Welcome to another summer Weekend Chat, my fellow WikiChatterers!
Greetings from beautiful Cathey’s Creek! The Touristas are starting to arrive, and the traffic is beginning to increase in our area. We have some resort communities not far away, but most visitors are coming to see our part of the Pisgah National Forest, great for hiking, fishing, camping, or just nature loving. I plan on stopping by the very small Reid Pioneer Cemetery out in the woods up in the mountains, requiring a short hike, and I’d better prepare to protect myself from the ticks! Ugh! As a boy growing up in rural North Carolina, I remember my parents having to pick them out of my hair. Ah, the country life.
Our local red-tailed hawk has learned that if it hangs out long enough in the trees above our bird feeders it’ll find a meal. In the past two weeks, two chipmunks have been snagged for breakfast. Sad, because we love watching their antics as they zoom in among the squirrels to find seed beneath the feeders. Early morning also brings out our deer, groundhogs, and rabbits. (As long as the rabbits stay away from our Asiatic lilies, their cute. Otherwise, I’m calling for the hawk!)
On the Homefront 1: After 24 days of no rain, we are finally getting some this weekend, and boy do we need it. Of course, the soil is so fertile and climate so amenable to growth, that when the front finally passes through in a couple of days, the grass will be a foot high, mocking me as it grows. I used to like mowing, but then we planted several dozens of trees and that really slows things down.
On the Homefront 2: Remember the root canal I got about a month ago? Well, the pain returned (but no infection) and I returned to the doc to check it out. He had originally found a small crack in the tooth, but thought it could be saved. However, the crack has widened and the tooth will need to be extracted. Oh, joy! The good news is that I’m going to get a refund! Woohoo!
On the genealogy front: I’ve been working on Needs Profiles Created (the rain helps!). I found a family that had extensive connections in one area, and I discovered that, far back, part of the family was descended from an ancestor of mine. More impetus to get this family on WikiTree!
To all our fellow WikiTreers here in the US in the path of the tornados, rain, and flooding: we all hope you are safe. I used to watch the Weather Channel for local weather, but now all it does is make me worry about you.
Finally, as yesterday was the 75th anniversary of D-Day at Normandy, France, we take the time to remember and honor all those men and women who served during World War II, particularly at that action. Of the 16,000,000 men and women who served from the US, only a half a million remain. As a son of a vet of the Pacific Theater, I am saddened by this, a generation passing. If only I had asked my dad more questions before Alzheimer’s took him from us.
I hope all of you have a fruitful and enjoyable weekend. I can’t wait to hear what everyone has been up to. Now, hop in and enjoy the Chat!
