BEEEEzzzzz and other critters

We've had a great visit with Chris & Denise - our friends in Tennessee. That's their house and barn above.

We arrived on Saturday morning - and discovered that our spare tire (which hangs beneath "Van Monroe") had loosened up somewhere along the way and had been dangling/dragging. Ouch. We hadn't heard anything, but it is a concern (because I'm pretty sure that it was NOT dangling before we left - which means that I'm going to need to keep an eye on it). Anyway, we cranked it back into place and I'll watch it.

We were greeted by the whole Zoo - in addition to Chris & Denise: 4 dogs, 13 cats (or so), a bird - and Chris & Denise and Denise's Mom Gerry. That's a lot of hugging and wagging and petting. They've had a couple of litters of kittens just appear in their barn and the kittens are SO cute.
After getting settled, Chris & Denise loaded us into their "H3" and we went to a Mennonite farm, a winery (yes, Tennessee has wine), then back home for talk and visiting.

Sunday: I got to have some "online" time: it's tough to balance *doing* things vs *telling* about things - then back into the H3 for a drive up the nearby mountain and amazing Tennessee views and flowers and a short hike thru the woods (we're not as young as we used to be so it turned into an even-shorter hike when we discovered that the trail we'd chosen seemed to be intent on going *down*hill - which meant that we would be going UPhill to get back). A quick stop at the Sonic for hotdogs and ice cream, then back home to take pictures of BEES!

Chris & Denise have a couple of hives and needed help getting some good photos. I wimped out, but Kathy suited right up and took close-ups as Chris opened the hives and handled the bees. Really cool. I stayed 100 feet away and used my 10x zoom lens to make it *look* like I was close. (My shirt says: "Oh for PETE's Sake!")You can see the queen in this picture - she's got a dot of red paint to make her easier to pick out. Remember that there is only ONE queen per hive.

Evening brought another couple visiting - George & Barb - so we ate, talked, and joked (Barb can turn nearly any conversation into an amusing story and George always has a wry comment to add).

And we weren't finished: Chris brought out the Nintendo Wii. I'd seen them, but hadn't ever *done* it - and it is rather addictive. We did "Fitness Evaluation" (I came out as being the physical age of 42!!), Bowling, Boxing, Tennis, and Baseball. We won't say who won, but I *will* say that I like to quit when I'm ahead, so I don't think I'll ever play Wii again (smile).

Thanks to Chris & Denise for being GREAT hosts - as always - and thanks to YOU for visiting us here. We've had visits to this Blog now from Italy and Chile - in addition to the US visitors - so "Hi" to everyone!

Off to Nashville!