Poor Exhausted Old Girl

 

Dad here-  I don't know, there's just something I love about these photos.  It's like she lives for our laps, hopping up, turning around once, twice, occasionally a third time and just melting into them.  Have yourselves a wonderful weekend.

Hoo Boy, Talk About Random!

So here's a mishmash of a post:

 1.) Mom and dad, ever the wanderers, drove down to Looking Glass Falls in the Pisgah National Forest recently. 

Mom's been wanting to check the falls out for some time, and this particular Saturday found them wanting to do something outdoors. 

Not too far from the falls is Sliding Rock, a 60 foot, well, rock, which you can slide down on your butt, landing in an 8 foot deep pool.  

Sliding Rock

2.) During a recent routine appointment dad lost a crown on one of his chompers, and since the tooth was a lost cause decided to just have it pulled.  Mom, ever the mom, made sure dad didn't wither away to nothing while having to endure a day of liquid diet followed by a day of soft diet.  She cooked and pureed some delicious mashed red potatoes and peas & carrots, and soft-scrambled some eggs with sharp cheddar in them. 

In spite of his baby food jokes dad said this was delicious, and thanked mom for taking such good care of him.  Of course, on the third day he was miraculously cured enough to go out for breakfast, and even stop for a beer at Guidon Brewing Co. in Hendersonville on their way home from Looking Glass Falls.

3.) Take a gander at some more recent neighborly sightings: 

One of the neighborhood cubs was right at the end of our driveway. 

Sadly, dad recently found the dismembered remains of one of the cubs in the field next door.  We're not sure what- or who- did this.  Finally, dad was standing at the kitchen sink one morning and caught movement in the lot next door, and out from the brush came this handsome buck. 

The quality is horrible because the picture was taken through the window screen, but you can see the rack on this young guy pretty easily.

So there you have it.  My hodgepodge of a post.  Y'all have a great rest of your week.

Chin Scritches by Laptop Light

 

As you know, dad and I like to sit together most early mornings.  That's when dad gets his computer & blogging stuff done, and of course he needs my assistance most of the time. 

On this particular Sunday morning we were posting our comments on all y'all's blogs, dad tapping away and me, well, doing what I do best, and I managed to get in some tantalizing chin scritches. 

We apologize for the poor focus on this last one.

  Either dad had had his fill of his maple flavored liquid jolt or the motion of him giving me my scritches caused the fuzziness.  Here we are, almost a month past Christmas and as you can see their little Christmas shrub is still alive.  Dad's oldest daughter sent out a Christmas package that should ordinarily have arrived in time for Christmas morning, but didn't show up until a few days ago.  Luckily, the shrub is for year-round enjoyment, so they had a place to hang the grandkids' special handmade ornaments to display post-Christmas.

Bridge Architecture 101

 

Not funny.  Okay, will someone PLEASE help me keep him away from the computer?!  I swear, I'm gonna enlist mom's help for an "Idiot 101" post.  I know she has some interesting pictures of dad somewhere.  So it's hard to tell, but my butt was on the arm of the chair and my front paws were on dad's leg, leaving a gap beneath my (careful, dad) undercarriage.  I guess he's just easily amused and thinks he's funny.  Whatever.

More Exploring

 Here's another post dad's forcing me to narrate that has nothing to do with me:

Yep, the wandering dorks

So back around Thanksgiving when mom and dad had mom's friend from Pittsburgh visiting for the week they explored our area a little more in-depth.

  We've already shown you the photos from Frying Pan Lookout Tower, and dad's finally gotten his lazy, procrastinating butt around to posting pictures from their other adventures during the week. 

I won't get too specific with details since you can find plenty of information and cool photos online, (or see notation about dad's laziness above) but they went up to Marion to check out Linville Caverns for starters. 

Though smaller than some more well-known caverns, Linville was a very cool place to see, especially if you haven't ever explored such things. 

There is a 30-or-so-minute guided tour, and the group was kept to a strictly limited size due to COVID-19, and as with almost everywhere else these days face masks were required (yes, required, not recommended). 

The formations within the caverns were stunning, and the history provided was interesting and educational. 

If you ask me, the cavern looks a little more like scenes from that "Alien" movie than the stalactites and stalagmites I'd expect to see. 

Anyway, a portion of the caverns was closed off due to the tightness of space and confines of smaller areas as a precaution, but what they did get to see was amazing.  

They also went for a hike up Hawksbill Mountain Trail, situated on the eastern side of Linville Gorge. 

The 2 mile +/- hike wasn't too strenuous, but they did have to stop once or twice to catch their breath. 

The reward at the summit was some of the most beautiful views anywhere, including looking down into the gorge and seeing other ranges in all directions. 

Supposedly on a clear day you're able to see the Charlotte skyline as well. 

 They said the long, winding gravel road leading to the trailhead was a little, umm, intimidating, but they obviously made it back home so yeah, not much of an exciting element there.

So there you have it.  A big dark hole in the ground that humans can go traipsing through and some hills and rocks.  Wow.  Cool.  I can barely contain my excitement.

Dad Love/Tortie Twins?

So, is it possible that humans can be part Tortie, too?  If I'm not mistaken I'd say dad's furs kinda match my multi-hued coat.  If you look closely you can tell how annoyed I am with dad's show of, umm, love, I guess.  I tell you, the things I'm forced to tolerate day in and day out...