LOVE this kitchen!

Our fantastic builder, Steve, sent us some photos of the new kitchen. I am so happy with how it turned out!

We still need to get a backsplash in, but by and large, it is done!

Toot-toot! Tons to do do at Tweetsie this year

From a press release about Tweetsie Railroad, North Carolina's first amusement park, which "pulls out of the station" next Friday, April 29, for its 2011 season.

Tweetsie Railroad will host special events including fan favorites Day Out With Thomas™, the July 4th Fireworks Extravaganza and the annual Ghost Train® Halloween Festival along with new events including a visit from Barney™ the Dinosaur and Cool Summer Nights, a new evening program debuting this season. Guests can also enjoy the always entertaining K-9’s in Flight Frisbee® Dogs, Grammy award-winning performers Riders In The Sky and a day of adventure with Dora™ from Dora the Explorer™ and her cousin Diego™ from Go, Diego, Go!™

Tweetsie features live shows, amusement rides, the Deer Park Zoo, concerts and much more family fun. Visitors experience an unforgettable three-mile Wild West adventure behind Tweetsie Railroad’s historic steam locomotives. Family fun is discovered throughout the streets of Tweesie Railroad’s very own Western town, where you can experience firsthand the lives of North Carolina’s cowboys and Indians of the past. One can also take a scenic chair lift ride back in time and experience the gold rush while panning for gold at Miner’s Mountain.

Be part of Tweetsie’s live entertainment including Diamond Lil’s Can-Can Revue, Hopper and Porter’s™ Musical Celebration and Miner’s Mountain Magic. Tweetsie’s Country Clogging Jamboree is also sure to get your toes tappin’.

Tweetsie’s special events scheduled for the 2011 season:

Letterland – May 10, 11, 12

For three days, Tweetsie Railroad will be transformed into a magical place of Letterland based off of United Kingdom’s best-selling alphabet book, Letterland ABC. The reading system teaches young children the alphabet and phonics skills by bringing the letters to life!

Day Out With Thomas – June 3-12

All aboard as Thomas the Tank Engine™ chugs through the Blue Ridge Mountains. Children will have the opportunity to meet and take pictures with Sir Topham Hatt™, listen to Thomas and Friends™ storytelling, and enjoy activities in the Imagination Station.

Dora the Explorer™ and Diego™ – June 24-26

Enjoy meet and greets throughout the weekend with Dora and her cousin Diego, popular characters from the hit Nickelodeon pre-school series.

Cool Summer Nights – July 2, 9 and 16

This new program will be for three special evenings July 2, 9 and 16. On these days, the park will keep special evening hours, staying open late and feature movies, live music, a chuck wagon dinner and more. So once you’ve filled your day with all the great activities Tweetsie has to offer, and you’ve ridden our famed steam locomotive to your heart’s content, you’ll be able to see the park in a whole new light: moonlight.

Tweetsie’s Fireworks Extravaganza – July 4

Celebrate Independence Day with a great day of family-friendly fun! Watch as the night sky is illuminated with a dazzling fireworks display, and this year promises to be bigger and better than ever! The park will remain open until 9:00 p.m.

A Day in the Park with Barney™ – July 15-17

Meet everybody’s favorite purple dinosaur when he visits Tweetsie Railroad. Join Barney in his sing-along, clap-along show that’s filled with loads of Super-Dee-Duper™ fun!

K-9s in Flight Frisbee® Dogs – July 23-31

This team of canines will amaze you as they jump, flip and catch flying discs in ways that defy gravity. Don’t miss out on the action-packed thrill of these incredible dogs as they perform live at Tweetsie each day.

Riders In The Sky – August 6-7

Come hear America’s favorite cowboys, Riders In The Sky, as they fill the Blue Ridge Mountain air with sweet sounds. Known for their rich blend of Western harmony and comedy, the multi Grammy award-winning quartet has captivated audiences of all ages since 1977.

Tweetsie’s Railfan Weekend – September 10-11

Travel through the Blue Ridge Mountains on Tweetsie’s historic locomotives as the park hosts its seventh annual Railfan Weekend. Celebrate the rich history of steam locomotives and tour the famous Tweetsie Railroad Train Shop, where steam locomotives from across the nation are repaired and restored.

Ghost Train® Halloween Festival – Friday and Saturday nights September 30 – October 29

All aboard the Ghost Train for a can’t-miss spooktacular ride with engineer Casey Bones. There is also a haunted house, the freaky forest, trick-or-treating and other Halloween-themed attractions to provide a night of thrills and chills for the entire family.

Tweetsie Railroad is open Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays starting April 29, and seven days a week from May 27 until returning to the weekend schedule from August 21 through October 30, including Labor Day Monday. The 2011 season ends Sunday, October 30. The park’s regular hours are 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., but will be open until 9:00 p.m. on July 2, 4, 9 and 16 for Cool Summer Nights. In addition, the park will be open at 8:00 a.m. both Saturdays (June 4 and 11) for the popular Day Out With Thomas ™ event. The Ghost Train® Halloween Festival will take place Friday and Saturday nights September 30 through October 29 from 7:30 p.m. to 11:30 p.m.

Daily admission is $34 for adults and $22 for children ages 3 through 12. Children 2 and under are admitted free. Print at home tickets and Golden Rail Season Passes are available at Tweetsie.com.

Almost there!

We went up OMP this past weekend to put some furniture together and check on the general progress which, you will see, is coming along swimmingly.

We are *this* close to having it ready for rentals. (Contact us if you're interested!) We're thinking by Memorial Day.

As you'll see, the painting is done, the cabinets are in, the flooring is completed, the stove is cleaned and ready to rock (we enjoyed it Sat. night!) and the couches and beds and dresses are ready for your bottoms, heads and clothes, respectively.

Interior is coming along!

Well, looks like the paint colors are in. It's always a little nerve-wracking when you're waiting to see if you still like the color you picked out at the hardware store when it's slathered all over your walls!

Well, we ARE excited. We couldn't be happier about our paint choices. They really brighten the place up.

The blue is the color in the main living space: living room and kitchen.

The green is what is on the walls in the basement and bedrooms.

Thoughts?

(Thanks to Steve M. for providing the photos!)

Here come the 'cute, little bears!'

Even before our most recent trip to Grandfather Mountain, our oldest daughter was excitedly talking about going up to the mountains to see the "cute, little bears."

Well, sweetie, keep your eyes peeled!

"Take in the garbage, remove the bird feeders and stay alert on the Blue Ridge Parkway: The bears are waking up," says the Asheville Citizen-Times.

Black bear sightings are starting to roll in from around the region as the state's largest wild mammals leave their winter dens in search of food.

While the occasional bear sighting now might be exciting, it likely won't be long before problems start to arise between animals and humans.

“Bear-human interaction season is about to begin,” said Mike Carraway, a biologist with the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission.

Biologists said a bumper acorn crop last fall could mean fewer bears will be out looking for food. There should still be leftover acorns for the animals to eat, said Colleen Olfenbuttel, black bear biologist with the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission.

“Because of all the acorns, they were really able to fatten themselves,” she said. “They are healthier and in better shape coming out of hibernation, so they won't look for artificial food sources like bird feeders and garbage cans.”

But the acorn abundance also means female bears gave birth to more cubs that likely survived the winter. ...

“We expect to see a lot of bear activity this year,” said Bob Miller, a spokesman with Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The park has about 1,600 bears, or two bears every square mile.

Wow. That many? We may not have to look far to spot the "cute, little bears."

The number of bear-human interactions has increased as both populations have grown. There are now 11,000 bears in North Carolina, with between 4,000 and 6,000 in the mountains.

The bumper acorn crop last fall kept the number of complaints about problem bears in Western North Carolina down. There were 236 complaints last year compared with 393 in 2009, Carraway said. ...

Male bears start coming out of their dens and wandering around in late March and early April, when the weather warms, days are longer and plants start blooming.

Female bears and their cubs come out later in April, once the young bears are able to keep up with their mothers.

The Blue Ridge Parkway has hundreds of bear sightings every year and has had to close some picnic areas in recent years because of problem bears.

“No feeding the bears and not approaching them too closely — I don't think you can say that enough,” said Tom Davis, a wildlife biologist at the Blue Ridge Parkway. “We have issues with people feeding the bears, luring them in with a hamburger or a doughnut to get that magical picture, but people just don't realize that it takes just one incidence for a bear to get habituated to human food.” ...

“People are definitely excited,” said Jessica Krippel, animal naturalist at the nature center. “All winter long we get questions about ‘where are the bears?' People definitely hang around if they see they see they are being active.”

Now THIS is why we bought the place

We headed up the mountain over the weekend to take some items that need to be installed into the house. We quickly remembered WHY we bought the place. Here it is March. It's 75 degrees in Raleigh, but snowing in Seven Devils. Nice.

I'll let the photos tell the tale: Grandfather Mountain, Moses Cone, the landscape.

Can't wait to get back again.

One of the (sleepy) bears and some deer at Grandfather.

Our Mountain Place ... BEFORE

Below is some video footage of our house that we took a few weeks ago so you can take a virtual tour of our home in Seven Devils ... BEFORE the work is done. Listen as my lovely wife explains what we plan to do.


Enjoy!