Wow, what a busy and eventful week for us.  After arriving back at our “stick” house from the ORR rally in Ozark, Arkansas, Kay and I began a busy week with church and Sunday school, lunch with friends, and performing with 4+1 Quartet in a benefit concert, all on Sunday.

Early Monday morning, we departed the house again, this time driving to Memphis to visit Jenny (before she goes back to work) and little Harper Ann.  We arrived at Jenny’s about 10:30 AM, and HARP awoke just as we walked in (barking dogs).  She is definitely a mama’s girl, and didn’t take her eyes off of Jenny the entire time we were there.  While she had an appointment, Jenny left us to care for HARP.  Kay performed her magic and HARP ate well (formula) and slept the whole time, in Kay’s arms.  When Jenny returned, we drove to Costco, and almost as soon as HARP was placed in the basket, she went to sleep again and slept through our entire shopping experience.  Many folks stopped by the cart at the store commenting on how pretty she was.  She is a beautiful baby, even though I’m a bit prejudiced.  We reluctantly said our goodbyes and left Costco about 4:15 PM, arriving home at 8:15 PM.

Tuesday was a painful day—I awoke with an infected left eye lid, and Kay and I each got three injections:  flu (Kay got the super flu vaccine which is 4 times stronger than normal), pneumonia, and shingles.  Combined with other activities in town, and though we drove separately, we didn’t get home until well after lunch.  As evening approached, side effects from the shots began and we both felt under the weather.  After awaking Wednesday, we were both sore and neither of us felt well.  As the day wore on though, we each got somewhat back to  normal.  Thursday saw us hanging around the house, completing our recovery from the marathon injections.  To avoid being totally worthless, I did install a cable between the battery in the Honda CR-V and the BrakeBuddy, hoping this will allow the BrakeBuddy to operate correctly.

With beautiful weather, we drove to the Leatherwood Wilderness on Friday, to hike a couple of short trails.  Parking the car at the intersection of Spring Creek Road and Rand Road, we walked a couple of hundred yards to the “overhang”, walked around inside, but didn’t explore it’s cracks and crevices.  We took several pictures, mainly to give a perspective of size.

Across Spring Creek Road, we found the trail to Almos Knob, and began an strenuous uphill hike to the top.  Though we thought the trail was steep, riders on mules had made the ascent, chopping up the trail and loosening rocks and soil.  At the top, the terrain was relatively flat, and we hiked the short distance around, stopping for a fruit and cheese snack on one of the bluffs overlooking the Wilderness.

The rock plateau has some interesting formations, including one large rock with two depressions filled with water, as seen in the “cover” shot at the top.  These reminded me of those described in Westerns—where cowboys and Indians would find watering holes in the dry desert mountains as they were escaping, chasing one another, etc.  Another was a land bridge, and regrettably, the photo does not do it justice. Below it was what appeared to be a cave, but this will take some exploring to verify.  We drove back home, having spent only 4 hours away, but tired from all the exercise.

I used the afternoon to install racks on the back of each bicycle to carry laundry, groceries, trash, etc. while we’re wintering in Texas.

With our hosting the Arkansas Travelers rally in Mountain View next week, we spent the Saturday morning pre-cooking hamburger for the chili, and sausage for two breakfast meals.

I wrapped up a 7-year stint singing bass with 4+1 Quartet in the evening, it was truly my last performance—it was a good run, but I can’t hear well anymore, and we travel extensively, more so now with two additional grandchildren—so it was time!