Jay and I have been pretty busy (as usual) since the holidays…so here’s the latest!

Christmas was a very quiet event for us, which was oddly kind of nice. We had a very nice day and were surprised by everything that was sent to us (special thanks to Mom, Jessy & Katy, Grandma, Aunt Laura, Aunt Janice, and Wayne & Kelly). We felt very special even though we weren’t anywhere near our families in Florida or Virginia. Hopefully we’ll be in one of those states for the holidays next year!

I gave Jay tickets to see the comedian and ventriloquist Jeff Dunham (Jan. 29), and to see Eric Chruch in concert (Feb 3)! And, Jay gave me a new parka made by Columbia! It’s interchangeable, so it’s two jackets in one and it’s lined with their new technology called “omni-heat.” It has reflective circles lined in the jacket that reflects your body heat, making you stay 20% warmer. And it’s waterproof. So it’s pretty awesome.

Due to combining Bass Pro Gift Cards (thanks again Katy and Wayne & Kelly!), we were able to add another gun to our “arsenal,” a Ruger 10/22! It’s another super fun gun to shoot, great for target practice and it’s a rifle that Jay had on his mind for a while. If anyone wants to come target shooting with us, feel free! We’ve got quite a variety now!

In other news…the weather here has been so STRANGE this year! Firstly, it’s been raining A LOT. And for the most part, the temperatures have been relatively warm; 50s and 60s! This time last year we had a lot of snow, but so far this year we’ve had two extremely light dustings and that’s it. Jay and I were expecting more snow and ice since our new house is higher in elevation, but that hasn’t been the case. I’m almost thinking we’re going to get walloped in February or March since it’s been so quiet so far.

Yesterday, we woke up to thunder and lightning! And you know what the old Virginia wives tale is? “If it lightnings in winter, you’ll have snow within two weeks.” Now I thought that wasn’t going to be true, but the last two winters we’ve been in I counted the days from lightning to snow, and it snowed by day 13. So, we’ll have to wait and see!

In case you haven’t heard yet, I was offered a job in Pigeon Forge that I accepted about 2 weeks ago. However, it’s part-time and not at the rate I would like to make. The day I was offered this job, a lab in Knoxville called and asked me to interview! How’s that for timing? So I went to the interview last week, and they’ve called me back for a second interview! I’m going tomorrow, so wish me luck!

Yesterday, we had a bit of fun! Our friend Jeremy who works in the park with Jay wanted to get more experience firing rifles. So, Jay, Jeremy, his wife Tonya and I met our good friend Courtney at her family’s property in Pigeon Forge to go shooting! Her family owns 80 undeveloped acres, and it was really nice of her to let us come shoot. So we brought the guns, ammo and targets, and had a really nice time!

Jeremy with the 300 Winmag rifle

Courtney with the 300 Winmag

Me with the Marlin 7mm-08 rifle

My target at 100 yards!

Jay with the Springfield XD 9mm pistol

Tonya with the Benelli 12 gauge shotgun

Jay has been staying busy by with his new knife-making hobby! Remember the picture I posted in the beginning when he made it? It’s come a long way! It looks really good and I think Jay did a really nice job. He even custom-made it a leather sheath, he sewed it and everything! Well, here it is finished!

Ta da! The knife is made from a nicholson file

A closer look at the blade

Monogrammed

The handle is made from walnut

A picture to scale

The knife with its custom leather sheath

Here’s an excerpt:

A San Francisco cable car holds 60 people. This blog was viewed about 1,000 times in 2011. If it were a cable car, it would take about 17 trips to carry that many people.

Click here to see the complete report.

Last Saturday, Jay and I went to the Christmas party for the Foundation. We met a host of interesting people, including the previous dean of the UT Vet school. We also met Mike Acuff, a master falconer and an employee at the foundation. He invited us to go hunting with him and his birds, and we met him outside Knoxville last Sunday to join him on the hunt.

He has three birds, a red-tailed hawk and two Harris’ hawks. We went to this field, thick with blackberries and brambles and thorns to hunt the red-tail. She made some fantastic attempts at catching rabbits, but the brambles were pretty thick and she wasn’t successful.

The red-tailed hawk hunting

Mike and his red-tailed hawk

This weekend, Jay and I made an attempt to go deer hunting. We went to some property that he hadn’t been to in a while, and we got there and found it locked off and now leased by a hunt club. Since we couldn’t hunt, we decided to shoot our new pistol, instead.

Me shooting the new pistol

Jay shooting the new pistol

This is a gun Jay has been wanting to get for a while now. It’s a Springfield XD subcompact 9mm. He did his research before we decided to get it. It’s a really nice gun and it’s fun to shoot, I like it a lot.

Jay has also been making some seriously good dinners lately! Here’s his latest:

Venison stew with vegetables and cous cous!

Jay has also begun a new hobby…knife making! Here is what he’s got so far, but he says he still has a  long way to go before it’s finished.

He made this knife from a file

Last Saturday we went to the Tennessee vs. Vanderbilt football game! I bought tickets for Jay’s birthday back in May and game day finally came! Our friends and fellow UT graduates Daniel & Allison and Brandon & Katie came on Friday to stay with us and go to the game. We all had separate seats but we still had a great time! And, we had great seats!

Neyland Stadium with its new upgrades

The Pride of the Southland Marching Band

The Salute to the Hill

Running through the "T"

The band during the halftime show

When I decided to buy football tickets for Jay, I was really kind of methodical about which tickets I got. I wanted to get him tickets to an SEC game, against an opponent we could possibly win against but would put up a good fight, and I didn’t want it to cost me an arm and a leg. And the Vanderbilt game fit perfectly; tickets were fairly cheap, we had great seats, and it was such an exciting game! We were on the edge of our seats for the whole game!

Jay and I at the game

It came down to overtime; Jay and I were hoarse from yelling so much, and Jay was so worried I was sure he was going to have a panic attack. But Tennessee barely edged out Vandy and squeaked by with a win!

Of course we were on cloud nine until this Saturday when Tennessee lost to Kentucky…who they had beaten for 26 years straight! Looks like no bowl games for us this year.

And, then it was Thanksgiving! We were super excited to have Mom come and spend a few days with us! It got off to a rough start with her flight being delayed for 4 hours (thanks Allegiant), but all in all it was a fantastic few days. Thursday morning was all about the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and the Dog show, and football in the afternoon. Thanksgiving dinner consisted of a 12lb all-natural turkey from Earthfare, mashed garlic potatoes, corn, gravy, stuffing, yeast rolls, wine and sweet tea, and homemade pumpkin pie cheesecake! It was all so good, Jay and I are still eating leftovers.

After dinner I took Mom on a drive around Wears Valley so she could see the mountains (her flight came in after dark Wednesday so she missed them). And Friday, we went to a few antique stores in Wears Valley and the craft fair in Gatlinburg. I wasn’t impressed with the craft fair, and Gatlinburg was pretty crowded. We drove though the park on the way home, but no bear sightings. The weather for her whole trip was really very good; it got to freezing overnight but reached the mid 60s during the day. Not bad!

Yesterday, Jay and I went and got our Christmas tree. We have it set up in the living room in front of the windows. I was originally nervous about putting it up, since this is Smokie’s first Christmas tree. I was positive he was going to climb right up to the top of it. But he had surprised me again; other than swatting at the low branches and rolling in the skirt around the base of the tree, he’s behaving himself! Of course there are no low ornaments for him to get to, but I’m shocked nonetheless. I say that now and the tree will probably be on the ground tomorrow.

Other interesting facts about Smokie…he’s the only cat I know who is not scared of a vacuum cleaner. Seriously, you turn it on and roll it towards him and he just looks at it. He hasn’t made any attempt to tear up the furniture; he sticks to his scratching post. And he doesn’t mind sharing.

Smokie and Raine

…Or, rather he doesn’t mind taking Raine’s bed for himself, whether she’s there or not. Jay and I have started calling him “Master Kitten,” because he pretty much owns the place.

I have been hired back on at UPS for the next month as a driver helper, and I’m hoping I’ll have another job lined up very shortly. I have an interview for a place in Pigeon Forge tomorrow and I have applications out at area labs and hospitals for jobs in a lab setting. Hopefully something will finally work out!

And the weather here is getting cold! Rain today and possibly up to 4 inches of snow tomorrow!

Mt LeConte with a light dusting of snow

Halloween came and went, and we had no trick-or-treaters! We didn’t expect to get any, but that was a little disappointing.

Our pumpkins

Jay and I went to buy more firewood not long ago, and I was surprised by how much we went through!

The first truck load

All stacked on the porch

I thought that much wood would last us a month or so, but we’ve already gone halfway through it!

And, this is how we found Raine the other evening…

She "stuffed" herself into the cat bed!

We have this little bed for the cat, and apparently Raine decided to take it over! It was pretty humorous to find her like that! So we brought her bed down from upstairs so she could share space with Smokie.

Everyone happy in their own beds!

Yesterday, Jay and I went on a hike in the park. He forgot to get a trail camera that had been put out to observe pig activity. The camera wasn’t put on a trail, we had to hike “off trail” to get to it, and it was close to a waterfall. This was a no-name waterfall on the Mannis branch of the Little River.

The first stage in retrieving this camera was to cross the Little River. Easier said than done!

The Little River

The base of the waterfall

The river is really cold this time of year, so we wore our duck hunting chest waders to get across.  The waders kept us dry and warm, but that was about it. Because they are so insulated to stay warm, they are incredibly heavy, especially the boots. And when we bought them, they didn’t make waders for women. Naturally, mine are too big and very bulky, making it harder to move in them. And, to top it all off, the boot bottoms are cleat-like, and the river bottom is all cobble, stone and rock. That makes a great equation for slick footing!

After several scares of nearly falling in (the river was moving fast), and Jay discovering his waders had a leak, we made it to the other side and slowly moved to the waterfall.

The waterfall

Me in front of the waterfall

Then we hiked to the top of the waterfall for more pictures…

The top of the waterfall

Looking down from the top of the waterfall

Side view

We hiked to an open spot in the woods where the trail camera was set, but there were no pictures of pigs. Just one of a coyote.

An old chimney

We hiked up farther along the Mannis branch above the waterfall and ran into some of the fisheries employees of the park. They were doing brook trout research.

Other than that, not much is going on!

Juvenile black rat snake

I left last Sunday and drove the 9 hours back to Tennessee. Everything is so different! When I left people were still rafting down the rivers; now there’s a coolness in the air and the leaves are stunning!

Smoky Mountains

Smoky mountains

We are settled into our new house! Jay did almost all the move himself while I was gone. We have just a few things left and moving will be complete. This house is much smaller, and that’s exactly what we were looking for. It’s very close to the park boundary, making it a shorter commute for Jay to get to work.

The new house

It doesn’t look like much from the outside, but it more than makes up for it on the inside. I haven’t taken pictures from the inside yet, but the all the cabinets in the kitchen are wood, there’s wood panaled walls in the living room, and the dining room has wood floors. And, most importantly, the fireplace is wonderful! It’s a large stone fireplace, and it really heats the house very nicely. Smokie loves the fireplace; he’ll stretch out in front of it and bask in the heat. Raine, not so much. I think the wood popping and hissing hurts her ears, she doesn’t like it very much.

Looking from the driveway to the road out to the valley

Surrounded by woods

This house is literally, in the mountains. And that’s really the one thing I don’t like about it. The house backs up to the mountain, and most of the time the house is in shade.

The back of the house, and the vertical slope directly behind it

If you look out the kitchen window, all you’ll see is a slope! But that’s alright, it makes for a new experience. There are houses close by but we’re really surrounded by woods. If you go up the slope, there are 3 houses directly above us. Two of them are rental cabins!

My patch of pumpkins and mums; even Raine is festive!

Yesterday, Jay and I went to “Oktoberfest” in Wears Valley, about 5 minutes from the house. Last year we didn’t get a chance to go, and I really wanted to check it out this year. It was a craft fair with all sorts of vendors, it was something that Mom, Grandma and Aunt Laura would have liked. It was right at the base of the mountains, and it was just a little crisp out. They had food, a live band, and even a clown walking around (who, strangely reminded me of the circus). There were probably about 75 vendors selling all sorts of things.

Oktoberfest craft fair

We stopped at one booth that had really nice wood furniture, and there was an odd looking wood that this carpenter used for a few pieces. It was light with black streaks. Jay and I were stumped as to the type of wood, and the carpenter told us it was poplar! He said it was unusual; it only got the black streaks if it grew in a cattle pasture or had barbed wire wrapped around it. We decided to buy the “jelly cabinet” out of this unique poplar, and he’s going to make us a coffee table and end table when he gets more.

Poplar "jelly cabinet"

Jay is hunting in Oak Ridge this weekend! Oak Ridge is a “draw hunt,” if you enter your name and get drawn, you can hunt on selected weekends. We worked the check station at Oak Ridge while we were at UT, and we saw some big deer! Jay can take either deer or turkey, and he has another chance to hunt in December.

The only draw back about Oak Ridge, is that this is where the US worked on the Manhattan Project. The atomic bombs used in Japan in the 1940s were developed in Oak Ridge, so the surrounding woods and wildlife can be radioactive. It’s safe for Jay to hunt, but anything he kills has to be tested to radioactivity. If it’s positive, then there’ll be no meat for us.

Smokie loves the fireplace

I left the apartment at 6am to start my morning surveys. I run these surveys in a rental car; before Hurricane Irene we had a brand new Ford Explorer. When the Hurricane came, we had to return it and when we started surveys again, they gave us a GMC Terrain. I thought the clearance on this SUV was low and we asked for a taller SUV, like a Jeep. Enterprise told us they’d find us one. They never did.

Anyways, I ran my survey like normal, this was survey 28 of 30. However, one of my points has been giving me grief all season. There is a gate I have to go through to get to point 32. This gate is supposed to have a combination lock, and it instead has two padlocks on it. Sometimes the gate is unlocked, sometimes it’s open, sometimes it’s closed and locked. I am supposed to have access, and many times this season I couldn’t get in. On days when it’s locked, I have to walk to the point, do the survey and walk back. This takes about 30 minutes, and I lose a lot of time if I have to walk to the point. Mostly, I can’t complete all of the surveys if I lose that much time.

Recently this gate has been used for a logging entrance (there are signs verifying that), and the gate has been open for weeks. Until Saturday. It was locked, and I had to walk. So today I wanted to make sure I got to that gate after 9am, so the forestry operation would have time to open it.

I got there a little after 9 and the gate was open! Brilliant! I drove through and….BAM! I hit something! Never saw it, but I heard it and felt it on the undercarriage of the car. I got to the point, got out and I noticed a very strong smell of gasoline. I looked and looked for a leak under the car and didn’t find one. I thought since it was a logging entrance and a lot of trucks were coming through, maybe I was smelling a logging truck.

I finished the survey and moved on to the next, and I noticed the gasoline smell didn’t go away. And now, the check engine light was one. And the needle on the fuel gauge was dropping rapidly. I had a gas leak!

I decided to stop surveying and get the car back to Enterprise. I thought I had enough gas to get there….and I was wrong. I didn’t get halfway off the site before all of the gas leaked out. Brilliant!

I called my boss in Vermont and she wasn’t worried at all, said these things happen; it’s part of field work. She told me to call Enterprise, get it towed and they’ll get me in another car. Perfect. Except, I didn’t really know where I was. I mean, I knew where I was, but I couldn’t direct someone to get to me. The roads are all dirt roads with no names, and there aren’t really any identifying features. The road next to the soybean field could be anywhere. Luckily, I was on a main road that the farmers use, and one stopped and told me I was on “Sandy Road” (Really? Why didn’t I think of that! Every road is sand/dirt/gravel! Of course it’s Sandy Road). He also gave me a towing company’s name who would know where I was.

So I called Enterprise at about 10. I told them what happened, and they told me they’d call back. At 10:30 I called again, and they said they were working on it. When I didn’t hear from them by 11:30, I called again. And they told me I could call a towing company! Um…why didn’t they tell me that an hour before?

The tow truck got there about 30 minutes later. The driver turned the key in the rental car 3/4 of the way to put it in neutral, and I saw the gas leak. Gas was spewing from underneath the driver’s seat! Great. The tow driver took the car and gave me a ride to the Chevy dealership, where Enterprise picked me up and took me back to their office.

I thought it was over. But, no. They didn’t have another rental car for me. Granted, I was being specific (SUV, truck or Jeep with high clearance and 4 wheel drive), but I called at 10 am and told them what I needed. It’s now 1:30. So my coworker picked me up, and I got back to the apartment at 2pm.

The problem was, I still had my afternoon survey to run, and my coworkers needed the rental car this evening for their bat surveys. I called my boss, and she said to find another rental company and get a 24 hour rental. Which didn’t work out, either. There isn’t another rental company in Elizabeth City. I called Enterprise twice more and they still had nothing.

My only option was using my own car. And I wasn’t thrilled with this option. Remember how many tires I went through in Arkansas? But, I know the roads and the ones I drive in the afternoon aren’t nearly as bad as the morning surveys. So I decided to take my car, and I had no problems (phew!). However, I refuse to use my car for the morning surveys, especially now that it’s supposed to rain for three days and all the roads get nasty.

So, I guess tomorrow I will be hounding Enterprise until they get us another vehicle. Oh, and I only have 2 surveys left. I’m leaving a week from today. This would happen right at the end of field season! Gotta love Murphey’s Law.

Also unluckily for me, the time is going by incredibly slowly and I’m anxious to be back in Tennessee. Jay has moved in to the new house in Sevierville , and I’m excited to get back and get everything settled. On days I’m not surveying, it’s really very boring. There is nothing to do here in Elizabeth City, and even if there was I probably wouldn’t do it since I’m trying to save money.

I’ve read about 7 books since I’ve been here, and I’m nearing the end of the biggest one I decided to tackle…Gone with the Wind. I don’t think I’ve ever seen the movie, and I’ve I found the book to be an easy read, albeit a long one. It’s been interesting reading a different take on the Civil War and reconstruction in Georgia, and I’ve enjoyed it. I’m more than 600 pages in and I’ve got about another 100 or so to go.

A cold front recently came through and drove all of the pesky mosquitoes out for a few days! But it’s been really cold! The fields I’m out in to survey are so large, the wind just whips across it. The other morning it was in the lowers 40s!

Endless soybean fields

Before the cold front came through, I had a pretty interesting few days on the site. Firstly, I’ve been seeing a lot of bears! I saw about 4 different bears last week! Also, I found a dead timber rattlesnake. Now, I hadn’t seen a venomous snake on the site at all until last week. I knew they were around and I was anxious to see one. I was really bummed that the first one I found had been run over and it’s rattle removed. I was even more bummed that I found it on an extremely rural road where I rarely see anyone.

A few hours later I was running my afternoon survey in one of the few forested regions that’s part of the site, I was thinking about how much it stunk that the first venomous snake I saw was a dead one, when….ta da! A beautiful timber rattlesnake was stretched in the road before me!

Timber rattlesnake #1

Timber rattlesnake #1

Naturally, I got out and took pictures. This snake looked great; about 4ft in length and nice and fat. He didn’t rattle, didn’t coil up; in fact, he didn’t move an inch. He sat perfectly still and let me take my pictures. And when I moved back to the car to take the coordinates, he quietly moved off to the woods. It was an awesome experience and I’m super excited I got such a close look!

The next day, I was equally surprised to see…another timber rattlesnake!

Timber rattlesnake #2

Timber rattlesnake #2

This snake was about 3.5 feet, but looked great as well! And just like the first rattler, this one didn’t move an inch while I took pictures. Two rattlesnakes in two days; not bad at all!

A few days later, I was conducting my afternoon survey and found another snake! This one was a little different. I was on the same road as I saw the first timber rattlesnake, and this snake was so small that I didn’t see it until it was right in front of me. I thought I ran it over! I jumped out and ran up to it, it was about 8 inches long and stretched out in the road and didn’t move. I thought for sure I killed it. I moved a little closer, and all of a sudden it coiled up, started to hiss and looked very menacing!

It was then that I realized I was looking at the non-venomous Eastern Hognose snake! This is one of the coolest snakes around!

Eastern Hognose!

The hognose is named for its upturned snout. It’s a small snake, feeds mostly on frogs and toads. And its a very unique snake. First, when threatened it can flatten it’s head (like in the picture) and make it’s self look very cobra like! If the threat remains, it will throw up its previous meals. And finally, if that doesn’t work, it will play dead! Literally, it rolls over, and sticks its tongue out of its mouth and emits an odor that will make you think it’s dead! And the best part, this snake rarely ever bites, even though it puts on a great show!

I was so excited to see it, I didn’t  know hognoses lived in NC. We had one at the Sanctuary that I’d use on occasion for my education programs, but I’ve never seen one in the wild.

I didn’t pester this one to the point where he wanted to play dead, but I did take a few pictures and after I backed off, he went on his way. My roommates and every other wildlife guru I’ve told about this snake have been extremely jealous, as I would be!

Needless to say, the snake and bear sightings recently have been a real treat!

But a new topic has been brought to my attention that I wanted to share, especially to my Florida family and friends. Jay’s brother, Curtis, recently told me of new legislation that’s been introduced to change a part of the state’s constitution, and this will be up to the voters.

Florida (or Rep. Scott Plakon, to be precise), wants to repeal “A section of the Florida Constitution that bans taxpayer money from funding religious institutions…” I strongly disagree with this bill being passed to change the constitution, and I wanted to bring it to your attention!

I’m not a big follower of politics, but this caught my eye. Why should Florida fund religious institutions? That sounds like it would be in direct conflict with the “separation of church and state” clause in the constitution. Plus, religious institutions already get a huge break from the state; they don’t pay taxes! Why should your tax dollars fund any organization that isn’t contributing to the overall well being of the state?

Can Florida really afford to start funding them? With the amount of debt that I’m hearing that Florida has, I kind of doubt it.  And, why exactly, do they need funding? If they’re really hurting for finances so much, why can’t their members front the money (some religious members Tithe, I imagine that brings in a lot).

So, I wanted to bring this up so when voting time comes around (on the 2012 ballot), my Florida family and friends will be educated on this new bill. Personally, I wouldn’t want my hard-earned tax dollars going towards this. If I was still a registered voter in Florida, I’d be voting NO! But, that’s just my opinion!

Here’s an article from the Orlando Sentinel relating to it…

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/features/education/os-blaine-amendment-religious-schools20110420,0,4262093.story

So again, sorry for the delay. It was hectic returning from the hurricane, catching up on surveys, re-installing the Anabat equipment, etc. The hurricane really didn’t leave much damage here. I saw some trees and a few power lines down on my drive in, but that was it. The apartment had electricity and I didn’t see anywhere in the area with structural damage.

Hurricane Irene, however, still had the last laugh. She left a lot of water in the irrigation ditches where there previously hadn’t been any. And after few days, I got a nasty surprise (I bet my Florida family can guess!). Drum roll please…MOSQUITOES!

Good grief, I’ve never EVER seen so many mosquitoes! They have been absolutely brutal! I got out of the car  one day, went to stand at my point, and had to run back! I was swarmed, it is unbelievable how many there are and how BIG they are! I kid you not, they are as big as birds! I had them biting through long sleeves! My theory is that all of these herbicides/pesticides/fertilizers the farmers are using on their crops in running off into the irrigation ditches and creating super-monstrous mosquitoes.

On a typical day, I’ll drive to a point and they swarm the outside of the car (I’m guessing because of the heat). And after a few minutes when they figure it out, they swarm me. They are in so many numbers that you can hear them buzzing in the fields around you. I’ve been using bug spray like sun screen and that doesn’t completely stop them. It’s an insect plague; first ticks and chiggers, and now mosquitoes. I don’t think it can get worse…at least I hope not!

The surveys overall are going well, I’ve completed 17 and have 13 to go. I’m on schedule to finish by mid-October. Already it’s cooled off, too. Fall is in the air! I was excited for the cold front to come through a few days ago and drive away the 90 degree heat. Then I got up and went to the site on the following day, and I decided that I preferred the 90 degree heat to 50 degrees, 20 mph winds and more mosquitoes.

Jay came to visit me last week, and that was much-needed! He accompanied me on my surveys, and I took a few days off so we could go visit his family in Virginia. We watched Tennessee football, played cornhole and had a great time. And on September 11th, we decided to be patriotic and shoot a few rifles with his cousin, Khoury. Jay bought me a rifle (that was a surprise!), so I was excited about shooting!

Shooting the new rifle

Jay shooting his rifle

The day before he left we went to the Outer Banks and spent the afternoon on the beach! It was a perfect day, mid-80s and not a cloud in the sky. But no sea glass this time.

Here are a few pictures from the site recently. The first is a pile of white feathers. I saw this while I was driving and assumed a waterbird had expired…but I was surprised to find it what was left of a barn owl!

The view from the car

Up close...barn owl feathers

This was unexpected! A common snapping turtle

Black rat snake

A close up

All stretched out! Notice the deer track?