Winter sunset behind Tray Mountain

2016 draws to a close

Next-to-last night of the year, spent at Fortify Restaurant in Clayton, with Andrew & Hillary.

Forest fire smoke

Smoke settles in over Lake Burton, mostly from the forest fire up the Tallulah River Road, about ten miles away.

Stuff flows uphill!

We have installed a major upgrade to our septic system, in which a pump in the old septic tank diverts the effluent from flowing into the old drain field (across the street), and sends it uphill instead. At the top of the property, we have a new septic tank and new drain field. So all our old worries about overloading the original septic system are now ancient history. Flush at will!

New tank buried up the hill.

Bobby Welch and his boys did this difficult work. Good job!

Work included adding a concrete bottom to the old tank next to the house;
previously, it had only walls and a top. The septic pump required a concrete base.

Another street name

Off Polly Gap Road, on the lower slopes of Screamer Mountain, east of downtown Clayton.

Fish platter

Turned from a spalted piece of maple that almost got tossed in the burn pile. Looks a bit like a round fish heading to the right. This was donated to the 2016 Habitat Hoedown fundraiser in Clayton.

North to Alaska

Portage Glacier, near the head of Turnagain Arm

To celebrate our fortieth anniversary (coming this November), we joined a dozen friends, from Lake County, Florida, and from Atlanta, for a two-week adventure safari through Alaska.

Hos-pickle

A tasty treat from the Anchorage store . . .

Charlie and the rainbow-colored hospickle!

Doing dishes is so much fun!

Charlie and Claire giving Gigi a hand with the dirty dishes.

Mr. T's railroad corner

Seaboard, Southern, Union Pacific and Great Northern. All aboard!

Learning turning

Got a Jet JWL-1236 lathe off Craigslist in January, and have been learning turning the old-fashioned, trial-and-error way. Plus, making an unbelievable mess of my half of the garage!

Box elder

Basket-weave vessel; plywood and pine.

Dogwood stump (referring to the bowl).

Same bowl as above, after some finishing work.

Segmented, lidded box, of leopard wood,
ambrosia maple, and padauk.

More photos below the break . . . click on Read more link, below.

They're baaaaaack!

No extra charge for political messaging, along with your septic pump-out! Welcome to Rabun County!

And related, from nearby on Bridge Creek Road . . .

Workshop of Beaver Carpenter, woodmaster, furniture craftsman.

Land of milk and honey

Along Bridge Creek Road, Tiger

(Those are bee-hives along the back fence line. And, no, these aren't dairy cattle, but cut me some slack!)

Not referring to a nostril

Near Osage Tree Farms, Scaly Mountain, NC

Paddy O'Possum -- Rest in Peace

Leaves changing

Crescent moon sunset

Red barn

On Persimmon Creek Road, at Mellie Keener Road. The stream is Little Persimmon Creek.

Catch and release

We heard about Natalie Sharp's guide service through Rabun Trout Unlimited's newsletter, and decided to check it out. Originally we were scheduled for early May, but were rained out, and reset for October. It was a birthday present for George (February), and also for Buck and Debbie (May), but finally happened late enough to include me, too (September). Happy birthday, one and all.

Nice one!

Took a long time to land this rainbow!

Buck had the first fish of the day.

This was a private stretch of the Toccoa River, just north of Suches on Gaddistown Road. Our other guide, Bobby, is the land-owner, and he stocked the rainbows about ten years ago; they've been reproducing ever since. We even caught a few fingerlings, along with some big ones.

Misty morning

Six and a half inches of rain yesterday, and then a misty start to today.

St. George dawn

Stormy morning

St. George Island, Franklin County, Florida

Where we are this week.

Memorial Day weekend

Gigi and Charlie

I love the Blue Fish Lodge!

Scrub-a-dub

First mate

Cheers!

Minnehaha Falls

Saturday morning excursion to Minnehaha Falls on the south side of Lake Rabun.

Charlie and Papa at Minnehaha Falls

Dicks Creek Falls

 We hiked in from Sandy Ford Road (off Warwoman Road), following Dicks Creek down to the Chattooga River. The last part of the creek forms a waterfall, where the creek joins the river.

Dicks Creek Falls, at the Chattooga River

Bob and Nancy

Chattooga River shoals, water-carved rocks

Taylor and his mom

The Old Man and the C

Charlie (Mr. "C") takes the helm under the old man's watchful eyes.

Being the captain just wears me out, Dad!

Watching the boat parade from the sun deck. Check out Charlie's
fancy new blue plastic Adirondack chair.

High water

After four and a half inches of rain over the weekend, Lake Burton is several inches over full pool, which must mean water is pouring over the top of the dam. Our boathouse decks are above water, but some of our neighbors are not.

Doc and Beverly's swim dock, in the water; note reflection of the back rail

Doc and Beverly's boathouse

Water is within inches of our boathouse deck

Swim ladder platform is under water; swim deck a few inches above

Snakely

This Southern Water Snake lives in the sea-wall stones between the spa deck and the Bill-Garden (our new share-cropping vegetable garden on Bill's lakefront). He's harmless, unless you startle easily and twist an ankle in this rocky area. He comes up to sun, but disappears down his hole if he sees you. About 3 feet or so, and well fed.

Tallulah River above Lake Burton

We explored the Tallulah River, looking at a stretch from the first bridge above where the Coleman River joins it, down to the lake. This is a possible paddle trip for the future. Looks challenging. Also, the Tallulah is a great fishing river.

Upstream from the put-in point (bridge),
the river is Class 5 stuff  like this waterfall.

Water-carved rocks

Macro close-up of a patch of moss, a miniature forest