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A wish for a great Holiday Season for all my Flickr Friends. Merry Christmas! This was from last Christmas, one for the record books here in Dixie. The first ever measurable snow in our area on Christmas. It was a wonderful memory too. We opened presents in a rush, then set out to enjoy this wonderful white Christmas we had. It was magical! May yours be magical this year as well.

YORKIE CKC, Small, Mom-3.5 lb, Dad-4.5 lb. 7 wks old, 1st shots. $500. Call 205-910-8779
There is the add you want to avoid at all costs!!!

Here is the story.
So...Tommorrow is my Birthday. We have a one wonderful sweet dog, and we were thinking how nice it would be to have another furry friend to add to our family. We searched our local paper, and found this add (Only with the Breeder Carol Fortenberry's number, not this one, which is the rude daughter of said breeder). I am getting ahead of myself.
Anyhoo...we contact this Grandmotherly type person. Seemingly sweet and sincere, and buy into the whole act she is selling. On an impulse,(I know, that was my first mistake) we agree to meet here halfway(there was my second...always, always go to the breeder's house) and see this puppy. Well he was sleepy and cute, and well anyone who is a dog lover...well that is sometimes just all it takes. Gosh, he was only a couple pounds and cute as a button. We hand over 500 bucks cash (no receipt, there was my third mistake, followed by my forth...no written guarantee to this puppies sound health and temperment). We leave with this cute little puppy.

We get home, and the nightmare begins. Of course you know all puppies are hyper and like to bite, that is just a puppy being a puppy. But this little fella, is that times ten. Ok, well you know you just gotta let em grow, and train em. We can handle that, we have had many a dog. This guy, seems not to be in the pink, he is throwing up a little and a little runny stools, and dragging his hiney. Uh oh, worms we think. They provided us with a record of his shots, and worming, but nothing official like or signed by a doctor. Just a record keeper for the shots that were admistered and what they were. So of course a trip to the vet is called for. I talk to the vet, no worms, thank god, and some puppies are little hyper. She gives him some meds to calm his tummy and away we go.

Now that his tummy is calm, and he feeling better, we now see the little hyper go into hyper drive. He has spells that are gremlin like. We are thinking we now have adopted Spike! He has fits of rage, that are unprovoked. His little teeth are very sharp, and with no warning are now drawing blood on every member of my family. Including my daughter! My husband thinks I'm crazy, but I leave him to care for the puppy for awhile, and he see's exactly what I am talking about!

We call the breeder, requesting her take this puppy back. It was a very hard decision for us, but these outbursts of rage were increasing. We had an area that puppy padded, and safe and we put him in there, and he would just go into rages in there as well. It was so sad! So the Breeder Carol Fortenberry, is upset, very upset at this prospect, wants us to keep this puppy a few more days, but my hubby says no. Then she agrees to take the puppy back the following day, but doesn't want to. Ok, we think. In a about a minute her daughter is calling my hubby chewing him out big time, and telling him no way!!! That is the nice, watered down version there. She hangs up on him! I call the breeder back, and it's goes to voice mail. I decide to leave a message, with the audio of this puppy freaking out. Then I decide to call the daughter back, so see if she will be reasonable. Clearly she will not, she won't even listen, she is telling me off in a big way. While she is talking to me, her mom is calling my hubby back agreeing to take the dog back, and apoligizing for her daughter's bad behavior. OMG...these people just crazy I am thinking!

The next day dawns, (Monday), now the breeder is supposed to call and meet up to pick up said puppy. She doesn't of course. So hubby calls her. She says she has the stomach flu, ok...and she is sending her son in law, aka THE ENFORCER. We didn't know his assumed name at the time. He supposed to give us a full refund. Nope, he says, it's gonna be like this. Here's the Deal, I'm giving you 300 out of the 500, and you can take or leave it (The looms over hubby casting a huge shadow) OR ELSE! Sign this here paper, saying you got a refund ( which hubby writes the amount) . Well there were words tossed back and forth for about 15 minutes or so. But my hubby he isn't a small guy either, but he isn't a match for Bubba who is six foot five and about 350! He decides to cut his loss, and mostly not have to pay or watch this puppy be humanly euthanized (which he tells the guy is needed) and leaves. Now I try to contact the breeder again, but low and behold, guess what her number is changed. Hmmmm....

So this add above has the number of the unsavory daughter and the ENFORCER! So please people, buyer beware! Do not buy a dog in Holly Pond, Alabama from a Carol Fortenberry! I am reporting you to the CKC, and filing a complaint! But that will take months to process. In the meantime, please feel free to comment anything, and blow this up, so her name and number gets some attention on the Internet. You can find her add on the AL.com site. Today. Call her up, ask her about this puppy. Feel free to give her the same kind of treatment she gave me. If you know of anyway I can hold them accountable legally for their crimes against my family please feel free to give me any and all advice! This is her current add, and she is trying to re- sell this very same puppy!

I love these delicate flowers. They are bold with color and yet delicate in their nature. The bloom only lasts for a few short hours here in this baking heat. They open with such gusto, then pucker up and fade away as the afternoon light hits them. To some these flowers might be considered a weed, but we grew these from seed, and after months of tending, we delight in their blooms. Happy Friday everyone, to those on the East coast keep safe, and hunker down. My prayers go out to you.

This is from a recent trip to the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. We were on our way to Newfoundland Gap, and then Clingmans Dome to shoot the sunset. However on the way up there the fog rolling off the Mountains was incredible. In the valley below is just a small bit of road . That is where you can see a single headlight peering thru the mist. It was most likely a motorcycle. I say this because this area is a popular spot for Motorcyclists to tour.

Also because while we were shooting it just so happened this guy pulls up on his motorcycle.
A Harley in fact.
He kinda looked like a biker Santa on Vacation. He was a nice friendly guy and he told us about his journey from Minnesota to Florida, and then back up through Tennessee. He just decided he wanted to see it, and so on a whim he did. He was red from the sun, and wore just a leather vest , jeans and boots. That White long hair and White beard. He had such a cheery smile. Such a contrast, I was thinking. He hung around for awhile, and then when it was almost dark he took off, and when he fired that Harley up, what to you think he was blasting on his stereo, Steppenwold?.....No....The Stones?....No!. Believe it or not Kelly Clarkson! Ha! Too funny we thought, and kinda cool all at the same time.

We were out and about, just hoping for a good sunset. The last weekend before Sparky starts High School (Ugh, did I just admit that?). There has been so much damage from the Tornado Outbreak in our state, that a lot of our favorite spots to shoot, are just gone. Sunset Island...sad to say...blown over... Time will heal these scars on nature, and slow recovery is being made. There really hasn't been much in the national news with the terrible Tornado in Joplin. Sometimes I feel like the need here is just being missed. Especially in rural areas. People are living in tents, and such. My heart goes out to those people, and of course my prayers too.

In any case we happened by this spot a wonderful flickr friend showed us so many years ago. The clouds were all lit up, and even tho the sunset wasn't quite in right spot for the sun, we enjoyed the viewpoint just the same.
Even tho it's been some years since that first time we came here, time seemed to stand still for that moment.
Sparky was still a little girl, and was chucking rocks with our friends son. The smell of the wildflowers was intoxicating, I stood there enjoying the whole scene. Then suddenly I heard a Ker-plunk!!! She may be getting ready to start High School, but she isn't ready to give up chucking rocks any time soon...lol.

As we were leaving, we happened upon a local fisherman. He was getting ready to cast his line. He asked, "Did you catch anything?" After we explained we were photographers, I thought to myself...yes we did. We caught time.