Tennescenic

I slept pretty well out at the farm last night and got going a little before six. My dad arrived not much later. We decided to use the walk board and ladder Jack’s today. All I can say is that I wish we had been doing so all along! It really sped things up and we were able to get the whole back wall completed. We were also helped by more relatively mild weather. It felt really good to get so much done. Hopefully tomorrow will be a nice continuation of this progress. The ladders are all set up to finish one side of the garage. That should go pretty quickly and then we will try to knock out the gable end next to it. I bought a towel, wash cloths, and soap at Dollar General and will try to shower with the garden hose after dark. But first we are headed back to the Jumbo House for dinner.

We got another early start this morning and fortunately it was overcast and relatively cool for most of the day. Our time was mostly spent up on the ladders putting up siding and soffit. We made a bit more progress than I was expecting despite a number of miscuts. One gable end is pretty much complete except for the fascia board. Another is really close. The work we got done today was a big emotional boost. I think we can finish the siding, soffit, and trim by the end of next week. My dad cut some of the back field with the new finish mower and then I finished the first cutting before moving onto the side field. As I was cutting a particularly thick section one of the mower wheels came off and I ran over it, snapping off a blade in the process. Ouch. The wheel was destroyed as well. TSC didn’t have a replacement that fit. I will try Lynch Equipment on Monday. Maybe they can repair the blade spindle too. I’m sure that will be expensive. Things were going great up to that point. There was a nice sunset visible from the TSC parking lot, which made me wish that I had gone somewhere cool near the farm to photograph. Tonight I’m staying at the farm. The whole next week actually. My mother in law is in town to help with Luke while Liz starts back at work next week. It’s not supposed to be too hot these next couple of days. It feels good here now with the family blowing on me. There are some fireflies out but not as many as on the mountain. Maybe that is bacuse I got back here a little later than peak time. I’ll see what they are like tomorrow evening.

We got an early start but things moved pretty slowly. Much of that was due to working up on ladders. We put in some soffit and fascia board, and a little more siding. We never did hit our groove though, and the heavy rain rolled in around eleven. My dad went home and after running a few errands in Columbia I returned to the condo. Also, we did cut a little grass with the finish mower. About three laps around the big field. I will try to cut more on Sunday. It will probably take two passes to get it looking good because it is currently so tall and thick. No pictures on account of the rain.

Well, it is officially (as declared by me) firefly season on the Mountain. While we were up there these past few days I was able to go out and photograph them some evenings. I had a blast and am fairly pleased with some of the results.

Day 1 – The front yard.

In some ways the front yard of the cottage is the ideal location – nice trees, easy access, and tons of fireflies. However it suffers because of the lights from the military museum next door. They cast a sickly glow over everything. I was still able to get some pictures before they came on though. I’m not crazy about my compositions, but I was a bit lazy and waited until the last minute before setting up.

Day 2 – Jackson Lake.

I set up three cameras here, and was a little lazy. Instead of manually controlling and adjusting the exposure I set it to automatic. Part of this is because the cameras were so spread out. The first camera was set on a little waterfall. Unfortunately there weren’t many fireflies there at all. The second camera was on the dirt road. More bus there, but not a ton. The third was overlooking the lake. It was also lacking fireflies. This was a disappointing evening because the compositions had more interesting elements, but the lightning bugs just didn’t cooperate. Maybe I will try this spot again.

Day 3 – Campus Forest.

On the back side of campus there are a few thousand acres of managed forest. There is one maintained road going through the heart of it and lots of trails. It is always a very relaxing place to be; I photographed the fireflies a number of times there last year. Once again I used three cameras. I got there a few minutes later than I would have liked, so focusing was a little bit of an issue, but I’m pretty pleased with how things turned out. One camera was set up on the road, and the other two were on trails. I’m thinking to remove the biggest firefly trails in all three pictures, as they are rather distracting.

Day 4 – Mountain Goat Trail

I had never thought to photograph on the trail before, but our evening walk inspired me. So I set up shop near Pearl’s at the en of the wooden bridge. I pointed one camera back at the bridge. It didn’t capture that many fireflies. The other two I pointed down the trail – one with a shorter focal length, the other a bit longer. I think this spot has potential for some better photos, so I will return.

I definitely can’t wait to get back to the mountain soon. I’m not sure when that will be though. The fireflies are such a fun challenge. There are some new locations I want to try as well.