Spruce Pine in June

Sat, Jun 7 to Fri, Jun 13

Saturday morning, I decided that I needed to go to the Mountain House and check on things.  It's been a while and I always feel better seeing everything for myself.  Having Jim Godwin check the house every week is great, but I like to see things for myself.  Unfortunately, Clara isn't able to go this time, so I'm off by myself.

Sunday afternoon is a great afternoon at The Orchard where I meet up with Bill and Judy Carson. I really enjoyed a couple of hours of listening to a family band, or at least the kids, from Augusta, Georgia.  They were 22, 15, 11 and 8 years old and was great seeing the kids having a good time.

After an afternoon of great music, Bill, Judy, Kit and I go downtown to Hef's restaurant for a good evening of catching up and relaxing.  I dropped by Kit's new condo and we found that we could see our house on Apple Mountain from her porch.

Monday morning, I had arranged for Jorge (Horha) to come up to the house and help me.  The area that we had cleared below the house to improve our view is growing up rapidly, and I don't want to have to go through clearing out the trees again, so he spent the morning with a weed eater cutting everything back.  This is probably going to be a twice a year exercise until I can get some type of cover plantings that won't grow up into the view again.

The area below the house grows up fast.  Jorge is in the upper photo near the bottom of the clearing.  He does a great job of clearing it.

The sunsets are always interesting and every evening is a little different.  I wish we could see the sunsets when we are in Beaufort.  It's great to see nature at its best.

I love the sunsets 

Tuesday I went down to the Energy Exchange to check on getting some small rhododendron to start planting in the cleared area.  The Energy Exchange is an interesting project that was started about 15 years ago collecting methane gas from a garbage dump landfill.  They covered the landfill with plastic, drilled wells and are "mining" the methane gas.  They use the gas to fire kennels and keep hothouses to grow plants.

After a nice conversation with the manager on the ins and outs of planting rhododendron and other cover crops, I decided that early April is the best time to plant.  So next April I'll have a big project planting 30-50 small rhododendron in our cleared area.

Wednesday evening I met Bonnie, Will and Kit for "Wings Night" at the Little Switzerland Chalet.

The Mountain Laurel are at their peak this week.  Looking down from the deck there is a sea of beautiful pinkish blossom.

When I arrived this week, the first thing I saw coming up the hill was a dead Crepe Myrtle tree which we planted next to the driveway the year we moved in 13 years ago.  The tree had grown to 15-18 feet high and is beautiful in full bloom.  However, the winter must have been to rough for it and about 90% of it was dead.

I called Clara and sent her a picture.  She suggested that I cut it back a little and see if it would come back.  I cut it back.

I also got the lamp post.  Clara has been wanting a new one anyway.

Thursday evening Bonnie and Will had a big party at their home to which I was invited.

As Anna once said, "The Mountains Never Change, But They Change Everyday".  This afternoon, it was a matter of changing every minute.

Tomorrow I'll get up early and drive back home, picking up Anna in Cary on the way back.  She is spending next week with us.  That will be interesting!