October 5, 2017
I’ve given up on journaling daily for now. There are just too many demands on my
time. I haven’t given up hope that we
will settle into a manageable routine that allows me to journal daily again,
but for now, it seems the only place I can find a quiet spot is at the Mountain
home. I’m thankful for the daily contact
and interaction with Analia and Rory while we are in Staunton. On Monday, I had all four grandkids and we
had a good day. We fed the animals and
played outside as well as keeping busy with toys and books inside. After the twins left, I made supper for
Alissa, Gab, Mike, Analia and I. I tried
to straighten up the house a bit and do some laundry. Keeping the four grands always wears me out
and I was pretty exhausted by the time I went to bed. Tuesday morning Mike and I got up, readied
ourselves and made the trip over to UVA hospital in Charlottesville where
Mike’s brother had surgery to remove a tumor.
Prep on Monday had shown that the tumor had not attached itself to the
brain, which was excellent news. They
had given a 4 to 11-hour potential time frame for the surgery, depending on
what they found when they got started.
The surgery took just under five hours, which was also good. The doctor was not able to remove the entire
tumor since it was attached to some main arteries. This was not good news and will require him
to have radiation to try to eradicate the remains of the tumor. There have been some complications since
with some paralysis on one side. This
may mean that he will have to have therapy but we are hopeful that it’s just a
temporary condition. It’s been a hard
week for Kenny and his family as well as for Mike’s mother, Mike and the other
siblings. Tuesday afternoon late I got
home in time to watch the girls while Alissa went to class.
Mike fenced off the wrapped hay that lined the hay field and we opened
up that hay field for the Jerseys to graze.
We do that every fall after we have taken the last cutting. The cows are always so happy to be on the
“new” ground. They help to fertilize the
field as they graze and it extends the season for us so that we can wait until
later to start feeding hay. I separated
Faith Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning I milked her and then returned her
to the herd. I was unable to separate
and milk her last week since we were so busy while we were in Staunton. I was eager to have the fresh cream again for
my coffee.
It seems like I am just “treading” and not making a lot of headway in
Staunton since the majority of my time is spent taking care of the kids,
cooking for everyone and trying to keep the house semi clean. Wednesday, I made a path through the milk
kitchen, an area that we have designated for processing milk, making cheese and
canning that is separate from the main living quarters. We have been using it for its intended
purposes in addition to using it for a warehouse to price, tag and inventory
the antiques we get for the antique mall.
Unfortunately, it has become one
of many “catch all” areas for items looking for a home as we transition
everyone into the Staunton home and move our things out to make room for Alissa
and Gab’s things. I also cleaned out the
refrigerator in the milk kitchen and shut it down for the first time in years. With canning season basically over for the
year and my only milking one cow on a once a week schedule, there is no reason
to waste the electricity to keep it running.
I boxed up a car load of miscellaneous items to take south with us. I also had to catch up on paperwork for the
antique mall. I was a couple months
behind with getting that together and sending it to our partner in the
business. We didn’t get away until late
afternoon, needed to stop for gas and since it was going to be so late when we
got to Laurel Fork, decided to stop for a bite to eat. When we are travelling, we don’t like to get
too far off the road to eat so that we can make the trip as short as
possible. We tend to go to the same
places but neither of us care much for chain restaurants. I have become somewhat limited in what I can or
will eat, trying to avoid feed lot beef, and commercial pork and chicken. I use to eat a lot of sea food when we ate
away from home, but in the last few
years I have developed some allergic reactions to sea food. Even though I had my gallbladder removed last
year, I have found that with my “clean” eating and restricting the types of
“grease” that I include in my diet, when I go out and eat foods that have been
cooked in something other than butter or coconut oil (which I use pretty
exclusively with the occasional use of our own rendered lard thrown in), I have
an almost immediate reaction, severe stomach ache and find myself in need of a
bathroom the rest of the evening. When
eating out, we like to find little, locally owned, family style restaurants with
home cooking. We wanted to try something
different and I pulled up on the computer “restaurants near me” and found a
potential restaurant just off the interstate on Route 11. It was exactly what we expected: a clean but simple restaurant “decorated”
with a few photos of train depots, country what knots, and framed newspaper
articles about their home cooked meals.
I was happy to find Salmon patties on the menu and Mike was happy they
made real mashed potatoes. The prices
were a little higher and the portions not quite as big as what we are used to
at the Crooked Oak near our home in Laurel Fork, but overall, we were pleased
and I am sure we will return. By the
time we got to our home it was dark, we were tired, and the stress of the last
few days made us both irritable. After
working through that we began to relax and settle into the peace that always
envelopes us when we get to our Mountain home.
October 6, 2017
Last night the moon was gorgeous in its fullness and looked like it was
just outside our widow and that we could touch it. Something about the mountain ridge to the
left and the hill covered in trees to its right with the big moon sitting right
between made it appear close enough to touch.
As darkness fell we could see it right outside our window, shining in
and lighting up the house from where we sat on our sofa with lights out in the house. As the night progressed and I looked out the
windows, the moon cast a silvery glow over everything that put me in mind of a
snow-covered landscape. It wasn’t hard
to imagine what these hills and mountain ridges will look like this
winter. I even involuntarily shivered at
the thought.
Yesterday was a productive day without being overwhelming. Finally, after six months of trying to get
someone to install 6” gutters on our house, a contractor showed up to do the
job. We had heavy rains this past spring
which I am pretty sure are typical of these mountains and this particular
mountain hollow. The existing gutters
were worthless. Setting too close to the roof, the water shot out past the
gutters and then ran back towards the house.
Wanting to keep the water away from the basement and foundation, we
needed gutters that would be big enough and set out far enough to catch the
heavy rain and direct it away from the house.
Mike has had big trash cans and rain barrels sitting under the eaves and
would haul the water away from the house, sometimes even going out in the
middle of a heavy rain to dump them when they filled. We also had snow breaks put on the roof and
guttering put across the front (covered) porch.
In addition, we had a piece of gutter put along the back of the old,
1950’s commercial chicken house that I will clean up before spring and we will
use for our personal flock. There were
three men working on the gutters. One
man in particular was quite a character but you could tell he had a tender
heart and was a kind man. All of the men
were so respectful when talking to me.
Southern manners go a long way and that is something I notice about this
area. So many of the people have good,
old fashioned, manners. The one man is
supposed to come back in a few weeks if Mike calls him to do the work and put a
chimney cap up for us. The chimney has
got to be extended just a bit and some minor work done to it before the cap can
be put in place. He said the flu looks
good and is really very clean except for the nest of stink bugs that have taken
up residence there. We have the gas fire
place in the living room but we have a gorgeous, original fireplace in the
bedroom. I don’t anticipate using it
much, but it would be nice to be able to use it for additional heat or just for
aesthetics. In addition, I would like to either have the existing wood stove
downstairs available should we need it or perhaps if I finish off that room as
a canning kitchen, put a vintage stove in that runs on both wood and gas. I just saw one for sale recently that used
either wood, coal or gas. It would be
nice to have that versatility. The
chimney cap itself needs to be installed because every time it rains, the
chimney works as a rain gauge collecting water and depositing it in our
basement. The chimney cap will keep the
water from coming down the chimney.
Mike worked on clearing some more brush yesterday. There are some huge, hanging vines that
covered a particular tree in our front yard along the edge of the woods by the
mature pines. He was able to get enough
of that mess down and away that I can actually see through the pines up the
hill to the pasture in that area. It
also allowed a good bit of sunlight to come through. I absolutely love the trees around our
home. In Staunton, our cleared property doesn’t
have trees. In our yard we have a pine
planted by Kristin and a weeping cherry tree planted after Josh died. Along the edge of the driveway we have some
walnut trees. Otherwise, our fifty acres
there is treeless. Part of the reason I
love this Southwest Virginia property so much is the mature trees. However, the trees and property here have
been neglected for so long that there is a lot of clean up to do.
In addition to a little house cleaning and washing clothes and hanging
them out to dry, I spent the day in the kitchen. I made a double batch of strawberry cobbler
as well as snickerdoodle and peanut butter cookies. I used some of the end of the season corn and
cut it off the cob. I made a large bowl
of creamed corn thinking I can take it back to Staunton with me for Sunday when
we have dinner with all the grandkids and their parents. I peeled a sliced a large batch of beets and
cooked them in the oven while I had it hot.
I love beets cooked this way. I
slice them and lay them in a shallow baking dish, salt them and put a generous
amount of butter on them, cover with foil or a lid and bake until done. They retain all their juice, flavor and color
this way and are simply delicious. I
also made a good portion of seasoned potatoes that I baked. I use salt, pepper, garlic, onion, parsley
and paprika to season them after tossing in olive oil. Then I bake them until they are done and
lightly browned. I finished off with
cooking a sirloin steak in my old, square, Wagner, cast iron skillet. By the time the gutter men left, they were
salivating and asking me what I was cooking as they had to work with all the
wonderful scents of food escaping the windows. I made them each a bag of cookies and gave it
to them before they left. They were so
kind and repeatedly told me thank you.
I managed to sneak in a walk on the back forty so I could view the
Buffalo Mountain as well as the surrounding scenery. I was amazed at how many of the leaves along
the woods have fallen already even though we have not reached peak leaf
season. I noted the hickory nuts that
had fallen as well and made a mental note to take a bag with me to pick them up
the next time I walk.
Darkness came early at just after 7 pm and I walked up the hill to get
a signal on my cell phone so that I could make my nightly call to my
grandma. I was able to talk to her there
with a clear signal and then get back to the house, take a bath and get into comfortable
clothes by a little after 8. Mike and I
settled in full of good food and safe and warm.
We are blessed and thankful. We
talked how events beyond our control worked to change the course of our life to
some extent but how happy we are now and how much more time we have together
and how close we have become. I did not
say it out loud but I thought again of how I saw the tide changing with things
back in Staunton after Mike’s dad’s death and how we both, in our own separate
ways “fought” the changes that were inevitable.
Now we are on the other side of those changes and while a part of us
will always be sad over some of the things that we have let go, we can both see
the good that has come out of it all.
October 7, 2017
Yesterday was a sweet and beautiful day. The sun was shining and the changing leaves
were beautiful. They are not as colorful
as some years, but still lovely as they change.
Many of them have already fallen and lie brown upon the earth. It’s strange in a way that a season of such
dynamic transition that culminates in the decay of that on which we focus and
the soul of the tree dormant, awaiting resurrection in the spring is a season
of beauty. There must be a life lesson
there.
Two friends sent me texts yesterday inquiring on how I was doing
because we had not spoken in a while.
Since I no longer keep in touch with Facebook, these extra efforts from
friends to keep in touch have come to mean so much to me. The little acts of kindness from others can
be such a blessing. In addition, my
dearest, bestest friend and her husband drove from West Virginia to visit. We have been friends since I was 19 years old
and we both lived in Alaska. Occasionally,
there is a friend who will go the distance and Liz has been that kind of friend
for me. Our time together goes by too
quickly and the afternoon was over before we knew it. Her husband had recently suffered a stroke
but is doing very well. I sent him the
book A MAN WHO MOVED A MOUNTAIN knowing he would enjoy reading it while he was
recuperating. He brought the book along
and we drove a few places looking at some of the key points of interest from
the story. We took him to two of the
stone churches and we visited the grave of Bob Childress in the cemetery. It was the perfect day to get out and explore
these mountains and then catch a bite to eat at THE CROOKED OAK
restaurant.
A young man Mike hired was supposed to show up at 9 am to work on the
barn roof but finally showed up sometime after noon. He hung around for about an hour and left and
then returned late afternoon for a couple of hours. I was disappointed in his “first day” and
worried about the quality of the work he will provide. I am hoping that his return today brings me a
better feeling about the situation. He carried
with him, in a bucket, a baby snake that he said was a copper head but didn’t
quite look like a copper head to me. He
said it was his pet. I told him I didn’t
mind snakes but didn’t want a copper head loose on my property, so to make sure
he took the snake home with him.
As it got close to sun set, Mike and I took a walk around the perimeter
of our mountain property as we hiked to the top of the “back forty” to catch a
glimpse of the setting sun as it shined across on Buffalo Mountain. It was beautiful.
October 8, 2017
Yesterday Mike and I went to our two favorite auction houses but
neither one of us were all that thrilled about it. The first one had some pretty nice antiques
and vintage items but they were bringing a pretty high price. I ended up reading a book most of the time we
were there. Between the auctions, we
went home and I prepared food for Sunday’s mill. We planned on getting together with Kristin
and the twins and Alissa and her two girls.
I got up early this morning and packed and we headed back to
Staunton. We had been on the road about
thirty minutes when I received a text from Kristin that she wasn’t feeling well
and they would not be able to make it.
We invited Mike’s mom to meet us at the house for lunch and afterwards, we
went to visit Mike’s brother who is in Charlottesville recuperating from his
surgery and receiving therapy due to complications after his procedure. It was nice to see Kenny and Mike and I both
felt relieved after visiting with him.
We know he has some tough days ahead of him but believe that his efforts
and hard work will pay off and that he will do well with rehabilitation. We are settling in for a few days here in
Staunton. I spent a little while with
Analia and Aurora this evening reading books and playing and we plan on the
twins joining us tomorrow if all goes well and their momma is able to bring
them. As Tropical Storm Nate makes it’s
path along the Appalachian Mountains, we are hearing that our home in Laurel
Fork is supposed to receive heavy amounts of rainfall and we can’t help but
worry about things there with high winds and large trees and a large rain fall,
but there’s nothing we can do but wait and see what happens. We know so many people have been truly
affected by the tropical storms and hurricanes along the coasts and we know
that any concerns we might have are nothing in comparison.