Great Alabama 650

St. Clair lakes play prominent role in epic paddle race

Story by Scottie Vickery
Submitted Photos

Seven days, 8 hours, 1 minute and 55 seconds after launching his kayak at Weiss Lake in northeast Alabama, Bobby Johnson paddled his way to the finish line at Fort Morgan in Mobile Bay.

He’d spent a little more than a week traversing 650 miles of Alabama waterways, battling the heat, alligators, exhaustion and hunger to win the inaugural Great Alabama 650, a world-class paddle race held in September. He and his 17 competitors raced along the core section of the Alabama Scenic River Trail, the longest river trail in a single state.

“It was incredible,” said Johnson, who lives in Dunedin, Fla., and first started kayaking about four years ago. “The people of Alabama are awesome, and the scenery was amazing. Every day you saw something beautiful – sunrises, sunsets, the hills, the very dense woods. The wildlife was unbelievable. Everybody I talk to; I recommend that race all day long.”

That’s exactly what organizers of the Alabama 650 like to hear. They know the state has the most “experience-diverse” river trail in the country, and they want to share it with as many people as possible. “In Alabama, we’ve got more navigable waterways than any other state except Alaska,” said Jay Grantland, executive director of the Alabama Scenic River Trail. “There’s everything from whitewater to flat water, big lakes and small streams. There’s just about every type of water you’d want to paddle on throughout that river system.”

Trail Angels

The success of the race, which boasted a $22,500 prize split among winners in three divisions, relied heavily on volunteers known as “Trail Angels,” including Max Jolley, who lives at Powell’s Campground on Logan Martin Lake. Competitors were required to stop at nine portage locations along the Coosa and Alabama Rivers – Weiss, Neely Henry, Logan Martin, Lay, Mitchell and Jordan dams, and Robert F. Henry, Millers Ferry and Claiborne lock and dams – as well as two checkpoints.

“The volunteers were one of the most important factors of making this race successful all along the 650 miles,” Grantland said. “As the days roll on, the racers get further and further apart so we had to rely on the volunteers to man those different portages to make sure everyone was safe and performing fairly.”

While some racers had professional crews to help carry their boats and gear around the dam, others had one person or relied on volunteers. To keep it fair, the racers had mandatory rest breaks of 30 or 45 minutes, so race officials or volunteers had to track the time they arrived and left each portage.

“Apparently this long-distance paddling is a thing out in the world,” Jolley, who volunteered at Logan Martin Dam, said with a laugh. “It was exciting, and it was a fun learning experience for me. I got to talk to each of the kayakers and the crews and learn some of their strategies, and we helped get the kayaks out and made sure everyone had some food and water. I can’t wait to do it again next year.”

Jolley especially enjoyed the digital spectator experience. Thanks to GPS transponders, race officials and anyone who was interested could track the racers on the Alabama Scenic River Trail’s website and Facebook pages.  “We knew where everyone was at every minute,” Grantland said.

Competitor Salli O’Donnell was in the lead for most of the race, and Jolley was keeping tabs on his computer to see when she was heading his way. “When I saw she was getting close, I went out and took a picture of her, and then I jumped in my truck and headed down to the dam,” he said. Because Logan Martin was one of the first portages, the racers were still fairly close together. Jolley said he stayed at the dam about seven hours and saw most of the kayakers come through during that time. 

Jolley and others also posted about the race on social media, which helped stir up excitement among lake and river enthusiasts who offered encouragement from docks and boats. “Every one of the kayakers, almost to the person, were talking about how great it was seeing people on the lake cheering them on,” Jolley said. “They didn’t expect that.”

Johnson, 41, said it was a game-changer for him. “The people were awesome,” he said. “When you have people on the banks screaming your name and cheering you on, it’s an instant boost. It always seemed to happen just when you needed it most. If you’re just paddling for 650 miles, and you’re not talking to anyone or seeing anyone, you’re just paddling. This made me feel like a racer.”

Jolley said he was thrilled with the racers’ reaction to the hospitality on the lake. “That made me feel better than anything,” he said. “I wanted Logan Martin to be remembered for the people and the beauty of the lake.”

He was also impressed with the attention to detail the organizers put into the race. “A lot of planning and strategy went into it, I’ll tell you that,” Jolley said.

Behind the Scenes

Grantland said the idea for the race came about in early 2018 after he and some of the nonprofit’s board members had been to an outdoor adventure show in Ontario to promote Alabama’s recreational offerings and the river trail.

The Alabama Scenic River Trail got its start about 12 years ago when Fred Couch, an avid paddler from Anniston, spearheaded the efforts to divide the 650-mile stretch of water into four sections and provide guides for each one with information on parking, camping, launch sites and emergency phone numbers.

“It was great for families because it gave everyone peace of mind,” Grantland said, adding that the guides are available on the website. “They could take the kids camping without having to do all the homework and figuring it all out on their own. It started bringing in tourists.”

That core 650-mile section got so popular that officials from other areas wanted to add information about their waterways, too. “Here we are almost 12 years later, and we’ve gone from 650 to right at 5,600 miles” of navigable waterways, he said.

The impact has been a big one. “It’s definitely a quality of life benefit,” said Grantland, who started paddling when he was 10. “You can get the children outdoors and away from the TV.” There’s an economic benefit, as well. If you’re trying to attract businesses or corporations, they’re looking for areas with a good quality of life for their employees.”

Returning from the adventure show, the group brainstormed ideas for promoting the river trail out. “We wanted to put it out there to the world,” Grantland said. “That got the ball rolling, and then I started Googling. I have a master’s degree from Google in paddle racing.”

Serious planning began about this time last year, and Greg Wingo, who has a background in adventure racing, was hired as race director. “Between my experience in paddling and his experience in adventure racing, we were able to put together a pretty good race,” Grantland said. “It took a massive amount of coordination.”

Pushing limits

Racers could enter in three categories: male solo, female solo and two-person teams. Eighteen racers registered (some individually, some in teams), but only four finished the race: Johnson, O’Donnell and teammates Ryan Gillikin and Susan Jordan.

 “This year, we really didn’t know what to expect, and we took anyone who wanted to register,” Grantland said. “Obviously, some didn’t have the ability, but it was fine because it brought a lot of attention to the race.”

Word is spreading about the event, one of a handful of long-distance paddle races, and Grantland says he expects they’ll have to put a cap on the number of competitors next year. In addition, racers will have to qualify by completing one of several pre-requisite races prior to registration, which opens in January.

Next year, organizers also hope to host a 65-mile race in conjunction with the Alabama 650. Paddlers who can finish it in 24 hours will qualify for the 2020 Alabama 650.

Johnson said he’ll be back and is doing his part to spread the word. “We’ve got some world-class paddlers who are going to race next year,” he said. “I personally thought it was the best thought out, well-planned race I’ve ever been in.”

It was one of the hottest, as well. Alabama recorded record-high heats for many of the race days, and Johnson felt the effects. “The first eight miles of that race to the first portage, I overheated and got heat exhaustion and couldn’t paddle,” he said. “At five or six miles in, my mouth was dry, and my arms were like lead. Everybody went past me, and it took me 500 miles to catch Salli.”

Along the way, he had plenty of time to enjoy the solitude, the views and the wildlife. “I felt like I was in a saltwater aquarium there were so many fish jumping in front of my boat,” he said. As he got closer to the Delta area, the fish gave way to alligators. “I saw them one after another after another after another,” he said.

Despite the mental and physical exhaustion, Johnson said he never thought about giving up. “I have an 8-year-old daughter, and I would never come back to her and say that I quit,” he said. “You’ll never know anything about yourself if you quit. If you don’t push through that wall of misery or pain, you’ll never know what you can actually achieve. Our human bodies are only stopped by our minds, that’s it.”

Link to map of course: alabamascenicrivertrail.com/uploadedFiles/File/Alabama_360_Map_Guide_Book_with_Portages_7-25-19.pdf

Wake Surfing Logan Martin

Rock & Rolling, high flying, surfer judge hits the waves

Story by Carol Pappas
Photos by Graham Hadley

Most weekdays, you’ll find him donning a black robe, gavel in hand, poised to rule in a court case. In those somber surroundings, it’s difficult to imagine what the judge might do for a little R&R.

But after the day’s work is complete, it’s as if Superman has just stepped into that iconic phone booth. He transforms into one rockin’ and rollin,’ high flyin,’ lake surfin,’ incredibly cool dude.

Pick your passion. St. Clair County District Judge Alan Furr does, although you’re never quite sure which one it will be.

Electric guitar in hand, that’s him on a Saturday night, a natural at leading the band, The Wingnuts. The band got its start in an airplane hangar in 2010, its members mostly pilots, including Furr. Since then, they’ve built quite a following, playing oldies and Rock & Roll for audiences across the region.

That might be enough to keep most busy, but not Furr. He’s made the cockpit selfie with wife Sandra locally famous on Facebook. It’s not uncommon to see the Furr’s take to the skies for short hops and long treks.

His newest past-time adventure puts him and Sandra out on their beloved Logan Martin Lake, a stone’s throw from their home on Cropwell Creek. They’re not quite hanging 10, they admit, but to them, it’s close. At 60-something, they’re nothing short of inspiring with their wake surfing prowess.

“Sandra and I bought our first board and started learning to wake surf around 2010, but we didn’t have a good surf boat, so the learning was difficult,” Furr said. “Consequently, we both primarily stayed with slalom skiing, and I also rode a wakeboard. Now that we are in our mid-60s, we figured we needed to concentrate on a ‘milder’ form of water sport.”

In 2015, they bought a MasterCraft NXT20, which is designed for wake surfing.  “So, for the past couple of years we’ve been surfing on Logan Martin,” he said. It requires a boat that is set up with a “surf system” and ballast, a wake-surf board, and “the willingness to give it a try.”

How it works

So what does it take to wake surf? When a boat moves through the water, it creates a wake. When the hull of the boat displaces the water, it goes back to where it previously was.

That constant flow of water creates a constant wave, and the surfer trails behind the boat on its wake without actually being pulled by the boat.

You get up on the wake with a special board and tow rope, similar to skiing, but that’s where the similarity stops. When the rope gives some slack, it’s time to drop the rope and go wake surfin’ with the Furrs.

Let’s go surFin’ now…

Sandra goes first. With the board parallel, and her heels atop the side, she waits for the start. He throttles the boat, and up she pops, giving a twist and allowing the board to get perpendicular with the back of the boat.

Once the driver tightens the rope and gives it a little bit of throttle, the water behind the board pushes the board up, and you just stand up.

Only a few feet behind the boat, she concentrates on the wake, her balance and finding the “sweet spot.”

“You’re trying to get a speed on the board that matches the speed of the boat,” Furr explains. “You find that sweet spot that matches the speed with the boat.”

“And when you can feel it,” Sandra adds, “you can actually feel the wave pushing you. It’s the coolest feeling, and when you feel it, you know it.”

She hits the sweet spot, and she drops the rope. Then, it’s like watching the old Beach Boys tune, Surfin’ Safari, in motion.

Everybody’s learning how…

Before getting a special boat, “we fooled around for a year or two,” learning what to do, Furr said. “We could get up and hold the rope, but we couldn’t get slack. This boat is what really made the difference, and also that board.”

They transitioned to the new boat, and that’s when it all started coming together for them. “I always thought I’d like to surf, but this is as close as I’ll ever get to it,” he said.

He went a step further, pointing out the benefits of his brand of surfing. “First, there are no sharks.” In ocean surfing, you must swim out on your board. “With this one, you just start the motor.”

The Furrs haven’t tried those fancy moves yet, like the Fire Hydrant and 360s, but there are plenty on Logan Martin who do, he said.

To which, Sandra quickly retorted, “Yeah, but they’re not 63 and 64.”  For the time being the Furr’s will stick to “carving” the wake, although conquering the 360 is on their bucket list.

“A lot of people are getting into it. We just chose it because we’re getting older and wanted something to do – a little more low impact,” Furr said.

“There are several wake surfers here in Cropwell Creek,” he added, “and I’m sure there are many all over the lake. We are by no means the best…but we’re probably the oldest.”

Joy Varnell

Capturing the living
moment on her canvas

Story by Elaine Hobson Miller
Photos by Mike Callahan
Submitted photos

One night, artist Joy Varnell was up late watching television when she stumbled upon a show about beach weddings. As the camera panned the California venue, she spotted an artist among the guests, paint brush in hand and canvas on easel. Intrigued, she recorded the show, then played it several more times. Realizing he was painting the wedding scene, she said to herself, “I think I can do that.”

The problem was, she didn’t know how to get started.

That issue was soon resolved when she walked into the home of a friend/client and spotted a wedding invitation on her kitchen counter. “The client mentioned that she wanted to give the wedding couple something unique, and I suggested that I go to the wedding and paint a picture,” Joy said. “She agreed, and when I got back to my car, I thought, ‘What have I done?’ ”

What she did was create a new twist in her artistic career, one that eventually caused her to dump her day job and paint 40 hours a week. She attends weddings and receptions, capturing special moments on canvas. After eight years, that twist has resulted in more than 300 paintings, taken her and her husband all over the United States, and made a lot of brides happy.

Joy started drawing as a child and painting as a teenager. She studied interior designat Southern Institute (which later became Phillips College) and worked as a kitchen designer for 16 years before striking out on her own to do interior design and faux finishes — a lot of faux finishes.

During all those years, she was painting in her spare time and selling her work. Her husband, Tim, kept encouraging her to spend more hours at her easel. Then came that first wedding, a huge event at the Birmingham Museum of Art. She painted the bridal couple descending the stairs for the reception, and in a newspaper article about the wedding, the bridegroom mentioned that her painting was his favorite gift. From there, her new venture took wings.

“This got bigger and bigger and just took over, and I quit doing interior design,” she said. The transition from landscapes, pet portraits and still life to painting people was a struggle at first, but Joy has a knack for looking at something and being able to paint it. Soon, she was painting weekdays and attending one or two weddings on the weekends. Now, it’s a full-time business. “I did 48 paintings in 2018,” said Joy, who calls herself a “live-event artist.”

Her modus operandi is to show up about three hours before the event, usually wearing a black dress or pants, to start painting the background. “The vendors usually dress in black, so I do, too,” she explained. The most popular request is to capture the bride and groom’s first dance, so she usually sets up at the reception. When the guests come in, she’s ready to paint them into the scene. When the wedding couple appears, she adds them to the painting.

She tries to get a good likeness of the bride and groom, but not the people in the background. Most of them can be recognized by what they’re wearing. She uses the term, “most,” but brides and their mothers are much more specific than that. “The details of the people in the painting are amazing,” said Pamela Rhodes, mother of a bride who married in Addis, Louisiana. “Joy painted my daughter and son-in-law’s first dance as husband and wife (Peyton and Sean Forestier). We are able to identify every person painted, even the guy singing on the stage (my brother-in-law).”

“The Creator of the Universe certainly shines through Joy’s hand,” gushed Jurrita Williams Louie of Dallas, Texas, who got married in Tuscaloosa, her and her husband’s hometown. “She captured our first dance as Mr. and Mrs. Calvin Louie as if God came down from heaven to earth to do it. I can’t quite get over the detail and thoughtfulness with each stroke.”

Joy’s medium is acrylicsbecause they have no odor and dry quickly. “I have to work very fast, so at least the couple can see themselves before they leave,” she said. “People come up and say, ‘It looks just like them,’ as if they are surprised. Well, that’s the point.” As for mistakes, she just paints over them.

At the time she started, she found only four artists doing what she does. Three were in California, one in New York. There are many more now, but she believes the examples on her website, joyvarnellart.com, and her willingness to travel make her stand out. Her new business has taken her to California, New York, Indiana, Florida, Louisiana and along the Gulf Coast, Georgia and up and down the East Coast as well.

“I average about 12-15 weddings around the New Orleans area and south Louisiana each year,” she said. One such event took place at the restored art deco Lakefront Airport terminal in New Orleans. “It was my daughter, Celeste’s, wedding to Don Jude,” said Claudine Hope’Perret. “It was their first dance, and the painting shows amazing work and detail, even down to their lit-up tennis shoes.”

No one has ever expressed a dislike of her paintings, though she did have a girl ask her to re-do the groom’s hair once. “I strive very hard to get what they want,” she said.

Tim, who is retired from the Norfolk Southern Railroad, goes to the weddings with Joy and does most of the driving. Anything over 500 miles, they fly. He packs up her paints and tools at home, unpacks and sets up at the venue, then repacks. “He calls himself my roadie,” she said. “He’s my public relations man, too. He mingles.”

Some of the brides are nervous, and others just very excited and enjoying their day. The grooms are always nervous, and usually say, “Where do you want me?” Kids just stand and stare.

The most common request she gets while painting is, “Will you take 10 (or 20) pounds off me?” That often comes from the mother of the bride. “Sometimes a woman will come up and talk to me because she’s afraid to talk to Joy,” Tim said. “One woman asked if Joy would take off her stomach and give her some boobs.” A man might ask her to cover a bald spot.

Sometimes Joy adds details that represent something meaningful to the couple. Once, she painted a map rolled out to represent a treasure hunt, because that’s how the groom led the bride to her ring and his proposal. She has painted favorite dogs, relatives who couldn’t attend, even dead relatives into the paintings. She has put cats in, too. “Very often the venue will have one, and I’ll paint it peeping through a window,” she said. Occasionally she’ll give the bride a brush and let her paint a few strokes of her own.

She has painted outdoors in all types of weather, from 35-degree temperatures on New Year’s Eve to 95-degrees in the sun. She prefers the reception to the ceremony because it’s less structured, and she gets to interact with the people. “That’s part of what makes it fun,” she said.

One of her most memorable events was a Hindu wedding in Indiana. The bride wanted her to paint the Seven Vows, but she didn’t know what they were or where they occurred in the ceremony, which was four hours long. She kept asking people, and no one seemed to know. Parts of the ceremony were in English, parts in Hindi, and it turned out that the Seven Vows were at the end. Tim found out and clued her in.

An outdoor wedding in Biloxi,Mississippi, was notable because a storm came up and sent many guests inside. The bridal party remained outside, and at the end of ceremony, the couple was framed by a rainbow.

There was one in Fort Deposit they’ll never forget, either, but for a very different reason. “When we got out of the car there, we realized we had left my paints at home,” Joy recalled. They carry an emergency set, which has been upgraded as a result of that trip.

She hates having to tell people she is already booked for their special date, and has painted two events in one day, as much as 90 miles apart. One time, she got two separate bookings for the same wedding, at Aldridge Gardens in Hoover. “The bride’s mother had contacted me and asked for a painting of the couple’s first dance,” she said. “Then I got another request for the same wedding. The bride wanted one of the father-daughter dance to give to her parents. Neither knew about the other’s request.” She had two canvases on her easel throughout the reception and kept swapping them back and forth so neither party would know about the other. The backgrounds were the same. “The bride’s mother began to catch on, but the dad never did,” Joy said. “I presented both paintings at the end.”

Sometimes she finishes a painting on site but brings home most of them so she can apply an art varnish as a protective sealer. Her studio is a sunny 11’ x1 2’ room of her house, with a huge front-facing window. She and Tim have lived in that house on a mountain top in Springville for 12 years, surrounded by rock formations, trees and lots of wildlife. Deer and turkey wander around the property, along with a family of foxes that they feed daily. The house is filled with Joy’s still-life paintings, such as wine bottles so real you want to grab one and pour a drink.

Jessica Silvers Posey of Maryland, who married Aaron Posey in Laurel, Delaware, said Joy painted the most beautiful picture of the couple’s first dance. “The details are phenomenal,” she said. “I relive that moment every time I look at the painting. Everyone who walks past this painting in our house can’t help but stop and stare.”

While mothers, parents, bridesmaids, co-workers and grooms hire her to paint as a gift, most of the time it’s the brides who engage her services.

She offers three standard sizes, 18” x 24”, 24” x 30” and 30” x 36”. Clients may choose something larger but cannot choose whether the finished product will be vertical or horizontal. “I decide that, depending upon the venue and what I want to get in the painting,” Joy said. The largest one she has done was 42” x 48”. Her prices start at $1,000, plus travel expenses if she goes outside the Birmingham Metro area.

Although 99 percent of her business comes from weddings, she has painted at Christmas parties, company anniversaries and fundraisers. One of her corporate events was the opening of Nick Saban’s Mercedes-Benz dealership on I-459. And yes, the coach was there.

Even though she doesn’t normally turn down an event unless she is already booked, she did refuse to paint at one recent wedding. Her own daughter was the bride, the wedding took place at Joy and Tim’s house, and Joy wanted to relax as much as possible and enjoy it.

“I will paint it later from photographs,” she said.

“This got bigger and bigger and just took over, and I quit doing interior design,” she said. The transition from landscapes, pet portraits and still life to painting people was a struggle at first, but Joy has a knack for looking at something and being able to paint it. Soon, she was painting weekdays and attending one or two weddings on the weekends. Now, it’s a full-time business. “I did 48 paintings in 2018,” said Joy, who calls herself a “live-event artist.”

Her modus operandi is to show up about three hours before the event, usually wearing a black dress or pants, to start painting the background. “The vendors usually dress in black, so I do, too,” she explained. The most popular request is to capture the bride and groom’s first dance, so she usually sets up at the reception. When the guests come in, she’s ready to paint them into the scene. When the wedding couple appears, she adds them to the painting.

She tries to get a good likeness of the bride and groom, but not the people in the background. Most of them can be recognized by what they’re wearing. She uses the term, “most,” but brides and their mothers are much more specific than that. “The details of the people in the painting are amazing,” said Pamela Rhodes, mother of a bride who married in Addis, Louisiana. “Joy painted my daughter and son-in-law’s first dance as husband and wife (Peyton and Sean Forestier). We are able to identify every person painted, even the guy singing on the stage (my brother-in-law).”

“The Creator of the Universe certainly shines through Joy’s hand,” gushed Jurrita Williams Louie of Dallas, Texas, who got married in Tuscaloosa, her and her husband’s hometown. “She captured our first dance as Mr. and Mrs. Calvin Louie as if God came down from heaven to earth to do it. I can’t quite get over the detail and thoughtfulness with each stroke.”

Joy’s medium is acrylicsbecause they have no odor and dry quickly. “I have to work very fast, so at least the couple can see themselves before they leave,” she said. “People come up and say, ‘It looks just like them,’ as if they are surprised. Well, that’s the point.” As for mistakes, she just paints over them.

At the time she started, she found only four artists doing what she does. Three were in California, one in New York. There are many more now, but she believes the examples on her website, joyvarnellart.com, and her willingness to travel make her stand out. Her new business has taken her to California, New York, Indiana, Florida, Louisiana and along the Gulf Coast, Georgia and up and down the East Coast as well.

“I average about 12-15 weddings around the New Orleans area and south Louisiana each year,” she said. One such event took place at the restored art deco Lakefront Airport terminal in New Orleans. “It was my daughter, Celeste’s, wedding to Don Jude,” said Claudine Hope’Perret. “It was their first dance, and the painting shows amazing work and detail, even down to their lit-up tennis shoes.”

No one has ever expressed a dislike of her paintings, though she did have a girl ask her to re-do the groom’s hair once. “I strive very hard to get what they want,” she said.

Tim, who is retired from the Norfolk Southern Railroad, goes to the weddings with Joy and does most of the driving. Anything over 500 miles, they fly. He packs up her paints and tools at home, unpacks and sets up at the venue, then repacks. “He calls himself my roadie,” she said. “He’s my public relations man, too. He mingles.”

Some of the brides are nervous, and others just very excited and enjoying their day. The grooms are always nervous, and usually say, “Where do you want me?” Kids just stand and stare.

The most common request she gets while painting is, “Will you take 10 (or 20) pounds off me?” That often comes from the mother of the bride. “Sometimes a woman will come up and talk to me because she’s afraid to talk to Joy,” Tim said. “One woman asked if Joy would take off her stomach and give her some boobs.” A man might ask her to cover a bald spot.

Sometimes Joy adds details that represent something meaningful to the couple. Once, she painted a map rolled out to represent a treasure hunt, because that’s how the groom led the bride to her ring and his proposal. She has painted favorite dogs, relatives who couldn’t attend, even dead relatives into the paintings. She has put cats in, too. “Very often the venue will have one, and I’ll paint it peeping through a window,” she said. Occasionally she’ll give the bride a brush and let her paint a few strokes of her own.

She has painted outdoors in all types of weather, from 35-degree temperatures on New Year’s Eve to 95-degrees in the sun. She prefers the reception to the ceremony because it’s less structured, and she gets to interact with the people. “That’s part of what makes it fun,” she said.

One of her most memorable events was a Hindu wedding in Indiana. The bride wanted her to paint the Seven Vows, but she didn’t know what they were or where they occurred in the ceremony, which was four hours long. She kept asking people, and no one seemed to know. Parts of the ceremony were in English, parts in Hindi, and it turned out that the Seven Vows were at the end. Tim found out and clued her in.

An outdoor wedding in Biloxi,Mississippi, was notable because a storm came up and sent many guests inside. The bridal party remained outside, and at the end of ceremony, the couple was framed by a rainbow.

There was one in Fort Deposit they’ll never forget, either, but for a very different reason. “When we got out of the car there, we realized we had left my paints at home,” Joy recalled. They carry an emergency set, which has been upgraded as a result of that trip.

She hates having to tell people she is already booked for their special date, and has painted two events in one day, as much as 90 miles apart. One time, she got two separate bookings for the same wedding, at Aldridge Gardens in Hoover. “The bride’s mother had contacted me and asked for a painting of the couple’s first dance,” she said. “Then I got another request for the same wedding. The bride wanted one of the father-daughter dance to give to her parents. Neither knew about the other’s request.” She had two canvases on her easel throughout the reception and kept swapping them back and forth so neither party would know about the other. The backgrounds were the same. “The bride’s mother began to catch on, but the dad never did,” Joy said. “I presented both paintings at the end.”

Sometimes she finishes a painting on site but brings home most of them so she can apply an art varnish as a protective sealer. Her studio is a sunny 11’ x1 2’ room of her house, with a huge front-facing window. She and Tim have lived in that house on a mountain top in Springville for 12 years, surrounded by rock formations, trees and lots of wildlife. Deer and turkey wander around the property, along with a family of foxes that they feed daily. The house is filled with Joy’s still-life paintings, such as wine bottles so real you want to grab one and pour a drink.

Jessica Silvers Posey of Maryland, who married Aaron Posey in Laurel, Delaware, said Joy painted the most beautiful picture of the couple’s first dance. “The details are phenomenal,” she said. “I relive that moment every time I look at the painting. Everyone who walks past this painting in our house can’t help but stop and stare.”

While mothers, parents, bridesmaids, co-workers and grooms hire her to paint as a gift, most of the time it’s the brides who engage her services.

She offers three standard sizes, 18” x 24”, 24” x 30” and 30” x 36”. Clients may choose something larger but cannot choose whether the finished product will be vertical or horizontal. “I decide that, depending upon the venue and what I want to get in the painting,” Joy said. The largest one she has done was 42” x 48”. Her prices start at $1,000, plus travel expenses if she goes outside the Birmingham Metro area.

Although 99 percent of her business comes from weddings, she has painted at Christmas parties, company anniversaries and fundraisers. One of her corporate events was the opening of Nick Saban’s Mercedes-Benz dealership on I-459. And yes, the coach was there.

Even though she doesn’t normally turn down an event unless she is already booked, she did refuse to paint at one recent wedding. Her own daughter was the bride, the wedding took place at Joy and Tim’s house, and Joy wanted to relax as much as possible and enjoy it. “I will paint it later from photographs,” she said.

Honda Manufacturing

Impact on state and St. Clair
continues upward climb

Story and Photos by Carol Pappas
Photos contributed from Honda

Its Alabama beginnings came in a code word: “Bingo.” That was the name of the secret project that brought five counties together in an unparalleled partnership to locate Honda Manufacturing of Alabama in the tiny town of Lincoln.

While the leaders of any one of those counties would have celebrated its location within their own borders, they realized the potential impact on the entire region – their constituencies readily included.

So, they went to work to lure the Japanese automobile manufacturer to a land where ‘y’all’ eventually became ‘us.’ And 20 years later, that impact those counties dreamed of is unmistakably real.

In a five-county ‘thank you’ tour of Calhoun, Etowah, Jefferson, St. Clair and Talladega counties, Honda Manufacturing of Alabama and the Economic Development Partnership of Alabama unveiled the latest economic impact results from the plant itself and its Key Tier 1 Suppliers.

By the numbers, that’s a $12 billion annual economic impact on Alabama, providing 45,000 jobs and amounting to 5.4 percent of the Gross State Product of Alabama.

How does that stack up in St. Clair County? Just add it up: 2,069 total jobs generated; $145.4 million in total earnings and $2.8 million in local sales taxes.

“There is no doubt about Honda’s impact on St. Clair County,” said St. Clair Economic Development Council Executive Director Don Smith. He points to real life examples, like the Honda suppliers who have expanded – and expanded again.

“The Honda location has been an incredible project for this area but not just in the thousands of high paying jobs or the billions in economic impact,” Smith added.  “The project brought the communities in this region together and showed the impact of regional cooperation. The success of this project helped provide the leaders in St. Clair County the blueprint for the EDC on communities working together countywide for the benefit of all their citizens.  It’s been a great success story.”

The employment figures underscore the successes felt in St. Clair County. Honda employs more than 600 St. Clair Countians, making it the largest employer in the county that isn’t actually located in the county.

Jason Goodgame, vice president of Goodgame Co., tells his own real-life example. Goodgame Co. is now in the top 20 of largest general contractors in Alabama. He once likened it to the centerpiece of a commercial for Honda. “Honda took a small, family-owned company and made us into what we are today.”

Similar success stories have played out all over the region and state, said Steve Sewell, executive vice president of EDPA, who worked with efforts to bring Honda to Alabama from the beginning.

Projections back then versus reality now:

6,800 jobs projected statewide – 45,000 actual jobs created so far

$186 million payroll projected – $1.3 billion in actual earnings to Alabama households

$2.1 billion direct and indirect impact income – $12 billion actual impact

Bringing the numbers closer to home, Sewell cited projections versus reality for St. Clair County:

760 jobs forecast – more than 2,000 filled

$5.9 million in earnings predicted – more than $145 million earned

$164,000 expected in new tax revenue – more than $2.8 million collected

Eighteen years after production began, Sewell said, “It has been a phenomenal success story beyond anyone’s expectations.”

Namaste

Goat Yoga more than just a craze for Springville couple and their farm

Story by Carol Pappas

Photos by Kelsey Bain

Make the turn off Springville’s Shanghai Road into CareDan Farm and it’s as if you have entered a magical world where animals rule, and the rest of us are lucky enough to be part if it – if only for a day.

The gang’s all there: Nigerian Dwarf goats Charlotte, Rose, Rosebud, twins Spur and Kid Rock and two new babies, Peanut and Cashew. There’s Rooster and Daisy, the horses, of course, and a lovable pig named Pancake. Talk about free range, the chickens meander around these parts to their hearts’ content while ducks splash playfully in a nearby puddle.

It’s just another day at the farm for them, but for those arriving by the carload, it’s an experience they won’t soon forget.

And that’s precisely the point, say Danny and Caren Davidson, who open up their Springville farm to young and old, friends, family and strangers from near and far, curious about a thing called goat yoga.

“It’s fun when people come out and do things they don’t typically do,” says Caren, who calls their fledgling business, My Farm Day, the perfect moniker, adds Danny. “Whether it’s fishing, riding horses, playing with the goats, we wanted people to have a ‘my farm day’ for them.”

Their first venture in providing that personalized farm experience is a craze sweeping the country, goat yoga. And on a summer Saturday morning, the rain didn’t seem to dampen the spirit of the day. Quite the opposite. Guests headed to the barn for shelter, where yoga mats and a menagerie of four-legged hosts awaited.

Certified yoga instructor Nancy Hunter of Springville explains her foray into today’s goat variety of this ancient practice. Caren had seen a post on Facebook about Nancy’s Yoga classes in Springville and at her studio in Oneonta.

Caren called and asked if she would be interested in teaching Yoga with goats, and Nancy said ‘Yes, I’m game. I’ll try it.’

“Caren is so amazing,” Nancy says. “These are her children,” she adds, motioning to the goats – old and new – the horses nearby, the baby chicks just introduced into the class (much to the delight of its students) and a host of other animals making up the zoo-like atmosphere.

In the beginning …

 It wasn’t always like this – a farm couple just working and sharing the land. They were from the big city.

But her grandparents had a farm in Tennessee when she was growing up. “I fell in love with the farm and the animals.” Charlotte, one of the goats, is named for her grandmother.

Danny and Caren grew up in Vestavia Hills and graduated from Vestavia High, dated at Ole Miss and married.

He served in the Army in San Antonio for a few years, and they moved back to Alabama when he finished service.

They bought property across from Matthews Manor and lived there for nine years in Argo. “I love to be outdoors,” Caren says. “He loves to build stuff. We moved in with some dogs and within a year, we added horses and a couple of more dogs. Our dream was more land and more animals.”

They found what they were looking for – the house with 69 acres bordering Little Canoe Creek – in Springville. “When we pulled in the driveway, four chicks came running out to meet us,” Caren recalls. “I thought, ‘I’m sold. This is awesome.’”

“We bought a tractor and few other things, and that’s how we got here.”

By day, Danny is about to begin a new job teaching Algebra at Moody High School. Caren is director of human resources at a Birmingham law firm.

“Because we grew up in the city, we didn’t know much about farm life. Fortunately, we’ve had some great neighbors and friends who have taught us a lot about barn and fence building, drainage, pond maintenance, etc.,” Caren explains. 

“What we didn’t learn from them, we learned from books or YouTube. Our master shower is frequently turned into an infirmary for injured chickens and ducks. We continue to learn most everything the hard way, but because it’s just the two of us, we have a lot of fun living the ‘farm life,’ which is a big departure from our ‘regular life.’” 

The Davidsons don’t have children, but they have a very close family with lots of cousins, nieces, nephews who enjoy ‘Farm Days’ at Uncle Danny and Aunt Caren’s farm, hence the name, CareDan Farm. “Farm Days,” she says, “consist of riding horses, playing in the creek, fishing, gathering eggs from the coop, riding 4-wheelers, Gator rides, canoeing, hitting floating golf balls into the pond and whatever other activities Danny dreams up. Evenings on the farm generally involve more fishing, campfires, watching football and listening to music on the back porch.”

On the farm, Danny’s job at first was that of goat wrangler. He is self-proclaimed “head goat wrangler,” and has a name tag to prove it.

He’s the one always bringing home the goats. She’s more practical. The night before this class, he brought home two more without telling her. But she couldn’t resist, it was easy to see, as she held them like babies, bottle fed them and sported a never-ending smile as they frolicked among the yoga guests in the barn.

The driving force

The genesis of this day, where smiles, laughter and squeals of excitement are quickly becoming tradition, came from an unlikely source – a tragedy involving Caren’s father, Dr. Cary Petry. He had suffered from depression and anxiety for years and sadly took his own life in 2017.

“The couple of years leading up to that event were quite stressful, as I tried to provide my dad with encouragement, support and different treatment options. After his death, I found myself just going through the motions most weeks. I’d spend all my energy during the week trying to do my job, and I’d use the weekends on our farm for quiet time in hopes of recharging for the next week. Being outdoors, surrounded by all of God’s amazing creations, was the medicine I needed, but it was still just a repetitious cycle week after week.”  

On a Sunday morning a year ago, her mother called as Danny and Caren were walking out the door to church. “She told me to turn on the news because there was a story coming on about a lady in Oregon who held goat yoga classes on her farm. I watched the story and couldn’t stop thinking about the satisfaction she had gained by sharing her farm and love for goats with others. I wondered if I could regain some happiness, and perhaps help others, by sharing my farm and animals with others.”  

When she took the next step and called Nancy, “Surprisingly, Nancy had actually participated in a goat yoga class and was eager to try teaching one. So, for my 46th birthday, I invited a few close friends and family to attend a goat yoga birthday party at the farm. I figured they wouldn’t turn me down since it was my birthday. I had never done yoga before, but I was excited to combine so many things I love into one activity – friends, family, animals, outdoors and some much-needed exercise.

“The goats kept escaping the temporary fence we had hastily put up and didn’t seem too interested in the yoga, but it was fun nonetheless.”

They experimented with two more classes that fall before deciding to get serious about it. “Well, as serious as you can get about goat yoga,” Caren adds. “I felt like goat yoga was the perfect way for me to share our farm with other people who may be in need of some laughter and a break from their stressful lives.”  

Where there’s a will …

“In January 2019, our two goat mommas, Charlotte and Rose, had three kids: Spur, Kid Rock and Rosebud. And in March, My Farm Day hosted its first official goat yoga class with our five goats.  Since then, we’ve had classes nearly every Saturday morning.”  Classes are limited to 12 people because the goat to human ratio is critical to participant’s enjoyment of the activity.  

With the emotions of her father’s passing still fresh, “I got excited about it. It was something we could focus on and find a way to let other people enjoy the farm. It’s a different concept. It’s silly. It lets you forget about all your troubles for a while. Life is tough. If you can take a few minutes to do something you don’t always do, that’s fun.”

She talks of mental health issues as an epidemic facing the country and sees the farm as a means of coping. “It’s hard to get the help you need. I want to help people laugh. That makes me happy.”

The years leading up to her father’s death “were really rough for us. Every weekend, I would be here and recharge. It made me feel better to be with the animals.”

Her father was an animal lover and when he was at the farm with his dog, Rowdy, his rare smile would appear and is a memory she savors. It is also a memory that sparked the adventure Caren and Danny are now on. And Rowdy now acts as greeter, escorting guests up and down the drive.

What’s in a name

They decided to name the business “My Farm Day” with the idea that “everyone needed ‘their’ day on the farm, just like when we had family out for impromptu farm days. We figured we’d start My Farm Day with a little goat yoga, and maybe later, expand it to include other activities like fly-fishing lessons, barnyard parties, etc.,” she explains. 

Goat yoga is the first real leg of that journey. And so far, the reviews have visitors coming back for more.

As the class gets under way on this particular Saturday, Caren and Danny place the newest baby goats on the backs of the participants who could hardly stifle non-stop giggles with the little ones prancing around, eventually leaping off as if the back were a high dive.

The newest goat crew will make their debut in yoga class in a few months. They are partial to crawling atop a human back or two or across their stomach as they lie motionless except for the full body stretch they are attempting.

“The older goats now are like teenagers. They have a mind of their own,” Danny said as the older goats wandered around the yoga class, going underneath, over and around outstretched bodies, occasionally pausing for a snack of hedges and vines nearby. Most did manage a snuggle or two with their human guests, enticing more than a few pets, hugs and rubs behind the ear from them.

One family arrived as part of a surprise for Jimmy Waldrop for Father’s Day. “He loves goats, but we live in the city limits (of Hueytown), and we can’t have them,” said Waldrop’s wife, Dana. He had mentioned he wanted to start yoga, and when she saw My Farm Day’s goat yoga, “it was perfect.”

Waldrop, a nurse at UAB, enjoyed his Father’s Day surprise outing. “I like getting out in a farm atmosphere, and I like goats. I don’t know why, I just do.”

Lana Clayton of Ashville is a return guest. “I fell in love with it, and I came back again and again.”

Farm living is the life for them

“Danny and I have had so much fun and met so many wonderful people during goat yoga classes.  We love it because it allows us to spend time outdoors together, with our animals, while sharing our love of nature with others,” Caren concludes. 

“People who don’t typically interact with farm animals, get a small dose of farm life, while getting in some terrific stretching and exercise. Nancy loves teaching the class because it introduces yoga to people who may not otherwise try a yoga class in a traditional setting.”  

Participants are encouraged to laugh and take pictures throughout class. “As we say, ‘It’s a little bit of yoga and a whole lot of goat.’” 

After class Caren and Danny help people pose for pictures with the goats. “Sometimes we have chickens join the class, and our pig, Pancake, has been known to shove her way in to the ‘yoga studio’ for a little attention. Every class is different, so it’s fun ‘work’ for us.”

Underneath a sign that appropriately says, Attitude is everything. Pick a good one, a table of wares displays Caren-designed goat yoga t-shirts and hats. Even the fresh eggs they sell have their own stamp on it – Laid With Love – a creation by Danny.

 “But it’s not about making money,” Caren says, “it’s about giving people an experience that’s a break from ‘normal’ life.” As one participant told her, “I found today that baby goats are the cure for nearly anything.”

So, what’s next for this farm-loving, farm-sharing couple? “It is our goal to later, when we retire, use our farm in ways to help people who are hurting,” Caren said. “Goat yoga is just our first baby step.”  

Editor’s note: More information about the farm and goat yoga is at myfarmday.com.

How a St. Clair faux cabin began a real home

Reclaim, repurpose, reuse

Story by Elaine Hobson Miller

Photos by Wallace Bromberg Jr.

Rodney Tucker and Billy Connelly wanted a relaxing retreat, a place to get away from the hustle and bustle of downtown Birmingham and their high-pressure jobs at UAB Hospital. In all the years they have been together, they have never built something new, but always renovated. When an internet search turned up a small 1980s cabin at the end of its own cul-de-sac in Odenville a few years ago, they didn’t waste any time taking a look.

What they found was a 900-square-foot box with a wrap-around porch, a stick-built house masquerading as a cabin by hiding under log siding. What they saw was potential.

“It ended up being a total redo,” says Tucker. “Our contractor, James Wyatt (Wyatt Construction), took it down to the studs. We extended it a little bit and enclosed some areas of the porch.”

“Extended it a little bit” meant adding 700 square feet. Wyatt removed all but one interior wall, pushed a couple of outside walls a little further out, enclosed parts of the porch to create an entry hall at the front and a gallery at the back, and added a large, asymmetrical screened porch on one side. What was once a two-bedroom house with two tiny bathrooms now has a large master bedroom and two guest rooms, two large baths, a laundry room and the aforementioned gallery and entry hall. As for the log siding, he replaced that with a fiber cement siding.

“Farmhouse chic” best describes the Tucker-Connelly house today. It’s filled with doors, furniture and decor fashioned from repurposed wood and metal. Most of the furniture was made by Stray Cats of Birmingham, while all the built-ins, such as the kitchen cabinets, were built by Joe Dickert of Big Rock Cabinets in Springville. Working with architect Bob Burns, Tucker, a palliative care physician, designed the “new” 1600-square-foot house (plus porches).

The section of the porch that formerly spanned the front of the house is now divided into anentryway with separate porches on either side. To the left and right of the entrance are the only two sections of the original porch that weren’t screened, glassed or incorporated into the house. On the left is the “cantina,” an outdoor overflow space for guests when the larger, asymmetrical screened porch gets crowded. The cantina is so named because its two tables have tops made from old tin Corona beer signs. A vintage, functional, circular Old Crown Beer thermometer hangs in the cantina area.

James Wyatt removed a wall to open up the living-dining area, turning it into one large room. The living room portion has a coffee table, credenza and end table made from reclaimed wood pallets. An Arthur Price oil painting of an old log cabin hangs on one of the walls.

“We replaced the dilapidated fireplace with Bessemer gray brick, and the new oak mantel is from an old mission-style house in Chattanooga,” Tucker says. “Only the leather sofa and love seat in here are new.”

Stray Cats made the 3.5 x 8-foot kitchen island, topping it with zinc-coated stainless steel. The cabinets are a dark-stained oak, while the all-electric appliances include a double wall-oven, a glass stove top and a French-door refrigerator with four drawers. Tucker and Connelly chose quartz countertops because they look like marble. “We would have preferred marble, but it stains easily,” Connelly says.

Tucked into one end of the kitchen, opposite the refrigerator and ovens, is Tucker’s pride and joy: a bar. Its tin ceiling came from the roof of an old Victorian house in North Carolina, while its chandelier used to hang in Rodney’s parents’ house in Gadsden.

Underneath the countertop are a wine or beverage cooler and an ice maker. The shelves over the bar house Tucker’s collection of about 1,000 pieces of barware, including wine and cocktail glasses, cocktail and martini shakers. The etched ship decanters probably belonged to sea captains at one time. “We have enough shakers to allow each guest to make his own drink, if we weren’t concerned with breakage,” Tucker says.

On a narrow, inset wall between the bar and the living room is a vintage slot machine perched atop a church pedestal that looks like a pastor’s lectern. “Oh, the irony,” Tucker says.

At the back of the house, behind the kitchen, is the gallery that Wyatt fashioned by enclosing that portion of the wrap-around porch. Tucker and Connelly refer to it as a gallery because that’s where much of their extensive pottery collection is housed. Displayed in a Dutch mission-style cabinet, it includes creamware and pieces by Weller and by Roseville.

A king headboard of repurposed bead-board dominates the master bedroom, but also notable are the side tables and a chest of drawers made of recycled tin ceiling tiles and a mission-style chair and desk. The banjo propped in one corner belonged to Tucker’s grandfather. That bathroom has new floor tiles that look like old, gray wood. The vanity is made of repurposed wood, too. The walls of the shower are a wider version of the bedroom’s floor tiles, while river rock covers the shower floor.

“We tried to keep everything neutral — earth tones — gray, brown, white beige — so the house would blend with its surroundings out here,” Tucker says. “We have some pops of sage green here and there, and the exterior walls are sage green, too. We wanted the house to be natural and complement the landscape. A modern glass and metal structure would be out of place here.”

On the opposite side of the living room and kitchen from the master suite, Wyatt restructured the original bedroom, bumped its wall out a bit and fashioned two smaller guest rooms, a short hallway to connect them, a large bathroom and a laundry room.

One guest room is dubbed The Hillbilly/Cowboy Room. There’s a large, predominantly red, pop-art, mixed-media piece of a vintage cowgirl on one wall, an equally colorful guitar in one corner, and a lamp that has a base of a moonshine jug with the moonshiner holding on for dear life (Mountain Boy Pottery out of Ohio). 

Then, there is the collection of figurines — animals, hillbillies, outhouses, jugs, etc. — from the 1940s and ’50s in a nearby cabinet. Hanging rather incongruously in one corner because nothing else would fit there is a Catholic icon. The upper portion depicts Mary and Jesus, while a drop-down, hinged door beneath them would have been used for incense and candles in a good Catholic’s home.

The pack sled from Switzerland was used as the headboard for that room’s bed at one time, but now stands against a wall, next to a pair of wooden skis from Germany. The credenza and end table in that room were manufactured in Bali from wood reclaimed from boats. “Jamey (James Wyatt) bumped out one wall in here to make a window seat,” says Connelly, who is vice president of ambulatory services at The Kirklin Clinic of UAB Hospital. “This is where my mom often sits to quilt when she comes up.”

Down the hall, the bathroom doors once opened the entry to a surgery room at an old hospital in Decatur. “They were hospital green, but we sanded them down and applied wood sealer,” says Tucker.  “Jamey spent a lot of time getting them to hang evenly and roll smoothly.”  The vanity is one of the few manufactured pieces in the house, but Stray Cats made the mirror. The floor is the same type of tile as in the master bath, but in a different color. What appears to be a collection of small cigar-box covers on a board that’s covered with a wax sealer is the main art piece in this bath.

At the end of the short hall is another guest room made by enclosing another section of the wrap-around porch. “Jamie got creative and pushed out a section of the side wall to create a one-foot-by-ten-foot alcove that gives the room a little pizzazz,” Tucker says. To save space, Wyatt used pocket doors for the closet in this room. He enclosed another section of the wrap-around porch to create a laundry room off this bedroom.

The quilt on the bed here comes with an interesting background story. Tucker went to an estate sale and found old fabric squares that were newspaper backed, as if someone was preparing to piece a quilt. “One of the newspaper pieces dates to 1938,” Connelly says. “My mom finished the quilt in 2018.” More of the couple’s pottery collection is housed in an antique barber’s cabinet and a mission-style display cabinet.

When the couple throws a party, most guests end up on the large, asymmetrical porch on the left side of the house outside the kitchen-and-bar area. It’s such an inviting room that you just want to sit down and enjoy the breeze or soak up the woodsy atmosphere. Guests have a choice of seating here, including a pew from an old church in Selma that is gone now.

The repurposed theme is obvious in here, too. There’s a sofa table with a wood top made from flooring out of an old school in Georgia. The coffee table is actually a 1922 transfer table from a Boston manufacturing company.

One promontory of the porch features a white hutch made of repurposed wood out of North Carolina. Around the corner, an old Hudson hubcap that probably covered the spare tire on the back of that car hangs over feed-and-seed signs and a coat rack. It’s next to a white repurposed glass-front cabinet that was originally built into an old house. “I bought that cabinet at an antique store,” Tucker says. “I don’t like to refinish the vintage furniture we find. I sand them down and use a clear sealer.” Over that cabinet hangs a Hinman Milkers sign, while an old metal dairy box rests on top of the cabinet. The dairy box bears the name, “Connelly’s Dairy.”

 “We bought that at an antique shop in Atlanta,” Tucker says. “In the early days of home milk delivery, the bottles would go into the metal box, and it would hang from a bicycle. I told Billy I didn’t know his family had a dairy.”

An unusual mirror hangs over the outdoor or porch sink that Connelly uses to wash the dogs and pot his house plants. It is a big dot inside a larger tin circle that was once part of a heater in a chicken house. Speaking of plants, this porch displays succulents, ferns, begonias, ponytail palm, a shrimp plant and not a few coleus.

Wyatt recalls saving only bits and pieces of the house’s original hardwood floors. “I think all we saved were pieces of the living room and master bedroom,” he says. “The kitchen was water damaged a little, had some rotten spots, so we put in a new subfloor there and new hardwood.”

Outside, the swimming pool required a total redo, too. “It had to be torn out and new gunnite poured,” Tucker says. “We also built a pool house that carries through with our unique decor as well.”

Landscaping is Connelly’s bailiwig, with the help of his mother, who visits about once a week. Cone flowers, zinnias, black-eyed Susans, petunias and salvia flank the rock-and-gravel walkway leading to the front door. Nearby are Knock Out roses, French and snowball hydrangeas, camellias, hostas and ferns. Japanese maples thrive throughout the property. “I’ve planted lots of fruit trees and muscadine arbors, lots of native azaleas,” Connelly says. “I’ve made jelly and wine from the muscadines. Gardening is my therapy.”

Exotic animals dot the landscape around the property, too. Four monkeys reside in two separate cages. Another cage houses Patagonian cavies and two kangaroos. A pasture features a zebra, emus, alpacas, horses, ostriches, sheep and goats. “I’ve always had exotic animals of some sort,” says Connelly. “Rodney tolerates them.”

“I love animals, too, but the volume we have is sometimes overwhelming,” Tucker confesses.

“You should see our feed bill,” Connelly adds.

Outdoor multi-level decks on one side of the driveway provide additional relaxation space. “They made this space usable,” Connelly says. “One of them replaced an outdoor dog pen, and another one camouflages the storm shelter under it.”

Security lights line the driveway, which winds past a derelict modular home used for storage, a barn, animal cages and the pasture, where the four-footed creatures are kept. And a fire hydrant.

“We have our own fire hydrant,” Tucker says. “It’s the result of the entire 30-acre property once being zoned for and promoted as a future housing development.”

Although the house renovations were completed about two years ago, the pair really aren’t finished with their retreat project. Ultimately, they would like to build a couple of small, one-room guest cottages.

“This was a large remodeling project, and we worked shoulder-to-shoulder on the design,” James Wyatt says. “I’ve done a lot of those in Mountain Brook and Vestavia, and it was good to do such a high-end remodel right here in St. Clair County.”