Mountain Adventures and Mishaps

It was another beautiful weekend in the North Carolina mountains, with moderate temperatures and a nice breeze most of the time. As it approaches deer hunting season, my husband is getting all excited. We took a few trips up the mountain to put up Posted signs and install DH's new stealth camera. Hey, it looks like he is doing the very un-Man thing, referring to the directions! It is supposed to be motion-activated and take pictures of deer with infrared film. We got it installed Saturday, and eagerly went back Sunday morning to find a picture of: my husband's face peering into the camera. Maybe next weekend we will see some actual wildlife photos, hopefully not of bear.

We spent a lot of time trespassing, er uh, I mean, exploring some of the old logging roads at the top of the mountain beyond my BIL's land. We came across this really pretty cabin for sale.

There were only four people staying on our family compound this weekend. Sometimes there are twenty or thirty, with half of them bringing along one or more dogs. This time, only Maggy was along for the Gator rides up the mountain. She waited patiently for us at each stop to put up a Posted sign, investigating delicious smellsand drinking the skanky water (EWWW!) from the mud puddle that almost never dries up completely on the top of the mountain.

She has gotten in trouble on a couple of these treks across the mountain, most notably the time she got up close and personal with a skunk. Her eyes turned blood red and she couldn't walk straight. No, tomato juice does not take out the smell, nor does bathing her in a mountain stream with peach-scented shampoo or bathing her at home with $12.00 bottle of Skunk-Away.

On this particular trip I was walking around the woods with a camera, looking for something interesting to photograph, like this very large funguswhen I was startled to see my twelve-year old pooch jumping a foot off the ground and slamming herself down on the ground. What???? Uh-oh, she had stuck her nose in a hole in the ground and stirred up a nest of yellow-jackets! I yelled at her to "Run!" and we both took off. Speaking of bears, Charlie thought there must be a bear after me when he saw me charging full speed through the trees. I did not get stung, and after we got about four more bees off the dog, she did not seem any worse for wear. But I wish I had taken a video of her body-slamming herself!

We saw a little spotted fawn in the partially fenced yard of our late mountain neighbor, Grizzly Glenn. It kept running along the perimeter of the fence looking for the way out, no Mama in sight. Maggy decided to investigate, and when she got close, the baby deer took off and ran right across Glenn's front porch and out of sight.

While Charlie and I were enjoying the outdoors, Ricky and Mary were canning a bushel of beans and 125 ears of corn, not to mention a few pickles. They have a fine new house with a beautiful kitchen.

I am not much of a canner, but I hope we get invited for dinner to enjoy some of this beautiful bounty. Mary made a beautiful breakfast for us Sunday morning, with maple-flavored bacon, sausage patties, eggs over easy, and strawberry pancakes. Good neighbors!

I experimented with making some fabric beads for my two pink art quilts. Will share pics of the bead-making in my next post.