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We usually visited my Grandparents in TN twice a year, at Christmas time and once in the summer. They lived on Yarnell road just off of Campbell Station road. I remember Campbell Station as a treacherous windy road with a cliff to one side and a forested hill on the other. The road was slightly slanted which made it particularly dangerous in the rain or when it was icy or snowy. There would often be a flowered cross at some point along the windy stretch of the road to signify the spot of a fatal accident. where multi accidents happens at a same time in such a case you can also consult attorneys for multi-vehicle accident charges as they can help you legally. One time we were visiting TN at the same time as our cousins from Texas (the Paynes) and they had a car accident on Campbell Station road on the way home from church. My cousin Jenni and both of her parents had to spend time in the hospital with serious injuries. Ironically there was a picture in the paper after the accident of my dad holding my little sister (Krista, I think). That accident was a particularly memorable experience for me because on the way to church my parents had let me ride with our cousins to church and they wouldn’t let us ride back to grandma’s house in their car after church. With the help of the lawyers from https://halelaw.com/sarasota-personal-injury-attorney/motorcycle-accidents site, my family was able to recover soon and was back in no time. You can also read by this link how to claim compensation with the help of injuries for the injuries sustained.

I think I remember hearing that Grandpa built their TN house, but I’m not entirely sure that detail is correct. They had a long gravel driveway that sloped downward towards their house. On the right side of the driveway was my grandmother’s garden which was lined with roses. I remember that she grew raspberries, strawberries, beans, and sweet corn. <<The image that I got from Google had a pool where her garden was.>> She used to dry the fruits to make fruit roll-ups, fruit leather, and dried fruit chips. I remember taking homemade fruit roll-ups to school in my lunch box and sharing them with my friends who thought they were the best things that they had ever eaten. My Grandma’s front yard stretched in front of the house up the sloping driveway to the street. The part closest to the street was speckled with trees. The part directly in front of the house was clear of trees and there was a concrete birdbath in the middle. We spent very little time in the front yard and almost never used the front door. I think there was a porch along the front of the house, but we really almost never even wandered into the font yard.

Where the driveway ended there was a gravel parking area that sloped up a small amount and had place for two cars.   In the summer there was a fragrant flowering tree in bloom by the parking area.  On  the side of the house next to the driveway was a garage and a door. When we arrived we would either go into the garage door using a code or follow a path up into the back yard then take the concrete steps up to a sliding glass door.  The back porch was a tall concrete platform with bricks along the side.  There were no rails along the steps or the porch so we were always advised to be careful on the porch.   We usually arrived in the middle of the night or the wee hours of the morning. We would try to sneak in as quietly as we could, but grandma usually woke and greeted us. At least once I remember that she had fallen asleep on the couch, probably fretting the entire time as we drove. Grandma always worried about us when we traveled, my parents would call her before we left to tell her we were on our way. Often they would call and tell her we were leaving in a few hours and then leave right away or call her after we left (although I can’t figure out how they did that because cell phones hadn’t been invented yet for most of the years we made the trip). They thought that maybe their tricks would reduce the amount of worrying grandma did, I don’t know if it ever worked.

Grandma had this one-eyed dog named Mitsey Mouse. The dog would be barking when we arrived and grandma would tell us that she always knew we were coming and could smell us 100 miles away. I used to imagine the dog getting our sent while we were still driving and then alerting grandma to our impending arrival. Mitsey loved to lick. I remember her licking so much and so thoroughly that I thought she had licked every inch of exposed skin and I’d feel wet with dog saliva. Mitsey had her own quilt, a mustard yellow blanket with little pictures all over it (I want to say the pictures were of dog bones, but I’m not sure that’s accurate). Grandma kept dog treats under her sink for Mitsey and would let us give her some on occasion. Our favorite trick was to make her jump for her treat.

Most of the time we spent outside was spent  in the back yard. Grandma had a big back yard with a little forest along the back and side of the yard. Grandpa kept bees in white hives just inside forest. I remember staying clear of the part of the forest where the bee haves were.  One year when we came the bee hives were in the garage.  I didn’t go near them just incase there were still bees in them. On the same side of the yard as the bee hives, they had built a fire pit surrounded by a big circle of log benches.   They kept a big pile of firewood on the edge of the forest between the hives and the fire pit. In the middle of the yard at the end was something that looked like a brick fireplace standing alone. I remember exploring the pathways through the little forest behind her house. Once I remember grandma making us little sandwiches so that we could have a picnic lunch in the forest.  I felt like little red riding hood.

There was a big tree next to the porch with a tire swing.

I only remember going in the side yard when grandma had the badminton net set up. Although I can remember trying to hit the birdies with the racket, I can’t ever remember playing a real game of badminton with the adults. I faintly remember some jokes made about hitting the birdie in relation to my last name (Bird).