Oct 31st - The Metal is on the Roof

Today the four of us put all the full sheets on the roof. (We still have two partial width sheets to cut and install) Kathy continued painting exterior doors and frames.

The mornings work.

And the afternoons work.

This old guy was POOPED! About half way through the afternoon side I was about convinced that I could not help lift my half of another sheet up on the roof. That went on for about three sheets and then the Lord must have given me a shot of adrenaline because I was able to keep working until we finished, almost exactly at quitting time. Had I taken a break, forcing the other guys to take a break also, we would not have finished. God is good, I should have been asking Him for strength but even though I didn't He still gave it to me.

Last nights low was 27 degrees, even though Weatherbug claims it was around 40. Water hoses don't freeze at 40 and ours was definitely frozen again this morning. I had expected it to be and had shut off the water at the hose bib, but the water that was still in the hose was frozen.

The day was sunny. My face is proof of that. Tomorrow I will have to remember to swab on the sunscreen before going out.

God is good. May God bless you and yours this evening, or whenever you might read this.



Oct 31 - Political Commentary - Lies?

Why is Obama telling lies about the economy? Is he deliberately trying to stir up class hatred?

The Lie

From Obama’s Weekly Saturday address – October 29^th, 2011
“This week, a new economic report confirmed what most Americans already believe to be true: over the past three decades, the middle class has lost ground while the wealthiest few have become even wealthier,” said Obama. (One place that has certainly got "wealthier" is the Federal government. It is spending nearly twice as much per capita, in inflation adjusted dollars, as it did 3 decades ago.)

The Truth

From the Congressional Budget Office report cited by Obama. “For the 60 percent of the population in the middle of the income scale (21st through 80th percentiles), the growth in average real after-tax household income was just under 40 percent.” That means that a family that would have been earning the equivalent of about $50,000 per year in constant dollars in 1997 would be making the equivalent of $70,000 in 2007.

More from the report, "For the 20 percent with the lowest income, average real after-tax household income was about 18 percent higher in 2007 than it had been in 1997.”

Another Lie? – Maybe not a lie but just a statement designed to inflame class hatred.

Again from his Saturday address.

“And this has happened during a period where the cost of everything from health care to college has skyrocketed,” Obama said.

The Truth

The increases in income that the CBO documented were in inflation-adjusted dollars—meaning that each type of household saw its income rise over and above the level of inflation between 1979 and 2007.

It is true that the wealthiest 1% saw larger gains in their income than the rest of us but so what? CNN recently reported that to be in the top 1% of American taxpayers you have to have a minimum adjusted gross income of  $343,927. They also reported that the 1.4 million households in this category earned nearly 17% of the nations income while paying 37% of its income tax.

I'd like to know why all of us should not have to pay equally for the services we receive from the Federal government? If, on a local level, we want to help others pay their Federal taxes that would be up to us.

Currently the Feds spend around $12,000 for every US citizen. It should cost a single person $12,000, a couple $24,000, etc; for their share of what we get from the Feds. (I don't know about you but I'm darn certain that I'm not getting my $12,000 worth.)

Actually, even though I don't think it is "fair", I support Herman Cain's 9-9-9 plan, as an interim step to implementing a true "fair tax" plan. The 9% tax paid by business would, of course, be passed along to we end consumers in the form of higher retail prices, the same as what happens with today's taxes on business.  In addition, everybody would pay a 9% income tax and a 9% sales tax. The "rich" would, of course, pay far more because of their larger incomes and larger spending.

Oct 30th - Sunday

I think that Logan Valley must be the coldest place in southeast Missouri. We know our thermometer is reasonably accurate because the hoses had frozen when it said it was 29 degrees one morning last week. Weatherbug and Weatherunderground both claimed that the early morning temperatures were in the low 40's while our thermometer showed a low of 30 degrees. We had a fairly heavy frost and it did not melt off until after the sun was up. Today was windy but mostly sunny.

We went to church this morning and took naps in the afternoon. Kathy took a short nap and did some laundry while I took a long nap. We just got back from walking over to the creek and then down the road to the cemetery where the paved road ends.

This is the creek back behind the main camp. The water level is actually about 5' below the bank with the vegetation.

 This is the left side of the camp looking from the creek. Actually I was probably 100' from the creek. The buildings in the center are one of the dining rooms, a chapel, and housing units. The trailer on the right is where David, Kathy, Davie & Josh live, the staff. Below is the left side of the main camp area.

Below is the right side of the camp. On the left you see David & Kathy's trailer, then moving to the right is the new building we are working on, then a garage/storage building and then Dave & Sue's home, with the red roof. If you look really close you can see part of our RV to the right of Dave & Sue's, although we are parked maybe a hundred yards further away. Dave and Sue have a walkout basement. The house is less than 10 years old and the area once flooded so bad that they had over 3 feet of water in their lower level. The entire grassy area that you see in the photos above and below had to be under 4-5 feet of water, and the creek had to be 10 feet deeper than it is in the photo above.

We walked down to the cemetery just to look around. If you look closely at the hillside in the background you can see the paved road that runs across the hillside and down into the valley.

Good night to all and may God bless you and yours.

Oct 29th PM - Blue Spring & Alley Mill/Spring

We drove about 75 miles today looking at two springs in the area, and enjoying the beautiful day. We had thought about going to at least one more but it would have been another 70 miles. Since both of us were tired we decided to come back home and take a nap instead. The nap was great.

We went to Blue Spring first. The name comes from its color. The spring is 310' deep and flows about 90 million gallons a day. Below is the parking lot the road that takes you to Blue Spring. We only slightly drug the bottom of the CR-V at one place getting down the 2.5 mile road to the parking lot.

Kathy is checking out the information sheet at the trail head that leads to the 0.4 mile path that takes you to the spring.

Here she is stepping on the stones that lead across a little stream that you have to cross to get to the spring.

  

 Below is the right side of the spring area. I'm sorry for the lousy photography. The place is just beautiful.  I don't know what makes the holes in the rock face on the other side of the spring.

This is the left side of the spring.

This is the outflow of the spring.

The photo below doesn't come close to showing the beautiful blue water. The other thing that we have seen at all the springs is an amazing amount of vividly green plant life in the fast flowing spring water. Kathy said that some of it is watercress(?). The green that you see is actually under the water, as much as 4' below the surface. The water is incredibly clear.

Below is where the spring water, on the left, flows into the Current River.

I am on the bridge that leads to Alley Mill. The sycamore tree in the background was huge.

Alley Mill was used to grind wheat, and later corn, for local farmers. At one time there was a blacksmith shop, a post office and two houses at the site.

The mill race.

Another photo of the mill race. The water here was more of a turquoise color. Note the green vegetation again, it is mostly under the surface of the water.

This is Alley Spring. It flows over 80 million gallons a day. The path is you see at the top of the photo is along the face of a rock bluff. I should have gotten more height in the photo. The water is pretty much the color in the photo, but it is VERY clear.

The water that does not go through the mill race flows out here.

I have this out of order but.... This is where the water flows into the mill race area. There are wooden gates that can be opened and closed. They either block all water from going through the race area, or they let the water just flow straight through the area, or they divert it over a turbine that provides power to run the mill. The mill is open between Memorial Day and Labor Day. It is a place I would like to see some time.

The high today was near 60. I don't think it is going to get below freezing tonight, but everything is buttoned up so that even if it does we should not have a problem. Current temperature is 41, at 7:45 CDT.

During our travels we stopped in Eminence, MO for lunch, while traveling between the two springs. Lunch was OK but nothing spectacular. On the way back we stopped at another place in Eminence and had hot fudge sundaes. They were quite good <grin>.

Good night to all and may God bless you and yours.

Oct 29th AM - Burrrrr - 25 degrees

At 7 AM it was 25 degrees here. We know our thermometer is fairly accurate because last week, when it said 29 degrees, our water hose froze.

The sun is out and there aren't many clouds in the sky. It is still (at 8:40 CDT) pretty frosty out, but the steam is coming off the side of the car as the frost evaporates in the sunshine.

Oct 28th - Purlins On

We installed all the roof purlins today. Monday we will put the sheathing on the gable ends and by Tuesday we should start installing the metal roof.

Bruce and David did all the roof work while I marked and cut the purlins.

Kathy painted more doors again today. She also went to town for groceries, and to buy a different type of paint brush.

Dave and Sue had a dinner for the "Red Hat Ladies" last evening. Some type of club. They had food left over and told David & Kathy and Kathy & I to warm it up for supper if we wanted. Dave and Sue left for St. Louis around noon. There were going to attend the World Series game.

Kathy and I plan on going exploring tomorrow. Probably to see Blue Springs and then just wander around.

Today's high was 56. It is 35 degrees here now. I just came in from taking the pressure off the water hose. I also removed the water softener and brought it inside and put a light bulb in the outside space behind the refrigerator, to keep the ice maker water lines from freezing.

Guess that is all the news from here. Good night to all and may God bless you and yours.

Oct 27th - Trusses are Set

Today we set the roof trusses, by hand, and installed one row of starter purlins. Three of us set about half of them and we had a 4th guy help us with the other half.

Tomorrow we hope to finish installing the purlins. Dave called in the order for the metal roofing at noon and it is supposed to be ready to pick up tomorrow morning.

Kathy did laundry and cooked (for us) and cleaned and swept the dorms in "Africa" today.

The temperature never got out of the 50's today and it was cloudy. Tonight's low is supposed to be in the mid 30's and tomorrow the high is to be in the low 60's, with sun.

By the time we leave here next week (to head for Andy & Kelsey's) I should be in the best physical shape that I've been in for years, and I have enjoyed almost every minute of it.

When I told the guys I have been working with that we would be leaving no later than the end of next week Bruce, the real carpenter, said he would miss me but wondered if I would leave my Hitachi cordless tools for them to use. I think he was kidding. (Actually I know that he was kidding, but the set of cordless tools that I bought before hitting the road have gotten a real workout while we have been here.)

This weekend we hope to explore the area a little more. There are still 3 springs close to us that we haven't seen.

Good night to all and may God bless you and yours.