Bo  Smith's Blog History

May 22nd -June 30th  2011
 
The Cabin
June 30th (Thursday)
Diana and I visited our friends Judy and Andy Weber at their beautiful home near Red Hill.  They are known for their flowers and landscaping.

Andy and Judy in front of their beautiful home.
Beautiful flower gardens surround their home.  The southwest exposure feautures tiers of flowers and plants.
After visiting the Webers, we stopped by the Sinkhole Mica Mine where we met Sam Silver and George Silver Jr.  Sam with his  brother Ed Silver manage the Sinkhole Mine.  George takes care of the Silver Cemetery and Church in Kona where we we will visit on a tour this Saturday with Judy and Andy Weber's family.
Happy Birthday Oliver
Today is Oliver's 2nd Birthday.  He is resting at home after his first post surgery chemotherapy session.
Reading Status Report
Today, I finished "Wild Bill Donovan", a biography of the founder of the OSS during World War II and and the CIA. I bagan reading Steve Berry's most recent book, "The Jefferson Key".  Steve usually produces only one historical fiction novel a year which comes out in early December.  This year, however, he published his latest novel in May.  It starts out with a bang and I look forward to gettingt into this one!
June 29th (Wednesday)
Today was a busy day. I met Chris Wyatt at the Marble Mine and we worked on improving the campground.  We cleared more area for tent spaace and installed the latrine and  latrine enclosure.  Next, we went to look for river access for swimming and fishing.

The camp latrine
The  latrine enclosure in the background

We worked on improving the access from the Marble Mine road by adding a rope to improve going up and down the hill.  Someone had installed some metal steps using railroad materials.
There are sevral areas of the river we can use for swimming and fishing.
 
June 28th (Tuesday)
Today was a restful day spent watching the Wimbleton Women's Quarterfinals and watching the Gators loose the NCAA College Baseball World Series to South Carolina.  The Gamecocks played well and the Gators unfortunately didn't!

June 27th (Monday)
I spent the morning running errands.  In the afternoon, I called George Silver Jr. who is the caretaker of the Silver Family Cemetery in Kona. We discusssed Bo's Mine Tours conducting Silver Family History Tours using the Silver Family Cemetery at Kona. He not only agreed to allow us to do this but  also offered to open the church there for our tours. Then, I went out to Bandana and met up with Ed Silver, son of Guy Silver the oldest living Silver.  Ed and his brother Sam Silver operate the family farm and the Sinkhole Mica Mine.  I enjoyed talking with Ed, received permission to conduct tours at the Sinkhole Miaca Mine, and learned a lot about the Silver family history.
June 26th (Sunday)
 Diana and I spent the morning today at our new church here in Spruce Pine, The Western North Carolina Church (WNC) . We began at 9:00 with a quick choir practice followed by a bible study class and then the regular service at 10:30. Our small choir joined in an African American gospel song, "There's Power in the Blood". After the church service, we all met at the North Toe River for a baptism for about 20 people including our friends Bill and Bonnie Schmink.

Our Pastor, Randy, prepares to baptize Bonnie

Bonnie comes up for air, now baptized
Bonnie and Bill return from the river
June 25th (Saturday)
Diana and I attended the Mitchell County Cancer Survivor's Breakfast sponsored by the local American Cancer Society (ACS) this morning. The local ACS representative is our friend Kathlene Stith. It was great seeing Kathlene for the first time this summer.  Kathlene reported that Joe Peoples (Smokey Joe) has picked up his guitar ocassionally and will be performing in Nashville soon with his daughter. We hope to see Joe and Kathlene at our Folk Fest July 23rd.  After the breakfast, Diane and I spent some time with Don and Ann Wyatt before returning to the cabin to do some chores.
June 24th (Friday)
 Today was a Bo's Mine Tours workday.  I met my assistant, Chris Wyatt, at the Spruce Pine Ingles at 10:00 and loaded my stuff into his truck.  We went to McClure's Gravel yard and picked up some gravel for a road repair and my cooking fire and then Tri County Stone to get some slate rock for the cooking fire and large river rock for the fire pit.  We arrived at the Marble Mine gate at about noon and worked for about four hours before exhaustion set in.

Chris with the buckets of gravel
We loaded 600 lbs of river rock and slate rock
Marble Mine road repair at a washout

We made progress clearing the camping area
We made a small fire pit and a cooking fire
I hope I get to use the cooking fire soon

June 23rd (Thursday) (My 70th Birthday)
 Diana pulled off a surprise birthday party for me at the Richmond Inn.  She had been planning it fore some time and it was particularly significant as owner of the Richmond Inn, Maggie Haskins, had surprised me on my birthday with a bottle of champagne during my first trip to Spruce Pine six years ago.  In addition to Maggie, there were five couples of our new friends here in the mountains.

Diana and Maggie
The Dinner Table


Bonnie and Bill Schmink
(left to right) Linda Stevens, Bill Hartwell, Sandy Hartwell, and Marc Stevens
(my right), Judy Weber;
(on the right), Andy Weber


70 and counting

June 20th (Monday), June 21st (Tuesday), June 22nd (Wednesday)
I spent Monday through Wednesday purchasing supplies for the Abernathy/McBee Mica Mine two day overnight mining/camping tour.
 On Tuesday, I took a trip tp Loafer's Glory on Rte. 226N to research tubing options on the North Toe River.

First, I talked to Dave at
Loafer's Glory Campground and Gem Mine
Next, I talked to to Anthony at
 Loafer's Glory Rafting and Tubing
I will be looking in to whether we can offer tubing on the N Toe River as an option for our overnight camping tour in the future.
June 19th (Sunday) (Father's Day)
Diana and I were supposed to attend a baptism at the Toe River today but there was a serious line of thunderstorms which caused it to be cancelled. The picnic, however, was relocated to the church where we enjoyed the fellowship of friends.  We returned back to the cabin for a relaxing Father's Day.  I talked or texted with all five daughters!
Heather returned to California today after a 10 day trip to Orlando where she was grading a portion of the 145,000 AP Statistics exams

Heather is in the center of this large group from Cal Poly

Oliver Report

Oliver is back from the hospital.  He is shown here playing with a couple of models of vintage airplanes I sent him.

June 18th (Saturday)
Diana and I along with Panzy and Panda went to the Lavender Festival at the Mountain Farm near here today. We went primarily to hear our friend Rob Levin's band, "Hot Duck Soup" play at the festival.  We plan to return to the Mountain Farm in the future with perhaps Oliver or Elisa to see the baby goats and lambs.  The Mountain Farm store may also  attract Diana and Alice for a future visit!

Diana, Panda, and Panzy in front of the Mountain Farm store.
"Hot Duck Soup" (Rob is second from the left)

June 17th (Friday)
Thursday (the 16th) and Friday (the 17th) were devoted to running errands and working around the cabin.  Diana finally got her valences hung in the bedroom and I did some  yard work.  I also  did some research and  purchases  in connection with Bo's Mine Tours' two day camping and mining tour we are bringing online. I also picked up a desktop I had made at LOES to transform my pine bookcase into a proper desk.


Recent Picture of Lindsay

This is my youngest daughter Lindsay.
She lives in Jacksonville and will be 26 July 20th.

June 15th (Wednesday)
It was a very productive day today.  I had two important Bo's Mine Tours meetings and Diana completely rearranged the furniture in the main room of the cabin. I met with Bud Phillips this morning. We spent about an hour or so not only discussing the Marble Mine/McBee Mine tour but also more new information and stories about the McBee Mine and the geology of the area.  Bud gave me permission to do the two day camping/mine tour at McBee and we discussed the safety of the tunnel and how to remove water in the tunnel and material from the tunnel entrance.

Bud Phillips
Bud Phillips and his office manager, Brenda
I met with Burnsville Online in the afternoon and will advertise in that website. I submitted an outline for my web page and emailed images for the site. I'm hoping to see a proof for the page by Saturday.  I'll let you know when it is up. 
When I came home from my afternoon meeting, I was greated by an new cabin main room.

Not much change in the area near the front door
Diana's desk is gone under the ladder replaced by a chair and reading lamp
Diana's desk has reappeared in front of the windows near the Franklin Stove
Note the various "doggies" scattered around in the pictures! :-)
Diana and I attended our first night of choir practice tonight at the Western Carolina Church (WCC) at the invitation of our friends Bonnie and Bill Schmink. We enjoyed pizza after the singing.

The Boston Bruins won the Stanley Cup today by beating the Vancouver Canucks in Game 7 by a score of 4-0.
HooRay!
Oliver Report
HooRay, Oliver is back on the tractor!
My grandson, Oliver, returned from the UNC Chapel Hill Childrens' Hospital today after having surgery to remove a cancer tumor on June 3rd. The surgery was successful but Oliver will still undergo a couple of more rounds of chemotherapy to kill any remaining live cancer cells.
June 14th (Tuesday) (Flag Day)

Fly the Stars and Stripes today and honor America!

It was a very busy day today.  Chris Wyatt (Don and Ann Wyatt's grandson) came by at 10:30 and we had a great discussion about procedures for Bo's Mine Tours' new tour of the Abernathy/McBee Mica Mine. Chris will be an essential participant in running that tour.

Bo and Chris Wyatt
After the Bo's Mine Tours planning session, Chris and I went outside working on clearing a bottom portion of the cabin land and cleaning out the crawl space under the cabin. Meanwhile, Diana decided to take on the storage shed and completely rearranged it.  When Chris left at 1:30, his truck bed was full of items for the recycling center,  After a brief rest, I went by the post office and then went to Burrnsville for a meeting at the Hilltop Restaurant at 3:30 with Andrea Thompson, editor of a new tourist oriented website:  Burnsville Online .  I am planning on having Bo's Mine Tours advertise on this new website.
June 13th (Monday)
Diana I had a lazy morning (She cleaned the house, I slept in :_). We went to lunch at Mary Jane's where we ran in to Rob and Wanda Levin. We enjoyed catching up with them and listening to a young group of bluegrassers.

Southern Road Blue Grass Group
Cody Tschudy & Friends

June 12th (Sunday)
Diana and I visited our friend Jack Dellinger at his mill on Friday.  We spent Saturday at the cabin continuing unpacking and went to Troy's in Burnsville and picked up some flowers to decorate the cabin. We went to church today and had brunch in Spruce Pine with our friends Bill and Bonnie Schmink.  We spent the afternoon at the cabin relaxing and spent some quality time on the back porch.

Little Bear doesn't notice the squirrel on the bird feeder
Close-up of the squirrel on the bird feeder

June 9th (Thursday)
Diana and I had a relaxing day today doing some unpacking and just enjoying time together with the "doggies" at the cabin.
Oliver Report

Oliver is progressing very well. He took his first steps yesterday and is in great spirits. 
Thank you for keeeping him in your prayers!
June 8th (Wednesday)
Hooray! Diana, bella, and Panda arrived at the cabin this afternoon.  They left Jacksonville at about 7:15 and arrived about 4:30. We had agreat steak (me) and Fish (Diana) dinner and celebrated her arrival wigth some Robert Mondavi Sauvignon Blanc.
June 7th (Tuesday)
I received an email late Monday that a group of three sisters who were staying at the Terrell House B&B in Burnsville  (one of the places I had put rack cards) wanted to talk mto me about a possible tour on Tuesday.  I didn't read the email until Tuesday morning but called them and arranged to meet them at the same place I had arranged to meet Chris Wyatt.  So, we had an exciting trial of the new tour.  We drove our vehicles down the rough road to the Marble Mine and after a brief stop there looking at the fine white marble, we set off on the one mile a walk down the train tracks to the the McBee and Abernathy tailings.

The Marble Mine has a large grassy area suitable for camping
The train tracks run along the South Toe River
After about a mile hike down the tracks, we arrived at the McBee Mica Mine.

You have to be on the lookout for coal trains that come along about every 30 minutes.  There is plenty of room beside the tracks to wait for the train to pass.
The McBee Mica Mine entrance is still accessable.
You know that you have arrived at the mine entrance because there is a cool breeze coming from the mine entrance.

Note the blue and white ribbon standing straight out in the cool stiff breeze from the mine entrance.
The minerals which can be normally found in the tailings are muscovite mica, garnet, and apatite in addition to the quartz and feldspar matrix. Aquamarine has also been found.
The tailngs (mine dump) contains material frfom the McBee Mine and the Abernathy Mine at the top of the hill.  The tailings continue all the way from the tracks to the South Toe River below.

One of the sisters was very adventurous and explored the first few feeet of the mine tunnel.
She took several pictures of the tunnel. In this one you can see the water which she measured using my walking stick.
So, far we have entered the tunnel a few feet to the left. There is an area with about 12" of water that you have to crawl through to get to an area large enough to perhaps stand up. We are hoping to be able to continue exploration of the tunnel and perhaps even allow tour participants who are adventurous to mine a sample of mica from inside the mine tunnel.

While the sisters collected at the tailings, Chris used a "weed eater" to clear the area.
The sisters show some ingenuity in using a tool to help them bear the load on the way back.
The one mile hike back is tiring  especially because you have to carry the samples you collected.  I plan to ask Bud Phillips for permission to allow tour goers an option to camp at the Marble Mine making it a two day tour.  The river is beautiful with several desirable spots to swim.  Eventually, we may even be able to tube back down the river to a spot about 1/2 mile downriver from the Marble Mine.
June 5th (Sunday) and June 6th (Monday)
Sunday was a day of rest and relaxation.  Monday was a very impotant day in that I met with Bud Phillips, owner of the  Bud Phillips' Marble Mine and owner of the McBee Mica Mine, to discuss having access to both mines for a new tour.  He was supportive of the project and gave me permission to do some grass and groundcover clearing to make trail access and collecting easier.  So I made arrangements to meet Don Wyatt's grandson Chris the next day to go to work.
June 4th (Saturday)
I went to visit my friend Jack Dellinger at his grist mill at Cane Creek east of Bakersville today. Jack is the 4th miller/millwright since the mill was constructed in 1867.  Jack went to NC State after graduation from high school in the 1950s. He was a computer programmer for IBM and was involved in the integration of computer control for the Saturn V rocket in the Apollo Program.  After retiring in the mid 1990's, he set about rennovating the mill and spends five days a week showing his operational mill to the public. I will be including Jack's Mill as an optional stop in my Bo's Mine Tours business.  I will be adding a webpage to my Bo's Mine Tours website featuring more pictures and details about Jack's mill.


Saturday night I went to Mary Jane 's restaurant in Burnsville. I enjoyed a delicious chicken and cheese lasagna and some great music.

Mary Jane's is a bakery and cafe and is open every day for lunch and dinner on Saturday nights. The Sturday night dinners feature a fixed menu and excellent local music.
On the left is Billy Constable from Spruce Pine  who plays a great guitar. In the center is Merl Johnson from eastern North Carolina who plays an awesome fiddle and mandolin around the east and midwest. On the right is Kenny Jobe from Burnsville on the banjo.
 
June 3rd (Friday)
Great News! Oliver's surgery was a success.


Now it's healitime and close monitoring to see if there are any remnants of the tumor remaining.
Please keep him in your prayers.

My grandson, Oliver, is undergoing surgery today at the Children's Hospital at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His surgeons are planning to remove as much of the tumor near his spine as possible. Oliver has undergone several months chemotherapy to reduce the size of the tumor to make today's surgery posible.

June 2nd (Thursday)
  I went into Burnsville in the morning and visited the Ruth Wray Museum of Yancey County History. The museum consists of two parts; first the McElroy House and second an annex that contains a genealogy library for area families.  The McElroy house was built in the early 1800s and was the headquarters for the local Civil War troops from this area. It has an excellent collection of Civil War memorability and Native American artifacts. I spent some time in the geneology library researching newspaper articles about the George Silver family during the 1800s.

McElroy House
After lunch. I visited Bud Phillips and received his permission to take tours to his Marble Mine and McBee Mica Mine.  In the late afternoon, Crystal Newman came to the cabin and repaired the A/C system by replacing the fan and fan motor.
June 1st (Wednesday)
Today, I visited Kona and the Silver family Kona cemetery and the Silver homestead on the Old Kona Road. I also found the entrance road to the Chestnut Flats Felsdspar Mine which I plan to visit as soon as I can get permission from the owner.

The Silver family was one of the first families to settle in this area in the early 1800s.
George Silver, a veteran of the Revolutionary War, began the Silver settlement of the Kona area.

This is the tripple grave of Charlie Silver who was the victim of the ax mrder by his young wife, Frankie Silver in 1829.  The Legend of Frankie Silver describes this story. She was hangedd in Morgantown, NC in 1833, one of the first women to bre hanged in the state.
This is a log home built by George Silver III between 1805 and 1809.

May 31st (Tuesday)
I had to take Tut to the Vet today. He has been having balance problems and depression since going to the groomer last week. It turns out that he has ear problems and I have a selection of medicines to bring him around. (He is almost back to normal today-June 6th)

I attended a Yancey Chamber of Commerce reception for small business members this afternoon at the Nu Wray Inn

Memorial Day (Monday, May 30th)
I spent a quiet day relaxing and had a small picnic of polish hot dogs and salad on the cabin back porch with the doggies.

I received many emails from my VA-15 buddies and other friends this week about remembering the sacrifice of our friends and family who served in the military.  I have been reading a wonderful book this week leading in to Memorial Day by Steven Ambrose; "The Victors: Eisenhower and His Boys: The Men of World War Two". This book about the men who participated in the war from the Utah and Omaha beaches of Normandy in June, 1944 through the hedgerows in France and across the Rhine in the summer and fall of 1944 and the winter of 1945 really portrayed the sacrifices of these men. It contains many stirring accounts of various encounters with the German armed forces and the brilliant service particularly of the infantrymen, sergeants, and junior officers on the front lines.
  Memorial Day Weekend; May 28th (Saturday) and May 29th (Sunday)
I led a 6 hour tour for a nice couple from Austin, Texas to the Crabtree Emerald Mine on Saturday and a 6 hour tour to the Ray MIca Mine for a great couple and two teenagers who share time in eastern North Carolina and their cabin in northern California.

Larry and Linda at Crabtree Emerald Mine
Wendy and Dan in front and Elizabeth and Haley at Ray Mica Mine

May 23rd (Monday) through May 27th (Friday)
I spent the week getting the water heater to work and the clay silt which had built up over the winter out of the well water. I was also busy driving around the area distributing my Bo's Mine Tours rack cards to various B&Bs and Inns.  I took Tut and Little Bear to the groomer on Thursday and had the Rodeo all prepared by Friday afternoon for my first two customers on the weekend.
May 22nd (Sunday)
I drove from Jacksonville to the cabin today with Panzy, King Tut, and Little Bear.  We arrived during a gigantic thunderstorm!