It was a crazy day from start to finish yesterday. I slept in the camper Friday night. Mr. FixIt doesn’t like to sleep in the camper unless we’re like…you know…camping. But he always comes out for a little snuggle time and to watch a funny video. Sometimes he’ll come out in the morning and I fix him tea or breakfast, or both. Yesterday morning he was up cooking the chicken and noodles he took with him to the company picnic so I hopped up to come in the house to join him.
As I was getting up, I felt something on the back of my head near the hairline. I ran my hand through my hair and felt a tick! ICK! It came off easily and I dispatched it quickly but ohhhhh….I really hate to get a tick bite. This one was another American Dog Tick, a juvenile…and they do not carry Lyme Disease. They can still carry viruses or parasites, but I’m thinking since it was young and it hadn’t had a chance to really latch on, I’m good. I’m wondering if I got into a mess of them when I was mowing.
Mr. FixIt was gone for the day so I settled in my big comfy red chair and started reading a great book I recently purchased from AbeBooks.com. They are a used book company who will watch for specific books for you. The book I’ve been wanting for years is Mountain Cooking by John Parris. If you remember, I have been watching the video series Celebrating Appalachia with Tipper Pressley for quite some time. She talks about all things Appalachia and she was singing the praises of a writer from her neck of the woods. That writer was John Parris.
Parris wrote for the Asheville Citizen-Times in Western North Carolina for 42 years. He won many honors for his writing and published several books as collections of his essays. John was born in 1917 and died in 2016 and was a beloved collector of Appalachian folklore. The book I was most interested in was Mountain Cooking, but it’s been out of print for many years. So, I put in a request with Abe Books and voila….the book is finally mine.
I don’t read a lot of books since Mr. Virgo died. I don’t really have the patience to sit and concentrate that long. And, if I stop and start as my schedule allows, I’m apt to forget what was happening and have to go back and read large sections. It’s frustrating. For some reason, I can concentrate on books about Appalachia or cooking…old timey things. I think it’s because the stories are so similar to my own.
I sat down in the quiet house and lost myself in the stories of folks long dead now. How they cooked in iron pots on the hearth or the wood-stove. How they butchered hogs and made cider. I was delightfully entertained for several hours before I tore myself away and started on some chores that needed doing. I am so grateful I learned about Mr. Parris’ writing from Tipper and I’d recommend him to anyone who enjoys stories of the old timey way of doing things. You can get his book…Roaming the Mountains…on Amazon as his work was revived by the mother daughter team of Marty Keener Cherrix and Amy Cherrix.
When Mr. FixIt got home, I put my reading down and gave him my sole attention. It was dreadfully hot and we finally gave in and turned the air conditioning on. We watched the evening news together and soon learned there was a big storm blowing up and we were directly in its path. We called our granddaughter who was putting up hay to make sure they were watching the weather. I ran out to the camper to close the windows and draw in the awning. I had no sooner come back in when the sky let loose and the wind started howling. Leaves were blowing everywhere and with a mighty roar…here came the HAIL! The temperature dropped 23° in less than 30 minutes.
We stood at the back door watching things blow around and were helpless to do anything. It rained so fast, the gutters couldn’t keep up and the water ran over the top like a waterfall. We could barely hear each other with the pounding from the roof and window, and the mighty claps of thunder. Flash after flash of lightning was met with instant crashes of thunder so we new it was right on top of us. The ground was becoming white with hailstones the size of dimes and nickels. I turned to Mr. FixIt and said two words…the camper! There was absolutely nothing we could do there but I kept pleading to God to keep us safe and protect our homestead here on Marshmallow Ranch.
When the storm finally abated, we ventured out to make sure the gutters and downspouts were clear. As soon as I opened the door and took a deep breath I smelled it. Ozone! I’ve only smelled ozone like that once before in my life and that’s when I was driving over the mountains to Denver in a terrible thunderstorm. I was in the left lane of a three lane section of I-77, coming down the mountain into Georgetown and lightning was actually striking the pavement all around me. I couldn’t stop. I couldn’t pull over. All I could do is keep going…and praying. The ozone was thick and smelled like a transformer blew up. My hair stood up on my arms from the electricity in the air. That’s what it was like walking out of the house yesterday.
We waited till the radar showed the storm was truly past us, then we ran out and checked the gutters. Mr. FixIt held the ladder while I shinnied up to peek over the edge. They were fine. We grabbed some quick photos and checked the camper for dents from the hail or leaks. It was just as it was before…good as new! Thank you for protecting us and our investments, Lord!
We are still expecting more rain, but we have needed it terribly. It’s been so dry here, I’ve worried about fires. This will really help. Between the tick and the hail storm, it sure made for an interesting day!
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“He stilled the storm to a whisper; the waves of the sea were hushed. They were glad when it grew calm, and he guided them to their desired haven.”
Psalms 107:29-30 NIV
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No Ad Sunday…may you be “blessed-ed” and rested!