 |
| Tuesday, March 3 - We were awoken very early this morning to tornado warnings and sirens. So we hunkered down in the bathroom and while our home and surrounding trees were basically untouched, it was sheer devastation less than a mile away as Middle Tennessee was ravaged with deadly tornado damage from Nashville to Cookeville. We spent a night without power, but were lucky that temps were moderate. I spent long hours at work the rest of the week helping where I could restore power throughout our county. It easy to say this is the worst natural disaster we have ever witnessed up this close. We feel fortunate we were spared when so many others were not. |
 |
| Even one of our favorite music venues, The Basement East in Nashville got slammed. We have tickets to an Airborne Toxic Event show there in June and it has already been moved to The Cowan over at Top Golf, but they do plan to rebuild. Photo courtesy of Spin.com. |
 |
| Tuesday, March 10 - We went to see the new sports drama film, The Way Back, at our local Roxy Theaters ($5 Tuesdays and recliners!) tonight. We had dinner beforehand at a new and close-by (to us) place called El Sol Tex-Mex Express and it was very good. The movie was solid, albeit quite sad, with a great performance by Ben Affleck. |
 |
| We have some visitors at our house this month. Ashlee agreed to help foster a couple young cats up for adoption here in Wilson County. The sisters are Dora Lee and Violet and they are as cute as buttons. They are eating and growing like crazy! The jury is still out on how Doris and Byron really feel about them sharing their home and toys. |
 |
| Saturday and Sunday, March 14 and 15 - We endured an entire weekend of social distancing as we self-enforced staying away from crowds due to the coronavirus pandemic that is sweeping across the world. We got some much-needed work done around the house and just hung out online. What a strange, strange time it is. |
 |
| Ashlee bought a Cat Tailer collar and app that will hopefully keep track of our wandering young cats when they are outside. Doris has been the worse one for sneaking off into the neighbors' yards. Bad cat!! (Editor's note: And it really works! I found her today in the neighbor's landscaping thanks to the Cat Tailer app and collar!) |
 |
| Saturday, March 21 - We couldn't take another weekend cooped up in the house, so since the rain had finally stopped, we took a little road trip east seeking out a few places without much human contact to maintain our social distancing with the pandemic still raging around the world. Our first stop was a hundred or so miles northeast at the historic York Grist Mill on the Wolf River in Pall Mall, TN. We only saw a couple other people here and at the surrounding park and homestead of WWI hero and Tennessee native, Sgt. Alvin York. |
 |
| A fairly new and interesting addition to the York Mill and Farm State Park is this replica of a WWI trench. It gives you a first-hand look and feel of the type of warfare Sgt. York and thousands of other soldiers had to endure during The Great War. |
 |
| The next-door neighbors to the York Mill and Farm State Park had this odd Statue of Liberty replica in their front yard. It's an interesting world out there... |
 |
| We headed south next to check out some of the Obed River area which is a National Wild and Scenic River. It was definitely wild and scenic today with all the rain we've had lately. We weren't equipped to do much hiking on the muddy trails here, but we've put it on our list of places we would like to return to and explore more. |
 |
| We did find a good passel of people at the Lilly Pad Hopyard Brewery across the road from the Obed River in Lancing, TN. We filled a couple of half-growlers to take home with us: a ginger-cocoa ale for Ashlee and their signature IPA for me. This will be another place worth a visit on another trip when this awful virus isn't a concern. Until then, bottoms up...from a distance! |
 |
| Sunday, March 22 - We helped out our local independent movie theater, The Belcourt, which is closed currently due to the virus issues, and streamed a showing of the new, independent film, Saint Frances, which they would have been showing at The Belcourt at this time if not for the crisis. Some of the money from the streaming rental went to The Belcourt Theaters. The film was sweet at times and a little tough at times, but overall an enjoyable experience. |
 |
| Friday, March 27 - In a bit of good news, our pool got opened earlier than scheduled today. Just in time for some decently warm weather to hang out by it and maybe take a float...which we did on Saturday, March 28 under cloudy, but warm conditions. |
 |
| Sunday, March 29 - We enjoyed some sunny weather and some beers on the patio today as we kept up our social-distancing. It was a little too breezy to take another float, so we just put our feet in the shallow end a few times and lounged the day away in the shade. |
 |
| Saturday, April 4 - We've been doing some grilling outside with the mild temps (and some more beer drinking). We even had collard greens for the first time thanks to a shipment of them that arrived from a vegetable delivery service Ashlee signed up for. Being stuck at home doesn't have to be all bad! |
 |
| Sunday, April 5 - We had special (secret) visitors today as our friend, Wayne, brought his new puppy, Carter, for his first visit and first encounter with our pool! Carter loved the water (a little, it's still pretty cold) and romping around freely in our fenced-in backyard. Our friends, Wendy and Charly, also dropped by and we all had an impromptu party hanging out soaking up the sunshine, drinking some adult libations, smoking cigars, grilling out and just enjoying each other's company....from 6' apart, of course. Thanks to Wayne for the great selfie photo. |
 |
| Thursday, April 9 - We were in Mt. Juliet running an errand and decided to stop at the new Slim Chickens restaurant for dinner (take-out only, of course). It's basically a knock-off chain of Zaxby's except for one great addition: decadent desserts served up in a mason jars! This one is the strawberry cheesecake and it was served chilled and it was phenomenal! |
 |
| Saturday, April 11 - Hey, whaddaya know, Nashville is still there! It's been a couple months since we've actually seen the Nashville skyline during all this pandemic lockdown, but we ventured to town today on an important mission.... |
 |
| ...DONUTS!! Yes, donuts were our mission! We just had to procure some of the new spring-themed mini-donuts at Krispy Kreme and the closest location was downtown Nashville! |
 |
| We had a good, well-needed laugh while in downtown Nashville today also. We saw this sign in the window of The Hustler Store. I guess when you are jonesing for adult toys, you're just jonesing!! |
 |
| Our second important mission was pizza and craft beer! We stopped at the brand new TennFold Brewing in Donelson on our way back home and picked up a large pepperoni and banana pepper pie and a couple of mason jars of their craft beers to enjoy back home on our patio. The one in the picture above was their excellent Scottish wee heavy ale, Howling Winds. |
 |
| Somebody wants some pizza!! . |
 |
| Saturday, April 18 - It was another stay-at-home-Saturday for us, but we did it up in style with some Mexican Cokes with our grilled-out dinner. This cocktail of extra-sweet south-of-the-border Coca-Cola, bourbon and salted peanuts was from our visit to Bar 306 which we've heard is no longer in existence over in East Nashville. While sad, it has been replaced with a national-park-themed bar, so that might be worth a visit once this virus melee is over with. |
 |
| Sunday, April 19 - Since we missed the showing of the 2020 Cat Video Fest at The Belcourt Theaters this year, it was great to find out that we could stream the Best of Creature Comforts Edition online thanks to The Belcourt Theaters. So, we ponied up a $20 donation and checked out the 45 minutes of cuteness and hilarity today knowing that the funds not only helped Nashville's only art-house theater in these trying times, but also aided in cat rescue as well. |
 |
| Monday, April 20 - Despite the social distancing and self quarantine at home right now, we both decided to take my birthday off from work today. Since we couldn't travel very far, we embarked on a short driving tour of the region since it was such a beautiful day. Our friends, Wendy and Charly decided to join us...in a separate vehicle, of course. |
 |
| Our first stop was pretty Waterloo Falls right outside Cookeville and when arrived we found this unfortunate situation. This poor schlub for some reason didn't think this mud hole was that deep. We didn't have anything to help him, but we did call him a tow truck since he didn't even have a phone with him. |
 |
| Waterloo Falls was flowing like a dream after the rain last night. We even caught glimpse of a rainbow from the spray. I have been here a few times, but this is the first time Ashlee and I have seen it together. |
 |
| We headed back west next and stopped at little-known Union Camp Falls just outside Lafayette. As the name says, this pretty cascade has some history as a Union Army camp location during the Civil War. I brought a couple beers with me and cracked one at each of the waterfalls. Cheers to my birthday! |
 |
| We continued west with short stops in Westmoreland and Gallatin and our final destination was the Southern Grist Brewing location in East Nashville where I picked up an online order of some of their beer in crowlers that they delivered to us curbside. Cheers again to my birthday!! |
 |
| Back home on the patio after stopping to pick up dinner at Town Square Social (smoked wings!) here in Lebanon, we enjoyed the evening as I looked through my haul of gifts during this mail-order-only-birthday. One of my favorite gifts was this box of gingerbread men from the Yum Yum Shop in New Hampshire. Well, maybe I should say it was my favorite gift as far as Doris was concerned. She actually more interested in the confetti paper than the gingerbread. Overall, a great little birthday considering the circumstances. |
 |
| Sunday, April 26 - You know you are in quarantine when the prospect of going to get food gets you excited. Ashlee saw where the Five Daughters Bakery mobile kitchen was going to be in Mt. Juliet, so we placed an order of tasty doughnuts and hopped in the car to go get them. They were soooo good!! |
 |
| While in Mt. Juliet, we figured we might as well also go for an late lunch/early dinner at Red Robin. We again ordered online and picked up our food (after securing some craft beer to take home) and enjoyed our burgers (and extras fries...well, we had them later at home) right there in the parking lot. |
 |
| WHEN YOU ARE STUCK AT HOME DURING A GLOBAL PANDEMIC, YOU GET EXCITED ABOUT THE LITTLE THINGS!! Saturday, May 1 -We got a new drive-thru car-wash open near our house this week, so I bought us a monthly "family plan" for all three of our always-dirty cars. Thanks to Wash-N-Roll for the good, discounted car washes especially now in the days of endless pollen and bird bombs. |
 |
| WHEN YOU ARE STUCK AT HOME DURING A GLOBAL PANDEMIC, YOU GET EXCITED ABOUT THE LITTLE THINGS!! We had a baby robin's nest in the tree by our pool. We have been interested in watching their progress and this little fella showed himself today. Mom flew off before I could get a shot of her. |
 |
| Also very interested in the robin's nest are our young cats, Doris and Byron. They haven't messed with it yet since it's up pretty high and they aren't really climbers, but they do get excited watching. Here's a great action shot of Byron near the tree that Ashlee took, but he's focusing on a flying bug this time. |
 |
| Sunday, May 3 - Surreal Month # 3 started with another loud bang as a strong band of thunderstorms and straight-line winds hit our area again with tons of trees down, broken power poles and power outages including us for about 5 hours. We cranked up one of our Bonnaroo generators and got a few essentials going: lights, cellphone and IPAD chargers, and, of course, two water fountains for Doris and Byron...so spoiled. |
 |
| WHEN YOU ARE STUCK AT HOME DURING A GLOBAL PANDEMIC, YOU GET EXCITED ABOUT THE LITTLE THINGS!! Monday, May 4 - Man, our backyard roses are going gangbusters this year! |
 |
| May 5 - Happy Cinco de Mayo! (Quarantine Edition). Thanks to a recent Blue Apron shipment. Ashlee whipped us up a delicious (and healthy) dinner of Mexican-spiced salmon and cilantro sauce with quinoa, shishito peppers and orange slices which we enjoyed outside on the patio along with a few south of the border-inspired libations! |
 |
| We "celebrated" the rest of the holiday by clearing out and stripping the walls along with the dated wallpaper in our den in preparation for a new paint job and our having our woeful hardwood floors refinished over the next week. Tomorrow and Friday, it's the bedrooms turn...at least there is no wallpaper to strip in those rooms! |
 |
| Saturday, May 9 - Just another quarantine Saturday chilling in the back yard. |
 |
| Sunday, May 10 - Ashlee and I celebrated Mother's Day with a quick trip east to visit the graves of our wonderful mothers who have both left this earth. We miss them both greatly. It was such a beautiful day that we actually had a picnic around the grave of Evelyn, Ashlee's mom, along with Ashlee's sister, Paige, and her kids (and grand-kids!), Ashlee's Mom, Evelyn, is featured a good amount in this blog, but I don't think I have devoted an entry to my mom, Eleonore, who always loved Ashlee and was about the best momma I could ever ask for. We miss you, Nore! |
 |
| Tuesday, May 11 thru Tuesday, May 16 - Well, it's not really a trip per se, but we were staying in a hotel for most of this week as the second half of our hardwood floors get refinished. The baby cats joined us at the very nice (and new) Home2Suites by Hilton Hotel in Mt. Juliet. Zippy manned the outside fort back at home. |
 |
| Sunday, May 17 - Part of the fun of our Mt. Juliet "stay-cation" was ordering take-out every night to enjoy back in the room. We found a clear winner in Jason's Deli which became our favorite above them all and we wound up ordering from their large menu on numerous nights. I was very impressed with their take on the New Orleans muffuleta sandwich (photo above) which was very, very good. |
 |
Here's the impressive "after" picture of our den with its new paint job on the walls and the ceiling along with the refinished hardwood floor not only here, but now throughout the house. It was a project well worth the time and money.
|
 |
| Tuesday, May 19 - Hoo-ray! It's our 19th Wedding Anniversary!! While we weren't traveling today as hoped thanks to the pandemic.and our "gifts" to each other were the new refinished hardwood floors, a new rug and new paint in the den, plus our stay in Mt. Juliet during the project, we still celebrated with take-out dinner from Painturo's around the corner and some libations at home. |
 |
| Saturday, May 23 - We headed east a few exits today around lunchtime to check out a new-to-us seafood food truck at Cellar 53 Winery in Brush Creek. The food was off the chain good! We had some of the best conch fritters we've ever had from Mark's Specialty Seafood. We loved it so much that we are negotiations with them to cater one of our pool parties this summer maybe! We also got a tasty bottle of Cellar 53's Sleepy Bird white table wine to wash it all down. |
 |
| We ended the day with supper down at Mayday Brewing in Murfreesboro who were also having a food truck, Big Boy Shrimp, and an old-fashioned shrimp boil. We grabbed a couple beers and our plates and dug into a ton of boiled shrimp (head and tails still on, so it was some work), corn on the cob, potatoes and kielbasa sausage. A great day of eating good and supporting local business during this pandemic mess. |
No comments:
Post a Comment