started trickling in.
One girl hiked the entire 8 miles in flip-flops. Yeah.
All said, we passed roughly 35 people while on the trail, and our hike-time was 4.25 hours.

Box turtle

2009-07-22T10:23:00.000-07:00

About a month ago, I looked out the window to check on the rain (we'd been having a lot) and I spied a box turtle trundling around in the street. We don't get much traffic here but there are a couple resident speed demons who'd likely mow down a turtle and not even notice.... so I embarked on a mini rescue op to get it off the road.

Having done this a few times in the past, I was fully prepared for the inevitable peeing that goes along with carrying a turtle. I brought it onto the patio for a few photos before moving across the road in the direction I assume it was heading - the retention pond. Poor little thing was caked up with red clay from the empty lots next door.

Very enjoyable to examine such a beautiful creature so closely.
Here's a video that displays the turtle's locomotion, watch those little legs go!

Meigs Mountain Trail to Campsite #20

2009-07-19T14:02:00.000-07:00

On July 12 we hiked one of my favorite trail sections in the Smokies: Meigs Mountain Trail, from Jake's Creek Trail to just beyond backcountry Campsite #20. It is a relatively easy footpath through some nice forest with a brief, steep descent to the camp.

We've been this way several times before, but only in the 'dead' seasons. It is always something of a surprise how different the same place can look during each season.

An eye-popping burst of color along the way, tiny orange mushrooms just over an inch tall.

This area was historically home to about 20 farm families and logging communities. Some evidence of their presence along the trail..... a stone foundation or wall, and a metal can.

After about 2 miles we reached campsite #20. We've not encountered anyone camping out during our visits, and in fact today we didn't see anyone at all along the trail.
I hope we'll camp here someday.

Someone has done a bit of debris hunting since last we were here. They unearthed a rusted fry pan among other things....

An intact metal wagon wheel rim... where did they find that hiding, I wonder? The railroad wheel has been uncovered for some time.
I love this photo.

Following the trail beyond the campsite, there are a few more stream crossings and more interesting debris to observe.
This looks to be a railroad piece leftover from the logging era.

Closer inspection revealed the part came from Knoxville. Not a surprise!

Hungry, we turned back with thoughts of lunch on our minds.

Our only wildlife encounter of the day was a great one.
After hearing a couple crows in the distance, I got out my trusty crow caller and 'spoke' to them briefly.... the response was excellent! They flew in like stormtroopers and the warrior of the tribe (the loudest and with the most ragged feathers [maybe that's who the cast-off belonged to]) buzzed us at a mere 15 feet. They set up a perimeter and watched us from a fair distance as we finished the hike out. Must have thought I was smuggling a crow in my backpack :-) As always we depart empty-handed, but with my heart full of joy and a few photos to share.

Family visit

2009-07-02T15:57:00.001-07:00

Mom and Dad (and Zippy the wonderdog) are in town visiting for a couple weeks and house shopping.... we're having a good time and hopefully they'll find a place to make a home base up here!
At least they are enjoying our cooler weather, low-to-mid 80sF is *much* more pleasant than upper 90sF. Ugh. That's why WE moved away. Don't get me wrong, I love LA and the Gulf Coast.... the food is amazing and the people are great, and it will always be "home", but sweating like pig 10 seconds after going outside (and that's just standing there, not even working!) is not my cup of tea. I'd rather be partially frozen :-)

Faces, big and small

2009-06-25T19:07:00.000-07:00

I thought they all looked neat together so I had to take an artsy shot of these faces. The tiny ones were part of a request to simulate the larger face, which is currently in my Etsy shop, on a smaller scale. The big face is 1.75 inches tall, the small faces are 0.5 inch round.
It's funny, I've painted a gazillion faces but somehow I don't always feel I have control over how they turn out.... almost like each has a little personality fighting to show itself.

Maybe I just need a new paintbrush ;-)

The Crows

2009-06-22T14:03:00.000-07:00

I didn't set out to feed the crows... I merely intended to feed the typical yard birds: cardinals, blue jays, titmice, chickadees, goldfinches, etc.... and those did all show up in abundance, along with a few surprises like bluebirds and indigo buntings and a lone turkey.
Well, the local crow tribe took notice of all the activity and started coming to dine at my daily seed buffet. I don't mind a bit, in fact I'm quite pleased since I find crows very fascinating and beautiful birds, and they've inspired a lot of my artwork.

They swing by at least once (that I notice) on most days, there are usually 4 or 5, sometimes joined by a 6th. Two of them are babies/juveniles.... with full feather suits grown but still have stray bits of downy fuzz, pinkness at the corners of the beaks, and are a tad ungraceful yet (which of course just increases their charm). They feed themselves but still exhibit the baby-begging behavior at times. Mom/dad seem to be pretty much done with the spoon-feeding.

It has been exceptionally hard to photograph them, they see *every* little movement. I had to wrap my face and sneak to the window like a ninja to catch these shots. Two of them still spotted me videoing and flew about 40 feet away, while the others didn't seem to notice or care.

I'm pretty sure they live in the woods behind our house because they're always around and I can often hear them calling to each other. The babies can be quite noisy!

I'm still here!

2009-06-16T09:26:00.000-07:00

But, I've been blog-slacking..... what can I say? It's summer, it was my birthday, there were locusts, earthquakes, floods, volcanoes..... ok, maybe not all of the above. Anyway, I'll start posting some of the stuff I've been doing/seeing lately when I get organized *guffaw*.

Here's a little preview:

Hope everyone is having a good time lately!