Bo  Smith's Blog History

October 11th- December 6th, 2010

 
The Cabin in the Fall
I thought I'd put a few pictures of the three towns (a very small vilage in the case of Micaville) near us along Route 19E.
Burnsville
Micaville
Spruce Pine
December 6th (Monday)
We successfully negotiated the road down our hill on Sunday afternoon.  We packed in the morning and I watched the first half of the JAGS/Titans game (17-6 JAGS) before we left at about 2:30.  We drove to Columbia, SC and stayed at the La Quinta Inn there. We completed the trip at about 4:30 Monday afternoon.
So, this will be my last blog from the cabin. I hope to be set up to begin blogging from Jacksonville about the middle of the week.
December 4th (Saturday)
It's 3:30 and I'm going to watch the Oregon/Oregon State and Auburn/South Carolina games while packing up.

Loading the tree Saturday afternoon

The snow has stopped for now.
It bagan snowing pretty hard about 11:00 this morning and we have almost 2" of accumulation as I write this.
We are reassessing our driving plans to Jacksonville.  Our current plan now is to stay in the cabin packing until tomorrow afternoon and then try to get down the hill safely during the warmest part of the day. It's going to be very cold Sunday night and we're concerned about the roads being too icy on Monday. We have a reservation at the La Quinta in Columbia. So, we will take our time tomorow and finish driving to Jacksonville on Monday.
December 3rd (Friday)
We had a great day today.  We took a break from packing and drove around a bit. Yesterday, during my trip to Bakersville,  I noticed  that it was clear at the top of snowy Roan Mountain. So, I thought we should drive up today.

View of Roan Mountain from Saylor's Apple Orchard

Roan Mountain is on the North Carolina/Tennessee border

The 4 doggies enjoyed playing in the snow. Panzy stayed home and enjoyed the warmth of the cabin

We took Tenn 143 back down the Tennessee side where there were several runoff frozen waterfalls
We drove from Roan, Tennessee to Banner Elk and then south to Grandfather Mountain.

They were making snow at the Sugar Mountain Ski Resort south of Banner Elk
The snow boarders were alraedy there enjoying the less crowded Friday afternoon.
We took Route 221S to Grandfather Mountain and then switched to the Blue Ridge Parkway south. We got off the Linville Exit at 221 and went to Louise's Rock House Restaurant. I had been there before but this was Diana's first visit. She enjoyed her fresh mountain trout dinner.
After dinner, we got back on the parkway and drove back at sunset to to the Spruce Pine/Mineral Museum exit. We made a stop for a drink at the Mountain View Restaurant.
December 2nd (Thursday)
I spent the day running errands. I mailed some Christmas pakages from the Spruce Pine UPS and then went to Lud Leiner's to pick up the Christmas tree. I spent the afternoon in Bakersville looking for Dellinger Grist MIll grits. I found some at Young's Fuel Oil and at Saylor's Apple Orchard.  Jack Dellinger is stll in Florida so the Grist Mill is closed.
December 1st (Wednesday)
Well, winter has arrived at the cabin!! We had a major rainstorm with some snow last night and the temperature has been in the mid 20s by early morning the last four or five days. The forecast predicts highs in the mid 40s and lows in the mid 20s for the rest of the week. The forecast  for next Monday when we intend to drive to JAX is a high of 38 with snow showers.
I think we will go to Jacksonville next year for Thanksgiving and try to avoid this cold stuff.
We had our final bridge day on Monday and did the best we have ever done. We are making progress. We hope to find someone interested in playing in Jacksonville.  After bridge, we went over to the Schmink's house to look at Bonnie's Christmas decorations; the most unusual of which is this upside down Christmas tree.
 Bonnie's "upside down" Christmas tree. This is a pretty strange looking tree. But, it really is a space saver and the ornaments hang better than in a standard tree. However, it might pose a problem if you have had a little too much egg nog! :-)
Yesterday, I went to Johnston City, Tennessee (with Tut and Little Bear) to pick up the window for the firepalce mantel. You might remember that I wasn't happy with the first rendition and asked the craftsperson for a second try.
 This one is much better. The mountain ridgeline is more similar to our Mt Celo/Black Mountain view and the smaller bears are easier to see with the foliage background.
This is how it looks from a distance.
November 28th (Sunday)
It has been very cold since Thanksgiving. We have stayed inclosed in the cabin except for today when we went to curch (Western Carolina Church) with Bill and Bonnie and for brunch after church. I've enjoyed watching football during the last few days despite the fact that both the Gators and Jaguars lost their games.
November 25th (Thanksgiving)
We did some cooking in the morning. Diana prepared her special apple cranberry dressing, layered spinich and corn soufle casserole, and fresh cranberry relish. I made the creamed onions. We arrived at Bill and Bonnie's about one and spent a delightful afternoon with them and another couple Peter and Myrna Stephens whom we had me at a Chef's Table dinner at the Tin Lizzard. Daniel Diel from the Tin Lizzard stopped by after dinner to pick up Chou-Lin. We brought Tut along to play with his litter mate.

Bill and Bonnie Schmink

Peter and Myrna Stephens

I enjoyed talking with Peter about many subjects. He is a patholigist from Darby England and is also a pilot

Bonnie is an energetic and multi talented; a consumate hostess, musician, dog whisperer :-), and great friend.

Bill is a retired banker from Boston; an interesting and good man. He joins Diana and me every Monday at bridge.

Quite a feast. Note that the creamed onions are front and center. They were great later in the evening while I was watching Texas loose to Texas A&M.
Tut and Chou-Lin were litter mates. Bonnie arranged for her brother, Daniel Diel, the Executive Chef from the Tin Lizzard, to purchase then Chou-Lin from us. Tut and Chou-Lin had a great time getting reacquainted.
November 24th (Wednesday)
Today was a quiet day shopping for Thanksgiving dinner and working around the cabin. I worked on the blog and processed some pictures of minerals for my Bo's Mine Tours website that I will be working on when we back back to Jacksonville. Diana took a picture of me while working on my laptop. I've used it at the top of the blog.  If you look closely, you will find Tut looking at me from the porch window. Here are some closer ups of Tut at the window. He is such a good puppy.
We will be celebrating Thanksgiving with our friends Bonnie and Bill Schmink.
November 23rd (Tuesday)
Diana had lunch at The Garden Delli in Burnsville with a new friend who we met at the Chef's Table while I went to the HootOwl Mine with Dana who joined me from Asheville.

I recently received permission from the new owner to visit this exceptionally interesting mine.

This mine initially produced some fine mica and later became a feldspar mine resulting in these large caves.

That is Dana standing in front of the main mine openings.

 

I would love to be able to lead tours to this mine. 
But, the owner intends to do tours himself with his  Pedro's Gem Mine business.
November 22nd (Monday)
Today was a standard bridge day at DTs Cafe
November 21st (Sunday)
We joined Bonnie and Bill Schmink at the WNC Church in Spruce Pine today. Diana and I both really liked our first exposure to the wonderful people who are this church group. After church, we joined Bonnie and Bill for brunch at the Tin Lizzard. We got back to the cabin about 1:30 and gave the dogggies their walks. I watched a replay of the Florida win. Now, can they play offense next week against the Seminoles?   We had a relaxing Sunday afternoon and evening.
 Jaguars 24-Browns 20
JAGS are now 6-4 and lead the AFC South
Way to Go JAGS!
November 20th (Saturday)
Diana and I woke up and decided to go to the Hilltop Restaurant instead of making breakfast as we were going to the Christmas Ornament and Crafts Fair at the Burnsville Town Center.
 We picked up some family Christmas presents at the fair. It was great!
After the crafts fair, we went back to the cabin, walked the doggies and took naps/watched college football (I recorded the Sunday morning replay of thre Florida/Appalachian State game). We went to Mary Janes' Cafe in Burnsville for dinner because Hannah Levin was palying there.

Hannah is a singer/songwrite/Art Teacher. She has a lilting soprano voice singing songs with a message.

Her dad, Rob, joins her on some songs with his wonderful metal guitar. They may play a role in our next annual picnic and Folk Fest July 23rd, 2011
November 19th (Friday)
We had a busy and wonderful day today. I started by driving to Burnsville and took some pictures for the Burnsville link. When I came back, I picked up Diana and the dogggies; except for Panzy who had a quiet day at the cabin. We met Jack Dellinger at the Cane Creek Grist Mill at noon. We hope that some of our cabin visitors will make this journey to see the mill and meet Jack.

Jack published a book in 2004 "Dellinger Grist Mill on Cane Creek" providing a pictorial history of the four generations of his family who have operated the mill. The mill was dormant after Jack's father, Marve, died in 1955 until Jack restored it to operation in the late 1990s to early 2000s.

Diana is standing on the old Avery road which was the only road from Avery County to Bakersville in the 1850s. Jack's grandfather Ruben built the original Cane Creek Baptist Church here so the Avery people would not have to go all the way to Bakersville to go to church.

Jack removed the water trough gate allowing Cane Creek water to flow from the dam to the water wheel. The 2000 lb metal wheel turns at 10 rpm which is increased by a gear/pulley system to 160 rpm at the millstone.

The millstones were hand hewn by a Frenchman in eastern North Carolina in the 1850s and brought to the mill. Jack regrooves the millstones when needed. He normally uses organic white corn from nearby. We learned the real difference between corn meal. polenta, and grits!
We left Jack about 1:30 and drove to a house on Cane Creek Road which provided good access to hike to the Hawk Mine. I learned of this location from a neighbor, Ron Bailey yesterday. Fortunately, as it turns out, the caretaker was there and gave me permission to hike to the mine. Diana stayed in the car with the doggies.  While she was there, another car pulled up behind the Rodeo and took our license number. It turned out that while I was hiking to the mine the Mitchell County police were processing a call and met us at the mine dump when we arrived there. It was straighetned out without a problem.
People in the mountains look out for their neighboors! :-)

This house and small pond actually is shown on my topographic map.

Diana and Tut waiting in the car for the 45 minutes to an hour it took me to hike to the mine and back.

The primary mine shaft is about 40 feet across and is about 350' deep. I also found a vent tunnel.

Once cleared by the Mitchell County police, I spent about 45 minutes collecting some samples from the dump.
I was exausted after our very busy day and took a nap for about an hour after we returned to the cabin. While I was sleeping, Diana prepared a delicious and healthy carrot and sweet potato bisque to go with our steaks. After dinner, we failed to pull the chairs far enough away from the dinner table!!

We are usually worried about Tut getting up on the table. But, this is Bella finishing up some scraps!
(Diana cell phone picture)
November 18th (Thursday)
Today was a very successful day. I took Tut and Little Bear along and spent the day researching and discovering. Our first stop was a meeting wiyth Charlie Buchannan, owner of Pedro's Gem Mountain (tourist mining) and new owner of the Hoot Owl Mine. The results of the meeting were good and bad; good in that he gave me permission to explore and collect at the Hoot Owl Mine but bad in that he was not interested in my leading tours to the Hoot Owl as he intends to conduct tours from Pedro's Gem Mountain. Our next objective was to find the Hawk Mine which is east of Bakersville on Cane Creek Road. Along the way, we discovered an old grist mill which is still in operation.

The grist mill has been operation since the 1850s

The current owner, Jack Dellinger
Jack is the fourth generation of Dellinger miller/millwrights who have operated the mill. Jack still produces corn meal, polenta, and grits using only the water power provided by Cane Creek and his 1850s water wheel.  He is a very interesting person and smiilar to Bill Carson, Jack worked for IBM on the computer design and programming for the control of the Saturn V rocket engines for the Apollo Project. We had a great discussion and I'm going to bring Diana back to visit the mill tommorrow. Jack was also a wealth of information about the Hawk Mine.
 This is the Hawk Mine dump along the Cane Creek Road. I met the land owner, Sonny Baffle who provided me great  information. He promised to contact the owner of the mine in my behalf.  He also led me to Ron Bailey (Ft. Lauderdale) who showed me a trail to the mine itself. I plan to make the short hike to the mine tomorrow.
November 17th (Wednesday)
No big events today; Diana cleaned the cabin while I processeD Sinkhole MIne samples, made some calls about getting access to a new mine and took Bella to the vet to get some blood tests.
november 16th (Tuesday)
Monday was devolted primarily to our bridge group. We are playing at DT's Coffeee Shop and Cafe now that the Switzerland Inn is closed for the winter. With the exception of one hand, we played pretty well despite not having very good cards. It was rainy today. But, we had a good time shopping in Burnsville.
November 14th (Sunday)
Diana and I had a relaxing day today. We had a chance to go over some of the mineral samples we collected at Sinkhole yesterday. We had a great dinner and met new friends at the Tin Lizzard Chef's Table event that we attend regularly.

Our hosts and friends Bonnie and Bill Schmink (on left)

Head Chef and General Manager Daniel Diel talks to the guests after a wonderful three course dinner
November 13th (Saturday)
Diana and I went to the Sinkhole MIca Mine again this afternoon to collect samples.
 Sinkhole pegmatite is a beautiful collection of smokey quartz, nearly transparent feldspar, exceptional mica, and gemmy little red garnet.
We left the Sinkhole MIne about 4:00, cleaned up, walked the doggies, went out to eat and got the the Burnsville Town Center for the Blalsam Range concert. The place was full. Balsam Range is great.

Balsam Range normally consists of (left to right); Buddy Melton on fiddle, Tim Surrett on the acoustic bass, Daren Nicholson on mandolin, Caleb Smith on guitar, and Marc Pruett on banjo

For some numbers Buddy Melton plays bass so that Tim Surrett can play the dobro (resophonic guitar)

One of my favorite members of the group is Caleb Smith. He is a guitar virtuoso. His jazz rendition of "Somertime" is incredible.
 Check them out at http://www.BalsamRange.com.
The Gators' miserable offensive effort against South Carolina was disheartening. They have the talent. The coaches need to figure out how to use it!
November 12th (Friday)
I started the day by taking King Tut and Little Bear to the "Waggin Tails" groomers. Bella went along for the ride as I made various stops including a talk with Bud Phillips. During my talk with Bud, I met Mark Adams PhD, Chief Geologist with Unimin Corporation. Mark is involved in the discovery of resources function for Uninim and is a valuable contact. I learned quite a bit in our first but hopefully not our last conversation. After my morning stops, I returned Bella to the cabin and picked up Diana. She and Panda and just returned from a long walk to the bottom of Fruit Tree Lane and back, a challenging walk for us.

One of Diana's cell phone pictures to prove she did it

Diana and Panda were joined by "Charlie" 
In the afternoon, Diana and I took a beautiful drive up Route 197N past Green Mountain and then along Route 226 to Bakersville. Much of the drive is along either Cane Creek or the Toe River.  It was abeautiful drive!

Old mill located near Loafers Glory

Nice water fall located near the mill
We found a place, "Loafers Glory Rafting and Tubing" located in Loafers Glory, NC (great name) that does rafting and tubing trips on The French Broad and Toe Rivers in our area. We plan to give it a try next summer. Perhaps some of you would like to join us.
After our drive along 226 to Bakersville, we went to the Sinkhole Mica Mine to take some pictures for the Sinkhole Mine portion of my Bo's Mine Tours website.

This hole is to top of a 350' mine shaft. The Sinkhole Mine once consisted a vast array of shafts and tunnels

Diana loves to look for the "gemmy litle garnets" found at the Sinkhole Mine
While at Sinkhole, we met a nice local feller whose family and friends worked at Sinkhole when it was an active mine. He gave me some good local contacts and told us a few stories about the mine. One of the stories was particularly interesting. He said that his granduncle (who is living in Spruce Pine) when he was 10 years old, used to carry buckets of drinking water up the hill to the mine workings. The miners gave him a nickel for each trip. During one of these trips, one of the miners offerred him a dollar if he would crawl in to a small hole in the side if the hill at the workings to see what was inside. Even at 10 years old, he could barely get through the hole. Well, he made it through and inside was a larger tunnel almost high enough to stand in. Inside the tunnel was a circle of quartz arrow/spear heads arranged in a circle with a pile of fine mica inside of the circle. The Cherokee used the mica as ornaments at their burial sites and traded the mica to other native American tribes east of the Mississippi.

After our trip to Sinkhole, we picked up the puppies at the groomers. We'll take another better picture of Little Bear

King Tut is now about 15 lbs and still growing at almost 8 months. He has a great disposition and is quite handsome
Several of the pictures in today's blog were provided by email from Diana's Blackberry including this nice sunset picture
November 11th (Thursday)
We had a productive day today. We had our annual termite inspection and our friend Don Wyatt worked on remodeling Diana's closet. I also took a drive to Green Mountain with King Tut and collected some olivine, serpentine, and asbestos samples.

Don cutting wood on our porch for the closet project

Olivine Quarry at Grren Mountain
November 10th (Wednesday)
I had lunch with my friend Lud Leiner today. We discussed the various options available for tours to his Martin Mine with Bo's Mine Tours next summer.  He also loaned me a copy of an excellent article from the March, 1958 editiion of National Geographic, "My Neighbors Hold to Mountain Ways". I am going to try to get a copy of it. We also took a drive up the scenic Route 197 N to Green Mountain, probably named for the olivine deposits there. We also visited the Sinkhole Mica Mine where we discovered an old mine shaft and various mine works that I haven't seen before. We also established that the owner of the mine is Guy Silver and his sons, Sam and Ed. I was able to contact Guy and his son, Sam, and received permission to guide tours at the mine through Bo's Mine Tours. I plan to revisit the Sinkhole Mine and take some pictures for my website on the Sinkhole Mine.
November 9th (Tuesday)
I went to find an old gold mine which is on land owned by Bud Phillips. Bud has asked me to find the old mine and take some samples so that he can have them tested to see their gold content. With the price of gold > $1350/oz, lots of owners are rechecking their old gold properties. I went with Dana Groover, Diana's ex-brother in law. Dana and his wife, Naomi, live nearby in a nice condo just north of Asheville. Dana and I hiked for 3 hours up the north side of Grandfather Mountain but were unable to find the mine. We think that we actually hiked above and possibly past the mine but did not see it. I may try again next week.
 We set out from a trailhead that I had previously determined to be the best approach to the mine.
This is Dana Groover standing in front of a beautiful stone chimney at an old home site along the trail. It had a fireplace on either side indicating that the cabin had at least two rooms.
We did find an old wagon bed that might have been used to bring ore from the mine to the railroad at Lenoore.
November 8th (Monday)
Monday is bridge day. In the winter, we meet at DT's Coffee Shop and Cafe on Lower Street (Walnut) in Spruce Pine. We start at 10:00 with a one hour lesson (we have a choice of beginner, Intermediate, or advanced; we pick intermediate). The lesson is followe by lunch from11:00 to 11:45 or so and then the afternooon of duplicate bridge lasts until 4:00 or so.
November 7th (Sunday)
 There is still some snow above 4000' out back on Celo!
We had our first snow Friday and Saturday. I went into Marion with Don Wyatt Friday noon and it was sunny and in the 60s. On Friday afternoon there was almost a blizzard like wet snowfall in Burnsville while I was at Hardees enjoying a thickburger. It has been in the high 20s at night and the 50s in the daytime this past week. It is supposed to warm up this next week.
October 29th (Friday)
I took the puppies on a trip today to Bud Phillip's Marble Mine and to the Sinkhole Mica mine.

I have a key for the gate but decided to walk to the mine

I was joined on my walk by the puppies

Marble Mine outcrop

RR tracks from Marble Mine to the Abernathy/McBee Mines
October 23rd-October 26th
Our friend Joe Conlon stopped by on his way to a conference at the Ohio State University on Saturday, October 23rd. We took him to a "real mountain party" at our friends' Joe Peoples and Kathleen Stith's house.

Now this is a classy group of guys led by Joe Conlon and me on the left end and Joe Peoples (back row on right)

That's not cherry juice I'm drinking here. You can tell that Diana has already had her share!
Joe was up early on Sunday and on his way. Diana and I enjoyed our second Chef's Table event at Daniel's Tin Lizzard restaurant Sunday night. Joe was with us again on Tuesday, the 26th on his way back to Jacksonville.  We had a great steak and salad dinner with him. We hope that his wife, Diane, can join him for another visit next fall.
 Diana has taken up a new interest this fall at the cabin.
Her first project is to knit a sweater for Panda.
October 22nd (Friday)
Diana and I took a trip to visit our friends, Joyce and Lud Liner

Diana and Lud with the fraser fir we picked out to take back to Jacksonville for Christmas

I took Diana and "the puppies" to see Lud's Martin Mine where I worked as a guide last summer

Lud has created a beautiful nature trail between the various mining sites

The mine "tailings" extend down from the trail to the beautiful South Toe River below
October 20th (Wednesday)
After Heather's visit, Diana and I relaxed around the cabin and I did some coordination work in preparation for opening my Bo's Mine Tours business next May. On October 20th, we drove to Black Mountain to have lunch with Pam and Roger Stewart from Diana's bible study group in Jacksonville.

Beautiful refletion on lake along Route 80 South

Black Mountain has nice restaurants and shops
October 14th (Thursday)
I took Heather to Charlotte to fly back to California while Diana rested with the doggies on the couch at the cabin.
Notice the pink cell phone in her right hand. I suspect the remote is in her left. :-)
(This picture was actually taken on the couch in our Florida room in Jacksonville. It is so good that I had to repeat it here!)
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October 13th (Wednesday)
Heather and I drove to Grandfather Mountain via the Blue Ridge Parkway
Grandfather Mountain from the parkway

We call this "whale rock" on Route 221
October 12th (Tuesday)
Heather and I went to Mt Mitchell, the highest mountain in the US east of Colorado (6684')

A cool but fairly clear day for Mt. Mitchell

We took the two puppies-Little Bear and King Tut

View of the Black Mountains from Mt. Mitchell

View north toward Spruce Pine (Pine Mountain feldspar)

After Mt. Mitchell, we took a drive on the parkway.

The fall colors were at their peak
October 11th (Monday)
Diana, Heather, the "doggies" and I drove up from Jacksonville to the cabin