Nativity Scene at Church Circle part 3

Baby Jesus in the Manger
The Donkey that carried Mary
Little lamb

Shepards on their way to see the Miracle Child

Nativity Scene at Church Circle part 2

Nativity Scene at Church Circle

The Nativity Scene at Church Circle was First put on display in the 60's. It was made possible from a anonymous donor. Kingsport Jaycees take care of the beautiful pieces.

Church Circle

This sign stands in front of 4 churches that are in a semi circle that leads down to Church Circle.
Church Circle is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. At Christmas time Kingsport decorates the evergreen tree with lights, that is in the middle of the circle. Between the Churches and the circle there is a Nativity Scene.

Kyarn Birds

Kyarn-pronounced just like it is spelled. This is what we called them when we were growing up.
Carrion is the correct name for it. It means rotten dead animal. I am glad for the buzzard to take care of carrion.
This picture is Priceless.....
These Black Buzzards showed up in our front yard one day. I think that they are so ugly that they are cute.

• Large soaring bird.
• Broad wings with large whitish patch at tip.
• Short, square tail. Body black
• Dark gray head unfeathered and wrinkled
• Frequently flaps while soaring
• Size: 24-27 in
• Wingspan: 54-59 in
• Weight: 56.48- 77.66 ounces

One-on-one, a Black Vulture can quickly be dominated by the slightly larger Turkey Vultures rarely travel alone. Flocks of Black Vultures can quickly take over a carcass and drive the more solitary Turkey Vultures away.

Fort Patrick Henry Dam

Fort Patrick Henry is named after the colonial fort, also known as Long Island Station, that was established nearby at the site of present-day Kingsport, Tennessee. The dam was built primarily for hydropower.

Construction of Fort Patrick Henry Dam began in 1951 and was completed in 1953.

The dam is 95 feet high and stretches 737 feet across the South Fork of the Holston River.

The generating capacity of Fort Patrick Henry Dam is 59,400 kilowatts of electricity.

The reservoir behind the dam is 872 acres, 10 miles long and 37 miles of shoreline and features steep bluffs and only a few coves. Water level fluctuates between 1,263-feet (full pool) to 1257-feet (minimum pool) depending on rainfall and downstream needs.


http://www.tva.com/sites/fortpatrickhenry.htm
http://www.tnfish.org/ReservoirLakeInformation_TWRA/TWRA_FortPatrickHenryReservoirInformation.htm

Motor Parts of Kingsport

This old faded sign is still on the building that was the home of Motor Parts of Kingsport.
You can find this building in Highland on Center St.

Child's Play

I work at a local elementry school, in Food and Nutrition Services. We had a Christmas Party and it was a blast. Around 70 people showed up. We had great food and wonderful entertainment.

Living Waters Trio was the gospel group that was the main entertainment. Then an employee, his wife, and a few others sang Christmas gospel. Children joined in and sang Traditional Christmas, fun to sing along songs. Then we had a young lady to sing a beautiful ocapello
Christmas song. I would say that we got our moneys worth but it was all FREE.

The food was awesome, fried chicken, green beans, corn, baked beans, slaw, chicken salad casserole, and chestnut ridge bbq. Of course there are many more dishes, just to many to mention. And the deserts were so good and the picture in this entry is homemade cookie the I like to call Child's Play.

Fountain of Lights and Foam

About 4 years ago as we was on a Geocaching hunt, we happened up on this fountain. Someone had put soap in in.
I myself had never seen foam in a fountain. It was amusing to me.
Bubbles, bubbles, and more bubbles.
Look at the pretty colors.
The foam was so light it floated. I was like in my second childhood.

Under World

This is a Cave located in Kingsport, I have heard of it for many years. If it has a name I am unaware of it. A few years ago while my son was setting a geocache (www.geocaching.com), we went exploring.

This is my friend Earl at the entrance of the cave.

This is a small room off to the left when you get down to the bottom of the cave.
Earl and my son John with graffiti on the walls of the cave. No dates so have no ideal how long it has been there. There were numerous items of trash in there. A water heater sticks out in my mind that was left there.
Coming back out of the cave. It was a hard climb almost as bad as coming in.
The area is full of caves. They are just on private property and to small to go in.
They are public caverns in the area: Bristol has Bristol Caverns www.bristolcaverns.com/, Blountville has Appalachian Caverns www.appalachiancaverns.com.

Red Tail Hawk

Right before leaving my Post at school, I had a visitor. I was so hoping that I could get a picture before he (or she) was on his (or her) way. I also over heard a parent telling about when the hawk took a squirrel. That would have been neat to see.

Curious Facts

• Hawks are carnivores (meat eaters) who belong to the category of birds known as raptors.
• The Red-tailed Hawk is the most common member of the buzzard hawk family.
• The eyesight of a hawk is 8 times as powerful as a human's.
• Like all hawks, the Red-tailed Hawk's talons are its main weapons.
• The Red-tailed Hawk has hoarse and rasping 2- to3-second scream that is most commonly heard while soaring.
• 85 to 90 % of the Red-tailed Hawk's diet is composed of small rodents.

http://www.desertusa.com/aug96/du_hawk.html

Icicles

Icicles form when the air is around freezing level. The areas not in direct sunlight will be cool and below freezing, while the sun melts ice and snow on more exposed surfaces. The melting water dripping down along edges refreezes in the cool air, forming a column of ice - the icicle. When droplets of melted snow drip down an icicle, they release small amounts of heat as they freeze. Heated air travels upwards and helps slow down the growth of the icicle's top, while the tip is growing rapidly. The water will run down the sides of the formation evenly in a thin film and freeze on the way down. This sort of freezing, thin film of water is what leads to the eventual icicle shape.

Eastlawn's Candlelight Remembrance

Over 15 thousand candles were placed through the East Lawn Funeral Home & Memorial Park and lit at dusk. The drive thru the cemetery was totally breath taking. The snow we received today added to the Christmas Spirit.

Red Berries in the Snow

A Surprise Snow hits Kingsport. It caused numerous wrecks. Which in turn kept Kingsport Police, Kingsport Fire Dept., EMS, Wrecker Drivers and Hospital personnel hopping.
Here at the home front it was quite peaceful, just like the Red Berries in the Snow.

Shadow Fishing

When I get bored with fishing I get creative. You can see my shadow with pole and in the water a red and white bobber. This was at Cherokee Rod and Gun Club's fish pond.

Kingsport Dedicates Veteran's Memorial

11/11/2008
The Kingsport Veterans Memorial was dedicated on on Veterans Day, which is located in front of J. Fred Johnson Park on Fort Henry Drive between the old Highway Patrol Building and Indian Court.

The memorial is of red, white and blue granite. A white granite plaza contains six 7-foot-tall blue granite tablets, one for each war from World War I to Operation Iraqi Freedom, with two from World War II. The tablets display the names of 370 fallen soldiers from Kingsport on one side and a map of the theater of operations on the other. Over 550,000 pounds of granite was used in the construction of the memorial.

The memorial includes a centered U.S. flag, which will remain lit at all times, benches, earth berms, and two walkways leading up to the plaza from each side that include the names of famous battle sites, such as Berlin, Guam, Normandy, Tet and Kabul.

On either side of the walkways are rows of granite pavers — the
“Walk of Honor” features 1,728 red granite pavers bearing the names of veterans, living or dead

price tag of $862,000

http://jefffleming.blogspot.com/2008/11/kingsport-dedicates-veterans-memorial.html

Are You In Need Of A Miracle?

Founded in 1948, Fort Robinson Baptist Church sits just down the hill from Old Kingsport Presbyterian Church. Both of these Churches are in what is refered to as Old Kingsport.

I had my baby shower at this church almost 20years ago.

2012 FORT ROBINSON DRIVE
KINGSPORT, TN 37660

http://fortrobinsonbaptist.lifewaylink.com/templates/System/default.asp?id=23638

Train Station

Old Train Station at sunset. The Station sets on Main St. overlooking Broad St.

Red skies at night, Sailors Delight. No ships in the area, but could this sky promise a beautiful Tomorrow?

Angel

Angel at the "Empty Tomb" in Oak Hill Cemetery.

Christmas Parade 2008 Con't

These girls play a part in Kingsport Ballet's the Nutcracker. I caught them as they were waiting for the Parade to start.

Christmas Parade 2008

The 66th Annual Kingsport Christmas Parade kicks off when the Santa Train pulls in to the Train Station. Early that morning the Train has carried Santa, lots of Volunteers, and 15 tons of goodies thru 3 states. The train makes many stops along the way in rural communities to give out the goodies to all that come to see Santa on the Train.

Santa rides a Kingsport Fire Truck thru the Parade route.

Old Kingsport Presbyterian Church

Old Kingsport Presbyterian Church was organized 1820 as the
Boat Yard Congregation. It predated the incorporation of Kingsport
by two years. In 1846, Dr. Frederick A. Ross built the church on
his property at his expense, utilizing the labor of his slaves-who
were members. He served as pastor from 1826 to 1852. In 1851,
Dr. Ross deeded the church property to the New School General
Assembly of the Presbyterian Church. The church moved in 1953
from near Netherland Inn to land donated by Octavia Patton.

Ward's Feed Store

This store has been in the heart of downtown Kingsport since 1946, when J. E. Ward opened it. He worked at the place until just recently, family members say. Too frail now, the store is in Allen Ward's care, and he is carrying on the family tradition without many changes, although times have indeed altered the products the store carries for farmers. About the time World War II was heating up, J.E. Ward took a chance. He decided to manufacture his own horse feed and named it Ward's Sweet Feed. The sweet feed is still made the same way, manufactured around the corner from the store in the Ward Feed mill. The feed store carries a range of seeds (mostly in packages, whereas in the old days, you would have scooped them out of wooden drawers). Some of today's seeds are considered heirloom in the North, like half runner beans, whereas 60 years ago, and even today in East Tennessee, they are just half runner pole bean vines. One thing, though, has remained consistent down through time. At Ward's Feed Store, you can find the right stuff and the right answers.
That may be what keeps the store in business.
Jeff Fleming May 19,2006 http://jefffleming.blogspot.com/2006/05/downtown-kingsport-store-featured-in.html

Katydid

This Katydid visited me one morning as I was sitting in my truck eating breakfast. I enjoy when nature sends me company.

They produce sound by raking a file on the base of their left forewing with a scraper on right forewing. The file is a modified vein with file-like teeth. As the insect closes its wings the scraper is raked over the file. The frequency of their sound increases as the scraper more rapidly rakes the file. When necessary, they can increase the volume by slightly raising their forewings, forming a small cavity in which the sound resonates and is amplified. Our hearing is not sensitive enough to hear their entire melody because their ultrasonic range extends above the 20 kHz upper limit of our hearing! They apparently achieve these high frequencies by straining the scraper against the file in such a fashion that when it breaks loose and glides down the file it is under greater pressure and moving significantly faster. http://msucares.com/newsletters/pests/gloworm/2008/glow0508.pdf

La Salle

This is David Berry's La Salle Automobile. It was parked outside of Berry's Pharmacy on the corner of Eastman Rd. and Ft. Henry Dr. Is this the car that Archie Bunker was referring to in the song "Those Were The Days"? If so, those WERE the days!

Turkey Time in Tennessee

Turkey hunting is one of the hardest types of hunting there is. It takes a lot of skill, endurance, patience, and a whole lot of luck to bag a trophy bird.

Where the "SON" Shines the Brightest

Victory Apostolic Church
1921 Kite St. Kingsport

This Church is on the East side of
Kingsport.

Before the Rain

This is looking to the east as the sun rises, before the rain. Just had made a drop off at RNR Middle School in the Ryan's Steakhouse parking lot.