CEDAR MOUNTAIN NEWS FOR THURSDAY 10-20-16

EARLY VOTING

Beat the crowd and cast your vote early from October 20th through November 5th. The Brevard early voting location is at the Transylvania County Board of Elections Meeting Room at 150 S. Gaston Street, in Brevard across from the library. The Rosman Location is Rosman Town Hall, 12 Main St. in Rosman. The general election is November 8th starting at 6:30am and closing at 7:30pm at your respective voting precincts.Voter Statistics (as of 10/17/16): Unaffiliated: 10,052, Republican: 8,207, Democratic: 7,042, Libertarian: 113 for a total of 25,414 registered voters.

Your candidates need your vote so get out and exercise your right to vote by casting your ballots early or at the general election.

BLOOD DRIVE

Cedar Mountain Volunteer Fire Rescue Department, 8725 Cascade Lake Road Cedar Mountain, NC 28718 8:30 AM – 12:30 PM Blood - the most common type of donation, during which approximately a pint of whole blood' is given.

Double Red Cells: A Double Red Cell donation collects the red cells but returns most of the plasma and platelets to the donor. These donors must meet specific eligibility requirements and have type A Neg, B Neg, or O blood. Call the Red Cross at 1-800-733-2767 for more information.

CEDAR MOUNTAIN FIRE AUXILIARY

CHRISTINE'S CORNER:

"BO" HAS A NEW HOME Pup "Bo", pictured here last week has found a wonderful new home! He now lives with a family and another female dog that looks like him. They are already great pals. I had a couple calls for Bo after he was placed, and one was from a new Brevard resident named Bud. He was so interesting and had nothing but nice things to say about our area. Welcome Bud.

STOMACH BUG A stomach bug is going around and has made landfall in the Harris household. Seems a pretty fast bug; hopefully no one else gets it. Christine & Joe Pace got their flu shots. Have you gotten yours?

NEW WREATHS I love to paint, wood burn, and carve. So wreath making is something I don't often indulge in. However, after our move, I came across collections of ornaments, ribbons and evergreen plus grapevine wreaths waiting my creativity, so I am excited to say I have been creating a "wreath-a-day" on my days off. I have every color imaginable, and tons of accessories, so I make a wreath of a different color each time; some gold & green, red, blue and even purple. I went on YouTube to refresh my bow-making skills. I even have two blank evergreen "kissing balls" to decorate. So, as the walls in my new dining room are not yet adorned with framed paintings or prints, I am hanging each finished wreath there. Don't know where I'm going with all these wreaths yet, but it sure helps relieve the stress of unpacking boxes and such.

WRAPPING GIFTS Now I'm not rushing Christmas by any means, but I do have a thought on wrapping presents: I have always wanted to get together with others while wrapping and make a good time of it. Meeting somewhere with large tables and "space" would make it so much easier; doing so with friends would make it even more enjoyable. Anyone else interested in this? We could start after Thanksgiving. Call me (Christine) if interested at (828)885-2103 or send me an email: chris_p_artist@yahoo.com

EXPERT GRASS My son-in-law has the most beautiful stand of grass I have ever seen, or felt under my toes. So of course I went to him for instructions on how I can turn my new front lawn into a show place like his. It being that my front yard gets limited sun, I used a mixture of red fescue and perennial rye, and a good fertilizer. "It won't show until next year;" Jimmy said "right now the seed is burying into the ground, getting ready to show itself in spring." Since we haven't had rain we are watering our lawn almost every day. I have three containers of holly trees to plant still, and a large "Fire & Ice" hydrangea.

MY JOE Those who know, know I have been anxious about the health of my dear hubby Joe. After several tests I am happy to report that he is fine, and at present even doing much better. Looking right at Joe, the doctor stated "It's simply old age." Maybe we'll have these tests repeated in another ten or twenty years? Many have gone to their winter places already, though we are enjoying a long period of absolutely tremendous weather. I hear we may break a heat record this week. Please let Linda or I Linda know of your news.

If you are interested in singing with the Rocky Hill Baptist church choir this year for their Christmas cantata let me know; practice begins soon.

AROUND THE HOUSE

All those crimson and yellow leaves are beautiful but mean that winter will soon be closing in. If you haven’t already had your furnace and other utilities serviced, it’s time to get it done. I had my heat pump serviced and while they were at it had two vents installed in my otherwise unheated basement. What a tremendous difference that has made. I no longer have to keep the basement door tightly closed to keep away a cold draft from charging up the stairs from the basement. Wish I’d done that sooner. The propane gas people are coming next week to service my fireplace and auxiliary heater so that if the power goes out I will have something to keep me warm. During a power outage last winter I had to farm my cat out and evacuate for 2 days because I couldn’t get the fireplace to light. Good thing I have wonderful neighbors to help me. The auxiliary heater was installed after this incident so I hope I won’t have to worry about freezing to death from now on.

The Cedar Mountain News depends on your input. If you have news to share or announcements to make please let me know. All news for next week must be received by Monday evening in order to be published in the Thursday edition of the Transylvania Times.

Please email cedarmountainnews@gmail.com with any news or questions.