Snow & Ice

The little bit of snow that we got last Thursday didn't even cover the ground, but the ice and freezing temperatures pretty much shut things down around here for a couple of days. The road along the creek and our driveway have been very icy. Larry was able to get out with his truck in 4 wheel drive, but Allison & I didn't even attempt to drive our cars down the driveway until yesterday after Larry cleared off some of the ice with the tractor. It has been beautiful, especially when the snow was falling, but I have enjoyed watching it from inside with a fire going in the fireplace!


Allison & Jordan sliding down our driveway.

Meet Midnight (named by Shelby) born just a week ago. That's Jolene next to him --not his mother. We're expecting another calf to be born any time, and Jolene should have hers next month.

The animals have been hungrier than usual because of the cold, and they let Larry know it. They all come running when they hear him coming, and the ducks follow him around like puppies.

Lots of ice on the ponds. Notice the duck walking on the pond!

Come Fly With Me!

The day after Christmas, Larry & I drove Granny back to Memphis, and then went down to Greenwood for a couple of days. Our nephew, Cayson, came home with us on Tuesday, and on Wednesday, Larry had a special surprise for the family. He had arranged for our friend Ryan, who is a commercial pilot, to take us up in a small plane from the Rome airport. The plane is a 4-seater, so we took turns, 3 at a time, flying over Rome & the surrounding area. It was fun to see our farm, WinShape, Berry College, and Amanda & Jeff's house from the air.

Collin, the co-pilot.

Ton Tenga (our land)








Cayson with Ryan, our pilot.

Nana elected to stay on the ground. Been there, done that, got sick (in West Africa)!

Christmas at Ton Tenga



We had a wonderful Christmas! On Christmas Eve, Amanda, Jeff & the kids joined us (Nana, Papa, Allison & Granny) for dinner and spent the night. Since Jeff was on duty at the fire station on Christmas Day, we woke the kids up early so that he could watch them enjoy their gifts from Santa before he had to leave at 6am! We had our traditional cinnamon rolls and stockings and enjoyed talking with Jason, Kelli, Abbey, Maddie, & Naomi and Jeremy, Kimberly, Shelby, Darby & Emma via Skype.








Unexpected Blessing

We had a wonderful surprise last week when both Jason & Jeremy were with us for a few days. We had known for a few weeks that Jason was coming -- the meeting that he came for was scheduled back in October, and since it was at WinShape, he was able to stay with us for almost a week. Three days after Jason arrived, Jeremy called to say that he was coming to the States for the funeral of a colleague's father, and his flight schedule allowed him to spend several days with us. Their visits overlapped for only two nights & one day, but we made the most of that time. Allison has just moved back home from Chicago, and Amanda lives here in Rome, so Larry & I had the rare opportunity to spend an evening with all four of our children.



Many of you know that if you come to visit us, Larry will put you to work! So, of course, he made good use of that one day that he had the boys here together to get some work done on the barn.



Since Jason, Jeremy and their families live so far away, we just don't expect to see them very often. That's why we're so grateful when the Lord surprises us with an unexpected blessing like this!

Sunday afternoon Larry finally used his birthday gift from last year -- a hang-gliding experience. We drove over to Lookout Mountain, and after completing a lot of paper work (if you read it all and think about it much, it'll scare you out of going through with it!), Larry suited up and was soon airborne. He didn't have to jump off a cliff -- this experience (actually a flying lesson) was with a licensed instructor, and they were pulled up from the airstrip by an ultra-lite plane.


A camera on the wing of the glider took these photos. Notice that in the 2nd & 3rd pictures, Larry is actually flying the glider. The instructor had a parachute, but they didn't give Larry one. If the worst happened, I guess he'd just have to hang on to the other guy!





Larry loved it and said he would do it again. Next time he wants to make it a group experience -- anyone interested?
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It's hard to believe that summer is over. The garden is finished, but there's lots of peas and okra in the freezer and pickles and jelly in the pantry. We really enjoyed our daylilies this year. We thought the last ones had bloomed several weeks ago, but this late bloomer came out just this week.




There are 8 ducklings left from the 12 that hatched, and they follow Larry around all over the farm. When he's not here, they're devoted to me -- when I have a bucket of feed in my hands!



It took a while, but Millie & Boss no longer chase Viola (aka Miss Kitty) up the tree. As you can see, they have become good friends.

More catching up

Caleb turned two before we went to Florida, but we never had time to celebrate, so we had a little "party" for him.
Collin is 8 years old today, so we went to their house this afternoon to give him some presents.


Pop really liked Larry's "new" pickup. He said if he had one like this, "it would make my tail laugh!" Whatever that means????

Catching up

Amanda and Jeff and family and Jeremy and Kimberly and family and AJ and us all went to Florida last week on vacation in New Smyrna Beach, Florida. We returned Saturday in time to greet Jason who is passing through for a couple days on his way to a m conference in NC. Mimi and Pop came on Sunday to visit for a couple days.

Pop, Jason and Jeremy and Papa worked on some projects around the farm. Jason and Jeremy and the kids enjoyed some fishing. Cheryl did a lot of good cooking. Mimi cleaned out the flower beds and everybody had a great time.



Smith's and Gilbert's Visit/Surprise Party


Alton and Sherry visited us Sunday through Tuesday, and Al and KK were with us Monday through Tuesday. They were here for a surprise birthday party for Larry on Monday night, and he was totally surprised. Yes, I am writing and I admit that I had no clue about what was going on. It was a great party. Cheryl, Amanda and Allison conspired and rented the local skating rink and prepared lots of food. The party had a sixties theme, and, yes, Cheryl and I both skated. I only fell twice and once was with Jordan when I first got on the floor and the other was during the race when I was trying to grab AJ and hold her back so she would not beat me! No, I was not sore the next day!