Tennesse Vacation 2015

We left Indiana Saturday morning and drove to Berea, Kentucky.

We camped overnight and headed for Tennessee in the morning.

I don't have any pictures from our stay.

Let's just say it was a learning experience.

This is not what you want to see when you pull up to a rest stop on the interstate.

I'm not a fan of these.

I waited for the next available flushing facility.

We made our usual stop at Dog Patch in London, Kentucky.

We were behind this fellow for several miles.

He became the butt of many jokes.

We play ruthless games of the alphabet game when we travel.

There's lots of shouting and lots of laughing,

and sometimes the kids play too.

Eventually we came to mountains. 

This was the first time we did not stay with family while in Tennessee.

We stayed with dear friends for most of the week.

Our time there flew by way too quickly.

We had so much fun I don't know where to begin.

We camped in Erwin and visited family.

We visited Hot Springs, North Carolina.

We tried to find Painted Rock... it's still missing.

Our friends took us on a day trip to Great Smoky Mountains

National Park where we saw Cades Cove and Clingmans Dome.

We saw two bears!

We ate great food, star gazed, hiked and saw rainbows.

We didn't want to leave but we knew we had to.

On our way home we stopped at several places including:

Clinch Mountain; Pineville, KY; and Madison, IN.

Exodus

Not much going on around here.

 

Piglets at the buffet.

This mass exodus happens every morning.

It cracks us up.

I'd love to say they have dirt on them but that would not be true.

It will be interesting to see what their markings are when all of their feathers are in.

Out for a Swim

We took our ducklings to the horse trough for a swim.

We carried them to the tank but made them walk after their swim.

They got a little dirty.

We walked (aka herded) them to the barn lot for some exploration.

We have learned that they are flightless birds.

It looks like some of their new feathers are a light brown so far.

As if we didn't have enough animals, we found some tadpoles.

We saw an army of them in the water hole in the woods.

We scooped up one spaghetti jar lid full and ended up with 30!

They are quite possibly the tiniest tadpoles we've ever seen.

I hope they survive.

It's been several years since we watched tadpoles change.

Eureka

We spent a few days at our favorite campground in Eureka, Missouri.

It's about 30 minutes from downtown St. Louis where our HHT doctors are.

We planned on tent camping, just like last year.

The weather started out crummy, just like last year.

We upgraded to a cabin, just like last year.

We got the exact same cabin!

The weather finally cooperated after the first day.

We even had sunshine!

The boys using up some of their stored up energy.

It's hard work sitting in waiting rooms all afternoon. 

We'd like to own a couple of these cool bikes.

After all is said and done, it sounds like we don't have to go back for a checkup for four years!

So thankful.

Proof we were in St. Louis... a crummy highway picture of Busch Stadium.

And while we were in St. Louis I had take a picture of the arch!

We also ventured to a local place called Racanelli's New York Pizzeria.

It happened to be close to the hospital complex.

We highly recommend this pizza.

It was super yummy.

Duck, Duck, Snake!

I realize that this is neither a duck nor a snake.

Pepper often lies like this on the porch with her head resting between the spindles.

I think she watches what's happening on the other end of the farm.

I finally got a picture of it.

Goofy dog.

She's also started to sleep in one of the quad chairs.

I guess I'll have to find a new place to air them out.

The chickens and ducks seem to enjoy their new home.

We're pretty sure the chicken on the left is our rooster.

We've named him Zeus.

I was planning on going out to clean out the van.

I grabbed my camera and took pictures instead.

These crazy birds were roosting on the opening of the door.

The door is typically closed.

We had it open to air out the coop.

These four thought the block was a perfect roosting spot.

I'm amazed that none of them moved when I showed up to play tourist.

Aren't they cute?

Some of their feathers are starting to grow in.

They're heading to the scraggly stage.

I hope it doesn't last long.

We're anxious to find out what color they will be.

They may be all white or white with some beige.

This guy was found on the wheel of the water wagon.

He was not small, nor was he a happy fellow.

He proved to be quite the loud hisser.

Even shook his tail at us.

He sought refuge inside a support beam.

He couldn't escape my camera though!

Silly snake.

Eventually he came out.

He still wasn't happy.

I got plenty of pictures and that made me happy.

Oh, and I did get some work done in the van.

Outside

These gals and their friends have officially moved outside.

Woo hoo!

They now have lots of room to run around.

We'll let them free range in the barn lot when they get bigger.

The ducks think the water pan is their personal pond.

This was before they got all muddy.

~

 We were outside ourselves this weekend.

We went for a walk out west.

Nothing unusual, same trees.

Same gate.

I stopped to take pictures of this tree.

I often take pictures looking up the trunk of a tree.

I don't know why, it's just cool to do.

This time, however, I noticed an insulator part way up the trunk.

We've walked past this tree for years and never noticed it.

If you look closely, it's in the previous picture.

I didn't notice it until after I took it.

It has to be over 15 feet high.

It's always fun to find a new treasure.

I realized on this walk that both of us usually take something to shoot with.

I use my Cannon and Dwayne uses his Silent Cat.

Mine sounds more powerful!

Young boys have to shoot daddy's gun too!

Finished

 

My mother's day gift was having time to work on my quilt.

I finished it today!!!

I'm so excited and can't wait to work on the next one.

I never dreamed I would like quilting so much!

Rainbows and a Quilt

I had to show another duckling picture.

It's funny to hear them running in their habitat.

You can hear their feet make thumping noises as they run.

We were blessed with two rainbows yesterday.

Dwayne drove through heavy rain and hail on his way home from work.

We didn't get much rain at the house.

Later we had another storm skim us to the north.

We received little rain from this one as well.

This was the second rainbow of the day.

For a short time there was a second faint bow with this one.

In between storms I managed to finish quilting this quilt.

I'm so excited to have this finished.

This is the first start-to-finish quilt for me.

The back shows the straight line quilting better.

This is my practice quilt.

I'm going to start the binding process this week.

I'm learning as I go.

When I'm done with this project I plan on trying to finish hand quilting Nolan's quilt.

It may take a while, but I'm determined to get it done.

I have to say that I enjoyed machine quilting and can't wait to start a new project.

I'm loving my new quilting adventures.

Especially with my new sewing machine!

(I never thought I would say that.  I used to hate sewing machines.)