Raining in the Rain Forest

The plan was to go to the Western North Carolina mountains to replenish my stock of sticks.  My parents had a house in the mountains, and it is a great place to find sticks of many different trees. 

It is not far from the new Gorges State Park.  Simply... go there! See
http://www.ncparks.gov/Visit/parks/gorg/main.php
  It is UP in the mountains above the cell tower which is behind another peak.  Ergo, no cell phone reception.  We've also turned off AOL so there is no internet access.  Lots of birds and bears and other wildlife stop by. It is in the only temperate rain forest... check out:
http://www.learnnc.org/lp/editions/cede_jocassee/908

It rained.

The roof leaked.

It rained in the morning, afternoon, and all night it seemed for five days.

The generator faulted.

It rained some more.

I never did get out to search for sticks.

Will try again next week.

Note: Finding a stick does not mean you can start carving.  This time of the year while the sap is in the trees, it takes 18 to 24 months for a stick to dry properly.  Sticks collected in the winter take about a year to dry.  Then, you hope that the sticks don't split or crack.  More on drying in a later post.