More Than One

Y’all know this to be true…

What’s Your Desire?

If you had the choice where would you choose to live, Pleasure Circle or Pleasant View Drive and why?!

Go!

Open-air Footwear

I’m a bit confused 🤔 

I’ve noticed many of the folks I pass when out walking, who are out walking themselves, wearing flip flops or sliders or sandals or something similar. Believe it or not, there was even this one dude who was actually jogging in sandals, no socks (sock with sandals is a whole different rant), I kid you not!

This seems super uncomfortable to me. Putter’n around the house, at the beach or pool I can see but walking any distance, especially running seems odd to me. However, full disclosure, I’m not a flip flop or sandal kinda guy so there’s that.

Just an observation that I find unusual.

Carry on.

Put Me In Coach II

You’re on deck, so dust off and get ready to be “put in” -

Stay Hydrated

Here’s a creative and caring dog loving abutter to the walking trail I’ve been visiting!

A “Doggy Hydration Station” -

It’s always full and always crystal clear clean!

It was SO hot and humid the other day I contemplated taking a drink myself tongue 😜 

Small Vee II

Of course, just a couple days after posting about not seeing many Canadian Geese here in East Tennessee, we’ll whadda yeah know -

Yup, several dozen milling about in this recently harvested wheat field this morning, which runs along a section of the trail I’ve been walking. 

As I pointed out in my previous post, Small Vee, the “goose grease” is the dead give away that these nuisance pests are nearby and sure enough it was present and covering a large portion of the trail today, gross 🤮!

The more I think about it, I’m guessing here in East Tennessee, these honkers will start appearing more and more as corn fields, soybean fields, wheat fields, etc., are harvested leaving behind oodles of grains for the taking.

I don’t blame them, free eats after all is a good thing. Just would be nice If they’d stay off the walkways, roads and parking lots…

Dos Fawns

I “spotted” these two adorable fawns this morning and immediately banged a u-ey, so I could takes these pics and watch them frolicking -

They seemed awfully big to still be sporting their spots but what do I know.

They were adorable and fun to watch regardless how spotted or old they may have been.

A Striking Pollinator

Here’s another beauty I captured in the below photos yesterday on my walk, a female Black Swallowtail butterfly.

There were many busily fluttering about but only this little lady was feeling photogenic, the others, not so much -

She was dining on the nectar of a red clover flower -

Believe it or not, according to the Google machine, the Black Swallowtail is one of the most common and familiar butterflies in eastern and central North America.

I would have guessed it to be the Monarch butterfly. I stand corrected ☺️ 

Small Vee

I was slow on the drawn with my camera at capturing these Canadian Geese flying by. I heard them approaching but still didn’t react quick enough.

Perhaps, because I’ve been conditioned with SO many of these honkers back home, where they’re actually more of a nuisance, in my opinion anyway, that I was slow on the draw.

You see them ALL over back home! They’re paired up in the spring in areas where they chose their nesting spots. Pretty much wherever there is some sort of water.

Yes, their gosling are adorable but that cuteness wains as they grow and there are scads of these waterfowl taking over. It’s not the animals per se but the “goose grease” they cover everything with, 🤢! This is problematic at ball fields, parks, businesses, golf courses and public spaces.

This group I captured needs to work on their flying formations. They were in two groups with one kinda in a vee but the other not even close -

Seems I recall, back when I was a youte, these critters were seldom seen and when you did see them they were typically flying overhead and in tight vee formation! They were on the brink of extinction at one point in time, however, conservation programs successfully brought them back.

They don’t have many real predators to keep them in check; yes, coyotes and foxes, which is one reason why there numbers have exploded.

They’re still federally protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, which is one reason why there are millions of these bird and why you see them everywhere.

They don’t seem to be as invasive here in East Tennessee, as I can count on one hand how many times I’ve seen them since being here. Maybe I’ll appreciate them more by having less encounters with them but they definitely need to work on their flying formations first.

A Little PDA

Looking like real life Beaky Buzzard (Looney Tunes cartoon) and Mama Buzzard (Becky’s overbearing mother) who debuted in the 1940s -

Perhaps, just two Black buzzards on a romantic date 🥰 -

Or, with full bellies, they’re simply discussing how delicious their roadkill dinner was, 🤔 

Either way, they’re cute 😊 

A Black & Yellow Kaleidoscope

Here’s a group (kaleidoscope) of male Eastern Yellow Swallowtail butterflies puddling along the Nolichucky drinking water and healthy minerals they so need.

Although, a bit hard to make out, there are five in the picture below -

They were busy doing their thing and were not bothered by my presence. There we oodles along the banks of the river, many in groups like these.

It’s been so darn hot and humid, who can blame them.

Find The Critter

Can you find the critter in the first picture below -

This is Sinking Creek before the heavy rains fell.

An opportunist Grey Heron blends in perfectly, while patiently waiting for an unsuspecting critter to become its meal -

Sticker Shock

It was a pleasure to remove the Commonwealth of Massachusetts registry inspection sticker from the windshield of my caah yesterday.

Massachusetts requires a vehicle inspection every year, which includes safety and emissions checks, at a fee of $35 for most passengers vehicles and $15 for motorcycles.

I can’t help feel this is just another way for Mass to impose an additional fee/tax, a.k.a. money grab, from the state just passing it off as in the best interest of safety and for the environment -

Failure to have a valid current year inspection sticker could hit you in the wallet even more with tickets if pulled over by the police. These stickers are color coded based per year so easily noticeable if expired.

The premise makes sense, especially the safety aspect but yearly is a bit much, as are the penalty fees if caught with an expired sticker.

It’s more pronounced when you see what other states do or don’t do when it comes to vehicle safety and emission checks, e.g. Tennessee does not have such a program.

Now I’ve seen very questionable vehicles on the road here in East Tennessee that would NO way pass both safety and emission checks. 

I understand the premise, just not the fees behind it. That being said, I’m pleased to no longer need to do this!

One Of A Kind

Vitiligo is a condition that causes some area of the skin, fur or feathers to lose their pigment.

I have vitiligo, primarily on my hands but in other areas too but hidden. It becomes more pronounced in the summer from the sun. Here is a pic of my left hand -

Clearly, this condition is much more stunning in the animal world, as shown in these dogs and cats -

@love_animalsgram

The List

A Baptist??

This lone doe crossed Old Tusculum road right in front of me on Tuesday afternoon.

She didn’t seem to be in a hurry and did not looked skittish or rushed. She took her time crossing, stopped on the lawn and calmly looked around before slowly walking up the hill towards the church. All this in what looked like a residential neighborhood-

Perhaps, she was going to confession?

Masked Marauders

Admittedly these are not the best pictures, terribly actually but it’s all I have so they’ll have to do…

They are pictures of raccoons. A mother and I believe five babies.

I noticed them, from my bathroom windows last night about 8:30, walking along the woods line, headed towards the pond. It looked like they started climbing up a small tree, so I headed down to see if I could get some pics.

Well, they were not up in the tree, instead they saw me and headed into the pond and started swinging away, all of them in a neat line -

You can make out one’s face in the pic below -

Suppose I should be thankful they were headed away, instead of coming up towards the chicken pen.  Of course since they’re obviously in the area the chickens will always be at risk.

They were awfully cute raccoons 🦝 

Start Your Engine

An interesting choice for a mailbox -

What category might this fall under - Redneck? Gearhead? Artsy? Robotics? Alien? Other?

Do you find it creative?

It’s unique for sure.

Five-And-Dime Diner

I stopped and grabbed lunch today at Clinchfield Soda Station in Erwin.

What a cool breakfast and lunch spot. Located inside the Clinchfield Drug company building. It’s an old school diner type counter with swivel stools along side the drug store wares, even a pharmacist filling prescriptions!

Very similar to the good olde F. W. Woolworth Company, aka “Woolworth” diner, if you’re familiar with this five-and-dime store from back in the day!

I got a cheeseburger with pickles, fries and a sweet tea. It was delicious! One of the better burger I’ve had since moving to the area. It was so tasty and tender, cooked perfectly and the fries were also tasty and piping hot -

These sodas look interesting too -

I’ll definitely be visiting again. They have an “Iron Horse” burger that sounds and looks delicious but I’ll need to bring a BIG appetite to tackle this burger 🍔 but I’m up for the challenge.

Might even top it all off with an old fashion milkshake!

The service was great too. I give it two thumbs 👍 👍 up!

Lap It Up

Seems I was sold a bill of goods!

They said this was a bird bath but clearing that is NOT the case after witnessing the below this morning -

The Eyespots Though

Whatcha look’n at bub?!

This male Hackberry Emperor Butterfly thought I wouldn’t notice him perched on the back porch light fixture -

The row of white spots near the tips of its forewing is the tell that this is in fact a Hackberry Emperor butterfly and not its closely related Tawney Emperor butterfly. 

Learn something new every day 💡!

Put Me In Coach

No vampires in this old barn, just bundles and bundles of tomato stakes -

Rain Rain Go Away

Took this picture and video, click link below, of Sinking Creek in Afton this past Saturday afternoon -

This creek runs parallel to Ripley Island Road and is usually a slow running and winding stream. However, with all the heavy rains we been having, this creek came alive, and overflowed its banks and washed out and over the roads in several spots!

Click link below -

Roaring Sinking Creek

The Nolichucky river was roaring too and running super high -

This is an interesting pic below. It looks like the field of corn is now in the river, the water had risen so high -

Fortunately, it seems the water levels receded fairly quickly once the rains stop but it’s left behind quite a bit of damage once you get off the beaten path.

Jiminy Crickets!

What in the Sam Hill and tarnation is going on here in East Tennessee?!

It’s a coming a gully washer with all these sudden torrential downpours! There’s enough rain to wash out ditches and flood fields I tell yeah!

Some of this rain is like a cow peeing on a flat rock! Just incredibly hard and a bouncing rain all over the place!

Somes even like the Devil is beating his wife, with pouring rain and the sun a shinning!

Golly! I recon this is normal round these here parts of East Tennessee…

I do NOT care for it, any of it! 

Find The Critter

Can you find the critter in the first couple of photos below -

This beauty (beauty is in the eyes of the beholder of course) is actually a Black Vulture, not a Turkey Vulture!

It’s very common to see Black Vultures and Turkey Vultures soaring overhead together. The Black Vultures often follow Turkey Vultures to carcasses because Turkey Vultures have a better sense of smell, while the Black Vultures rely on their eyesight.

The Black Vultures have a dark gray-black head and are a chunkier bird. They flap more when flying versus the soaring of the Turkey Vultures.

This dude was just chilling and didn’t seem to mind me stopping to take these pics, very photogenic I’d say.

Go For It

When given the opportunity, take it  -

Hi Ho, Hi Ho…

Despite the humidity and downpours, I was still able to get seven days of walking in!

Here are the stats for the week, Monday to Sunday -

Disregard my laziness in May and June above.

Making up for it here in July!

Found a couple nice walking trails in Greeneville!

Enough All Ready!

With all this foolish heavy rain we’ve been having, our pond has breached the top and now running overtop of the driveway -

We had the grade level of the driver’s raised in that area of the pond specifically because it seemed to always be “wet”. It was raised quite a bit, so very surprised to see it breaching.

It’s ironic because not too long ago, before all this rain, when it was dry, the pond level dropped quite a bit! It was super low. One neighbor said it’s gone dry in the past. Well that’s not an issue today.