Storytellers

I stumbled upon a show on Netflix that I just find fascinating. Not a binge watcher, but one I find interesting if I have 20 or so minutes to kill. It is called the Appalachian Storyteller; you can check it out by clicking this link.   The channel has many interesting stories about individuals and families that lived in the Appalachian Mountains in the late 1800's when there was little law enforcement and oversight. 

There are so many people in life that I wish I could watch shows about their life stories; my grandparents, my parents or even random people I meet in life. There is a woman we met a couple of weeks ago who is (I was told), the single largest landowner in the county owning thousands of acres. In her 80's, she has an accent, and I wonder what her life story; what has she seen in life?  Hopefully these stories would be without the crime, and murder, but who knows?!?! 

As a matter of fact, I think we have a storyteller amongst our blog community. Granny Sue has talked about storytelling in the past and probably knows the Appalachian storyteller.

But on with our week. Wet and foggy are the adjectives for week. Basically, zero work done on the garage. As much as we want to make progress on it, a couple of down days with no guilt was kind of welcome. Instead, we spent the week inside cleaning and organizing. I spent several hours out in the shed trying to put that in order. Basically, moving stuff from one spot to another, but it does look more organized. 

But look what peaked out from under the hay bales while I was in there! 

Hard to see, but that there are two little bunnies! At least two of the four survived!

I swear it rained part of every day. This was our view most of the week with intermittent breaks of partly cloudy to be replaced by more fog and rain. 

Forrest and I did get out fishing for a few hours one day. We went down to Angostura to try and catch a few smallmouth. We had a great afternoon boating about 20 fish!

 

Although you see blue skies in one of those pictures, we were not able to avoid the rain entirely. In fact, if you pay very close attention to this video, you will see a bit of hail too. 

The highlight of the week occurred when Minnesota friends Tom and Shelly pulled in the driveway Thursday afternoon. I had not seen Tom in over a year and Shelly in several years. Tom and I worked together back in the 80's and have been good friends since then. One of those friendships that stand the test of time; we may only see each other every couple of years but every time it is like we saw each other yesterday. 

While the weather did not cooperate, we had a great time. The first night found us gathered around the island testing several very tasting bourbons and telling stories from some of our past adventures together. 

One such adventure that Tom reminded me of involved a deer hunting trip in northern Minnesota that ended with my truck on fire and us driving home with the windows open all the way home. Well, "smoldering" would be more accurate than "fire".  It all started with Tom and I driving up to the Little Falls area to hunt on a farm of a relative of a friend of mine. Tom and I donned our hunting gear, grabbed out bows and went out in pursuit of the wily whitetail. 

After an unsuccessful hunt I went back to the truck, arriving before Tom, to find the truck filled with toxic smoke. I can smell that smell like it was yesterday, I could not even breath as I turned the key on to open the windows and let is air out. Once the smoke cleared, it was obvious what had happened. There was a spotlight on the seat of the truck (a bench seat) and somehow it had gotten turned on as we were exiting the vehicle. Over the next several hours that spotlight burned a hole into the seat. Never catching on fire but melting a hole through the cloth and foam. I was able to replace the seat, but that stench forever permeated the entire interior.  

The next day we set out on a jeep ride of some of the forest service roads and a hike. Oh, and what a hike it was! Custer State Park has some of the most beautiful hiking in the country, pictures just do not do it justice, it is something you really have to experience for yourself to fully appreciate. 

We had an absolute blast over the two days, so much fun and laughter. They pulled out on Saturday morning and made their way east towards Minnesota. We have to do this more often! 

Saturday, we headed up to Spearfish to visiting our niece, Alana. It was a big week for them as they were moving into their new house! It was a big move, a total of 150 yards, one street over from their current place. Luckily, the moving had already been done, but I did get to help install a couple of TV's!

Our mission (besides seeing the house) was to pick up little Sophie for a 10-day sleepover.  What's life like with 5 dogs underfoot? Mostly mellow with intermittent periods of chaos and even some brief fighting, but here is what it looks like most of the time. One dog on each end of the couch and a few more scattered on the dog beds on the floor. 

What does this chaos sound like? Here is a sample of what happens anytime the vacuum cleaner comes out. The video is only 25 seconds, about 20 seconds longer than I can take. 

But when it comes to bedtime, they are all worn out and ready for bed. Ever slept with two snoring Frenchies? Me neither, I have spent the last two nights in the recliner!

On that note, it is time for me to get outside. The forecast shows rain-free skies 5 of the next 6 days, with luck we will have some progress to show you next week! But for now, I will leave you with something to sooth your nerves after that chaotic vacuum video. Here are two frequent visitors of our birdfeeders last week. Do they get much more beautiful than these two?!?!