Visit home to Michigan

We went home for a visit and Tiffany's class reunion. We had a great time and had an opportunity to see family and friends. The animals all had a chance to meet each other too! Tiff and I snuck out to visit the cider mill and on Sunday we went and visited Gramie's grave site. I was nice to "reconnect" with Michigan, too much time has passed since we were last there.

Hanging out at home

Just a night hanging out before we headed out to Michigan for Tiffany's 10 year class reunion. The first photos are were Royal likes to climb. The photo of Olive's belly is what we call "pigbelly," her stomach gets bloated when she eats and drinks too much. Just like her daddy!

Fuel Shortages in WNC

The article below is a good summary of what is happening right now in Henderson County and surrounding areas. Two friends and I drove around yesterday evening looking for fuel. Jeremiah actually can't go to his classes because he has run out of fuel, he can't leave town! We found two stations with some fuel, but the lines are crazy and the police stay to monitor, the situation is very very eerie.Folks are getting in fist fights and lines are stretching out down the road.

I have been walking to work and we stay home during the evenings now. We are heading to Michigan this weekend and we are bringing a five gallon jerry can full of gas that I have been saving. I am surprised that there hasn't been more media coverage on the situation. The paranoia is spreading and the gas "scare" is starting to snowball.

Fuel to remain scarce in western NC another week - Business Week Article

ASHEVILLE, N.C.

Officials in the Asheville area say they don't expect fuel to begin flowing normally again for at least another week and are urging drivers to conserve gasoline.

Buncombe County said Tuesday there is enough gas in the area to keep police cars and fire trucks fueled, and officials promised the shortage won't affect 911 service.

But all non-emergency county staff have been asked to work an alternate schedule or from home. And officials say area residents should consolidate their trips to conserve fuel and consider avoiding trips that aren't necessary.

Hurricane Ike closed oil refineries along the Gulf Coast. Analysts expect the gasoline shortages across the Southeast should disappear in the next week, once the refineries resume normal production levels.

Royal

This weekend we went to Brewgrass in Asheville, which was an awesome time. All the craft beer you can drink with a bluegrass soundtrack. We also stopped into a this custom stained glass shop where we have been talking with this guy Steve for almost a year about his cats.

He has pixie-bobs and breeds them every once in awhile. He is a super nice guy and we decided to stop in again to say "hi."

As we were walking in, we basically passed a girl who was bringing her male pixie-bob back in. She became severely allergic and couldn't keep him any longer. She had him a total of a week. Well, you can guess what happened.

After Brewgrass we meet him back at his shop and took him home. We are going to get him into the vet this week to get him checked out also.

After the loss of Harlow, we didn't know what to expect with a new kitty, but he is amazing. He acts completely different that poor Harlow. He is constantly playing, runs, jumps, spins, leaps, etc.

He has little white patches on his elbows that look just like elbow pads on a tweed sport coat. So we named him Royal after Royal Tenembaum.

Cedar Rock

We took Ms Olive for her first hike on Sunday up to Cedar Rock in DuPont State Forest. She did really well and only laid down twice to rest. We took her off the leash a few times to get her used to staying close by.

The trail is pretty easy and the views are great. The mountain that we are facing in the picture is Pinnacle Mountain, the backside of the mountain that Tiffany just finished building a house on. You might be able to see power line trails off to the right which we have taken the Land Rover through before. We brought some subway and just hung out for awhile.

Jeremiah put his old Land Rover Series III starter in his backpack, which weighs 45 lbs, he is training for his forestry certification and has to complete some physical testing. Today was a training day for him.

If you are into mountain biking, this trail is perfect and sort of a "secret fishin hole" for some folks. We only saw one group of three mountain bikers the whole time. This is also where we shot the new hospital ads.

Ms Olive keeps getting taller

Olive keeps getting taller. I think her baby teeth will start to come out soon.

A Birthday Dance for Nick!

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Happy Birthday Nick!

I felt a birthday card rebuttal was in order. So here is a dirty south-pop-a-lockin break dancin show for your birthday. From ALL of us.

Cheers!

Update House

It has been awhile since I posted anything on the house. We are all moved in, cleaned up, and still have more projects. Below, I posted a few pictures I took yesterday so you can see the progress so far.

Miss Olive is grooowWING

She added a pound in one week, some puppy teeth are getting loose and her legs are growing SO long. Awww, they grow up so fast!

10-4 Good Buddy

Mom and Dad got me a CB for my birthday and I installed a little custom set-up on the Rover. It is a hand-held unit, which allows me the flexibility to have it in the Land Rover and to take it with me backpacking.

The weather band is extremely useful to monitor changing weather conditions when we are out in the mountains out of range of Tiff's blackberry or when we are traveling. The CB is the most common form of communication on the trails also. The caravans can relay trail information, water crossing depths, and other important info.

I mounted the antenna to spare tire carrier which places it out of harms way. With the antenna protected behind the truck, branches break the antenna or tear it off the top or front of the vehicle. The coaxial cable runs through the rear door under the seats, through the console, then up to the CB. I also have temporary power running, so I can unplug it easily.

It works great and the truckers are hilarious to listen to. Here are some pictures of how it looks.