My Addiction

 

Blairsville, GA (high 82, low 60)

 

I’m sitting here in my recliner with my furry robe on and a blanket on my legs.  It was a nice 60 degrees overnight.  We are loving this cool weather.  Soon, we will need the heat, I’m sure.

Yesterday was a lazy day.  Al is zapped from the poison ivy and the Benadryl he has to take.  He has a big patch of oozing poison ivy on his leg and a few other smaller patches in different spots on his body.  Poor guy.  He’s so sensitive to the stuff and no matter what he does, he seems to get a bad case several times a year.

We did manage a trip to the all you can eat buffet and we wandered around a few shops in town.  We came home and had a nap.

The campground had an ice cream social yesterday and bingo last night. We skipped the ice cream (might have something to do with the fact that we’d been at the all you can eat buffet) but we made it to bingo.  I won a $25 gift certificate at a new seafood restaurant in town.  Al usually wins at bingo, but last night it was my turn.

 

Our previous renters left yesterday.  I had been a little worried their big rig would fit on our site, and still have room for the 4 slides and awning.  It turned out that they fit just fine, don’t you think?

 

We have some new people coming today with a big toyhauler.   Sure hope they fit.  :)

 

I finished my 2nd Appalachian Trail thru-hiker book. I seem to be addicted to these stories. Each one I’ve read is so different and with a totally new perspective.  I really enjoyed  “Hiking Through” by Paul Stutzman and was sad when I finished.  I  would recommend it to anyone who is interested in reading about thru-hiking.  It’s amazing what they go through to do this very difficult hike of roughly 2180 miles that takes months to do. They encounter rain, cold, snow, heat, blisters, near starvation, loneliness, extremely strenuous climbs and still they go on.  I love to read these books, but I have no desire to hike that trail. It’s too tough for me. It seems a common thread is that they have lost a loved one and go to heal.   Sherry told me about a new book about a guy who hiked it with his 8 year old son.  I’m not sure how I think about that.  It seems to me it might be child abuse. I didn’t like the couple Sherry posted about on her blog that had the puppy with them.  Dog abuse!

The library is closed today and I wanted another AT thru-hiking book to read so I bought a Kindle version from Amazon.  It was only $4.99 so I splurged.  I think I am addicted to thru-hiker stories!  Isn’t it nice how you can search Amazon and have the book in seconds?  I don’t buy many books, but once in a while we do.

• Rethinking Life on the Appalachian Trail: The 2008 Thru-hike of "Rethinker"   I read the trailer and it seems like it’s going to be a good book.  I’ll let you know.

 

We were out on a golf cart ride the other night, doing our usual bear search.  No bear so far, but we do see quite a few deer.

It was getting pretty close to dark when we saw this group of about 4 deer.  The picture was  blurry because it was dusk, but I thought this was a great shot anyway.  They were getting a little frisky.

The following are other photos taken from different golf cart rides.

This is Pete and Jean.  Pete is our electrician friend who so kindly helped replace the 50 amp breaker on our rental site.   Their golf cart is a Cricket.  They can be folded up and I’ve seen them fit in the back of a Honda Crv.  He kept up with the rest of us.

We found a cute wall decoration for the cabin. Isn’t this cute?

 

We bought two, the larger one and a baby.  They look pretty cute in the cabin.

 

Years ago, we bought a pair of loppers.  We weren’t sure when or where we bought them, but they took a beating when we owned our 11 acres in south Georgia.  This year, we finally broke them when cutting a large branch.  We figured we’d need to buy another pair, but when we looked at the new ones, Al noticed the tag said they had a lifetime guarantee.  Yay!

They are Fiskars brand.  I went online, filled out a warranty form, sent them a picture of the damaged loppers and a few days later, we had a brand new pair of loppers identical to the old ones (but for the broken handle). 

So, the moral of the story is, if you have any Fiskars products, don’t throw them away if they break!  Great company.  Thanks Fiskars!

Al’s Nemesis is Back

 

Blairsville, GA (high 78, low 65)

 

A few days after we got here, there was a lost beagle running around the park.  Several people were caring for him and looking for his owner.  His owner was finally found and he returned home, some 12 miles away.  I wasn’t so sure they deserved to have him back, since he was not neutered, but it wasn’t my decision.   Before he left, he visited Al in the golf cart and left him a nice present of poison ivy.   We have discovered that dogs seem to carry poison ivy from running through it in the edge of the woods or rubbing against other dogs who do. They have enough oil on them to share with Al.  Al is very, very sensitive to it.

So……  Al got his first batch of PI of the season.  He did all the usual things and thought he was getting better, when he started getting a rash all over his body, which kind of came and went from one area to the other.  

It took us a few days to realize that this newest rash was from his recently acquired allergy to regular laundry detergent.  We had changed to the hypo allergenic laundry detergents, but when we got here, I was so happy to have my big washer and dryer back, that I went to the store and got some of the Tide pods that I had used and liked last year (before we realized that was the problem).   I felt so bad that I had caused poor Al to suffer even more.    I have since washed everything again with a hypo allergenic detergent and he is slowly getting better.  He’s had to take Benadryl, which makes him extremely sleepy.  He had a few days of mostly sleeping, but yesterday we did get out and go up to one of our favorite spots.

 

Here are some pictures from Brasstown Bald mountain, which is the highest peak in Georgia at 4784 feet.  

It was nice and cool mid afternoon.

The dying vegetation in the forests below cause a haze.  Some days it’s hazier than others and yesterday was one of those hazy days.  We always like it up there and have even gone up on rainy cloudy days.   Sometimes you can even see Atlanta which is 90 miles away.

It’s always pretty.

 

 

Here is a picture I borrowed from the internet.  I thought it was spectacular.

Today is farmers market today, so if we can get motivated, we’ll be going into town for some nice fresh produce.