On Vacation: Ellijay, GA

It is mid-July and we find ourselves in Ellijay. Ellijay is north of our homestead and located in the Georgia mountains.

IMG 1958

Currently, the high temperature here is 88F but walking out in the direct sunlight makes it seem much hotter. Just ask my wife.

IMG 1963

As a Canadian, she doesn’t tolerate warm weather like I do but she was the one to move to Georgia initially. I just ended up moving down from PA so not a big stretch for me. I love heat. I love the beach. These are things my wife does not.

IMG 1967

It is always nice to get away for a little while.

IMG 1968

HDWGH – Story 64 – Give Me Shelter

-*From The How Did We Get Here Series*-

**Now**: Mrs. Roland lowered her head in both exhaustion and sadness. Her beautiful brand new home on the outskirts of a small town in rural Georgia known as Tannersville had gone up in flames just 2 hours ago. She was in shock and the pounding on the outside of the tornado shelter was beginning to break her out of it. The fire company needed to confirm that she was ok, after all.

**Before**: The Smith family always celebrated the big holidays. The 4th of July was no different. Brian Smith had his various assortment of fireworks ready to launch. The wind was picking up but he felt fairly certain that they would be quite safe.

HDWGH – Story 63 – Boom

-*From The How Did We Get Here Series*-

**Now**: Jennifer Turco kneeled down to give her father a kiss on his forehead. Josh was doing the right thing after all. This type of job needed to be done. If not by him, then who? Jennifer replaced her protective eyewear before bringing the thermal imaging device up within her view. It still showed six heat signatures. The expected and anticipated number. Josh turned his gaze up to his youngest daughter looking for the signal he needed. A confirmation that all six siblings were currently at home. Jennifer looked down at him and nodded. Josh caught the gesture and quietly moved his thumb from the green ABORT button to press the light red COMMIT button. The trailer suddenly erupted into a massive fireball flinging bodies here and there and breaking every window and other pieces that could be broken.The sound of a bouncing metal propane tank off to their left. Five feet away from Jennifer, a smoking and burnt male torso landed on an old wooden pallet and bounced away from her. A faint scream filled the air from what seemed like a few blocks away. The small subdivision was awake now. She could barely notice the slight smile in her dad’s gaze, but it was there. It was all better now. Everything was going to be just fine.

**Before**: Jennifer knew that Doug Jones was a child molester. In fact, the whole neighborhood knew. The problem was proof. All she had was gut instincts. The way he looked at the girls as they made their way home from school passing his, what she would swear, had to be a meth lab trailer. It made the neighborhood look like it had been transplanted from Detroit. She would talk to her ex-military father and see what he thought about this “problem.” Perhaps daddy could kill two birds with one stone on this one?

Who Would Have Thought?

Who would have thought a year ago that I would be married today and that my wife and I would own our home?

We just paid the first mortgage payment and there is a weird feeling of joy.

That rather than paying rent to someone, I am paying on my own property.

Sort of liberating.