Tennessee Last Week

Cousins,

A personal journal entry here...

Last week was one that will remain with me for some time.  I was able for the first time to stay in our little cabin in Tennessee for a whole week.  I had quite a few chores and tasks to do on the place, so I kept busy.  Being in the woods on our 27 acres was quiet...real quiet.

I had some insulating to finish, no big chore.  I started putting up strips of wood on the ceiling - like furring strips sort of, placed close together to make a rustic look.  I think they will be whitewashed when the ceiling is done.  The one end wall will probably be covered with cut stone from Crossville.  The corner where the woodstove will go for sure and if it looks good the whole end.  I bought mattress and box springs in Oneida, TN and they delivered it for free!  I had to meet the truck and let them follow me to the cabin.

I raked around the cabin, put down granules that get rid of ticks, fleas and chiggers and planted grass seed all around the cabin.  Hopefully I will have a bit of grass by summer.  I also planted clover in the ravine where the electric company right of way is to attract deer.  They travel through there a lot.  I saw over 50 last week.

I also saw two bobcats, one coyote, lots of squirrel, six turkeys, bunch of redtail hawks.  Late one night I heard a mountain "painter" - panther.  I didn't see it, but went to the door, shined my big light across the road and up the hillside to catch bright eyes on the hillside.  That might have been the panther.  If you have ever heard one you will remember.  It sounds like an old woman screaming... over and over.  The hair on my neck raised more than once when I first woke and laid there for a moment listening.

At night the stars were so very bright.  We forget how bright they are in the navy blue midnight .  I just stood and looked night after night.  the closest neighbor is half a mile away.  Few folks live on the road where our cabin is.  It is still a private road and dead ends, so there is very little traffic at all.

I enjoyed the escape from "real life".  It was only lonely in the evening when darkness crept in.  I don't have electric yet - (by summer's end) and the small lights in the cabin forced me to bed early.  Of course, I woke at daylight when the birds started singing and the sunlight lit up the cabin.  Maybe that is what we miss in "civilization"?

I didn't write much, just thought a lot.  I have a lot of pictures and will try to post them here for you to see, dear cousins.  My mind was made full and I'll start writing about the week soon.

Stephen