Thought I'd post a picture of our back yard this rainy day on Groundhog Mountain. The weather outside is frightful but the view is so delightful. This is on the north side of the house which rises up to the top of the mountain lookout on the Blue Ridge Parkway about a quarter mile away as the crow flies.

It's been relatively warm here with daytime temps in the 40's and 50's. Most of the ice has melted but we found a few treacherous places on the parkway around Mabry Mill on our way to church yesterday. Headed the wrong way among the rhododendrons was one car whose driver didn't take good care on the slippery roadway.

We saw Granny, the Midget, Toothpick and her boyfriend and Dad at church. Granny is younger then myself and a mountain native as are the rest of her family. Arless, better known as "the midget" is her brother. He's found a job helping install septic tanks, a necessity in this area in more ways then one as there are no sanitary sewers. He says it's kind of on the job training. Toothpick is Grannies daughter and Dads granddaughter and, you guessed, it the Midgets niece. I can't remember her name because everyone calls her Toothpick.

Arless has one of those, what the Beatles used to call, "puddin' basin" haircuts. You know, put the bowl over the head and cut around the edges. I have had trouble understanding Dad's mountain speech until yesterday after church when had a plug of tobacco in his mouth and then I got every word he said in between the expectorates. It was one of those classic conversations; women talking over here, men conversing over there. We talked about men things like a better and shorter way to drive home and the times they've hit a deer with the car, a common and somewhat dangerous occurrence around here.

Arless said Rt. 638 was a lot straighter and less hilly then the route we've been taking. It turned out to be shorter and we didn't have to drive the unplowed parkway but I need to ask him about the "straighter and less hilly" part. We are constantly finding new and beautiful roads to travel and this was no disappointment. The family lives on Buffalo Mountain and has promised an invitation to dinner. Although they have an electric stove they still use the woodburner. I'm going to make sure they don't forget that promise.