A little randomness

Dawit loves, loves, loves his bath. He soaks everything within 6 feet of his tub.

We tried in vain to get a family pic. This is as close as we could get to everyone looking at the camera.

Oh, come on:

Okay, forget it:

Waterfall tour

Last weekend we decided to do a tour of waterfalls within an hour of our house. On Saturday everything was frozen. By Sunday it was 50 degrees.

Dodson Branch:

Hardscrabble Falls (Caroline enjoyed stabbing the ice with a stick):


Not sure of this one's name:


Warren Falls on our friends' property:

Fall Creek Falls at Fall Creek Falls State Park:

Piney Falls:

Cane Creek Falls:

These next two were in Fall Creek Falls State Park too, but we can't remember their names:

Waterloo Falls on Spring Creek:

Johnson Falls on Roaring River Gorge:

Thanksgiving weekend hike

After a late start associated with a minor horse emergency that resulted in stitches, we headed to Big South Fork for a 6.6-mile hike. We were all smiles at first...because our feet felt great.

Spence usually carries C's 27-pounds, but I volunteered today since he'd been sick and I needed the workout.

I sure got it.

The hike was full of huge rock houses.

We ate lunch in a rock house.

C discovered her pockets to keep her hands warm.

Then Dad took over the last couple miles hauling Little C. Mama's feet were thankful.

We let C hike that last stretch to the truck. She had fun tromping in the leaves.

She had the biggest smile of all when we got loaded back up, because her feet weren't screaming

It was a great day, and we returned to two happy horses and intact stitches. We were thankful for that!

A ladybug invasion

The warm weather in Tennessee has brought an abundance of ladybugs. Spence and I have been vacuuming them up like crazy. We found these two big ones and thought they were cute enough to keep. So we headed to Cookeville's west side under the Cream City sign and collected some goodies from the shops. Wish I'd gotten some pics of the millions of people there.

This was Caroline's second trick-or-treating venture, and it took her a little while to get the hang of it. When the first person put the first treat into her Elmo bucket, she wanted to stop in the middle of the sidewalk and dig out the treat to eat right then, despite hundreds of people lined up behind us eager to keep moving.

Sarah had it all figured out.

The suckers were the biggest hit.






My friend Alana and little Sarah Jean at the Mexican restaurant:

Not your grandma's porch swing

This is the birthday present my sweet hubby made me (back in June). For the past 5 years, we've logged a lot of time on our front porch in a swing that used to be his grandmother's. While it served us well, we decided it was time to upgrade. This is the Mercedes of porch swings. It's made of poplar, much of it salvaged from several barns Spence tore down.


Note the contoured arm rests and handy-dandy drink trays (or beer holders, as we call them).


Eventually Spence will make and sell these. You can see his lamps here. Thanks, sweetie!

Take me out to the ball game...

Caroline enjoyed her first baseball game when we went to see the Chattanooga Lookouts Friday night. We trekked up the hill to the stadium in 90+ degree heat and an unrelenting sun.

Little C happily collected her freebies: a Lookouts cap and a fan.

She ate ice cream out of a plastic baseball cap, no spoon required. She also ate a hot dog and pizza, two of her favorites.

Visited with her cousin Savannah, who turned 2 that day. Notice the sweaty, stringy hair?

And spent some time torturing the little girl (well, pretty much the whole family) in front of us. She pulled ponytails, removed caps, scratched backs, played with curls, fanned and poked the entire family of 5 before we finally called it quits at the bottom of the 3rd and let the family enjoy the rest of the game in peace.

Here's cousins Baylee and Jordan looking all glamorous.

We had a great time, but I think I enjoy the close-up excitement -- and air conditioning -- of the Tech basketball games better.

4th fun!

This year, we celebrated the 4th in a non-traditional way. In fact, we never even left the valley. We went to visit our neighbors Hector and Susie Black about 6 miles upriver. They own Hidden Springs Nursery, which includes an amazing blueberry patch. Caroline's strategy: one for the bucket, 50 for my tummy. She got the hang of picking the blue (not the green or red) ones real quick, and she wasn't afraid of crawling right in there to get the good ones. But her bucket never saw more than 4 berries.






We also went wading down Roaring River Gorge, appropriately named because it is gorgeous. This is the same river than runs by our house, but it's about 10 miles upstream where the gorge walls are 100+ feet high. This is a Class III-IV section when the water is high, but in the summer it's a great place to wade and swim. This is Spence's sister Allison.

It's so hard to get a family pic where everyone's smiling!