September Events

We started September with a visit to Cades Cove in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park on Labor Day. There I photographed the scenery, deer, Copperheads, dragonflies, butterflies and turkey. We had a great time that day, enjoyed being together.

On the first Saturday we went to a part of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park we had never been to before. It is Cataloochee Cove, in NC. We went to see the elk, and had a great time. If you have been following this blog you saw numerous photos of the elk at the cove. If you are new to my blog you might want to look back for the Elk photos.

On Sunday afternoon we went to Panther Creek State Park, close to home. Didn't get alot of photographs, but we had a good time wondering around the park.

The next weekend gas prices had hit a high, and we stayed home. It was my husband's birthday and we celebrated with family. We also had something else to celebrate, but you probably know this too, if you have been following my blog. Wendy (daughter) is pregnant, this event had been a long time getting here. We are all so excited for her. I still get teary EVERY time I think about it. You can see her announcement of this, here. And then another announcement the next week here of the twins.

The last weekend of the month we went to the Balloon Festival in Knoxville. I was greatly disappointed. I think it might have been due to the weather, but they didn't make me believe it. They never did take off, they just stayed on the ground. Said there was not enough wind. They had a "Balloon Glow" at 8:15pm, but after waiting 4 hours for that it was a big disappointment. I will share photographs later, but there won't be near as many as I had hoped.

We ended out NOT putting our house on the market, as I mentioned in the August news. We will wait and see what happens with Jimmy's company before making the major decision. I have been going to Spring City some during the month to be with Jimmy. I get to spend the mornings photographing when there, no house duties. Then go to my paying job in the evenings. The photograph is Jimmy's home away from home (and mine 2 days a week). Brand new motel in Spring City. The town is so small it is the only motel in town. I think it is full every night during the week, with General Shale employees or other men working on building this brick plant.

I also got ADSL this month, finally! But I also got a new computer, with Vista, against advise from my son. And I should have listened, it has been awful. He sent me to the computer store I bought it from, and they talked me into the Vista software. Said all the kinks are out of it. But that is not my problem, I just don't like the photography side of Vista. Then on top of that it is a laptop, but that WAS my son's advise, so I can blame that one on him. But the Vista is SO different than XP. I am in that awful learning curve and not doing well with it all. I am too old and have too much else on my mind to try to learn this, but too late now. It would be easy just to say I am going to use the old computer (what a waste of money that would be!!!!). But I promised the old computer to my daughter-in-law, so I have already disconnected it to give to her.

Maybe by next month I will be over the computer blues....we will see. At least I have something else on my mind other than the decision about moving.

Sky Watch/overlooking Cataloochee Cove - GSMNP

You can see why the Smokies are called the 'Blue Ridges' from these photos.

I took these as we left Cataloochee Cove. I posted some last week on Sky Watch Friday from around the same time, the other end of the same parking lot. This is the last of the Cataloochee Cove photos. I hope you have enjoyed the Cades Cove series and the Cataloochee Cove series over the last couple of weeks.

Please visit Sky Watch to see sky photos from all over the world.

Last of the elk photos Cataloochee Cove - GSMNP

I like these 3 photographs the best of all the elk photographs I took while we were at Cataloochee Cove, especially the last one.

Some more information to go with the earlier post with Elk information. Elk once roamed the southern Appalachain Mountains and elsewhere in the eastern United States. They were eliminated from the region by over-hunting and loss of habitat. The last elk in North Carolina was believed to have been killed in the late 1700s.

In Tennessee, the last elk was killed in the mid 1800s. By 1900, the population of elk in North America dropped to the point that hunting groups and other conservation organizations became concerned the species was headed for extinction.

I hope you have enjoyed the photographs and information about the elk in the Smokies.

Grazing elk Cataloochee Cove - GSMNP

Elk bulls spar in Cataloochee Cove - GSMNP

I thought when animals spar it was dangerous.These 2 bulls went at it in slow motion. Lasted one or two minutes and then they slowly backed away from each other.
The bottom photo is the same as the 2nd. I cropped it. Notice the left bull elk has a tag number of 4. This is the 4th elk introduced to the cove. He has something wrong. According to the park ranger he cannot breed and does not grow a proper antler. He has an antler like this one every year. The ranger said the other bulls are not threatened by him at all during breeding season. They know he is harmless.

The ranger had an old antler from this elk to show everybody he grows this type every year.

Streams in Cataloochee Cove - GSMNP

I have now attached this to Watery Wednesday. Please visit Watery Wednesday to check out this new one. It was not working earlier today, but appears to be ok now.

These are just various streams throughout Cataloochee Cove. This cove is just as nice as Cades Cove, in it's own way. Can't believe I had never visited it before.

Won't these be beautiful when the leaves begin to turn?

And Linley will be coming home just in time to see the fall colors. Happy Birthday, Linley! We sure are glad you survived Ike, and got the t-shirt as you said. I know the mountains and change of colors is what you missed the most, so thought these photos were as good as any to wish you a Happy Birthday!!

Elk bull #21 Cataloochee Cove - GSMNP

Bull #21 came out of the woods, but he wasn't putting on any show for us. So we moved on. The best we saw was on down the road.

Elk Bull #2 Cataloochee Cove - GSMNP

This is the same elk bull we saw as we entered Cataloochee Cove in the woods. I posted a photograph on September 14. On that post I provided some information about the elk program in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.This is in the afternoon, he has come out to graze. It is so hot, he is still staying in the tree line.
Notice he has just a touch of velvet on one tip of his antler.

He grazed back in forth, so he didn't have to get out in the sun.

His tag has 2 on it. This means he was the number 2 elk brought into the cove during the re-introduction program.

You can also see his collar. I still have more elk photos to post, this is the last of elk number 2.

Female and young elk in Cataloochee Cove

When we came back out of the woods (from the walk to Woody Place) we only saw these 2 elk. The light was very harsh, and we decided not to just sit there and wait. We traveled on through the cove.

Notice the calf does still have it's spots. And is rather large next to it's mother.

Woody Place Cataloochee Cove - GSMNP

This sign should be at each house, but this was the only one we saw in the cove.About half way up that mile LONG hike I realized I only had my telephoto lens. When we got out of the vehicle we thought we were going to be photographing the elk in the distance. So with just the little clearing around the house, I could not get far enough away to get a full photograph of the house.
Could see straight thru the house ok.
Notice the hand made lattice. The wood is a lot thicker than what we see now days., and it is made one stick at a time.

The spring house. And then back down the mile hike to see if the elk were roaming in the fields yet.

Trail to Woody Place, Cataloohee Cove - GSMNP

Well, it was still too early in the afternoon for the elk to come out of the woods, so we decided to walk to Woody Place. The sign said 1 mile. We all know how these markings are in the parks. It sure seemed like a lot further than 1 mile.But at least it was pretty, and we were also in the woods, so it was not as hot as it would have been in the fields. Don't know what we would have done if we had seen any elk in here. All the signs said the elk were more dangerous this time of year than the bear.
We crossed 3 or 4 of these bridges across the streams. Made sure not to grab the rail, because it appeared to not be attached very well.

Elk getting ready to lay down Cataloochee Cove - GSMNP

Was not sure what this elk was doing at first. After he scratched around with his antlers a little bit then he laid down in that spot. Guess he was getting his bed ready.

This was as we were leaving the cove. I will be posting more photos from this area in the next several days. There were 3 elk bulls in this small fenced in area as we left. I heard a vistor ask the Ranger how they kept them in the fence. The ranger told them they had just been in the fence about 10 minutes. The fence was not totally enclosed, but in some of the other photos I am going to post you can see the fence in the background.

Caldwell Place in Cataloochee Cove - GSMNP

Remember this house was built in 1903.
Look at this woodwork.

They not only had the arch, but look at the design going 3 different directions on the same wall.

And the staircase. This house was awesome. Would love to live in today, just not down that 10 miles of mountain side to get to it.

The view from the front porch, nice stream between the house and the barn.

Notice the cross on the barn.

A blogger buddy, Darla, suggested I update this post and tell this story. See the comments on the Woody Place post. This house brought back memories for me. When I was about 10 years old the house down the road past my Granny and Papa's house (in Walton County, Georgia)was very similiar to this house. One Saturday evening Sheriff Doc Sorrells (relative of mine) was called to the house because the man of the house was intoxicated and causing problems. When the sheriff knocked on the front door the man shot him from the back of the house. The man was in the back right room. The shot went through 6 to 8 walls and killed the sheriff standing at the front door. When nobody lived in the house anymore we went in the house to investigate it. CSI would have used beams to show the bullets path. We were not that sophisticated, we stuck our fingers in the holes in all the walls. The holes were at angles in the walls, straight to the front door.

After I was grown I visited the Police Memorial in Washington, DC and found his name on the wall and made a rub of his name. It was a very emotional visit, due to knowing several police officers listed on the wall.