In memory of those passed on......Merry Christmas!

(click on arrow on bar above to view video)

This is a memorial to the loved ones I have lost in the last 16 months. It's been a rough road and it stands to get rougher, but God will never give us more than we can handle. I woke up alive this morning, and for this, I give thanks. And if I wake up alive tomorrow, I will again give thanks. Merry Christmas to every one. And Happy New Year!..... :)

 

Merry Christmas!

None of this Happy Holidays business here.

Without Christ, it is not Christmas.

What are we celebrating?

The birth of Jesus "Christ", right?

Okay, enough said.

It is not "Happy Holidays"mas"'

It is "Christ"mas!

There will be many empty chairs around my 

family's dininer table this year but that will be alright.

It was God's will and I can live with that!

He will never give me more than I can handle.

With this in mind, I will always be able to make myself ....smile....

If I wake up in the morning alive, I will give thanks...

And that will be all the reason I need to smile.

Give thanks for the reason.....This is the season.....

:)

Me and my Father in Law. - R.I.P. Edward Eades

You are gone but not forgotten.

Thanks for everything!
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"On the Other Side"

 

Another Thanksgiving holiday has come and gone and now we all prepare to get back to our normal routine. There were a lot of empty seats around my families dinner tables this year. Some that were just unable to be here, and others that will be empty from now until we meet again....."On the Other Side".

Yet even in time of grief and sorrow we all found it in our hearts to give thanks!

 

A Great Man is laid to rest ..... My Father in Law ..... Ed Eades

Mr. Edward Eades

Born

March 5,1933

Passed Away

November 7, 2011

If You Could See Me Now

If you could see me now, you wouldn't shed a tear

Though you may not understand, why I'm no longer here

Remember my spirit, that's the real me

I'm still very much alive, Oh, if you could only see

I've beheld our Father's face, I've touched my Savior's hand

The angels all rejoiced, as I entered the promised land

Beyond the gates of pearl, I walk on golden streets

I've touched the walls of jasper, dipped my foot in the crystal sea

The beauty is beyond words, nothing can compare

I've seen your mansion, some day I'll meet you there

Let Jesus be your guide, His Word will show you the way

So, please, don't cry, we will meet again some day

AACA Cruise In - 2011

AACA Cruise In - Bristol, Va./Tn.

Spring in the Smokies!

I know, it's fall and getting cold, but it just feels good.

Hanging from a tree limb somewhere in the Smokies!

A Great Woman is Laid to Rest.....

 Mrs Peggy Joyce Inscore

Born

March 7, 1944

 

Passed Away

September 12, 2011

GOD hath not promised

Skies always blue,

Flower-strewn pathways

All our lives through;

GOD hath not promised

Sun without Rain,

Joy without sorrow,

Peace without pain.

But GOD hath promised

Strength for the day,

Rest for the labor,

Light for the way,

Grace for the trials,

Help from above,

Unfailing sympathy,

Undying love.

Nascar Transporter Truck

Parade through Bristol, from Bristol Mall to Bristol Motor Speedway. Fall race 2011.

Monarch Butterfly

Walking into the Tennessee visitor center on I-26 @ Sam's Gap, this opportunity just jumped out at me!

On Down the Line!

 Looking down the line in Marshall, N.C. Top photo taken by my wife Audrey, bottom photo taken by me.

Beauty of the Sun!

 

The sun paints another beautiful sky over the Mountain Empire in East Tennessee!

Sunset in the Smoky Mountains

My wife, Audrey captured this scene at a pulloff on Newfound Gap Road about 1/4 mile from the top on the Tennessee side of the park.

Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail

Ahhh! It don't get no better than this. Summer Bear Hunt, 2011.

Spotted a big momma bear and 2 cubs just up the creek from where these pictures were taken.

Couldn't get a clean shot on any of them. Oh well!.........

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Had ya goin' didn't I!!!!! 

My weapon of choice is a 550D Canon

Digital SLR camera...

"Reflections"

"America"

Meet America, an eagle residing at the Eagle Sanctuary @ Dollywood, in Pigeon Forge, Tn.

Spotted this relic of the past on A.P. Carter Hwy. in Scott County, Virginia.

Baby Blue Jay

"Cathair Central"

Click here to view

It's Snowing!

Riding thru Backbone Rock area in Johnson County, Tn. a couple of days after Christmas.

Happy Mothers Day!

Okay.....so I'm just the papaw!

But any mother would be proud of these two.



Mothers Day!

Hello,

This is my first time at this. I've been blogging for about a month now, but it has been nothing but photos up until now. But like it says...."Just what I feel at the moment". Okay, here goes.....It is 2:16 a.m. on Mothers Day 2011. Usually on this special morning I would be in bed sleeping because I would be getting up in just a few hours to go eat breakfast with my family. This was centered around my Grandmother, mother and two aunts, plus anybody else who showed up, which was never known until head count was taken at the breakfast table. This had become a tradition over the last 10-15 years for our family. Well, this year there will be no "Mothers Day Breakfast" for the family. My Grandmother passed away this past February and no one wanted to continue the tradition. I can understand this. I know we all miss my Grandmother. I knew her not only as a grandmother, but also as a mother because she raised me as her own child. Anyway, I still got to have dinner this past evening with my mother, my wife, my niece and her two daughters, which all are very special to me. And later today, I can still go see my mother and I will have lunch with my wife's family, who I feel as much a part of as I do my own. To my Mother and my Wife...... I love you both very much! To my Grandmother.....I miss you but yet I am so happy for you because I know where you're at and who you're with. Happy Mothers Day! God is great! Life is good! Live for the moment, for tomorrow never comes.

East Tennessee "Road Kill" team.

Gates Corporation in Glade Spring, Va. took a direct hit in last weeks tornado that swept across
Southwest Virginia. There were 70 people in this building when the storm roared through and all rode the storm out safely in two interior bathrooms that were reinforced to double as storm shelters.



Hand in Hand

Memories are forever.

Nerves of Steel.....

Ever played "Chicken" with a Nascar Transporter Truck? Nascar comes to Bristol, Va./Tn. for the fall night race. These haulers are fully loaded as they parade across town on their way to Bristol Motor Speedway! At 0:16 I had done made peace with "God"... I thought this guy was gonna run me over... :) Life is good!

Wild Turkey in Cades Cove!

 

This picture was taken in Cades Cove around lunchtime on April 8, 2011. Most always see a few of these on a ride around the loop. Deer are another thing you can most likely count on seeing a few of on a ride thru this section of the Great Smoky Mountains. However, on this day we didn't see a single deer. I think this is the first time I've ever rode the loop without seeing a deer. Did see one black bear, which you can usually see in season. Early April is a little early for bears to be out, but then again, it's been pretty nice weather here this spring. Knock on wood! We had 80° in Bristol, Va. last Monday and snow on Tuesday! Go figure......

Full Moon over Bristol, Va.

Full moon shining down on me. One full moon ago was the "Supermoon". Supposedly the biggest full moon in 18 years. This one was just as big in my opinion. When it first came up, which was just before total darkness set in, it was huge and very orange. My last post is of this same moon, just a little earlier and with my camera settings a little different. Any helpful tips are more than welcome. 

Life is good!



Ain't this beautiful? If you wake up alive in the morning, give thanks. It don't get no better than this.

Jason the baby bear dies.

Cub born to Lily the black bear dies

Written byKARE 11

NEAR ELY, Minn. -- Stories spun by Mother Nature don't always have happy endings.

That is certainly the case with one of two cubs born this spring to Lily the black bear, a creature with thousands of fans thanks to her highly publicized web cam.

Bear researcher Lynn Rogers says the cub named Jason has died, and he plans to conduct a necropsy to find out why.

Rogers and co-researcher Sue Mansfield looked on as Jason took his last breaths just after 4 p.m. Tuesday.  The cub had struggled for several days, and Rogers noted in his daily web update that Jason appeared weak and skinny.

The cub was one of two born to Lily over the winter in an Ely-area den where Rogers had again placed a video camera that sent images of the bears to computers worldwide.

The other new cub, Faith, appears in fine condition, as does Lily's one-year-old cub, Hope, who spent a second winter with its mother.

Rogers tells the Duluth News Tribune they decided to hang back away from Lily and Jason and monitor the situation, although the researchers weighed other options, such as taking the sickly cub to a wildlife rehabilitation center.

"We know how you feel because we know how we felt being there, seeing Jason struggling to live while we struggled to decide what is right or wrong for us to do,'' Rogers wrote in his update. "The biggest question was, what if we interfered and took Jason and Lily came back for him? She was only a third of a mile away. We felt we had to let nature take its course.''

Rogers said it's unclear why Jason fell behind Faith in size and weight, as they appeared to start out at the same size. He says on Lily's facebook page that it may be because Lily didn't not have enough milk for two new cubs and one-year-old Hope, who is still nursing.

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With information from the Duluth News Tribune

(Copyright 2011 by KARE. All Rights Reserved.)

This is copied from the internet. I claim no ownership to this material.

Crescent Moon from the Smoky Mtns. National Park!



Looking up from the balcony at the Riverhouse!

Mountain Stream in Great Smoky Mtns. National Park

Mountain stream in the Great Smoky Mtns. National Park, last day in operation pending a government shutdown. 200 years from now it won't be the fall of the Roman Empire they're teaching in high school history classes. It will be the "Fall of the USA". Think I'm kidding?

Dolly Parton @ Dollywood

Here's Dolly! Riding thru Dollywood in her "Little Red Wagon".

"GooseHead"

Needs no explanation!

Grandfather Mountain

 

Looking across McRae Meadows at Grandfather Mountain

Meet Tippy!

Tip! The youngest cat in the house. This picture is a few years old and his name has since been changed to "CatHair", which is more appropriate.

It Snowed Again!





Riding across Long Crescent hill in Bristol, Va. after an unexpected early morning snow.

Flyover @ BMS!

Flyover @ Bristol Motor Speedway - March 20, 2011

"SuperMoon"

A "SuperMoon" is a new or full moon that happens to coincide with a close approach of the moon to the earth. On Saturday March 19, 2011, the moon was the closest it has been to Earth in 18 years. The distance between the Earth and the moon during this event was about 221,567 miles, as compared to the average distance of 238,000 miles. That may not seem like much of a difference but the diameter of the moon is only 2,159 miles. That means the moon will be over 7.5 diameters closer to Earth than average.