The Sermon From The Mountain

There once was a family who had just returned from vacation and, upon their return, they went to the mountain to rest.  Just before bedtime they saw the flashing lights of an ambulance as it drove by. The wife immediately said, "Our neighbor has been very sick - what if they are going to his house?"  She ran outside to see if the ambulance had stopped. Sure enough, the neighbor's hysterical wife was out in the yard trying to flag down the ambulance driver. The woman sent her husband and son down to check on the neighbors. The neighbor was clutching his chest, obviously in great pain.  He was driven down the mountain and then taken by helicopter to a hospital in Knoxville.  The family was very concerned about the man because they knew of his terminal cancer and heart attacks. They were equally concerned about his wife and seven year old child. The neighbor's wife was originally from another country, she did not drive a car, and she depended totally on her sick husband. The man and the son drove her to Knoxville to the hospital where the paramedic had said the sick neighbor would be taken. He wasn't there. The man and son talked to hospital officials, consoled the wife, and entertained the child until the correct hospital was located. They then drove there and stayed with the woman until the neighbor was stable and the wife was ready to go home. 

The next day the man called the sick neighbor's wife to see how the neighbor was doing and offered to take the woman back to the hospital or to get groceries if she needed them. He then called another neighbor who lives next door to the sick man to let them know what had happened. You see, the family was just visiting, but the sick man and his next door neighbor are permanent residents on the mountain.  The next door neighbor's wife said, "Yes, I heard all the screaming, but my husband is out of town. It was late and I was wearing my bedclothes so I didn't come outside.  When my husband gets back from his trip, he'll check on the sick neighbor and his family."  When the family drove down to help, they had alerted another visitor whose driveway they had used.  This visitor said, "I heard the screaming and I flagged down the ambulance, but I didn't know what else to do. The woman obviously wasn't American and I didn't know what the situation was, and anyway, we're going home tomorrow."

This is a true story of our adventure on the mountain last night. Does it sound familiar?  So think about this - Which person represents what you would have done?  Are you the Family, the Next Door Neighbor, or the Visitor?  Before you answer, think about what it must have felt like for the Sick Man, the Sick Man's Wife, and the Sick Man's Son. 

Sermon Over!

Snakes & Owls

One of the challenges of owning a mountain home (or any home for that matter) is keeping the woodpeckers from destroying it. Our house, like most of the others in the area, is composed almost entirely of wood. Naturally, the woodpeckers love us!  They are beautiful birds, but they can be quite destructive. Every fall we have to hire a man to come repair holes in the side of our house. Since we didn't want to keep pouring money into those holes, Keith went to the internet in search of a better solution. (Don't you just love the internet? You can find the answer for just about everything there!)

He discovered that woodpeckers don't like owls or snakes. Unfortunately, neither do I!  But wait!  They sell fake owls and snakes that are made specifically for deterring birds!  So off to Amazon I went. (Don't you just love Amazon?  You can buy just about anything there!)  

We started with one owl. We wanted to see if this would work before we committed to covering the house with fake birds. We put him on the side the woodpeckers seem to favor.  He's quite an amazing bird. He has a solar powered battery that rotates his head 360 degrees every few minutes. (Think Linda Blair in The Exorcist). Meet Hooty #1. 

Apparently, the movement convinced the woodpeckers that he was the real deal because they don't bother that side of the house anymore!  Unfortunately, the house has four sides, so the woodpeckers just moved to the back deck area. So much wood, so little time!  They seem to favor the shade so their new favorite spot is the wood support under the deck. This made the problem even more serious. I certainly wouldn't want to have the deck come tumbling down!  Especially if I was on it at the time! It was time to tackle the woodpecker problem head on!

We bought Hooty #2 to guard the deck. He's also a bobble headed, solar powered bird. 

 For complete house coverage, we added lots of snakes in key wooden areas. I must say, from a distance they look quite real!  Hopefully, this will solve our woodpecker problem. 

So if you come to visit us, be advised that the bears are real, but the snakes and owls are fake!