Timpson Cove Tornado, Chapter 3 - Woody's House

Rootball of the massive double-trunk tree that destroyed Woody's house.
It's not that the house is far away from the rootball; the rootball is just huge, and so is the tree.

Timpson Cove Tornado, Chapter 2 - Bill's boathouse

Part of it in his yard, part floating between our boathouses,
and part of it on the other side of our boathouse (so it must have sailed over our boathouse).

Timpson Cove Tornado, Chapter 1 - Our Maple

We were lucky to avoid major damage. Our maple . . . not so much!

Rabun Roads boys clear a path down Timpson Cove Road, by our downed maple

Purple azaleas

Overhanging the lake, near hot tub

What is this flower?

Stalky bush with yellow flowers in April. If you know the name, leave it in a comment.

Water's edge

Hummer

Hummingbird at dusk, at our balcony feeder.

Need to learn how to force the flash, to bring out the color.

Native azalea

In a neighbor's garden.

Self-portrait of the captain

Spring at the Blue Fish

Spring bursting out at the Blue Fish Lodge:
cherry blossoms, dogwoods, azaleas and so much more

Propane

We use propane for cooking and for the gas fireplace. The tank is in the side yard between our house and Bill's, and has a percent-filled meter on it. If it gets below 10%, we need to get it filled. How?

Parking pad goes in

Jerry Kyle's crew built us a parking pad on the boathouse side of the road, using river rock. No more mud!

Grading and clearing out the roots

Dumping the rock

Spreading

Finished product

Georgia's garden and maple tree

Goldfinch

Yella Fella

Apt. for Wren-t

One bedroom, unfurnished, nice location. Cheep.

George has garden fever!

George plants the rail box overhanging the lake, at the hot tub.

Bats in the boathouse

Find bat guano on the floor, then look up. Five furry flying freaks!

Cherry blossoms

From our front porch, on Bill's cherry tree.

A short walk up the hill

Or so he said!

Rabun Bald, highest point in Rabun County:
Don, Carol, Robert & George; North Carolina mountains in the background.

Exiled from Ladies Weekend

Robert and Taylor go camping at Devils Fork State Park, on Lake Jocassee, in western South Carolina.

Kayakers on Lake Jocassee, SC. North Carolina mountains in the background.

Ladies of the Lake at Minnehaha Falls

Front: Carol, Ruthlyn, Georgia; rear: Beth, Daisy, Carol.

Anchorage flowers

Phlox, on the bank at the Anchorage

Pollen on the water

Wind blows the pollen westward against our dock

Spring gardening

How 'bout them overalls?

Another fish . . . not blue

On the boathouse wall, adjacent to the hot tub.

Spa Rules

Enjoy the hot tub, and . . .

Spa Garden

We have built a lattice wall and entry arbor, to make the spa area more private.

From the spa side, the new wall and gate. Boats coming and
going from the marina will not be able to see the spa area.

From the entry (marina) side, the spa area is shielded from view.

Georgia and Ginger

Georgia and Ginger

Ginger's indoor picnic; too windy outside!

Sideways rain

Weather Moose surfs the wind-borne rain wave blowing east over the boathouse.

Hot tub railing

This fence/railing provides some privacy for the hot tub, where it overlooks the lake. The rail is set at a height which does not block your view of the lake from the hot tub, but will obscure the hot tub from boaters on the lake, to some degree.

Birthday!

Birthday girl!

Game night; clockwise from seven o'clock: Andrew, Taylor, Ann, Hillary,
Sue, Georgia, Nancy, Laura, Jake, Bob and Robert (last two, legs only).

More candles needed! Clockwise from nine o'clock:
Nancy, Ann, Sue, Dave, Bob, George and Susan

Rowdy ('please keep scratching my head'), George and Dave.

Working on the fireplace

The cabin is too small for a masonry fireplace, or for any sort of wood-burning stove, not to mention the hauling and storage of firewood. So, we're installing a gas-burning (propane) fireplace. It will vent straight up through the attic and the roof, through a concentric stove-pipe that is combustion exhaust through the inner pipe (4"), and combustion air intake through the outer pipe (7").

Demolishing the wall-board and exposing the studs.

February sunset

Gas range

We started out with the existing (came with the house) electric range from the early Mesozoic era, which . . . worked. Worked like an electric stove, slow to heat up and slow to cool.

We replaced it this week with a Dacor 30" dual-fuel range (propane cooktop and electric oven). The picture also shows the lighted pot rack we built, and the magnetic knife bar, above the stove.

Hot Tub Time Machine

Fifteen feet below street level: don't even ask how we got it there!

We just put a 3-person hot tub on the lower deck of the boathouse. We're still getting it set up, including the electrical feed, but hope to be cooking soon!

Smiley sky

Waxing crescent, 13% illuminated; at sundown, February 6, 2011.

Spice drawer

 Took out the old drawer, took it apart, re-sized it for full-extension drawer slides, installed the slides, and put it back in. More involved than it sounds!

The dividers are pieces of corner trim (normally used to protect an outside corner of a sheet-rock wall), screwed down to the drawer bottom, and padded (for the larger size jars) with vinyl foam weatherstripping.

Still needs a little adjustment and some cosmetics on the drawer front.

Birthday Weekend

Here are the plans for the weekend, incorporating (I hope!) what each of you has volunteered (and/or been drafted) to do. You can either comment here, or email me, if you want to change any of this, or offer a suggestion or two.

Projects to do

Put up bird screening in boat house, to prevent nesting by barn swallows.

Sand and finish the steering console.

Get trim nails, tack up trim adjacent to new pot rack. Caulk and paint.

Cable, screw-in eyes, and lock-nuts, for suspension of right-front corner of pot rack. (Turnbuckle being mailed to cabin).

Trim for front edges of TV shelf.

Run outboard motor for a while, with hose for cooling water.

Get 15hp motor repaired (start rope).

Prepare for fire-place: cut out portion of wall, move elec. outlet, run cable for picture light, replace two-gang box with 3-gang (added switch for picture light). Need about 8 studs (8'), for framing; may be some in garage. Need nail-gun (both framing and trim guns), and compressor. Need spot light for rooster picture.

Access panel for hall side of fire-place/chimney box, to get to gas valve.

Install bimini top on pontoon boat.

Planters, bench for swim-steps area.

Black Rock Mountain State Park

Blue Ridge Overlook

Just a few miles from the cabin is Black Rock Mountain State Park. The park includes a campground, several cabins located near the top of the mountain, some nice hiking trails, and a small lake.

Winter boathouse

Lake level is down about 10' at this point. Mud looks better in the snow!

All you have to do is put it together!

Our new kitchen cart, assembled by yours truly

Snow on Tray Mountain

January 9, 2011