Oct 30th - Busy Day

Today was one of my busiest days in TN. Hauled trash to the county dumpster this morning and picked up the chain saw chains Roger had sharpened for me. Then I finished putting up the drywall on the front wall of the cabin.

While doing that I did a load of laundry and hung it out to dry.

Unfortunately I didn't get it hung out in time for it to fully dry before dark.

The good news it that I ran the wire for the dryer. removing the insulation from the wall and drilling holes in the studs was a pain. I temporarily hooked up the dryer and finished drying the clothes in it. Eventually the washer will be located where the dryer is, actually a little further back so that it is fully in the utility closet. The dryer can be stacked directly on the washer but I'm going to build a shelf above the washer and support the dryer on the shelf. With the dryer on the shelf I will be able to pull the washer out from under the dryer to get access to the back of the dryer, for duct and electrical connections.

Doesn't look like much work when writing about it but I am really slow measuring and cutting drywall. I worked until 7PM.

Tomorrow my plan is to re-install all the insulation I removed to run the electrical wire and install some drywall on the exterior wall of the utility room. I'd like to get the shelf built and the washer and dryer in their location before I head back to Missouri.

May God bless you and yours.

Oct 29th - Still in Tennessee

I've been enjoying myself in Tennessee. Since installing the windows I've cut some wood, done some motor home maintenance burned my brush piles and done a little more work in our cabin.

We had a good time over the weekend with Kathy, Kelsey & Lydia being here. They went back to Missouri on Monday.

The weather has been great and the fall colors are magnificent. It did rain last night and misted some this morning but right now, lunchtime, the sun is brilliant.


I cut about 3 small trailer loads of wood from a dead tree that had fallen behind T&ML's campground. Note the trees next to the trailer, you will see them from the other side in a later photo.

I spent most of one day watching the crew move the double wide off Tom & Mary Lou's place.

This is the truck they used. Note that the hitch not only raises and lowers but it slides sideways. They needed all the flexibility to get the units out.

 In the photo below the platypus is moving the front unit out. It's main use was to go under the units, raise them up and move them sideways to separate them.

The photo below shows the double wide already split in half and "wrapped". The front (right) section had been moved forward using the platypus and the truck was hooked to the back half getting ready to back it out, over the septic tank.

The small tree you see in the photo below is one of the ones that was by the trailer in an earlier photo. They backed the unit up almost against the tree, unhooked the truck, backed the truck in from a different angle, pulled the unit ahead and then backed it another 20' or so past the tree.

 Back half parked in driveway.

Front half being backed out using platypus.

Front half headed up the driveway, it is about at the campground in this photo. (The front half had to be delivered first. That was why they did the switching around.)

Looking back down the driveway, at the campground area. This looked to be the tightest area. They had to back up to back up and take a 2nd run at it to get the unit around this curve.

 

Finally, out on Allen Burgess Road.

The next day the took out the back half. This is it headed past our place.

In the photo below it is down the hill and rolling past Maimie's.

Only a little smoke left from my brush piles.

Time to get to work.

May God bless you and yours.

Oct 21st - In Tennessee

I don't think this posted properly so I am re-posting it.

Arrived safely at our place in TN about 8:30 PM yesterday. Didn't get left until a little after 10AM. Lydia came over to help me dig some bamboo for Uncle Tom before leaving.

Stopped by and HVAC place in Paducah and talked to them about HVAC systems. I really liked the guys but if I buy from them I either have to install the system myself or pay someone else to install a system that I bought (and that they didn't get to mark up the price). The guys sure seemed like they could/would give me all the support I needed to be able to install the system but I just don't think I have time to do so before we leave MO for our trip south this winter.

Today Marvin, one of my TN neighbors, and I installed 2 more windows in our "cabin", and a dryer vent. Marvin is the carpenter, I am the gofer <grin>.

First thing this morning Marvin invited me to eat supper with them at his sisters. She cooks for the family on Tuesday nights. She had a huge pork roast (she cooked it somehow so that the exterior was almost crusty, but not sweet, it was goood), potatoes, pinto beans, corn bread, tomatoes, salsa, deviled eggs, deep fried okra patties, coconut cake, apple dumplings and some type of sweet potato dessert. Great food, and lots of it.

Not sure what I'm doing tomorrow. I may cut some wood or I may run some errands in town and take the rest of the day off. I'll see how I feel in the morning.

May God bless you and yours.

Oct 19th - More Travelling

Last week was a little slow for me. My sinus's were giving me fits, or maybe a cold. We also had several rainy days since my last post. Over a 2 week period we had about 8" of rain. Our pond finally filled up and overflowed.

I did finish sealing the asphalt portion of our driveway. I used over 14 two gallon pails of sealer. The instructions said that coverage was supposed to be 400-800 sq ft per pail, depending on the roughness of the asphalt. The asphalt in our drive is very rough,. I think I may have gotten 250 sq ft out of one 2 gallon pail, other than that I never got more than 200 sq ft per pail. Our neighbor bought the sealer, he works part time at Lowes. It was on the "clearance rack" and when he bought 15 pails of it, all they had, I thought I would have enough to do the drive twice. Instead it worked out just fine. Even though he only uses a very short portion of the asphalt drive he would not let me reimburse him for the sealer. I did not use a crack filler, like I should have. Maybe I will get to that next summer.

A couple of days I did more brush clearing. I get some firewood out of it but very little for the effort involved. I just really like a wooded area to be free from trashy brush.

Yesterday we drove to Decatur/Niantic, where we used to live. The Methodist Church we attended while living there was having a 125th anniversary "Homecoming." We attended a hot dog roast Saturday night church this morning and then a dinner after the service. Kathy & Eleanor Walker play a piano/organ duet during the service. Kathy & Eleanor provided most to the music when we were there. It has been 22 years since we moved away and it felt great so visit with folks. There were about 175 people in the worship service, they normally have about 40. Think Gary & Sandy Himstead came the furthest, they now live near Myrtle Beach, SC. Kathy & I probably came in second.

The trip was quite interesting. The Lord was watching over us. We got about 50 miles from home and the low tire pressure warning light came on. We stopped at the next station, only a few miles away, and I found that one of the tires only had about 24 psi in it. I ran my had around it trying to feel something that might be causing it to leak but could feel nothing. I added air and we continued on our way. A few miles from the Mississippi river the light came back on. We were very close to a town on the river and stopped there to add air and find some place to repair the tire. It was low enough again that I decided to put on the "donut" spare. When I let the car down it was obvious that the spare was low on air, but that wasn't a problem because we were at a place that actually had free air. I was shocked how hard it was to find some place to fix a flat tire on Saturday afternoon. We drove 60 miles, to Jacksonville, IL before we found a place to fix the flat. The only place in Jacksonville that was open was the Walmart.  They couldn't fix the tire because the puncture was to near the sidewall so we bought a new tire. We had a Subway for lunch while we waited and the car was ready to go when we were. While having a flat isn't a great thing just think about all the "good" things that were part of the experience. We left an hour earlier than we had planned, so that we would be sure have plenty of time to get there; I was along to change the tire, otherwise Kathy may have had to wait for AAA to come change it (I don't think she could have removed the lug nuts); both times we the low pressure warning light came on we were reasonably close to a place with air; I changed the tire at a place where air was available so that when I realized it was low on air it wasn't a problem (that might be a lesson for everyone to check the air in your spare tire); the guys at Walmart were nice and got us back on the road quickly and finally we are blessed that we can buy a $110 tire and it not be a big deal.

While the pond was full I tried to seal the leaks. A remedy that folks around here use it to broadcast bentonite clay onto the surface of the pond. The thought is that the flow of water will draw the bentonite into the leak channels where the bentonite will swell up seal the leak. I broadcast 5 - 50# bags along our dam and don't think it did a thing. It will be interesting to look at the water level in the morning, it was dark when we got home tonight. Water seems to leak through the dam until the level gets 2-3' below the overflow. At that point the level seems to stabilize. The water exits the downstream face of the dam clear down near the bottom of the dam. There is just to much vegetation on the upstream side to see where it goes into the dam. Next year I may try to kill all the vegetation and clear it away so that I can get a better look.

In the morning I'm heading for TN. Kathy, Kelsey & Lydia are coming Thursday, for a wedding shower. Kelsey has to be back at work the following Monday. Kathy & Lydia will probably go back with her, but they may stay a few more days and go back with me.

I didn't proof read any of this, I hope it makes sense. I'm tired and heading for bed. May God bless you and yours.

Oct 8th - Driveway Sealing

Last weekend we did some travelling. Stayed overnight with Doug & Anthony on Thursday night and again on Saturday night. Stayed overnight at Mom's on Friday night. It was good to get back and visit folks.

Lydia, checking out the cookie jar at Mom's.

 Lydia helping Aunt Nancy at Auntie V's.

We got most of the tree I felled last week cleaned up. I hauled the logs out back by the splitter. I still have some branches to clean up but it shouldn't take more than an hour or so.

Yesterday I sealed about 800 sf of the asphalt portion of our driveway, about a third of the asphalt portion. Hopefully I well get the remainder sealed today.

In the last week we have had almost 4" of rain at our place. Our pond is still at least 12" from being up to the level of the overflow. We have a good chance of getting more rain  over the next several days, after today.
May God bless you and yours.

Oct 1st, 2014 - Tree Felling

I cut down a dead tree yesterday. I worked on it 3 hours, it was embarrassing how little I accomplished in that time. I did finally get it down, but that was all. I had spent the previous several days clearing a path back to the tree, it was close to our lot line.

The smaller top branches were already gone, what was left was still about 55' tall.

I sure was glad when it finally came down.

May God bless you and yours.