I use the phrase, “a stroll in the woods”, to describe many of my outings. Truth be told, they are usually anything but that, being more related to major challenges in the form of strenuous, extreme, view or waterfall goaled pursuits, or bushwhacking. This hike was little more than a stroll in the woods, easy walking, quite pleasant, not recently logged, low underbrush woods. I was amazed several times at how far we had come in such a little time. Only at the end did we break out of the pleasant wood onto a large field. And there we came across an unexpected surprise. Check it out at “Ridgewalk.”
Archive for July, 2023
A Stroll in the Woods
Posted in General, Grandchildren, Hike, Nature, Outdoors, tagged Grandchildren, Hike, Nature, Outdoors on July 30, 2023| Leave a Comment »
Story Bookends
Posted in Ecology, Exploring, General, Hydroelectric Dam, Implications, Infrastructure, Outdoors, Photo, tagged Ecology, Exploring, Hydroelectric Dam, Infrastructure, Outdoors on July 23, 2023| Leave a Comment »
Soon after we bought a “new-used” car, I saw a Facebook sale of old books. The seller was offering one book, an antique children’s Bible story book, for $5. So, I decided to go check it out in my new car. Along the way, TN Hwy 394, was a sign that indicated that South Holston Dam was along a road turning off of the highway. On the way back from buying the books (He threw in 3 more for $5 additional), I turned off the highway toward the dam. Many years ago, I feel confident, I had visited this dam before, because my father liked to take Saturday or Sunday afternoon drives to engineering feats around the area. But I don’t rightly remember it. So, I made a few minutes of memories of my own. I will make an effort to go back again, perhaps for a picnic or a hike or a canoe ride. Until then, here are my pictures and impressions at “South Holston Works.”
Undertows and Overtones
Posted in General on July 22, 2023| Leave a Comment »
For His children, God, in His good providence is always providing and guiding our way through this life. Sometimes we see it, recognize it, and feel it, and sometimes we don’t. Here is a little story from yesterday about recognizing it. I was traveling down the 4-lane, TN 11-E, to work in the morning at a normal, controlled speed. You dare not do otherwise with the county and state police hovering every couple of miles. I was listening to the local Christian radio station, WHCB. Periodically throughout the day they inject an encouraging Scripture or Scripture-based thought between programs. There was more to this spot than I am going to paraphrase, but here is the gist of it. ‘When you became a Christian you may have thought that life was going to be smooth sailing, but it has been far from that. It has been more like a roller coaster with the ups and downs, loops, and hairpin turns [rollercoaster and riders screams in the background]. God is there to guide you and help you. Trust Him. When life throws you a curve, He’s got it under control.’
Less than 30 seconds later my car gave a small jerk and I realized that the engine had died. I pushed in the clutch as I coasted and tried to restart the car several times to no avail. My decreasing speed meant that the other cars drove off and left me so that I could look around for a good place to bring the car to a stop and leave it while I figured out what to do. I pulled into an urgent care office (irony, right?) in Piney Flats with an extra wide driveway where I could pull over to the side out of the way, perhaps 50 feet off of the highway. I went in to inform the receptionist as to why a car sat in the driveway rather than the parking lot. She asked me what happened. When I rehearsed what I just told you about the car dying, she volunteered that it might be the alternator. It made sense. The battery did seem weak.
I called my wife who was just finishing breakfast. She quickly got dressed and drove our recently purchased “new-used” car to pick me up. Given that the car which quit had 277,000 miles on it, we had recently purchased the second car as a replacement when the older one quit. I drove her back home and drove to work, arriving about 1 minute before my first client. Having no clients in the afternoon, I came home, changed clothes and drove down to see what I might be able to figure out had happened. While on site, I called my youngest son who has experience as a mechanic. Given the lack of diagnostic tools and a second person to help me, I did only a few checks at his direction and could not figure out the problem. A little discouraged, I went home and looked up auto mechanic shops and towing services. I went up the street to find one of the shops permanently closed. The one just down the street was overwhelmed because of the closure of the first one. I called a towing service who came very quickly, and I met the tow truck at the car. He hauled it home and offloaded it in the yard. Now what? I guess I will have to try to fix it sufficiently to sell it.
God worked out every detail as if choreographed in a dance routine. I felt carried along. But it doesn’t always seem that way, does it? That does not mean that it is not so. God is in control, “caus[ing] all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.” (Romans 8:28) The tow bill was not cheap and the inconvenience was not fun, but the peace He gave me through the radio message was sure. His Word is always sure. It should “not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it…” (Joshua 1:8) Life is good because God is good. I want to live for Him to find peace and joy and give testimony to His goodness. That takes focus on truth and God rather than surroundings and circumstances. Focus on God’s Word helps immensely. Check out a few pictures of the event at “Stop and Go.”
Revisiting Old Haunts
Posted in General, Hike, Nature, Outdoors, Photo, tagged Friends on a hike, Gorge, Hike, Outdoors, Waterfall on July 19, 2023| Leave a Comment »
Was it just five weeks ago that I took a young friend to a couple of waterfalls? (see “Refalls“) Other friends heard his description of these places and wanted to see them. So, last Saturday we carpooled to a few of my old haunts, places I could give a tour of because of the number of times I have been there previously. Check out the pictures and commentary of this outing at “Linville Falls and Gorge.”
Laurel Run
Posted in Connotations, General, Hike, Nature, Outdoors, tagged Hike, Nature, Outdoors, Waterfalls, Word Meaning on July 10, 2023| Leave a Comment »
Not being an expert in my language and far less so in any other language, I am fascinated by multiple definitions of many words. Many times the different definitions share a focus, but other times you have to wonder what mental gymnastics occurred in order to bring about such a definition.
Topographic features have a multitude of names, sometimes with technical differences and other times with only regional usage differences. For example, terms for flowing water in English are many: river, stream, creek, branch, brook, tributary, estuary, course, rivulet, run, rill, and flow to name several. Many of these terms have specific definitions that differentiate them from the others. For instance, an estuary, which you might confuse for a bay, is actually a flooded riverbed. It gives evidence from the erosional pattern on its bed that the ocean was once shallower and the river flowed across the land there.
Other terms for flowing water are vaguer. Consider, what is the difference in a brook and a stream? A less used term, at least in my neck of the woods, is a run. It seems to be more commonly used for upscale subdivision names than actual watercourses. In my mind (opinion?) a run is a small stream that has more or less continuous flow.*
There is a run, Laurel Run, near where I live. I wonder who named it, or more specifically, where they were from that they used the word run rather than crick, a more popular slang in our parts.
The really amazing part of this musing is that the subject of this blog, a hike with a friend, was an excuse to go off on a language tangent about flowing water. Well, at least my mind is not stagnant. If you want to get to the pictures of our hike, click on “Laurel Run and Pretty Ridge.”
*That reminds me. Is a wash a dry watercourse or a stream that is frequently dry? One is a landform whereas the other is the flow across that landform.
Refalls
Posted in Beauty, Hike, Nature, Outdoors, Photo, tagged Hike, Nature, Outdoors, Waterfalls on July 2, 2023| 1 Comment »
I do like to explore new parts of the woods, mountains, and streams, but I also like to show others some frequented beauties. Check out my pictures of just that at “Refalls“.
CreatorWorship 