Photo Caption Contest:

I saw this on the interstate yesterday and just happened to have my camera with me... :)

Please submit your photo captions in the "comments" section below.

Hiking The Pinhoti Trail

This past weekend we drove down to Alabama accompanied by Todd to hike the Pinhoti Trail with Mark and Kristin along with their friends Wilf, Jane11e, and Maria. The Pinhoti trail extends 115 miles through Georgia and Alabama -- however, we only hiked about a 3-4 mile section of it (6-8 miles total).
Here's a map of our hike

Friday evening we all met at the Pine Glen campground and set up our tents for the night. That night the temperature dipped down to 39 degrees F. Thank goodness for fleece & warm sleeping bags!

The next morning we ate breakfast, packed up camp and set off towards our goal -- a camping shelter about 5.8 miles away (our original plan was to hike a 13 mile segment of the trail, one direction). After hiking between 3 or 4 miles we decided that we were ready to stop for the night, and found a nice quiet spot in the woods, off the trail and by a peaceful creek.

That evening after setting up our tents among the trees we built a nice fire, ate supper and then played games, told stories and solved riddles around the campfire before finally heading to bed. There's nothing like climbing into a soft sleeping bag the second night of a camping trip after the exhaustion has settled in... :) Zzzzzzzzzz.... .

Sunday morning we got up, ate breakfast around the campfire, and then packed up our stuff once again for the hike back to our cars back at the first campsite (4 miles back). The hike back didn't seem nearly as long, although the backpacks still felt pretty heavy.

Aside from our new aches & pains we can easily say that we had a great time hiking the Pinhoti Trail!

Todd's Photos & Mark & Kristin's Photos

Other interesting bits of info:

• We saw a little snake on the trail
• We didn't see any bears, raccoons or skunks
  
• Er!c got stung by a yellow jacket on his wrist
• We found a skeleton in the woods -- it may have been a deer
  
• Our packs were 30+ lbs each
• We helped some campers break into their own car
  
• It was bow hunting season -- we didn't get shot

TV Time!

Tofu & Arthur watching TV

Weekend Activities

On Sabbath we went hiking with Gil & Jen & Todd at the Rock Creek section of the Cumberland Trail. Along the way we found this nice spider web, back-lit by the afternoon sun.

It looks like Fall is finally here. This maple tree in our back yard has a beautiful combination of red, orange, yellow and green leaves.

Arthur and Tofu enjoy the Fall weather while sitting in front of the screen door in the sun room. I happened to get them to both look up at the same time for this photo. . :)

This week we planted 3 new trees in our yard. We planted an apple tree and a pear tree in the back yard along the property line with our next-door neighbors. We also planted a second plum tree in the front yard in line with the driveway. Once these plum trees fill out nicely it will provide some nice privacy for our front yard.

Who Needs Trees Anyway?

Monday morning our next-door neighbor (who cut down all his big trees) finished things off by cutting down the remaining smaller trees in his front yard... so now the only thing standing upright in his front yard is the plane Jane 20 ft tall flag pole which stands out even more now. Their yard now looks uglier than I ever thought it could. It is slowly becoming more and more "rednecky".

So this evening we swung by Lowes and came home with 3 fruit trees (Apple, Pear, & Plum) to plant along the property line in the lower yard -- mainly to make a point about planting trees, and to help establish our property boundaries, and to provide some sort of visual barrier between us and them.
...And also because trees are good for the environment!
[The Top 35 Eco Blogs]

We are also going to plant a line of thicker barrier trees (possibly Leeland Cypress) along the property line between our two houses (in the upper yard) so we won't have to look into their cluttered carport and see their ugly yard & house whenever we're on the back deck or in the backyard. We'll try to get that all done sometime this week (or next).

Here's a cute cartoon about global warming.

Happy Weekend!

I hope you're having an Arthur kind of weekend! . :)

Fun With Arthur

Here's a little something fun I did in Flash
with a couple photos of Arthur. Enjoy!

Map of Destruction

In a previous post titled 'The Downside of Neighbors' I lamented the loss of trees in our neighbor's yard as well as the loss of our own privacy barrier in our own yard. Some of you have asked us why we are making such a 'big deal' about this while others have voiced confusion as to where in our yard these things are taking place. To give you a clearer picture I've included a detailed map.

Follow the complete history of this ongoing saga below:

• (1.) Destruction of Property!!!
• (2.) I Reclaim This Land In The Name Of...
• (3.) Let's Make A Deal
• (4.) The Downside of Neighbors

As an unspoken reply to our metal fence posts, the neighbors have dug up the original little 10 inch trees and have replaced them with much taller 4 foot trees. I'm assuming the new trees are meant to be some kind of good-will gesture toward us, but I can't help but also wonder if they are trying to hide the chain link fence and the brush pile just inside our property. The new trees are about 5 or 6 feet apart, so there are still some pretty big gaps between them -- this angle makes it look like it's a thick hedge... It's not. However, you can see that their trees are safely on their side of the line. . :)

Our 'LOLCATS'

Here are some links for those of you who might be confused...

• I can has cheezburger(.com)
• LOLcats(.com)
• "LOLcat" definition
  

Happy Birthday Todd!

This weekend was Todd's birthday, so the whole Pettibone family came from far & near to celebrate this momentous occasion (his 30th). Todd & Jane11's parents (Don & Susan) were here on furlough from Kenya, and Mark and Kristin drove up from Florida for the weekend.

On Sabbath we packed a picnic lunch and drove out to a section of the Cumberland Trail, which Todd had discovered during his many forestry flights. Todd scouted out a nice picnic rock for us in the middle of the trickling river bed (we are currently in the middle of an "exceptional drought").

After a nice lunch of hot dogs, chips, baked beans, veggies, and birthday brownies, we set out for an afternoon hike up the river. Susan found several nice rocks to add to her collection, and Todd found a fallen tree-bridge to stand on.

That evening Don & Susan took all of us "kids" out to eat at The Macaroni Grill to celebrate all of our birthdays for the past year. The food was delicious! I highly recommend the Mushroom Ravioli. "Ravioli generously filled with tender mushrooms and melted cheese, then covered with our famous Carmela's marsala wine cream sauce" Mmmmmm.

Exit7 in The Student Park

Friday night Er!c's band, Exit7, provided the music for an outdoor vespers program in the S.A.U. student park. The vespers service was celebrating the opening of the new "Goliath Wall" which is the new rock climbing wall and outdoor amphitheater in the student park woods.

The band played a total of five songs and then enjoyed an interesting presentation, complete with wild birds in paper bags...

Bryan ......... Er!c ........... Gil ........... Jen ........... Lee .

Surprise Party For M!nd!

Thursday we had a surprise birthday party for M!nd! over at Mark & Mary Jane's house. $cott and M!nd! were visiting from California, and a nice group of old friends and family members showed up for the fun. After a delicious Italian dinner and a hazelnut/dark chocolate cake, we went inside and looked at photos of M!nd!'s recent mission trip to Peru.

PS: $cott is Er!c's cousin, for those of you who might not know $cott & M!nd!.

PPS: This is Er!c's Sister's family, who was also at the party.