Cool October

Well I can’t say that I’ll miss the heat too much- although it is supposed to have one last go at sweating us out. Julia and I were in Tennessee this past weekend visiting my parents and my grandparents. What a great drama-free weekend. We started out early Friday morning- trying to avoid traffic- which we did successfully. If you leave around 6:15ish, you’ll most likely have great traffic flow. If you’re going from Birmingham towards the Knoxville area, it’ll take just about 4 hours flat.

I was listening to the fifth Harry Potter book- the Order of the Phoenix. Man is that a tough book to stick with. If you’ve read this one, you understand. We arrived around noon and got back in the car to head for lunch. We came back and hung out then my dad headed on to High Point for the biannual furniture market.

Saturday morning- oh man. I accidentally slept in until 8- which in my defense is 7 central. My grandfather gave me a hard time and told me I was gonna help him plow some potatoes. Let me tell you- mr/ms skeptic reader- that was more fun than I could’ve ever expected. First of all, the tractor he uses for his hobby farm is just tiny! I felt like a little kid on a powerwheel- it just happens to weigh 1700lbs. What a great bonding time for us.

I let down the plow and up came the ‘taters. OH MAN! The soil is so amazingly fertile and turned so easily- he really works at making the soil just perfect. We then gathered them up in buckets and took them back to show the girls. We were covered in mud but man was it fun. The fun didn’t end there though- man oh man we headed to their big farm- which really is pasture and a smattering of hardwoods. They’ve 30 head of cattle and riding around on the 6 wheeler is just my thing. It will go literally anywhere. The only limitations are in your head- and it is safe too- full roll cage if you get turned over- I haven’t come close. I did have to earn my keep though- I had to fix a few things and trim up around their little farmhouse. What a great set of memories.

We came home Sunday around 9 and arrived here around 1:15. We took about a 20 minute nap and I built a stand for my little pancake compressor to raise it up enough to hook it to my air hose reel. We went to Bump & Stal’s house and had a nice dinner and a relaxing evening- we watched most of Harry Potter’s third book- The Prisoner of Azkaban.
I am getting jazzed up already for next weekend- the big camping trip is on for Friday morning – Sunday WOO HOOO! I’ll have a good blog for that one.