March 16th - Mid Afternoon in TN

I'm taking a break and eating lunch. Below are progress photos on the kitchen. Sink is all hooked up, finally. No more washing dishes in a dishpan in the bathtub, HORRAY! I still need to put "end panels" on the cabinets, to provide a finished surface. I also still need to connect the two pieces of countertop together at the corner. The range in on rollers. Kathy thought she might prefer it that way so she has more working countertop. If she doesn't like it I can cut out the countertop and install it in a conventional matter.

The Michigan redneck is coming out in me. My pile of stuff is growing. I really need to wash the vinyl siding again this summer. The algae/mold it taking hold again.

Hope you all have a great day.

God is good, He's so good to me.

March 13th - Tennessee

Lots of travelling since my last post. Kathy's Dad died after a long battle with cancer. We went to Ohio for the funeral. My photography skills are horrible. Below is a photo of Lydia "helping" Aunt Cindy play during the funeral. She is hidden behind the mike stand.

We went on up to Michigan to visit my Mom.

 

We had both driven from MO to Indianapolis. We stayed with Doug & Anthony Wednesday & Friday nights. Kathy, Kelsey, Lydia & Nolan went back to Missouri Saturday. After a great breakfast visit with an old friend from the Lebanon, IN area I drove to our place in TN.

 

I attended church at Cumberland Fellowship this AM. It was a good service, as usual. The have collected over 14,000 "stuffed" (with candy) Easter eggs to give out during the Crossville Easter Egg hunt.

 

this afternoon I did a little more work in the kitchen and switched the way the refrigerator door swings. With some luck I will have a functioning kitchen sink by tomorrow night.

 

God is good.

March 6th - Back in Missouri

Since my last post Kathy went from TX to TN and then back to MO. I drove back to MO last Wednesday. All our travels were uneventful.

Below is a photo of the building we worked on while volunteering at the TX YWAM camp in Dec 2011. We both worked staining the wood for the entrances that are on all four sides of the building. I helped with building forms, for the stairs and placing the concrete for them. I also helped building forms for the retaining walls for the planters. we mixed all the concrete by hand. The stone facing came later. The building is beautiful both inside and out. The kitchen is amazing. The typically feed 300 people 3 times a day. I think I heard that they have had as many as 600 in the building for events.

 On the road. Parked for lunch at a truck stop.

The trailer parked at home in MO.

 

Lydia got to come over Thursday and we had a fun day. Grilled cheese sandwiches for lunch. (Sorry, but the quality of my photos stink)

 



 Then work, putting out bird seed.

She also got to come over for Saturday afternoon. She had eaten at home. I was having a late lunch of warmed up pizza. She helped me with it.

Later a nap in the travel trailer was in order.

Next Wednesday we are on the road again. We will be heading to Doug & Anthony's, in Indianapolis, for an overnight stay. Then it will be up to northwest Ohio for Merv's (Kathy's Dad) funeral. Then a short trip to Michigan to see my Mom.

All is well with us. God is good.

Feb 29th - Lindale, TX

We drove partway down after church yesterday. We stayed at a nice motel in McAlester, Oklahoma last night; not plush, but nice. Kathy made the reservation and got us a $58 rate, on her phone, while I was driving.
We looked the truck & trailer over this PM. Took the truck for a 15-20 mile test drive. Everything looked good. We had our bank wire the money & hopefully it will show up in Dave's account in Alaska first think tomorrow AM.
We are staying at the hotel at the Youth With a Mission base here in Lindale.The building we worked on while we were here in Dec 2011 looks great. We ate supper there with Ron & Shiela Coombs. I worked in Ron's crew when I was here. We had Christmas dinner with them here in 2011.
Ron has a 2003 GMC Duramax with 324,000 miles on it. It has pulled their 5th wheel trailer back and forth from Alberta, Canada to Lindale, TX many times. I got to pick his brain a little.
Just got an email from Dave saying that the money is in his account. He is putting the titles in the mail tomorrow. Kathy may head back to MO after we pick them up. I'm going to stay at the YWAM base another night and head back to MO Wed AM.

Feb 25th - Bought Truck & Travel Trailer

We are back in the RV'ing family. I finally got a truck and travel trailer bought. I first saw the ad almost 2 months ago and have been discussing it with the guy selling in and the guy in Alaska since then. Sometimes it was 2 weeks between our emails.

The truck is a loaded 2005 GMC 2500HD Duramax with 108,000 miles. Sticker price new was $44,480. It would probably sticker for $57-60,000 today. It has seen very little, if any, snow & salt. I'm not crazy about a white truck but there sure are a lot of them out there.

The trailer is a 2012 Crossroads Zinger. It is 27-28' long and has a single slide.

The guy who owns the truck and trailer lives/works in Alaska. He bought the setup used from an RV'er whose health was to bad to continue traveling. He goes to Texas for rest and relaxation. He has only found time take a couple of trips with the truck and trailer and decided he wasn't using them enough to justify the expense. He kept then under cover. Kirk, his neighbor in TX, is acting as the salesman. I've read Kirk's post on RV websites for many years. He seems like a great guy. I look forward to meeting him. He lives only a few miles from the Youth With a Mission base where we volunteering in Dec 2011. He volunteers at a couple of other local ministries we toured when we were down there.

Tom and I went into town and picked up our last kitchen cabinet today. I have all the cabinets, except the sink base, temporarily set in place. Doesn't seem like I did much today but I sure am tired this evening. Kathy is already down to Tom & Mary Lou's and I'm going down for supper in awhile.

We are both driving back to MO tomorrow, taking both our vehicles back to MO. I want to sell my Dodge truck in MO, rather than trying to sell it while I am in TN. The plan is to drive to TX next Monday. On Tuesday we will make a final inspection of the truck and trailer, wire the money to AK and head back to MO with them. Later that week, or over the weekend, I plan on coming back to TN.

God is good.

Feb 24th - Floor Scrubbing

Yesterday PM I borrowed one of Tom's trailers and picked up a floor scrubber that I had reserved when I was in town in the AM (I was in town early enough to have breakfast at Sisters). The rental price gives you the half day rental price if you rent it overnight.

I had scraped off as much of the drywall mud as possible and swept the floor but there was still quite a bit of it stuck to the floor. I spent several hours running the scrubber around the floor, over and over. It did a pretty good job. It weighs around 300#. I was glad Tom's trailer had a tilt feature.

I took it back early this morning and then had breakfast at Sisters. <grin> After I got home I mopped the floors just to make sure they were as clean as I could get them. I want to seal the concrete again but I'm going to wait until I come back to TN the next time.

Kathy spent most of the day down with her Dad. Tom and Mary Lou had things they needed to do in town. She has to be back down there at 7:30 AM so that they can do some other things they have scheduled. It gives the a break and she gets to spend some time with her Dad, although he sleeps almost the entire time she is there.

It started snowing here this afternoon. It is very light. The forecast is that we might get an inch or two by tomorrow AM.

I hope you all had, or are having, a great day. God is good.

Feb 22nd - Not Much Progress to Report

I went to Cumberland Fellowship Sunday morning. Kathy stayed with her Dad so that Tom & Mary Lou could go to church together. Wendy had stayed overnight and was also there to help with Merv, if necessary. I took the afternoon off.

This morning we went to Crossville. We had breakfast at Sister's Café, I love that place. I had 2 eggs, country ham, biscuits & gravy & coffee. Kathy had 2 eggs, 3 pieces of bacon, toast & water. With tax the bill was $10.98. We stopped by Habitat's Re-Store to see if they had a light bar for above our medicine cabinet but struck out. Kathy hit "Ugo", the discount grocery store & Krogers. I went to Cash Home and ordered our last kitchen cabinet. It is the one I wasn't sure would fit. I'm not going to do the countertop cutouts for the sink & drop in range until I have the cabinet in place. Things are just to tight. I want to be know exactly how things will be positioned before doing the cutouts.

I ran another tank full of gas through the chainsaw, opening up our "view". I thought it would be good after cutting down maybe 5 more small trees. I probably cut down 30 of them ranging in size from 1" diameter to 3" diameter and still don't have enough cut down. I have to go further down the slope out away from the cabin. I also need to "man up" and cut down 3 larger trees (2 maybe 4" in diameter and 1 about 10" in diameter) that are midway down the slope. I hate cutting down the larger, non-pine trees. They are large enough for firewood but I'm not sure how to get a tractor down there to get the wood out. I could get down there with my Kubota but I think Tom's Allis might be to big. I need to measure the out/out of his tires to make sure it will fit between all the trees.

The spiders were out running around in the leaves. I didn't spray myself with Deet before going out and was concerned that I might have gotten into some ticks but apparently not. After cutting the trees I took a shower, had a late lunch and took a wonderful nap.

This evening we went to Tom & Mary Lou's for supper. I think Kathy cooked (I was napping <grin>). We had a good visit again.

It is drizzling rain this evening and supposed to rain tomorrow. Its supposed to rain tomorrow & Wednesday and then there is a 40% chance of light snow on Thursday. Temperatures are warm. Mid 50's for highs and mid 40's for lows.

All in all it was a good day. God is good.