Rich Dansereau

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Knoxville is the home to the Universtiy of Tennessee at Knoxville! The university was founded as Blount College in 1794, two years before Tennessee became a state. In 1879 the name was changed to the University of Tennessee! Since it became designated in 1869 as the land grant universtiy in Tennessee, it has been growing by leaps and bounds. The University of Tennessee now operates campuses across the state:

• The medical campus, University of Tennessee at Memphis 1911 (originally founded in Nashville in 1879)
• University of Tennessee at Martin 1927 (originally a private institution founded in 1900)
• University of Tennessee at Chattanooga 1969 (originally a private institution)
• The Space Institute 1964 (near Tullahoma, Tennessee)

The Univerity of Tennessee has been recognized as one of the top national public univerities in America. Through a strong emphasis on research, the universities has been able to recruit and retain top academic professionals to teach and conduct groundbreaking research. You can read about research opportunities in the University of Tennessee produced News & Opportunities publication, and you can read about the outstanding achievements by the faculty in the Awards & Recogintion publication. Click HERE for both!

Academics at the University of Tennessee are the main focus. The university has paths to bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees. UT boasts eleven colleges with over 300 degree programs and 1,400+ faculty members! The MBA program at UT is ranked 5th among US public universities (Wall Street Journal, 2005) and the nuclear engineering graduate program ranks 10th nationally (U.S. News & World Report). Some well-known alumni include:

• James McGill Buchanan - Nobel Prize in 1986 for his theory of public choice in politics and economics
• Cindy Noble Hauserman - Olympic gold medalist as a member of the U.S. Women’s Basketball Team
• Peyton Manning - Inianapolis Colts Quarterback
• Reggie White - NFL, Philadelphia Eagles (1985-92), Green Bay Packers (1993-98) and Carolina Panthers
• Ali Abul Ragheb - former Prime Minister and Minister of Defense for the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan
• Howard Baker Jr. - U.S. Ambassador to Japan from 2001 through 2004. Baker served as both minority and majority leader during his 18 years in the U.S. Senate. He was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1984. He was White House Chief of Staff from 1987 to 1988 under President Ronald Reagan
• Dixie V. Carter - Best known for her role in the television series Family Law and Designing Women
• Cormac McCarthy - He won the National Book Award in 1992 for All the Pretty Horses and the Pulitzer Prize in 2007 for The Road
• Kurt Vonnegut - Author of Player Piano, The Sirens of Titan, and Slaughterhouse Five (among other novels and short stories)

In addition to the academic record of The University of Tennessee, the university also boasts top-notch athletic programs. The UT football team finished 2007 with a record of 10 wins and 4 losses. This gave the Volunteers a birth and subsequent win (21 to 17) over the University of Wisconsin in the Outback Bowl on January 1, 2008 in Tampa, Florida. The Lady Volunteers Basketball can boast another National Championship (1997 & 1998) with their win (64 to 48) over Stanford on April 8, 2008 in the St Pete Times Forum in Tampa, Florida! In addition to these well established programs, there are 500 NCAA student athletes who compete in everything from golf to rowing! There is of course a wide range of sports for all students who wish to participate or compete!

The University of Tennessee's positive impact on the local community is immeasurable. The access to the benefits of higher education however reaches beyond Knoxville and even beyond the state's borders. The enormous contributions of this storied institution have been the fulcrum upon which much progress has been made on a global level.

About the Author

If you are in the market to purchase a home or even refinance an existing loan and you want a loan officer that will walk with you every step of the way, then contact Danny or Rich of the Thornton Team at Home America Mortgage today. We can have you pre-approval in as little as 4 hours. You can visit our website or send an email to thorntonteam@homeamericamortgage.com or call us @ 865-951-0522.

The garden is planted and I cannot wait until I have fresh, organic vegetables and eggs, free from antibiotic dosed chickens! I must give a big "Thank You" to Danny Thornton for all his help with this garden; you will definitely be the recipient of its bounty! The last part of my garden was completed on Monday when I picked up eleven Buff Orpington chicks from Daniel Farm Supply in Sale Creek, Tennessee (just outside Chattanooga). That's right...chickens!

These are the baby chicks! They are about 2-4 weeks old and occupy a seperate part of the garden. Their enclosure is the taller portion at the back of the garden! It is approximately six feet deep and twenty-four feet long and is fully enclosed by chicken wire! I learned from the chickens I had in Florida that any chicken pen must be fully enclosed to protect them from raccoons and chicken hawks! They have a heat lamp to keep them warm for about the next week or two, then they will be mature enough to not need it. In about six months they should start producing those fresh brown eggs!

The front part of the garden is a wildflower garden complete with yard gnomes. Today I added a birdbath in hopes of attracting butterflies, birds, and bees! I surrounded the wildflower garden with railroad ties and covered the newly plowed earth with a black mesh cloth in hopes of cutting down on the weeding. I applied the garden soil on top of the mesh and mixed in a few bags of cow manure. I spread a couple of bags of mixed wildflower seeds and was done! You can click HERE to visit an eHow post by Danny Thornton that tells you how to plant your own wildflower garden! You can see in the picture below some of the flowers coming up already; it has been about two weeks!

As for the main part of the garden, the veggies! This ground was plowed by a neighbor at the same time he plowed the wildflower part! Because there is lots of wildlife in Tennessee including, deer, chipmunks, raccoons, rabbits, even bear, I used vinyl lattice made from recycled plastic, pressure treated 4 x 4's set in quick setting concrete, and two foot high chicken wire on the inside of the lattice to surround the garden itself. There are also baskets of marigolds hanging on the posts around the vegetable garden to discourage the wildlife that might be tempted to graze on the young veggies; deer don't like the smell of marigolds! As we get regular rains here, I do not have to water often and the same black mesh I used in the wildflower garden serves a dual purpose here; to keep the weeds out and to help keep the moisture from evaporating too quickly! I can hardly wait for the vegetables to be laden with their bounty; eight types of tomatoes, two types of corn, squash, zucchini, four different types of peppers, eggplant, three types of beans, peas, honeydew, cantelope, watermelon, carrots, raddishes, potatoes, okra, spinach, onions, and two types of lettuce!

As the garden will produce far more than I, my friends, and family will be able to use, I have located our local that will enjoy the bounty as well; that is another post!

About the Author

If you are in the market to purchase a home or even refinance an existing loan and you want a loan officer that will walk with you every step of the way, then contact Danny or Rich of the Thornton Team at Home America Mortgage today. We can have you pre-approval in as little as 4 hours. You can visit our website or send an email to thorntonteam@homeamericamortgage.com or call us @ 865-951-0522.

This is my first localism post since relocationg to the metro-Knoxville area! In my short time in the area, I have discovered that there are numerous distinct suburbs and smaller cities that comprise the metro-Knoxville area. These suburbs and smaller towns contribute their own personal flavor to the overall area. One such suburb is Fountain City!

Fountain City was annexed by the City of Knoxville in 1962. Unlike many smaller cities which surrender their identity upon annexation, Fountain City has clung to its own identity. In 1972, the non-profit community group Fountain City Town Hall was formed. The mission statement of this group speaks to the it desire to protect and serve the local neighborhoods through active participation, where allowed, in City Council activities, the Metropolitan Planning Commission, and the board of zoning appeals.

On Monday, May 26th, Memorial Day, Fountain City will host its Honor Fountain City Day! The theme for this year's event is Community Service - Making A Difference. The festivities will begin at noon at Fountain City Park on North Broadway! Click HERE for map! There will be numerous scheduled activities throughout the day including:

At The gazebo

Noon - Lynn Clapp's Broadway Swing Band

2:00 - East Tennessee Concert Band

3:30 - Elvis: The King and I Legends Show

At the Spring Side Pavilion

1:00 - Broadway Family Karate

2:00 - Tennessee Twirlers

2:30 - Monkey Shines

Community Service - Making A Difference Program

4:00 - at Fountain City Lake

Memorial Day Ceremony Honoring Veterans

5:00 - at the Gazebo

Presentation of Community Awards

In addition to these scheduled events, there will be activities throughout the day including a climbing wall, horse drawn carriage rides, crafts and merchandise on exhibit and for sale, A Taste of Fountain City (providing delicious treats and drinks from local restaurants), and informational booths from various local groups and politicians. For a complete, printable listing of the festivities, click HERE!

If you are in the Knoxville area this Memorial Day, why not stop in to sample how small town America celebrates and remembers our veterans! While the flash of the big city events like those held in Atlanta, New York City, and Dallas may be dazzling, nothing can match the sincerity of small town America's salute to its bravest citizens!

About the Author

If you are in the market to purchase a home or even refinance an existing loan and you want a loan officer that will walk with you every step of the way, then contact Danny or Rich of the Thornton Team at Home America Mortgage today. We can have you pre-approval in as little as 4 hours. You can visit our website or send an email to thorntonteam@homeamericamortgage.com or call us @ 865-951-0522.

After a miserable last year that was mired in controversy of many types, the Atlanta Falcons are looking to rebuild their team. New head coach Mike Smith looked over this weeks mini camp with eager anticipation to see signs of what his new team might be able to deliver. Though some of the faces might be familiar to Smith, this was the first time he saw some of them as their head coach. Among the veterans that could top anyone's nfl picks were Keith Brooking, Joe Horn, D.J. Shockley, and Michael Turner. In addition to these battle (both media and gridiron) tested veterans, all eyes will turn to the Draft Day live feed from Falcons' Training Camp in Flowery Branch, Georgia on April 26th. The Falcons have one first round pick, number three overall, and three second round picks on the first day of the draft! The names of possible choices are flying all around the the metro Atlanta sports talk airways. There is serious talk of quarterbacks Chad Henne from Michigan and Matt Ryan from Boston College as well as talk of defensive tackle, Glenn Dorsey from LSU! While baseball is only a few weeks old, the draft is looming and football talk is in the air!