A Great Rural Find

We took a different route to our farm yesterday, a more scenic and beautiful drive!

In doing so we came upon a cool little place in Chuckey named, Green Pasture Farm and Hatchery.  We banged a U-turn and pulled in -

A creative sign above one of the garage doors read, "The Chick Inn" -

And inside were about 20 individual brooders, each with different breeds of baby chicks!

They were even having a 15% sale, yesterday only, on all chick purchased.  As temping as it was, since we're not setup for chickens or any animals just yet, we had to unfortunately pass, alas, but we'll be back when the time is right -

Behind the second garage door was the the Green Pasture little store with all sorts of homemade and canned items, as well as fresh vegetables too.

Merle, the owner, offered us up a sampling of their sweet dill pickles, which were delicious!  Turned out to be a wicked smaath move marketing move, as ended up purchasing a jar -

And a fresh loft of homemade sourdough bread -

You can find all sorts of interesting places and great sights when getting off the beaten path and taking the road less traveled!

Alignment Needed, Grrrr

The trim out team has reported that the two halves of our house are not in alignment!

Earlier mid-week we were informed of this issue by our Yurezz customer support contact via a vague text in which she stated that she's reached out to the house manufacturer, Timberline. No additional information provided, nor have we received an update heading into the weekend.

 Also, as you can see in the pictures below, the installation of the siding on both ends of the house have stopped. Not sure if this is due to the alignment issue, if they're run out of material or what, as we're in the dark.

Very curious and anxious on how something like this gets fixed, especially with where we are (final phases) of the setup and trim out.

Front End, Driveway Side Before -

Front End, Driveway Side After -

Front End, Driveway Side  - You can see how far off the alignment truly is -

Rear End Before -

Rear End After -

Rear End Showing the Alignment Issue - 

I can't imagine how this will get addressed and fixed.

Thankful that the trim out team caught this AND thought enough to raise this as an issue and not simply ignore it or try to sweep it under the rug.  So, if you're keeping score 1-point to this tradesman for doing the right thing.

Breakfast For Lunch Because Why Not!

Sausage biscuits and gravy with over medium eggs are not just for breakfast -

I stopped in at the 11E Diner in Jonesboro earlier this week following my Tusculum dental appointment. I've had a hanker'n to try their biscuits and wasn't disappointed if I'm being honest.

Just don't tell me cardiologist...

This Works For Me

Luv me some good old Gordon Ramseyisms too!

Getting Closer...

Happy to report that our house trim out is underway!

The plasterer was inside the house working on repairing the wall and ceiling damage that occurred this past weekend and again at the beginning of the week. 

The electric meter has been mounted to the outside of the house! The wood framing that will be used to mount the skirt around the base of the house is underway and one end of the house has had the external vinyl siding installed!

All positive signs as we move to completion.

It's Just Gas

Ms. Trixie has herself a new veterinarian office here in East Tennessee, Cherokee Hospital For Animals -

And had her first visit yesterday morning -

She was having some issues that had me concerned but happy to reports it's nothing serious and we'll be treating her with some medications to help her to get back on track -

The team at Cherokee hospital were great!  Everyone I met was friendly and welcoming.

However, and sadly, I left with reconfirmation of what I've seen and felt for some time now - veterinarians and animal care is BIG business and following in the footsteps of human medical care. Pushing and selling care and products that are really not necessary and really taking advantage of peoples emotions and love of their animals while in a vulnerable situation.

We spent more time in the exam room with the technician answering questions than we did with the actual doctor herself. The doctor came, we did a quick recap of the issues, then she listened to Trixie's heart, looked in one of her ears and lifted her tail to look at her bottom.  She then gave a quick overview of what she proposed as next steps. We convened, so the technician could fetch a printout of what the visit was going to cost AND IT WAS STEEP!  This all happened within the first 15 minutes.

They took blood and x-rays and the next 40 minutes we waited and waited and waited for the doctor to reappear to explain her findings, review the x-ray and explain the medications.

The doctor was pleasant but in a business sense and not overly welcoming.  She struck me as more focused on the business and money aspect than of Trixie herself, as if she was just another patient, a number. Suppose it just is what it is.

Again, the team at Cherokee hospital were great and I'm thankful for their care and help AND that there isn't anything too serious with Ms. Trixie!

Just my two cents.

We're All In On The Fun Too!

Yesterday was a beautiful day here in East Tennessee!

So, it seems appropriate to sit outside and why not next to a roaring fire, that was our plan -

And enjoy some frosty Yee Haw Dunkel beer -

And we nailed this plan!

More Dental Fun, Not

As Toby Keith sang, "Shoulda been a cowboy"...

Interesting exam chair in the Tusculum dental office I had the utmost pleasure of visiting this past Monday morning -

This is the seat I saddled up to, alas -

I was kinda surprised and relieved, not gonna lie, to find a dental office in Greeneville, TN of all places using new start of the art technologies!  A hand held vatech EzRay Air P!

The EzRay Air P is a lightweight portable x-ray device that is designed for easy handling and stable positioning. It delivers optimal image quality for your intraoral x-ray images and the world’s first portable carbon nanotube X-Ray Technology -

Here is one of the x-rays taken of the post that was installed in my mouth back in early March, using the above ExRay Air P device -

This visit was more of a first introduction with my new general dentist, the one who'll take the images necessary to have the fake tooth\crown created and that will eventually mount to the post shown!

Good times 😭

One Of Life's Hard Lessons

😭

Tennessee Blood Donation

I completed my first Tennessee American Red Cross blood donation yesterday at the First Christian Church in Johnson City!

The Red Cross doesn't have much of a presence here, as they do back in Boston, so donation options are limited.  However, I was lucky enough to inquire early and was able to get a spot on yesterday's traveling drive -

Although, I arrive at 2:45PM for my 3:00PM Power Red appointment, I didn't get processed in and in the bed until 4:00PM -

The American Red Cross crews are all great, and yesterday's crew was no different, but they do struggle with getting folks signed in and often get backed up with long wait times.  I didn't mind waiting and appreciate what they do.

And Then There Were None!

There have been turtles 🐢 sunbathing in the pond on our farm since I arrived here in East Tennessee back in December, YES in December, with the exception of the colder days and weeks. They've been out there on that log fairly regularly when driving in and out.

However, the last week or so, and with the temps into the 70s and 80s, we've not seen a one!

We did have temps drop below freezing recently, after a warm up, so not sure if that effected them or perhaps something or someone else has taken place.  It's awful weird is all, not a single one!

According to one local fella, turtles 🐢 are bad to have in your pond because they'll eat the fish. His recommendation was a .22 to address the problem.

Hmmm 🤨

Bubba Night Night

Who remembers the 1978 iconic advertising slogan, "Calgon take me away!"?

It became synonymous with needing a mental or physical break. I'm assuming it's used today to describe a desire to escape, but guessing people prolly recall the phrasing differently, like what I'm doing here...

This Nowadays THC product is akin to Calgon, although not a bath product, in my eyes. A shot of this infused elixir a short time before bed and I get a pretty good sleep -

Sweet dreams y'all!

Find The Critter

A slight variation in my "Find The Critter", as there is no critter in the below pic. Instead, do you know what critter did the damage to the trees shown -

Hint - They're the second-largest living rodents...

Nope NOT Those "Cooties"

After several hours of clearing overgrowth on our farm this past Friday, we headed over to Cootie Browns campus location for dinner, cold beers and some March Madness college basketball -

Their pizza is delicious, especially when paired with ice cold beer!

The "Trim Out"!

"Please use caution when opening overhead bins, as items may have shifted during the flight”, well seems a similar logic applies when transporting and setting up manufactured homes.

In our case the walls shifted, which did quite a bit of damage to some walls, especially around doors and windows, and more so in the master bedroom end of the house, see below.

The damage on this wall is substantial -

Many a door frame throughout the house has similar damage -

One side of the attic vent came loose, which was just enough to allow quite a bit of the white insulation to fall into the living area, see pic below, and it's everywhere -

The kitchen floor with insulation throughout -

There are several cracks in the Livingroom ceiling -

The front door is NOT plumb, as you can see daylight shining through in the bottom right -

There's also some damage to the outside of the house too, e.g. missing shingles, missing pieces of siding, tree limb damage to some siding, etc.

We were told that the damage and issues I've listed above are fairly typical and occur during transit, hence the "trim out" team.

The "trim out" work, both inside and outside, is supposed to address and repair all this damage. Some of the repairs should be pretty straight forward and relatively easy to fix, others, well we'll have to wait and see how the repairs look when completed.

Squeeze It!

It's awful hard to argue with this logic I tell yeah!

Just make sure you have consent, if you're the one giving...

Pause And Read This -

This Is Draining Me

So there's this!

Seems to be a grey water drain coming from the abutting neighbors trailed, which a good ~20 feet or so over the property line and draining onto our Oakdale lot-

The red circle in the below pic is approximately where this drain is located and the red stars are the property line.  As you can see it's well over the line -

From what we've see so day, the area where this is draining stays wet constantly! It's also in the area of our Oakdale property that we use as an access point, sometimes, to our Pritchard property.  The combination is making for a rutted and wet muddy mess.

We're assuming it's grey water but what it's actually draining we do not know.  Seems to be clear, so guessing their washing machine perhaps?!

Ironically, the neighbor who "owns" this drain has raised concerns with both myself and my brother about driving over said pipe (for fear of crushing it).  Initially, we really didn't know what she was referring to, nor at that time did we know where the actual property line was.  However, we've since had the Oakdale lot surveyed and now know with 100% where the property lines are.

This drain is a NO NO, in our eyes as owners and we're fairly certain from the town! It's clearly a potential health issue; who knows what's actually draining out of there, and not something we plan to ignore or let remain.

Stay tuned on this all plays out...

Tsk, Tsk, Tsk What A Mean Trick

What in the world is going on East Tennessee?!

C'mon stop!  Enough of this white stuff and cold temps, brrr!

A cruel trick, especially following a beautiful warm and sunny weekend, geesh -

I'm guessing this sudden cold will have an effect on some of the flora and fauna who were led to believe it was safe to start their spring appearance...

This is pic was taken a couple days earlier, from the driveway of our house, the pear trees starting to bloom.

Littering Bugging Me!

We spent an afternoon last week clearing the lot line between our Oakdale and Pritchard properties.  The area was overgrown with brush and limbs, as well as kudzu vines and grape vines growing up into the trees, so we cut it back as best we could and made a couple piles of the clippings.

We'll eventually need to move the piles someplace where we can safely burn it all, as there's a lot, but the area is looking better and well worth the time and effort!

Before - 

After -

Frustratingly, someone took the liberty of dumping their trash along the tree line, GRRR!  It's been there awhile and unsightly for sure and will need to be removed.  Here are a couple close up pics of the trash - several old tires and an old plastic calf shelter, which is in numerous pieces.  There are a lot of tar shingles too (not pictured); there we're not going to fuss with as most are covered with leaves and debris at this point -

We continue to putter and are making progress here and there.

It's satisfying working on our land and being able to see the differences are hard work is making!