Where have we been???

The past couple of weeks has been busy. I am not going to complain about work on here but it has been rough. It always is this time of year. I want summer vacation as much as the kid do. I think we have got 4 weeks left. After a hard day at work I love to come home and work in the yard. We have been working just about everyday. As wet as it has been I think I have been mowing twice a week. We got our garden in the ground last week. I went and got a couple of truck loads of dirt from Martins here in Murfreesboro. We have a raised bed. I was going to put landscaping times around it until I remembered that those are pressure treated,so we just raised it without those. Hopefully I killed all the weeds around it. Anyways,we planted peppers,squash,,and cucumbers. I also planted tomatoes in the corner of the flower bed by the deck and some more plants in a container that I placed on the deck. This is our second year at trying a garden. Last years turned out OK so we doubled the size this year.
This morning we got up and went back to Martins and got a bunch of flowers and filled my truck up with mulch. Its a tough job emptying the truck full of mulch. We put mulch in all our plant beds. Our hands turned black. It took lots of scrubbing to get them clean. Megan put flowers in 4 hanging baskets and all sorts of pretty things in the bed that borders the deck. I think my favorite will be the sunflowers. It should look great when everyting is in full growth. I will have Megan post pictures then. I dont know what we have planned for the rest of the weekend. Its a good thing we got all that done because we will be camping the first three weeks of May. Everyone go out and enjoy this wonderful weather.

Big Water Ocoee

Last weekend we stayed at River Rats with Krista and Jay. They took a class Saturday so A few of went to the Ocoee. We heard it was running big. When we got there you could tell something was up. We drove up the hole river and decieded to get on at goforth creek. I have always heard about the ocoee at lots of flo but had never seen it much less paddled it. Our group did great we even had two 14 year old boys with us who one day will be great paddlers. Far better than their dads.

Sunday we drove aropund M'boro the best we could to look at the damage. You see that stuff on TV and movies but that was my first time seeing something like that live. It was very humbling. My prayers go out to all who lost.

Dogwood winter

I love the south. It seems like like there is a crazy name for every event. Muleday was this past weekend in Columbia TN. We went from 70degrees Sunday to 40 yesterday with a freeze last night. The weather lady called it Dogwood winter. I don't care what it is I want the 70 degrees back. It could be dogwood winter because we bought a dogwood to plant. We got it Sunday and now sits in the garage waiting for it not to be freezing. Have a great day.

Saturdays in spring.

Saturday Jim,Don and I paddled the LRC.(little river canyon). Its right outside of Fort Payne AL. Its mostly interstate from here so the drive is not that bad. Jim and I paddled this back in December at a low level. Then it was 750cfs, yesterday it was 2000cfs. And it was a totally different river. Normally it is a class3 river with two class 4s and several 2s. At 2000cfs it was very pushy and very solid 3+s everywhere. Every rapid had holes that were keepers(ASK Jim about those). The first class 4 is called eddy hop. It was not that hard. It required a big ferry across the river. We all ran it with no problems. Next is bottle neck. Not all that tricky but very fast water that requires two must moves. At the level we had yesterday it looked mean. As soon as I stood on the scouting rock my "gut" told me to walk it. I always listen to my gut when on the river. So I walked. Jim ran it. He did great until the last and biggest drop where he got off line by about a foot and went for the ride. The good thing there is a great recovery pool to collect the boater and gear. We found a sunny beach to eat a snack and hear about Dons trip on the Grand Canyon. A couple more hours of hole dodging we made it to the truck. We didn't take pictures today but Don did get video of Jim at bottle neck. When I get it I will post it.
I got home about 5:30. Megan and I grilled hamburger steaks. It was a great evening to top off a great day.

Life is better when camping! (Part 2)

We left for the 2nd part of our spring break Thursday morning. We went back to River Rats at the Ocoee. Only this time we didn't have to set our tents up under the Pavillion! Travis and Jason tried to run the river that day but it was low. They only made it to Double Suck before they got out.

Friday Jason and I took Tully on a trail in the woods at the whitewater center. Everyone else showed up throughout the day and night. Friday night was super cold. We woke up Saturday morning to a heavy frost. But as soon as the sun came out it was a nice day. Saturday was the first release of the Ocoee. The girls, the kids, and I went the put in to see everyone off.

Future Kayakers!

Then we hung out at the whitewater center for awhile. The boys had fun throwing rocks. After that we went back to camp for lunch and to let the boys nap.

Saturday night we lad a low country boil. It was wonderful. It had shrimp, corn, potatoes, onions, and hard boiled eggs. Charlie even made a peach cobbler for dessert.

Our spring break came to an end Sunday. It was so much fun. Good eats! Good company! And I am still the Yatzee champion!...

Here a few other great pictures from our tip.

Life is better when camping!

Jason and I had a great Spring Break. We spent just about the entire week camping. We started at River Rats at the Ocoee Friday night. There was a threat of heavy rain throughout the weekend so we set up camp under the pavilion.

Our New Tent! It has 2 Doors!

Lori, Anthony, and Cutler's tent with a hinge door!

Travis' Hammock

For the most part, the weather wasn't too bad. We had some rain on Saturday and a down-pour on Monday. We were able to have a fire every night though. It was cold at night, but warmed up most days.

Travis and Jason went to run the ledges of the Tellico on Saturday. Sunday was a beautiful day. We all went to the Tellico. Jason and Travis ran the ledges again. This was the day Travis swam after Baby Falls.

Jason going over Baby Falls

Travis going over Baby Falls

Sunday night we had fried bass, french fries, and hush puppies. It is o good! Lori now knows that this is a staple when she comes camping with us.

Monday we said good-bye to Lori, ANthony, and Cutler. We packed up camp and headed over to camp at the Tellico.

View from our campsite.

View of Bald River Falls

Tuesday Josh met up with Jason and Travis for his first Tellico run. The three of them ran the ledges of the Tellioco.

Josh's 1st Run down Baby Falls

Jason going down Baby Falls again!

Wednesday we packed up and headed home to feed the cats, do laundry, and re-pack for the second part of our spring break!

Sorry it took so long..

.for an update. Well, we got back from our spring break adventure Sunday afternoon. We had alot to do but just decided to wash some work clothes and that's all. I have got the best wife in the world. She is truly a treasure. She and I slept in our tent all but one night of spring break. I am so lucky that Megan likes to camp. I love her so much. So we spent the week doing laundry and cleaning camping gear.
I want to give props to my paddling budddy Travis C. without him along I would not have got to paddle as much as we did. He is an awesome paddler and great friend. Hopefully sometime this weekend Megan can post a full trip report with pictures. I will let her do that,shes much better at it than I am. She took some great pictures of me going over the falls.

Later...for now