Airport Dog

Jake went to Apalach with me to the office Christmas party at the new corporate office of Garlick Environmental Associates Inc (shameless google plug) out at the Franklin County Airport. The new office is totally solar powered and very cool. After lunch was over Clayton (our trusty environmental legal counsel) opened the hanger door so we could go for a ride in the electric car. The weather was absolutely foul and nasty, with 90 mph winds, but is, Jake (being the hearty Lab that he is) took sheer pleasure in running around in the rain on an airport runway for the first time in his doggy life. Clayton then took us for a ride around the airport in the electric car and Jake had a ball (once he got situated in the floorboard between my feet). The electric car is a bit like a suped up golf cart. Sorry no pics of the car ride, but the weather was awful. I love his enthusiasm. Go Jake-dog.

New Post!!

Sam said I should update my blog. However, since no one ever comments, this is all you get. : (

Bells from A'far

I went through an old box in my great-grandfather Perry Durham's barn yesterday. I had seen this box countless times, and I'm sure it's sat right there for fifty years. For whatever reason, I decided to poke around in the rat's nests that filled the old box. For my efforts, I immediately came up with a wooden/iron pulley from a block and tackle..then a few shards of broken pane glass, then an old woodworking hatchet head. These finds lit my enthusiasm, so I probed around a little more, and came up with a wad of metal covered with grass.....I cleaned it off and found it to be an old brass cow's bell, the kind typically worn by a milk cow...I need to ask Grandma what her name was....

Digging around some more, I came across a sharp hook...pulling it out revealed a set of sharpened tongs...the kind for lifting blocks of ice...back in those days an ice box was just that, a box for keeping blocks of ice in to keep milk and other perishables fresh...here was a set of ice tongs that my great-grandparents had used for their ice box.

I had just stopped in at the Old Place before going deer hunting to look around...I tend to find little adventures everywhere if I'll just slow down and take a look-see. Home in GA seems to always be full of adventures. TgE

Christmas List

Merry Thanksgiving...Sam has asked me to post some easy Christmas ideas, so here are a few...

550 cord (parachute chord)

Geetar strings (Martin Bluegrass)

CD's by Peter Rowan:
Dust Bowl Children


CD's by John Hartford
(workin' on list)


Cool flower pots

Neato hanging baskets

Wind chimes

Small bird feeders

Hummingbird feeders



I don't really need much these days except a steam powered aereo-plane, but these items are things that I would enjoy.

Organic peas?

We have tried to limit harmful pesticides around the house for a variety of reasons. One of the neat effects of not using pesticides is seeing benefitial insects in the garden. This one I don't know, but he/she looks like a good hunter. Perhaps this thing eats stink bugs. So far I've only had to use insecticidal soap on those nasty little greasy gnat-like things that goop all over new blooms and young pea pods. The soap works great.

Pea Patch Update

Lindy and Jake guard the pea patch. We have 3 rows of pinkeye purple hull peas, two rows of blackeyed peas and 3 short rows of zipper peas (my favorite). The zipper peas have acted ugly all year and not wanted to germinate, so this was my last hurrah at growing them this year. I would have preferred a majority of zippers as they are larger and taste a bit like boiled peanuts, which is part of why I love them best. The pinkeye (nasty sounding name) are a close second, but are not as tasty and are smaller (and consequently more labor intensive for the amount of peas you get).

We also have a little side garden with two eggplants, two crook-neck squash, one yellow pear tomato, and several token sweet potato vines.

4th of July Holiday

Of all the places I have fished, none is more fun than Spring Creek, and catching a big red belly on my fly rod just makes me happy. We caught more bream and shell cracker last weekend than I can remember in years and had one of the best fish frys I have ever had.