Thursday, February 26, 2026

T--Ma's Cussin' Place --Funny Story

My daughter Crystal married Mike and Teresa Lindsey's eldest son Adam in 2007 or so.

Teresa came to be named "T-ma" by the first grandchild, Averie. It suited her well.

We lost Teresa to lymphoma in 2015. She is sadly missed, but when we had her she was

something else awhile. She was a teaching aide who specialized in reading and learning disabilities.

She traveled to various schools all over Blount and Sevier counties helping kids with learning problems. She was so funny and so great with kids. She couldn't talk about what she did, but one day she did share a funny story with us. I'm very thankful she did because it showcased her skill in coping with some of the worst behavior in children. We didn't ever know this youngster's name, but only the problems and how they were overcome.

One of the behaviors this little boy had was mainly a very foul mouth. He'd not been properly parented so it seemed and just used the worst sort of language in school. Lots of cursing. It was distressing to the school and the other children.

Teresa came up with a strategy to break him of the habit. She got all the teachers on board to make sure it was done consistently. She fixed him a "Cussin' Place". It was under a table in a private room. It had a trash can down there. Before he was allowed to go for any special classes like music or art, recess or even lunch he had to visit his Cussin' Place.

Teresa would have him go in there and spit all the bad words out in the trash can before he could move on to lunch or wherever. He'd get under there and say a few bad words and spit them in the trash can. He'd say to Teresa he was done. She'd say "Oh no. I doubt that. The way you've been cussin' I'm sure there's a few more." She'd make him go back to spit out the rest.

He'd insist he was done. She'd make him spit out some more bad words. Finally he'd be allowed to move on to lunch or special activities.

Each day he grew more and more tired of his cussin' place. He grew to resent having to visit it before doing more desirable activities. The strategy worked as she held his feet to the fire making him spit out those curse words before doing anything around his fellow students. Finally he wore it out and decided the cussing had to stop because he dreaded having to get under the table to spit out those dirty words. If I live to be a hundred I'll never forget that lesson and how funny it was!

She was so great with our grandkids. If they had ugly attitudes or said inappropriate things she'd make them spit out there bad behavior in the trash can. How it worked!

above: T-ma with her niece Chloe.

Below: Teresa holds baby Michael

above Teresas surrounded by family.

Monday, February 9, 2026

Snow Days 2026

Kenny & Dana Koogler

Gabe & Mia Koogler

Adam, Crystal, Michael and Tessa Lindsey

Michael's girlfriend Olivia and her sister Emma

Grandmother Ruth Lindsey

Brooke and Rowan Nix

Jason Ledbetter

Papa Mike Lindsey

Kenny and I were born and raised in Virginia. We lived there until twenty-four years ago.

We were accustomed to snow and plenty of it. Bitterly cold temperatures, snow and ice that lay on the ground most years until you had Mud Season in March. East Tennessee and the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains has much less predictable weather. We have had Februarys that were False Spring and 70 degrees. We have had sub zero Winters. One thing we have far less of is snow. Especially not significant amounts of it. Most of the time you get a few inches and by 3 pm that same day it is melting or gone. We finally got 8 to 10 inches of snow and the just right temperatures to have it stick around a couple days. We went to Ace Hardware in Townsend and purchased four tobaggan sleds. We brought our sliding saucers we've had since Jared & Crystal were little. We went over to the farm in Townsend to go sledding as the Whole Fam Damily!

above and below: Out front of Ace Hardware in Townsend. They had the best deal on sleds!!

Kenny finally broke out his solo stove I bought him two Christmases back. He built a fire at the top of the hill. We parked at the bottom. The snow was dry and powdery which is very unusual for our area.

Below: The first morning of snow from our front lawn. Our house looks cozy.

The first day we just mainly went up and down the hill on foot. A few trips were made up and down with Jason's side by side, but we all got plenty of exercise. The farm is extremely hilly and a great place for sledding. The only obstacle was Papa's Quonset Hut at the base of the hill.

We managed to avoid hitting it the entire time! Michael managed to pull off the most crazy and daring ride of the day by going down the front yard, crossing the road, and ending up in the pond not once, but twice!

I wore it out. I think Adam and I made more trips up and down that hill than anyone else.

I had the most crazy wreck of the day. Tessa wanted someone to go down the hill with her on the sliding saucers. No takers, so Nanny said okay. I'll go. We went down together, but somewhere along the ride I spun out and headed to the left minus my hat and my saucer. I rolled bodily across the snow six or seven times. You could see the imprint the next day where I carved my own path. It was hilarious. I had snow caked in my hair. I stood by the fire at the hilltop warming up and felt a chunk of snow slide down my back and the crack of my behind! Now THAT's what I call a wreck!

Below: Olivia and Crystal in the distance. The solo stove is fired up.

Below: First day of sledding.

Below: my glove finger in the corner of the frame... sorry. Quonset hut and up way in the distance Grandmother's house. That is the hill we came down.

Below: just looking at the tree line during the snow storm. Day 1

Below: Day 2 of sledding. It had stopped snowing and was clear and cold. You can see the mountains in the distance.

Below: Looking out over Townsend. Grandmother's house in the right corner.

Below: Day 2 Michael Rowan and Brooke. Our RZR. We brought it day 2. By now I was sporting a bite shaped bruise on my right wrist, my back was bruised and my left hip.

Below: Day 2... Brooke and Emma and Mia and Papaw Kenny

Below: Crystal Mia Tessa and Gabe and Papaw Kenny

The first day we went sledding until it got to be supper time. We went into Grandmothers after we dried off and shed our boots and coats. We had taco soup and was it ever good! It was great to see one another and fellowship.

We had a couple memorable days for certain.

Below is a video clip of sledding.

Thursday, January 22, 2026

Paint Creek Recreation Area--Kelley and Dudley Falls

Sat. Jan. 17, 2026

Kenny & Dana Koogler

TN Landforms Kelley Falls

TN Landforms Dudley Falls

We made a trip to Greeneville to see Broyle's Store and ate lunch. Once that was out of the way we headed toward Paint Creek Recreation Area to see a couple waterfalls we'd never visited before. We moved to Tennessee in December 2001. I was not able to visit Horse Creek or Paint Creek to see these falls for a long time. August 3 through 4th, 2001 Greene County and Cocke County had 15 plus inches of rain fall in a 24 hour period. The devastation was immense. Its hard for me to wrap my head around that amount of rainfall in those mountains in that short period of time.

At last we visited Kelley, Dudley and Ricker Branch Falls.

above and below: Kelley Falls is quite pretty

Below: Forest and the bluff across from Kelley Falls

Below: mat of debris below the falls. I can't help wondering if some of this is still lying around since the August 2001 flood event?

Below: The embankment you have to climb down to get to Kelley Falls. It was slick as snot on a door knob.

Below is a short video of Kelley Falls

Next we went down the road a couple miles further and found Dudley Falls. It is a low cascade, but a pretty one and the swimming hole here is large and very pretty! There is pretty good parking at Dudley Falls and there are restrooms.

above: Dudley Falls with its large swimming hole

Below: zoomed in a bit on Dudley Falls. Someone has put up rope swings.

Below: The skies today over the forest were incredibly blue!

Below: blue skies and white bluffs near Dudley Falls

Below: I'm on the embankment much closer to Dudley Falls.

Below: a looking back at the pretty green swimming hole.

Below is a short video of Dudley Falls that shows it better. It is more than worth the trip to see especially if put together with the numerous other area waterfalls. I realized how it had been far too long between trips to the Northern Cherokee National Forest. In my mind it is a long, long way off, but it really isn't. It is closer than Brevard and we go over there plenty. We need to remedy this situation with some day hikes and camping trips. We did locate Ricker Branch Falls. I did not even take a photo of it as it was such a pitifully low flow. At least it wasn't hard to find or reach.

Some on my wish list are a revisit to Red Fork Falls, Dick's Creek Falls, Sill Branch Falls,

Pine Ridge Falls and Martin's Creek Falls.

Below is the video of Dudley Falls

Wednesday, January 21, 2026

Broyles General Store--Country Store Blog Series

Sat. Jan. 17 2026

Dana & Kenny Koogler

Broyles General Store Facebook Page

Saturday was supposed to be very cold and possibly rainy or snowing. Kenny works out in the cold all week and while he wanted to get out he was not wanting to do a long hike in the cold. We planned something easy and fun instead. We had not done any hiking in the northern portion of the Cherokee National Forest for many years. Last time was to Camp Creek Bald. Today we headed toward Greeneville, Tennessee. First we stopped by Broyle's General Store to check it out. It was new to us both. We loved it! It is a toy land that any kid would love. They have quality toys. Many old timey toys. They have bins of penny candy. They have garden seeds, tools, hats, fertilizers, bug sprays,

animal feed, home decoration. They do not sell basic staple groceries. It is a fun, old timey atmosphere. We will bring the grandkids by here for certain. They were warm and welcoming.

It was not crazy busy, but there was quite a buzz while we were there. Families with kids!

above: front of Broyle's store located at 730 W. Main Street Greeneville TN 37743

Hours of operation:

Wednesday	9 AM–5 PM
Thursday	9 AM–5 PM
Friday	9 AM–5 PM
Saturday	9 AM–1 PM
Sunday	Closed
Monday	9 AM–5 PM
Tuesday	9 AM–5 PM

Below: from the parking lot at Broyle's store the train tracks run behind it. That is a plus for me!

Below is a video of the freight train passing by. I love trains.

Above: beautiful amaryllis bulbs in bloom.

Below: collection of garden ornament roosters and the penny candy bins at the front

Above: What an assortment of bird feeders

Above: Papaw Kenny checking out sleds and ride on toys

above: I am not sure what is in the metal bins, but there are moon pies and candy.

above: customer checking out the farm toys. We still have some of Kenny's farm toys from his childhood. I have some of Jared's also. I even have one hampshire hog toy that was my Daddy's when he was a child.

Below: Gardening gloves and tools

Below: The front room of the store is just past this doorway

Below: dump trucks, tractor trailers, log trucks and all kinds of farm toys

above and below: toys galore! If you look close at the bottom photo there is a bow and arrow set with suction cups. Jared had one as a kid. I can still remember those things whizzing by my head and sticking to the wall.