Friday, August 29, 2014

Aug 29th - Update from Tennessee

We, Kathy & I, drove back to TN on Wednesday. The only significant event during the drive was that we stopped at the Demo's restaurant in Lebanon, TN for supper. I had the 2nd best steak I've ever eaten. Demo's steaks are always good but the rib eye I had was outstanding. Kathy enjoyed her meal also. She especially likes the Thousand Island dressing at Demo's, she even got a 2nd side salad because she enjoys them so much.

Kathy has been helping Mary Lou some and I've been working on clearing the drive back to Tom & Mary Lou's so that when they sell Wendy's old double wide, someone can get it out. Tom & Dennis, a friend of his from church, had started the project earlier. There is plenty of work to go around. It will take a lot of clearing to get two 14'x70' units back up through the woods to the road.

The weather has been gorgeous! We have run the AC during the day but turn it off in the evening. Overnight lows are in the mid to high 60's. Daytime highs are in the mid 80's. I'd be happy if it were 5-10 degrees cooler, but it ain't bad.

This afternoon we went to the Cumberland County fair, in Crossville. One of my favorite movies is "Doc Hollywood". It is about a young doctor, played by Michael J. Fox, who gets lost and stranded in the rural, southern, small town of Grady. Grady is the ideal small town. I know that Crossville has its problems, you can't read the paper and not know so, but this evening, at the fair, I thought I might be in Grady. It was just a wonderful atmosphere.

I don't know how much work I'm going to do on our cabin this trip. The top fell out of one of our trees, at the edge of our lawn. It fell into the woods. There were 4 trees growing out of the same root system. I cut one of them down the last time I was here. One of the remaining ones leans over the lawn. If it falls it will fall on the motor home. I need to move the motor home and cut it down while I am here. Work on that plus more work on T&ML's drive will probably keep me plenty busy until we head back to MO on the 4th or 5th.

May God bless you and yours.

Saturday, August 16, 2014

August 16th - Update

I haven't posted for a long time so I thought maybe an update was in order. I didn't do much in TN except enjoy myself. I did do a little more work on the kitchen and bought windows for the east wall. Next trip I want to install the windows, finish the kitchen area drywall and have someone tape and mud the ceiling and kitchen drywall.

I temporarily set the kitchen cabinets to get an idea of how they would fit. I unfinished sections of the cabinet exteriors will be covered with panels finished to match the cabinets.



Lydia has no problem with eating. She is really going at this taco.
 
 
And it looks like she really likes this ice cream treat.



Kelsey, Andy, Lydia, Kathy and I went to the Missouri State Fair, in Sedalia earlier this week. It was about the size of the county fairs we used to attend in MI & OH. The weather was beautiful and we had a good time. Lydia had to ride the dragon and her Daddy went with her. Andy is holding her at the entry gate. (Later she and her Mom road the carousel.) Lydia also had a good time at the kids petting zoo and later petting the big pigs in their pens.

One thing that was surprising was that kids who aren't at least 36" tall can't ride any rides, even with an adult. The people operating the dragon and carousel just ignored her height. They have to lose a LOT of money because of this restriction. No doubt it is some type of "help" from the government.

Kathy has been busy canning tomatoes.
 
Todays batch is in the photo below.


I think she now has canned a total of 85 quarts of tomato juice and hooch, plus another 5 quarts of spaghetti sauce.

Grammy needed help with the sauce.


I didn't do much the first few days I was back here. Lately I have been clearing brush and scrub saplings from below the dam. I found enough good wood to fire the boiler for a few days this winter but most of what I cleared I burned in several brush piles. One benefit of the clearing is that I "found" some really nice size oak trees. Once I get more of the brush/saplings cleared away they will be visible from the house. With the "hills" on our property they just didn't stand out before I started clearing around them. I hope that by getting rid of some of the "junk timber" the nice trees will have more access to water and nutrients in the soil.

It has been really dry here. I mowed the lawn yesterday for the first time in about 4 weeks. Recently we have had some rain but when it came it was heavy and a lot of it ran off, rather than soaking in.

Current plan is to head back to TN after Kathy's birthday, on the 22nd.  Sept 15th we spend the night in Kansas City before flying to Cancun, Mexico for a family vacation. Sadly it looks like Drew won't be able to make it. Everyone else plans on being there. Most of us are coming back on the 21st but Doug & Anthony are staying another day or so.

Consider yourselves updated. May God bless you and yours.