Bluff Spring Journal
Current Journal 2007
Late December 2007
Christmas is bearing down on us as we pack up and head south to be with family and friends. We'll only be gone for a couple of days but the SUV thinks we are going to be gone for a week. It's packed to the gills with presents, camera equipment and dog crates. Annie gets to stay at 'Grandma and Grandpa's house' but she'll be back with us on Christmas Day.
Annie and her favorite perch.
Sid is traveling with us and is all excited about meeting the rest of the family dogs. Duke, Molly and (another) Annie are going to have Christmas together at the other Grandma's house. Pictures of the mayhem will be posted later.
Sid posing for his closeup.
The cabin is all decorated out for Christmas. We had a great time decorating with the gang. The food was especially yummy. You know that decorating really takes it out of person and I had to frequently sample the various candies, dips and cookies to sustain me.
View from Breathless Point
Well, back to packing. I think I can stuff one more present in the SUV. I think I'm going to let someone else open the hatchback when we get to Grandma's. Sure don't want to get caught in the avalanche that is sure to ensue.
December 21 2007
Happy Birthday son! ??? years ago I heard you cry for the first time and thought about the days we would share together. Some have been tough but we've had share of good memories. Thanks for sharing them with me.
December 22 2007
Happy Birthday little brother number 1! Happy Birthday son in law of little brother! As you can tell December is crowded with family birthdays and we still have a niece's birthday to go. By the way, a big congratulations to our niece for being accepted into Flagler College--What? Never heard of Flagler? Quite the nice school and just a little hard to get into. We don't know how she did it and we're thinking about checking her birth certificate to see if she is a real Kissinger. And that brings us back to little brother number 1. He passed his CPA test on the first try and we're really thinking Mom adopted him! Happy Birthdays to all.
This morning we actually slept in until 7 am! Quite the accomplishment since we've been getting up at 3:30, 4 or 4:30 every morning. Lots of projects going on that cause you to start thinking and stay awake if you happen to reach the surface of consciousness during the night. We're hoping that the Christmas break will give us a time to put some juice back in the ol' batteries.
It was nice to take our time as we headed out to do some hiking. We headed down the Boxley Valley and came across this bull elk in a humorous pose.
I think he was saying nanner nanner, you get this day off but I get to live this life all the time. Yeah, just wait till hunting season! We watched about 60 elk wonder around munching grass and then headed on to the trail head. No sooner had we gotten all geared up and down the trail about 200 yards the skies decided to grace us with some rain. We all three stopped and looked at each other. Finally someone said, "It's going to be miserable in a little while". We all agreed and quickly scooted back up the hill to our still warm vehicle. What to do, what to do. It didn't take us long to decide that the Ozark Cafe would be the best place to hole up. The music was eclectic as usual and the peppercorn burger I had hit the spot. Just what we needed. The only thing that topped the burger was the hot pot of coffee we made back at the cabin to accompany some tasty pecan pie bars. Of course it's Christmas time and no one is counting calories. Time for a nap, Sid has already beat me to slumber land. He's currently laying at my feet in the middle of a tired dog nap. Wait Sid, I'm on my way there too.
December 23rd
It's off to Grandma's house today. Literally over the river and through the woods. We're looking forward to seeing all the family and getting caught up on who's doing what, and sometimes who with. Our family is spread out over several different states and talking by phone just isn't good enough to get all the really important details of our lives. Of course mom will have enough food to feed a small army. So much so that we'll have to use one of the cars she has parked in the garage as a satellite refrigerator. I'm just hoping for two things. One is that the temperatures will be cold enough to keep us from all getting botulism and two that the health department doesn't make house calls. Mom just smiles and tells us stories about how they used to keep their food down at the spring and in one my grandpa's root cellars. She says that they survived and so will we.
December 24th
Now here's a face only a mother could love. Just kidding Molly. We all think you're cute in your own special way.
And here's Duke. The newest addition to the herd.
Sid had a big old time getting to know his new friends. There were a few tense moments when a few teeth were showed but they eventually worked it out and peace prevailed. With five dogs and two cats in the house we may have to file for a zoo keepers license.
Christmas
One of the warmest days in 20 years according to the news. What a great day to be outside. Every dog got walked at least a couple of times. I'm sure the neighbors are wondering about this parade of people and canines emerging from the house every hour or so.
Today I have the bitter sweet responsibility of carrying on a tradition my dad started. Dad has been gone for over twenty years now, taken by cancer in the prime of his life. He was a kind and gentle man who always seemed to have time for his family. I can't tell you the number of times I'm sure he was busy and wanting to finish some chore when I would 'bother' him with a "how does that work' question. He would stop what he was doing and patiently explain the details of his work. He took a sense of pride in seeing us learn and do for ourselves. He and mom worked hard to create a caring environment that gave each of the children the confidence to succeed in many different areas of life. Part of the caring of course involved big family meals and Dad somehow had the idea one Christmas to grill steaks outside for Christmas dinner. So... each year I now get to carry on that tradition. This year I'm lucky that it is so warm. We have pictures from Christmas pasts of me bundled up in construction overalls, snow piled up on the patio, standing over a smoking grill waiting for the perfect steak to be finished. I'm glad to say that today's steaks turned out great and in a small way we get to have Dad with us for Christmas this year again.