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Welcome to the The Cabin on Turkey Cove on The Blue Ridge Parkway. by Bobby Dobyns in Floyd, Virginia. Brought to you by TripAdvisor Vacation Rentals, powered by TripWow!™

Spring at the Cabin - AT LAST!

It has been a long hard winter on this mountain (and most of the country, too.) Thankfully we had our power line knocked down only twice, and the place did not burn down. The tops of many trees were broken off and littered the roads and land (did I mention the 70 mile/hour wind and ice storm that came through?) But now all that snow and ice is forgotten and forgiven as the new growth is popping out everywhere. At 2,700 feet elevation, our place is a little behind spring at our home in Roanoke - only 27 miles away, but about 2 weeks difference. But this weekend we saw a LOT of green peeking out. Plus some other colors too - like this very early purple Johnny-jump-up. We cannot figure if it somehow made it through the winter or germinated from last year's seeds and grew really fast to be blooming already.

The dogwood looks a little rough, but this bud is fortunate to be, as it was too high for the deer (which ate just about everything that was not protected by the foot of snow which was on the ground most of the winter...)

We planted some pines last fall and the growing candles (that is what the new grow on a pine branch is called - I just learned that) confirmed that they might just make it. We did loose a white pine to deer... to my surprise, but the lady at the plant shop said when food is scarce deer will eat anything. So much for the "deer resistant plants" list that we have been taking with us to shop for shrubs...

But enough complaining. A day like this reminds us why we built our cabin.

Winter at the Cabin

Yep, it snowed.

Autumn at the Cabin

Mabry Mill - about 15 miles from us on the Parkway. It is one of the Parkway's most popular spots. I am ashamed to admit we had not visited it in many years until a few weeks ago. Now that the cabin is finished we have some living to catch up on.

This is the view from Rocky Knob on the Blue Ridge Parkway. It is about 10 miles from the cabin and has some very fine hiking. This was the old route for the Appalachian Trail many years ago.

Our neighbors at the top of the ridge have the best view. But waaay too much grass to mow. Hmmm, maybe it would be worth it to have this view every morning...

Susan is demonstrating how to lift the lid on her new firepit. Call me when the s'mores are ready.

Now I have 2 yards to rake - here and home. I don't mind the leaves hanging around, but they might smother the grass we have worked so hard to grow... so it looks like I must rake. But the good part is here I can just rake them into the woods - no bagging needed.

This cabinet is really the back half of another larger (deeper) one that was in Susan's family. It was too deep for the space we wanted to use it, so I took a circular saw and cut it in half. Even was able to salvage the drawer. I put a new back on the other piece and then realized that the back side was too nice to use as kindling, but it had no front. So I put some new pine boards to face it and for a new drawer front and slapped on a coat of paint, plus a little distressing to match the old part. Susan is happy with it and therefore so am I.

Summer

The cabin faces west and on a summer evening you won't find a better place to eat your ice cream than on the front porch.

We gave the hammock to Whitney as a birthday present and it took me a year to find a good place to hang it. (Well, I was busy building the cabin, so give me a break...) I don't even mind the septic tank lid as a footstool.

This is where we eat our meals... I could be eating the dog's food and not know it when looking out at this view.

Susan has worked hard on building a little stone wall (well... rock pile really, and I helped) along the edge of the "yard" before it drops off the side of the mountain. Our $5 yard sale chairs look inviting - especially when we are toting rocks and working like slaves. Maybe one day she will let me take a break and sit in one.
What do you do with many huge boulders left laying around after our well-driller excavated to get a flat place for his rig? Make a rock garden, of course. We found some half-price plants at Lowe's and moved a bunch of dirt around, and if the deer don't like what we planted - we may have a decent garden one day.

The screened porch is where we usually end up. It is like living in a treehouse. Without the bugs.