Fall folliage

The leaves are peaking right now.  So, we took off for a wonderful lunch at the Cajun Depot Grill in Ellijay.  Then we followed the very curvy highway 60.  It was a very scenic ride.  Photos are up online.

VW cruise

We got together with about 7 other VW enthusiast and drove about an hour for a cheeseburger at Cheeseburger In Paradise.  We had a lot of fun.  Instead of getting a table we found that the bar provided the perfect seating area for our little group.  Our bartender and server, Hunter, did a great job keeping us entertained with his bottle juggling and great personality.  Photos are up online.

“Beer is proof…”

“…that God loves us and wants us to be happy.”  Ben Franklin’s supposed famous quote.   It is Oktoberfest!  That along with Mary’s upcoming birthday sent us out Thursday night with free birthday dinner coupon in hand to Summits Wayside Tavern for some good pub grub and the featured pint of the night;  Maredsous Double.  Dinner was adequately greasy & yummy.  And the beer was as the review states: “A really enjoyable beer.”

On the way home, we stopped by Bolo’s breeders house to pick up some paperwork that for some odd reason was sent to him instead of Mary.   It was the long awaited Koer Klasse report from Bolo’s breed survey that was done back in May.  It takes a while to get everything sent to Germany then back to the USA office.  So Mary was eager to pick this up…  but it’s in German.  The USA office will send an english translated copy of the report “in a timely manner”.  In the mean time for everyone who reads German, click here to read it.  The most important part is the paragraph under “Gesamturteil” which describes Bolo.  Mary just so happen to have a co-worker who is German, so she had him translate it for her so that it can compare it to the USA english version when it is received.

On Friday Pete did a little welding job for a friend whose mower deck had cracked.  Pete has been having a lot of fun since he got that welder earlier this year.

And that brings us to today.  Saturday has turned into a day of choirs.  A lot of computer stuff for Mary too.  Pete has a busy week coming up at work and sadly it starts tomorrow… that’s right, he has to work on a Sunday. So, he has been very busy today preparing for the coming week.  It is Lockheed’s yearly Hercules conference. 

Well it’s about time to get some dinner started… so time to get off this computer.

Weekend recap

Thursday we did go out and celebrate Mary holding down a steady job for eight years.  We went to the Cumming Fair.  It was opening night and admission was free!  Parking, rides, and games were not free… however we did restrain and only rode one ride.  There was a lot going on at the fair this year.  Lots of “carnie” shows.  Two in particular interested Mary; an elephant act and a tiger act.  Both were put on by the same outfit.  It was the first time during an animal act that we’ve seen the cats let into their arena to stretch and play before and after their performance.  These folks not only stated that they really care about their animals, but it showed in their actions.  The elephant was not chained in between performances but actually had a pen that she was free to roam around in.  Pictures are posted.

Friday came and went without much fan fare, but on Saturday Mary’s company Royston held their annual picnic.  Usually they set up tents at the plant, have a BBQ lunch catered, and set up a mini “fair-like” atmosphere (games, blow up slides, ball houses, etc.), but this year the company rented an arcade facility from 10 am to 2 pm.  The facility cooked hotdogs, hamburgers, grilled chicken and all the usually picnic sides (cole slaw, potato salad, baked beans, etc.).  Originally we didn’t plan to stay the whole time, but we really were having fun watching air hockey and playing some pool… listening to the karaoke and watching the rock climbing… so we stayed there until 2-ish.  Pictures are up online.

And that brings us to today… a rather boring day of chores, but hey they have to be done.

Eight Years!

Mary has held down a job with the same company, Royston LLC, for eight straight years.  And yes that is a record for Mary.  So, time to go out and celebrate.

Georgia Marble Festival

Wow!  So, busy this past weekend…  car show, car drive in, live band playing on Main Street and a quarry tour.  Finally got the photos uploaded now time to catch up on the blog. 

We learned so much on our Quarry Tour.  Colonel Sam Tate was a benevolent dictator.  He master minded the successful quarry operations and built the town of Tate… kind of.  He did not allow smoking or drinking in his town.  And even for a while, he banned the drinking of Coca Cola.  Although, he certainly did try to take care of his employees.  He had a  hospital built by the employees donating one days labor. For about 50 cents a month he provided unlimited health care for his employees.  This not only included the quarry workers themselves, but also their family.  And teachers were covered too.   And what a high school he had built.  The only marble High School in the world.  Oh, about the teachers, if you were a woman you could teach as long as you were not dating or married.  Get married and Col. Sam Tate ended your teaching career.

One funny story we were told was about the Tate swimming pool.  Apparently the Colonel was out of the country for a while and when he returned he found out that one of his nephews had a swimming pool built and worst of all both women and men were in the pool at the same time.  Well, the Colonel wasn’t about to put up with any of that nonsense, so he had the pool filled in!

National Museum Day

And another rainy day in Georgia.  Since there is at least one museum nearby that we’ve wanted to visit for a while now and thanks to the Smithsonian today there is free admission, we dicided to visit the Tellus Northwest Georgia Science Museum.  This museum was bigger than we thought.  We only alotted 2 hours for our visit and it really wasn’t enough time to take in every exhibit.  We missed out on a show at their planetarium, panning for gems, and digging for fossils.  So, we will just have to plan another visit on another day.  I have uploaded 60 photos from our visit today, so click on the link to the right for our online photo album and enjoy!

Anyone have an ark for sale?

After nearly 2-weeks of non-stop rain, our rivers have had more than enough.  Yesterday parts of 3 major highways were closed due to rivers/creeks that had flooded over the roads.  And numerous side roads were closed due to flooding too.  On Monday Pete braved the conditions and got to work with a fairly normal commute, but his commute home was 2 hours 45 minutes… over 2 hours more than normal.  So, when he woke up Tuesday and saw the reports of the highway closings (one of which he uses on his daily commute), he made the smart decision to call in and use a vacation day.  Thankfully the clouds parted and the sun came out Tuesday and today, but the remainder of the week and early next week calls for more rain.  So, if you have an ark for sale, bring it to Atlanta.

Other than the traffic inconvenience, the rain hasn’t caused us much problems.  We have no flooding or rain damage here at Rott’n Manor.

There’s Gold in Them Thar Hills

Did you know that in the 1800’s that there was so much gold produced in Georgia that the US Mint actually had a branch in Dahlonega, Georgia? We spent Saturday afternoon enjoying the exhibits at the Dahlonega Gold Museum and touring the Consolidated Gold Mines.

Of course no day of touring can ever start without a good meal. There are lots of good restaurants in Dahlonega. We choose Dante’s, a restaurant that features Caribbean cuisine. We feasted on jerk chicken wings, jerk pork, and chipotle lime tilapia.

After a very satisfying lunch, we visited the Dahlonega Gold Museum, which is housed in the old court house building. The courthouse is one of the oldest still remaining in the United States. Upstairs where the court room use to be we were shown a short informative movie about gold mining operations in Georgia. There was a story told about one Georgia entrepreneur who gold plated the dash board of his car and drove to New York to get investors for a mining operation. The entrepreneur didn’t tell his investors that the mine had already been played out.

Next we toured the largest gold mine East of the Mississippi, the Consolidated Gold Mines. At the mine we were taken 60 feet below the ground and shown the conditions in which the miners worked. At one point the guide turned on an old air drill for a few brief seconds. It was loud and reverberated through the tunnels. After our tour below we got to try our hand at panning for gold. We both walked away with a vile contained a few nearly microscopic nuggets of gold that we actually panned ourselves!

Photos from our golden day are posted in our online photo album, enjoy.

Last weekend of summer

Well, there are already signs of fall.  Here is a picture of one of our dogwood trees with it’s red berries. 

It’s ben raining most of the week.  And is suppose to continue raining this weekend.

Bolo managed to hurt himself some how.  Vet thinks it’s just a sprain. So, he should recover in a few weeks.