From the Campground

Winter has finally made an exit after months of record cold, snow and ice.

There were some hardy RV’er souls who enjoyed the pristine snow covered views.  But now Redbuds and Dogwood have decorated the landscape with color. The spring flowers have exploded. And the grass is growing as I write.

We are in the process of doing Spring chores.  Including pool deck preparation

Here’s a picture to prove it along with one which documents my Highly Technical method of deflating the pool-cover balloons.  Oh, yeah, the photographer will be drawn & quartered soon for this “less than flattering” snapshot!

It’s time to pick up winter debris, mow, clean everything and hope the plants all come up as survivor’s of the challenge of this past winter.  The cabin is now ready and the pool is uncovered.  Another month of preparation and it will be Splash Time.

Today a baby bunny was in the campground.  A little bundle of fur and cuteness. It was young enough not to have gotten The Memo about Run From Humans.  The bunny let me   carefully petted it for a few moments, then it safely hopped into the woods.

WELCOME TO SPRING EVERYONE !!

• Leave a comment...

I have always loved Hummingbirds. Their iridescent colors and darting flight patterns fascinate me. I am in awe of their ability to move their wings 40-80 times per second. That can increase to 200 times per second during the mating season.

After one Sunny fall day, my admiration has been slightly altered.

Every fall, I collect seeds from my plants for the following year’s plantings. Some of these require a drying period followed by removal of the seeds from the pod. It was a

Beautiful afternoon as I was shucking the hulls of seeds, I stopped to watch one particularly aggressive Hummingbird. He was relentlessly chasing off any other hummingbirds that crossed his territory. He paused about 6-7 feet away from me then hung in the air looking at me.

How cute, I thought. Then IT HAPPENED. He dive bombed my face. Five thousand miles per hour (maybe a bit slower). My hands flew up to cover my face, I ducked my head, the tray of seeds were scattered to the winds. At the last Nanosecond, The would-be Killer Hummingbird veered to the left. But, He came back.

As he stopped and stared again, it dawned on me that I had my glasses on. Hey, better late than never. I removed them and he soon lost interest. Being somewhat anal about these things, I placed the glasses on the chair at the same angle they were in at the time of The Attack. Positioning my self near where the KH had been, I confirmed my suspicions. They were a mirror. Readers beware. Never look a Hummingbird in the eye

Not if your glasses are reflecting the bird image back to the potential tiny but mighty attacker.

So I went on to a better activity. Just Enjoying the Fall foliage

• Leave a comment...

This year I would like to share the abbreviated story of Sgt.Robert Welsey Tucker

Members of his family are campers at Deep Valley and just wonderful people.

Wesley was born Aug, 1985 in Cookeville , TN.   He was a 2003 graduate of Celina, Tn.

He was assigned to the Army National Guard’s 3rd Squadron, 278th Armored Cavalry Regiment, Jamestown, TN. He Died on October 13, 2005 in Iraq

Spc. Robert Wesley Tucker, 20, of Hilham, TN, died near Ad Dujayl, Iraq, when an improvised explosive device (IED) struck his Humvee during combat operations The incident occurred after the soldiers received word that another patrol had been hit by an IED several miles away. Sgt. Tucker, three other soldiers and an Iraqi national interpreter, had been sent out to assist. Sgt Tucker drove the vehicle and was thrown on impact. His death came less than two weeks before he was scheduled to return home.

Wesley had married his high school sweetheart and they had a beautiful daughter before he shipped out. While in that country, Wesley did what he could for the local children. At Wesley’s request, his family in Tennessee sent toys for those children.

In an interview after Wesley’s death his mother Kim was quoted as saying “He loved the kids. He’d give them food and call and tell me, ‘Momma, go buy them some toys, some Matchbox cars’, and I would.” “He saw one man drinking out of a mud puddle, so Wes gave him water. I’m just so proud that God gave him to me.”

Sgt. Tucker is buried on his family’s property in Hilham, Tn. The County Highway Department, where he had worked in civilian life, built a road to the Sgt. Tucker Cemetery.

Each year there is a Memorial Motorcycle Ride around Dale Hollow Lake. The proceeds from this ride were set up to honor Sgt. Wesley Tucker’s family and to give back to Celina in the form of a scholarship.

Unfortunately, Wesley is not the only area soldier to die in Irag , Afghanistan or the other world wide locations where our military personnel protect us all.

Remember Them All and their families. Honor Them All. Their gift to us is the Freedom we enjoy.

• Leave a comment...

The Tennessee Rain Maker.

A seemingly normal, harmless man resides in Middle Tennessee. Let’s call him “Arty”.

Arty is possessed with the Rain Curse. Even his brother, who is a preacher, will confirm the existence of this affliction. When Arty goes camping, it WILL rain sometime during the outing. Example: Friday was warm and sunny. Until about a half hour before Arty pulled in. Arty arrived for the Labor Day weekend hours before the rest of his family, contending that he did so in order to have the camper set up when wife and kids got here. Then it happened. A torrential downpour, monsoon style, bringing visions of floods.

To most people in the campground, the Storm from Nowhere was a surprise. To Arty it was a regular, even expected, occurrence. In all fairness, a chance of showers had been in the weather report on all Nashville TV channels. But, with Arty, it became more than a shower.

Demonstrating my past-life skills in delegating responsibility, I posted the sign you see pictured here next to the office entrance. It was effective. Even when hints of clouds began to form, campers went looking for “Arty”. His wife helped by calling him out of the camper if people were looking for him.

Least you think that this was a one-time event, we reviewed the other times he had camped here. You guessed it- some rain, sometime, every time. So, in the future (I have his wife’s approval) I will be assigning Arty an arrival time way before anyone else is due.

But our great group of campers had a wonderful Holiday weekend in spite of “arty”.  Hope Y’All had a Fun Filled Labor Day.

• Leave a comment...