It's on fire...

~

 

The sunset was this evening...








Tonights photos...

The Bully was back at the hummingbird feeder at the pool...

 

 and he thought he was king of the feeder...

 

 But then this full grown male rubythroat showed up and the Bully didn't stand a chance!

 

 

 He was not putting up with anything...

 

 

 ~

 

 

 

 Then we saw this fawn, who's spots are almost gone, playing on the dirt piles left from the pipeline construction...

 

 

 He didn't appreciate us watching him play so he went over to the brush and stood...ready to run if needed...

 

 

Uh Oh...Mom came to see what the problem was...I think Michael and I are in trouble!!

 

 

It was hot and dry again today...our thermometer here at the house (in the shade) said 100 degrees F...The pool sure felt good this evening!!

 

 

 

 

 

 



My day in photos!

This morning I had a "to do" list but got side-tracked watching the deer here at the house...

 

 I always manage to catch the does chewing...I always laugh as it looks as though she is talking.

 

 

 Beautiful doe eyed...

 

 

 Lydia is mad at me, can you tell?

 

 

 And this is why Lydia is mad! Yes we have a new pup and the new pup likes kitties!! I'm hoping with some work I can get Ms. Jenny to leave the cats alone, we have good days and bad.

 

 

 Possibly a Bordered Patch butterfly.

 

 

 They are fluttering all over at the property right now too...so pretty!

 

 

 Mr. Beetle lost his horn, ekk...I wonder if the girls will still like him?

 

 

 Michael was on a bug collecting mission this evening. He would then studying what he caught and take notes. Not sure what brought this on but I like it.

 

 

 Like to see my son take an interest in nature...

 

 

 I  hung a hummingbird feeder down near the pool and this little guy is a bully! He runs off all the other hummers, the little brat!

 

 

 I had to use the flash this evening as it was getting to dark not too...

 

 

Love lying in the pool and watching the hummingbirds!

 

 

Hope y'all had a good day!!

 

 

 

 

 

 



4th grade here he comes...

 

 

 He's ready...

 

 

 Come on MOM, lets GO!!

 

 

 Still smiling!!

He honestly didn't want to go to school and we had some cuddle (don't tell him I told you) time this morning and talked about it...He didn't want to go but he did and with a smile on his face!

 

 

 That time of year the buses are out and about!

 

 

Good Morning Sunshine!!

Gonna be a beautiful day!!

 

 

 

 

 



A couple photos from my day...

 

 

 I walked outside first thing this morning and spotted this rainbow in the clouds, gorgeous!!

 

 

 

And this evening I captured a photo of one of the many fawns roaming around here...They're growing up and losing their spots...

~

Tomorrow Michael starts 4th grade, is he nervous? Nope not one bit, actually he has been telling me all day he is NOT ready for school to begin, sigh! I told him I totally understand but we don't have a choice in the matter so we might as well go and get this year over with so he can move on to 5th grade! Here's hoping he has a good year!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Day 6 - July 18 2012 - Smoky Mountain National Park

Yeah, some more trip photos...

(I've been having problems loading photos off my External Hard Drive but I think I finally figured out the problem and yeehaw got Day 6 photos loaded)...It's really hard to choose which photos to post at I had over 600 photos from that day alone...To me this was one of the highlights of our trip...MOUNTAINS!! And the Smoky Mountains at that...

 

We drove into the North entrance taking Newfound Gap Road...

 

 First stop was an overlook looking towards Mt. Le Conte Peak, 6,593 ft.

Above is the Peak on a clear day and below...

 is what it looked like the day we were there, covered in clouds.

 

 

 We stopped to check out the river that flows along the road...

 

 

 Michael loved playing in the water

 

 

 One of the tunnels we went through...

 

 

 The views are spectacular...and it's GREEN!!

 

 

 View from Newfound Gap and you can see the winding road (winding ribbon) below...By the way we crossed from Tennessee to North Carolina to visit Newfound Gap...

 

 

 Checking out the area around Newfound Gap

 

 

 WooHoo I am standing on the Appalachian trail...One of my dreams is to hike that trail!

 

 

 Storm coming in...uh oh!

 

 

 Michael and I had our rain jackets, thank goodness.

 

 

 We then left Newfound Gap and drove to Clingmans Dome, we are driving in the clouds, cool! Clingmans Dome is the highest point in the Smokies, 6,643 ft.

 

 

 Clouds were coming and going...

 

 

 Clingmans Dome was covered in a thunderstorm. We went back to the jeep and waited out the storm. I couldn't believe all the people that continued to walk around in the lightning, not very bright.

 

 Storm finally cleared out and we walked around for a bit to make sure the coast was clear before we got too far from the jeep. Of course I managed to find some wildflowers!

 

 

 ~

 Michael found a cave...

 

 

 The views were breathtaking, sheesh!!

 

 

 I wanted away from the crowds and it was crowded so we took a different trail...

 

 

 He was loving the rocks

 

 

 Storm clouds are clearing off from the peaks

 

 

 Clover

 

 

 ~

 Gorgeous...

 

 

 So glad we took this trail, few people, lots of wildflowers and beautiful views...

 

 

 ~

 ~

 Okay Michael which way now?

We decided to head towards the Appalachian trail of course...

 

 

 And this was the trail...beautiful!

 

 

 Lovely...and how am I going to get up here with the camera and 300mm lens?

 

 

 Come on Mom...

and just to let y'all know yes I did wipe out on the trail and no I did not have my hiking boots on but my crocs, stupid me, valuable lesson learned, sigh!

 

 

 The parking lot...I was so glad we got away from that crowd...

 

 

 I love him and hope he'll do some more hiking with me later...

 

 

 Fungi, cool...

 

 

 and more...

 

 

 and more...

 

We left there and headed back to Gatlinburg...

 Oh how I love the Smoky Mountains...I don't want to leave!

 

 

 Michael posing for me, lol.

 

 

 We stopped and turned around and took our photo with the Park sign before leaving the park.

 

 

Ugh and back to downtown Gatlinburg, sheesh it was a mess!! I did manage to find an outfitter store on the outskirts of town and got myself fitted for a new pair of hiking boots that did NOT hurt my feet, woohoo!! They were so good and so patient with me and afterwards they let Michael climb their rock (fake) wall for free....The next day we leave the Smokies and head to Michigan. But don't worry I have plans to go back and do some hiking...