A (post?) Covid Summer

Saturday, ,June 5 - Well, our projects at Evie's Bungalow are getting bigger and bolder!  We put a new faux tile floor down in the kitchen and think it looks pretty good!  Ashlee did all the hard work with cutting pieces for all the corners.  Evie's Bungalow on AirBnb is slated for a July 1 opening! 

Friday,  June 11 - We've actually never had dinner here at Catch 22 in Mt. Juliet.  I love the food (and the craft beer, of course), so I suggested it for a date-night location tonight.  Our food was fantastic, as always.  We've definitely got to put this place in our regular rotation! 

Sunday, June 13 - We had an amazing sunset today after a lovely day in and around the pool.  This was the first day that really felt like summer in the water.

Sunday, June 20 - I won four tickets to see comedian, Josh Wolf, tonight at Zanies Comedy Club in Nashville where he's taping a new live album over two shows there. We chose the early show since it was a "school night."  We've seen Josh in the past here actually (way back in 2012) and always enjoyed him on the late, great E! Network show "Chelsea Lately" (RIP).    Our friends, Wendy and Charly, went with us and we had a great time.  Josh was hilarious and his guests included some pretty good musicians and singers including a former boy-band member singing about weed! 

A great weekend of hanging out at the pool including our first night swim of the season.  Did we mention our A/C is out in the house and has been for a couple weeks now??  Thank God for the pool!! 

Tuesday, June 22 - We had a date night of sorts tonight as we headed over to West Nashville for some shopping at Costco and Trader Joe's which we can get on our side of town.  Beforehand, we had a tasty dinner at J. Alexander's.  This was our first time eating here together in the long-time established regional eatery chain, but it won't be our last!  Yum! Yum!  (Editor's note:  We were saddened to see that the Sushi Train Restaurant that we've enjoyed in the past has closed.  Probably a victim of the pandemic.  Too bad. ) 

Friday, June 25 - New year, new backyard fawn!  Ain't he a cutie!  

Monday, June 28 - We checked out the brand new Oscars Taco Shop in Mt. Juliet tonight for dinner.  The food was great!  This was actually our second choice as another Mexican place called Memo's wasn't open tonight.  We'll check you out next, hombre! 

Wednesday, June 30 - We got all dressed up tonight to finally (we've had to reschedule twice) check out the fancy House of Cards Restaurant in Nashville with our friends, Danny and Brenda.  Ashlee's been once before, but this was our first time together.  Man, the food was fantastic. The place is killer cool too.  This 30' waterfall shown above is out on their sunken patio. And the magic in their small theater and close-up at a couple of spots throughout the venue was very good.

While we are not big fans of magic, the performers at House of Cards were top notch.  Our favorite (and most spooky) trick of the night was when the magician gathered a bunch of random number from a group of strangers around him including us.  The first number was Brenda's birthday.  He then asked us to put the numbers in our phone calculators and somehow got them all to add up to today's date (6/30) and the exact time of the end of the trick (905).  Amazing!  The photo above is a screenshot of my phone as proof of the time.    

Friday, July 2 - We headed to an East Nashville tribute show tonight to The Traveling Wilburys plus songs of each member of the supergroup.  The show featured a couple of our local favorites, Butch Walker and Will Hoge, plus 14 other performers at The Basement East.  With such a great line-up at a great price ($15), of course the show was SOLD OUT fast!  Besides the pandemic mess, the Basement East also got hammered by a tornado last spring as well, so it was great to see a  reopened, packed venue once again.  We kept thinking we would stay for an hour, maybe two, but the performances were so great and the venue so nice, we stayed for almost the entire show.  Our favorites, Will Hoge and Butch Walker, closed out the show, so it was worth the wait to hear Will cover Tom Petty's "American Girl" and hear Butch belt out ELO's "Don't Bring Me Down!"   We also really enjoyed "discovering" Jon Latham, Raul Malo of The Mavericks and the "house band" and hosts of the night,  Andrew Leahey and the Homestead who we will get to see again soon on The Rock Boat in November!   Plus all the money went to East C.A.N. a local dog shelter and placement organization.

Before the show we had a great dinner outside in the surprisingly humidity-free early July evening at Post and Riot, a brand new German beer haus in Mt. Juliet.  The food was great and place was very nice.  We will be back!! 

Sunday, July 4 - We hosted a Christmas in July Pool Party today to celebrate Independence Day (and to let Ashlee get all her Christmas crap out for more than once a year!).  I got us a huge order of smoked wings from The Town Square Social restaurant up on The Square.  They were excellent.  We also had hot dogs and hamburgers and A LOT of libations.  It was a great day had by all.

Our summer-themed Christmas tree at the entrance to the pool party turned out pretty nice.  We had a ton of fun decorations all around the pool thanks to Ashlee's large supply of Christmas-themed goodies.  Thanks to Ashlee's cousins, Leslie and LeeAnn, for making the trek down from Cincinnati for the party and for coming in early and helping us set up and decorate.  Thanks to all who came to the soiree as well.  Happy birthday, America, and happy Summer Feliz Navidad as well! 

Sunday, July 11 - A rainy day meant no pool today, so we took a drive up to Old Hickory to visit the cool little plant store called the Lawrence and Clark Cacti Company.  What a neat little place!  We bought a nice hanging goldfish plant for our bedroom. and I picked up this odd little guy for my work desk at home which is a Euphorbia Lactea Coral Cactus, but I just thought it looked like broccoli.   Finding lunch was a bit of a chore with pour-downs and packed places after church, so we settle for 5 Guys Burgers and Fries in Mt. Juliet which was great as usual although we haven't been in years.

Monday,  July 12 - It's official!  We now have an AirBnB rental in Chattanooga!  Let's hope the money rolls in and the problems don't!!   We start renting August 1st! 

Friday, July 16 - We attended at Jimmy Buffet (rescheduled from Covid last year) concert at The Ascend Amphitheater in downtown Nashville tonight.   The weather forecast was not looking great (storms to the left, storms to the right - good "Fins" joke by Ashlee), but other than a little rain spattering when we were in line to get in, it turned out to be a beautiful night with light breezes and a little bit of relief from the humidity.  Jimmy and his band were in solid form.  This was their third show here in the last couple weeks, so we were impressed how good it was.  We also found a dandy new parking lot for shows here, and had some tasty food and craft beer at the show, so it was a great night on all aspects. 

Saturday, July 17 - We headed back to Nashville today to the SRX (Superstar Racing Experience) at the historic Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway with our friend, Bethany, who's way more into racing than we are, but we agreed to check it out with her.  It was actually quite the event.  It was completely sold out which they announced had not happened here in decades.   It was also a pretty cool concept as it was a series of races by retired and current racing stars and this one here was the culmination of the series.  There were huge names driving like Bill Elliot (65 years young), his son, Chase, Tony Stewart and recent Indy 500 winner, Helio Castroneves (who we were pulling for since we met him briefly at the Indy 500 several year ago).  Chase Elliot wound up winning the main-event 77-lap race.  Helio did win one of the 25-lap heats.  And Tony Stewart won the series with his second place finish in tonight's finale.  We also got to see the current state of the new MLS stadium going up next door.  It's going to be a beauty!  Go NSC!! 

Sunday, July 25 - Man, talk about a Key West vibe!  We've got the old deck at the AirBnB house looking like The Eden House!!  The paint choice was bold, but we are very happy with the result.  Our first guests arrive this coming weekend.  But in another update, it looks like Ashlee's cousin Alexis, and her boyfriend, Hunter, might rent the place long-term starting in October.  We shall see....

The month of August is filled up at the new AirBnB!! 

THE BIG TWO-OHHHHHH!!!

Friday, April 30 - We headed east this evening toward Cookeville to the little community of Baxter to spend the weekend with our friends, Wendy and Charly, at their sweet little cabin they bought last year.  Tomorrow is Wendy's birthday, so they invited us up to celebrate and relax at their new place.  It is a great place with two decks and very peaceful surroundings.  

Saturday, May 1 - We head to the cool little town of Granville today to spend the day sippin' some shine and munching on some cornbread at a festival being held there.  We've only driven through this area, so it was a good chance for us to check out this neat area almost surrounded entirely by water.

Hooo-weeee!! That's a lotta fun for five bucks!!  The Granville Cornbread and Moonshine Bash was a ton of fun.  We had good food, tons of samples and cocktails from several Tennessee distilleries, live music and other small town delights today.

Another great visit was to the brand new (it opened today!) Jim Beam Whiskey Decanter Museum in Granville.  This is a private collection belonging to Charles Barrett who graciously gave them to the town as they were willing to display them...all 1,600 of them!!  We even got to speak with Charles for a few minutes as he told us of his forty years of collecting these beauties from all over the country.  Thanks so much, Charles, for your time and your generosity.   

Monday, May 3 - We enjoyed another Rick Steves Monday Travel Show online tonight as he explored some of Europe's natural wonders with us.  We got several good ideas from the show and can't wait to start hopping over the pond again! 

Saturday, May 8 - We headed downtown late this afternoon to check out the new shopping and dining complex known as 5th and Broadway.  It takes up the space once covered by the old convention center in a prime area downtown across from the Bridgestone Arena and the end of famous Broadway and its honky-tonks.  It's impressive to say the least.  Tons of places to eat and some unique shopping too.  We had an early dinner at Oke Poke in the Assembly Food Hall.  These Hawaiian poke bowls filled with shrimp (Ashlee's) and teriyaki chicken (mine) were delicious and filling.

We sorta saved room for some dessert at Jeni's Ice Cream...the line was short which is very rare at any of their locations let alone a busy new downtown location on a Saturday night - our "single" cones were massive and more than enough.

Well, it's back to business in downtown Music City looks like.  The party buses, wagons, etc. were packed tonight with folks tonight.  Hope they've all been vaccinated! Yikes!!  After eating and a bit more looking around, we chose to get the hell on up outta there!! 

Sunday, May 9 - In honor of Mother's Day today:  we give you some recent kitten adoptees who happen to have some very familiar names.  We miss you, Evie-baby! 

Hey, that's close enough in the spelling to honor my mom as well!  We miss you, Nore! 

Wednesday, May 19 - Happy 20th Anniversary to us!!! Man, where did the time go?  We had planned on being in Costa Rica, then Florida, then just decided to make it a staycation at home and in Chattanooga this year.  Too much Covid, too many work issues, too much life going on I guess...

Not my best picture...but, my baby looks as great as ever!  Here's where it all went down 20 years ago today as the rain came down and we were forced to move our planned outdoor wedding inside The Renaissance Commons in the Chattanooga Art District which turned out to be a pretty nice ceremony after all.   We had a great dinner nearby at Tony's Pasta (who catered our wedding) and marveled at how the time has flown by.  

Thursday, May 20 - After taking care of some AirBnB biz here in Chattanooga today, we had a great lunch at an old favorite of ours, Urban Stack, which we haven't been to in ages.

The light-switch project (see previous blog entry) is now officially DONE!! 

Friday, May 21 - Pool time!  Finally!! Our two new floats for this season are awesome! 

Saturday, May 22 - more pool time!!

Sunday, May 23 -  We loaded up this morning, met our friend, Bethany, in Gladeville, and then continued along I-840 to Arrington to finally check out the Tennessee Renaissance Festival.  Since it's in its 35th year, figured we oughta check it out...and it was fun!  Kinda hot, but fun. We really enjoyed seeing Castle Gwynn up close even though we still could not go inside because of Covid.  Started in 1970, and it's still not finished!   Most of the festival is set up under shady trees which really helps and although we didn't get to see everything (the jousting is in the sun), we did enjoy the visit.

By the time we were ready for lunch at the festival, the lines were so long at the food vendors, we just decided to head out and eat lunch in a more timely and comfortable place.  Jack Brown's Burger and Beer Joint on the square in Murfreesboro was just the ticket!  We had some tasty burgers and good craft beers (in the air-conditioning!) and it was Bethany's first visit, so we were happy to introduce her to one of our regional favorites. 

Tuesday, May 26 - Ashlee has planted over 70 flowers in our front and back yards over the last couple days, turning our home into a wonderland of flora and blooms including this beautiful orange hibiscus touched with some early morning rain.

We

Wednesday, May 27 - Woo! Hoo! Our first AirBnB booking for Evie's Northshore Bungalow in Chattanooga!! We hope to open for rentals by July and this booking is for late September!  Thanks, Katie!! 

Friday, May 28 - We headed down to Murfreesboro this evening to pick up a daybed for our new AirBnB and enjoyed this beautiful rainbow as we drove along I-840.  We had a delicious dinner at BoomBozz Craft Pizza and Taphouse also.  So good, in fact, we lost track of time and got to the store to pick up the day-bad 10 minutes after they closed at 8 PM...doh!  Hey, we got Covid 19 on the run folks. Maybe it's time to stay open to at least 9 PM on a Friday night, dontcha think? 

Sunday, May 30 - Hey look who won the Indy 500 today for the fourth time! Not bad for an old fart!! Hey, look who met 10 years at the Indy 500.  I thought this Facebook post was pretty funny commemorating Helio's win and Ashlee's early selfie with him. 

Monday, May 31 - We spent Memorial Day at Club Rob and Ashlee's doing some floating (still kinda too cool to swim), grilling and chilling with some friends.  Bring on summer!! 

It's right there in black and white...Happy First Birthday, Dudley! (Oh, and Rob has one too)

 

Wednesday, March 17 -  Byron says spring has officially sprung!  But then I had to pinch him because he wasn't wearing green for St. Patty's Day! LOL

Sunday, March 21 - We had an excellent breakfast down in Chattanooga today at a relatively new place called Syrup and Eggs.  We started off with these beautiful and tasty breakfast cocktails - the adult chocolate milk for Ashlee, and the apple pie chai (with Dickel) for me.  We deserved this good meal since we had to endure possibly the worst Mexican food we've ever had the night before at a crappy place out on Brainerd Road for our friend, Patrick, celebrating his recent birthday.  We were also celebrating another weekend of progress at the Carroll House/future AirBnb with the carpets cleaned, a cleaning service secured, replacing a broken outer deck door and two rotten boards on the same deck

Tuesday, March 23 - We enjoyed another installment of the Johnnyswim Livestream from the Backyard  (Palm Springs Edition) on YouTube tonight.  This couple have quickly become a favorite of ours out there in the musical world.

Friday, March 26 - We had tickets this afternoon to a timed showing of Picasso. Figures. at the Frist Art Museum in Nashville.  This is a hard ticket to get with most showings sold out weeks in advance.  On loan from the national Picasso Museum in Paris, these 75 pieces from the great master are only showing here within the U.S.  Quite the get for our little art gallery as it celebrates its 20th anniversary.  We enjoyed the exhibit despite not being big art lovers.  Picasso was an interesting dude.  That's for sure.

Before the exhibit we had time for a glass of wine in the lobby of the beautiful Union Station Hotel next door.   Afterwards, we took a nice stroll in the warm afternoon sun over to The Gulch for a tasty dinner at Emmy Squared.  On the way, our overpass view shown above of what seemed to be an endless line of train cars filled with Kentucky coal stretched out below us.

Sunday, March 28 - Happy Birthday, Dudley!  Our tuxedo boy, Dudley, turns one year old this week, so we decided to throw him a Black and White Party in honor of his signature colors.  Ashlee made this adorable coconut cat in his image.  We had about 15 friends and family over for the occasion. 

Dudley got lots of gifts as well as donations to local shelters in his name.  He seemed very grateful for everything and all the attention (somewhat).  

Thanks to our friend, Ginny, for this great shot of us and our special boy.  We love you, buddy!

Thursday, April 1 - No FOOLIN'  POOL'S OPEN!! 

Saturday, April 3 - After working most of the day on the soon-to-be AirBnB Carroll house, we stopped in for dinner at the fairly new location of Jack Brown's Beer and Burger Joint housed now where the old college bar, Yesterday's, was located.  Man, there are some memories in there!  But now the beer's way better and the food is outstanding as usual at a JBBBJ.  Glad to see something good is in a good ol' place. 

Sunday, April 4 - Happy Easter!  We went to breakfast again at Syrup and Eggs and then followed that up with a little churching. This was our first visit to the progressive service at St. Mark's United Methodist Church just around the corner from the Carroll house.   It was very positive and very music-oriented and we appreciated the social-distancing requirements in the pews.   Afterwards, it was a nice afternoon back home on the patio enjoying the spring weather with family and grilling out.  

Wednesday, April 7 - Just a cat in a yak....

Friday, April 9 - We packed up the car (and the foster kittens) today and headed toward Blue Ridge, Georgia, for a return trip for us to this great area.  This time, however, it was with our friends, Toney and Lisa.  Toney had a friend who had bought a cabin in Blue Ridge recently and he was able to secure us a decent deal on a long weekend rental of it.  On the way down, we finished one of the best audiobooks we've listened to in a long time:  Greenlights is the memoirs and biography of actor, Matthew McConaughey, who we both love.  Spoken in his own awesome voice, there's probably no better way to experience it.  Let's just say it's "Alright, alright, alright...." 

The cabin we rented was sweet.  Nestled down in a little hollow made it feel like it was a million miles from anywhere, yet the town of Blue Ridge is only a few miles away.   It has great amenities also like a big, covered hot-tub (in the background in the shot above); two decks facing out over babbling Sugar Creek, one of which was screened; a fire-pit built into the other deck; a pool table; and a beautiful shuffleboard table.   Tons of room inside as well.  Good find, Toney! 

The cabin was so peaceful, except at night when the spring peeper frogs roared through the surrounding trees.  Loud neighbors are the worst, am I right!! 

Saturday, April 10 - Despite some rainy weather in the area, we had a fun day starting with a visit to the very nice Bear Claw Vineyards, just around the corner from the cabin.   We both got wine flights and were surprised at how good their wares were. 

Great blues music by Travis Bowlin there in the background.  Great selfie skills by Ashlee in the foreground.  

After a pretty good dinner at a restaurant in downtown Blue Ridge called Southern Charm, we ambled over to Escape Blue Ridge to try out luck at one of their two challenges.  We chose the pirate-themed room (mostly because it was the only one available), and, man, was it HARD!!  We came up three locks short of winning the challenge before our hour was up, but we gave it a good try and all four of us chipped in to get as far as we did (including getting out of handcuffs we were in from the start!!). 

After our escape room fun (and failure) we returned outside to find the weather had broken and it was a beautiful evening in this always quaint little town here in the North Georgia mountains.  

We are fostering three young sibling kittens right now, so we had to bring them with us, of course. and they weren't any trouble at all. They were great little travelers! We were supposed to keep them in their kennel while at the no-pets-allowed cabin, but --- shhhhh --  they did get to explore our bed a little.  This is Clara in the photo above.  Her brothers, Morris and Asher, are out and about out of the picture as well.  

Spoiled women or spoiled me maybe since they allowed me to go to craft brewery here in Blue Ridge called Grumpy Old Men Brewing.  Ashlee and I came here several years ago when it was just opening and now it is a bustling and growing place that is very popular.  

We got back to the cabin to enjoy the hot-tub a little, then got a fire going in the fire-pit on the bottom deck and listened to more of the "roar" of the spring-peeper treefrogs that surrounded the cabin both nights we were there.  Thanks to my friend, Barry, for help in identifying the little loudmouths!!  And for telling us we were "lucky" to hear them since they only sing for a short time during the spring months.

Sunday, April 11 - The drive back was uneventful since we had the kittens in tow, and it limited our opportunities.  We did, however, stop back in Chattanooga and do a little work around the Carroll house prepping it ever closer to being an AirBnb hopefully.  Our biggest accomplishment was changing out this broken light switch (our first electrical project together).  Yes, we we need a new, white face-plate, but that's the easy stuff!! 

Tuesday, April 20 - Oh yeah, it's my birthday too on this blog entry.  Happy 54 to me!!  Thanks to the pandemic and my current work situation, we spent this one at home, but did take time to enjoy a good meal and a few libations at TennFold Brewing over in Donelson.  Thanks to our friends: Nate, Bethany, Danny and Brenda for joining us in the celebration.

Friday, April 23 - This afternoon we headed east to Monteagle Mountain for my post-birthday weekend trip to The Retreat at Deer Lick Falls.  It's a cool little development of tiny homes built around a beautiful waterfall that I visited many, many years ago.  We found this place on our last visit to this area back in 2019.  We had planned on going for my birthday last year, but the pandemic shut that down.  Our friend, Bethany,  joined us renting her own tiny house just a short walk from ours.

Our tiny house was a little beauty, and Bethany's was even a little nicer.  The whole community is really neat with hiking trails, communal fire pits, a playground for the kiddos, and even a nice covered pavilion for use by any of the residents.  After settling in (and hanging out with our illegal foster kittens...shhh, don't tell), we called it a fairly early night.

Saturday, April 24 - We woke up to some steady rain this morning, so we headed out for a late breakfast at Jim Oliver's Smokehouse, a staple up here on the mountain since the 1960's.  There was a wait for their famous breakfast fare, so we killed the time wondering around the store attached to the restaurant (I wonder if Cracker Barrel stole their concept from here maybe?).  Our greatest "find" was the hilarious Blazin' Rectum BBQ sauce (and jelly, yikes!!).  Nothing like truth in advertising I guess!  Breakfast was great and we also bought some fried pies and fudge on our way out.
(Editor's note:  In a shocking ironic twist, Jim Oliver's Smokehouse burned to the ground just three days after our visit.  So sad.)

After breakfast, the rain stopped and the sky lightened up enough for us to have a  nice window of opportunity to visit the showcase for the tiny home development, stunning Deer Lick Falls.  She was flowing beautifully after all the rain this morning and overnight.  

The trail down to the base of Deer Lick Falls  is steep and tricky, but we all made it safely in and out.  We had the falls all to our own as well which was nice.    Thanks to Ashlee for this great triple-selfie shot.

I made contact with our old friend, Jess Betchart, again today and arranged to drop by and see him.  We had a great visit with him a couple years ago when we were up in this area and wanted to show Bethany his neat wood-carving shop and to just see how he was faring through the pandemic.  We had a long visit that went close to three-hours as he regaled us with many stories from his past.  Sadly, his wife remains very ill, and his loving companion dog, Dusty, had passed away since we last visited, plus Jess's advancing age, all seemed to be taking their toll on him.  He was not quite the person we visited back in 2019 or who I met almost 30 years ago.  It's scary and sad to see a person's mind slowly start to slip and actually change who they really are or were.  It's a tough road we all must walk down eventually.  

Despite some nasty weather moving back in the area while we were visiting with Jess which even led to tornado sirens going off in the town of Monteagle, we checked the weather radar and figured it was safe to duck into The Mountain Goat Market for some dinner.  The place was hopping, but were able to grab a table and have a great dinner of fresh salad and two of their delicious custom pizzas.  This mountain goat astronaut mural overlooked us at our table.  Keep it weird, Monteagle! 

After dinner, the sky's cleared again, so we drove over to The University of the South at Sewanee for a quick look around.  Man, what a beautiful campus.  You really forget what a jewel it is as you zip by on I-24.  I caught this sunset and moonrise over their school's gothic-looking dining hall during our brief walk on the campus.
We spent our evening back our respective tiny houses, hanging out in both and admiring their craftmanship and ingenuity.  We even watched a silly tiny house hunting show at Bethany's place which seemed appropriate given where we were.  

Sunday, April 25 - We spent this morning packing up to head home and having some leftover pizza and fudge for breakfast...always thinking healthy!   I did enjoy the early morning tranquility out on the porch of our tiny home beforehand with a cup of coffee.  Bethany said he she did the same.  It really is a great place here, and we will definitely try and come back sometime if we get the chance.  

We got home in time to do a few things around the house before heading out again over to our friends', Danny and Brenda, house to watch The Oscars telecast in their newly-designed "relaxation room" over their garage.  They ordered some great Thai take-out and we enjoyed the pandemic-version of the awards show that was a little weird, sometimes funny and always interesting.  We are proud to say that we saw the Best Picture winner "Nomandland" a few months back and really enjoyed it.