Clay's 66th Birthday on Sunshine Mountain
Photos
October 23, 2014
We slept well as the wind lashed the leaves and the house overnight as we were warm and snug inside. Clay was up before the sun as usual. He was under a lap blanket on the couch watching a movie on his tablet when I got up around 7am. Everyone else was up shortly after.
We all found something to eat for breakfast. I had made Oat flour raspberry raisin muffins to bring and I enjoyed one with some of the peach yogurt I had brought. Others had doughnuts and cereal. We had coffee. I gave Clay his birthday card and gift. It was The Great NC BBQ map.
This morning Warner and Vivian had an appointment to have the defroster repaired on the refrigerator. We were all cleaned up and dressed when the repairman arrived early. He had replaced the faulty part within 15 minutes and we had the rest of the day free.
We headed out on a sightseeing drive. First stop was Big Horse Creek. We crossed the New River several times, but I don't think we ever got a nice photo of it. We had a couple of goals today. One was to go to Ingles Market. Two was to see the Ben Long church murals. We went into Jefferson which is larger than West Jefferson. We went through the history museum there. They had a lot of stuff from the Virginia Creeper train that used to be here. They also had a fascinatingly detailed model railroad set in a miniature model of West Jefferson.
We had lunch at Smoky Mountain Barbecue & A. B. Vannoy Hams. It is cafeteria style and very good. I got another long-sleeved t-shirt here. Clay bought some ham hocks for making soup back at home and some thinly sliced prosciutto for in the morning. Now he needs 2 things from Ingles. Biscuits and birthday cake.
When we got back to Sunshine Mountain, we found the cattle roundup underway! The herd had gotten split and some were in the small pen at the bottom but the rest were trapped in the gully on the wrong side of the house. Those cows were bellowing and hollering and just generally agitated. Not the calm, happy cows of yesterday. We unloaded the car and watched for a while, but it was upsetting. The cows did NOT want to get into those trailers. They were being moved down the mountain to a much larger farm near Wilkesboro for the winter. But, they weren't happy about it!
Warner stayed and watched the whole operation while Clay & I followed Vivian up the mountain again. This time in the sunshine and up the other face of the mountain. The house is in sort of a crease where the 2 faces meet. We ducked under the fence out of sight of the cows and headed straight up hill again. The views were the same, yet different. A new angle and in sunshine. It was exhausting again. The reward was to enter the old house on our return downhill.
We went into Lansing for dinner tonight. Lansing is the closest small town. We went to Pie on the Mountain and had pizza for dinner. It was very good. Warner declares Vivian a lettuce connoisseur! It's true!
Back to the house after dark where we shared the large piece of sheet cake/birthday cake Clay bought at Ingles earlier. Then we looked through more of Clay's trip photos and early to bed again. I think Clay had a good 66th Birthday!
Photos
