Great Day to be Alive

Actually, everyday is a great day.

We got a soaking rain yesterday that left us with a huge rainbow right at dusk. The rainbow looked like it ended down by the mailbox, so I walked down with the dogs to see if there was a pot of gold or a check from Publishers Clearing House. Nope, just some soggy advertisements. The mountains to the north this morning have a layer of fog beneath them. It makes me think what Errol must look like this time of year. Some of the maples, sumac and sassafrass trees have begun to change color.

We are in the process of getting a woodstove installed. We have to build a hearth first, but most importantly, we are trying to keep from paying for it with a credit card. If we get the house in Cumming rented next month ( we gave up trying to sell it in this market) we should be able to have heat this winter that doesn't cost a fortune.

The BBQ last weekend was awesome! We had a good turn out, in spite of the lack of available gas and the Bama/ Georgia game. Some of Julie's co-workers and their families came so we had kids running around. I'm glad we rented the helium tank for balloons. The potato gun was a big hit. Robb did some trouble shooting and got it working more consistently. The neighbor brought over a bottle of compressed oxygen. This turned the spud gun into a rocket launcher. We joked that he might be knocking down satellites with the potatoes.

The UFO launch wasn't quite as successful, but it was a great exercise in collaboration. Five guys armed with cardboard, tape, string, garbage bags,plenty of helium and their collective imagination came up with several designs before physics dictated the lightest possible assembly to get the spaceship off the ground. We filled up severalbiodegradeable garbage bags and suspended our UFO below that. I had tied the craft to the rear view mirror of my truck but my mentee ( formerly little brother) was worried it would blow away. I let him reel the string back in and walked to the grill, not knowing that he followed me. The UFO got tangled in the trees and we had to cut the string. Oh Well. That was our first attempt.

We used the same design and launched a second UFO that night. We had some LED lights and glow sticks dangling from the bottom of the string. We let it go with the intent of filming the event and posting it to YouTube. It looked more like a twinkling star than a UFO, but what a lot of fun just the same.

The girls were getting chilly so we lit the bonfire and sat around the blaze listening to Alabama beat up on the Dawgs. I watched the stars for a little while and Julie and I went to bed leaving the kids to watch the fire.

Sunday morning after the kids broke down the tent we headed out to pick apples. Andrew needed to stop for gas but all of the stations in Ellijay were out of gas, so he drove home. Well he drove mostly home. He ran out of gas 2 miles from Jackie's house. Her brother him a can of gas so was able to find a station in Cumming.

So Bethany, Robb, Jessica joined Julie and I for the apples. We split up the 2 bags. Julie and I turned most of our apples into two pies. They turned out really fine.

Family, I hope you are all well.