It’s been unseasonably warm and nice lately. This morning, the temperature on the deck was about 60! There’s been just a bit of drizzle in the early mornings, but it looks like the nice weather is going to last a while.
If you missed Light Up Blue Ridge, you might want to go to the tree lighting at Vogel State Park this evening at 8:00 PM. There is a $5 parking fee. From the square in Blairsville, go south on 19/129 until you reach the entrance of the park, shortly before the long climb up Blood Mountain.
The Model Railroaders are having their Christmas Open House at the old depot in Mineral Bluff on December 19 from 10:00 – 2:00. The model railroad depicts Tri-State railroad operations in the early 1950s. From Blue Ridge, you would go east on 515 to a left on Hwy 60 north. At the four-way stop in Mineral Bluff, go straight one more block to a left just before the bridge. The depot is on the right.
The Adventist Church is having their traditional live nativity on December 23 and 24 at the church. It’s a drive-through experience. From Blue Ridge, you would go east on 515 to Forge Mill Road, where Cucina Rustica is located. The church is on the right.
As we long-timers knew they would, the TVA turned down the Blue Ridge Lake Civic Association’s request to delay the winter drawdown until October. They start pulling the plug on August 1, when there is usually a good two or three months of swimming and boating left. Obviously, this would have a very positive effect on our local economy, as well as increasing our use and enjoyment of the lake. As a rationale, they cited their usual doubletalk to the effect that they couldn’t make changes to their operational procedures without actually changing them. This was a disappointment, but hardly a surprise. (The speculation is that the TVA was fearful of other communities making similar requests.) It was perhaps surprising that the publisher of the News Observer, one of our three so-called newspapers, editorialized that the fact that we had some flooding last week – on December 2 – proves that the TVA is right. I’m not sure how that is supposed to follow, but it does prove the old adage that if there are two sides to every issue, the News Observer will be on the wrong one.