The Critter Gitters

Today there was quite an adventure in the Cunningham household. This morning, Jeremy mentioned there was a bird in the house that buzzed past him and continued up and out the fireplace. However, Big Connie thought it might actually be a different flying species. She could still hear something in the house, and upon further inspection, she was correct in her assumption. Good thing the Critter Gitters, a.k.a. Russell and Jeremy, helped rid us of the rodent.

Tate City

We went back up to the Tallulah River this weekend with George and his family. However, this time we took the "short" route. We made it all the way to Tate City, population +/- 32. My cousin, Jeremy had told me about it, and being that it is so remote and up in the hills, I was expected to hear dueling banjos and see people with 3rd eyes. Not the case. Most of the 32 residents obviously have a lot of money-the town mainly consists of horse farms and beautiful estates, and a lot of free time on their hands-the nearest store is a 30-45 minute drive back down the mountain. There is a cute little cabin for sale which is more representative of the style and character of a remote mountain village. If I had money to spend on a vacation home, this would be it. But for such a great location, $165,000 doesn't seem that bad at all. I guess I also need to start a vacation cabin fund. Anyway, after our tour of town, we headed back down the river to fish. After seeing all the caught trout last week, and the number of people having success, we were quite excited. However, Saturday was one of those day where the fish just weren't biting. You could look down and count 30 fish in the holes, but they just weren't interested in eating. And people were trying everything: corn, dough bait, crickets, spinners, flys, and on and on. There was one little old lady who had caught 5, but out of the 40 people or so fishing, she was the only one. I would imagine the fact that she had been sitting in the same spot for a few hours was her trick.
I did get to play around with my camera trying to capture moving water again. Obviously I don't know what I am doing, as none of the pictures turned out. I could get the speed correct, but too much light was coming in and I don't know how to change that setting. The fact that the pictures last week turned out so well was sheer luck. So, I have decided I need to sign up for a class on basic camera operation.
After fishing, we headed back to Clayton and then made a detour to Sky Valley to check out the piece of property that Jack is a shareholder in. There is a neat old covered bridge and a huge waterfall that goes down the mountain called Estatoah Falls. You can even see the waterfall when you turn up the road to Sky Valley.
On our way back to the city, we stopped at a farm and picked up some fresh fruit and veggies which we thoroughly enjoyed for breakfast, lunch, and dinner on Sunday.

Bad Carma

So, apparently my car was pissed off at me for the whole power line incident. After I took it to the shop to get an oil change, new brakes, and an expensive tank of gas, she wouldn't start. Two nice men jumped me off and as I was leaving the parking lot, it died again. Then after 30 minutes of trying to find someone else with jumper cables, I finally got her jumped off again. I was too nervous to try to drive, so I pulled into a parking spot, and sure enough, died again. After a $50 tow and a $65 new battery everything was as good as new. Except the balance on my credit card. That added with oil change and brakes left me in the neighborhood of $500. Nice.

In the meantime, I have decided I was foolish to ever buy this car, because I have always wanted a Jeep Wrangler. Too bad I still owe exactly what my car is worth...so if anyone reading this wants to donate to my Jeep fund, just let me know. This is what I was thinking:

Don't step on downed power lines

My life just flashed before my eyes. This morning, on my way to work, I was waiting to turn right at a red light. I could not turn right b/c there were quite a few cars coming, one of them being a large utility truck with a crane. Apparently, the driver did not have the crane down all the way and it caught on all the power lines in the intersection. He did not realize and kept driving, taking all the lines with him. The lines started to break from the transformers and the poles and went flying through the air. There was a huge popping noise and sparks flying everywhere. I started to freak out and rolled my windows up b/c the flying, sparking lines were flying straight for me and the open window. Then there was more noise and sparks as the lines all came crashing down on my hood and the roof of my car. I guess it was lucky the guy driving the death crane truck still didn't realize b/c he continued to drag the lines off of my car. All I could think was get the hell out of this intersection so I turned right to get around the truck. Then I noticed there was a mini-van dragging another line. So I just squeezed between the van and death truck and was free!
I didn't know what to do, so I kept driving to the office, which thank goodness was only another mile away. I could feel my nerves getting the better of me the closer I got to the office. I kept thinking the electric shock was somehow delayed and at any moment I might still get fried. (I know, not rational, but I was still very freaked out.) When I got to the office, I just walked in and collapsed on the floor and had a break-down. Somehow I managed to tell Brent what happened and we went outside and looked at my car. It does have some black streaks across the hood and one scratch-but it appears most of it will clean up. Scary.

Hiawassee Weekend

This past weekend, we took a trip to Hiawassee-for those of you who don't know-it is a small town in the north Georgia mountains where my family was born and bred. Friday night we hung out at the lake with the Girles (that is my Aunt and Uncle's last name) and enjoyed a beautiful sunset. Afterwards, Jack instructed the kids on how to build a fire. Saturday morning we watched the parade downtown, which featured a lot of cool antique cars and horses. After the parade we took a ride to Upper Hightower and then followed the dirt road, well not dirt so much as rocky and a little scary, along Charlie's Creek and over the Tallulah River. My little car did great, although there was one time I thought we might not make it. I'm glad Jack was driving. I even got to pull out my tripod and practice taking pictures of moving water-something new to me. The shots turned out pretty good, however it started raining and we ran out of time so I didn't get quite as many as I would have liked. Once we crossed the river, we road up towards Tate City and then back down over Clayton Mountain to Hiawassee. The drive was very picturesque as we followed along the rivers and creeks for most of it. The old forest is so dense, it most have been at least 10 degrees cooler up there than in town. There were lots of people fishing, each with their limit of trout on their lines. Unfortunately, we forgot our poles, but we will definitely be heading back to this spot to try our luck and maybe even stay the night camping.

Samuel Haven Cunningham

This is my nephew who will be arriving around October 22nd. I actually hope he is a Halloween baby, as that is probably my favorite holiday. However, Lindsey may not be too happy if he is that late. I can't wait to meet him and spoil him!

Dirty Gertie

Apparently there is a Bloody Mary named after my dog. I love Bloody Marys and I love my dog, what a perfect fit.

Dirty Gertie

1 1/2 oz vodka
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1/4 tsp Old Bay seasoning
1/2 tsp horseradish
3 dashes of Tabasco sauce
1 dash of pepper
2 parts tomato juice
1 part clam juice
1 celery stick and jumbo shrimp, for garnish

Fill a tall glass with ice. Pour in vodka, lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, Old Bay, black pepper, horseradish and Tabasco. Stir. Fill the glass with a mixture of tomato and clam juice. Stir well. Rim glass with Old Bay, and garnish with celery stick and a jumbo shrimp.

And yes, I tried it. And yes, it is delicious.

We can thank George for sharing this one.

hey yall...guess who got a moustache?

http://video.aol.com/video-detail/bruce-from-family-guy/4158949992

Thank You Heather

Birthday Madness

Over the last week, there were quite a few birthdays in my family: My Dad and his sister, Vicki (who are only 12 months apart), my brother Andrew, my Uncle Cecil, and 2 of my nieces Donna and Brittany. What momentous occasion occurs 9 months prior to the first two weeks of July???

Out to dinner for Andy's Birthday

Cecil and Dad
The birthday crew-minus Donna
The Old Fart
Grace
Landon, Stephanie and Grace
Logan
Grandad, Granny, and Vicki

time to drop some LBs

Don't people realize it is rude to assume another person is pregnant? And then ask, while rubbing there own belly, with a goofy ass grin on their face, "is there something you forgot to mention?" Ummm....yeah, apparently I need to lay off the big macs bitch.

July 4th Weekend

We had a great time hanging out at the neighbor's pool as well as Jennith's this 4th of July weekend. Friday, The burger cook-off, Bobby Flay style, was a hit-the winner being Allison's Southern Chicken burger with caramelized onions, pecan, peach and bourbon. Delicious! I also got to mess around with my camera while playing with sparklers. I don't think I recovered from Jennith's until sometime after lunch...on Monday.

California Dreaming

Black and White Pics

If "Life's a beach"....

then why cant everyday be like this?

After a hard day's work

I took this at my office this past winter