STRANGE WEEK here on the Cumberland Plateau

Most of you know that I am fascinated by the WEATHER.... (I seem to talk about it alot!!! ha)....  Anyhow we have just had a week of almost every kind of weather possible... Beginning last weekend,  it was like SPRING... Our temperatures got up to almost 70 degrees.  George and I were working in the yard ---and got almost too warm!!! Can you believe it ---in JANUARY????

Above and below are two pictures showing how our SPRING FLOWERS think it's March --and are trying to grow/bud/bloom... GADS--it's too early!!!!   The Jonquils (Daffodils) above are growing TOO fast.  You can even see a couple of buds on some of them...

Be sure to click on the photos to see enlargements.

AND--even though our Crocuses haven't popped up yet,  the HYACINTHS are BLOOMING.  Unbelievable!!!!

After the Spring temps/weather,  we next experienced FOG..... Here are a couple of photos I took from the deck looking out onto the golf course fairway.  Fog makes for some great pictures..

AND---as the day continued,  the fog just got worse and worse....   I don't think the fog lifted that entire day.

Next came more RAIN..... AND --it kept on for hours and hours and days and days... There was flooding all over East Tennessee.   We had nothing severe here on the mountain --but we did get alot of rain.   It seemed to go on FOREVER....

Above shows the water between our backyard and the golf course fairway...

Here is what I call the Betsy and George WATERFALL in our back yard.  This area is usually just a rocky area (no water)--but when it rains hard like it did,  we have our own waterfall here.  How 'bout that?????

Finally,  here is a picture of the water out front ---going down the hill next to the front flowerbed George built a few years ago... Some of you may remember how this wall fell when he was first building it---due to high water.  He has built a really nice ditch for the water now,  and it seems to flow well...

If  Spring temps,  fog, and flooding weren't enough ----guess what we had NEXT???  We had FREEZING RAIN...  Again,  it can be dangerous --but we didn't have enough to break any limbs or cause any damage.  Freezing rain is like fog since it makes for some really nice pictures...  Here are two which I liked. (Please enlarge them.)

I called them,  GLISTENING TREES.....  Neat picture,  isn't it????  George took this one.

After the Spring weather (with temps in the upper 60's--almost 70) ---the temperature dropped rapidly and stayed in the lower 30's most of the rest of the week... It was miserable being outside (putting out bird seed for my backyard birdies).....

One evening ---just before dark,  while I was on the deck putting away the bird feeders,  this is what I saw on the golf course fairway... I'm surprised that this picture came out as well as it did since it was almost dark...  I had to use a flash and my long lens.  There were EIGHT deer paying no attention to me --but busy eating...

The weather forecasters (who never seem to get our weather correct) predicted that we would get 3-5 inches of snow yesterday... Everyone believed them --and even the schools here were cancelled for the entire day...  Guess what????  We got NO SNOW---not a drop!!!!!   I was so disappointed --but truly not surprised...

Instead we just got more Freezing Rain --and some SLEET (pictured above).... Fun Fun!!!!

FINALLY ---to close out an interesting week,  here is what the sky looked like after the system finally left us yesterday afternoon.... 

Here's one more picture of that PINK SKY....  Isn't it pretty????   Guess what that means??? It means SUNSHINE for us TODAY ---and hopefully,  for several more days!!!!   Most of us in this area are ready now for some SUNSHINE....

Can you believe our week?  Here's what we had:  Spring temperatures in January--which turned cold quickly;  Fog;  Rain-Rain-Rain--which led to flooding;  Freezing Rain;  and finally, Sleet.....  Very interesting!!!!

BUT--the one thing I wanted (SNOW) never happened...  I told someone on Facebook that I need to just get over it --and start wishing for SPRING... ha ha

Have you ever had a week like this????  Unbelievable...

Have a great weekend and I'll see you on Monday!!!

Hugs,

Emoticons

Linville Falls Hike, North Carolina

From Nov. 7-9,  George and I took a short trip to Asheville,  North Carolina.  First we traveled through the Smokies  (and saw fog and snow).  On the next day,  we made a wonderful trip to Grandfather Mountain (and about FROZE to death--even though we had fun)...  In order to see those three blog posts --if you missed them,  click HERE.

Today I will share the last post from that short trip.   We next took a hike to Linville Falls.  It was a nice hike --and not nearly as cold as it was on Grandfather Mountain.  We first hiked to Upper Linville Falls.  The picture above was one of us that a nice person volunteered to take.  We were at the overlook to Upper Linville Falls.

Here is a collage showing more from the Upper Linville Falls area.

This gal was certainly happy to be in this beautiful place!

Here's a good picture I took of George at Upper Linville Falls.

Here's a picture I took of the beautiful blue sky --while we hiked that day... (After all of the dreary, gloomy, cloudy, rainy, foggy skies we have had recently,  I yearn for some beautiful skies like that NOW... ha ha)

After another hike to Lower Linville Falls,  we got to an overlook where we stopped and took pictures of the waterfall and of the gorge.

The sun was beginning to go down --but it was still with us on the overlook to Lower Linville Falls.  We had to use our long lenses here since Lower Linville Falls was not very close.  (We did find that you can get closer --by going on another hike,  but since it was getting late, we decided to come back another time. )

Here are our pictures of Lower Linville Falls.  The picture on the left shows how far away this waterfall was from our overlook.  The other two were taken with the long lens.

Here's a picture George took of me at the last overlook.  I was happy to be there --and as you can tell,  much warmer than I was when we were at Grandfather Mtn... ha ha

Hope you enjoyed our pictures from Linville Falls, and from that November trip.

Have a wonderful day.  Please pray for the people who have been flooded in Tennessee and other states these past several days.  We have all had TONS and TONS of rain.  We are fine here on the mountain --but we did have freezing rain part of the time.  Luckily, we didn't have to get out in it.  This has been a crazy past few days!!!!  

Hugs,

Emoticons