2016 Nov 26, Christmas Adventue

A fun day with my sister-in-law.

Our first stop was the Athens Christmas tree trail, but they had only decorated one Christmas tree, too early for all the trees to be decorated.

My throat was dry, so we stopped at Chick-fil-A, where I bought a large Ice tea. 

Our next stop was the Tinsel Trail at Big Spring Park, where we saw a variety of differently decorated trees.

I'm not sure how many trees, but I took over 300 pictures. 

Grover from Sesame Street

The sun was bright, but it was cold in the Shade. 

Several times, we would come out of the shade into the sun just to warm up. 

We walked through Tinsel Trail twice to make sure we did not miss any trees. 

We watched the ducks and fish swimming in the canal.

On our travels, we rode past Huntsville Hospital and the nearby shops. 

From Governor's Drive, we took I-565, exiting onto Old Madison Pike and stopping at Bridge Street Centre.

I parked near Book-a-million, and we used their restrooms. 

In the restroom, I met a woman from Madison, and we began a conversation.

I told her about touring the Tinsel Trail and all the beautiful Christmas Trees. 

We talked for another 15 minutes after we left the restroom. 

My sister-in-law had never visited Bridge Street Town Centre.

We walked to the large man-made pond to see the Christmas displays and carousels. 

We stopped at the Piper & Leaf Artisan Tea booth to taste the four different samples: Cherry Christmas, Caramel Apple Pie, Mistle Grove, and Pumpkin Moonshine Tea. 

 Piper & Leaf Artisan Tea booth

At the Piper & Leaf Artisan Tea booth, I laughed and said did the Pumpkin have real moonshine in it?

The young man said you can add your own, then we both laughed. 

My favorite sample was the Caramel Apple Pie.

We stopped to see the Large Christmas tree near Monaco Theater.

In front of the Christmas tree was a young girl singing Christmas Carols, and children were running along the water's edge. 

We listened to a couple of songs and walked back to the car. 

Large Christmas tree near Monaco Theater.

We rode to  Historic Madison to drive past the Christmas Card Trail. Large handmade Cards are displayed in front of historic homes in Madison. 

We were too tired to walk the trail.  I snapped pictures of the Cards as I slowly drove past. 

On our travel home, we stopped at Chick-fil-A in Athens. I ordered a kid's two-piece chicken meal to-go. My sister-in-law had to wait for her food because they were preparing large trays of orders to go. 

We were headed west, going home with the sun shining in our eyes. 

The thermometer in my car read 56 degrees. 

Had a great day with my sister-in-law, the traffic was light. 

This was the Saturday after Thanksgiving, so I  guess everyone went shopping on Black Friday. Glad we did not go on an adventure yesterday. 

Tinsel Trail at Big Spring Park is located near the YMCA in Huntsville. 

Across the street is the rest of Big Spring Park, which is under Construction.

We heard Christmas music playing through loudspeakers overhead as we walked through Tinsel Trail. 

It was a gorgeous day, and I needed the long walk in the park after all the Thanksgiving food. 

It was a bit on the nippy side, but as the day progressed, it warmed up. But I still needed a light jacket, especially in the shade. 

I was home by 3:30PM.  November 26, 2016

2000, Dec 23 & 24, A Family Christmas

2000 December 23, & 24 Christmas 

Our family meets to enjoy a Christmas meal, and exchange presents at my son's home. 

Paper plates, paper cups, napkins, plastic spoons, and forks were placed at the end of the table, which was covered with a red tablecloth.

Everyone gathered around the table, blessings were said, and then everyone began filling their plates with food. 

The Christmas dinner placed before us included a turkey, slices of honey-baked ham, cream potatoes, turkey dressing, cranberry slices, baked beans, and hot rolls fresh out of the oven. 

Coconut and chocolate cake was our dessert. 

Poured over ice were sweet tea, mountain dews, and doctor peppers. 

Their gifts were wrapped in Santa or Reindeer wrapping paper in all shapes and sizes under the Christmas Tree.

Wrapping paper lay in disarray as the children excitedly tore open their presents.

When all the excitement died down, Hannah read a bedtime story.

Elf for Christmas Oct 1, 1999

When Tingle, one of Santa's best workshop elves, is accidentally wrapped up with a toy airplane and delivered to a real, live boy on Christmas morning, the situation seems hopeless. 

With Santa too far away to help, Tingle worries that he will be trapped in the humans' house forever. But when the courageous little elf comes up with a wonderful, magical plan for escape, readers will find it hard to resist peeking ahead to see what happens. Tingle's thrilling journey back to the North Pole--as well as his joyous homecoming--have all the trappings of a Christmas classic.

The captivating illustrations by Michael Garland (author-illustrator of the best-selling picture book The Mouse Before Christmas) burst with color and movement. Infused with extravagant detail, warmth, and imagination, An Elf for Christmas will linger in the minds of readers long after all the ribbon and wrapping paper have been put away.

The next morning, we were served fried bacon, scrambled eggs, homemade biscuits, and chocolate gravy. 

After breakfast, the children enjoyed different forms of entertainment.

Dakota watched movies, and Sierra, & Madison played indoor basketball.

Hannah played with her dolls in her doll-bordered bedroom.

After an enjoyable Christmas, I had a six-hour drive home, for I had to be at work Tuesday Morning. 

Merry Christmas to everyone and a Happy New Year to one and all

The Groundhog mishap

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

I started to notice leaves and beans missing, like 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 with no capture of the groundhog I guess he is just 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 could not see clearly because it was foggy because of the downpour of rain 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 guess I frightened him because he hissed at me. 

He had a long tail and a pointed nose and was covered with fur.

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

I emailed the picture to hubby, and he said that it was not 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 visit our garden now and then. 

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 I guess he is scouting it out for future food!!!!!!!

The groundhog hubby saw maybe the same one from last year or one of his offspring.

We seem to attract groundhogs because the first year that we planted a garden, we had a groundhog, which was May 2005.

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 the groundhog was too fast for a shotgun but too slow for a fast-moving car.

2017 Nov 14, Charlie Brown's ICE Opryland Hotel Nashville, Tennessee

Yesterday, we stopped at Olive Garden in Spring Hill for lunch. 

I ordered soup and salad.

After lunch, we stopped at Dollar Tree looking for iPad pens, they were out.

We left Spring Hill, traveling to Nashville.

We parked in front of Bass Pro Shops. We walked inside, stopping to look at the Christmas Displays. (Santa was not there).

You can be frightened by a Big Brown Bear at Bass Pro Shop. 

Some stores we saw inside Opry Mills Mall were the Rainforest Cafe, Aquarium Restaurant, build-a-bear, Lego Store, Game stop, Regal Theater, Zoofari Animal Rides, Kids Play Area, a Loco-Motive, and Santa waving as we walked by. 

You can enjoy a Zoofari animal ride.

You can ride the Kiddie Train. 

You can enjoy Whiskey Samples.

 Virtual Reality  

We stopped at the Disney Outlet Store.

I bought myself a pair of Mickey Mouse PJs (25 percent off) and a Mickey sweatshirt. 

A recently opened Madame Tussauds is located near the theater. 

You can enjoy music by George Strait

Had my picture taken standing next to the Elvis Presley billboard?

You can tour Madame Tussauds

  The Mall was not crowded like it would be next week and the days following until Christmas. 

We saw teens riding the Zoofari Animals (that you can rent)hubby commented I need one of those. 

You can ride the Carousel. 

We stopped at the Grand Ole Opry to take pictures of the guitars displayed.

We stopped to purchase tickets for Charlie Brown's Christmas ICE!! 

While waiting to go to see the ICE, I meet a teenage girl from Miami. She said, I am with my parents, and we are staying at Opryland Hotel, and we are leaving tomorrow. She had never been through the ICE. I told her it was very cold and she would love it very much. We said goodbye and Merry Christmas before we stopped to get our pictures made before entering the ICE. 

Once inside, we saw people taking pictures near the sculptures and sliding down the Ice Slides. 

You can enjoy sliding down the ICE!!

YOU can get Psychiatric help for five cents from Lucy!!!LOL

Find the True Meaning of Christmas (with Snoopy)
win money,
money, money!
Spectacular Supercolossal,
Neighborhood Christmas Lights
and Display Contest

Write a Letter to Santa
Dear Santa Claus,
How've you been?
Did you have a nice summer?
How is your wife?
I have been extra good this year
so I have a long list
of presents that I
want.
Please note the
size and color of each
item and send as many as possible.
If it seems too complicated
make it easy for yourself,
just send money.
How about tens and
twenties...

Sing Christmas Carols with Charlie Brown and Friends 

It was after 4PM when we started for home, and we ran into the evening work traffic. The sun was setting, and before we exited onto the Saturn Parkway, it was almost dark. We stopped at Burger King in Columbia to eat dinner. 

It had been a long day, and both were ready for a long winter's nap when we arrived home. 

🏛2017 Aug 1, James K. Polk 's Ancestral Home Columbia, Tennessee

Hubby and I enjoyed the free Chick-fil-A minis for breakfast, then had our swimming pool water checked and stopped in for our weekly B-12 Shots.

We rode to Columbia, Tennessee, to tour James K. Polk's Home & Museum. As many times as we had visited Columbia, we had never stopped to go inside the home, so we made a special trip just to tour the home.

The Living Room 

The dining room

Master Bedroom

The Stairs 

The Kitchen 

The Gardens

The Presidency 1845-1849 

James Knox Polk, our 11th president 

James K Polk for the Union
This house, constructed in 1816, is the only surviving Tennessee residence associated with the nation's eleventh president. James Knox Polk (1795-1849) lived here from 1818 to 1824. When Polk's mother died in 1852, the house passed to his younger brother, William H. Polk.

As Tennesseans considered secession during the 1860 presidential election, William Polk supported Stephen H. Douglas, the Northern Democrat, over John Breckinridge, the Southern Democratic candidate. In 1861, Polk became a staunch Unionist. He chaired the Tennessee Unionist Convention, which selected him as its gubernatorial nominee to oppose secessionist Isham G. Harris for Tennessee governor. The Confederate press lambasted Polk's candidacy, and a Nashville paper proclaimed that he could "no more fill the place of Governor than Falstaff could play Hamlet." Harris handily defeated Polk, 74,973 to 43,342 votes.

After Federal troops occupied Columbia in March 1862, they established the Provost Marshal headquarters at St. Peter's Episcopal Church next door to the Polk house. In September, Polk joined Union Gen. Thomas L. Crittenden's staff in Nashville. The Nashville Daily Union proclaimed on September 9, "Blessed with all the comforts and luxuries of a delightful home, he has voluntarily left them all to fight for that flag which he loved, 

2. James K. Polk House, which James K. Polk delighted to honor."

Polk became ill in Nashville and died there on December 16, 1862. His older brother's widow, Sarah K. Polk, arranged with Union General William S. Rosecrans to have his body transported to Columbia to be buried in Greenwood Cemetery.

It was a small group, a couple from up north with two children, a couple headed to Atlanta for a wedding, and us.
Our guide was very well-informed about the Polk family as he guided us through the home, including the stair climb to the three bedrooms.
The kitchen was outside in another building, and the gardens were self-guided.
We walked back inside the museum and gift shop before they left.
We continued talking to the couple that was headed to Atlanta.

It was getting close to lunchtime, so we stopped at Long John Silver (hubby's favorite) I love their cod.
We stopped at Tractor Supply in Lawrenceburg, then headed for home.

2017 Sept 4, Labor Day at Sweet Tater Festival Smith Lake Park Cullman, Alabama

After dropping our van off at Champion Chrysler Dodge in Athens (the air-conditioner not working) @ 7:30AM, we stopped at Cracker Barrel for breakfast. I ordered two pieces of bacon, one scrambled egg, two pieces of whole-wheat toast, and a bowl of fried apples. Hubby ordered the big breakfast meal.

Cockatoo Dancing 

Camel eating grass
At the Petting Zoo, we saw a camel, some sheep, a couple of pigs, a rabbit, a couple of llamas & some goats. 
I encourage a two-year-old boy to pet a white rabbit and a pig.

Alpaca waiting for food

Little boy petting the pig & Chicken

We attended the Sweet Tater Festival Cullman. 
They are famous for their Fried Sweet Tater Pies, so we bought one.
It was awful (somebody cannot cook tater pies). 
We walked through all the vendor booths, stopping to buy a leather key chain.
Many of the people at the park were riding in Golf Carts, and babies and small children were in strollers or wagons. 

Food Vendors 

Bonji Jumping 

Fire Department 

Stage with Bands 

Light Green Cadillac 

The little helper 

Green Truck and 1973 Ford Gran Torino   

Red Mustang 

The Classic Cars were located in the shaded area of the park. This is always my favorite part of the festival. 
We left after walking around the park for a couple hours.

In Athens, we stopped at Aldies for a few groceries.
At home, I cooked hamburgers with onions, adding taco sauce to make tacos.
Hubby tackled the grass after dinner.

2017 Aug 26, Saturday, Humming Bird Tagging, Jesse Owens Park Danville, Alabama and Oakville Indian Museum

For a bag of sugar each, my sister-in-law and I watched the catching and tagging of Hummingbirds.

A Tagged Hummingbird 

Tagging a Hummingbird
Hummingbirds are captured and fitted with a band that is numbered, then, if they are recaptured, their age can be determined.

When we left that morning, he had already tagged thirty Hummingbirds.

The tagging took place at the home of a Master Gardner, so we enjoyed a nice stroll through her many gardens. 

Our next stop was at the Farmers Marker in Killen Park. 
There, we sampled watermelons, chocolate cake, sausage, strawberry jelly, and Mini tomatoes. 
We registered to win a fifty-dollar gift certificate.

It was getting close to dinner, so we stopped at Killen Subway for lunch, where we both ordered 
a six-inch meatball sub-sandwich, chips, and coke.

Next, we rode to the Jesse Owens Museum, cabin, and park in Cullman. 

Jesse Owens Statue

• James Cleveland "Jesse" Owens was an American track and field athlete and four-time Olympic gold medalist in the 1936 Games. Owens specialized in the sprints and the long jump and was recognized in his lifetime as "perhaps the greatest and most famous athlete in track and field history."

Jesse Owens Stats

Jessee Owens Timeline

Our next stop was the Oakville Indian Mount Museum there, we saw thousands of Indian Arrowheads, clothing, hides, books, stuffed wolves, bears, & buffalo. 

Sequoyah 1776-1843
a mixed-blood Cherokee is the only known person in history to develop an alphabet or syllabary. Sequoyah's father was Nathaniel Gist. His mother, Wurich, was a sister to Cherokee Chief Doublehead, who controlled the Lawrence County area from 1790 to his death in 1806. As a young boy, Sequoyah, known as George Gist, moved with his mother to Wills Town in Dekalb County, Al. Sequoyah wrote the Cherokee Alphabet from 1809-1821. Sequoyah helped negotiate the 1816 Turkey Town Treaty, which gave up Cherokee claims to Lawrence County and moved to Arkansas in 1818. His need and curiosity for writing prompted a desire to help educate his people with a written Cherokee language. Sequoyah died in Mexico in 1843.

Pottery 

Cherokee Dress 

Sequoyah 1776-1843

Pipes, Tools, and Arrowheads 

 My sister-in-law and I had a busy day, watching the tagging of hummingbirds, a visit to the farmer's market, lunch at the subway, and a trip to Cullman to visit Jesse Owens Park and Oakville Indian Museum.