Wood and Knox are tooling

Aren't they styling? What a handsome dude! Everything all set to go. They had about an hour ride and came home freezing to death! :-)

This babysitting is tough work for all the men

We got to babysit Emerson last night and he was a perfect Prince. Pooped, peed, ate and slept right on schedule. Wore everyone out

Merry Christmas!

Visions of Sugar Plums! Party time!Ok now everyone is worn out!Even Petey. Wood sure is a comfortable guy :-)

No snow!

But it is only 17 degrees at 9 AM!

Emerson's first Dec visit

Bry and Kim mentioned that the tree is larger in real life than on the blog so we tried to put some perspective by taking a picture with the little reindeer that Harvey and Vera made for us guarding the presents at the base of the tree. Yes, I realize it is leaning toward the windows, but I would rather it leaned that way than out! :-) Wood just loves to hold Emerson. Emerson was out like a light for about 2 hours while here last night. We all passed him around and he just snuggled into whoever was lucky enough to get to cuddle with him :-) Bry and Little E almost bumping fists Bry's "mom do you really have to take pictures of me look" I think Emerson looks a lot like Kim  Both of them are wondering just what is going on over there. Emerson has just grown so much over the last month!

Ginormous

Last year we got a big tree and I was ever so sure that this was the same size tree. We bought it from our favorite Pettit Creek Farms and they warned us we needed a huge vaulted ceiling (no problems says me) and that it weighed about 200lbs. No way says me. Well after lots of lugging and going to buy the heaviest duty stand in the world and taking it out of the one it was in and resetting it up in the sturdier one- I believe them, easily 200lbs.(this was after attempting with the huge one we had and putting rocks in the base and putting rocks around it and still being afraid it would topple). Now we are happy. Kinda have tired backs put it is up in its new ever so sturdy stand and Wood is quite pleased. Says we'll have to do this again next year ;-). Petey just sat on the couch and watched and wonders when he will have a chance to do his own brand of tree exploring .... hmmm.

Every afternoon at the lake

Bummer don't know if you can make this big enough to see, but Petey is way over past the big logs over by the trees running about and then races toward Wood and then passes him by and runs like a race horse past me. He has so much room and freedom to just charge about there and he could care less that it is only 35 or 40 degrees. Me, I am good for about 20 minutes and then I want to get home by the fire. This morning we went for our normal walk in the woods- 21 degrees when we got up and about 28 when we went for the walk. We bundled up and it was fine, but I forgot to cover my face and it was beet red when I got home from the cold!

A week of haps

Last week Anne came to visit to see Emerson and to celebrate her birthday. We had a great time hanging out and shopping and cuddling with Emerson :-) These geese were on the shore when we arrived, but guess they didn't trust us to leave them alone so made their way into the frigid lake waters.Every afternoon (earlier and earlier it seems these days) Petey insists on going over to the park and running about on his favorite beach. Thought this picture would let you see just how low the lake has dropped. I am going to try to post a video next of him running about. He just LOVES it. Almost as much as his favorite pearch, which you see below :-)

Wow!!!

I LOVE stuff like this. Found this by following some stuff that Jill had been reading (thanks Jill)

And this is when it all began

Wood's affection for motorcycles that is. He is on his cousin Billy's Indian :-)

Betcha can't eat just one

We took Hoss to Fudruckers for his birthday this weekend. Wood thought he ordered a 1/2 burger. Melissa and I think he got a 1lber by mistake. I have NEVER seen a burger this big in my life. Wood made about 1/2 a dent in the burger! :-). Look this picture even has two bites gone already!

It's raining...

Leaves that is. In just one weeks time our maples went from brilliant red to leafless. Now the gorgeous goldens are taking over. Our lake is down 10 feet and although we should be getting some rain this week our drought is still very severe. If you make this picture larger by double clicking on it, you can see the depth marker across the lake and that it is totally out of the water!

I am dreaming of a white...

Well we had our first fire in the fireplace this season while listening to Christmas music, reading the Sunday paper and smelling Taco soup cooking in the crock pot. What a glorious way to spend a Sunday morning. Petey is having to wait for his walk a little later today when it warms up from 38 to 50ish. Oh and as for Petey, we had to take him to the Vet on Friday. He has a fungal ear infection. Let me tell you he does not like either of the type of drops we have (read I) have to put in his ear. One kind is to change the ph in his ear and smells like rank apple cider (which is why I get to put them in... the smell makes Wood sick). The other is the medicine and it has to be refrigerated and even though I try to warm it up before plopping the little drops in his ears, he is still thinking I am doing some kind of slow torture on him. Poor little guy... doesn't seem to have affected either his appetite or desire to play though :-)

Ever so much fun

Monday I broke a tooth on a nut that had been cracked (the tooth not the nut). Boy was I glad that I was home and not on the road. Today the dentist was able to work me in to start the crown process. Once before I had to have a crown on the opposite side of my lower jaw... same tooth. 5 shots of Novocain. I made this dentist promise that he would not give me 5 shots of novocain again (really hard on my body all over, not just my face and mouth0 Well he had to break his promise and he would have given me another shot if I would have let him. I guess my lower jaw is innervated really uniquely (ie I am weird). So it just hurt, even though he tried really really hard not to hurt me and to make it feel like he was drilling right on a nerve. but in the end it is done and I have a temporary crown and I have had a couple of shots of Brandy to deal with the pain tonight and all will be well when i get I get the permanant in about a month :-)

Lost

After a week in a different city, I can't tell you how glad I was to be home. To see the fall colors and trees and woods and lakes and rivers and streams and just to be in my own little sanctuary. The tapestry above that Wood and I bought when on our last Sept vacation really does sum up what I LOVE most. I would rather be lost in the woods any day than found in the city. We rode the beastess over this afternoon to visit Emerson (and his parents). He really had grown LOTS in the past week, at least to my grandma eyes!And finally one of my very talented colleagues and friends, made a jack o lantern out of our FSA post its to welcome everyone to our conference last week. Isn't he great? He whips these creations out in a matter of minutes. :-)

Tummy time or play with Bry time

Tummy time is really play with Bryan time (check out Bry's last 3 pictures)

More Emerson

Two days old 3 days old and already flashing the peace sign :-) And today's picture. Emerson is a really good sleeper. I promise I will catch him with his eyes open tomorrow

Emerson Wray Davis

Kim had the best room and was such a trooper. What a Hospital! Although Bry looks like he is going to do some nuclear (or is it nucular? ;-) ) work, he is really just suiting up for the long awaited birth. And here he is!!!! Isn't he cute? :-) The happy family at last :-)

AT and Benton MacKaye

First off, couldn't resist another sunrise picture. I just love the sunrise's here! Today I got to fulfill a life time dream- to hike on the Appalachian Trail. Actually Wood and I snuck in hiking on both the AT and the Benton Mackaye (say eye). We started at Three Forks and actually hiked towards Springer Mountain on the AT and then turned around when the Benton Mackaye crossed it and headed back to Three Forks. The AT is very well maintained with either wooden bridges or nice rocks stepping stones across all creeks we forged. This particular section was next to a creek most of the way which made the gradual uphill climb very pleasant. There were rhododendrons and pine and fir trees everywhere. I LOVED it. In fact I loved it so much I forgot to take any pictures of the foresty area. Take my word for it, it was gorgeous. I'm coming back here again. More mushrooms in this area-caught a slug on this one. The Benton Mackaye section where we crossed was a totally different type of forest. No ferns, not pines, or firs. Lots of trees and undergrowth it was just different. Also it seemed more like the everyman's trail. It was wonderful but not as fancy as the AT... if fancy is really the right word...upscale maybe??? We saw this tree on the Benton M. part and Wood and I were both speechless because of the bark. It was so weird and unlike any other tree we had ever seen. It kind of looked like a whole flock or 10 flocks of woodpeckers had had their way with the tree (if woodpeckers would ever think of flocking that is ;-) ) See there are plenty of trees and plenty of green for me everywhere, it was just very different from the AT out of Three forks. I had to get this shot just to prove I actually made it to this crossroads. Not really how long this hike was... maybe 4-5 miles, but it was ever so much easier that several of the others we have been on lately. The uphill AT part took us about 1.5 hours and the downhill Benton M. part took just about an hour. Oh I forgot- getting there was half the fun. We took a small country road (paved) and then turned onto a smaller country road (hmmm paved for only a mile or two), drove on it for about 3 miles until we turned onto the forest service road (definitely not paved) which followed a creek through some of the prettiest country every. Beautiful camping spots beside a creek along the whole road. The way back was even a little more adventurous. We took our FS road out and then took a little country road which ended up really never being paved (dirt and gravel) along another river and canoe launching spots. Without a map I would have felt very lost and clueless about where we were. But (tadah!) with a map even though we felt lost, we were free to enjoy the remoteness of it all knowing all along we were in the middle of beautiful no where which was really somewhere :-).