The Mother Earth News House

Note: Click on Photo to Enlarge

(Click on Photo to enlarge) We made it to Brevard to see the town and the house.  We really liked the town and the idea of being so close to the Pisgah Forest.

We really liked the house, the setting, not so much the one mile skinny gravel road to get there.  It would take 10 minutes to get in and out.

The house would need two new heat pumps, and the ugly shag carpet would have to go.  We would have to do something creative with all the stairs leading into the house so the dogs could make it in and out easily.

Of course, I would change the paint color outside and eventually put on a metal shingle roof, but aside from that, it is very workable for us.

This is Wendell, the realtor's golden who could not pull himself away from the stream.  There were two on the property, one on each side, and where they converge would make a wonderful pond, and that is something I would definitely do.

This is Wendell peeking through a window to see what we were all up to inside!  Okay.  So aside from the long rough road requiring a four-wheel drive and the remoteness of the place, which I would have to get used to, the big problem was the owner's friend had come up that week from Florida and loved the place so much decided to put a contract on it the day before we saw it.  He only wants it for a summer home, so we are hoping he has buyer's remorse and we get a shot at it.  We should know in about six weeks.  In the meantime, we are talking to our builder about our dream home and getting ready to gear things up!  Either way it's a win-win situation!!

Excited About the Possibilities

Pisgah Forest   All who know us are aware that we are a year behind in building our home at the lake because of the constant struggles with the banks on both sides and our endless struggle with Nature Conservancy about the gate that is now in place on the road leading to our property.  The Nels' home is on the market, our financial paperwork is in and now it's just a waiting game.  I have taken advantage of this down-time to maybe find a house just a bit closer to Asheville and to alleviate the hassle of building.  Mac our builder, like so many others, had to get out of the construction business due to the real estate crash.  Jem Hames, our GA builder is considering the possibility of going to NC and building our new home.
For months I have been looking for the perfect house that we hope would be our final house, and there has been nothing that would work until the Pisgah Forest house.  We are going to look at it this weekend.  We are not familiar with the area, but it is at the entrance to the Pisgah Forest, and Brevard is only three miles away.
This is Transylvania County, named the Land of Waterfalls because there are 250 waterfalls within a short distance of each other.  All of the REI hikes that I can't wait to participate in are in this area.  Next week there is a hike on private property to Tumbling Falls, and I wish I could go.  It is still hard to think of giving up the boathouse, but it will be easy to sell at a profit.  Dr. Rogers is still willing to buy our land, so we are thankful for that.  There are so many lakes in the area, we will have lots of places to go with the kayaks.
This house was built in the '70s by the founder of Mother Earth Magazine.  He moved with his wife from Ohio and lived here for quite some time.  It looks beautiful in the video, but not knowing what surrounds it and knowing if the space will work for us is something we will soon find out.  If this is not the house for us, then we will most likely start the building process.  Hopefully I can get excited about it when it begins because right now we're both tired from the constant hassle of trying to get out of here.   I will let you know what happens and take more photos of the house.  Keep your fingers crossed for us!
Click on the green Pisgah Forest to see the video and let me know what you think!

Carload of Cockers

Saturday we did a leg of driving for Marthas Mutt Movers, a carload of cockers going to Ohio.  This is Baxter and Rocky, and Bella is a little nervous, so she is in the crate.

We met two other couples coming from other areas who had been fostering Trixi and Jack.

Jack is the red, Trixi is the blonde.

Karen and Gail came with a large van to take all dogs for the next leg.

Next it was off to the Urban Stack for lunch.

Chattanooga has many interesting buildings.

We love any excuse to go to Chattanooga, TN, and transporting dogs makes it that much better.

This is the bridge that goes over the river in the middle of the city. It was 105 degrees, but most of the country is that temperature right now, and at least there was a breeze at the top of the bridge.

Many different views from the bridge.

It was a nice day.

Great Find!?

Found at the Goodwill for $5.  It had an antique shop tag on it for $65, said it was a yarn/wool winder.  I looked on Ebay, didn't find one similar to this.  Anyone know anything about these? Maybe Chris could use one if she is still hooking rugs?

It has nice paint, hand-painted flower design on each side.  Not as primitive as others on Ebay, but maybe Victorian?

Would also like to know how it works, never have seen someone use one.  Sure won't be me!  I'm a mover and sitting and knitting would drive me crazy!

Jethro From Alabama

Jethro is a lucky boy.  Met two ladies from Pell City, Alabama, Shelter at the Georgia line and transported him back to Atlanta to be taken in by Mike.

After a good grooming by Amy, he will be beautiful (and smell a lot better,too!)

He had no problem saying good by to the shelter van and walking right up the ramp to my car wagging his tail the whole way!

This is the beginning of his new life.  He may be headed to New York where the weather is cooler, and with all that fur, I'm sure that will make him a happy boy!

My First Morning Home



This morning on my morning walk with the pack, a young deer came dashing out of the woods.  By the way she was acting, I knew a baby had to be somewhere close, so after putting the dogs in the house, I started my search.

I stood back and watched the mother come back to an area where the baby must be.  It was the complete opposite side of the woods where I thought, she must have been trying to throw the dogs off when she ran out earlier.  Took me about an hour, then finally I saw her curled up and asleep on the side of the stream.  She never moved, just looked at me while I snapped photo after photo.  I believe she's a newborn, and hopefully tonight will start to walk and go somewhere safer with her mother.  I spent two hours fencing the area off so that my dogs would not be able to get to her.

Later in the afternoon I saw the mother come and feed her.  I didn't want to get too close, so you can only see her eyes and the white on her chest.

Here is her white tail as she was leaving.

An added bonus to all that work, I noticed the blackberries were starting to ripen in the six days that I've been gone.  Yogurt and berries for lunch and checking on the fawn every hour!

Busy, Busy, Busy

A few weeks back an email came across my computer from Martha's Mutt Movers.  She was trying to coordinate getting Harvey from Florida to Illinois and they had some legs that were not covered from Atlanta to Knoxville going through Chattanooga.  Bob had been wanting to go to both cities to some enormous book stores, so I signed him up for the job!  Here is Bob with Harvey at his drop-off for the next driver.  I had fun watching the chatter on the computer all day as to where Harvey was and what he was doing.  We can hopefully help Martha out again and save another dog's life.

The next weekend, Mother's Day weekend, was the annual Botanical Garden Tour, which we haven't missed in 20 years.  The weather was the best it's ever been, very cool, and the gardens were fantastic.  The gardens this year were more textural in nature with less flowers, but very beautiful. We took 500 photos, so here is a sampling of the tour for those who couldn't go.  Lots of beautiful sculptures adorned these gardens, my favorite being the Indian girl at the top of my blog.

Then an email came from Julie asking me to foster Wolf, now called Woofie, who had been in the shelter for two months and they were no longer going to hold him.  I had him for five days and fell in love with this sweet, beautiful chow chow.  He looks like he could be Geisha's long lost brother.  Terri, Julie's friend who had adopted Mimi from her was coming through on a camping trip with the "sisters on the fly", a group of girls that get together with their vintage trailers.  Sounds like fun.  We met on Sunday and Mimi and Woofie hit it off!  I hated to see him drive off, but knew Panda would not accept a young male, but he is in good hands with Julie. 

This is Mimi and Terri, ready for their ride back to TN with Woofie.

Woofie, I miss you, and I will be keeping tabs on you!

              Off to Philadelphia next week for my mother's birthday, dinner with Sue and my brother, going to Bartram's Garden and Chanticleer with my mom, then will be home the following week.