Alapaca farm visit

 
 
 
September 11, 2010
I'm visiting friends in WV. Six women in the house for a week, with a couple of clean t-shirts, several bottles of wine, and art supplies of our choice. Yesterday, we visited a local alpaca ranch. They were a little shy about getting close to us, but warmed up after a while. The wool from an alpaca is wonderfully soft but running a ranch doesn't allow for much spinning time, so there was almost no wool for sale. We learned that the owner is soon opening a barn on the ranch that will sell the artwork of local wool fiber artists. Next visit!

The other pic is a night garden tour, for the fragrances, just a few steps from Julie's front door...

A WV Party!

We threw a Mahvelus Dirty Dancin' 50th Birthday party!


 

more turkey herding....

The brooder house is divided in the middle by a mesh fence. We move the front half of the house to the farthest grow-out house, and the back of the brooder house to the nearest grow-out house. Why move them? The feed and water system in the brooder house is designed for chicks, not grown birds. And, they literally fill up the house as they grow!



 














 



"Yep, that's your destination, girls" (these birds are all hens).






The crew makes the drive. It's an unusually cool day for August, with a little cloud cover and a slight breeze...








 

Donnie pushes them further inside their new house, while we prep the door to close it. The rain began about half through the last drive. We were movtivated to get them inside!
We'll move the back half of the two brooder houses later this week. Let's hope they move as readily as these girls did.

Herding Turkeys

 
7am, on a farm in Pender Country. Turkey herding day. The birds are younger than they usually are when we move them from the brooder house to the grow-out house, just 4.5 weeks old. They are in fine shape, and nice size. Mr. Morris gets a drink before we start....

 

















Three herders go inside, cut out a group of birds to move. We hope they haven't chosen too many for one drive. This is not an example of bigger is better. But, too small is a waste of time. Worth and Ronnie make a cut...

 













At least two herders stand outside, far back from the door, at the corner of house to keep the renegades from running away. They wouldn't think about running away (they very little brain power), they'd just wander off. When the first birds in the cut get to the door, there is a slight hesitation, then they appear to spill out of the house.
 

Mr. Robert and Boyd, urging them to their new home...

home, Sweet Home

Our last night on the road: Sesquicentennial State Park, just east of Columbia, SC. We have learned that the SC State parks are really nice: pretty, well-planned for people who want to be outside, and usually around interesting natural features. We've been hauling firewood for 7 weeks. Most of the private campgrounds we've stayed in have not allowed campfires, so tonight we'll burn the last 3 pieces of wood we brought from home. The moon is almost full, the sky is clear,and it's cold again. The last night we'll have to worry about our water source freezing!

There is another Big Winter Storm moving this way, and luckily, we arrive home in the late afternoon the day before it gets here. By spending the last night four hours from home, it lets us get home early enough to turn the water and heat on in the house, and get the Cottage unloaded in the day light. It's warm today!!

It's January 28, 2010, and we had a remarkable journey of over 5,000 miles. We saw things and experienced things that will stay with me forever. But for now, I'm glad to be home!

Lost Luggage

Sistah's: This the the ULTIMATE Thrift Shop! Wow! You'd love this place! There is a map for the place, it's so big! My idea is to cruise the perimeter, get a feel for the location/inventory/etc. Stuart says, "let's get a shopping cart now". So, we divide, and look. There really is everything that might be in a suitcase here: shoes, purses, jackets and coats and sweaters, blouses and shirts. I can't stop at the underwear and bra section: this is a little too close to the skin. There is an entire section with just sporting goods! I'd be really sad to lose the scuba BC I saw. And, there must be 200 feet of ski boots. And cameras and other electronic gadgets that I can't identify. Books, shawls, fur coats, skis, cd's and dvd's, and more.

After a while, I try on a few garments, and Stuart has found some clothes he can use. At the end, we have spent $35, and walk out with a bag full of clothes! I got a wool jacket, a light-weight wool sweater, a cotton sweater and a cotton blouse. Stuart found a fleece jacket, a denim jacket. If we needed a suitcase, this is the place: a large rolling case is about $15.

It's terribly cold today. When we finished shopping, we had lunch in our Cottage, finishing up a wild variety of leftovers. The kind of meal I love! Time to head east, requiring us to cross some mountains. We are going to attack this next phase of the trip in 2 hour-ahead segments. So, we find ourselves on US 35, crossing the mountain, and stopping to regroup. Rome, GA, and then on to Cartersville for the night.

It's very wet, there has been a huge amount of rain in the past few days. We pass what appears to be a lake that's not marked on the map, to figure out that the river has over-flowed it's banks, pushing the cows to high ground making even slight ridges important. We pass a scene that gives me cold chills: six or more vehicles parked on a slight ridge, in the middle of the day. These folks are flooded out of their houses. The sight makes me want to stop and find a boat to row across, to see if I can help in some way. It's cold, the water is high, and it takes a long time to recede. We drive on. A change of time this afternoon, crossing back into Georgia, we lost an hour.

Tonight, we're at the Allatoona Lake Campground, a Corps of Engineers project. Our campsight was flooded earlier today, someone has dug a trench to release the water. The lake, by stark contrast, is more than 5 feet lower than what appears to be normal. Maybe this is the winter level...

Again, we fill the hold tank, and bring inside the water hose. It's going to be in the low 20's tonight. Julie sent me a note, saying that the torrential rain has flooded the river trail, melting the snow with the temps in the 60's, and now, it's snowing!! What a long, strange winter this has been.

The Trace day 2, and beyond

Monday, after we checked out of the campground, we stopped at the Visitor Center, lucky for us, right here in Tupelo. We told the Ranger about the puppies, and she said it happens frequently. One of the Park Rangers is in charge of dumped dogs. Then, we learned more about the people and animals who once created and used The Trace. The Fed made it an official Post Road in 1830. That made the mail from DC to New Orleans arrive in less than the previous norm of four months. The Trace only handled foot and horse traffic, it wasn’t wide enough for wagons. The invention of the steam engine changed the need for The Trace. A steam ship was much nicer transportation than horseback,and faster. Soon, The Trace was all but abandoned.

By late morning, we exited The Trace, just north of the Tombigbee River Canal (that’s another story!) , and headed almost due east across the top of Alabama. In Florence, we missed seeing the coon dog cemetery, with heart-breaking epitaphs on the tombstones. Florence is the birthplace of Helen Keller, which we also missed seeing. We’re on US 72, Industrial Alley, so there are lots of log trucks hauling to International Paper, and other trucks hauling who knows what.

Tonight, we at the Monte Sano State Park, on the bluff above Huntsville, AL. I’ve spent some time in this city when I worked for Pfaff, and never knew this bluff was here. We have a view of the lights of the city through the naked trees. Nice park, danged cold tonight. We’re not going to the hardware store here, which is one of the best hardware stores anywhere!

Our destination tomorrow is Scottsboro, home of the Lost Luggage Depot. That suitcase that was lost on a trip, and never found? The chances are good that it ended up here. The AAA Tour Book says that almost anything that will fit in a suitcase or get shipped by plane might be in this city-block-big place. A flea market of sorts! We’re not looking for anything specific, but my curiosity required this stop.