Apr 2nd - Yard Work

Yesterday we started spring yard work. We raked the leaves out of some flower beds and raked many layers off the "island" by the outbuilding. There was a lot of leaves and trash. The area looks a lot better.

 Today I cleaned off the top of the dam. There was a bunch of dead "bamboo" that had fallen over the top of the dam. There was also a lot of new bamboo that was growing on the top of the dam. I got rid of all of it so that we can easily walk across the dam.

 Below is an "after" photo. It doesn't look a lot different but it sure is. The dam spillway is left of the end of the canoe. I don't think any water has went over the spillway while we have lived here but it was washed out to the point that it was difficult to cross. I put a 8' length of 8" pipe in the bottom of the washout and started backfilling. Unfortunately I can't get my tractor to the spillway unless I cut a path through the woods. I probably could drive it across the top of the dam but things are still a little soft and I don't want to drive it through the yard to get to the dam.

I also did some "scouting" and found some pieces of trees that had fallen. Actually there is a LOT of pieces that are down, I spotted some that looked like they were still in good enough condition to make cutting them up worthwhile. It is supposed to be nice the rest of the week. Hopefully I will get some of it cut up and hauled out of the woods during the next couple of days.

Lydia comes tomorrow and Thursday. I will have to make sure to have time to play with here <grin>. Below is a photo Kathy took on Easter. Lydia had just given me a kiss. First time she ever did it.

Good evening to all. May God bless you and yours.

Apr 1st - Easter Photo's

We had a nice Easter. We attended an early, but not sunrise, service at the small Baptist church we have been attending in Centertown (still not sure that is where we are to make a commitment). The men cooked breakfast for everyone. It was great. I think they had enough for 60-75 people but there were only 40 or so for breakfast. They had eggs (fried and scrambled), biscuits and gravy, sausage patties and pancakes. I tried everything but the pancakes and it was all good. The pancakes looked good but I just didn't have room to try one of them. After breakfast we attended Sunday School and the regular worship service. The Search Committee still has not found a Pastor. We have heard the man, a "guest", who gave the message yesterday several times before. He always has a good message.

Kelsey, Andy & Lydia, as well as Andy's folks (David & Elaine) came for Easter dinner. A good time was had by all. The weather was beautiful. David, Andy, Lydia & I walked around out property a little and then we settled on the front porch with the ladies. During our walk in the woods David pointed out a couple of places that might be places for mushrooms.

We had already seen the grass carp in our pond this spring but yesterday was the first time we saw any of the other fish. I didn't think they would be up near the surface yet.

Lydia's kitchen game (from a couple of days ago).

Our Easter present from Lydia.

 I hope you can make out the foot prints.

She loved Eater egg "hunting", she loves being outside.

Went to the Doctor for a routine appointment this morning and all is fine. Then went to get a haircut at Larry's in downtown Jefferson City. Found out that Larry is closed on Monday's so I put Plan B into effect.

I went to Dudley's, a small "Mom & Pop" type restaurant between us and Jefferson City, for breakfast. They have good breakfasts, but nothing spectacular. After breakfast I drove to California. I wanted to check out weed eaters at the hardware store and I knew that there was barbershop a couple of blocks from the hardware store. Cost me $8 for a haircut and beard trim. I gave the guy a $2 tip and he tried to give it back!

Time for some lunch and then I need to get outside and do something today. It isn't going to be as warm today but it is mostly sunny.

Have a great day. May God bless you and yours.

Mar 28th PM - Deers

We were sitting out on the front porch this afternoon. We watched 3 deers wander from out by the trailer over to the yard that is outside the circle drive. One of them wandered off into the woods but the other two grazed for quite awhile as we watched.

They were less than 50 yards from us most of the time they were grazing.

Forgive my crude mark-up attempt.

Mar 28th - Warm Day, Finally

It is quite nice out today. It is still wet from the melting snow but the warm temperatures that are melting the snow are welcome.

Nothing exciting happening here. Lydia was here the past two afternoons. Below is a photo and video clip of her.

In the photo below she is having and after lunch cracker.

 In the video below we are seeing who has the most stamina. She is pulling the newspapers off the table and I'm putting them back on. This went on for a long time. Probably not a good "game" to play. I think I lost.

Kathy is off grocery shopping this morning. I've been sleeping a lot the past few days. I must have gotten caught up on sleep. I've been up since 3:30 AM. Now I need a nap before actually going out and getting something done this afternoon.

Have a great day! May God bless you and yours.

Mar 24th - SNOW!!!

It rained on and off throughout the night, the about 6 AM it started snowing. We actually had some lightening and thunder this morning.

At 8:30, when I went out to add wood to the boiler, there was a little over an inch on the ground.

 There are lots of birds at Kathy's feeders this morning. She has posted some of the photos on Facebook. I took this photo out the kitchen window. The female cardinal is sitting on top of the snow on a branch.

 I took the photo below at 11 AM. There is probably 7" of snow on the table top.

At our house we haven't gotten much wind, as you can see by the snow piled on the tree branches in the photos. Below is the tree at the end of our front porch, by the hot tub. Weatherbug says the wind is blowing at 20 mph, with gusts of 26 mph, but we are sheltered by all the trees.

Glad we decided not to go to church today. I'm sure we could have gotten out but may not have been able to get back down the drive to get home. The snow has let up a little, but it definitely is still snowing. It is supposed to keep snowing all day. I think we already have most of what we are going to get.

We went to Jefferson City yesterday, mostly because I wanted to buy a cordless Hitachi impact driver that was on sale at Menards. I also bought 10 gallons of diesel fuel for the tractor. It was almost full but it takes over half of a tank to plow our driveway. We also bought some groceries so we have no need to get out. I won't start working on the driveway until mid-morning tomorrow.

Hope you all have a good, and safe, day. May God bless you and yours.

Mar 21st - Back In Missouri

We arrived back home in Missouri about 8:30 PM. Traffic was no problem. Roads appeared to be a little wet the last mile or so.

It is a LONG drive. I only drove about 240 miles of the 580 miles. It seemed nearly as long as when I drove the motor home to TN a few weeks ago. I think we left about 10:30 AM. We stopped twice for gas, once at Demo's for lunch (in Lebanon, TN) and another time to stretch our legs and empty our bladders. I reset the fuel mileage indicator on the CR-V when I filled up the first time. It read 27.1 when we arrived home. We drove 5-8 mph above the speed limit most of the way, 75-78 mph except in Illinois where the speed limit is only 65. My guess is that if we did a fuel mileage calculation we probably only got around 25, but that isn't bad for the speeds we were driving.

Every thing was fine here. There is a light dusting of snow on my truck but no significant snow on the ground. It looks like we are going to get some additional moisture over the next several days but not much, if any, of it will be in the form of snow. I don't think Andy put more wood in the wood furnace after last Sunday afternoon. There were still enough coals in it started fine after I added wood. The house was 55 degrees, which is what Kathy had set the thermostat at when she left.

Mar 20th - Packing Up

We plan on heading back to Missouri tomorrow. Tonights low is supposed to be 18 here, we just had snow flurries, even though it is still 45 degrees. We are driving the CR-V and leaving the motor home here.

Below are some photos of our TN building.

Our building is behind the motor home. The red that you see is the entry door. The building is 28'x32', approx 900 sq.ft. This photo was taken from the edge of Allen Burgess Road. Our address is 1063 Allen Burgess Road, Crossville, TN; if you want to look us up. Use Yahoo maps, not Google; Google shows the wrong place.

Below is a floor plan of the building.
This photo is taken standing in the living room looking at the kitchen. The door on the left is for the bathroom. The door on the right is the main entry door, it is red on the outside.

 This photo was taken standing in the kitchen looking at the living room. Bedroom #2 (future) is on the right.

This photo was taken standing in the living room looking at the future bedroom. It is now my tool room. The framing on the right if for closets. The "master" bedroom is on the other side of the closets.

This is the bathroom. We did it when we were here in August 2011.

 This photo was taken standing in the "master" bedroom and looking into the utility area, which is located behind the bathroom. The heat pump air handler is in the attic area above the bathroom and utility room.

I had hoped to get all the wiring in the exterior walls and to install the insulation in the exterior walls this trip. I have the runs from the panel to all the different areas but did not get all the outlets installed. I only got about 15% of the wall insulated. A contractor is supposed to come blow about a foot of insulation in the attic area.

I had not planned on building the closet area this trip but am glad to get it done.

I'm hoping to buy a used refrigerator, range and microwave from the Habitat Re-Store where we volunteer Friday afternoons. I'd like to bring them with me when I come back the first or second week of April.

The neighbors finally got their well drilled. The stopped trying for water in the first hole after drilling 300'. They had a guy come out and "witch" for water. He had them move the drilling a relatively short distance (maybe 100-200 feet, I don't know for sure) and told them that they would hit water at about 150'. Yesterday, at 140' they hit water. This morning the water level was at 100'. I'm not sure why the wanted to drill a well rather than just hook up to the county water line.

Enough of a book for today. Hope you all had a good day. May God bless you and yours.