Traveling With Tami - The Big House, Fire Water and Giddyup

"You've never been to The Biltmore?"

I can't tell you how many times SM and I have heard that from friends and family members.

"But it's in your backyard!?!"

"Yeah, yeah...I know.  But come on it's just a house!  A rich person's house."  That was always my excuse but SM and I both started to feel like we weren't representing our state very well since we hadn't been.

So off to the Biltmore we went.  It was a Wednesday and I'd read that everybody always goes to the house first.  The article suggested we save the house for last and go visit Antler Village and the Winery first.  Which we did. 

Eh.  No Biggie.

So over to the big house.  I liked several of the main rooms and thought that my favorite spot would be the terrace, just like here at my house.  I teased SM that if we'd have lived around here I'd likely be stuck in the basement kitchen while he got to be the yard bitch.  "Just like it is now?"  He asked.  "Yep!"

True to my nature I loved the gardens and conservatory best. 

I took LOTS of pictures for screen savers to help tide me over during the dark Winter days.

Then we sat out in the courtyard trying to decide where to head next.

"Cherokee is just down the road.  We could spend the night there."  I suggested.

"And do what?"  SM asked.

"People watch and maybe play some slot machines?"  I replied.  SM and are not into gambling.  Just not lucky that way.

"Meh."  SM grunted.  "How about we head for Knoxville.  Then we can get an early start on The Bourbon Tour."  SM had read about distillery tours that the bourbon makers gave in Kentucky.  I guess if you're big into bourbon, folks make a game of going to every one of the distilleries. 

"We could head over towards Memphis and Nashville."  I tossed out, but SM isn't into country music or Elvis.

So after spending the night in Knoxville, we headed out to do some tasting.  SM drinks Makers Mark bourbon and they were located an hour out of Louisville down a tiny country road.





I was surprised how much I enjoyed this tour.  Seeing 100 year old oak tubs of sour mash percolating. 





Breathing in the "Angels Share" when you first walk into the warehouse filled floor to ceiling with bourbon in various stages of aging. 





It's fascinating to see that every single bottle is waxed (sealed) by hand.  This is a multimillion dollar industry and yet it seems very much like a very small family operation.

We planned on doing the Jim Beam tour but their last tour was at 3pm.  "How far away is Louisville?"  SM asked.

"About an hour." 

"You know, we could go to the Louisville - Rutgars football game tonight."  SM suggested.

"Or we could head into Lexington and do one of those early morning horse farm tours."  I countered.

"How about we do both."  SM offered.  "We go to the football game and I promise to get up early to drive into Lexington for the tour."

I am not into football but realized that SM was really wanting to go.  "How about YOU go to the game and I'll park my butt in a hotel.  You know I'll be miserable and antsy at a game."

SM found a hotel within walking distance of the stadium.  We went to dinner since it was a 7pm game and then parted ways.  SM to hang with the rowdy football crowd, while I found reruns of The Walking Dead on TV. 

I prefer zombies over a live crowd any day @;)

We woke up early and zipped over to The Thoroughbred Center which gave tours of their training stables.  We watched horses "breeze" the track and met up with a manager whose wife owned a beautiful mare named "Tell Me A Little Secret."




These animals are amazing close up.  These folks truly love what they do.

After that we started to head over to Keeneland to watch some racing but the track didn't open till 1pm.  Keeneland only races in April and October so we were warned that it was going to be crowded. 

Anyway, on the way over we spotted another distillery Buffalo Trace.  So we stopped in and did their tour.  Again, very impressive.  Their bourbon is rye based which is actually really harsh.  Now I know why the Indians called it firewater. 





Yuck.  Makers Mark was much smoother since they don't use rye.  They use a red winter wheat.  See?  I was paying attention during the tour! 

Keeneland was very crowded and hot.  We bought general admission which kept us in full sun.  Uh...Hello?  Hotflash Mamma here!  I was sweating like a freak and then when the race started you couldn't even see the track live as we were at eye level. 

Geez.  I'm at the track and watching the TV?  What a bummer.  I pretty much snapped at that point.

"I'm done."

"OK.  Where to next?"

"How about home.  I don't think there's much else to see here."  

The only other thing I wanted to do was Mammoth Caves.  I'd been there as a child but SM had never been.  I remember being really impressed with it but it's a national park so it was closed.  I knew there were other caves in the area but I was done.  Kaput.  Finieto.

After 27 years of marriage SM knows when to put up and when to shut up.  We drove straight though and got home about 11pm. 

And I tell you what...

There's no place like home.

The End

This is the end
Beautiful friend
This is the end
My only friend, the end
Of our elaborate plans, the end
Of everything that stands, the end - The Doors

We had a hard freeze last night. 

28 degrees out there as I write this.  It had to happen sometime I guess.

Goodbye to our 2013 garden.   

Goodbye to my flowers.  I loved you well.  So much so that next year I plan to have much more variety. 

Goodbye to the bugs.  You, I won't miss.  Nasty bits you are.  Die, Buggars, Die!
After today I can go out into my garden and yank and pull without getting feasted upon myself.  And do I ever have a lot of clean up to do.  Enough to keep me busy during the long Winter months.

Goodbye to the squash.  Surprisingly, my winter squash surged late this year.  Very late.  I must've planted 6 packets of Butternut and Dutch crookneck back in June and nothing happened with all the rain we got.  I was SO disappointed. 

Then, about a month ago we noticed a few vines growing with flowers and tiny little squashes on them.  Curious, I let them be and waited to see what would happen. 

I went out last night and cut them off before they froze.

Four good sized Pennsylvania Dutch Crooknecks.  This is a new squash for me. They're still sightly green but I'm going to cook them up and see what happens.  I've read that they are similar to Butternuts which I love.  I don't know if it's an issue that they're a little green.  It might impact the flavor I suppose.  We'll see.

After today begins my dreaming of next years garden.  How about you?  Is everything kaput where you are?

Cruciferous Veg Night

The nights have turned decidedly colder lately. In fact, we have lows in the 30's forecast all this upcoming week.

With the colder temperatures, SM starts thinking about slow cooked, oven baked goodness to fill his belly at meal times.

"How about a pot roast?" SM suggests as we're roaming around Sam's Club yesterday.

"Sure" I say, pointing at the beef section. "Go pick one out. Nicely marbled would be best." 

At Sam's they sell 2 chuck roasts together. One for the pot, one for the freezer.

"With potatoes and carrots?" SM asks hopefully.

"No potatoes!" I wave my finger at him in a uh-uh motion.

"Then what can we cook with it?"

"Well...Carrots and onions. I've got green peppers from the garden." I say.

""How about some whole mushrooms?"

"Go get em." I reply.

So I'm standing there staring at a big bag of Brussel sprouts. Considering.

Now I like all sorts of veg but Brussel sprouts  have always tasted bitter to me which I never really understood cause they look like cute, little mini cabbages and cooked cabbage is so nice and sweet. 

As an adult, I've never cooked brussel sprouts.   But I read on ya'lls blogs how yummy you think they are.

All these thoughts are popping through my head when I hear...

"Excuse me..."

I turn around and here's this trim, middle aged lady sideling up to me. She leans towards me, eyes on the bag of sprouts and says...

"Do you know how to cook these?"

"Well no. I never have. But I've read that if you roast them in olive oil, garlic and salt they get sweet."

"I just love them." She responds.

Eureka! I think.

"Well, how do you cook them?" I ask eagerly, thinking I'll just follow her recipe.

She looks at me full in the face, smiles and says. "Green Giant."

We both laugh.

She reaches past me and grabs a bag. "It's worth a shot." She says shrugging.

"Google it." I suggest. "Somebody out there knows the secret to cooking these things." And grab a bag myself.

I walk over and toss the bag into the cart. 

SM picks it up and looks at it suspiciously.

"Brussel sprouts? You're feeding me deciduous vegetables?" He asks, his eyebrows up. "Don't you remember what happened to Sheldon? (see above clip)

"Cruciferous." I correct, laughing. "And yeah, I remember what happens to Sheldon. Just don't eat a voluminous amount or you'll be mellifluously farting all night long."

I couldn't resist tossing in our favorite BIG words that we'd learned from NPR this summer.

Hey...Some days, humor is where you find it.

@;)

Traveling With Tami - Little Switzerland

So I had a week off from work.  We usually like to take vacations where we wander around looking at scenic wonders like national parks, maybe visit a museum or two.  We also like to try and go someplace we've never been before.

But two things put the kai-bosh on this years trip. 

1.  I didn't want to spend much money.  I'd like to do a bit more feathering of my nest before Winter so I told SM I'd like to vakay on the cheap.

And number 2.  The government shutdown = no national parks or services.  Washington is only 6 hrs away so I'd thought we'd visit all that the Smithsonian had to offer.  Nope.  Not this year at least.

So at first I thought that I'd end up with another staycation which wouldn't have been all that bad except for the fact that SM and I had that look in our eyes that said we REALLY needed to get the heck out of Dodge. 

You know that look.  That glazed over, I can't take it anymore look.

A change of pace was desperately needed.

SM had a job scheduled on Monday so we stayed put over the weekend.  Tuesday morning had us scrambling to get a rental car since both our cars are old and there's nothing worse than being on a road trip with a broken down car on the side of the road.

"Where to?"  Asked SM who had left the details of our big adventure up to me.  It was already 11am so wherever we were going wasn't going to be too far down the road. 

"Little Switzerland."  I told him as I fiddled with the GPS.  "Joe (my walking buddy) told me about it.  It's up on the Blue Ridge Parkway.  It's supposed to look like a European village in the mountains.  Joe says you can spend half a day there wandering the shops so that should be a good place to start." 

The BRP was still open for cars but facilities along the parkway were closed.  I'd also called ahead to see if the Little Switzerland Inn had rooms for the night and made a reservation.  I hardly ever do that but I figured I was in unknown territory and I didn't want to wander the mountains in the dark looking for a place to sleep.

The GPS had never heard of Little Switzerland but fortunately I'd printed out directions so off we went.  By 2:00 we were there. 

"That's it?"  SM asked as we blinked and went by the village which consisted of a turn in the road which housed the Inn and a few shops.

"Go down the road a little further just in case."  I told SM.

Nope.  Nothing else. 

We looked at each other with that deer in the headlights look. 

Uh Oh.

Little Switzerland was little indeed.  SM carefully turned around as I eyeballed the steep decent that was now on my side of the car. 

"Geez.  If I want to kill myself all I have to do is open the car door.  Be careful!!!"  I told SM white knuckled.

So we went back to the Inn and parked.  Check in was at 3pm so we wandered over to the café down the curving road.  We were both pretty hungry by that time.

The café was probably big enough to seat 20 people.  It was a chilly day and the inside tables were taken with other folks lured to Little Switzerland.  But the sun was shining and they had a few picnic tables out front so we sat outside.  SM had BarBQ and I had a salad.  Very nice.

"We're staying at the Inn tonight.  What is there to do around here?"  I asked our server.  She looked at me blankly for a second.

"Well, nothing really.  Unless you like to dig in the dirt."  Panning for gemstones at the mine was the only extra curricular activity advertised. 

"There is Spruce Pine down the road.  They've got more shops to see."  She offered up. 

So we decided to head to Spruce Pine first and then go dig in the dirt if all else failed.  It was after 3 so we walked back to the Inn to check in.  The Little Switzerland Inn is an older Inn with a huge lodge type lobby.  Crackling fireplace with comfy couches and chairs.  A huge panoramic window, terrace with outdoor seating, restaurant, bar...Very Nice! 

We dragged our stuff up to our room and took off for Spruce Pine.  Ah, civilization!  A Western Sizzler, a Dollar General...Whoo, Hoo! 

We drove by a golf course and I said to SM, "Why don't we go golfing?"  SM always drags his clubs along on road trips. 

"It's a nice day and there's nothing else to do."

"You wouldn't mind?"  SM lit up.

"Nah.  It's better than digging in the dirt!"  I grinned at him.

So that's what we did.  Or he did.  I tagged along and took pictures of him hitting the ball which he said helped him figure out his stance or position or whatever. 

It was really a nice day.  We laughed and got goofy until the sun went down on 16. 

Brrr.  Time to head back to the Inn.

We weren't really hungry for a big meal so we headed over to the bar, which was small, but packed.  We found a few seats, ordered some wine, ate some popcorn and watched the baseball game on TV.  SM said he wasn't hungry but I knew better.  Diabetics need to eat and he hadn't eaten since 3.  He was just tired and didn't want to pay the "high" price of a fancy restaurant appetizer. 

I left him alone for a few minutes then waved the bartender down and ordered the prime rib sandwich. 

"Whatcha doing?" He asked.

"I'm hungry."  I said with a shrug.  "You can have some if you want."

I dug into the fries first and waited to see if SM would take the bait. 

Yep.  He picked up a half as I shoved the horseradish towards him.  "Try this on it."  I said as I continued to throw myself on the French fries that SM really shouldn't eat.  Protein was what he needed. 

When he finished that, I nudged the other half his way. 

"You don't want this?"  He asked me.

"I'm fine with the fries."  I told him, my eyes glued to the baseball game, playing possum.

(Ha. Do I know how to take care of my Baby or what?)

With a glass of wine and some food in our bellies we felt more mellow and wandered out into the chilly night to look at the stars.  They had a gas fire pit going down on the lawn to help keep guests warm.  We sat out and looked at the twinkling lights in the sky and on the mountain and reflected on how this simple Inn was actually quite nice.  The perfect place to decompress.

Another couple came out and we got to talking.  They were about our age.

"Where you from?"

"Cleveland."  Ha!  Thus ensued a nice conversation about all things Ohio.  And all things North Carolina.

"Where you going?"  I asked.

"We have no idea.  Road trip you know."  We laughed when we told them that we're doing the same thing.

"I think we're heading to The Biltmore tomorrow."  I mentioned.  "Maybe we'll see you there."  We said our goodbyes and headed into the lodge to warm up.

"How about a game of checkers?" I asked SM.  They had those great big checker mats out on a few tables.

SM tried his best.  He usually skunks me but with the wine, the golf and the driving...Well, he was pretty much done in. 

We slept like rocks and SM ate breakfast ay the Inn while I nursed my Mountain Dew.  By 9am we were ready to go.

"Where to?"  SM asked.

"I think it's time we visit The Big House, don't you?"  We've lived here 15 years and never have never visited The Biltmore.  So we plugged it into the GPS and headed down the BRP.

Malodorous Morning

I intended to enthrall ya'll with tales of our travels today but Callie jumped up on the table for her breakfast and assaulted me with a stinky ass.  Literally.

"What the...?"

As she purred around me I noticed a patch of something on her back near the base of her tail.  I grabbed a wet paper towel to investigate. 

Poop?  I thought cats were supposed to be clean?

I tried cleaning her up with the paper towel but there was too much of it.  The last time I gave a cat a bath I was accosted with teeth and claws.  And that was when Kiki was a kitten. 

I grabbed Callie and a towel and headed over to the kitchen sink and did the best I could with her.  I concentrated on her squirming back end mostly. 

I didn't get bit or clawed and she shot out into the garage to finish detailing herself.

"Yeah!  It's not me this time!"

There's still some residual funkiness in the air though.

"What's that I smell?"

Now I've got the "Smelly Cat" song in my head. 

Smelly cat, Smelly Cat,
What are they feeding you?
Smelly Cat, Smelly Cat,
It's not your fault!


Yes it is! 

It is your fault!

Stop rolling in shit you freakin cat!

Teaser

What happens when you've arranged for a weeks vacation and your original plan to visit our nations capital falls through?

You roll with the punches, that's what.  Can anyone say road trip?

Any guesses to where we went?


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Moo

My boss went to a corporate meeting a few weeks ago. 

 

She's been gone for most of the week so when we had a lull, I took the opportunity to fill her in on a few of the mini crisis's that I'd handled.

 

 One situation in particular had the potential to blow up if I hadn't addressed it quickly. 

 

"I hope you're OK with that."  I told her.

 

"Perfect.  You handled that the same way as I would have done."  Dr R replied.  "That's what I love about you.  You're a buffalo."

 

"Excuse me?"  I asked. And she then told me this story that a speaker at her meeting had told.

 

 

Are You a Buffalo or a Cow When it Comes to Problem Solving?

I heard a great story at my state convention about problem solving. The speaker was referring to problems solving, procrastination and putting off dealing with them.
 

Here is how the buffalo and the cow deal with the storms in their lives. When a storm is approaching the cow hunkers down. When it is finally near and there is no chance of escaping it's wrath he moves with the storm in the same direction the storm is traveling. By doing this he is prolonging the agony and brings more pain and discomfort upon himself.
 

The buffalo sees a storm coming and runs into the storm. By doing this, he travels through the storm faster cutting down on the time of his discomfort. Soon the storm is behind him and the skies are blue again. 

Do you tackle the problems first in your day or dwell on them and let them ruin your day?

Are you  putting them off hoping that they will go away?

By dealing with the problems first, you get them off your mind so you can handle the rest of the day with ease.  How do you handle your problems? Are you a Buffalo or a Cow when it comes to problem solving?

 

 

Later that day we had a group huddle with the rest of the staff.  Dr R was going through her list of updates and wanted to know what the status was of a project that a co-worker was in charge of.

 

"Where are we at with this?"  She asked.

 

"It's still on my desk."  My co-worker replied. 

 

"Hey!"  I said.  "You're a cow!" 

 

Her face looked so shocked as I smiled at her and went "Moo." 

 

Dr R and I burst out laughing. 

 

It's the little things....@;)

 

 

Pot Luck

Last night I took a walk with Deb and Jean, my neighbors.  As we did our laps we gabbed about all sorts of things.  I hadn't walked with Jean all summer so there was a lot of catching up to do.

One day this past month, Jean tells me she came home from work to find that Don had bought her all new kitchen appliances and surprised her with it.

I was astonished.  "Had you guys been shopping for new stuff?"

"No.  That's what made it a total surprise."  She replied.

"Do you do all the cooking?"  I asked.

"Yep."

"Wow.  I think I'd kill SM if he went out and did that without asking me about what I liked.  I mean we're pretty much on the same page anyway but that's a pretty gutsy thing for him to do.  What do you think?  Do you like it?"  I asked.

"Yeah.  It's fine."  Jean said with a shrug.  "He did good.  It's done now and really...It turned out fine.  You guys wanna come in and see?"

So in we went to check out her new kitchen.  Stainless steel flat top stove with a convection oven,  side by side fridge and dishwasher. 

We then got to talking about cooking with convection ovens.  Deb has one but Jean and I have never used one.  Deb is "Eh" about it.  "It doesn't really save all that much time."  She tells us.

"You know what I've discovered?"  I chimed in.  "Dutch Ovens.  You guys ever cook with one?"  Heads were shaking "No".

"I tell you, I wish I'd have know about them when I was younger.  I'm a convert."  I went on to tell them how amazing and tender food is cooked in that big iron pot.

"That's what I use my crock pot for."  Deb said.

"True. But if you're looking for the same result in less time, try it with a Dutch Oven.  In fact, let me know the next time you want to cook a piece of meat and I'll let you use it."  I offered.

Any Dutch Oven converts out there?  Just this past week I've cooked a big pot Chili and also Italian sausage with onions and peppers. 

 

Oh YUM!  It's SO amazingly good! 

The Blind Side

Ginny has had congenital cataracts since we adopted her 8 years ago.  What started out as a slight filmy haze has progressed over the years to a significant cloudiness in both eyes.  This past year I noticed that her left eye has developed a denser opacity that is creating a blind spot in her vision. 

Ginny has a tendency to be my shadow.  She's always there.  As a result she will sometimes run into my knee if I'm on her left side moving through the house. 

I've noticed lately that she startles a bit more easily.

We walk in the early morning when it's still dark.  She manages this surprisingly well.  Our neighborhood doesn't have sidewalks so we walk in the street.  This morning I walked in another neighborhood that I usually save for the weekends since I have to cross a busy country road to get to it.  This neighborhood also has sidewalks so the dogs are fairly familiar with the sidewalk routine.  This morning I zigged and Ginny zagged and "Yipe!"  Ginny smacked the left side of her face right into a young tree trunk.

I checked her and it was more of a startled yipe than an injury yipe.  (Her eyes will now be more prone to abrasions by running into things that she can't see as we move forward.)

Years ago the Vet mentioned a specialist in the area who could extract her cloudy lenses and replace them with artificial ones.  Just like with human cataract surgery.

SM and I have decided not to pursue this surgery with Ginny.  The biggest reason is the expense.  I've researched online and costs can vary from 3-6K.

That's a LOT of money.

Yes, I'm cheap and Yes, she's a dog.  But there's a big difference between human and animal senses.  I've learned to never underestimate how well an animal can adapt to any impairment.

Our old cat Kiki had a bilateral retinal detachment before he died.  He was an outside cat and roamed his territory completely blind for about a year and still managed to come home everyday for meals.  He died when his heart gave out here at the house last winter.  SM and I petted him as he passed.  He lived a good life.

Last night I went for an evening walk with my neighbor Deb and as we're gabbing along, I noticed another neighbor walking her dog towards us.  The dogs eyes were white.  I interrupted their walk to ask them about how long the (12yo) dog has been blind (2yrs) and how life has been for them.

She told me that the dog has adapted fine to being blind and that the only thing they were told to do is to not move the furniture around.  They live in a 2 story house and she told me the dog climbs the stairs and everything.

This makes me feel much better to hear.  I think we all feel a bit guilty when we decide to leave things be in regards to our animals health.  It's really all about common sense. 

As I preach to my own patients when discussing any elective surgery option...

"Just because you can, doesn't mean you should."