Camera, oh camera, wherefore art thou camera?

Many of you who know me, know that my camera is pretty much a package deal with me. It travels with me--always safe in it's seat beside me or behind me. It's always in its case, protected from the mean outside world. It gets wiped clean regularly and babied. I love to take pictures of everything from flowers to barns, pets to people, and especially sports. So here's my story!

The day before track season officially began--and this is Hunter's first track season EVER--I get home to find that my camera is not working. I don't want to say on a public forum exactly what happened because I'm still praying the warranty will cover it, but let's just say one of my children did something they shouldn't have. Now, the camera from the outside looks great. Same as every other day....nothing wrong....UNTIL you try to turn it on. That's when it stops! DEAD!

I try to resist panicking (or killing my child), so I gingerly pick the camera up and carry it into my bedroom. I call the local camera shop only to find out the "problem" is going to cost me $150-$200 to fix. Then, I call Canon to hear them tell me it's going to cost $190 to fix. Pretty much the same story from both and I learned that this is why they don't make this particular part on the new Canons. GREAT! Thanks for telling me that now!

The next step is relaying that information to my dear husband, who is less than thrilled to hear it. He starts off by saying "I shouldn't have.....you know better....., etc.", but when he hears me tearing up decides I already know ALL of those things. We talk when he gets home and he even looks at it to see if there is a possibility he could fix it. I can't even find the part online, so we pretty much decide I'm out of a camera until I save enough to fix it. Even if I could send it off it can take 3 weeks or so to repair and get back, so track season is gone almost by that time anyway and baseball will have already begun. :(

I begin to think of all the opportunities to take pictures that I will miss---track, baseball, Chris' graduation from Army Basic Training, Charley's football kick off, possibly Chris' wedding, my is my head getting heavy! Here is what I will have to take pictures with for the next however long......

Yeah, like that will capture the memories!!!!!! :( 

So, then I had another thought. Check online to see when I bought it. I knew I had a 1 year warranty with it, but was almost sure my 1 year was up.  I checked and guess what?  I had purchased it on March 31 last year (the day it happened was March 29). 2 days! Really, God? 2 days?

I sent an email as fast as my fingers could type (which is pretty fast), but after checking it before bed a million times, there was no reply.  I jotted down the phone number and called it as soon as they opened the next morning (the 30th---1 more day!!!!). The lady I spoke with was very nice and sent me an email with the information I needed to send it back.

Now, here's where it gets interesting.....I have sent it back today (31st--last day of warranty) and am waiting to hear if it will be covered. I am praying that it will and would love for anyone who doesn't feel silly praying for a camera to pray with me. I saved for SO long to purchase this camera and was so sad to see it go in a box away from me. I posted on Facebook the other night that I loved that camera ALMOST as much as I love my children. :)

Yesterday, I had a friend loan me her Nikon to take pics at Hunter's 1st track meet because she couldn't be there. That was 1 out of 8!  I have another friend who offered to loan me her Canon to take to GA for Chris' graduation also. Just trying to make myself believe that I will survive if I don't get pictures from EVERY event (although I can't say I believe it yet). :) So, I will keep you posted. If you see me with a bummed look on my face, you'll know it's because my poor camera is travelling all alone to NY and back & I can't even go with it to take pictures. HA HA!

I know all my "camera buddies" will understand--even if the rest of you think I'm crazy. LOL!

Spring = New Beginnings

Spring brings about a busy time for everyone. We want to do "spring cleaning", there are spring sports and all the flowers and trees are trying to "spring into action".

This little flower is one of many in my flower bed, but they are always the first to bloom (and the first to die). It's kind of funny how all these flowers know when they're supposed to come out of their hiding place. This year has been kind of unusual because of all the snow we have received, but still my flowers are all breaking ground and trying to get ready to illuminate the flower bed with their beauty.

I do NOT have a green thumb.  Give me a house plant and it will be dead in no time because I forget to water it. Give me a bunch of flowers that God gets to water and provide sunlight and I have to do very little but watch and take pictures....then I'm good. :)  I love their beauty, but don't really "enjoy" working in the dirt and weeding. I just like to pull up in my driveway and see the pretty colors and different flowers welcoming me home each day. I especially love this time of year when I can leave for work with 2 flowers out and come home with 6 more out! It's exciting.

Hopefully I will have the time to get some pictures of my flowers again this year and share them. I hope you share yours too!

Saturday maintenance involved cutting down some trees in the front yard.  We had 2 trees that needed attention. One of them was dropping limbs on our privacy fence and the other was dropping "whirly birds" in my flower bed---and I don't want to grow any more trees.

Brian sawing away on the first tree.

Charley getting in on the action. Brian told me Charley was only in the tree (when I left to go to the grocery store Brian was in the tree. When I came back, this is who I found.) because he weighed less and the tree didn't move as much. Charley really enjoyed it.

Hunter was the log carrier......he got to carry the logs/branches to a pile by the road.

Look at those strong, handsome men I have! If any of you have young ladies, I have the 2 eligible young men (on the right) for the taking. :)

That's a pile 'o wood. We have a friend coming by to chop it up and use it for firewood...it should keep them warm.

Baseball=Springtime

"BASEBALL is Life....everything else is details". I saw that on a shirt once.

Baseballs sitting in the dirt....just waiting to be played with. They seem to be calling you to come throw!

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A glove & ball---could have been discarded because we were finished or could be waiting because we hadn't started yet.

This is Hunter's sport! He LIVES for baseball. He plays lots of sports, but his favorite is baseball. He's hoping for a great season this year. We're hoping for a great season that doesn't involve any broken bones!

Baseball is exciting to watch. Especially when your children play it. I realized when I signed Hunter up last week that it was the last time he would be signing up for Rec League. Next year is high school. That made me just a little sad.....but happy too.

See ya on the field!

Hen Wallow Falls--Cosby

Today we decided to go on another waterfall hike. The weather was beautiful and it was a perfect day for hiking. I pulled out my waterfall map and picked a spot for us to go. The map said it was moderate in difficulty and a 4.6 mile hike, so we thought it would be great.

The hike up was more strenuous than we thought. In addition to the tree roots and mud from the recent melting snow, there was at least 3/4 of the trail that was snow covered. The snow wouldn't have been so bad except for the fact that it had been packed tight by hikers and was super slick!
The falls were most definitely worth the hike. It was beautiful! There was ice on the sides and it was gorgeous in the sun.

The boys beat us back down the trail, but we all had a great time. Now we're looking forward to the next time we get to hike. I think it's going to be a great Spring!

Falling for the Falls

After hiking some trails last year (including the VERY TOUGH for beginners Chimney Tops), we decided this year we would try to focus on trails that included waterfalls. They are lovely creations of God that we want to take the time to enjoy. There is something very peaceful about the sound of the water rushing over the rocks.

The first hike we took this year was to Laurel Falls. It is a very easy 2.6 mi round trip hike right off the road about 3 miles past the Great Smoky Mtns Visitor Center. We hiked it on Feb 20th, but that day was unseasonably warm (note the short sleeves). It was in the mid 50's and it was absolutely gorgeous. There was ice and snow on the trail in spots on the way up and lots of ice around the waterfall.

We have several more waterfalls that we want to hike this year. I'm not sure which one will be next, but I know some that are on our list are Abrams Falls @ Cades Cove (5 mi round trip & 20' high), Grotto Falls (3 mi round trip & 25' high falls), Mingo Falls (less than 1 mi, 120' high), and probably the most difficult will be Ramsey Cascades (8 mi round trip & 100' high).

Hopefully I can be much better at updating the blog and you can come along with us.