Still around...

January is always a busy month for us.  We often attend a meeting in a city several hundred miles away, and also go to Tennessee to visit the kids.  But this year, plans got changed due to the weather.  With the threat of freezing rain in the direction of the meeting, we elected to skip attending.  And instead, we went to visit the kids when the weather broke in our favor.   The only "fly in that oatmeal" was the absence of our son...he was out of town on business.   So 2 out of 3 had to do.  We spent lots of time with D-I-L and granddaughter.  That was fun.

Enroute, we noticed some snow-covered hills near Chilhowie, Virginia, along Interstate 81.  Hence the below picture, which is the closest we can get to "snow-capped peaks" here in the east.  Before you ask, we have no clue as to what the cause of the house fire was...but if the place were still intact, it would be a perfectly lovely estate.

If only...

Don't know what the silver antenna is that you can see behind the house...maybe an amateur radio operator's antenna?

Gasoline in Virginia was very much less expensive than in Maryland, and in Tennessee was even less expensive than Virginia.   Below is the price we paid in TN.  Back home, it had been $2.16 and in VA, $1.99.   So the trip was less expensive than it could have been!

The kids have a whole gaggle of cats.  Though we're not "the catty type," they definitely can be cute when they're being good, and not antagonizing each other (or depositing dead mice from the woods on the doorstep, to impress their owners...)

How can you resist a picture like this?

Even though we're not into cats as pets, they are simply adorable!

More later...

Mandy