Life on Snow Hill

Lots Of Work To Do

Jonathan — Sat, 14 Apr 2012 16:40:24 +0000

A couple of weekends ago, my uncle was cleaning up some dying trees. There was some oak, hickory and maple, and he asked if I would want some of it for firewood. I got way more than I bargained for. There was also a big oak that fell on the corner of my dad’s garage, so I got as much of that as my saw could reach.

By the time it was all in my yard, I was feeling a little overwhelmed. My pastor had offered to let me use his wood splitter. Up until I saw the amount of wood I actually had, I was determined to do it all by hand. That’s the ‘old’ way, after all. So when the last log was dropped on my yard, I made the decision to accept that favor.

Becky and I also had Ryder and Braden (My two oldest nephews) staying with us this week, so I had a good bit of help getting the wood split and stacked after I cut it up into manageable sizes.

I’ve barely made a dent in the wood I have to work on, but I’ve got a pretty good stack going already. Here are a few photos of what I’m talking about…

Spring Storms…

Jonathan — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 19:56:15 +0000

We had a little excitement here in Oak Ridge. Excitement is relative, by the way. When somebody says, “Hey, come look at this hail!” we all go running…

Some Fun In A Puddle

Jonathan — Sun, 18 Mar 2012 19:50:22 +0000

Today some of my nephews were playing outside. After all the rain we’ve had the past few days, there’s bound to be some water somewhere. Leave it to them to find it…

A Quick Getaway

Jonathan — Sat, 10 Mar 2012 22:30:40 +0000

Last Wednesday night after church, Becky and I were able to get away for the rest of the week. Kristan & Scott had invited us to share a rented cabin with them, and it was an easy decision to say yes and get ourselves up to the mountains on Wears Valley Road. The cabin was nice and roomy, even with all 9 of us there.

On Thursday we made a trip into Pigeon Forge for a good part of the day and spent some time at The Track, then came back and relaxed for the rest of the day. I didn’t feel all that great that day, but honestly did enjoy myself.

On Friday I was feeling back up to 100% and was able to enjoy myself even more. The worst part of that day is that I began to feel quite a bit of soreness in my out of shape legs from climbing the stairs in the cabin.We stayed around the cabin for pretty much the whole day. We mostly relaxed, played pool or watched TV for most of the day.

Today I had to get back home. Originally the plan was for me to go to work – we had maintenance scheduled. But last evening, our water went out in the cabin. We called and got a maintenance guy up there, and he said he couldn’t have it working before late morning today, after we’d all be gone. So rather than go in to work, I came home and worked from here.

Aside from running out of water, it was a very nice getaway and Becky and I are already talking about when just the two of us might be able to do it again…

Here’s a video of some of the fun from Thursday.

Another Time-Lapse Video

Jonathan — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 16:43:16 +0000

One of Becky’s gifts she received for Christmas was a wooden chest. She’s always wanted a cedar chest, so she was pretty excited to get this one from her dad. He wanted to see a picture of it when we got it put together (our little ugly Prius couldn’t haul it if it was already assembled), so I decided to set up the video camera and record a time-lapse of the assembly. It turned out pretty cool I thought..hope you enjoy.

It’s 2012 Already?

Jonathan — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 14:36:41 +0000

It seems like just a couple days ago it was 2011 (*ba-dum-tshh*). Ok, but seriously. I wasn’t trying to be a Scrooge or anything, but it never felt like Christmas ever really made it here. Yeah, we got together with family and exchanged gifts and all that stuff, but it never felt like Christmas. I suppose since it never felt like Christmas, the new year just feels like even less of a reality. Maybe it’s because I’m getting older and time seems to move faster. (I just remembered..I did turn 30 this year…I mean last year.)

Enough with the corny jokes… In a lot of ways, I am glad to see 2011 become history. There were a lot of hard times in 2011, and I’m not just talking in generalities. Several of our church members have had a really, really rough year. I know that new year’s day is just like any other day in the grand scheme of things, but we humans like to think of it as a fresh start. A time to reflect on the past for a bit, then to make it into a new start.

I do pray, for all of you, as Moses did:

The Lord bless thee, and keep thee:

The Lord make His face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee:

The Lord lift up His countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.

A Rough Week

Jonathan — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 14:43:22 +0000

Well, last week was a rough week for me. I had a medical procedure on Tuesday that I had to prep for beginning on Monday. I got breakfast Monday morning, but nothing after that until late afternoon on Tuesday. Before that, I only thought I knew what it felt like to be hungry.

Once I was finally able to eat, things were all better.

On Wednesday, I was finally able to go to church (We had been in revival meetings beginning on Monday). It was rainy. I stepped on our makeshift sidewalk in my already slick, but now partially mud-covered boots. My leg went one way, the rest of me went the other way.

Instinctually, I tried catching myself with my left arm extended. I extended it too far. In fact, I hyper-extended my elbow. I considered linking to a video to demonstrate what I mean, but I’ll spare you. If you really want to watch one, just search for it on youtube. It stayed very stiff and very sore for a couple of days, but it’s good now. I still feel a little sore, but the stiffness is gone, and I can generally do whatever I want now.

As a part of the doctor visit on Tuesday, I was given a prescription medication. I wanted to try to use it in the mornings, so I tried it for a couple of days – Friday & Saturday. It has warnings about possible dizziness and drowsiness… I only slightly felt those symptoms, but it was enough to stop taking it in the mornings. All I felt like doing was napping (which my wife says I feel like doing too much of anyway).

So now that I’m past all of that, I’m actually feeling pretty good today. Even though it’s Monday. I’m looking forward to a short work week and a great Thanksgiving!

Robbing the Bees

Jonathan — Sun, 26 Jun 2011 21:16:33 +0000

I got to watch the process of robbing honey from bee hives that my dad is raising, and made a short video of the general process. Hope you enjoy.

Time-lapse Storm Video

Jonathan — Mon, 16 May 2011 13:33:17 +0000

I recently bought a new HD camcorder, and one of the built-in features is a time-lapse function. I was home during a small storm the other day, and decided to try out the feature. Here’s a video…

The Prius Turns 100,000

Jonathan — Wed, 11 May 2011 15:31:43 +0000

I’ve said since the day we bought it that our 2005 Toyota Prius was the ugliest car ever made. But looks have become less important to me as gas prices have gone up. With my yearly average around 45 MPG, the looks don’t bother me too much.

A few days ago, it reached 100,000 miles. The best I can tell, it still runs like it was brand new. It runs at least as good as it did when we bought it, at which point it had just under 60,000 miles on it.

Anyway, I made a corny video documenting the milestone. Sorry it’s shaky – we were driving obviously. And no, I wasn’t videoing while driving. Becky ran the camera while I drove.