Not Much Happening…

There just isn’t too much going on for us right now.  We are a couple of weeks of winter away from more local exploration and day trips which will include historical sites and restaurants.  Daylight savings time will help too!  That extra hour of daylight allows for more exploration on our part…and we love it.

So here are a few random photos, all local, with critters, food and our upcoming spring season…

One day while on the way to the drug store to pick up a couple of prescriptions, we turned off the main road so we could stop by and visit with our favorite local donkeys.  They are so smart and inquisitive too… Lots of donkeys in East Tennessee serve as ‘guards’ for herds of horses and cattle.  They are fierce and will attack coyotes when their pastures are invaded. 

When the NFL’s Super Bowl Game was broadcast in early February, we ‘had to’ decide on our football snacks for the event.  Laurie decided to put together and melt a mix of cheese for dipping.  The mix started with a store bought tortilla cheese dip which she supplemented by adding half of a bag of mixed Mexican cheeses.  What to dip in this mix?  She suggested that I take some quality beer bratwursts that we'd bought at Fresh Market, cut them into bite size segments and fry them up, getting a crust on both sides of each piece.

This was my first plate of our assembled goodies… We supplemented this tasty game day treat with some corn chips for additional dipping.  The sausages, fried on both sides and dipped in the cheese, popped with flavor!  Excellent!  This is one treat that we will do again…a great appetizer for when we have company.

There are 323 single family homes currently under construction in our non-gated ‘village’!  Lots of folks moving in from New York and California with money to spend… Still, despite the construction and its noise as well as the loss of wooded protected areas, our neighborhood deer are still wandering through the area looking for food.  We just love them but there is no telling when the loss of habitat/cover will reach the point where they stop their visits to our yard.

Laurie decided to do some baking one day in mid-February.  She made these great chocolate chip cookies from scratch.  She used dark chocolate instead of milk chocolate and we decided that we prefer it over milk chocolate.  These cookies were very rich and moist yet chewy and they had a great shelf life too!

Ah, the promise of spring!  A warmish day with blue skies accented by the trees along one side of our home...  Note the fullness of the tops of those trees as their buds make their promised appearance.  Most of these trees are on the lot next door to our home and would be cut down if someone decided to build there.  It is a terrible lot…almost like a gully…and for now it’s owned by the POA.  Time will tell but we’re enjoying the view for now.

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them…

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave