2019 Feb 8, Celebrating George Washington's Birthday and Picking Tulips in Montevallo, Alabama

I'm so glad Hubby and I did a little traveling today, because the next few days are calling for rain. 

It was cold when we left home this morning; however, the sun came out, and it reached the high 50s today.

But before we got home, it was back in the low 40s. 

We traveled to Montevallo to help celebrate George Washington's birthday, where we enjoyed one of the beautifully decorated cupcakes placed on a table before us. Before we left, we picked a basket of freshly grown tulips.

On our adventure, we stopped at Jack's in Athens for a drink and a cream cheese cherry pie.

We traveled on I-65 through Birmingham, taking exit 238 for US 31 toward Alabaster. We then turned left onto US 119 and County Hwy 11, reaching our destination at 3727 Hwy 119 in Montevallo.

Hubby parked the car, and we walked to the museum's front entrance and paid the admission fee. 

The cashier instructed us to head to the replica of Mount Vernon to celebrate George Washington's birthday, as the party was scheduled to begin at 11 A.M.

George Washington made his speech. 

George Washington stopped for a picture. 

Washington walked out onto the front porch and delivered a speech, and when he finished, the crowd sang "Happy Birthday" to President Washington.

Washington walked out into the crowd, stopping for pictures and shaking hands with people.

We walked into the president's Oval Office, where we saw pictures of several future presidents on display. 

We visited the Randall Museum, where we saw miniature dolls depicting many events that have occurred in the US over the last 200 years. 

The Randal Museum also displayed the Presidents and their wives in miniature.

We walked inside the National Chapel, which was just a few yards away from the Randal Museum. 

US Presidents and wives

The National Chapel 

The last building we toured was the Veterans Memorial building. 

Veterans Building

We took the trolley out to the Garden of Tulips, where we were greeted and given a basket to place our picked tulips. 

We were told the soil was soft, so we were to gently wiggle the tulip, and the bulb would release from the dirt. 

There were numerous types and colors to choose from. I picked several in full bloom and several just budding. 

We took the trolley back to the entrance, paid for our tulips, and began our travel home.  

Fields of Tulips

America Village Festival of the Tulips: You pick your own $1.50 each

Panda Express 

We stopped at Panda Express Decatur for dinner, where we ordered Honey Walnut shrimp, one egg roll, green beans, chicken, stir-fried wheat noodles with onions, celery, cabbage, and three cream cheese Rangoons 

🚗2018 July 31, Adventures trails that lead to Pulaski, Tennessee

Hubby and I rode north along the 101 highway and took Highway 64 east in Lexington. 

We turned left onto Alabama County Road 89, which took us into Tennessee. 

In Tennessee, we followed County Road 98, also called Rabbit Trail Road.

We turned left at Bonnertown Deli, Gas Station, and Lottery Store onto Appleton Road. 

Bonnertown Deli, Gas Station, and Lottery Store

We stopped at the Big Red Store (closed except for 4 days a year) to take pictures. 

This is where we saw a historic marker telling about the Confederate leader Forrest and his troops that camped along Sugar Creek in Giles County, preparing for a Federal attack. 

We continued on Appleton Road, which dead-ended at Sugar Creek. 

We took Blooming Grove Road, a narrow, two-lane, rough, snake road for several miles. Along the way, we passed the Appleton Church of Christ, as well as goats, turkeys, horses, cows, and a flock of vultures. 

Once again, we encountered Sugar Creek, where we saw a family with two little boys wearing life jackets and two girls swimming.

They scurried out of the creek as we proceeded to cross.

The cross-over was concreted with water flowing over the top. 

Nestled on top of a hill across Sugar Creek stood Mount Zion Cemetery and Church, with Sugar Creek flowing from two sides. 

We continued along Blooming Grover Road, where we saw fields of Corn, Black-eyed Susan, and a barn full of hay.

We saw a John Deere mailbox at 8125 waiting for the mail carrier. 

We stopped in front of a white wooden farmhouse that had a red tin roof. In the front yard was a row of pink Lilies in full bloom. 

After many turns and twists, we arrived at Minor Hill Highway. 

Narrow Roads

Farm House

The Yellow Deli, with its beautiful garden, caught my eye, so we decided to stop for lunch.  

I took pictures of the garden as we approached the entrance.

We were greeted by the owner, who informed us that the upstairs area was closed.

The owner said you are welcome to go upstairs and look around while you are waiting for your food. 

I ordered the Cranberry Cashew Salad with Mixed greens, cashews, craisins, Havarti cheese, peppers, and tomatoes, served with house dressing, and cranberry bread.

My Hubby ordered a Deli Rose Roast Beef Sandwich with Pepper Jack Cheese, Provolone Cheese, Onions, Tomatoes, Mayo, Mustard, and special sauce on an onion roll, served with chips and a pickle.

We finished the meal with Carrot Cake topped with Cream Cheese icing and nuts.

Cranberry Cashew Salad 

The Inside of the Deli was as beautiful as the outside. Murals dotted the walls, and Common Sense Soaps and Body Care lined the entranceway, leading to the hosted area, cashier, and bar. 

Plants were everywhere, including the window seals, and the windows were dressed in tied-back yellow and white check curtains.

Half-bushel baskets were used as light fixtures.

Wooden Tables, iron-backed chairs, and wooden booths were located throughout the lower and upper levels of the deli. 

The top level had an enclosed garden where you could enjoy dining outside. 

This beautiful building, constructed around 1900, is known as the HGH Gladish Heritage House. 

Inside The Yellow Deli 

Inside The Yellow Deli 

Outside the Yellow Deli 

We rode to the Trail of Tears Interpretive Center. The museum was closed

We walked around outside, looking at the markers, benches, statues, dog fountains, and beautiful plants. 

We stopped by Home Depot to pick up a few items.

We encountered a patch of rain while traveling home. 

The day's adventure included traveling on narrow, winding back roads, with one a dead end. 

Traveling across water-covered roadways along Sugar Creek, people are enjoying a swim. 

Enjoyed lunch at The Yellow Deli and Gardens and a stop at the Trail of Tears Interpretive Center. 

Sugar Creek 

The Groundhog mishap

We had planted our vegetable garden in the early spring of 2013, and it was growing and producing nicely.

I started noticing leaves and beans were missing, as if someone was picking them or something was eating them.
Early one morning, I saw a groundhog, and later that evening, I saw him again. Now I know where my vegetables were going, down the mouth of that groundhog.
Hubby and I both knew that groundhog had to go!

Hubby went to the gun shop near our home to buy a pellet gun in hopes of frightening or even killing the groundhog. 

After sitting and waiting every evening to kill the groundhog, he decided to borrow a cage.

Days went by, but no groundhog. 

It has been almost a month since we last captured the groundhog; he is too smart for us.

I decided to put some onions and carrots inside the cage.

The next morning (May 10, 2013, Friday), I peeked out the window to see if we had captured the groundhog. I couldn't see clearly because it was foggy due to the rain that had fallen the night before.

To my amazement, there was an animal inside the cage.

I called Hubby on my cell phone and said, "We have got him!" We've got what? The groundhog, I said.

Later that day, after the fog had cleared, I decided to go visit the animal. 

The first time I saw him, he was curled up in a ball, so I could not see his face.

Later that day, I went back to the cage. I wanted to take pictures of him,

I frightened him because he hissed at me. 

He had a long tail, a pointed nose, and fur.

I thought to myself, he doesn't look like a groundhog.

I emailed the picture to Hubby, and he said it wasn't a groundhog but an opossum. Hubby said opossums are not a danger to our garden.

That night, when he got home, he opened the cage door to let the opossum out.

The next day, the opossum was still sitting inside the cage with the door open.

That evening, when Hubby came home, he went to the cage to see why the opossum was still sitting inside the cage. 

The opossum's tail was caught in the latch of the door, and he could not get free.

Believe it or not, Hubby reached inside and untangled the opossum's tail. The opossum just sat there, for he did not realize he was free to leave the cage.

When he realized his tail was no longer caught, he scurried away. 

We never saw the opossum again.

We did see the groundhog now and again, for he had moved his burrow to the field behind our house. The field behind our house is covered in clover, which the groundhog feasts on every day. 

Not to say the groundhog did not occasionally visit our garden. 

Hubby never tried again to kill the groundhog.

On May 1, 2014, Hubby was looking out the window, and guess what he saw? Another Groundhog.

We just planted our garden, and he is scouting it out for future food!!!!!!!

The groundhog Hubby saw may have been the same one from last year or one of his offspring.

We attract groundhogs, as evidenced by the fact that the first year we planted a garden, in May 2005, we had a groundhog encounter.

2005 was the year that Hubby borrowed a shotgun and was going to shoot the groundhog. The groundhog was cute, but working in the garden is hard work. 

Hubby would sit by the window every afternoon, waiting for the groundhog to appear. Every time Hubby shot at the groundhog, he would miss. 

So after many tries to kill the groundhog, to no avail, Hubby was ready to give up. 

But to our dismay, on that day, as we were leaving the house, we saw the groundhog lying on the road. The irony of the story was that the groundhog was too fast for a shotgun but too slow for a fast-moving car.

Living in the Big Woods

My parents were still building the house we lived in when we moved in 1961.

The house had three bedrooms, each with a large bed, a cotton mattress, and metal springs. 

The large living room had a sofa, a television with rabbit ears, and, in the winter, a wood heater. 

In the kitchen were a large sink, a refrigerator, a stove, and a large bar for storage.

In the dining room was a large table that seated ten people. 

All the floors were wooden, no flooring of any kind; most of the walls had unfinished sheet rock. 

We had a set of steps leading to the basement, located between the kitchen and the hallway.

We had a very high wooden back porch with a railing and wooden steps. 

Our front porch was level with the ground, and we had a wooden swing that hung from the rafters.

Dad's car was always parked in the gravel drive.

Our house sat on the side of a hill; the front side was level with the ground, and the backside of the house was several feet above the ground. 

The house had a flat roof, and the outside was covered with black tar paper.

The house had no inside bathroom.

We had water pumped from our outside well to our kitchen sink. 

I remember watching the large machine dig deep into the ground until it found water, and then a well was placed above it.

My parents would put a large, tube-shaped bucket into the hole in the ground, which was attached with a long rope, to get water from the well. 

The tube of water would then be pulled back to the top of the well, where the water was emptied into a pail that could be carried inside. 

Bath time consisted of a large washtub, shared by all the children. 

I remember one time when I was taking a bath, I put my bride doll in the tub with me.

All my doll's hair fell out, and I was sad.

My bride doll was beautiful; she wore a long white wedding dress with a white veil.

We could make a lot of noise at nig, ht even though our bedroom was on the opposite side of the house from our parents... 

I love to make up stories to make my siblings laugh.

Sometimes we would get into trouble, because we made so much noise laughing.

We had two huge beds in our room where all the children slept, and every night it was a struggle to get the bed covers.

There was no need to put curtains on our windows because no one lived behind us, and our bedroom was very high off the ground.

On a clear night, the moonlight would shine into our bedroom. 

At night, it was hard for us kids to be quiet, because outside we could hear the owls hooting. 

Oh my gosh! At the frogs & crickets, there were many, many frogs that we heard croaking and thousands of crickets rubbing their legs.

Ever now and then, we would hear a mountain lion; it sounded like a woman screaming.

Actually, the noise relaxed us, and we would drift off into a deep slumber.

Our neighbors owned a sawmill with mounds of sawdust we loved to climb into. 

Almost everyone grew a garden, and we would buy fruit and vegetables from them. 

I remember one time my sister and I went to our neighbors' to buy a watermelon, and we paid twenty-five cents.

We could choose any watermelon we wanted. We chose a big one, but we had to carry it all the way home. 

We had to stop several times before we reached home. 

The sweet watermelon was worth the trouble, seeing the look on our siblings' faces as they ate every slice.

Another time, my sister and I had to walk to the store, which was about a two-mile round trip.

Our family was like the old woman in the shoe, she had so many children she did not know what to do. 

Our cabinets were bare, and Mom could not make the trip because she had too many children. She would look like a mother duck with all her ducklings following her. 

So my sister, who was a couple of years younger than me, and I made the trip. 

We took the gravel road, with its curves and up-and-down hills, to the country store for bologna and bread, which we charged to my dad's account. 

My grandfather had started building a house next to our house. The outside of the house was complete. The roof on his home was arched, not flat like our house. 

The inside was framed, and the rooms were divided by walls.

It had wood floors and a basement full of lumber.

My grandfather never finished the house, but we made it our playhouse and spent many hours there. 

Most kids have a small playhouse, but our playhouse was a real unfinished house.

I remember once my dad brought home a trunk from Helen Keller's home, filled with books.

I picked out two of the books: one was a blue book of Grimm's Fairy Tales, and the other was a book about a boy and his hoop.

The fairy tale book contained many different short stories, such as Rapunzel, The Frog Prince, Hansel and Gretel, Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Sleeping Beauty, Rumplestiltskin, Snow White, and Rose Red.

Lynn and Glenn Kimbrough were our playmates. 

One year, Lynn got a bicycle for Christmas; we never owned a bike. So when Lynn offered to let us ride her bicycle, we said yes. 

Both my sister and I climbed on the bicycle with Lynn. My sister was on the handlebars, Lynn was on the seat paddling, and I was on the back fender.

Away we went speeding down the gravel road. Lynn lost control of the bicycle, wrecked, and sent us sprawling onto the gravel road. 

Luckily, no one was severely hurt, only a few scraps on the knees and elbows.

In the spring, we would pick Polk Salad, take it into town, and sell it. 

How does my garden grow?

How does my garden grow?
It grows with
Flowers red, orange, green, yellow, purple

Green Apples waiting to ripen

Tomatoes they are great between bread

Pecan, Walnuts the squirrel's store for the winter

Blackberries great for jam, pies, and hotcakes.

Sun Parasol dark red original sunparabeni usppaf Mandevilla

Peach Hibiscus 

Green Apples 

Green Apples

Tamed Blackberries

Blooms in the fall Autumn Sedum

Heaven's Gate birds love this flower

Raised beds of Tomatoes

Raised beds of Hot banana peppers

Mistress Mary, Quite contrary,

How does your garden grow?
With Silver Bells, And Cockle Shells,
And so my garden grows

Pecan Tree (nuts are always full of worms but the squirrels still eat them)