Feb 6th - Drains finished for this trip

Cool, damp & FOGGY this AM. I borrowed a wheelbarrow from Marvin and moved rock from the driveway to the drain line.

This was wheelbarrow load 4 of 15.

Drain behind shed filled with rock. I need to figure out how I'm going to terminate the open end. It can wait for my next trip.

 

The concrete block marks the end of the trench I've finished. The line should drain fine until I get time to dig the remaining 50' of trench & backfill it with rock.

The rain was supposed to start at noon. When I walked back into the cabin at 11:47 it had just started sprinkling. In the afternoon I took Marvin's wheelbarrow back and visited with him awhile. Later I took a nice afternoon nap.

God is good. May He bless you and yours.

Feb 5th - Football Dynasty?

Like them or not the Patriots are a football dynasty and Tom Brady is one the all time great quarterbacks. I was cheering for the underdog Falcons. It was fun watching the first half. Then came the disastrous second half. I didn't start watching until a minute or so after the game started. I took a shower during the half time "entertainment". I turned the TV off immediately after the game ended.

Interesting service at church this morning. Almost all of the "sermon time" was taken up with a video of pro football players, and some of their wives, taking about their lives and their faith in Christ. I don't know if they will have it as part of their videos of services. If they do I will post a link if I see it. The last sermon currently posted is Jan 15th. The church is doing 3 sessions of Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University. 130 people are signed up to take the classes. 17 families went through training to act as "leaders" during the classes. They completed the training 9 weeks ago. Since then the families have, in total, paid off $62,490 of non-mortgage debt & put $71,318 into savings. They had to sell some things to be able to do this but its pretty amazing. My guess is that part of this is because  they sold off some expensive vehicles and paid off the loans. Ramsey is big on not making big payments just so that you can drive a vehicle to impress others.

I ran a few errands while in town. By the time I got home it was close enough to lunch time to have some lunch. Then I went out and started digging. Even though the concrete slab in my shed if above grade some muddy rain water rain across it during some heavy rains a couple of weeks ago. I didn't put a gutter on the roof because it would be a constant maintenance problem, cleaning out leaves & branches. Instead I'm installing a drainage tile along the back of the shed, and eventually along the back of the cabin. I still have 40' of trench to dig along the back of the cabin but it will have to wait until a later date. I'm hoping to get the tile behind the shed covered with rock before the rain starts tomorrow. Its also supposed to rain Tuesday & Wednesday.

God is good. May He bless you and yours.

Feb 4th - Loading Wood

This morning I cut up the logs I had hauled up and loaded the wood on my truck and trailer.

In the afternoon I put the rest of the hardware on the shed sliding door (a hasp for locking and a roller to keep it from swinging in the wind.

God is good. May He bless you and yours.

Feb 3rd - Logging

Cool and partly cloudy today. I think the high was around 35, with a brisk breeze.

I borrowed Tom's tractor this morning and did some "logging". I had cut down several trees last spring when I was opening up our "viewing alley". This morning I cut two to the trees in to section and hauled them up near the cabin, to be cut up for firewood and hauled back to Missouri when I go.
 I was able to back up about 20' beyond the large rock on the left. Rock outcroppings prevent going further down the hill, with the tractor, in this area. It took 50' of chain to reach the last section I pulled up the hill.

After getting the logs up beyond the big rock in the previous photo I would back up and shorten the chain before dragging them up the alley to near the cabin.

Logs up near cabin.

I also cut down 2 more large trees to open up our "viewing alley" a little more, So that we can see the far off ridge better. When the leaves were on the trees this past summer you could not see it at all.

That was enough for me today. There is still one more decent sized tree (15" diameter truck) and 4 or 5 smaller (6-8" diameter trunks) left back there from last spring. They can wait for the next trip. I already have enough up at the cabin to make a load to haul back this trip.

God is good. May He bless you and yours.

Feb 2nd - Cooler Today

Nothing exciting happening here. It was cooler today, high was only around 45 and no sun. Low is dropping down to 28 tonight and 20 Friday night.

Yesterday Tom and I changed the fuel filter in my truck. It wasn't a piece of cake, but it wasn't as bad as I feared it might be. Should be good for another 12,000 miles.

Today I went for my annual eye exam. The results were good. No sign of any damage to my eyes from my diabetes. I didn't expect any because with the oral meds and insulin I take I have been able to keep my blood sugar level well within reasonable levels. Didn't get much done today. I'm blaming my fuzzy eyesight, after having my eyes dilated for the eye exam.😊

God is good. May He bless you and yours.

Feb 1 - Mid 60's

Haven't been doing a lot this trip, just enjoying Tennessee. The weather wasn't good during the first couple of days.

Sunday AM I went to church at Cumberland Fellowship. I almost had an "event" in the church parking lot. I backed into the center space of a 3 space gap in cars, along the back side of the lot. I noticed that there was a deep ditch at the edge of the asphalt, and I noted the car on my left had backed in with rear tires against a curb stop. I backed & backed and finally thought, "I'm easily as far back as I need to be." I got out of the truck, looked at the back and saw there was no curb stop in my spot. If I had backed up 1" further my rear tires would have dropped down the edge of the steep ditch bank and my truck would have sitting on its frame. It was a relief when I pulled it back away from the edge.

Looking out east cabin window Monday AM

 Looking out south cabin window Monday AM

It was warm enough that the vast majority of the snow melted immediately after it fell. Even so there was enough that school was cancelled on Monday. Cancelling school with this little bit of snow is hard for some from the "flatlands" to understand. Here many secondary roads are very hilly & very twisty.

I went to Crossville Monday PM for a dental check up. Got a good report from the dentist. Roads were still wet but fine other than that.

By Tuesday morning the snow was mostly gone.

Marvin came down Tuesday AM and we put up the track and door up on my shed. I still need to put on the door stops and latch, but I can do that by myself.

  

I went into Crossville midday Tuesday to meet Andy Kindrick, who I haven't see for quite a few years. We had a good time catching up. Andy & his wife Karen are very active in their church. It was uplifting to hear Andy, who does some homebuilding locally, excitedly talk about the annual mission trip he takes with a construction team, to Honduras. The thermometer in my truck said 64 degrees on my way back to the cabin.

In the PM I took some chainsaw chains down to Roger Burgess. He does a great job sharpening them.

We sat on his porch and visited until dusk.

After leaving Rogers I stopped by Tom & Mary Lou's to visit a little with them.

Today looks like another great day.

Jan 26th - In Tennessee

Nothing to exciting has been happening. I'm back in Tennessee. I drove here yesterday. The trip was uneventful. Traffic was light.

Kathy didn't come. She felt like she needed to go visit a friend of hers in Lebanon, IN.

I didn't do much today. I had a nice visit with Tom & Mary Lou this morning. One of my neighbors stopped later in the morning for a short visit.

In my last post I mentioned physical therapy for my back. I did have some back issues but am over them. The physical therapy is for the torn rotator cuff in my right shoulder. After 4 sessions I think they have done all they can do. When I get back to Missouri I will go back for a final session. I've been doing the exercises they recommended. I'm to the point where I still have some occasional pain, but nothing that an Ibuprofen can't handle. My back took care of itself. It is fine again.