October has been a busy month thus far.  Joseph celebrated his 7th birthday with a Tennessee Volunteers theme.  I know, they're not doing so well this season, but he doesn't seem to mind.  His favorite present is below:

2 week-old Buff Orpington ducks.  We're loving them.  They're much easier than baby chicks.  Maybe we'll raise ducks.  I hear duck eggs go for way more than chicken eggs.

Spent last Sunday in Cumberland Gap, TN.  Lots of fun stuff to do there.  We hiked and hiked, saw 3 states (TN, VA, and KY), ate delicious country cookin', and saw the Saddle, the area where Daniel Boone (and countless others, including Native Americans) crossed the Cumberland Mountains from Northern Virginia to the present Louisville, KY.  Boone blazed the Wilderness Road in 1775, creating new passageways, and some of it was along buffalo and Native American trails.  Another route that you can hike is the Tennessee Road, which was used by people who left northeast TN bound for Middle TN.   There is a visitor center (Cumberland Gap National Historic Park), a road that takes you to an amazing overlook called The Pinnacle, a cave you can tour, a preserved pioneer village and a number of Civil War places of significance.  It was a great "boy" field trip.