Phil asked what I wanted for my birthday last March and I immediately told him I wanted a custom potting bench. I had a gazillion ideas which would all require an experienced carpenter. With his blessing, I began to ask around about a carpenter, but it’s sometimes hard to hire workers here in Highlands. No one even came to see the spot I had picked out and talk to me about what I envisioned. Bummer. But Phil told me that he would build a simple bench and I could decorate it to make it what I wanted. I wasn’t sure but I knew it had to be better than what was presently there. Ugh. I reminded Phil that we had brought three pressure treated columns from Alabama and, maybe, we could use them on this project. He thought for a moment and said, “Yeah. I can cut them in half and use them as table legs.” I reminded him that I had saved Miss Cora’s original sink and I’d like to use it, too. He agreed and began measuring the space and drawing the table. “Don’t forget to add shelves between the outside windows,” I told him. First he cut, painted, and set the post legs. Then he built a table top and cut the table to hold the sink. We picked up an inexpensive faucet set from Lowe’s and he installed it. Looking good! He added trim to make it look more finished. He painted the table top and legs Ewing Blue (Benjamin Moore Paint). I found outdoor fabric on clearance at Hobby Lobby and turned it over to a friend at church to sew table skirt panels. (Thank you, Marie!) He painted the shelves Ewing Blue and the trim Chantilly Lace (Benjamin Moore Paint). I made a quick trip to our local nonprofit second hand store—Mountain Findings. I was looking specifically for an old rake head to use as hooks to hang my tools. I didn’t find one, but I did find an old peg towel hanger or is it a hat hanger or... whatever it was, I took it home and spray painted it yellow to brighten it up. Now my garden tools hang from it. Also at Mountain Findings, I found this metal basket for $1. I love it! And I found this artificial ivy for 50 cents. I added artificial flowers and a spray nozzle to this garden hose to make a cute wreath. I thought the white trim was too blah so I asked Phil to paint a colorful flower border. It took him four or five days but he never complained. i added a lot of my old garden items to the shelves. And we added a hanging basket for some more color. Phil is currently painting Miss Cora’s original mailbox a bright metallic blue and then he’ll paint a large sunflower bloom on the side. The mailbox will keep my garden gloves nice and dry. Isn’t this potting bench so stinkin’ cute? I smile every time I see it. Thank you, Phil!
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Pam, Ginie, and I decided to take an easy 1.7 mile hike in Horse Cove. We thought we could find the official World’s Largest Poplar Tree when we finished the Chattooga Loop and maybe even have a quick look at Granite City in the area. We began the loop at the Iron Bridge. Look at the beautiful Chattooga River as seen from the bridge. These pictures of the Chattooga were taken at the beginning of our hike. After oohing and ahhing at the beauty, we took off on the hike that would soon be known as “The Hike from Hell.” It started out with a pleasant and peaceful tromp through the woods. We walked and walked... We caught glimpses of the Chattooga along the way. And then we walked and walked and walked... We figured out that we weren’t on the 1.7 mile loop about three miles into the hike. We came across three-foot drops in the hike where we had to slide down rocks while holding onto limbs to stop us from tumbling further down the steep slope on the side of the path. What an adventure! We had faith that we’d eventually come out of the woods somewhere and could make our way back to the car so we pressed on. Plus, we knew we couldn’t go back the way we’d come. We would have to climb up several of the drop offs we’d slid down. Four miles of hiking across that moderately rough terrain began to take its toll on me. I had finished off my water and was beginning to feel dehydrated. I got lightheaded and began to have cramps in my upper thigh. We stopped, ate nuts, rested, and, after Ginie checked my pulse for her peace of mind, continued on. This hike just would not end! About five miles into it, we heard men running some type machinery and yelling over the noise. Surely we were near the end! We finally made our way close to the men and Ginie waved them over. It turns out that they were building a footbridge across one of the chasms. When we asked how far we were from the Iron Bridge, he pointed back the way we’d come and said, “It’s five miles that way.” Say what?! I was just about to tell him to call for help to get us out of there, but then he said, “You can go up a ways here and take the trail to the left. After about seven hundred yards, you’ll come out at a little white church on Horse Cove Road. But watch out for rattlesnakes. We’ve seen several.” At this point, I’m thinking a rattlesnake would put me out of my misery so off we went. When we finally emerged out of the forest, that church was a welcomed sight! But the bottled water the workers had left for us at the end of the path were even more welcomed! We had hiked for six hours and had covered approximately six miles. Now I’ve walked six miles before, but not on a path with these conditions! My phone was dead...as you can tell from the lack of pictures, but Pam had saved a little of her battery life. She found a spot where she got a weak cell phone signal and called her husband, Roger, to come rescue us. As we rested and waited for Roger to make the trip down from Highlands to Horse Cove, a truck drove up. “Are y’all lost?” the driver asked. He went on to explain that he lived very close by and about every few days hikers would emerge from the forest completely lost. “They took down the signs for the short loop and people get on the River Trail.” Well at least we weren’t crazy hikers who couldn’t find our way out of a paper bag! Remember those directions I posted at the beginning of this blog entry? Look again. See the entry below the loop... Chattooga River Trail? That’s what we think we did! 5.2 Miles one way... difficult. Yep, we can testify! Roger soon arrived and drove us back to Highlands. I took a delightfully long soaking bath, went to bed at 8:00, and slept 12 hours! Today I’m looking forward to our next Girls Only Hike. We’ve decided to take a short one-mile hike and then have lunch together in town. We’ll see how that goes... stay tuned!
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Phil & SharonMarried 40 years and hoping to enjoy many more! Archives
December 2019
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