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Shortly after the mountain trek, we headed South for the family reunion. Given we were so close to the Florida state line, we woke early Saturday and trekked down to my favorite freshwater spring for a cool dip on a hot day.

We grabbed some more seafood for lunch and headed back to grandma’s Big House in time for a Summer shower and a big rainbow.

Sunday was the reunion, a stop by the farm, and the long drive back home.

Took some time off around July 4th. Took Tennessee Granny up to her cabin. She’s 88 now, and no longer driving. It was good to have extended time with her. Dad came up too.

We spent time on the lake, fried fish, and watched local fireworks.

I picked up a respiratory thing that led to a steroid shot and a couple Rx’s to knock it out.

My oldest took me on a 2-day hike through North Carolina and into Tennessee. I realized I needed to make some more lifestyle changes.

This week marks 4 weeks of getting up at 5:45, running for 1/2 hour and swimming a mile two nights a week.

Annual Father’s Day weekend camping trip delivered exactly what we needed. Good weather and a great getaway. Water levels were too low for cliff jumping, but we managed to explore some new waterfalls and make new friends on the mountain.

We went to the beach to kick off summer vacation. Everything is so expensive now!

We splashed, watched ships, toured a museum, ate lots of seafood, and visited with friends at the water park.

Eldest kiddo aha their driving permit now and it was great letting them drive 1/3 of the trek there and back.

Ahh! I reset my phone and lost the login for this app. FAQs were not much help. Thankfully I found it saved elsewhere.

So much has happened over the summer. I don’t know where to start!

I *did* manage to get into my old account. Reading through the saved drafts was really depressing. I forgot how difficult those early years of parenthood were, and the place where my head was while juggling two jobs, a full college load, and student teaching.

I’m grateful now and in some ways wish I could’ve snapped out of it sooner and realized how blessed I was with my little family and home. Financial and societal pressures are a bitch!

absolutetierney

audhdad

Adolescent Hollywood crush

feyd-meowtha

audhdad

I recently started Ted Lasso.

On season 3.

Welp. Mid-40s now. Here is my “Healthy Boy Breakfast.”

Flax seed oatmeal with raisins and a dash of butter.

A wedge of watermelon, if it’s in season.

Peanut butter sourdough toast.

(Alternate with avocado toast)

A handful of cashews.

———

Snacks:

Banana, clementine, cashews

#healthy boy #mid 40s #is this middle age?

tom-spanks

remember when u were like 11 and the only thing u wanted was a lava lamp

Yeah, I’d have killed a man for this bedroom as a kid

papayajuan2019

paper and pen seems so powerful now. on account of all the. surveillance

marmorada

gnocchioli

Imagine all the things I could do if I just did them.

I had lunch at the Whistle Stop Cafe. Piddled around the surrounding Knick-knack shops. Found some neat little things.

I stayed in this “farmhouse,” which was actually a legit villa that sleeps 16. The house was situated on a hill overlooking the river and an island that is all part of the property, which is over 600 acres.

We had this neat little turbo-diesel Roxor to explore the property. We shot a bunch of suppressed guns at the pistol and rifle ranges, and also caught some lively bass in the stocked pond. Ate delicious dinner in the lodge’s massive main room.

It was a little humid, but a great reprieve from staring at spreadsheets in the office all week.

I stopped in some small towns to snoop the thrift stores on the trip back home.

Work took me down to middle Georgia for two days. This is the town where Fried Green Tomatoes was filmed. Very peaceful. Very humid!

thestuffedalligator

I’m going to level with you. I have listened to The Devil Went Down to Georgia for most of my life. We were a country music household, this was a staple of my childhood along with Johnny Cash, Garth Brooks, and that one Chipmunks country album.

I have no idea what “Fire on the mountain run boys run/The Devil's in the house of the rising sun/Chicken in the bread pan picking out dough/Granny does your dog bite no child no” means and at this point I’m too scared to ask.

dementian

For once I can be of assistance.

Each of the lyrics comes from an old-time hickory song for fiddles, and is a lyric from that corresponding song.

"Fire on the Mountain" --> "Fire on the Mountain, run boys run"

Fire On The Mountain - Fiddle Player POV

"The House of the Rising Sun" --> "The Devil's in the house of the rising sun"

House of the Rising Sun

"Ida Red" --> "Chicken in the bread pan peckin' out dough"

Ida Red - Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys

"Granny Will Your Dog Bite" --> "Granny does your dog bite? 'No child, no'."

FTC #149 Granny Will Your Dog Bite

And for your furthered education, The Mountain Whipporwill.

Mountain Whippoorwill (aka How Hillbilly Jim Won the Great Fiddler's Prize)

impossiblepackage

this is the key part of the song, that a lot of people miss. people have this misconception that the contest between Johnny and The Devil is about who is the better fiddle player. but it isn't. its about who is the better fiddler.

in a time before things like radios and record players, every time you heard music was because there was somebody in the room with you playing an instrument. and many, many, many social events involved dancing, which requires music. so, if you're planning any kind of gathering in the american south or appalachia, you need to find a fiddler. and the fiddler's job is to play music that everybody knows and likes and can dance to.

the mistake The Devil makes in his bet with Johnny is that he misinterprets the contest as being about technical ability, so he has this big flashy song. he plays fast and impressively with a band of demons playing unfamiliar instruments in unfamiliar rhythms. he's definitely more skilled at playing than Johnny, and thinks he has it in the bag.

but Johnny wins because the contest is about being the best fiddler. the song uses these lines mentioned above as a shorthand for saying that Johnny is playing these songs. Johnny launches into a set of the most popular songs, played well, and that's what gives him his big win. A good fiddler knows all the hits, and can read the room to know what to play next. The Devil loses because he completely fails to read the room, and doesn't know the right songs.

audhdad

I may have grown up in the ‘90s, but my lived experience was near equal to the Dust Bowl in many ways. We were so poor and lived in an old sharecropper shack outside of town.

Having an Appalachian Granny, well, “Fire in the Mountain” was etched into my brain. It’s one of those default songs constantly running in my mind.