Day 4: Penelope Jane

Penelope Jane. the last goat standing. Or milking. She's a first freshener and had her twin doe kids back in Feb. 3rd. So she's going on 10 months milking! Quite a thing for a first freshener. I am so proud of her. Zarah Belle, who is also a first freshener, dried up soon after her kids were gone. And she's the same age as Penelope. Sandy, who is 7 and had triplets this year, dried up soon after her kids were gone as well. So Penelope is my only source for goat milk til Spring. I just put John Henry back in with the girls the end of October. So around April is the soonest they'll have kids. I am already having anxiety attacks.

Isn't she the cutest little elfin goat? I love her. And I am so thankful she's still giving us a little milk.

She still gives about 3 cups of milk each morning. But each day it gets less and less. I guess when it gets to a cup, I'll have to dry her up.

And these silly dogs are thankful for Penelope too! They love those squirts of milk so much. It's so hard to wait for more!

They do love that warm milk!

As you can tell, these posts are in no particular order as to what I am most thankful for. I need some more family pictures so I can post them too. So I am just posting as I have the pictures to go with the posts.

Day 3: The beautiful place I live

I am so thankful that I get to wake up every morning and see a beautiful sunrise right out my front door.

And I get to see this right out my back door. Just awesomeness all around. I am so thankful that God chose to put me right here, in this place. I truly do love it here in my valley.

And right across the road is Pigeon Mt. And sometimes I get to see huge machines going through soybeans or corn, kicking up dust. There's always something going on out here. America at work!

I also get to see this beautiful mountain every day, in all it's glory right now. Lookout Mt. When our kids were little, my husband always told them that when they see this mountain, they were almost home. And if you make this picture bigger, you can just see Covenant College a little to the right of the middle. We could see this from our house just to the left. I would tell the kids it was a castle way up there on the mountain. I still call it the castle. My youngest graduated from Covenant 3 1/2 years ago. With bagpipes and all! The other day at the market, there was a group of young people with cameras that were on a field trip from the college, taking pictures of all the booths. I got to talk to them for awhile and they took lots of pictures of my booth. That was fun.

This is St. Elmo, Tn.We are right on the border of Tn. here and I go here several times a week. I love it there. When me and my husband get too old to farm, I want to live in St. Elmo. Just blocks and blocks of old houses. This is the 1885 restaurant on the corner. Named so because that's when St. Elmo was started. We've eaten here and they use local foods. It was really good. If anyone comes to Chattanooga, stop here to have lunch.

To the left of the restaurant is the Incline. It's that straight line going up the mountain. I have only ridden it one time. When my oldest daughter got a job at the Incline gift shop, she could ride it for free. I went with her the first day. It was really fun, but don't think I'd want to do it every day. She didn't work there but a few weeks. Where I took this picture, behind me, is Mr. T's pizza. It used to be a Kay's Castle ice cream shop when I first moved here. It still has the big ice cream cone on the roof. And to the right is the end of Lookout Mt. and Point Park. It's got a lot of Civil War plaques and statues and info there. Also a trail at the very end that goes all the way down to the Cravens House, which was a place that officers used during the war and I think it served as a hospital too? You can take a tour of it. It's a pretty place. Lots of history here. From this end of the mountain, you can see Signal Mt. and the Tn. River.

And here, in the shadow of the cloud, is Rock City. Can't hardly see it here.  This area is full of things to do and see. It's beautiful here.

If you ever get a chance to take a vacation, come here! You'll be glad you did. It's amazing. There's also the Tn. Aquarium and the river and Smokey Mts. aren't that far away either. It's all so much more beautiful in person!

I hope you enjoyed your little tour!

Day 2: My husband

This is my husband now, after almost 35 years of marriage. When I first met him, he had a little white streak in his red beard and kind of brownish hair. He had a black Harley. I always said he was my knight on a black stallion that came to rescue me. And he did.

This is what he does. All day and night. About 320 days a year. Sometimes more. I think that's why we've been married 35 years! Really. He doesn't drive for this company, but this is the only picture I have of a truck. He's been with the company he drives for now for 10 years. He got his million mile certificate and a ring. He's very proud of that accomplishment. Me too. It's  a hard life, being a truck driver. Also hard on the family. He started driving when our daughters were 13 and 11. Not a good time for him to leave.




This is where I met him. One night, 35 years ago this past June. When my life started. I had come up here with a friend, who was looking for a guy she'd met down in S. Ga. We ended up here at a party. We were all on the front porch when tiny rode up on his black Harley. I was sitting on the railing, (which is gone now) and we looked at each other and that was all it took. It was like we knew each other.

We stayed a few days and me and Tiny spent the whole time together. He had just bought a little tiny house on a hill. We went there. He took me up on Lookout Mt. and we say and watched the hang gliders all day and talked and talked.

I went back home to S. Ga. Waited awhile to call him. Then moved up here to Chattanooga, with all my wordly belongings in my little blue car.  Well, really, right outside Chatt. Been here ever since. And love it here. And I love my husband very much. And am so thankful that he loves me still. After all these years, he will be retiring next year. We'll see how much we love each other then!