Stopper

Everyone in Hickory Tree (this part of Bluff City) has a name. Their name is not their given name but it isn't a nickname either: it is just the name that they have had for as long as they or anyone else can remember. Sometimes they don't even know where the name came from even though some of them are quite clearly names that must have originated from something that the person had done in the past, some character trait that they may have (or still) had, or even just a variation on their name.

So today we went to pay Stopper, whose real name is Ronnie as well, a long visit to repay his kindness for showing us how to get to Steve's party. Well, that and he's just a really cool guy.

Stopper has about a dozen farm cats. Cats out in these parts are rarely pets-- they usually are just around to take care of the mice and other small rodents. 

If I were to say that this cat didn't look sorta like a big cat of the Serengeti I'd be lion.

Stopper also owns a lot of horses. His land borders Ronnie and Kim's farm.

I wanted to know whose house that was but it turned out that it used to be someone's but it isn't anyone's anymore... it's abandoned but it's still Stopper's house on his land.
I'm not going to lie... I honestly did not want to get any closer to that house. It felt seriously haunted.

This is the front of Stoppers house. I thought that these stone owls were really cute!
That sure is a great pair of hooters.

Here is another view of Stopper's land only this time it is facing the road. Right past the red barn you can see a sliver of gray-- that's the road. The home on the hill is right across the road. The road is two lanes but you would swear it was only one the way that Justin drives on it... 

This view looks back on the land that Justin and Stopper own together. I don't remember how many acres it is but it would be good land to develop into a campsite for people who come in on race weekends.
I'm going to be gold-digger honest here-- when I first met Justin and he told me that he owned land I found that crazy attractive. I still do. Every girl crazy 'bout a land ownin' man!  

Inside Stopper's house I took a terrible Selfie (a picture of one's self taken by holding the camera at arms length, in case you have been living under a rock).
I never take off those bracelets; they are going to have to fall off first.

This is Stopper. He was sitting in his favourite chair while Justin and I sat on his couch. The little fuzzy thing that he's holding is a tiny little Yorkie named Izzy. This was the second dog named Izzy who we encountered within the week. I'm not going to say which one was cuter because things could get ugly up in here.
Marcy is cutest dog.

Like just about every house in the area, Stopper's is covered in wood paneling. I'm not going to lie-- I freakin' love  wood paneling. 

Marcy takes a peek into Izzy's sleeping crate. She proceeded to steal a toy.

I can't get enough of how many interesting cultural artifacts there are in this area. If it isn't taxidermy it's dolls in western garb or horses. Lots and LOTS of horses.
That horse carving in the center is pretty envy-worthy.

Izzy and Marcy get acquainted. Everyone loves Marcy and Izzy was just so cute that I couldn't help but pick him (her?) up every chance that I got. Izzy only weighed, like, four pounds so she was pretty quick and slippery.
Marcy's wardrobe has been provided by a trip to CVS Pharmacy and my uncontrollable love of things with owls on them.

As we were leaving I got a beautiful shot of the pasture and the mountain. The place where the eaves of the house meet the trees on the mountain is where Justin's family's house is. The road up to their house is paved in gravel and is the longest driveway I've ever been up. 

Justin leaving Stoppers house. Nobody ever goes in the front door-- they always enter through this plexiglass-encased sunroom. In the carport to the right is a Four Wheeler; just about everyone has an all terrain vehicle whether it is a Four Wheeler, Jeep, or a horse. 

We had a great time visiting and talking with Stopper. We mainly just caught up with what had happened over the last year since we had seen him last time. He will, hopefully, ride his Four Wheeler up to the house for the New Year's party that is going to happen tonight.

I am both looking forward to it and dreading it because DAMN is it a noisy ordeal! Haha!

Owen

It was a really pretty day and Justin and I had not decided what we were going to go out and do yet.

This is the view of the porch. The dogs usually come in this door.

This is Daisy, looking really really cold.
We were not always supposed to let Daisy in. She was in heat for the better part of our vacation here so I had to leave her outside even when it was extremely cold. 

This is Kim's new table that she got for Christmas. It beats the hell out of the old glass one that she used to have. I'm honestly a little jealous. The other guy at the table is Scotty.

Scotty brought his little grandson Owen over for a visit. Owen wanted to let Daisy in too.

Here's Owen's father and Marcy, of course. Marcy and Owen are about the same age and were about as bundled up in the same amount of clothes.

"Goggy!"

Owen was as cute as a button! And he was very smart. I want one!
Scotty bringing Owen over was worth our waiting in indecision about what to do for the day.

Remembering

Justin and I were in Johnson City so that we could meet up with our friends Michelle, Wes, and Patrick for dinner at Chili's. I decided that we should visit a few ghosts from our past, mainly the time that I spent the summer in JC.

This is the intersection where I hit that car and rolled it down the street. This light pole still has marks on it from the car that hit it. Not only was this a huge deal on the local news but everyone at Justin's work saw the accident and had a good laugh. I had a good cry, thinking that I had killed someone! The paramedics here in JC are idiots-- they did not even suggest taking me to the hospital even when I said that I did not think that I was okay. The only two people who showed ANY compassion were Justin (who was worried sick that I wasn't okay) and a chiropractor I knew who was commuting to work. She called to me from her car to see if I was okay. When I said that I wasn't sure that I was, she told me to come buy her office before they closed and she would happily treat me for free. I took her up on her offer. She was very kind.

This beautiful tree is in the middle of a public park that I often went to while Justin was at work. It is large enough to have a kids play area, swings, several paths, a small pond, and a path that goes off into the forested area that surrounds the park. I brought Justin and Marcy here and, while Justin stayed in the warm car, Marcy and I explored the park.

A deck had been built since the last time I had been there in 2009. It overlooked the pond.

This is the pond. Part of it is frozen over. 

Still at the park, the sunset lights up the trees bordering the meadow as well as the mountains beyond.

Marcy runs around after playing with another dog, who I didn't get time to take photos of. The other dog, a pitbull mix of some kind, was accompanied by three Good Ole Boys who loved Marcy's spunk. They talked about how much they love this area and how one of them had been to San Diego for Navy business. The dog, I found out, belonged to one of the men's daughters who had left for Turkey seventeen months prior. We all decided that, if a dog had been left with someone for over a year, it became that person's dog. It made the man smile because he was awfully fond of that dog. I really enjoyed talking to them and was sad to say goodbye.
When the sun finally set, Justin and I left for Chili's where we met our friends. We spent a good deal of time there talking and bullshitting with each other. Then we went to a game store called G2K which is managed by our friend Jeremy. Jeremy was just closing up so, after I bought a few books (they sold comics, card games, and video games!), we went to Wes and Michelle's house where we spent the evening talking and playing video games. Jeremy had to leave early because he had to get up early for work. Justin and Wes played and chatted until almost 1am when I finally told Justin that we needed to head home.
We had a really great day :-)

Christmas Day

Christmas Day came quickly and ended just as quickly as it came. We spent the entire day holed up in the house because of the bitter cold outside and our exhaustion from the Christmas Eve celebration. Here are a few photos from our gift giving on Christmas Day:

Ronnie and Kim gave me a gift card for Lowes. I might just use it to buy a fire pit so that we can roast marshmallows in the winter and enjoy it's flickering light in the summer time.
Justin bought me the blue pony, Rainbow Dash. He also got me the other package that I'm holding up in my right hand: a Hello Kity USB port splitter for my laptop!

Kim got me this beautiful and extremely comfortable fuschia turtleneck.

Me and Rainbow Dash.

Matt got a watch made entirely out of wood! Kim is standing in the background. 

Matt and Brandi start digging into their presents. The one Matt is opening is a pair of coffee mugs that you can decorate with a special marker, bake, and then use like a regular mug. 

From right to left: Ronnie, Justin, Matt, and Brandi.

Brandi swipes a present off of the floor. The couches that we are sitting on are new editions to the house and the dogs are NOT allowed on them at all.

A gift from Santa 'Hog-- A hedgehog ornament! 

From Justin, a hardcover book from one of my favourite authors, Chris Moore. The subtext says "A Heartwarming Tale Of Christmas Terror".

Lakhari (Luh-kar-ee) Martin, my Little Martin acoustic guitar, got in on the gift giving. I got this amazing shirt!

Every year, instead of stockings, Justin's parents buy lottery tickets, place them in envelopes with our names on them, and hide them in the tree. I think it's a pretty cool tradition, especially when all of your children are adults :-)

Mat and Ronnie watch as Justin opens a present from me. It was a DVD set of Ray Harryhausen classic films. 

From right to left: Ronnie, Justin, Kim, and Matt.

From right to left: Justin, Ronnie, Matt, and Kim. Ronnie is opening his Christmas Tree card and contemplating how much it could be worth.

Justin got a brand new set of speakers for his computer! While he was trying them out on his parent's computer, they decided that they liked them SO MUCH that they were going to keep them and send us the same speakers through the mail so that we wouldn't have to carry them home.

On the couch: Justin got the Indiana Jones trilogy on BluRay! 

"That belongs in a museum!"

More unwrapping. Notice the two light coloured wood tables beneath the dart board in the background... they are the same tables that Ronnie "won" in the Dirty Santa game.

Everyone watches as Ronnie and Kim open their gifts. Kim got a boatload of earrings; Ronnie got a harness to keep one of his dogs tied up in the back of his truck. I saw that he had simple rope in the back of the truck but now he has a professional and safer one.

Layla wags her tail while Kim and Justin hand out the presents. 

From right to left: Matt getting his foot attacked by Layla and Abner; Brandi handing out presents; Justin handing out the cards from the tree. 

Justin and Brandi <3 Abner tries to get in on the hug too!

Justin swings his sister around!

Justin warms up by the stove. Everyone had slept in pretty decently so the light from the overcast sky spilled in through the double doors that lead outside to the deck. 

The Christmas tree before all of the gift-giving had begun.

We had a really fun Christmas morning.
The night before we were up pretty late and there was a LOT of excitement so I was spent. I ended up sleeping through almost the entire day, using my Rainbow Dash doll as a pillow. I slept through the entire night as well. Everyone was tired but I think I was the most worn out of all.
It was a wonderful day :-)