Report on our Tennessee Trip

I am happy to report that our trip went largely without incident, though we had a few "interesting" moments, weather related. It took us about 9 hours to get to our campground next to Nickajack Lake from Houma. The campground was sandwiched between a freeway and a railroad, but a nice enough location on its own merits, not far from the lake. Thursday evening it rained very hard, and our camper met the test, staying completely dry inside.

On Friday, we spent the better part of the day at our ultimate destination, which was to check out lots on the property of Grant Miller, who we met online. Grant and his wife, Becky, live near Tracy City, and have purchased about 750 acres of pristine land in the Cumberland region of Tennessee, of which 500 acres cannot be further developed. They are developing 30 acres for themselves, and have subdivided another 70 acres into 18 lots of varying sizes (2-7 acres) under the name, Sewanee Creek. Their vision is to emphasize self sustainability and "green" in the development of these lots and are looking specifically for people who have the same vision. We enjoyed our visit with them, and they seemed happy to spend whatever time . We expected to see much more building and activity occurring than what we saw, which was a bit disconcerting.

We visited the neighboring towns of Monteagle and Sewanee. As we approached Monteagle, we stopped at a National Park site to get a better understanding of the Cumberland region. Immediately after going inside the building, fierce winds and strong rains followed by marble-sized hail descended on us. It got very dark, even though it was around 2:00 p.m. The lady hosting us told us that we were under a tornado warning; she was obviously anxious about what was going on outside. We were very thankful to be inside a sturdy building. We later learned that a very damaging tornado hit the city of Murfreesboro, only 50 miles away, during this period. We visited The University of the South in Sewanee, a well-endowed university, with impressive buildings on the campus, and tough admission standards. They are able to attract the likes of T. Boone Pickens, who will be talking about energy on their campus tomorrow.

On Saturday, we went toward Chattanooga with the intent of visiting one of the many caves in the region. We ended up going to the top of Lookout Mountain that overlooks Chattanooga. There, we visited Ruby Falls and Rock City, both of which were well worth visiting. Ruby Falls has a spectacular waterfall at the end of the cave to climax the whole experience, and Rock City is literally a city of gigantic boulders with crevices between boulders that one can barely fit through, creating the effect of a City of Rocks with avenues and streets. The owners have built overpasses, underpasses, and hanging bridges on the massive boulders, have added overhangs and waterfalls, gardens and trees, strategically placed gnomes and elves, and other features to make for an incredible experience.

>>>>>On Sunday, we visited the South Pittsburg, TN branch that the Millers attend. They meet in a Phase I building (like Julie's and Matt's). They were very happy that Judy was there to play the piano. In fact, after the 3-hour block, some of the members gathered around the piano, mostly young women, and encouraged Judy to keep playing hymns so that they could keep singing. It was really a cool experience.

>>>>> After church, we returned to Overlook Mountain, to learn more about its significance in relation to the Civil War. There are only four Civil War military battlefields that have been preserved like the Chickamauga/Chattanooga, the other three being at Gettysburg, PA; Shiloh, TN; and Vicksburg, MS. All four were pivotal to the outcome of the Civil War.

>>>>>Sunday evening into Monday morning, strong winds kept pounding us, making me wonder at certain times if we might get flipped over. Apparently, there were reports of gusts that exceeded 60 mph in the area. Monday, we returned home, encountering some heavy rain in Mississippi. We learned that there were more devastating tornadoes in the general region over the weekend. It was a fun trip, and we definately learned more about the camper, and a few things we need to do between now and the next trip, whenever and where ever that will be.

Preparing for a Tennessee adventure

From April 9-12, we will be camping in Tennessee next to Nickajack Lake which is just west of Chattanooga. This will give us our first opportunity to test out our pop-up camper that we bought a few months ago. It's a Fleetwood Westlake in the Fleetwood Destiny Series. This website gives you a look at its floorplan. Judy bought me a very nice compact digital camera, so I will learn how to use it and hopefully bring back some nice pics of Tennessee.

Kevin and Emily Voisin, friends at Church, were excited to announce over the weekend, that their family's business, Motivatit Seafoods, and it's star product, Gold Band Oysters, will be featured on the primetime Food Network program, "Will Work For Food."

If interested, tune in on Monday, April 6, 2009 at 7:30 PM-CST to see television personality Adam Gertler try his hand at oyster harvesting in South Louisiana. Click here to find out more about Adam and his many adventures in the name of food. According to FoodNetwork.com, Adam gets a tough and messy lesson in oyster harvesting from the back-breaking haul to the cleaning, shucking, and banding of this amazing delicacy.

Whoever hasn't been to the oyster processing plant in Houma before, this will be a great opportunity to see the operation in full swing!

Last hurrah for a season

With the heavy rains we had last week, large sections of Houma were flooded, enough so that we made national news...at least on the Weather Channel. We hadn't had this much rain since Hurricane Gustav. Of course, our problems were small compared to what is happening on the Red River of the North, between MN & ND, where major flooding is occurring. And it just seems bizarre that Lori and James were delayed in returning to their home in Loveland, CO after visiting Julie, Matt, and our grandchildren in Indiana, because of blizzard conditions in Colorado.

With the heavy rains, the canal behind our house, which remains dry most of the year, became swollen, and the perimeter of the lake in our neighborhood more than doubled. The larger permanent canal that goes back a mile to the swamp from our lake became fully navigable. Most of the year, it is so clogged with aquatic weeds, that it is almost impossible to kayak on it. So, being literally able to launch my kayak from the back of our house, I couldn't resist the temptation to do one last hurrah, before I hung the kayak up for a season. I went all the way back to the swamp from our house, which I have never done before. It was a bit of a rush to do this, not knowing what to expect along the way. At one point, something made a very large splash next to the kayak, obviously something I approached by surprise. It could have been a large nutria, a large fish, or an alligator. Whatever it was, it raised my adrenaline level, even though I didn't actually have a chance to see what it was. Once I reached the swamp, I could have navigated my way to the Intercoastal Canal and beyond to the Gulf. More likely, I could have gotten very lost. I returned home and hung up the kayak in the garage for a season. As shown in the picture that Judy took during the day, neighborhood kids took advantage of the flooding as well, since school was cancelled.

Kayaking during alligator mating season

This evening, while kayaking on the "lake" in our neighborhood, a kid that was fishing told me that he saw a pretty good sized alligator in the lake...the first one he had seen this spring. About this same time last year, while kayaking in nearly the exact same location, I saw an alligator staring me down and not swimming away from me, and I started feeling rather vulnerable. At that time, one of the neighborhood kids said something like, "Mister, you're pretty brave paddlin' around in that little kayak during alligator matin' season." I swear that before I got to shore, I got bumped no less than three times by something. At the time, I was dead sure it was that alligator, but I admit my imagination was running pretty wild by the time I got to shore. I don't think I've ever got out of a kayak faster than I did that day. It was a good two months before I even thought about going out again. This year, I will simply hang up the boat during alligator mating season which is basically the April - June timeframe. I'm doing this even though I know that if precautions are taken, I have a very low probability of experiencing a confrontation, based on everything I have read online. I don't mind gliding by alligators, enjoying their presence after the mating season is over, but until then, well...I'll just enjoy them from the shore, keeping my paddlin' drumstick-looking arms well out of from their domain.

During mating season, the male alligators can get pretty aggressive, and they put on an unusual ritual to intice a mate.

Effect of aquatic weeds used as mulch on potato growth

Late last fall, I put mulch from our compost pile over the entire garden. I then harvested some aquatic weeds from the canal in our back yard, and added them just to the front half of the garden area. I then added 13-13-13 NPK fertilizer over the entire garden area, then tilled the garden with my Mantis tiller. I planted the winter garden. After harvesting it, I planted potatoes on three rows in early February. From the picture above, taken by Judy today, it is obvious that the potatoes planted on the end of the garden that received the aquatic weeds as part of the mulch, are growing far better than those on the other end. I'm not sure what the aquatic weeds may have contributed, but the benefit is pretty amazing. Our "lake" is badly overrun with algae and other aquatic weeds, so there is no shortage of aquatic weed mulch that I could produce. Lakes overrun with aquatic weeds is a sign that significant amounts of fertilizer runoff (particularly phosphorus) from homeowners gardens is occurring. We just bought a composter that arrived late yesterday. I'm still putting it together. I'm not sure what aquatic weeds we have right now, beyond plain old algae, but I'm pretty sure the dominant species I used in the garden last fall is one called Southern Naiad, based on online pictures I have seen of it.

Happy birthdays are in order

Happy birthday to my wife. Last night, we went out and had nice buffet dinner. In Cajun country on a Friday evening, especially during Lent, this means all-you-can-eat seafood. I especially enjoyed the boiled shrimp. The shrimp are hugh down here. Judy got some nice birthday cards and several phone calls from family and friends.

Tomorrow is Lori's birthday. Happy birthday to Lori as well!

I spent the better part of the day planting our garden. The only thing that we have in the garden that carries over is three rows of potatoes planted in early February that are just about ready to flower. Everything else was cleaned out to make room for today's planting. Today, I planted beans, cowpeas, corn, tomatoes, peppers, and spinach. Later on, I will transplant a few vine plants, like watermelon, canteloupe, cucumbers, and squash. It's a bit risky to plant them right now. Judy ordered some edamame soybeans that we are going to try for the first time. Soybeans are supposed to be pretty healthy, and the edible ones are quite tasty. We'll see what happens and report.