Here is wishing each and every one of you a Happy New Year! Hope you all have big plans for a great celebration. Here in the Hood household, we have two kids with a stomach virus so looks like our plans involve staying home and doctoring the young-uns. Oh, well, Dick Clark is supposed to be back this year so it won't be a total loss. 
Yes, this picture was taken in Alabama. North Alabama. While the rest of us had our normal brown Christmas, the folks at Cloudmont Ski Resort in Mentone had their usual white Christmas. Thanks to the modern marvel of snow making machines, they are able to produce enough snow to have skiing every year at the resort. Folks come from all over the South to glide down the slopes and risk life and limb for a little fun. The great thing here is that even though the temperatures may be in the 50's the snow stays. So, while the rest of us endure another plain Jane Christmas, some folks high atop Lookout Mountain enjoy their fluffy white stuff, and hope to keep all their bones intact.
Well, it's the week before Christmas, and it finds your faithful Sand Mtn. Photog on vacation. Just me and the kids, and with the cold weather we find ourselves going stir-crazy. So today, with a little nicer weather, we took off for Noccalulla Falls in Gadsden for a little picnic and some playground time. Here are the kids with the falls behind them. If you have never been to the Falls, or not in a while, you'll find some changes. Like a fence around the place keeping you out unless you pay. And guess what? The park is closed. So this is the best, free, view of the falls you can now get. So we did the park and then went to the mall. 
I like change. Change is good. Well, not really, but I decided to give the blog a new look. You know, to keep things fresh. Anyway, not much going on today. Carson had a doctor's visit so I'm just kinda chilling, been cleaning up here at the bureau. Oh yeah, there was a wreck in front of my house last night. Wende and I heard this loud noise outside, and she thought it was raccoons on our back porch. I looked outside and saw a car had run off the road and into the trees across the road from us. Called 9-1-1 and got an ambulance on the way and then went out to check on them. Young girl driving a new Mustang had ran off the side of the road, overcorrected, and went across the road and through the ditch and into the woods. Took out my neighbors mailbox for about the fifth time. Driver broke her nose and passenger said her knee was hurting, so off to the hospital for them. I think the total count was 1 Crossville policeman, 3 county deputies, 1 firetruck, 1 ambulance, 1 state trooper, 6 or 7 volunteer firemen, and 1 wrecker. My brother Dusty called wanting to know if we were alright because his girlfriend went by the house and told him there were a bunch of policemen at the house. Finally got wrapped up about 10:15 pm. Lots of excitement in the country last night.
Went to cover this fire in Horton this morning. A mobile home somehow caught fire and then it spread to the trailer behind the first one. When firefighters arrived, both trailers were fully involved(that's fireman talk for being really on fire). Luckily, no one was home when the fire started. Well, its Christmas time and its cold out. Let the fire season begin.