Super Mo is a Cabin Owner!!

Molly bought a cabin near Pisgah and was ready to make a trip up to clean before moving furniture in.  I volunteered to keep her company and made baking preparations for the three day weekend.

I met Molly in Atl and we finished loading up her car, then set off to the mountains. The drive was amazing, as always.

Happy homeowner.

The cabin is very cool and a manageable size.  She made a smart decision with the location, as well.  It is among other houses, but not in town.  The cool little two lane road into town is perfect for riding your bike and it connects to a path for walkers/runners/cyclists that goes all the way across town.  

 The previous owners just added a new deck and it is perfect for morning coffee.

Shortly after we arrived the plumbers showed up to turn on the water.  This is the guy that winterized the place, so Mo used him to turn on the water and show her how the pump worked, and such.  Well, the plumber didn't fully winterize the cabin and we soon heard water running in the crawl space.  After listening to his excuses for a bit, Molly let him know it was his mistake and gave him a chance to fix it.  (The next day he admitted to not blowing the water out of the pipes and not completely winterizing the cabin for the previous owners.)  We decided we would head into Lowes and get materials to cover the cracks and vents in the crawl space since more cold weather was on it's way.  

And, we got reservations at the Sunset Motel.  Molly has raved about this place and she was right on the money!

 It was cool and clean!  Another trip out to the house to do some more work, then not-so-yummy mexican food, then off to bed.

 Mo made coffee every morning, of course!

 The next morning, after coffee, we set off to the cabin to clean.  We vacuumed and swept and  Molly put her kitchen things away.  We needed to get contact paper for the drawers, so we made another list for Lowes. We measured windows for curtains and took pictures of everything.

The plumbers were back to finish up their work.  The plumber wanted to leave without turning on the water to check if he had fixed all the leaks.  REALLY??  We told him to check his work and when he turned on the water it was obvious it was not just a mistake. (water still running in the crawl space and his poor assistant was so uncomfortable with how this guy was handling the job)   He was an incompetent plumber.  A few more phone calls to the real estate agent, since this was the previous owner's choice of plumber and they had had it winterized, and a call to check on the home warranty, then we sent this guy off.   (he said he opened all the valves and faucets before he left, but I found them to be closed)   Molly already had a couple recommendations for new plumbers and had contacted one.

Over Yoga (Molly in crow position) we discussed the situation.  She already had a partial list of contractors who were recommended by friends in Asheville and unfortunately had to add a plumber to the list.  What a shame.  

                                      

 After yoga, we bundled up and hit the streets in search of an open cafe.  It was cold, but the walk was nice. The pub we had hoped to hit was closed and the family cafe next door didn't look promising.  We wandered some more and found a chocolate shop in an alleyway.  The gentleman told us he had fixed up this building to hold a chocolate shop for a couple from Florida, who confided in him that the lord had told them to move to Brevard and open a shop.  Two weeks prior to the opening, after he had completely renovated the space for them, they told him the lord said to go back to Florida.  So that left this older gentleman with an empty chocolate shop and no one to run it.  He said he made a lot of really bad chocolate, then he made some pretty good chocolate.  The chocolate we had was amazing!!!  Across the alley was Square Root, where we had a great dinner.  The evening turned out pretty well!

 Monday morning, we exchanged our attic insulation for some thinner insulation to wrap the pipes in the crawl space, since we didn't know when the new plumber would be able to get to the house.  We wrapped all the copper pipe we could reach and replaced the barrier.  We also tacked down the black plastic to cover the top wall and ground.  We cleaned up the mess the guys had left and when we were done the crawl space looked great!

We treated ourselves to a trip to Mud Dabber's Pottery.  I used to love watching mud dabbers in Texas as a kid and this is my favorite pottery shop, anywhere.  Molly found some great plates and a cool pitcher.

 The creek behind Mud Dabber's

 And I found a couple cool tea mugs for Jansen.  He really like them.

The weekend didn't turn out like we had hoped, but Molly proved she can handle anything homeownership can throw at her!!  Strong/Brave/Kind Girl!

Hiking flooded trails

It was 6 degrees on Tuesday morning  of this week, then almost 70 degrees this weekend.  I went for a run in a t-shirt on Saturday!  Crazy weather!

We have had so much rain this year that the ground stays saturated, so a hard rain brings on flooding easily.  On our hike this weekend, Everett and I did quite a bit of bushwacking around the flooded trails at GIHP.

There is a long dock under the water there somewhere.  And another dock submerged.

More flooded trail

The moss loves all the rain, though!

I wished I had brought the kayak for a sweet paddle, but our hike was long and quiet with people staying away due to the wet trails.  

I'm thankful for the rain and my winter garden will love it (if it doesn't drown), but I will bring my boat next time, for sure!

Snake ++!!

The results are in for the Snake++!!  

1st Trey Woodall (KOFM-king of the flat mountain) 

2nd John  Zip-Tie Hightower  

3rd Shey don't feed me banana bread bananas Lindner  

(in order of who made it to Dalton first)

The weather was perfect!  Shey cleared the trail of sticks for everyone, John fashioned a back up bike made of carbon fiber from a leaf and twig he found, Trey told so many stories his breath actually warmed the air around the guys by 10 degrees........ or so I'm told.  

It was a mad dash for me to get out of the Dry Creek parking lot before the riders flooded the area and I started as late and the guys over at the High Point lot.  But, once I was on the trail it was quiet and amazing! The trail was in great condition and the climbing and views were perfect.

 Ice crystals in the dirt

 The sun shone on the ridges and the views were amazing, as usual.

 I finally got to try this power line climb near hwy 27 --super steep

Another great day of riding followed by dinner with good friends!

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