Owl

Coming back from Normandy today, I spotted an owl sitting in a tree along side the road. I slammed on the brakes, turned around, when back down the road and grabbed my camera. This is a Barred Owl. From what I read when I looked it up to ID it, it says that they are the most active owl during the day. Cool!

I Didn't Think It'd be This Hard

Yesterday I made my flight resevations to fly back to California. I also made flight reservations for my cat, Georgia to fly to California. It costs almost as much for a cat to fly as a person to fly I found out! And then they get crammed in underneath a seat! Oh well. She'll probably have more room in her carry on cat carrier that I spent $75 on at PetCo. I got the American Airlines pet carrier as they guaranteed that it will fit under the seat in front of you. I wonder if that's only if you fly American Airlines or Continental (like I'm going to be doing)?

Today, I started saying my goodbyes to my family. We all met down in Normandy to tour the George Dickel Distillery to spend some time together as a family. Dad drove down from Tullahoma, Roberta came in from Shelbyville, Chris and family came in from Hillsboro, and Scot and Sandy drove down from Smyrna. All this because I asked them to. (NOTE: Mary couldn't make it because the one person "who never gets sick"- got sick! I told her to stay at home; nobody wants her nasty germs!). It was a great day. Larry and Robin opened up their house to us after the tour so that we could have a picnic in the living room. It only got up to 36 degrees today... a bit on the cold side to be outside having a picnic!

I will go over and say good bye to my Mom, who didn't make it down to Normandy for the distillery tour. She isn't into cold weather. I remember one time she told our pastor that when she died, she hoped it was going to be warm where she went. Pastor looked at her for a second and then said, "Marilyn, I think you're talking about the wrong place"! Glad the Pastor had a great sense of humor!

I will need to go by and say good bye to Jack, our neighbor. Bless him, I'm going to really miss him when I go back to California. He's 94 years old and I know he won't be around for much longer, but he's the grandfather I haven't had in years. He tried fixing our space heaters for us and was so disappointed that he couldn't fix them. I was pretty much "Jack- if you can do it great. If not, it's NO big deal". But to Jack it WAS a big deal. When I've made chili, beef stew or other soups, I take over a big bowl for him to have a couple of meals with. He never fails to return them washed and with a big compliment on the cooking. He got my very first pecan pie I ever made. He was so tickled that I gave it to him. He finished it off in less than a week!

I will go by and say good bye to Mike's aunts and uncle. I haven't spent as much time with them as I wanted, but the weather in the past month or so has left a lot to be desired! We did spend time with his aunts when Mike was here for Christmas. Saying good bye to them will be hard, too.

I've gone the past few weeks and have taken photographs at the places I wanted to go to before I left for California. Rutledge Falls, downtown Manchester during the snowstorm, Hands on Science Center, George Dickel Distillery, Arrowheads to Aerospace Museum and some of the more beautiful sunsets we've had in a couple of months.

I'm so excited about going back to California, but leaving my family to go is going to be harder than I thought. I've gotten used to having them call me and say, "What are you doing?" and then proceed to invite me to do something with them. Dinner, son's basketball game, go pick up some books/calendars/or some trivial thing they have for me, go take some milk/sodas to the parents who didn't want to have to get out and drive in the snow. Being there when Dad had his surgery and staying with him all day and evening. Yeah. It's going to be hard to leave this and them behind.

The tears sting as I think about this.

Time Is Coming to an End

As the month of January comes to a close, the time I spend in Tennessee is getting shorter by the day. As it is looking now, I will be going to California at the end of the month. Mike is getting my ticket this Friday, so I will know then when I am leaving. I will miss being here- cold weather, snow and ice be damned. I'll miss my family and being able to see them when I can. I will miss Nick and Nikki's wedding, but wish them all the best. Justin will attend in our place.

There are still many places I want to go and photograph. I was going to go out today with Dad to the Hands on Science Center, but they are closed on Mondays. I called the Arrowheads to Aerospace Museum and they were closed today, too. Then I called the Tullahoma Fine Arts, but they are currently under renovation and won't have an exhibit up until February. Guess I'll go out with Dad tomorrow! I'm going to call him after lunch to see if he wants to go to the HOSC.

I sent out an email to the siblings to find out if anyone was interested in going to Cumberland Caverns with me on Saturday. Tanner said he would go with me. I think it would be a great outing to take with my siblings. Not sure if they would think so, but we'll see. I want to photograph it. Justin has to work, so he can't go.

The snow is almost gone now. It will probably be all the way gone in the next day or two. I don't have a TV, so not sure what the weather is supposed to do in the next week to 10 days, but I think we're supposed to have a day or two more of mixed stuff from the sky. May get flurries, may get rain. But I think the snow like we've had for the past week is over and done with now. I hope so anyway!

I'm looking forward to going to California... I miss Mike. I'll also be taking our rescue kitty, Georgia with me to California. I'm going to have to talk with the vet to find out what I need to do to keep her calm on the flight. Hope it doesn't involve me having to give her any oral medication. I can see my hands now all torn up trying to get a pill down her throat! Yep. We'll have to see what he recommends.

All for now. Hope 2011 finds you doing well so far!

Time Is Running Down

My time in Tennessee is coming to a close as we pass the mid point of January. It's looking like I will be leaving for California by the end of the month.

Yard Birds

Here are some photos of birds that I've taken in the yard. They are (top to bottom): A female Yellow Shafted Flicker, a male Yellow Shafted Flicker, a blue jay and a flicker, a Cedar Waxwing, and a Cardinal.

Fooled Me!

The other day, I was in the backyard when I realized how many robins there were in the yard. I went in and got my camera and started taking photographs of the birds I was seeing in the yard. Robins are supposed to be the first signs of spring, right? Apparently, they didn't get the memo that its not spring yet!

According to the local news, we're supposed to be getting between 5 and 7 inches of snow between tonight and Tuesday morning! I don't think I've seen that much snow here since I was in high school!

We had some snow a for Christmas... our first white Christmas I can remember in many, many years. It was nice to have snow for a couple of days. I'm still excited when it snows... I've been to the grocery store, have a tank of gas, and a huge pot of homemade chili on the stove! Let it snow!

Welcome 2011!

Me and Mike on Christmas Day in Hillsboro

The ball has dropped in Times Square; the Guitar dropped in Nashville; and many other things have dropped at the stoke of midnight on 12/31/10. I wouldn't know of course... we were asleep by the time all the festivities were getting into high gear! The cat was the only one awake in our house at that time! I was going to stay awake, but there was nothing to do as we don't have a TV here at the house and Mike was asleep. So... I laid down to read and that was the last thing I remembered before Mike woke me up at 3:30 a.m. So much for New Year's Eve!

On 1/2/11, we had a surprise birthday party for Mike. It was a surprise because his birthday wasn't until 1/4! But on Sunday, my family could make it to the party where they couldn't make it on Tuesday! It was a lot of fun having the get together at the house and Mike being able to enjoy it. He didn't think I'd pull one over on him like that, but I got him! I thought he figured it out that morning as me and Justin were whispering like conspirators all morning! It went off well and he even got a couple of presents, too!

Tuesday was his real birthday and we spent it doing what he wanted to do... working in the yard! We've almost got Gregory's Hideaway all the way dismantled now. We carried a lot of wood and metal up to the front of the yard for the city to carry away. The metal was gone before I was even finished unloading the trailer! Some guy pulled over and asked if I was throwing all that metal away. I said, "yes". He asked if I would "save it for him". I said, "NO!" If it was there when he got back, he could have it. He didn't get it. Another guy pulled up and started loading it onto his truck. I told the guy that if he started loading the metal, he had to take it all. He agreed. And he did take it all. Plus a bike and a lawn mower! We should have done this a LONG time ago! :o)

Today I took Mike to Nashville to get his flight back to California. I cried. Its so hard to believe that he's been here almost 2 weeks. I will stay here till the end of January sometime and then go back to California. Seems like a long time from now. Anyway, he called me from Dallas (DFW) and he's getting on his flight (right about now!) to go on to the John Wayne Airport in Irvine. I'm going to track his flight on one of the flight tracker websites online and keep an eye on where he should be. He'll call me when he reaches CA.

I haven't been out with the camera lately. My next camera trip I want to take is down to "See Rock City"! That should be really pretty, but right now the weather isn't cooperating! It's cold and supposed to snow tonight! BRRRR!!!!

Until later!

Sharon