May 2020 Update

Flowers in yard planted by former owners continue to be beautiful:  I spend a lot of time weeding and mulching to try to keep up with the extensive flower beds here.

Yellow Primrose and orange Asiatic Lilies

Blue Star Flowers

We are continuing with happy homeowner things:

Discovered bird's nest in rafters under screened-in porch, which is on stilts.  Lots of bird poop on patio below, which is next to the pool.  We had to deal with it before opening up pool soon, so waited until baby birds fledged, then had to take down nest and discourage them from coming back.

Added sharp spiky plastic bird guards to conduit they were perching on at night.

Finally got the large entertainment center we had built. It covers almost all of one wall in the den. It is really beautiful. Alan plans to get a huge TV in the center, so we can have movie parties whenever the Covid pandemic is over.

The last thing on the list of planned renovations is painting the interior.  That was supposed to start in March, but will probably start next week or soon thereafter.  We moved into this house on June 10 of last year, so it has taken almost a year to get through what we thought would be about six months. Of course, we never thought a pandemic would happen!

Since we can't take big trips in our trailer, we have decided to go to nearby places that we haven't been to before.  Our first trip was last week to David Crockett Birthplace State Park, on the Nolichucky River near Limestone, TN (about 30 miles away).  We had a nice site facing the river.  It rained most of the time we were there, but we still had fun.  Mostly, we hung out in the trailer with Shelby, read, and enjoyed the change of scenery. Alan's dad had given him a book of history driving tours of the area, so we did that a couple of days, which was fun.  This area has many interesting historic sites, so there is much to explore.  Alan's extensive knowledge of history made it even better.  As we drove, he told about many things the book didn't cover.  Example:  Crockett was against the removal of the Cherokee. As a member of the House of Representatives, he voted against the Indian Removal Act, causing great ire with his constituents, so he wasn't re-elected. He got so disgusted that he said, "You guys can go to hell; I'm going to Texas." Crockett was much more than a frontiersman.  Look here if you want an interesting quick look at some interesting facts about him. 10-things-you-may-not-know-about-davy-crockett

Shelby likes her "catwalk" around the dinette slide.

She snuggles in her nook under Alan's closet on a shelf next to the bed.

Fun lights that Charlotte gave to us years ago.

Nighttime view of trailer

Nolichucky River, which went from fairly placid to
a raging torrent while we were there because of all the rain.