Category Archives: Rural Life in Mendota

Daily adventures in a rural farming community.

Reading Serafina and The Black Cloak

For those that know me well, you probably know that one of the reasons I wanted so badly to return to Southwest Virginia…Mendota, actually, was because I loved my childhood here. When we first started looking for land, I still thought we would have children or we would adopt. I was 35 and still young enough by most standards. However, it did not happen. I am okay with that now.

I wanted to have children here because I remember what it was like to play among giant mountain laurel (the wild version of rhododendrum) by a creek and string the leaves together to make a skirt, which never stayed quite right. On the small hill called “the Knob” that seemed so big, there were ravines and shadows and smells all contributing to an active imagination. My cats would hunt on “the Knob” but I was certain they were heading out each day to an alternative life where they worked, attended school and had a whole social structure similar to the world I knew.

I believe that is one of the reasons I enjoyed the Juvenile Fiction book Serafina and the Black Cloak by Robert Beatty. Serafina is the cat that I wanted to be as a child.

I’m not going to spoil the book for you, but I will encourage you to read it. It’s very good.

There’s other things I like about the making of this book. It is set at Biltmore. There is a book trailer out and it has the author’s daughter dressed as Serafina.

Look at Serafina’s pretty dress. The author’s wife made it. I read about the Beatty’s. They’re wealthy. They could have asked a seamstress to make the dress, but that is not what occurred. Jennifer Beatty, Robert’s wife, made the dress at their kitchen table. I can imagine her listening to his description of how the dress looked “in his head” and the two of them and perhaps their daughters planning the dress. He talks a little about the dress on his blog which is here

Disney is promoting the book, and I would not be surprised or one bit unhappy if Serafina becomes a movie and little girls everywhere will want a Serafina doll, with her cat-like eyes, wearing a red taffeta dress–just like the one Jennifer Beatty made.

If you haven’t read this book, please do. Middle-school aged children on up to….well…their 60’s….will find it very good.

Antiquing in Church Hill, Tennessee

I took a day of vacation today, and by all accounts, I wasted the entire day. I meant to do lots of stuff around the house. I.did.nothing. We have guests staying the in the guesthouse and I did get it ready but other than that–nada. I had great intentions, but I came home from work last night and developed the worst sore throat imaginable. I just knew I had strep throat. However, this morning when I woke up with a stuffy nose, etc., I knew it was the dreaded cold! Ugh. So I didn’t feel like doing too much even after I took some cold medicine.

Mostly I watched my seven week old kittens. Many will be going to their furever homes soon, and I wanted to enjoy them just a bit more…the little gray one on the left will be going to live with my niece. The little one sleeping on the right has someone interested as well. I call him Huckleberry. He was the first one born. I rescued their mom, and she is the best mother cat. I’m tellin’ ya….people could learn from watching a mother cat. She gives them just the right mix of love and discipline.

To get Mike onboard with my plan to accomplish nothing, I suggested we go for a ride. “Where?” he asked. “Church Hill, Tennessee,” I replied. “Why?” he asked. “I dunno,” I replied. Off we went!

I actually did have something in mind. Several years ago he bought me this window at an antique mall in Church Hill and I wanted to go back. I have no idea what the name of the place is but they have lots of windows and old doors out front. (Update: I have later learned it is the Homestead.) Here is that window that he bought me back when it was cold this past winter!

And here is that window last spring…

Here is that window at Christmas…

And here is that window when I was apparently thinking about coloring in a coloring book.

Oh…I think there is a fall one. Yep…here it is.

At any rate, we all should be in agreement whether you like my artwork or not — I sure have got my $7 worth for that window!! So I wanted another one. We brought this one home. The asking price was $38 but we paid $25. I’m going to use it in my den. I’ve got plans to use it as a picture gallery. If that fails, out will come the chalkboard spray paint!

While at the antique store, I founds lots of other stuff, too, which I thought was interesting. This is an old Chlorox bottle. It was $8. I really was drawn to it, but the last thing I need is more junk.

Here was the one thing I would have bought if Mike had not been with me. It’s a Pepsi box. It was $25, but I probably could have got it for $20.

It had been used at a Pepsi Bottling plant in Marion, Virginia. When I was a little girl, I told everyone I would marry a Pepsi man so that I could drink all the Pepsi I want.

This was a good idea for my other baby, Adventure Mendota! I have some old inner tubes. We don’t use them for tubing, but we tried to once. They turned us dirty. However, to blow them up and paint them…now that’s an idea I can use!!

And…because I love them…a rotary phone. It was a Bristol, Tennessee number. I’m itching to call the number, but I won’t.

And finally, I did bring this home as well. I’m going to put it in my den. Probably near the picture gallery I’m going make. There’s a lot of gonna’s there. We’ll see when that actually will happen.

It was fun being back on my blog again. I’m going to update the look of this blog in the next months. I’m excited about that, but I’m still working through what it will look like.

A Little Organization Really Helps

Since Mike and I opened up our small seasonal business, our lives have been like drinking from a firehouse. We’re drowning! No one is complaining, but today when we had a large cancellation, it freed the day up to be a lighter day, and I decided to stay home and clean my house. My sweet neighbor has been helping me out by cleaning this summer, and when she could not do it this week and I discovered that I could, I was happy!

When everything is moving so fast, sometimes it’s helpful to control what you can control I can control this mess. At least today!

Even something as simple as napkins — we use cloth napkins, and where I used to iron them and put them away, I have just folded them and stuffed them away this summer. I realized last week that they were looking bad. Some of them were 20 years old — I’d bought them in Franklin, Tennessee in the 1980’s!! I went through them, and if there were not four napkins that matched that had no stains, they went into the rag pile. This is just one pile. Sad.

Here it is… Napkins Three

After I did this, for my every day napkins, I was left with only two sets of four and even these are showing a little wear…

Napkins Two

But after I ironed and folded them, they’ll work for a while longer. I felt good slipping this little–much lighter-basket under the counter where I keep my napkins. I’ll be buying more in the coming weeks.

Napkins Four

It feels good to be in my home today. It’s just me and River and the two cats inside, and Lilly and her five kittens right outside where I can watch them. I have a lot of plans for my house this winter. We are moving to the guest house and having our hardwood refinished here in the main house as well as touch up the paint. I’m going to use that time to rethink every piece of “stuff” in this house.

I’m trying not to buy things just for the sake of buying them. However, I have looked at this sign for over a year. It wasn’t cheap, but I like what it says. I think there are too many signs displayed in homes I see in magazines…they seem to shout for attention! Yet, I really wanted this sign…maybe I wanted some attention, too! Seriously, it speaks of who I want to be…not who I am…but who I want to be. Words to live by!

Sign

Hope you have a good day. I am going to start vacuuming! Woo Hoo!

Posting From Adventure Mendota 080715

Hi…I so miss RiverCliff Cottage, but I posted tonight on the Adventure Mendota River Blog and thought I’d just link it up here as well. For those of you who do not know, my husband and I opened up a small paddlesports outfitter featuring kayak and tube rentals. We’ve had a very good first season–far better than we’d hoped, and it’s left us grateful. And exhausted! We argue over who is the most tired. Of course, it’s me!!

We have been so blessed to be busy this summer, but I expect that after Labor Day, things will slow down, and my life will resume to normal again. Meanwhile here’s what is happening on the North Fork

Adventure Mendota’s River Blog

While I’m not going to be blogging too often until things slow down, I am going to start working with the web designer who helped me build this website and update it a bit. I’m looking forward to that.

Hope you are having a good summer!

Flash Flood in Mendota and Benhams

As I left North Bristol and approached Benhams, a man held his arm out the window and flashed his lights. I wondered what was going on.

The creeks were out in the road and water was rushing across the pavement. I drove through it, and I got to the other side, but my car moved. I was scared. More water was ahead, but this time I could see the yellow center lines so I drove through cautiously but knew I could reach the other side.

Benhams was a mess. There’s pictures all over Facebook of the water. I drove down Nordyke and halfway down encountered this…a log was in the road and Nordyke Creek was there with it.

After the log was moved, it was still too dangerous to go through. I turned around and went to my cousin’s house. Mike was able to drive up in the truck and get me. Since I drive a Prius which is low to the ground, there was no way I was going to drive through water again. Here’s the creek that was in the road.

Further down, Sherman Pippin (Bubby)and friends were working to get Barb’s old bridge (Barb is Bubby’s sister) off of Bubby’s bridge.

Whew! Sometimes the day is a challenge.

Kittens July 8

Four days old and they are already developing personalities. This little gray one that I’m thinking is a boy is called “Huckleberry.” He loves to eat!

As soon as I took the picture above, he did this…

The Mendota Five

A few weeks ago I wrote about a stray cat that had joined the feral cat that we have been feeding. He hates my cats and terrorizes them. However, for some reason, he took up with this little black and white stray. He’s a neutered male, and he’s sweet in a completely dysfunctional type of way. When I pet him, he arches his back to be petted yet hisses at the same time.

I thought the black and white cat looked pregnant so I made her an appointment about ten days ago, but we had something go awry here at the house, and Mike could not take her for the appointment. We missed it. It’s an ordeal to take a cat to the vet because as we drive out, they always are frightened and always are sick from the car ride, so it’s not something we just do — we plan it. But we didn’t get there. We had our own doctor and dental appointments, cars that had to be taken for service, and so on and so forth. We didn’t get to the vet. How irresponsible is that? But, at any rate, last night she had five kittens.

I knew something was amiss yesterday. She…I call her Lilly after a saloon girl in an old tv show, was very clingy to Muffin, the gray feral. She wanted to lay with him on his pillow, but he wasn’t really about sharing that pillow so she sat on the edge of the chair. Muffin has filled out quite a bit since I wormed him. He’s due another round. I want to get him to the vet but I haven’t figured out how. I can’t imagine riding in a car with Muffin in the cat carrier. I can’t imagine getting Muffin in the cat carrier for that matter. If there are any vets wanting to go kayaking, I’ll cut you a deal if you’ll come up and vaccinate Muffin!!

Last night, Lilly was so tired. She curled up in her bed and seemed completed exhausted. So much so that I slipped her little bowl in with her so she could eat. I suspected that the kittens were coming. By 11:00, I went out and she had one kitten. An hour later, there were FIVE kittens. Did you know each kitten may have a different father? My goodness, Lilly, what and who did you do?

I decided to embrace these kittens. I love kittens, but I never allow a cat to have them for obvious reasons. However, these are here, so I’m going to enjoy them, socialize them and hope I can find them good homes. If not, well, I’ll be the woman with NINE cats. Here they are. They can “mew” very loudly.

I”m thinking where I can put these kittens in the next few weeks where they can develop, socialize and not be harmed. My biggest fear right now is that Lilly will lie down on them and smother them. They sleep about 90 percent of the time, and I go out and check to make sure no one has gotten smothered. So far…so good.

I’ll keep you posted. They are my new fascination.

Liar Liar Pants on Fire

Are you having a marvelous 4th of July? I didn’t even get a red white and blue wreath up!! We anticipated this being a really busy time for our paddle sports business, and then, the rain came. And it came. And it came. On the upside, the river should be great for kayaking and tubing for the next several weeks.

So while everyone else was blowing up fireworks, we took our “off day” and blew up tubes. See that blue tube that is in front of the blue and white tube? Which would you prefer? Most will say the Intex River Run. It’s a commercial tube, and it should be good, but we’re having trouble with them. Maybe they don’t like our river?

Pix 1

They lose air. Do you think you could float very far on this (pictured below)?

River run Dead

That’s why we’ve purchased a whole bunch of these blue ones like the one I am sitting on. We had about a dozen which we’ve been testing, and they’ve done well, so we ordered a bunch more. And I just want you to know that the camera really does add 10 pounds and my hair looks terrible. If I’m going to work in the tubing business, I have to figure out a way to not have horrible hair due to the humidity. I think I’m going to grow it fairly long where I can put it up in a twist; it looks good up, but it falls down. I’ve got to learn to put it up and keep it up. I’m going to get Viagra for my hair. That’s a plan.

Sandy and eva in Tube

Oh dear…as I write this, it’s pouring rain again. We may never reopen at this rate. We may go in the ark business instead. I’m using this time to think ahead a little bit. We have company coming in July. I have to get this house together. What better way than to start working on a chalkboard window for the mantle about summer?

Summer time

Mike, who has been working every day since May 2 when we opened, came by and looked at the chalkboard and said “that is a ~~dam~~ darn lie….followed by “liar…liar …pants on fire!” But I like it anyway, and I will put it up tomorrow.

By the way…have you ever seen so many life vests? These will be handy for all ~~the new kayaks, the tubes~~…the ark!

PFD 1

And more…
PFD 2

And more…I swear…they are like Walmart bags. They are breeding when we’re not looking!
PFD 3

Happy 4th of July!

How To Clean Your Life Vest

Since I had never been on a kayak until October, 2014, you probably don’t find it surprising that I didn’t realize that a frequently used life vest, now called a personal flotation device, can become really stinky.

You might find it surprising that based on the fact that I had never been on a kayak until October, 2014, I now am a partner with my husband in a small paddle sports business called Adventure Mendota. Can you guess what else we do after you look at this picture? We tube.

Tube Mobile

Besides doing tubing, I now ~~love~~ adore kayaking, and I own over 60 life vests. All 60 go into the river pretty regularly. On week 7 of our new business, we realized all 60+ had a stinkin’ problem.

Here’s how we fixed that:

Step One: Mix 1 cup white vinegar + 1 gallon water (in our case, we multiplied by 8)

Step Two: Submerge and swish the life vest around for about a minute

Step Three: Mix 1/4 cup of a scented laundry detergent such as Gain in about 8 gallons of warm water

Step Four: Submerge and swish the life vest around for about a minute. Use a toothbrush on any muddy spots that are still there.

Step Five: Rinse with hose.

Step Six: Hang outside until completely dry. This is my favorite part.

Life jackets on fence

The life vests smelled so nice this evening when we brought them in. We want to take care of them and use them for as long as we can, so I’m glad this worked so well.

That’s how we do it out in the country!!!

Everyone Needs Someone…Even Muffin the Cat!

Muffin is our little feral friend who showed up during the coldest part of winter, and we put together a makeshift home for him with a pet heating pad so that he could stay warm. It was an odd looking arrangement. It was a box that was bubble wrapped inside another box with our grill cover on top and all this was heated with a special heating pad for cats along with an occasional hot water bottle on extra cold nights. I put my hand inside it, and it was nice and cozy. I think this cat appreciated it. He had no choice. He could not go anywhere because of the snow and extreme cold.

It’s put away, but Muffin remains. He absolutely hates our cats, Chrissy and Sweetie Pi. They cannot come outside because he terrorizes them. He comes up to the window and punches it with his paw. Redneck cat.

However, he doesn’t hate all cats. He brought one home with him last week. She’s playing hard to get. She’s a pretty thing, but I have a sneaky suspicion that she is in the family way. And it’s not Muffin’s as he is not able to do that.

But love is strange. They remind me of “the Lawman” and “Miss Lilly” who sang at the Birdcage in Western Land television. Our cowboy, Muffin, has fattened up a little in the months he’s been here but he’s still rough around the edges, but he has a sweet spot for someone.

They enjoy a little sip of milk together..

Maybe pull in a little closer. “It’s nice to graze her whiskers.” says Muffin.

Cats are supposed to be solitary, but I have learned by watching Muffin and Lilly. They occasionally lay just close enough to one another to touch. I don’t have a picture, so you’ll just have to trust me. I’ve also seen her lick him. Once.

Everyone needs someone, and I’m glad Muffin has found his Lilly. She’s going to have surgery in a few days unless someone on Swinging Bridge Road reads this and claims her.

And of course, this one…the one that rides around in the truck with us now…is so interested in this whole affair. River has not harmed the cats but if they run, he chases them and a terrible scolding ensues. He’s learning. Still, I think I heard him say…

He is such a spoiled rotten dog.