Paul & Diane Boykin

Out on Cole Springs Rd. in Oconee Co. GA there are several neighbors who seem to be trying to out do each other with their Christmas light displays. We drove by there last night and there were cars lined up on the road and people walking around the displays.

These photos do not do justice to the lights:

If you are in the Athens, GA, area, you really don't want to miss these!

Oconee County is still mostly rural, which gives it it's charm. There is a creative Santa & wagon made of hay bales out on Colham Ferry Rd., placed by Jeff Bell.

Don't ask me how he got them there!

Here's a close up of Rudolph, who has a red light on his nose that shows up at night.

We wish you all a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from here in Oconee County, GA!

After a really long, hot summer, we have been rewarded with an unusually long fall. Some years it seems that we go straight from summer into winter with just a few days of real fall, but this year it cooled off right after Labor Day and we have had a long stretch of cool, mostly dry weather. The trees in my neighborhood, Hickory Hill, have popped with color in the last few days. It reminds me of the song, "Let's go out in a blaze of glory".

Recently, a couple of our Hickory Hill Subdivision neighbors invited us over for a "honey extracting party". They keep bees in their backyards and also take their hives to the north Georgia mountains for a time each summer for the sour wood honey. They called us over a couple of weeks ago to witness (and help with) the honey extracting. It was an interesting process and a lot of fun (until you got to the 100th frame). There are quite a few backyard bee keepers here in Oconee County, GA.

After removing the frames from the hives, the first step is to slice open the honey comb.

Then the frames are placed into the extractor which spins and causes the honey to flow out of the comb and into the bottom of the extractor.

This is honeycomb from where the comb is sliced open. Honey drains from this and some of it can be added to jars of honey. When cleaned it can be used for making things like beeswax candles.

We had quite a few people helping at various times throughout the process.

The honey and home made biscuits were a hit with the children.

A field of cotton off of Hwy 53 in western Oconee County, GA

Although there isn't as much farming going on in Oconee County, GA as there used to by, the Dickens Family still plants some cotton each year. If you drive down GA 53 between Watkinsville and US 78, you will see several fields of cotton ready to be picked. There is also a field off US 441 south of Watkinsville at Bishop. Many years ago there was a lot cotton grown and several local gins but only a few acres are planted these days. A lot of visitors have never seen cotton growing in the field, and they are always fascinated when they do.