With all the garbage that is going on in our country, I have to take a breath and write of things beautiful. This morning is the kind that you paint in your mind. The storm came through last night and was mild as spring storms go, with an inch of rain spread over the entire night and no thunderstorms strong enough to freak out the dog or wake me up. The sky is post rain clear with low flying clouds crawling up and down the gorge. Yep they do go both ways here, which probably violates some kind of law on the other side of the creek...that is Rhea County, TN over there. The boys can hit Rhea County with their potato gun when I let them make noise. The Rhea County Commisioners made a lot of noise themselves, recently, when they passed a law saying gay people can't live in their county. After making the National news they met again and rescinded the law the next night, saying they were confused. I'll buy that explanation.

In addition to County Commisioners, we have an odd kind of disturbed person in East Tennessee, one that stands out amongst a whole bevy of disturbed persons. Arsonists! They strike mainly in two seasons of the year, early Spring just before leaf out and Fall, just as the leaves begin to cover the ground. We typicaly have dry spells then that suits their puposes. Just yesterday, Firefighters were dealing with 20 fires in our area. Three were folks burning brush that got out of control, two were campfires, and the other 15 were arson. Some body likes to set the woods on fire. It happens just before turkey season...I don't get the connection but I am told there is one. We hold our breath until the leaves fill out the trees or we get a Spring rain. This morning we breathe free and easy. I tried to photograph it for you but my talents fell short of adequacy. You will have to paint your own morning in your own mind. Take a mountainside with most of the trees still bare except for the White Pines, Virginia pines, and Hemlocks scattered in clumps over the hillside. Then you add the Tulip Poplars, which aren't really poplars but they do have a pastel yellow green leafing in early stages, and top that off with soft maples with their red blooms mimicking a delicate fall color. A couple of wild apples are in bloom taking up the slack left by the Sarvice Berries that were the first to show their pink touched white flowers. They are natives in the apple family and are my favorites of the Spring. Our warm weather is bracketed by the Sarvice berry in the Spring and the Witch Hazel in the Fall. Somehow I believe that the Spring color is superior to Fall. One is merely spectacular while the other is spiritual

As I sat here yesterday morning the power went off and I heard thunder to the south. I went out on the deck thinking that this would be a rare morning storm this early in the season. Turns out that a fighter jet had crashed a few miles from here, in Rhea County. The pilot was ok but commited stupidity and flew into a power line. I would have preferred a thunderstorm.

Peace,

Steve