SCONA LODGE ARTIFACT DISCOVERY

I had to get out of here and find some pretty water.  The day was overcast and the threat of rain was present.  I didn't care.  If one plans one's life totally around the weather - he won't accomplish anything.  My anything is piece of mind.  The Gheenoe was hitched up and Shade and I were on our way.  The roads were dry and not a drop of water fell from the sky the entire way to Chilhowee Lake.  I decided before we left that I was going to dig out some forsythia from the Scona Lodge shoreline to compliment the roses I just planted.  

The overcast sky offered no soft light that allows beautiful scenes to be captured in picture form.  Chilhowee Lake needs no fantastic light to make it beautiful.  That lake is gorgeous in any light at any time of year.

The roadway at the bottom of the picture is Route 129.  I will never be able to look at these mountains and not be amazed by the power of a tornado.  Look closely at the shot above.  That's tornado damage.

There are no mud or rock shorelines to taint the natural scene.  The eye falls on beautiful scenery no matter where it tarries.  Gorgeous mountains abound and not one single human dwelling or building of any kind.  This is a rich, wild environment.  I love it!

I left the big camera at home as I intended to do some mountain hiking and didn't want to leave it in the boat so, all the shots on this entry were taken by the SD990 Canon.  It has it's limitations.  Shade needed exercise and I intended to see that she got it.  We would be at the Scona Lodge shoreline soon.

Scona lies just below that mountain in the above photo.

I wanted to tie the boat off on the extreme lower end of Scona's old golf course.  That's where the forcythia grows wild and bushy.  I expected to see the yellow flowers at any second.

I can make out the old ferry landing with it's twin cable towers covered with kudzu.  They stand just left of center in the shot above to the left of that dark green foliage along the water.  I hoped to see yellow blooms to the right of the tree in the extreme right corner in the shot above.  The old golf course continued to the right of that tree for a long way.

The forcythia blooms appeared all of a sudden.  They were concealed by a row of tall grasses and shrubs.

I cut the boat toward the wood floating in the water.  I noticed a thirty or forty inch wide opening to the shore and headed for it.

We touched down onto the shore, I grabbed my small spade and plastic box and headed for the yellow bushes.  Three plants were selected and I dug them out taking care to leave huge clumps of soil on the roots.  I placed them into the plastic box and saturated the soil and roots with water.  I couldn't wait to get home and plant them.  The rain started coming down.  It started as a gently shower but increased to a fairly good downpour.  I took off my coat and sat down under a bush and pulled my water proof coat over my head.  Shade came when I called and appeared delighted to be able to get out of the cold wet rain.   I wish I would have brought my rain suit.  I sat on the log and lifted the coat out to the side to cover Shade.  When I looked down between my feet I couldn't believe what I saw - a golf ball.  I wondered about it for a brief moment, picked it up and wiped the mud off the surface on my pant leg.  I slowly turned it over in my hand.  Look what I found!

I couldn't believe my luck.  This is a piece of history.  Scona Lodge had the name of their golf balls specially imprinted with their name back in the day.  This was a find!  Some golfer smacked this golf ball decades ago and it flew off the golf course and landed out here at the base of the mountain and has resided on this spot ever since.  The amazing thing is that I've searched for memorabilia over here for years and have found nothing.  Today, I'm not even looking for anything and this great treasure presents itself at my feet.   How odd is that!?  

I just can't believe this.  It was resting on the very Southern edge of the golf course.  The shot below is of that area of the golf course as I saw it today.  

Its difficult to imagine that this used to be a manicured golf course.  This place is an amazing spot to allow one's imagination to run wild.

The rain slowed but didn't stop.  If I was going to get the forsythia I had better get at it.  Shade went exploring.

I put the plants into the box and we were headed back to the boat.  The old hand laid stone that held the cliff side back away from the walking path skirting the golf course came into view.  I can remember when I first came upon these stones.  It was, I believe, 9 years ago.  How time flies!  How, indeed, it does.

Another huge cluster of forsythia grew just up ahead adding some happiness to the dreariness of this spot.  Scona - once a bright beacon along the river - now, transformed into a forgotten treasure buried for all time.

If forsythia was an indiginous plant to Tennessee - I would not remove it.  This plant is considered to be invasive and is not an official state plant.  These plants are remnants of plantings here at Scona ages ago and since have gone wild.  The box was heavy as I had a large quantity of soil with the root systems.  I stopped often to photograph oddities and pretty things.  I do that at times, you know.

Nature is so very cool!  Natural art works are everywhere if a person would just slow down and really look - and see.

I'll never get back to the boat at this rate.  The rain has started again too.

 I don't know what the name is of the plant above but, it is a graceful, beautiful thing with well proportioned, perfectly formed leaves.  If it weren't for the rain coming down I might be tempted to get one of them.

I have no luck with the weather when I come over here because its rained on us the past four visits in a row.  That's just the way it is on these lakes situated near or in the mountains.   A rainy day at Scona an Chilhowee Lake is better than sitting home looking out the window.

The plants were loaded onto the boat and we, I was ready to go.  Where's Shade.  "Shade - get on the boat."  She looks at me like she doesn't want to go.  I know how she feels because I share her sentiments.

I noticed a triangular shaped, red, concrete stake sticking out of the ground at the end of the golf course near the shoreline.  Wonder what that is.

It appears to be some sort of marker.  I'll check into it.  Probably insignificant.

Shade was on the boat and I backed it away from Scona and we headed back down the lake.

I looked back over my shoulder toward Scona and upstream at the old ferry landing and forced myself to continue down the lake toward the truck.   Hope you enjoyed my visit to Scona today.  See ya.

DIFFICULT PHOTOGRAPHS.

This afternoon found me on the river section of Cherokee Lake.  It's the first time I've been on that water this year and I enjoyed the newness of it.  The shorelines are baron like those of the main lake and the wildlife populations are sparse because of it.  In short - no habitat equals no wildlife.  Hopefully that will change when the reservoir is filled for the Summer.

She moved silently and carefully, stepping among the boulders high atop of the cliff.  Her silhouette was broken by the shrubbery and foliage between her and the cliff's edge but, I saw her.  She was wary and non-trusting of the noisy boat I was in.  I'm happy for that.  Her fear will help keep her safe.

How did I ever see her from way down here on the water?  She was not alone.

All of a sudden she bolted.  

They disappeared into thick cover.  I caught a glimpse of her only once more as she continued her cautious journey along the edge of the cliff side.

This boat I'm in rocks madly against the rough water flowing toward it.  The river has a rapid current today caused by recent rains.  The water contains  dirty brown color we call stained, in the profession.  Handling a camera is most difficult under these conditions and I may as well left it home.  But, you know me.  I continued up stream.  The turnaround point would be a bridge named Joe B. Brown Bridge, probably named after some politician, as most bridges are around here.
A really cute little calf was enjoying his new life along the river, kicking up his heels and running to and fro.  He was delight to watch as I passed by.

Ha - kids!  He acted like any typical kid left out to play.

Up river on the left side sat a really impressive, rustic cabin.  The location was isolated.  If I lived in this cabin, I'd never leave the property.  Gorgeous!

A shadow passed over the boat and when I looked up to the sky I saw a big red tailed hawk heading for the trees.  They are so difficult to photograph when in a boat.  Red tails will not tolerate the approach of motor boats and will fly off their perch before gaining close proximity for photographs.  This one was already airborne.  The boat vibrated and rocked so badly that I had to throw away ten photographs.  Only the one below was suitable for posting and, it isn't the best.  There will be another day.

Where I failed with the red tail I think I had some degree of success photographing a passing osprey.  Ospreys are very impressive raptors when on the wing.

Shooting into the sky allowed me to select a faster shutter speed, thereby eliminating camera shake and movement caused by the nasty vibrating boat and engine I was on. I watched the osprey until he disappeared down the shoreline.

I was fast approaching the point on the river where I would turn around and return down the opposite side.  The water was becoming shallow and perilous.  If you look at the shots that follow you will see lines of waves.  Those lines are caused by water flowing over rocks or rows of rocks.  I was literally travelling up stream by reading the water and I didn't care for the print size.

The bridge was straight ahead and the water surrounding the bridge piers looked pretty wild and shallow.  I decided to turn the boat around where I was.  Why risk contacting rock with the propeller?  Below:  I couldn't see those rocks coming up river but, once past them they were obvious.

Note how the water is flowing over rock near the bridge piers.  That's bad news up there.

I felt better after getting away from all that shallow water.  I'm not out here to tear up equipment.  I settled back in the seat and slowly made way down stream.  After a mile of travel I noticed a large bird on the limb of a tree.  Closer inspection with the binoculars proved it to be another osprey.  I would be floating right past him.  The water was causing the boat to bob all around and I doubted I'd get any good shots of him.  The following is that osprey.

I knew he would soon fly off his perch, and he did.  I missed the shot due to low shutter speed.  I got the shutter speed corrected and the bird flew directly into the sun.  No luck.  Another quick, off the cuff adjustment to darken the shots was made and I shot away.

A few of those aerial shots would have been really great pictures if they weren't so washed out.  Wild critters don't always cooperate.  Actually, they rarely cooperate.
I noticed a deer step between two bushes.  That's all I saw.  It turns out that a small group of deer were moving up the wooded side of the mountain from the river.

If you look closely at the side of one of the deer in the shots below, you'll see bumps on her hide.  Those bumps are a living insect larva called a warble.  A large woods fly burrows into the flesh of the deer and lays it's eggs.  The eggs hatch into larva and grow.  Eventually they will become adult flies and emerge from the deer's flesh, rest on her body for a bit to dry, and fly off.  Wild critters don't have an easy life.

These deer blended perfectly into their surroundings.  I didn't know if it would be worth trying to photograph them or not.  I gave it a shot.  I never did get an accurate count of them as I couldn't see them all at any given time.  It was a pretty scene though.

Well, that's how the afternoon went today.  I was surprised to see that much wildlife along this section of the lake.  Its proof that the fewer people there are - the more wildlife one sees.

I can't wait until all the ducks and wading birds start to paddle around with their new born chicks up on the Holston River and Beech Creek.  The photography opportunities will be amazing, I'm certain.  Thanks for looking in and I'll see you again very soon.