I was approaching the end of my eight day stint with work at Lowes and was
looking forward to two days in a row off when I got the e-mail from sweet
Gloria down in Alabama telling me her and her sweetie just "HAD TO SEE
MOUNTAINS" and while they were up in Tennessee, they were gonna come by and
meet the ol' madgardener.......I was sorta frantic at that point, but with
the help of Squire, I would be able to sweep the house into a pile before
they came by.

One of the things that bothered me was that Squire still hasn't sharpened my
lawnmower blade and with my distractions of work and being on automatic
pilot lately,
the grass has grown to about two foot and fallen over. And the wild
whatever's they are are about a foot up around the lawnmower where I
discovered how dull the blade actually was after he finally got it cleaned
and started it for me.........arrrggghhhhh. But Gloria had assured me she
didn't expect things to be perfect and honey, around here it never is.
Despite my best intentions I never stake up, cut back or thin out some
things every year and it's always chaotic...............

So with the monsoons having moved in up here on the ridge for those last
three
days (I'm grateful because overcast days are easier on the hot concrete in
the nursery than those blistery sunny days for six or seven hours watering),
it was worse with the paths. I decided to make a run thru the paths and at
least step on the grasses and encroaching weeds that had moved in behind my
back and discovered not weeds, but perennials have seeded daughters all over
the place. And yes, Bermuda and crab grasses are trying to take hold. No
Johnson grass thankfully, but living next to a pasture I have more than the
lion's share of Queen Anne's lace, two kinds of evil thistles, various
pricklies that have those burr seeds, and other great chigger habitats.

As I tromped thru the paths, pushing the swaths of asters in full bloom
leaning over the narrow pathway to clasp hands with the Helianthus Lemon
Queen which is under the loaded fig tree, I realized this was worse than I
realized. The last three days rain has unleashed the growth fury of every
fairy. Sedums were lying prone at ground level, vinca had snaked itself
from hidden pockets and were lying in wait to throw you to the ground as
they tangled up your feet. Cleome were so thick you were stung by their
hidden thorns when you pushed past them, and I even got a warning pop from a
wasp as it was enjoying the bounty of the many blossoms at varying heights.

As I threaded my way into the pockets of standing room, shoving the great
trunked sunflower trees aside as I peered down thru the fallen straps of the
orange Montbretia's to see if the Crispa spirea has survived, I stepped in
the first puppy pile.........oy vey..........but not one to punish her when
she's actually putting it OUTSIDE, I noted the location and tryed to make
note to come back with hose and pound it into the soil later with the rains.

I made paths thru the grass that was up to two foot in places obscurring the
edges of the flowerbeds, and found four more gifts...........snaking my way
thru all the beds as I anticipated the visit, I was agonizing over how on
earth I would handle this. Well hopefully the massive blooming of all the
different things would distract Gloria and her sweetie, Bobby and they would
be able to laugh as the sheer chaos.

So on Wednesday morning as I headed out into the pre-dawn morning on my last
day
of my week, I passed all the pots along the railing and as I rounded the
back end of the car, the smell of the Glory Bower tree which is now so
loaded with blossoms it's heavy in the air and now especially now with the
humidity slowed my rapid pace down, and something white caught my eye. Oh
hell! The Cerius cactus bloomed last night!! I THOUGHT the bud looked like
it was about to open up when I came home.........

I turned around, almost skidded and went back and in the porch light, the
absolute blinding whiteness of the perfect blossoms jumped out at me in the
darkness. Not one but two had opened, one facing southward, the other one
facing north west and catching the light of the nook door. I went back
inside, ran around to the den door and turned THAT light on to illuminate
the other one facing south, and back to the nook to grab the digital camera.
Two shots with no flash and then two shots with flash I then ran inside and
put the camera on the computer desk, boogied back outside and slowing down,
snapped off the southward facing flower. It would close up anyway and I
wanted to share it with a few co-workers. My flowers always blow them away
that I bring in.

I carefully placed the huge stem in the visor on the passenger side and it
hung there above me as I put the car into gear and almost hit Sugar. She'd
heard me coming in and going back out and wanting to be with me, had opened
up the bedroom door where I'd put her and Rose to stay with Squire until HE
got up, and squeezed herself out the cat door to come join me. I parked the
car, got her caught up and deposited her back in the bedroom, and ran back
outside. And almost hit a possom that was picking up a fallen pear in the
driveway from Miz Mary's. As I approached him he waddled off with pear in
mouth (he/she wouldn't have been able to do that during the day as they're
covered in bees, wasps, hornets, yellow jackets and butterflies) I got to
the curve in the driveway where the rocks are and almost hit some polecats
boogying across from their digs at Miz Mary's..........oy vey..........slow
down, they don't lift their tail and skunk me, they waddle into the tall
pasture grass and weeds just off the driveway and I start up again and just
get onto the paved dead end road, past the mailboxes and almost hit a
coyote. Holy shit.................. are ALL the critters out this
morning??????

The drive got worse because as I watched the coyote haul balls across the
pavement in front of my lights, I realized that I was seeing fuzzy coyote.
Specifically the fog was so thick I hadn't noticed and the visibility was
almost zero. I hadn't paid attention because it was dark. I now noticed
that you couldn't see the road or the faded lines and I slowed down and made
my way slowly up the hills and winding country back roads to work.

As I slowly crawled up the hill towards the first rise, I was now paranoid
and was glancing to the edges of what I knew was the road towards the place
where the woods ended, and sure enough........deer. Not one deer, but
seven. This was going to be a trip in patience. I was almost whipped by
the time I got to the more visible area's closer to Morristown, and trying
to see in the dense fog had tired me out more than if I'd been working. I
got to work with just a few minutes to spare. No biscuit today......

Work was a study in the 3 Stoogies minus one but it was fun, and when I got
off at 11 and was soaked with fog and heavy mists, I was looking forward to
getting home to do some picking up and straightening. Before I left, I
succumbed to the urges to buy plants and purchaed four large pots of
dahlia's we'd reduced to $1. I couldn't resist and they would be a good
experiment in winter storage to see if I can hold them over for next year.
If I lose them I won't lose much but it'll be fun to try them. As happy as
they were in the pots they came in, I just placed them between the cactus on
the railings. If I want to plant them I will have to think about where....

When I came home, there were more pears in the driveway and clouds of
butterflies and stingers rose up as I slowly drove thru them. I Turned
around and when I set out the dahlia's, turned cactus pots on their sides to
drain that don't have holes and started picking up the house. Squire had
already started as it was his day off and we cleaned up the den very nicely
and got things straightened out.

Yesterday evening as he was doing the den, I went outside and picked up some
pots and stuff from around the kitchen deck and side porch and sat down to
listen to the fountain in the old BBQ pit. As I sat there, looking at
Pottingshed's canna in the pot I had sunk into the deeper water on the north
side, I noticed something dark on the lowest leaf. I looked closer and got
up and as I slowly got to the edge of the pool Squire had built on the first
level, I saw that the dark object on the canna leaf was a little frog. Sugar
had discovered I was outside by this time and had squeezed herself
thru the cat window to look for me and when she found me in the swing, she
went around to the bricko block walls and as she stuck her face in the
water, the frog jumped into the water.

She came back over with a wet puppy face smiling at me and before I knew it
she was up in the swing beside me and letting me know she appreciated me,
despite that I am now mad at her because she's a digger. And boy IS she a
digger. She has dug a hole next to the stump of the previously known as
"almost dead maple" tree I finally cut down one year and it's almost a foot
deep. I discovered what she had been doing when I was tied to the phone on
Monday. She had gotten into the NSSG and dug up perennials as well as
leaving me a present in between the two beds where the Japanese anemone are
now blooming and hanging over to the varigated Japanese knotweed.

We sat in the swing just hanging out and I glanced into the water and was
surprised to see there were TWO frogs just hanging out with little heads
barely above the water line near the pot of canna. I got up and Sugar
followed me, I closed the door behind me and went and got the digital and
caught a couple of good pictures of them before they spooked and went into
the water for good.

The house got tidied up nicely, and this morning I woke to the rumblings of
thunder and the sounds of massive rains coming down from outside the closed
window. It was my day off and Gloria was coming over on her way home and I
had a couple of things yet to do. A fresh gallon of sweet iced tea was
making in the kitchen and I had a few dishes to put up. Rose and Sugar were
lunatics as they ran thru the house growling and snapping and playing in the
wierd way they play. Rose has never been around another dog to "play" since
she was 4 weeks old and it's funny to hear how she does it now. Sugar is
normal and hyper and adores her and aggrivates her until she wears her out.

I vaccumed the back den and let them out, and remembered I needed to watch
Sugar as she would dig up my plants and I had just poured good soil over
them to cover them up again, so I stopped what I was doing and went outside.
The air was like breathing under water almost. You could almost taste the
storms that were coming. As I walked down the driveway to encourage Rose to
go into the pasture next door, I noticed that it wasn't foggy today, but it
was worse than that. There were literally CLOUDS just a few feet above me
in all directions and it was spitting huge drops of water on and off. Rose
wasn't having this, she despises water, but Sugar is all Lab and it doesn't
phase her in the least. It made her happier and she got rhowdy with Rose.

As I walked I saw things at my feet that were moving and I glanced down and
it was striped frogs. LOTS of them. Not sure if they are tree frogs, or
what but I saw no less than 20 or more of them fleeing for their lives
across the puddles of the driveway into the grasses on either side. Rose
gave me a crappy look and went into the head high grasses and I could see
Sugar bounding thru the wet stuff as she searched thru the tall stuff for
Rose. They didn't need me now and I turned to go back and saw that the
white crape myrtle is in total bloom, and rising above it is the orange
sherbert colored trumpet vine. And the pile of forsythia branches I'd cut
weeks ago that had finally turned brown that hadn't been hauled
off.........oh well, one can only do so much, right? g

As I got to the sidewalk, the sky opened up and solid deluges of water hit
me like a waterfall. I was soaked in seconds. Rose almost killed me
slipping past me and hitting the open storm door like a rocket. Right
behind her grinning like some crazed hound, Sugar was right on her heels,
yapping and giving her hell as all Rose wanted to do was get past this
nipping puppy and out of this instant bath. As she leaped up into the
livingroom, she turned and gave me this look that I kid you not almost said
out loud "YOU are the one who turned on the water, RIGHT???" I stopped,
soaked as I was, and about that time, a hummingbird zipped past me and
slammed into the blue Enigma salvia and seeing the burgandy magenta grape
purple of the Ruby Slippers Lobelia, almost tore himself in half as he
screeched on his little brakes and did a total turn about and dropped down
to inspect these newest additions. With all the moisture, the Lobelia has
flourished.

Then he focased on me about the time he was immerced in the upper tier of
the largest spike of flowers and almost dropped dead as he realized this
huge thing was way too close. I didn't have to give him time to get away,
he was already up to the tops of the sunflower trees the chickadees left me,
and I came inside to change clothes adn wash my hair. Nothing like a good
fresh rain to soften the hair. g

Warm, dry and getting the knots outa my hair, I walked out onto the balcony
to check the plants out there and there was a tree frog sitting on one of
the huge leaves of my "Aunt Pearline" plant I'd bought in February. The
giant leafed Spathphillium has done very well on the north eastern side of
the house and even handles the strong western sunsets in the evenings. But
the deluges of rains had filled up the bucket the pale sanseveria was living
in until I find a worthy pot to plug it into. Pouring out several quarts of
water, no signs of white rain lilies in the pot, I fear I've lost these,
except there are thin straps of leaves rising out of the pot, maybe I need
to move them into a sunnier spot.

Totally distracted now, I had gotten some of all this hair braided, and come
back inside. What an incredible show of nature these last 24 hours. Massive
rainfalls, cactus blooming in between these monsoon like rains, frogs,
skunks, possoms,. It almost seemed unreal, but that's life up here on the
ridge. Last year we'd had three months of drought, this year we're above 9
inches for the year in rains. And I have a feeling we've gotten more than
that here, because yesterday's downpour hit us but missed everyone else one
mile over.

Gloria and her sweetie got her after lunch just in time for another downpour
and as she looked at all these flowers, I grabbed my rainjacket and put it
on over my hat and proceeded to show her a few things she'd go home with.
There were little Harlequin Glory Bower saplings, and a Sorbaria to dig, Bog
Sage, Heliantus that apparently had jumped out of their beds. Zebrina
malvacea of course as there were daughters of the oldsters I'd cut down to
the ground that still grab at the hose when I DO water, and from seeds sown
unnoticed of the first flowers I now have the thinner new crop of flowers.

I point out purple loosestrife and tell Bobby to remember where the largest
plant is and when we eventually make our way down to the next to last lower
level, I point out the baby that is waaaaay further than you would have
thought. We leave it in the ground. I find extra Dogbane Amsonia Montania
to share, and give her fragrant clumps of Lemon verbena. she'll curse me
later......G

I dragged their butts all the way to the last level in my woods to show them
the "steps" boulder I had dug out when Squire was healing from his hernia
operation a few years ago, then to the actual real level where the rock that
clouded my mind when we first looked at this house in 1995 sits. I had
instantly dubbed it the "fairy boulder" and one day will do to it what I
immediately had in mind when I first saw it. I could see that they were
quickly running outa steam, and as we threaded our way back UP the steep
slope, we hooked to the east back of the house, ducked under the carport and
came back out at the ledge of the NSSG.

Offerings of the inside outhouse and sweet iced tea was accepted as we
walked over towards their vehicle to put the bags in the back. The pussy
willow that never got planted leaped out at me and asked if it could go home
with her, so I bestowed it on her too, completely and totally blowing her
away as she explained how it was one of her most cherished and loved plants
that she'd lost, and I then pulled up some more
perennial begonia's to add to her booty. When they ripen, I will send her
pods of the orange sherbert trumpet vine and a few seedlings.

We finally made our way back across the bowing mini deck that leads to the
nook and east end of the house, and when you first walk in with all the
humidity and heat, the coldness of the house wraps around you as the heat
pump is working really well at the moment. As Gloria was hit with the
coolness of the house, I showed Bobby the den where the bulk of Joyce's
plant and mountain paintings still hang where we put them back and added our
own to blend with the whole appearance of the house.

For those who don't know the quick story, the only other owner of this
house was a native of this area, had been born in the little shabby house
across the driveway and grown up on this ridge her whole life, and her daddy
had built her this house across the entrance driveway as a wedding present.
Later his son in law had enclosed the perimeter of the acreage with the
chain link fence , leaving the bulk of the land unenclosed (that would have
been a fence that would have spanned over 32 acres) which included the
pastures that wraps around the north eastern backside of this house. Joyce
was a self taught artist, drawing and painting things she saw in her land
and home, putting down all these images only after she got back to the house
from memory.

Joyce was a Wine(Miz Mary, my front neighbor I love so much was her Aunt).
And this house sits off of Wine Road where all her relatives and ancestors
live around her and just a short ways away and others rest just a stones
throw in the cemetary down the road. The short time she was on this earth,
her love for nature and plants and things around her were great teachers as
she improved her artistry every time she put paint or pencil to paper or
canvas. When her husband moved out after her death in 1990 up into the
mountains with a girlfriend, he left everything in the house except for his
stuff.

When we first came into the house to look at it that fateful day, all of
Joyce's paintings where she'd hung them throughout the house, all the older
furniture, her clothes, everything, was still here. Quietly waiting for
either her return or someone's removal. I couldn't remove her paintings.
They stirred deep within me and I decided they were mine. So when her
husband kept putting off coming to remove all the remaining stuff out of the
house, the art supplies downstairs that totaled probably in the thousands of
dollars but useless to me (well I could have given them to my artist
daughter in Nashville but at the time we were too poor to drive down there
to give them to her) in the inside room that sits under the outer facing
upstairs bedroom, all the clutter from their 22 years together before her
death from brain cancer, I decided once and for all to get him to either
come take his stuff, or we'd toss it out.

We had closed on this house on March 31st, in February of the next year
after living around the clutter of two people who'd lived here the whole
existance of the house, shed and two story out building for almost a year
with our OWN collection of stuff Squire and I had accumulated over 17 years
blending in and overflowing, I'd had enough. I called him, informed him
that he had 30 days to remove the stuff and that was it. I then took all the
pictures off all the walls of Joyce's paintings that I had grown fond of and
loved and placed them in my bedroom closet. They belonged here with me to
love them as much as Joyce had loved them enough to hang them through out
this incredible whacky and wonderful house. A small amount stayed on the
wall for him to take, including the garish and rather poor huge pink rose
that hung on the living room wall over the white fold out naugahide couch.

By that time, Joyce had been gone for almost six years, he'd forgotten most
of what was here and he loaded everything into a huge truck into the wee
hours of the night from all over the house. Come 3 a.m. when he was about
to drop from exhaustion he was asking me to keep this and that because he
just didn't anticipate the hugeness of what he'd started. The man had
literally just packed his clothes and a few things up and moved away when
his wife died. He never thought about packing up a whole house when he
left. This man had married, lived the whole time in this one house for 22
years and never gave a thought to one day moving away.

So I showed the pictures on the wall to Bobby of the beloved things Joyce
had painted and mounted and hung on the walls, and when Gloria joined us a
few moments later, we made our way down the hallway Squire and his best
friend had made for the house, opening it up easier to get from one end to
the other and towards the livingroom and I got both of them sweet iced tea
as we sat and got our breath. They'd gotten the $5 tour. I had dragged them
from the NSSG, across the front, digging up pieces of this and that, thru
the tangle of the side gardens thru asters and Heliopsis, around the BBQ pit
fountain, down the slope, into the woods, digging and placing plants in
grocery bags the whole time, back up, across and back. It probably took us
two hours. I think I scared them.....G But we laughed alot along the
way.

We sat and did some visiting and they realized the time had slipped by them
faster than they'd figured and there were more storms moving in judging by
the light outside and it was time to call it a day and come back later.

The rains were moving back in, fast, and I decided to at least show them the
deck they'd missed just off the kitchen and they were distracted for another
15 minutes as they saw the incredible madness for all plants, spiney, or
not. I think the image of an old iron BBQ grill covered in cactus and
succulents and such will stick in their minds along with everything else I
overloaded on them, and we made our way back thru the house and out the door
towards their car, with Rose and Sugar underfoot the whole time. And as they
packed up, I decided quickly to walk her down the driveway to show her where
the mountains SHOULD be and open the door to future visits and we decided
I'd show them another route back towards their home by them following me.
I'd hook back home and they'd continue on towards Alabama, and we'd see each
other at a later time.

She got into the car, and they waited for me and the dawgs to get in front
of them at the top of the gravel driveway, and as we made our way westward
off the ridge, the first sign of impending rains started smacking the car
windshield. Huge drops.

The road along the lake thru town is impressive, and that was the way I was
taking them as the back road out and towards Alabama eventually, and despite
the heavy cloud coverage, they'd get to see the magnificence of Douglas Lake
running along the hills and thru the land the French Broad river had cut
thru over time. We hit torrential downpours with great gully washing rains
creating red creeks across the road the whole way. Slowing us down to barely
crawling as I saw for the first time in several months how many people have
moved into the region and cut and built houses along this road.

I'd look behind me and see them quite a ways back, and I'd have to slow down
because the rains were so heavy and the run off was so heavy and deep it
would have flooded the car. I lost them at Douglas Dam road that cuts
across the dam and comes out in Sevierville and hooks up with the road they
were taking the larger portion of the way to avoid the interstate and rush
hour traffic. They had also avoided all the wrecks on the interstate caused
by the intensity of the storms we were driving thru at that moment.

I myself made a misjudgement and decided not to turn around and double back
because of the creeks and high waters going across the road I'd just come
one, and jumped on the interstate, only to find myself locked and unmoving
for the next two hours. It took me two hours to drive home 13 miles.
During that time, I discovered that we'd had a huge lightening strike
somewhere that had knocked out the whole county and while I was inching home
at 5 miles an hour, my son and Squire sat in total darkness because of no
electricity. When I actually got to the next exit to get off and make time
on the back road I had decided against, I could see there was no lights on
inside the truckstop.

When I got back into town and was going to stop at the store for milk for
Squire, the lights were still out, as I observed people sitting at the gas
pump in front of the store having to wait until the power came back on. This
was wierd. The rains had let up a little bit, and everywhere I looked people
were frozen in the places they were at two hours earlier when Nature decided
to remind them who really was in charge.

On a whim I stopped at the little old store at the edge of town that has
been there for over 50 years, and sure enough, the swinging doors were
unlocked and you could see candles inside. So I stopped in to grab milk and
bread and some bologna for sandwiches and was told no milk because the
cooler had a lock on it that went into play during a power outage as a
safety to not let out the coldness on the perishables. Other people during
the two hours previous had cleaned out what milk was on the shelf. Even his
cash drawers worked because they are the old fashioned kind. Gotta love
it.........

Now oldest son understands why there are over 30 gallon containers of water
downstairs in the laundry room..............G

That is how last week went. And there's more......but that's for another
time. Thanks for allowing me to share. I hope to see ya'll soon
enough.........madgardener up on the soaked and still rainy ridge, back in
Fairy Holler, overlooking a steel blue cloud enshrouded English Mountain in
Eastern Tennessee, zone 7, Sunset zone 36