About Jasper's Big Canoe

The gathering of storm clouds in the mountains is really the definition of Anticipation. You await what is to come. The storm brings violence and the threat of fire through lightening. It is also noisy as windows shake to the sound of thunder. But at the same time the storm brings rain. Rain water is life to plants, animals,and us. After the rain the earth says thank you with green and growing things. The smell of the earth in the woods after a rain is one of life too. The process shows natures duality.

This morning I woke up at 3 AM . Then I heard it . In the distance was the faint howl of a wolf. Two days ago I saw it crossing the road in front of me. Now this was a country road in the mountains. I knew the red wolf had been re-introduced to the mountains. I got a real good look at this animal as it strolled in front of me. My mind raced. OK not a dog, I have seen coyotes before. Could it be? Yes it was. And last night I woke up to their howl. There were 2 of them.

How great is it to live in the mountains!!!!! This is gated community living in the North Georgia Mountains. It just makes you smile. Come on and visit. You will smile too!!!!

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.