About Jasper's Big Canoe

What ? Did you just say buyers aren't the problem? That's right. The problem is the folks doing the short sales and the foreclosures. They are backed up, behind, and generally unable to do a good job servicing clients. So lately we have clients who are buying walking away in disgust. So their buyers agent (Me, or folks I work with) get the blame. The deal is lost we lose money and the clients. We see buyers being bombed with information to buy and look at short sales and foreclosures. We explain to them the perils. They say they are fine with it all but then as it gets really sticky they move on. Do not go shopping to buy a foreclosure. Do not going shopping to buy a short sale. Do work with a Realtor and go shopping for a GOOD deal. PLEASE

Linda Carrig, who is an ActiveRain member, heard a big noise on her deck. She has a Boxer and a Great Dane and they were barking up a storm. She opened her back door and both flew outside. The source of their concern was a Bear on Linda's back deck pulling at a bird feeder.

Now Linda's back deck is a good 2 1/2 stories off the ground. The bear shimmied up a couple of deck posts and was outside the deck railing reaching for the feeder. The dogs went after the bear. The bear swiped at the dogs. Linda grabbed a chair and tried to get it in between the dogs and the bear. It must have been a great sight. In the end the Bear shimmied down the posts and all were OK. But it led us to tell Linda next time grab a camera and not a chair.

If you live in the mountains DO NOT LEAVE FOOD OUT or fill bird feeders. No matter how high up you think you are and how inaccessible you think the feeder is bears get to them. Think you can shield them , guess what, bears just knock them down. Aside from the obvious danger you do not want to allow bears to associate humans with food. The bears end up hurting some one and getting shot. That really is a tragedy.

Enjoy the mountains and respect the wild life. Hope you all had a great weekend.

I was born and raised in the city of New York . I am used to landmarks . Things like the Statue of Liberty the Empire State Building, Times Square, etc etc where things I grew up with. So as i traveled and got older I was used to landmarks as a part of directions.

When we moved to North Georgia I was in for a surprise. I was going some where ,this is pre google maps, and asked for directions as I was new to the area. The person on the other end of the phone said . " Sure travel down X road for about 2 miles and turn right at the Big Chicken." "The Big Chicken ?" I said, thinking I must have misunderstood. "Yes the Big Chicken" the voice said as if I should know what the heck this was. Well that was 23 years ago so .....

Yes this is THE BIG CHICKEN. It is a Marietta landmark. It is also a piece of history. KFC's were often designed and looked this way. There are very few of these remaining. This one has been cared for over the years. Yes the eyes and the beak move ! Inside is chrome and stools just like you would expect. We all have our landmarks but if you are in Marietta asking for directions it is a good thing to know where the Big Chicken is.

This photo was taken 15 years ago. My hair was dark then. My son and I went to a wedding of one of my cousins. It was his first time in a suit and his mother was not there. So we made a deal. In Feb in South Carolina we went to the pool so he could swim and burn of energy. Along the way I ended up burning off energy too. My Mother caught this photo of us.

The boy got dressed wore a suit and tie and even would not take his jacket off at the reception. Every body commented on how well behaved he was. So I guess it was worth the "Launch me Daddy" requests he made. For me this picture is in my office and is a great memory of me and my son. Happy Fathers day !!

Many of my posts have featured flowers ,bears and other wild life. The North Georgia Mountains provide a varied and rich set of features.

Going on right now n Big Canoe is a high end art show. There is glass from all over the world. It is beautiful. So take some time from hiking boating and swimming and see the show. In addition last week the Reinhardt symphony played at a great outdoor free concert. It was on Beautiful lake Sconti.

As a friend of mine who moved here from Florida and is active in the mountains remarked. "If I new I was going to be this busy I never would have retired". That statement is from a retired Air Traffic controller!! So in our mountains you can sit and veg or be active in a great number of things or do a combination of both