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.
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