Greetings to the Island...
Contrary to popular opinion, I did not fall off the edge of the earth. I have missed a lot, I know. (including Bob's birthday). To make a long story short, the house I thought I bought in February didn't work out, the lender got cold feet three days before closing and the wife and I had to vacate with only three days to do it. (more on that in a bit).
We lived in our travel trailer on the shores of Nickajack Lake from March to about three weeks ago. During that time we continued to look at houses and searched for a new lender. We were successful on both counts, and closed on a beautiful 2700 square foot home near Monteagle, atop Jump Off Mountain. The altitude of our new digs is 1600 feet above sea level and would make a GREAT repeater site. I have four and a half acres of mostly wooded property that overlooks the valley. I'm about 40 minutes from downtown Chattanooga and an hour and a half from Nashville.
The best part? The house was a Fannie Mae foreclosure. It needed a little work, we offered less than half the assessed value, and we got the house. The worst part? In having to vacate the previous house so quickly, I dropped a refrigerator on my foot and I've been in and out of the hospital since March, and will probably wind up having foot surgery.
So as I hobble about, I am slowly putting the shack back together. It will be a while before the tower goes back up, but I might get a few hams from the Chattanooga club to help me throw some wire in the trees. Since I am now permanently retired, I will have lots of time to devote to the amateur hobby.
If anyone is in the area, give me a call or an e-mail. We can do lunch at Sugar's in Chattanooga or Jim Oliver's in Monteagle.
That being said, I am going to finish off this shot of Jasper Newton Daniel's finest and head to bed.
Cheers.
Richard
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