Rest and Relaxation

Ok, well R&R is obviously over ... Earl left last Saturday morning.

Some awesome things that we did on R&R:
 - We drove out to Gatlinburg, TN for a nice little 4 day vacation
 - We rented a cute little cabin just above downtown Gatlinburg in the Smoky Mountains
 - We went to the awesome Aquarium of the Smokies in Gatlinburg
 - We ate at the Hard Rock Cafe
 - We drove through the gorgeous Smokey Mountains National Park




Gatlinburg and the Smokey Mountains are such beautiful places, I wish we had had more time to explore everything. That definitely won't be the last time we visit there though!

We also went and toured the Jack Daniel Distillery in Lynchburg, TN

 

Im not a big fan of Jack (unless it's mixed with Coke, of course), but it was really cool to see how everything was done, and to learn the history of the company and that the distillery is located within a "dry" county (which is a bit ironic, honestly).

It's weird being here by myself again ... I have to think of things to keep myself occupied.
I also keep thinking that he'll just be gone for a week or so ... But we still have a few months left in the stupid deployment, unfortunately.

It was hard letting him go again, but we had a great two weeks together.




 In other news ... I officially hate spring in Tennessee.
We've had severe storms blow through every few days or so, and it's a bit annoying what with all the warnings.

I miss CA again .. I miss the beach ... I miss the fact that we dont get tornado warnings in CA almost every single day during the spring (yes, we have earthquakes, but I can deal with an earthquake!)

Spring Time Storms

So it is definitely Spring Time out here in the South.

With Spring comes the storms and with the storms comes ... Tornadoes.

Yesterday we had a pretty intense storm pass through, leaving behind a good amount of damage. As damaging and as scary as the storm out here may be, I still absolutely love them. They make the storms out in California look weak in comparison.

I especially love the feel of the storm making it's way in. Everything just kind of comes to a stand still, like the world is just waiting for something to happen. It's all very ominous and a bit freaky. Then comes the fierce winds! And right behind that comes the pounding rain and the thunderous lightning.
It is definitely a sight to behold.

Yesterday I got caught sitting in my car as the storm reached it's peak. Since I was on post getting groceries, for the first time since moving out here, I heard the dreaded "tornado sirens" go off. To be sitting in my car all alone, with the wind and rain thrashing at the windows and hearing the sirens going off in the distance ... Is a very scary experience indeed.
I had to keep telling myself that a silly little tornado couldn't possibly flip over a small Honda civic (even though those silly little tornadoes could easily demolish huge buildings).

As scary as these storms and tornado warnings are, they're definitely something to be admired, if only for the sheer power that this earth can produce.

With every storm, though, comes damage in its wake.
I believe this has been the roughest storm we've had this year, with more than several people being injured (non-life threatening, though!) and thousands of dollars worth of damage done to properties all over the Middle Tennessee area. It was bad, but not as bad as some have been in the past, thankfully.

 I will always appreciate the force of nature out here.

Testing

Just testing out this whole blogging thing via my blackberry.

A Funky Three Weeks

I'm slowly falling into a funk again ... 

I've stopped drawing, but my apartment is spotless! 

That counts for something, right? 

Seems like I can never stick to one thing for very long .. 

Maybe that's why Earl and I get along so well. 

Spring has finally sprung here in Tennessee .. 

All the fields are nice and green,
and the temperature got up into the high 60's at one point. 

Some of the tree's even have buds on them again ... It's all very beautiful.

My urge to explore is slowly coming back .. 

I want to drive around and find new places again. 

Maybe I'll bring my sketch pad and be productive, who knows?

Three long weeks left until Earl is back home! 

These are going to be the longest three weeks of my life.

I am a ball of emotions just thinking about R&R.

I still wish I was by the ocean from time to time. 

Every now and then, on windy days,
I feel like I can smell the salty, ocean air from time to time ... 

Then again, it may just be the river water ... Or just wishful thinking. 

Either way, on sunny days,
I wish I could go drive down to the beach and take a walk.

I love driving the car around,
but I feel like I would enjoy the ride more if I were on a bike.
At least I'd get some exercise then.

... Three long, funky weeks. I can do this!

Where Do I Start?

So much has gone on since my last post. I am horrible when it comes to updating this thing, oh well.

In January I had a good friend of mine visit me from CA. She stayed for two weeks and we spent about three of those days out in eastern Tennessee for a quick ski trip. I also learned how to ice skate, which I don't care for, haha .. I'd rather going skiing. Eastern Tennessee is absolutely gorgeous and I'm glad I got to see a bit of it. Earl and I are heading back out that way again for R&R, this time a bit longer though.

In February I made the 9 hour long drive up to Kansas City, KS to visit another friend of mine. It was great seeing her and the drive was pretty cool, since that's the longest and furthest I've ever driven by myself. I made it there and back all in one piece though.

Now it's March and almost Spring-time! 

This year is going by pretty dang fast .. And yet, I haven't really been up to much.

I've been drawing and sketching a bit more, if you haven't already noticed. I'm more active over on deviantart.com and conceptart.org

Earl's R&R is literally right around the corner and I am extremely excited, happy, anxious and all around nervous! I have a lot to do before he comes home for a measly 2 weeks .. 

But those will be the best 2 weeks of my life!
I can't believe we've been apart for almost 7 months now, it still feels like he just left yesterday sometimes. This is the longest we've ever been apart and I think we're both handling it pretty well.

My birthday is this week as well .. I'm turning the big 2-6.
I feel old and young all at the same time, it's a very weird age .. 

Even more weird to think that I'll be 30 in 4 more years ... What happened to high school and college? Haha.

Spring is slowly creeping its way into Tennessee, finally.

I'm a bit glad that we're finally over the whole snow-thing. Most of the fields around here are starting to turn green and the temperature is slowly going up week by week. I'm excited about watching all the awesome flowers out here begin to bloom ... It's always a bit cool experiencing a new season in a new location .. Maybe I just love nature too much though, haha.

So that's it for me and for us ... On with the art!

Searching for Family History

Back when I was a kid, my grandpa would always tell me stories about his past and his family heritage. One story that was always brought up was about a man named Clifford Rhea. According to my grandpa, Clifford Rhea was his great grandfather. All that I ever heard about him was that he used to be a wealthy hog farmer, lived in Missouri and had been brutally shot to death in 1921.
I remember doing a report on him in elementary school, but since then, I've only remembered those three main details.

Ever since I moved out to Tennessee, I've been compelled to look up my family's history. My grandpa always mentioned that some of my ancestors had lived in Tennessee. So every now and then I go searching online to find details about my family's history and this elusive Clifford Rhea person, and to find out why he had been shot, by who and if any action was ever taken.

Well, last night I found something. I found a lot of somethings.

I managed to uncover his death certificate, which in the "cause of death" section had been written, "homicide". So yes, he had unfortunately died by the hands of someone else.
His death certificate had also mentioned that yes, he did indeed die in Missouri, in Jackson County at St. Marys Hospital on September 3, 1921.
He had lived in Jackson County for a good 20 years with his wife, Delia (Donovan) Rhea.
Clifford Rhea had been born somewhere in Tennessee.

That's all that I really got from his death certificate .. But it was a very, very good start!

I did a little more searching around and finally came upon some newspaper articles:

Some of the articles mentioned that a Clifford Rhea had been shot to death near the Missouri/Kansas border by William Buckner and Peter Larkin, who were former railroad detectives. One article mentioned that William Buckner and Peter Larkin had shot Clifford Rhea in self defense. Nothing else about why the shooting happened was mentioned in any other article, unfortunately.

The big selling point for this news story was whether or not the homicide had taken place in Missouri or Kansas, since the incident had been so close to the border between the two states. Eventually, a judge ruled that the homicide had taken place in Missouri and William Buckner and Peter Larkin were charged with first degree murder.

So that's that. The mystery has (kind of) been solved. I have copies of newspaper articles and of his death certificate printed out for safe keeping and future use.
Although I don't know why Clifford Rhea had really been shot in the first place, I'm still happy to have found evidence of his homicide.

I've always been interested in history, especially local and family history. I had a fun time searching about and will continue to look up my ancestors as the weeks, months and years go by.

A New Year

                             

I got back last Friday from my 3 week vacation out to California to go see friends and family. It was a very nice vacation indeed.

I almost hate calling it a vacation though, because it wasn't like I was taking a break from working or anything out here. I guess it was more of a visit than a vacation.

Whatever it was, I had a very good time. I was very happy to see some friends and even happier to see my family again.

The weather wasn't too nice for the first week and a half, unfortunately. Mostly rain, wind and overcast the entire time - But that still beats the weather out here in Tennessee. I will gladly take a rainy, foggy, dreary day in California anytime over the freezing cold, ice and snow out here right now.

                            

I got to see the ocean again as well! Which was absolutely amazing. I didn't feel like I was stuck in the middle of nowhere anymore .. I was finally back on the edge of the world.

Christmas was nice. My family and I were all together again under the same roof for one day at least. We spent the day up at my grandpa's house overlooking the ocean. It was nice falling asleep to the sound of crashing waves again.

New Years was nice as well. I spent New Years Eve out in "the valley" at a friends place. Although everyone had a good time eating, drinking and chatting away .. I feel like the whole thing was a bit lackluster. Overall it was a very quiet event and everyone went home fairly early. I think we're all getting a bit too mature in our "old" age, haha.

So that was about it ... The time went by pretty dang fast and a part of me wishes that I had never left, but I guess Im happy to be back in Tennessee. I have a lot of things coming up in this new year, which I am very much looking forward to.