Kate Wheeler CCIM Murphy NC Real Estate for Sale

Xerox Corporation is offering all Americans a FREE opportunity to say "Thank You" to the men and women serving our country overseas during this holiday season. With their Let's Say Thanks program , you can click on this link, choose one of the postcards, and include a message to one of our troops who will be far from family and friends this Christmas.

No matter how we feel about the war, I think Americans are grateful for the sacrifices these young people are making for our country. Here's an easy way to take less than 5 minutes and show your appreciation with a couple of clicks of your mouse.

You can take a moment to personalize your card or choose from one of the messages provided. Here's an example of one of the messages:

We don't know each other and will probably never meet, but I want you to know that you and all of our troops are in our hearts and prayers each day. Please always remember what you're doing will always be appreciated and never forgotten. I wish you all the best and pray for your safe and speedy return home to your family and friends. Thank you

Featured cards were drawn by school children who participated in a competition sponsored by the company. Once you choose a card, it will be printed by Xerox and included in care packages distributed to our service men and women deployed overseas.

Wouldn't it be great if everyone on Activerain took a moment to send a "Thank You" card?

November is on track to keep the pending home sales at the same high level posted in September and October in Murphy, North Carolina and Cherokee County. With 20 homes under contract from November 1-15, buyers continue to take adantage of the bargains in our market here in the mountains.

Now that the Federal Housing tax credit has been extended and expanded to include move up/repeat home buyers, more and more prospective buyers are coming back to the Murphy area, ready to take advantage of this one-time cash bonus to middle-class American homeowners.

Interest rates remain at historic lows, with a conventional 30 year loan available at 4.75% interest. Here are the rates at Macon Bank in Murphy as of November 19, 2009:

30 Year Fixed Rate

20 Year Fixed Rate

15 Year Fixed Rate

There's a great new option for grocery shopping in Murphy, North Carolina.

United Grocery Outlet has just opened its newly expanded store in the shopping center on Andrews Road in Murphy. The new store is double the size of the former location on Hwy 64. With a wide, well-lit produce aisle and large upright freezer cases, the new location gives shoppers more choices while keeping the low prices that they are known for.

There's a welcome addition in this new larger location - a full meat department with butchers who will cut your steaks any size you want.

During opening week the store had a full page ad in the Cherokee Scout, advertising specials like boneless skinless chicken breast for $1.49/lb. and a whole boneless New York strip cut to your order for $3.99/lb. I stopped in for a gallon of milk and a loaf of bread and walked out with $168 worth of meat, produce and even a couple of very nice $2 picture frames in my cart.

The aisles were crowded with shoppers taking advantage of the bargains opening week. But just like at the former location, the policy is "what you see is what you get."

Don't go there with a specific list in your pocket or you're bound to be disappointed. The store only carries closeouts, bulk purchases and items close to the expiration date. So if you make it your first stop, you can load up on the specials and fill out your shopping list at one of the other grocery stores in town.

One last plus - the store now carries beer and even a selection of wines.

With all the holiday meals and entertaining just around the corner, the new Grocery Outlet is like an early gift to Murphy shoppers from Santa.

We don't have any Starbucks grande moccachinos here in the mountains of Murphy, North Carolina. But we do have great coffee - at least at my house.

Cowboy coffee is what my husband calls it. All our guests love it... as long as they don't know how it's made. Once they hear the recipe, they either line up with cups in hand or reach for the teabags. But I'm hooked. For years, I couldn't drink coffee at all, not even decaf. But cowboy coffee is so smooth - there's no harsh aftertaste.

Vickie McCartney, you've asked for it... so here's the secret recipe:

Start with about a gallon of water. Frosty (yes, that's his name!) uses an old metal coffee pot we found at one of the local flea markets, like the ones you use over a campfire. Our cowboy coffee is made outside over an open flame.

Okay, it's the side burner on our gas grill, but the spirit of the Old West lingers on...

Heat the water close to boiling, but never let it actually boil. Once it's steaming, he dumps in about 6 extra large spoonfuls of ground coffee. He uses an old serving spoon - also from the flea market - but I'd say each one is about the size of 3 tablespoons. Let the coffee simmer for awhile, stirring gently, but once again, DON"T let it boil.

Next, crack 3 large eggs and slowly let the egg white pour into the coffee. Then dump the rest of the egg, shells and all, into the pot. It's easier to clean up if you don't let the egg yolk out of the shell.

Remove from heat and let the coffee cool. The longer it sits, the more the acidity is removed by the eggshells - at least I think that's what is happening. Finally, strain the coffee through cheesecloth to get rid of any grounds that haven't settled to the bottom. Frosty swears that real cowboys used an old sock when they were out on the range and didn't have cheesecloth handy.

If you're in a hurry and don't want to wait till it cools, you can add 3-4 ice cubes to settle the grounds quickly to the bottom of the pot.

Now sit back on the porch, watch the sun rise, and enjoy the best cup of coffee you've ever tasted!

Dawn is breaking on opening day of deer camp in Northern Michigan.

It's a crisp fall morning, with the temperature somewhere in the mid-40's, unlike years past, when we often woke to several inches of fresh snow. Our hardy hunters have already headed into the woods and everyone else in the cabin is still fast asleep.

We've made an 800 mile trip to be here in this cabin for a few hours on this one November morning, to revisit old friends and old memories... and make new ones. But since I walked in the door, this place has been speaking to my heart.

Our hosts are Ty and his wife Jen. Ty's father Ken and his wife Shar were our dearest friends and Ty has grown up to look just like his dad did when we first met. The young son I remember is now a father himself.

Today he's going hunting with his oldest daughter Brittany, teaching her about handling a shotgun, tracking game in the woods, and most important - showing her what makes a man a good father so she'll know how to choose when she's ready to start a family of her own. I wish I'd had a dad like that.

They say we're stuck with our families but we get to choose our friends. When I walked in the door of this rustic Northern hunting cabin I felt like I'd come home.

I remember a Thanksgiving Day spent here with Ken and his wife Shar. I was grieving the loss of a big family around me that day. Divorces, shared child custody and estranged parents had reduced the number of chairs needed around our table. My husband and I and our 2 year old son were planning a quiet dinner alone when we got a call inviting us to share the day with Ken and Shar here at the cabin.

When our son Shayne was born, they took on the role of his adopted grandparents. So I had my Hallmark holiday after all, sharing turkey and pumpkin pie with "Grandma Shar and Papa." Ken had a tradition that was new to me. When we got to the wishbone of the turkey, instead of breaking it where one person becomes the recipient of good fortune and another the loser, he rose and hung the stripped bone on an old nail driven into one of the logs that supports the sleeping loft in the cabin. I hadn't noticed it before, but there were other bones hanging there, like the hats of dead cardinals left in the rafters of a cathedral till they turn to dust.

"When we spend a Thanksgiving at the cabin" he explained, "we keep the wishbone and hang it on this nail. Then all the good luck is here for us whenever we come up North."

Ken has been gone for over twelve years now. This is my first trip back to the cabin since his son took it over. I wondered how the place would look. I wondered what changes Ty had made. And I secretly hoped there was one thing that hadn't changed.

Last night it was so warm that everyone was outside when we arrived. I took a moment and walked in the door alone. The furniture has been rearranged a little, the lamps and curtains replaced. But the big table where we gathered over the years to play cards in the evenings, eat Ken's pancakes and drink cowboy coffee in the morning is still here. A welcoming fire was burning in the old fieldstone fireplace.

I found myself looking up hopefully, like a lapsed Catholic visiting a holy shrine. And there they were - a dusty collection of turkey wishbones, hanging from that old nail driven into the log.

You'll be happy to know, Ken, the good luck is still here.