Christophers Country Store

Let's Talk About Tomorrow because Today is Too Sad

2010-05-20T09:22:00.000-07:00

For all the kind folks who ask, when I would write again, well today is the day.

As some of the more cat savoy of you may have guessed...BOOTS is a boy. He is in the terrible twos right now and we are suffering, but expect him to move on to an older more well behaved cat sometime soon. Orange tabby cats are almost always boys as the color is gene linked. I will post some of the details of his exploits in the side panel for those cat lovers but suffice to say we believe him to be a special breed of Kanawha Cat and encourage others to adopt a kitten from Vera if you want an entertaining smarter than usual cat for your home too. Vera lives in the killer curve of 410 just before you reach the store.

The store has presented more challenges than we ever imagined. I will cover some of those for the people who read this blog because they contemplate opening a store in a rural area. Our issues may not be yours but still I think it will open your eyes a bit. Actually it has pretty much made our eyes nearly pop right out of the socket on at least 2 occasions.

The good people of this community have some very definite ideas about what they want in a store. As best we can tell it would serve them well if it were something like

Texaco gas station attached to a What a Burger, Stop n Go, Feed Store, Brookshires that had quaint evening get togethers for couples and a ladies night out sort of a homey YMCA with Party City on one side and a Captain D's on the other at the rear we need a Denneys for coffee around a wood burning stove and in the center we should have a combination of the Dollar Store and a Neimen Marcus outlet not to forget the take out window that operates 24/7 and a delivery service for shut ins. All this with a person so personable they can chatter in two languages to who ever drops in and entertain them with stories while checking out the dead snake in the bed of their pick up.

Do I miss it, Hell Yes! Would I do it again? of course! But not alone and I would not let it bother me if I was paddling as fast as I could and the boat just kept taking on water. When the Baptist wanted Wednesday evenings and the Methodist wanted Sunday mornings I would just bail faster.

WHY, because you can find a man who patches his beloved dogs neck with duct tape and you can watch a fawn take its first step from your front door and you can know you are a fifth generation who will be buried in that red sand. Because with every demand, complaint and threat came ten smiles, and gifts from their labor and hugs to sustain you and even the grouches mean well.

It is unbelievably sad to close the store. We will empty and seal it up this next week. The circumstances that caused this turn of events actually started about 3 months ago but they just kept growing until I had to think maybe God was telling us something.

Reasons the store is closing:

1.First is the obvious that I had something like a small nervous breakdown and had to come home to regroup and resign myself to needing Bill before I can try again. Still Michael kept the doors open when he could.

2.The cold winter electric bill was over 600 dollars one month and 400 the next. The licence to sell cigarettes renewal $180.00, remember we sell about 5 packs a week. The big freezer was on an unidentified breaker and got turned off by accident spoiling all the food inside. Could you hear a loud suction sound coming from our bank account as it shrunk?

Michael spent 6 years going into debt to get a bachelors of science in mathematics degree with a minor in physics. He lived at home drove a junk car and worked at fast food. With no scholarships he graduated with school loans hanging over him. For three years he worked with under privileged children in a Charter school in South Dallas. Then he thought he would become a Marine but he hurt his leg and he said his second choice adventure was Kanawha. He applied at Detroit and he got the position. Michael had become very adept at helping students actually like Math and raising test scores. He told me he really liked his students who were bright and interesting. Michael will miss the kids, but he is spending weekends planning a big adventure with one of the armed services.

In 9 months you can give birth to a baby who will bring you great joy, cost you more than you ever dreamed and worry you to death. The past nine months have taught us a great deal and caused many sleepless nights but this store is our baby and we will be back and next time we will be smarter, somewhat debt free and better prepared for success. God willing.

Estimated reopen 3 to 5 years. Look for us once a month and for several weeks in the summer. We will be spreading that mountain of mulch and finishing off the kitchen area in the store.

Two 1/2 Months

2009-09-20T08:50:00.000-07:00

Evening Hours

We have been given a kitten. She is orange stripes with white boots and the shape of Florida on one hip. In addition she has a perfect bib and tummy of white. It took two grown men to bath her. She is 6 inches long including her tail. We have all fallen in love with her. Will has taken ownership of BOOTS who purrs like a Harley and chews his toes and fingers. At night she rubs under his chin and licks his ear lobe then curls up in the crook of his arm to sleep.

Michael will be opening the store after school and plans to keep it open until he goes to bed. He plans to keep it open when ever he is there.

I am home dealing with medical issues. I miss the store terribly and look forward to Bill and I returning to run it together in the future. Because Michael is opening the store in the evenings, I will continue to buy for the store and Bill and I will help him keep it filled with basic and seasonal items.

Thank you to everyone who has contributed to the success of the store these past 2 ½ months. Look for us on some weekends each month as we finish covering the walls, putting more shelving in place, putting in heaters, installing a real kitchen, building a restroom and storage building. We learned a great deal about running a store over these six weeks that may enable us to better serve our family and friends in this community. It has been an unforgettable experience.

Bottom of Week Three

2009-07-30T12:48:00.000-07:00

I could not have imagined the magnitude of support we have had from the North 410 Loop including Manchester and Woodland areas all the way to Pinhook not to forget the kind folks at the Woodland Methodist Church and the Leesville Baptist Church. Thank you seems inadequate. All the kind words, offers of help and business have helped get us to day 20.

My husband has become a super shopper with a keen sense about what will sell and what has the right "country" feel to it for our store. When I return home he has a collection of aquired items all ready to go, packaged and waiting.

But this journey has not been without some holes in the road. Maybe we are predisastered and from this point on no harm can come to us:0)

Just call us Red Neck.
The new freezers had to be replaced because they were both delivered damaged. Sears said, use the freezers until the new ones come so we filled one of them. This was then emptied into the replacement freezer when it arrived only to find the top sliding door was damaged and after a trip to Paris to get the first freezers door this was resolved. Then we discovered something not in the ad, every air conditioner and refrigerator must have its own breaker. So with only one plugged in, we filled it with eggs, chicken breasts and numerous other cold products. As we closed the door the top shelf fell and caused a crush of food. We removed everything cleaned it up and threw away eggs. The shelf supports looked way to small to support the shelves and after numerous adjustments and several more cleanups we called Sears. This is the day before we open. So to summarize. We have only one freezer and only one refrigerator that can be plugged in and lots of food to replace but no shelves that stay in place in the one refrigerator unit. And 24 hours to solve this problem. The Sears man told us to twist tie the shelves in place. Yes if anyone in Paris was witness to a woman chasing a man around Sears with a carton of broken eggs and having a meltdown…that was me. On Sears behalf I will say they were always courteous even when I cried and threatened to take my business to Home Depot. The twist ties did hold the shelves and we can say on opening day we were truly red neck! The new heavy duty brackets for the shelves came and they are a big improvement over the screws we were trying to use and the twist ties. Michael spent about 4 hours installing and moving food. The electrician to rewire the building so both air conditioners, freezers and refrigerators could run at the same time $355, the food to replace what was mutilated $50. Note: just because you have plugs does not mean you have enough power to use them. I highly recommend Allen Stevens.

Theft is Costly.
We have been conned out of 100 dollars of merchandise and money. So now our friendly little store has a we reserve the right to refuse service to anyone sign and when you check out you will see yourself on a recording device connected to a camera. This mistake in judgement on our part cost 400 dollars in security equipment. On the upside it happened immediately and we were not victims over a long period of time.
Note: 99.9% of the families in this area are hard working decent folks, but all it takes is one to put you out of business.

That’s Not a Body in the grave out back.
To get ice cream here in a frozen state requires 80 pounds of ice carefully positioned if the outside temp is 100 plus and you have a 3 hour drive. Now ask us how we know. My sweet husband brought me a large box of ice cream for the store with a traditional amount of ice and he quietly buried it outside during the night so no one would know. Mike and I have developed a system using the huge coolers and 4 twenty pound bags of ice. We surround the box like it is an igloo. Ice is $3.99 for 20 pounds and this is not a big box of ice cream but it is all that will fit with that much ice. It is cooler today and this is my turn to go to Cedar Hill so if the weather holds we might be able to fill that box again. Maybe we can stock up during cool weather. We sold that ice cream at a loss if you consider the ice and manpower required to get it here.

The bonus protein from Sams.
We purchased a large bag of dog food from Sams and took note their prices were 5 and 6 dollars cheaper than Costco for the store brand. However Sams dog food came with it’s own colony of ants. Fortunately for us they decided to march in formation probably planning to expand. We took a loss on 50 pounds of dog food. The whole store was fumigated “just in case” one got away.
Cost about 28 dollars for bug spray and trashing dog food.

Expired not Retired.
The small tortillas and several other items went past their due dates. I need a basket where about to expire foods are greatly reduced so our customers can take advantage of them instead of the trash can.
Sausage biscuits and sandwiches. I was told by a cowboy that if I had sausage biscuits made up in the morning by 7:30 I would sell them. And I have sold a few. The remaining ones have either been eaten by me or trashed. The sausage biscuit business has been picking up. At this point I am not making anything but I am close to breaking even.

Cooking?
I am cooking in a combination of these three appliances. An electric skillet that has a hot spot and temperamental controls. A large crock pot too big for small items but nice for a big batch of pinto beans and ham. And a toaster oven that does a bang up job of baking 4 biscuits at a time.

Our Customers.
The best customers in the world shop here:
The little girl who calls this “her store”. She worried because she had to go to camp and couldn't make her daily trip to shop.- The sweet family that speaks little English, but buys microwave popcorn.-The big man with his hair in a knot on one side of his head who speaks wisely about plumbing - The gardener down the road who brings me his produce all weighed and in a basket and we split the profit.- The gentleman down the road who gives Mike road warnings and faithfully stops in to tell me his teens will be by later.- The retired fella who works for Circle C “to have something to do”, and is a dependable part of the lunch bunch.-
Our weather lady who stops for her daily M and M fix.- The retired policeman who offered his services if I need them and his talented wife who lives on blueberries. They requested and always remember to purchase skim milk. - Two new friends, bring me customers, memories and smiles. They buy lunch and my doodads a bowl here and a towel there.- And an extraordinary 90 plus lady who bought my last mop and sat sharing memories of her life as a teacher in Detroit and Woodland. She remembered my Grandparents just before my Grandfather got sick and died. - There are more and each is precious.

What Sells in Kanawha
Bill and I had a few disagreements about what kind of stock would sell in our country store. So we each chose 3 things to gamble on and see if anyone bought them. The 59 cent mood lipsticks were one of mine and sold to little girls and ladies alike. I think the price was right. The hot sauce he chose has been a good seller with 4 bottles gone.

Frozen convenience foods and canned vegetables are moving slowly.
Back packs were a good choice because we sold 3 of the 5 already.
Paper plates in large packages do not sell but smaller packages are gone.
The usual whole milk and white bread sell well.
Selling 25 packages of lunch meat and wieners were a surprise.
We sell very little cheese.
Dried Pinto beans sell almost as fast as I can put them out
but rice and noodles are not selling.
Paper towels have out sold toilet tissue and no one has purchased a box of facial tissue.

Feed Time
The deer hunters are beginning to feed the deer. I hope to feed the Deer Hunters. I moved my open time from 8 to 7:30 and if God can give me a little push I may try for 7. It takes 45 minutes to dress and open the doors…there is more to do than you might imagine in the mornings and most of it requires I be conscious and somewhat functional. I think that may have happened sometime in my past but today it is going to take some real effort to roll out of bed at 6am and be perky. To put this where you might understand. One of my favorite customers came in by himself about 10am and I ask where his wife was. He responded, “still in her nightgown”, to which I replied…”I used to understand that” …and he finished my sentence…”before you retired to run the store”.
Yep, 6 twelve hour days a week. You gotta love it here or you just won’t make it.

Sweat Equity

2009-06-28T17:28:00.000-07:00

The trial run to see if our new coolers would safely transport frozen food Cedar Hill to Kanawha was not without a few hitches. Mike and I hit Costco first and found a small supply of frozen food items that were intended for resale to the average family. My guess is the ratio of frozen to refrigerated is about 10 to 1. From this you must subtract anything you think is not going to sell well in your store or not in small enough quantity. So the broccoli that comes in four smaller bags is perfect but we passed on 96 burger patties. After gathering all the suitable products we headed for Sams where I thought the pickin's might be better. Corn on the cob that separated into two 12 ear bags and Pillsbury pastries that were designed to be seperated into boxes of 6 sounded great. The other items I found will work well in the store freezer, but the corn on the cob and the stroodles were glued together so tightly they had to be repackaged. Which leaves us to question can a person survive on corn on the cob and strawberry stroodle for a month? The cooler unit worked great even in a 100 degree day. Mike and I almost had a melt down though, unloading everything. A cooler large enough to span the back of the truck is much heavier loaded.

Milk Wars...Oak Farms gave us the low down on the milk wars. Seems Kroger decided to take on Walmart with $1.99 a gallon milk. Walmart responded by matching their price and Brookshires was left to call them on it or bow out. So here we are knowing the price Oak farms can sell us milk at and looking at the $1.99 a gallon price in Brookshires for our own use this week. We checked it out in Cedar Hill and our Kroger had the same below cost price. I doubt this hurt those large companies and no doubt recipes with milk were popular, but the prices are going back to normal now. We hope to have some normal to prices in the immediate future. seems Oak Farms has closed the refrigerators in the Paris Oak Farms and trucks run from somewhere else. It is a shame as those folks in Paris are real nice.

The Bread Business is another story. Earth Grains which used to be Merico sold to Sara Lee and became Little Debbie which filed for chapter 11 in May. So we remembered the Mrs Bairds truck on 195 and read how the truck routes were offered to the employees who drove them and those who chose to were in business for themselves. Other routes were closed down. Fortunately we can get bakery items at Costco and Sams in small enough quantities to resale.

I spent three days on inventory. It is way more than I anticipated but hopefully this fill the store project is a one time thing as refill should be much easier. I found some really revealing wholesale prices that left us with great retail prices unfortunately I found an item that will take our family a good while to use as I bought a whole case. Guess I can mull that over how that happened while I munch on corn on the cob and stroodle. So far most of the prices look fair and some are down right bargains.

While we were sweeping june bugs one morning, Edna Maddox stopped by to visit. She is a member of the Woodland Methodist church and invited us to attend. Upbeat and friendly we hope she will come again. Later that day we had two handsome young gentlemen stop to ask for a cold drink. Unfortunately we are not ready for customers, but they said they will return once we are open.

We are waiting for our first Kanawha electric bill with the Air Conditioners running. Enough to make a person nervous as we have not even opened for business. We are playing AC tag with the two trailers and the store, running the units where we are working and turning the others high or off.
Because it was hovering at or above 99 degrees I understand the term sweat equity! When we arrived back in Cedar Hill, Bill had been paying house and store bills so he had raised the temp in the house to 78, this is a two story so the upstairs was "cookin'" at about 83 degrees.

A funny thing happened when I turned on both AC units. They tripped a breaker. My Daddy was incredibly mechanical. He inherited this gene from his Draper line. His grandmother was a Lynn and they have some documented feats in this regard. I on the other hand am a total zero, possibly in the negatives if possible. So alone with the breaker box and labels from three different store owners, I did the only thing that came naturally. I turned off everything, just flipped them all. It was action or lay down and cry. After I realized maybe that was not so smart I had no time for tears. Remember there are no phones that work, so on my own I found the breaker for the units and remembered to turn them on one at a time. I also found the freezer breaker before it came off the 20 degree mark and we are all still trying to find out what else I turned off in my haste to "fix" it. I put this right up there with getting used to spiders in the sink. It all comes down to how much you really want a store.

Canadian's are 2 feet short.

2009-06-19T19:17:00.000-07:00

The new/used trailer was set in place snug in the middle between Mike's small trailer and the store north wall. The hutch from the dining room and dresser out of our bedroom in Cedar Hill were in the store after two trips by Bill and sons. Mike went job hunting in the surrounding area. Bill and I celebrated our 28th wedding anniversary. Will and Mike moved 20 feet of 8 foot high shelving seven feet. The Sears refrigerators and freezers were delivered. Bill and Mike sawed and nailed for three straight days. This finished the window surround and the enclosure for the ac units. The shelf for large bags of animal feed is complete thanks to Mike's sawing several dozen wood slats. Will drilled holes so the strips that seal the plywood could be attached. He sawed them to length and nailed them in place. Bill determined that Van knew what he was doing when he wired the store, as we have separate breakers for each plug along the south wall.

After a long week we are back in Cedar Hill for another load, fresh laundry and some good byes to Bill and Will. Mike and I have a long list of to-dos over the next two week span. Part of this includes transfering our insurance to a company Stephen told us about. It sure helps to have a son who has been in the area a while.

Do not believe the Frigidare people when they email you to say you have 8 feet of cord on each unit they make. Those Canadians think 6 is 8. The men who mow along the roadside left us a neat path to the sign in Woodland so it is measured. Woodland has a new venture. The little building with a bay has become a car repair shop. The road crew stopped to tell us to carry bait...minnows and worms. A cat stopped by to share our ham sandwich and Will named her Fay-Lee to which she did not respond, however she liked the scratching behind the ears and later that evening she brought a friend. Will is especially fond of cats and highly allergic to them. He gets around this by washing his hands after petting.

The plan was adjusted for those short Canadian cords, and the store seems on target to open in July.

Kanawha is Cool

2009-05-25T18:09:00.000-07:00

Over the past 3 years, we have noticed the size of Kanawha mosquitos has multiplied several times. On this trip, they were so big, we worried a transfusion might be necessary, but surprisingly we lived through several bites. Bill had the wasp and hornet spray out on at least two occassions "spraying for wasps" he said...but I know better.

Mr. Stan Graff of Graff Chevrolet stopped by to visit. He has a ranch just north of us and has encouraged populations of wild turkey, duck and recently bluebirds. We look forward to meeting Mr Pennington from his ranch.

"YOU GET BACK WHAT YOU GIVE"

is the Graff family motto.

http://www.graffchevy.com/

There has been a request for a soft drink machine on the porch. This may not happen for a while, but we will keep it on the todo list.

We saw a "lost white goat" sign, just as we entered Kanawha.

Our air conditioners are in, we ordered the refrigerated units and freezers, but are still struggling to find outlets to plug them into. Seems you can not use extension cords on commercial appliances and old stores and outlets are not always harmonious. I have an email into Frigidare to see if they can give us the cord length on the units prior to delivery in June.

It rained but not continuously so we labored between times, with Will getting in a shampoo break during one of the downpours.

FM 410 is being resurfaced near Detroit. Interesting pointy cones line the way.

I got a coat of the wash on over most of the back wall, the red baseboards, a good bit of floor three folding chairs and myself. When they tell you dilute with water and roll on, you should know it splatters everywhere unlike paint that is heavier, not to mention the way it runs down the wall just like water so you can not hope to catch the runs and spread them out. The result after 30 minutes of painting and 55 minutes of clean up is a light coat of tint over the wood grain that shows through. It is something like white wash and should have the desired effect.

On the way to Kanawha we stopped in Nichols RV and bought a used trailer that is a little bigger than we currently have and a lot heavier. It is a fix for temp housing so we can make it long enough to purchase a little place to build a cottage.

In a few weeks we will begin the big move. A land line will be needed, a source for sawdust, a compost bin and a refrigeration unit for our truck.

The Bible, Cokesbury Hymnal and a Backscratcher

2009-04-27T17:55:00.000-07:00

Bill and I rushed to pack for our Kanawha work trip so I did not notice what he had packed until we were unloading the truck. On top of his work clothes and usual bag of shaving stuff he has placed my Bible, a Cokesbury Hymnal and a backscratcher! I have married the perfect man.

When Bill turned the water on he found the spicket was occupied by a black widow and her egg sack. She was glossy black like someone polished her and her hourglass red stamp made her look like you could flip her over and it would say "made in China". She and her egg sack are far too dangerous to occupy the same lawn with us.

We were surprised to find a car parked at the store. It had suffered a flat and the owner and his mother from several miles up the loop stopped in to say they were moving it. It was nice to meet Judy Pyle. She ask when the store will open, and Bill told her July 11th.

We stopped at Sears and remeasured the AC units. Leah was already gone for the day but we will see her next time.

We gathered the framing and shelving materials at Home Depot Friday evening and lost our race against the sun. As we neared the turn at Woodland a fire engine, lights ablaze and siren singing made the turn to Kanawha. We followed it, lagging further and further behind until we lost sight of them. We still do not know what emergency they were answering.

Saturday afternoon Jody stopped to visit a bit and she introduced us to Brenda Fennel. It was good to meet her. Brenda makes homemade juice for her family and has a clever made in Kanawha label she puts on each one just for fun. Maybe country women are just more inventive and industrious than most city people or maybe they watch less TV.

The Vaughn family will be moving to Kanawha soon. Their little daughter, Alexis introduced herself. She is as bubbly as she is pretty. Bill helped her Dad fill his 4 wheeler tire with air. Alexis has a baby brother 3 months old.

June bugs are out in mass...it was disgusting to crunch them but they are attracted to the light reflected through the glass door and carpet the porch every night...so in the morning you have the grizzly task of washing their squashed bodies away.

Bill removed the old rusted out steel door on the side of the building. He framed it in and secured it with heavy duty plywood, screws and nails. He caulked it and primed it until we can return to finish it off. This will be where we piggy back the two AC units from Sears. Eventually we will have an arbor over them and althea planted to give more shade.

He also finished the plywood covering for the wall partition inside the store. He told me he could have finished several more projects if he had not been called to cut so much wood for "my" project.

In addition to all this he made the mistake of using his new can o foam and realized he had to use it all or waste it so he climbed a ladder and foamed quite a few places where the air just blows through the building.

The mail lady stopped to deliver our mail and low and behold we have a permit to sell tobacco products! Thank you Shelly.

Our cousin Gerald came over to visit. He gave us quite a bit of expert advice and help. Gerald knows a great deal about all aspects of building, plumbing and electrical as well as being frugal and acquainted with many fine tradesmen in the area. We were very thankful for all the information, but also glad to finally get to visit with him and look forward to his return.

I hammered many boards together and though the shelves do not look at all like the plan I drew on paper they will be handy for merchandise, as soon as Bill secures them to the base.

It began to rain on our last day. Jody is our weather watcher and she said this was coming. The ride home, we found the section of 410 North coming out of Detroit toward Woodland is under construction. It seems to be a major renovation. We stopped to visit my parents and another stop on 271 to look at portable buildings. The drive home was dark and dreary as a wall cloud loomed in front of us and then veered off to the left. It had the greenish tint that warns of impending tornado activity, but none could be seen yet.

Signs of Woodland

2009-04-20T11:12:00.000-07:00

Our family would like to thank the board members of 410 Water for the generous and kind gift of the sign located in Woodland. We are very grateful. Our advertising budget for the store is zero, so when we saw this under utilized sign in the perfect spot it seemed too good to be true. We are working on ideas for paint that will not detract from the serenity of the Woodland Community or clash with the neighboring sign for the Leesville Church.

The down sizing and division of our family continues. Boxes line the walls in our Dallas county home...products for the store, personal items that need packed away (...you know the plaster fish with the broken tail held on by a bandaid, made with love by your child in his first art class... times 5) and stored so the house can revamp to sell and the struggle to decide what is purchased when, so we can all have clean clothes and food to eat while this two year fix goes on.

Bill has most of the store wall in place. In spite of the indecission over where this wall should go we seem to have come out ok. The room is large enough to house a desk, file cabinet, 2 storage cabinets and appliances. At least that is what the tape measure is telling us.

Our cousin cut up and neatly stacked the tornado downed limb so the grounds are looking better still. We really appreciate that as it was on the todo list.

May is order AC units and June is take delivery and install. June will be my first live in Kanawha experiment. If you have been praying for me please don't stop in June! And if your not praying for me, don't let that stop you from starting. I feel like Ma Kettle without Pa.

Next weekend is a long one Sat through Tue. Pictures (hopefully) when we return.

Jody says the Blueberry Farm in Kiomatia is about to open "for pick your own". Nice folks operate this pretty place open May and June of each year.

http://kiomatiablueberryfarm.com/

digging deeper

2009-04-12T14:07:00.000-07:00

The Sunday quick trip was an effort to clear the area of trash, relocate a mound of dirt to around the foundation and create a black board for menu items. We actually got most of this done. One area still in need of help involves large strips of sheet metal and a barrel, but that is for another day.

We had a wonderful surprise visit from Cathy. She is moving back to Kanawha in two years! Her plan is a good one as our community continues to grow. She also brought a little fur ball dog with her. He enjoyed a brief tour of the store. Michael Bryant was helping Cathy reach some goals that will help with her security. It is always good to see him again.

Jody called to tell us we have a broken window in the trailer. She was kind enough to cover it before the next big rain. Her complete family except her son in Germany will attend dinner at her home. Still she found time to call me and patch the window.

We pray everyone in Kanawha has a blessed Easter.

Flaws Create Character

2009-03-22T18:44:00.000-07:00

We arrived at the store with a light rain following us out of Paris on Thursday afternoon. This trip is the "build a wall" trip. We have been drawing this wall on the concrete floor for months. It has zigged and zagged all over the place a foot here and two feet there like a dancer who hasn't had near enough lessons. Once unloaded and rechecking everything like it might change back into a pumpkin since last month we counted and recounted the 2x4's needed for this job and headed out for the Home Depot.

Forty 2x4's later we were back in Kanawha with several hours and a half box of chalk to redraw that wall several times before bed. Outside the rain stopped and billions of stars dotted the country sky. Bill called me outside to listen to the multitude of frogs who already knew it was Spring.

Up fairly early we drove to Detroit to open a business account in the store name. Seems like we are official now with a bank account and a tax ID number. Leasa at the bank was very kind and helpful. She is the daughter of the Blossom Superette owner.

Mike is with us and between him and Bill's new Driver Drill they made fast work of the wall framing. I think it astounded them too that it went up so fast even with Bill measuring everything 10 times. The next day everyone is stiff and no one slept well. Mike had a throbbing purple finger from a good hammer whack he gave his self. Bill just had strange dreams, but no one is happy except the wall itself which is still standing and looking good. Day two is install the screen door.

I wanted a screen door with a spring that would slam shut, but in today's world screen doors are controlled closing with spring loaded hinges. I went outside to start a fire that would get rid of the tree stumps and after a good bit of smoke inhalation I returned to find Bill and Mike just as I left them. Trying to hang a door on a bent post with a crooked wall on a wavy cracked floor and against a slanted cabinet is damn near impossible so crooked is good in an old country store. But after my leaving again to check on the fire they managed to hang it straight anyway. Lucky for me one of the hinges was slightly slanted and guess what? It creaks!!! It has the most beautiful old creaky squeaky sound just before it thuds closed.

Outside we see cousin Gerald has lite a bonfire that makes our little stumps seem puny. Our eyes catch sight of Clay at the Blake Boulware property, he is burning the tall grass. Mike helps him stomp a few errant blazes out. He is our latest new neighbor and we welcome him and his wife to Kanawha.

The last work day we get a few sheets of plywood on the framing. It gives us a glimpse of what it will look like. Bill cuts a board we will paint with chalk board paint so we have a menu spot. We brought it home to work on during the week. (this was Mikes idea...being a teacher)

We saw my parents who were looking much peppier now that spring is here. I told them about talking to my cousins. Butch and I are about the same age. He lives on a mountain top in Arizona and he has been researching the Boulwares. It was wonderful to hear from him. His brother Ronnie lives in California on a warm beach. Son Stephen and Granddaughter Danielle came by and said hello. Danielle has returned from her trip to Chicago, where she said they dyed the water green for St Patricks Day.

Bill and I walked to the Kanawha Cemetery and we were surprised to see the T.J. and Julia P. Hart stone had been repaired. It has a beautiful arch across the top that says Father and Mother. I think we can thank Mary Montgomery for this restoration. What a blessing. Julia P. Hart is my Great Great Grandmother. I did not expect this turn of events so had no camera, but will try to get a shot of the stone later.

I have included a picture of the lighted cabinet we installed last time. Other than threatening to remove both Bill's level and square this trip went pretty well. Obsessing with whether something is square or level in an old store is a life sentence to dissatisfaction and unhappiness but God bless him for trying.

Mike and Bill plan another weekend trip to further clean up the outside. We have no trash pick up at the store, but our town will take anything in a trash bag so we are hauling it home a piece at a time.

Fellow merchants in Faught

2009-02-25T19:24:00.000-08:00

Our trip to reconstruct the window surround took several unprogramed turns but with a little slight of hand the sill and other framing boards are done. As far as we can tell one person cut the hole in the outside steel wall while another cut the hole on the inside steel wall, however they were not exactly lined up. Still the result of Mike and Bill's labor is clean and functional.

I am thankful for Will who scrubbed the steel beam, sometimes with steel wool. He also removed an electric cord to what looks like a defunct stereo system.

Jody brought us chex mix, Detroit papers and a phone directory. The phone directory is especially prized as we already have need of propane information and more. I hope you are all reading her informative weather blog (see the link in the side panel).

We hauled the lighted cabinet purchased from Western Warehouse and got it in place. I do not have a picture as my new camera only charges on the computer. My old one that was simple sure looks good as I face constant difficulties over the bells and whistles on this one but those water spots were getting a bit tiresome so I will count my blessings and have pictures later.

Before we left Cedar Hill I was looking at older emails and found one I missed fromPhilip. I do not know where he and his wife, Beverly, currently live but they plan to move back to Faught. At some point in the 1950-60's Philip helped his Dad harvest grain along 410. He remembers swimming in the Red River it being warm water only a foot or so deep. Many of you in Kanawha may remember Todd's General Mdse store at Faught. H.A. ran it for the best part of 10 years.

Philip said, "When I was walking back to the field, I came across a big white monument that, as I recall, said it marked the spot where several people were killed in an Indian raid. I wonder if you know if it still exists and where it is located? I seem to recall that it was near the old Wright Plantation home place, but things have gone fuzzy after so much time."

Maybe some of you readers remember this monument too and can help him out.

Our mail lady brought us our first bit of mail. The New Pig Catalog!

http://www.newpig.com/

We have applied to sell food from our store in the state of Texas. I am also on my second draft of the application to sell cigarettes. I wish these papers were straight forward in simple language...maybe my stupidity is just showing but a few more calls to the hot line in Austin and I should get it right. I don't plan to carry too many cigarettes but if someone asks, we need to be able to supply the basic brands. Of course my Smoke Deter herbal supplement will be on the same shelf:0)

We have contacted Leah at Sears and she is making a list of products for the store. We are looking at the possibility of getting a loan to put the appliances in place. It might make some of the services we rejected possible. There is the store checking account we need to open and the propane tank we do not have and the list goes on. I have a new appreciation for anyone who ever opened a store of any kind. But we seem to be at the end of phase one if we can just leap these last few hurdles.

We purchased sheets of acrylic to slide a few necessary signs under on the check out side of the counter. They last better than glass, do not cut and are cheaper.

The sons installed the new lights so we can see again. We need four new fixtures at some time in the future. The rest scrubbed up nicely and wires seem in good shape even the one bulb that has a decidedly pink color to it.

Short has been ok in my lifetime. However the last doctor visit I lost a whole inch in height. The nurse, who was all of 30, laughed and said "Oh, it happens all the time!" I began to realize I could not get the groceries into the big bags unless I got an equalizer of some kind so an old coke crate in front of the cashregister was the perfect answer. It gave back my lost inch and a few more.

We open in July and with in a few months expect to have deer hunters as customers. I found the Texas Hunting Forum on line and after reading about deer hunting for several hours decided the only way to know what a hunter needs is to ask. I signed up and they responded to my question about what do hunters run out of with several lists. Those men were willing to help a non hunter out as long as it was out of season. The lists were much appreciated.

March we hope to rent a nail gun that will penetrate concrete. Our plumbing skills should improve with experience. The propane line shall be extended. Lots of prayers needed here.

In response to next months challenges Bill inventoried the First Aid Kit.

Kanawha Community to Kansas City

2009-02-02T09:34:00.000-08:00

Our trip to work on the store in January was delayed due to Bill's work requiring him to stay in the area so a week later we made a Thursday through Saturday trip with Sunday reserved for Bill and the SuperBowl...his Steelers won! How about that 100 yard run?

The water was off when we arrived but we had bottled water left over from the Christmas Gathering. It was back on before we left Saturday.

We bought two more sets of shelving for the storage area. Bill made quick work of assembling them and we determined we need at least one more to finish out the wall. We have another warehouse membership, this one at Costco.

While we were looking at shelves Will found the backside of an 18 wheeler and managed to total his little truck. He was not hurt but his ability to get around has been seriously changed. The 18 wheeler had two bent reflecters.

We met Jerry, who is a knowledgeable man who can help us with plumbing, electric outlets, construction and anything else we get stuck on. We hired him to work for us in February. His help is sure to make the opening of the store more plausable. We are very grateful to our son Tim for telling us about him.

We made our first trip to Paris Lumber and were greeted with friendly people who didn't mind sending us to another store if the product we needed was cheaper and ready to be picked up. We found a paneling product we need for the wall around the window five dollars cheaper at Paris Lumber and will return for it in two weeks. Nice folks at Paris Lumber!

Last trip we had a small invasion of ladybugs in the trailer. This trip we only found one. Bill said she was asleep but she looked dead to me. I think it got too cold.

The postwoman Ms. Shelby stopped to ask if we wanted to be added to her route. I guess we are official now as we can get junk mail. Seems businesses get walk up delivery so no mailbox is required. We look forward to seeing her again.

The lights in the store have been going out two by two so we bought replacement bulbs half price at Home Depot. They come 15 to a box which seemed an odd number to us but maybe there is a reason for this we do not understand. Two 8 ft bulbs fit in a fixture. We were down to 2 that worked.

KANSAS CITY COUSINS

Evelyn said she is descended from Tennessee Texas Graham Bowman of Bowman Hill, and from John Cassimer Perot. There was a legendary aunt in her family born Johnnie Walker, and the Harts have been friends with some of her Perots. The old family farmhouse burned down years ago near Kanawha.

It was good to hear from her. I hope she finds her way back to Kanawha.

+++++++++++++++

We stopped to visit with my parents on the way home. They have not been feeling well. Maybe the cold weather we have had is making it harder to get around and remember the order of things. I think they are looking forward to Spring.

Western Warehouse Demise Our Gain

2009-01-03T16:50:00.000-08:00

It is sad to see a store or series of stores close their doors. We were looking for a pair of boots and found three sets of shelving. The doors on our local Western Warehouse store will close forever within the next few weeks. We were blessed to purchase a sturdy tall cabinet with the Texas Star on the end, hanging racks and shelves on both sides for a fraction of its value. We will also have a lighted glass display cabinet to be picked up at a later date and a hat rack Bill plans to modify. The hat rack was a Christmas gift from our son Will and the delivery of the first unit was helped by Michael who can attest to its weight. We feel very blessed as this finishes out the shelving needs for the store except for one unit.

Our family hopes yours is having a wonderful New Year.

CHRISTMAS BREAK

2008-12-02T08:32:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas

from our family to yours

Thanksgiving Remembered

2008-12-01T20:02:00.000-08:00

My Grandmother never baked a turkey. She served chicken and dressing made from the left over cornbread and biscuits of meals past and a speckled hen from her own yard. We had red potatoes smothered in butter churned in her lap in a fruit jar. The screened in porch sheltered a table heavy with desserts. Berry cobbler with crust somewhere between flakey and chewy cardboard made with berries she harvested along the fence row and soaked in sugar. Dark chocolate pie so rich you could only eat a small sliver at a time. Washed down with heavy goblets of iced tea.

As the six grown children arrived with their wives and children in tow the yard filled with trucks and cars resting under the giant oak tree that dwarfed her little white frame house. The cousins checked out the old moma cat and counted her kittens and shared cautions like don’t go near the rooster “cause he’ll flog ya”. Then everyone was called inside to pray. Most of us didn’t hear much more than Amen cause we were twenty strong in a three room house but we bowed our heads and listened just the same. Then the kids went back outside to play until called so the MEN could sit down to eat. In her house the men ate first, then the kids were served and finally the women who had slaved to prepare everything, sat down to eat their meal, before they began the massive clean up.

After the feast was over adults reclined along the walls in cane bottom chairs like beached whales. All to full to make much conversation. My grandmother would take off her apron and sit down for the first time in hours. I know she was tired but she never complained. She would try to coax one of her sons to eat one more piece of pie but they would just tell her how good it was and they were just too full for another bite. The white cloth would cover the desserts and one by one the folks would leave for home amid hugs and goodbye tears. And that was Thanksgiving in Kanawha.

2008-11-30T17:21:00.000-08:00

The store front with CHRISTOPHERS sign.

Alfred Hitchcock sorta event

2008-11-01T17:25:00.000-07:00

This was a long extended vacation stay...Saturday to Saturday. We are trying to get a handle on whether we can get everything in place to open in July 2009. Truthfully, we just do not know. a person with store opening experience, which we will only have AFTER the event, would know how to plan and prioritize.

So Saturday finds us post Brookshires unloading at the store. The next morning I notice a swarm of something winding up the electric pole like a black snake, but I fail to mention this to Bill as we are heading off for Home Depot with do not forget list in hand. We shop and return to work. Our working and eating lead to a down time when we notice a large number of small black paper wasps on the front porch. This leads to a discussion of the swarm I noticed early on the pole. Then we see them on the back porch and all over the trailer. For three hours they surround the building, all 60 feet of it and hold us hostage. Trying to make light of it I suggest this might put a small cramp in our ever actually selling anything. Bill looks as me and we say in unison, Alfred Hitchcock's... The Birds!!! After sundown the wasps went back to the pole and that night it got right cold. I guess they were just looking for a warm place.

We had three visitors, a new neighbor and a passerby. Vera pulled up. She was on her way to get medicine for asthma. Her brother is helping Michael Wright restore his historic home on the plantation. We hope she is feeling better.
Jody stopped to tell us about her trip to Colorado to see the Walker relations. She and Gerald no sooner got home than they had their little 2 and 6 year old grandchildren come visit. She told us about her rheumatoid arthritis acting up. Still, she remembered to bring copies of the Detroit News for us. I don't see how she does it all, but we are grateful she does.
Billie came by and we got to hear some of her Kiomatia adventures. She is having some challenges. She was on her way to shop, see the doctor and get a haircut.
The M C Lester moving truck placed a home down the lane by the store. We look forward to meeting our new neighbors.
Several days into our stay we saw Houston drive by in his red and white van. It was good to see him driving around enjoying the beautiful Autumn colors.

We have a CHRISTOPHERS sign up. The right side of the building has trim around the windows outside and most of the inside wall finished. The back wall is complete. We outlined the wall that should seperate the utility area from the store using a chalk line Bill brought. The shelves for the chips, cookies, crackers, paper products, fruit, vegetables, beans, rice and noodles in bags are finished. We purchased them from the Texas Basket Company established 1919 Jacksonville Texas. Jacksonville has deep darker red sand and hills a bit steeper than Kanawha almost Mountain like as the Look Out Mountain sign suggested. It was a nice place to visit with friendly folks.

Back home, I ask Bill about some holes in the big steel cross beam at the end of the store building and he said he saw sky when he looked up. Another purpose for that trusty foam. We discovered another wonderful invention...liquid nails. Bill has been screwing and nailing every board in our remodel with a touch of wood glue to be safe. But liquid nails has become his new best friend.

Free is only good if it is functional. I found a chair for the store in our neighbors discards. Finding assorted chairs that have similar size and shape under $50 has been a challenge. This one had promise. Unfortunately the back was trimmed in real leather. I painted it with primer only to find it was still sticky after three weeks. Bill suggested I go ahead a put the finish coat on it and seal it with a clear poly something. The result was a dry non-sticky chair back. He was right! We are still short a large square farmhouse type table and four chairs, but well on our way to filling up the store.

We have no new store pictures due to not charging the camera battery.

2008-10-11T10:08:00.000-07:00

The new windows are in.

No longer a question of when...just how

2008-09-14T14:40:00.000-07:00

The Glass people did themselves proud. We have a wonderful set of heavy duty frames in place and are just waiting for the glass to arrive. Meanwhile the windows are boarded up. Buying anything especially a craftsman type service in the country is always pot luck. When the plumber came we had no idea of the details and knew instinctively not to ask. Now the window people came and we are pleased with the heavy duty product, but it was a total surprise as we had no idea what we were paying for. The electrician promises to be the same. When you are so far from the mainstream you are just happy they will come find your building.

Ike watered Kanawha down pretty good. We found four more places that leak in sideways rain. Probably have to let Bill loose with his can-o-foam again. No tornadoes, no lightening and tolerable wind made it a dousing we could live with.

Bill added shelves and I painted. We scrubbed windows and admired the new lock on the door. Bill cut away the mimosa sprouts on the side of the building beneath the 3x2 kitchen window. The only non broken glass in the store. The next day about the same time he was outside working the day before we heard a loud bang. We jumped up and ran to see what happened but could see nothing. The following day Jody tells us Randy Fennel our neighbor down the lane was mowing when his riding mower got congested and blew up. She mentioned the loud bang. We showed her the pellet size hole in the kitchen glass and the how did that happen mystery is solved. If Bill had been tree trimming a day later it might have been him not the window with a hole in it. We are adapting to unforseen holes, Bill took a dime size piece of clear tape and patched it right up.

Mr Hart came calling. He works for the Circle C and said they are farming on the north loop. This is a blessing for us. He remembered Aunt Jane cooking his grilled cheese on a brown piece of paper atop the wood stove at the back of the W E Boulware store. I remarked there were Harts buried in Kanawha Cemetery and he promised to have his Aunt in Desoto call me to get the Hart genealogy records I have. I look forward to hearing from her. I am related to the Hart family by my Great Great Grandmother Julia P Oliver's marriage to Thomas J Hart. Julia's first husband, James Sharp, who was my Great Grandmothers father, died in the Civil War.

Vera Hill stopped to say hello. She lives in the home Ambrose Boulware built, where the road takes a decidedly right turn. (The handbook of Texas says Kanawha is located in a bend of the Red River but this "bend" is a right angle!) She said they enjoy gardening and have landscaped to protect themselves from the 27 cars and trucks that have missed the sharp turn.

Ambrose and Opal Boulware's Grandson, Ricky Easterwood, of Novice is running for Constable pct 4 in Lamar county. He is just about the most genuine guy you ever want to meet so if you are in Lamar County give him a vote.

Billie Bell stopped and told us about the coming storm and her recovery from a triple bypass. She is looking pretty perky and thin too! We look forward to seeing her again.

Our new neighbor that purchased the two cabins on 20 acres stopped to say hello. His wife is driving to Plano at 4:30 am until she gets a job closer. He hopes to raise a few cows after he gets settled in. It was nice to meet him but only after he left we realized we had failed to ask his name. I am sure he will be back.

The postman stopped to say hello. Dave Griffis is the Grandfather to baby Kayla who is doing well and expected to have the last of her three surgeries this week. He lives in Detroit. A mail box that can not be whacked with a bat is on our list of to-dos.

We drove to Paris and checked to see what kind of plug we needed for air conditioning. Leah at the Sears store was very helpful even after we told her we were not buying anything. So we gave her our list for next year, and she will get a commission. It is so refreshing to find someone who understands customer service. We are looking at a refrigerated upright unit with a glass door, two small freezer chest units with glass tops and the two ac units she helped us decide on.

We are trying to determine what kind of emergency exit we need to meet fire regulations. I think we need a fire extinguisher and probably an inspection. No doubt a call to the fire department is in order. Another to-do

One of our inquiries to Kathy Korte told us Red River County it is under the State's jurisdiction. You will need a retail food operation permit. This permit is a bit over 200 dollars a year. She also sent us two sites that list rules about running a store in this state. A little bedtime reading I guess. It's a good thing Sandra is bringing my new glasses Monday:0)

We saw hunters setting up their camp trailers to prep for the deer season. A reminder Autumn is around the corner. Bill and I look forward to opening the grocery section of the store on July 11, 2009 but dread the time we must live apart as he gets our youngest through college in Cedar Hill and supports the store with what he calls "his real job" when it cannot support itself. It is both a privilege and a chore. We have not lived apart for 30 years so it will take some prayer to get us through.

Made in Texas

2008-09-07T12:44:00.000-07:00

We have contacted the Texas Basket Company and their sister site the Wood Factory for store shelving. They have responded with generosity and kindness considering our needs. We are excited to order several items from them and a trip in October to see Jacksonville that reportedly has those familiar rolling hills and red sand. Trucking rates have gone out of this world due to gas prices so we will save a good bit by hauling the shelf units ourselves.

We have another source for store products. Jennifer owner of Tangled Threads made grosgrain and gingham lanyards for us and has agreed to supply us with products she makes by hand. You can see her work on Etsy.

Not Frog Herders

2008-08-17T22:28:00.000-07:00

We made a quick trip to install the first of some security measures for the store. As usual what seems like s simple task became involved. The corner boards were not replaced when we did the face lift. We were faced with this being a wiring problem as well, so one day was spent installing three boards that were special cuts and required grooves and more to match the old ones which had justifiably rotted after 38 years. I can not say enough times how much more difficult it is to use typical nail/board applications where steel beams are involved. However, we now have this corner mended and one piece of a seven part security system in place.

The wire rack we found on our anniversary trip to Fredericksburg got a good scrubbing and a primer and coat of flat black paint. It does not look new but it does look clean. Something should be said for the scrubbing. I accidentally mixed industrial strength degreaser and ammonia...this resulted in a melt down of the paint and one layer of my skin thumb only. Be sure you label spray bottles or better yet discard anything left over.

The front of the posts got a few of the assorted objects we had hoped were an eclectic mix with an old/interesting look but not everything we bought took to the hanging so some wooden pegs are needed to support heavy objects with holes in the center.

Our son Will built some shelf parts and I assembled them with Bills help. Will's shelves will hold cleaners and paper products on one side and smaller food items on the other. We found Gorilla shelves for the right side of the store at Sams. They are both deep and sturdy enough at an unbeatable price. These will hold large bags of feed or other heavy products cheaper than we could make them from wood.

We found a source for small sturdy grocery baskets. They are as tall as the large baskets you find at Brookshires or Walmart but much easier to "drive". Versa Cart not only has the best product but they are allowing us to purchase just one so we can try it out and see what our needs are. Ginny Keaton is their sales person on line who can walk you through the steps.

We will be getting new windows in September on the 11th. Yes, 9-11...hopefully that date will not hex the whole process. We are excited about being wasp free.

We had a four inch frog come hopping through while we labored over the shelving. He was headed for the back door so we didn't try to herd him back out. We also think we have a mouse or something bigger so we left out poison.

The weather was unseasonably cooler. Unlike last years 100 plus days.

Thanks to his co-worker Mike, Bill installed an amplifier type devise to his cell phone in the hopes it would give us service in Kanawha. Unfortunately the results were somewhat undetermined.

Kanawha School

2008-08-08T14:20:00.000-07:00

Thank you to my mother who has a bare spot on her wall where I borrowed this picture of the Old Kanawha School that stood near the left side of the cemetery. This picture would have been taken in the early 1900's if my information is correct. If you can identify anyone in the picture please let me know. My Grandmother is the one in the center back possibly her graduation. I think everyone is frowning due to the sun in their eyes. I will share this picture by email with any cousin who would like a copy.

We purchased a cash register and I am in practice mode. Hopefully you can teach an old dog new tricks. We had hoped to find an old register that lacked the computer interface, but more than made up for it in nostalgia. Old cash registers are very expensive in relation to new cash registers which explains why ours is the latter.

Will and Mike are building pieces of the first of five shelving units for the store to be assembled on our next trip. Will has also taken on the job of building wall sections to be attached so they form the wall between the store proper and the working section of the store. We had to replace a section of fence in our back yard so we are recycling the old cedar boards for parts of the wall we need. It saves a little money and should give a nice worn look to the wall we could not other wise create.

We joined Sam's Club so we might buy items for the store grocery section, especially difficult items we need in bulk. Our Federal ID is needed to apply for our State Tax ID which is needed to apply for our Sam's Club membership. Kind of like the hip bone is connected to the leg bone connected to the ankle bone and so on. SAMS wants a detailed list of all items we will be purchasing and re-selling. That is no small task. It was kind of strange that we came out with exactly 99 items.

I have a respiratory infection that has sent me to the doctor for meds that say "may cause drowsiness". I have been in bed two days straight and finally today am feeling better, which brings us to what do you do when you are sick and the store needs opening? Something that may require a bit of planning.

We have a list of vendors who should supply the bulk of our merchandise. Some of the best prices have come from sources unexpected for example we will be getting quite a number of items from a candy store on line that just happens to sell many other drug related items at great prices wholesale. We also found a sample site that will supply smaller quantities of items that help us fill out the needs list for customers without breaking the bank. A school supply store has been a real find to help us with not just school supplies but other items as well all at prices we think are fair. Our unorthadox methods will hopefully fill our shelves when we are set to open. One advantage of being inexperienced is we have no idea what conventional methods are so our search for merchandise has taken us off the beaten path.

Not Goat Proof

2008-07-14T19:19:00.000-07:00

We were in Kanawha Sunday and Monday finishing up some odds and ends, adding another table and four chairs to the store and keeping an appointment with Mr Farris. We also solved some problems with space planning as well as prioritized some of the projects. Kanawha is still green in mid July.

Monday morning a four inch tree frog greeted us. He flattened his spring green body out on the glass door so from the inside we could see his tan undersides. He rode on the swinging door for several ins and outs seeming to not mind the motion.

Bill brought his new titanium bits and some experience from last trip that helped add more screws to the walls.

Mike and Will helped their Dad load the round table and four chairs in the truck so they would not end up on the highway doing 70mph in splinters. Then Mike spent a perfectly good day following us to Kanawha and unloading everything.

Mr Farris owns the Farris and Family Glass business in Paris. He traveled to Kanawha about 10am on Monday to measure the window on the side of the building and the two in the front of the store. The side window is a double pane but broken so it just needs glass. The two front windows are single panes and fit so badly large insects walk through freely. The suggestion by Mr Farris to replace them with 4 smaller windows is a good one which will make it much cheaper to replace glass in the future. They will cut costs when we run air conditioning and should be very well sealed. Bill ask him if he would be able to replace the lock on the front door for us? Mr Farris leaned back and smiled. He said yes he could replace it and added, "I have replaced this glass before".

When Cathy ran the store, a customer had a goat in a trailer. The goat got loose and ran through the door glass. "This door glass is not goat proof!"

On our anniversary in June Bill gave me the best gift. It was a large wire shelving unit red yellow and rust colored from some store past. For $25 it was a wonderful bargain so now the trick is to find a spot for it in the store. We hope to paint it with rustoleum and use it to hold bakery items, mostly bread.

We found the refrigerator and freezer units for the store so now we had to decide where they might sit when we order them probably in 2009. This sounds like a nobrainer, but you can not line the walls with every shelf and appliance and expect your store to function correctly. Plugs have been the determining factor in most decisions of the electric type.

We are going to use open shelving as much as possible so we have good line of sight. we set up several fake shelves so we could see how much light we might loose at what height. We hope to keep the store as bright and sunny as possible. The open shelves also save on building costs. Fortunately Bill has developed many carpenter skills he never knew he possessed. I trust him to build almost anything. We expect the layout to change as we actually get shelves in position, but for now the plan looks good.

Jody came by to visit, share some handy tips and get paid for mowing. It was a hard decision to farm out the mowing but what a blessing to come without mower and gas every trip. Because Jody does this work for us we have an additional project finished each month. Jody has also been a big encourager always with a kind word to get our lip off the ground and several of her handy tips have saved us money.

On the way home we stopped at a welding shop outside Greenville to gather some rustic pieces for the posts in front of the store. We love to shop at this homegrown business that sells stars, horse shoes, cow heads and more off dusty tables with the smell of burning torch to melted metal is just beyond the back door.

We were told Billie Bell has been ill. We will keep her in our prayers and wish her the best recovery. Her blog has been a real blessing to others.

FREE Kittens and a TORNADO?

2008-06-17T07:55:00.000-07:00

We were welcomed to Kanawha Friday afternoon by this sweet FREE KITTENS sign. Very tempting, but we are not quite able to have one just yet. Puffy tall white clouds dot the big blue sky, tall yellow wild flowers have sprung up in the pretty field across the street. Kanawha is quiet and calm.

Our youngest son, Will has a friend who was flying out of DFW for a trip to Vietnam, but Will our last college student is here in Kanawha. Mike our next oldest has survived another year teaching High School Geometry, Algebra and Testing Skills. He too has volunteered to help us out at the store.

A trip to Home Depot for eleven sheets of plywood and we are settled in to enjoy a good nights sleep. In the AM hours we wake to a long continuous roar, the 16 1/2 ft trailer is rocking side to side and rain hammers down. Bill yells TORNADO??? and we all grab shoes and run for the store. Just as we open the door of the store the glass in one of the front windows blows out toward the porch from the change in pressure. For several hours we huddle in the back section of the store. Soggy, scared and thankful to be alive.

The next morning we see a large tree limb down behind the store, the yellow flowers are bent and mushed in diverse directions and a section of our neighbors fence is down. God also spared our neighbors farther up 410, who lost power and had many trees uprooted and huge limbs twisted off. We duct taped a plastic bag over the broken window as a temp fix. We have much to be thankful for Woodland to Jonesboro.

FATHERS DAY Bill got Great Stuff pressurized foam. Akin to silly string, I knew it was a hit when he was seen passing the window with the long nozzle pointed toward the road side of the store. He was just looking to see if he could find one more thing to use it on. Will on the inside removing the last of the old AC vent and Mike helping Bill fit a board sealed with foam and screws so it is air tight. Giving a man this foam is very entertaining until the stuff expands into large bulbous blobs that harden and look ick. Fortunately once it cures the excess can be trimmed off neatly.

Mike and Bill also found a combination of duct tape and foam stopped water from pouring through the breaker box every time it rained. Imagine our surprise the first time we observed that event!

Inside Will became our go to guy with the skill saw. He probably did 90% of the sawing for the whole trip. Will and Bill covered the entire back wall and eight feet of the side wall as well with plywood. Bill broke 8 drill bits on the steel trying to get holes for screws. With nine screws a sheet there is a lot of screwing to be done.

Mike tackled the mirror in the restroom and the shelves we cut but had not braced in the grocery section. He then used the cedar boards Will sawed to build a bench for the front porch. If all that were not enough he also burned a good bit of the wood we had stacked near the road. Fortunately the wind died down and the ground was wet.

With all the help we were able to get more done in this one trip than about three of our others where Bill is pretty much on his own.

We could not remove the shed out back as the tree limbs and poison ivy were in the way. Jody is going to spray it good for us and we will bring some limb removing tools to try and get to it next time.

We enjoyed seeing our cousins Mary, Bobby and their friend. They were taking a drive to see where they used to live and how things have changed. I hope the three of them will come back when things are cleaner and more inviting.

It used to be DON'T MESS WITH TEXAS but on a bridge going home it said DRIVE CLEAN ACROSS TEXAS.

Deconstruction and Patches

2008-06-11T08:28:00.000-07:00

We have been blessed to find Oklahoma cousins. Don is a Walker cousin who also connects to our family through Mary Ann Thompson who is the mother of our branch of Boulwares. His branch of the Walkers is through his grandmother Laura Decima Walker called "Deci" and her husband Cleatus Atticus Devenport. Deci was my Grandmother's sister and Cleatus grandfather was my greatgrandfather's half brother. Don has filled in many blanks for me and our sharing notes has opened up a whole new set of paths to follow north to Victory Cemetery in Oklahoma and south to Kaufman and Hamilton counties in Texas. Don has been researching this family for many years and his generosity is much appreciated.

We also have cousins in North Carolina! North Carolina is suffering a heatwave. Loretta has been a wealth of information with her extensive genealogy she so kindly shared with me. Her branch of the family links back to ours in ways we are just beginning to fully understand. Her Eva Ringwald married Oscar Jefferson Walker, who is the son of Augustus D Walker who is my greatgrandfathers brother. The Ringwald family is German and Carl Frederick Ringwald (Eva's Grandfather), who first settled in Kanawha was born in Baden Germany, his profession being a tinsmith. Ringwalds abound in the Kanawha Cemetery. Loretta has several other surnames associated with this area in her family research. Thank you again Loretta!

It was eye opening to see the difficulties NASA has in regard to the restroom on board the space station. It made our challenge seem small, at least we have gravity and proximity.

The pre-trip list includes another junk store damaged find. It will hopefully be part of the wall we want to build to seperate the storage/office area of the store from the eating area and a surround for the Ben Franklin stove we want to install later. This large piece is very heavy and the gas gage on the truck will probably be reflecting that weight. To lift it on the truck will take the four of us. It will empty out a wall in my dining room and for that I am grateful.

We are gearing up for the next phase of store work. This project involves removal of a steel shed in disrepair. We are not excited about what critter may be lurking inside or removal of a good deal of trash, but cleaning up one more eye sore will be good for the soul. However, pulling something apart with a truck, now that's something the sons can get into. Bill is hoping the steel will match up with the main building so we can use some of it to patch holes. The second phase of this trip is that patch work needed on the exterior walls that may require use of Gorilla Glue, Duct Tape and screws. The last part is the covering of the inside walls with plywood most especially the back wall and hopefully some of the side walls as well. We are bringing muscle in the form of sons, Mike and Will, to help get sheets of plywood in place. These are big projects and it is not clear how much we will actually finish but we have goals just for the sake of the materials list.

On a sad note the Montgomery family has lost their father. Norman's wife is the daughter of Ambrose and Opal Boulware. I know he will be missed.

Peanut Shell Covered Floors

2008-05-19T20:13:00.000-07:00

We loaded the first of three tables for the store. This one has a checker board top. It is good to see some of this in place and even better to have a spot to sit down for a meal.

The posts are covered with by 12 inch boards six feet tall. The remaining cedar was patched and we now have a nice place to hang lanterns or whatever light we can find on each post. The signs we made that say "come on in" and "sit a spell: were finished by our son-in-law Chuck and our Grandson Clint. On second thought we only hung the "sit a spell" sign as "come on in" seemed the wrong message since we are not ready to open.

NOTE: If you are thinking about purchasing precut letters for your store signs, remember to choose carefully as the fonts need to be close in the other signs you make to give a uniform look. The font we found closest is Cupid, and it will work nicely tho not our first choice for store lettering.

The red metalic sign above the porch from the metal building installer was painted out white and three cedar boards are in place over the entry to hold our CHRISTOPHERS letters. Bill is going to give that a whack with his dremel. I will match the font on my print program so he has a pattern. Now we need the cedar to age so it matches the old cedar we left in place.

It took 16 hours to construct the new posts, cap them, and seal, prime, and paint. The sign we had planned would have been 24 feet long and three feet high. Bills eyes rolled around in his head at the thought of trying to build and put it in place so the new plan is much more cost effective and serves the same purpose with out hiring a crane and Bill is breathing a lot easier now.

I want to make a comment here about primer. If you have never used primer it may come as a shock to find the stuff just will not wash off. It gets a death grip on your hair, lens of your glasses, all manner of exposed skin but most especially your hands arms and of course your shoes. I have taken a decided dislike to primer. I came home as usual with a good bit of it still attached. About the time it wears off I will be back for another coat of it as the store is only about 1/3 painted. I know it is small and petty of me to complain but it is one of the least favorite jobs I have and one of the few I am qualified to tackle.

Our daughters family coming to help us out was a special treat. Charlie is feeling much better as he continues to improve. He said he will come help us out in the store once it is up and running:0)

Michael Bryant came by on his bike. Everyday was rain free and it was a good thing as every pool, pond, creek and lake is full to the brim! He shared memories of the cucumber picking that used to start and end at Vann's store. He explained how the pickles were sorted by size and pickers were paid more for small ones. It was good to see him again. Michael told us he had a line of credit at both stores in Kanawha at the ripe ole age of 12!

We stopped to visit with my parents on the way home. Moma shared some about Mrs. Fennel who passed on not so long ago.....Daddy mentioned a man named Garland Johnson who used to do work for him. He said Mr. Johnson broke horses and farmed. Those were good ole days.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

We have encountered a sewage issue that threatens to stop our store plans. It has consumed most of my time for the better part of two weeks. We are faced with the only three legal options we are aware of.

Traditional septic systems require 10 acres to install. If you need a refresher just look at the postage stamp size piece of property the store sits on and you realize this is no option at all.

Aerobic a system like this has three chambers and converts your poop to water that sprays out over your lawn. It uses electricity and requires an additional electrician all only if approved. The cost for this new fandangle system with all the bells and whistles is about 10 thousand dollars by the time everyone gets their share. The biggest drawback besides the bank heist we would need to pull off to pay for it, is just like anything that does extra stuff all those bells and whistles can break and need constant attention and as the one site said you might as well buy the upkeep policy because something likely will go wrong.

This seems an unlikely choice even if we could get it approved, as we plan a covered picnic table, horseshoe pit and outdoor checker board for the very limited green area we were blessed with. I do not think folks would take kindly to being sprayed with waste water no matter how treated it was.

First two choices are not available to us and the third is not nearly as desirable as the first two. However, it is an option that allows for opening the store. Out of desperation we sent an email request to the nearest college (A and M) engineering program asking if they might challenge their engineers to come up with a solution for us. That would be choice number four.

At this point we have not heard from the college, even to decline helping us, and are following the number three route. We love Kanawha and its residents. Becoming polluters is not an option for us. I will share our solution on this blog as soon as we find one.
http://weblife.org:80/humanure/chapter6_3.html
http://www.sunnyjohn.com:80/indexpages/emailcontacts.htm
http://www.letsgogreen.com/residential-composting-toilets.html
http://www.oasisdesign.net/compostingtoilets/book/index.htm

On a cheery note we learned urine is not a polutant as it quickly disapates. Poop however is a whole nother matter.

We owe a special thank you to Jane of the TCEQ and Rodney who is the Authorized Agent of Red River County for helping us come up with a user friendly answer.

Did you know it is illegal to poop in your yard? This would have astounded my grandmother who used an out house her whole life.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

This is from rootsweb genealogy site about the old country store:
"More than just retail outlets, community stores once served as social centers, post offices, election places, saloons, and much more. You have probably either heard about or experienced neighbors sitting around the pot-bellied stove, with sawdust or peanut hulls on the floor, and discussing the issues of the day. The store owner often would provide all that a person (usually a farmer) needed that could not be produced from the land, and frequently on credit terms."

SILO, what silo, I don't see a silo

2008-04-21T16:12:00.000-07:00

NO RAIN! It was dry the whole time we were in Kanawha but did cloud up a bit Monday as we packed up to leave.

We went for a walk down 410 south of the store and saw a possum who seemed to have died of natural causes. The fence on this land was most likely built by my Great Grandfather George W Boulware. It is like stepping back in time, with every post different and planted by his hand. The Easterwood family, my cousins, have kept this original homestead in the family. While we were working on the store, Ricky Easterwood stopped to visit. He is always a welcome sight. He showed us a Caddo arrow head!

We also got a visit from Pat Smith who said he and his wife built a home north of
Kanawha. Pat offered to remember us if he comes across any shelving. We appreciate the offer. Pat is originaly from this general area and plans to retire here.

We spent all day Saturday building something with no name. Bill says Silos are round. I said are you sure? We have yet to identify it and I take the full blame. Not everything that looks good on paper looks good built. Those were my husbands words as he gave up trying to make me feel better about it. We can not get rid of it as it cost a good deal of our time to build. I think it will be pushed to the back side of the store and used as a cubby for our jackets.

Sometimes I think God just wants to get us to a place we should listen and maybe this strange object we built is just the push we needed. Because this "?silo?" did not turn out, we pulled one cabinet forward and one sideways to close the gap it should have filled leaving us with a better footprint for the counters.

Bill got the counter tops on, the backsplach covered, fixed the paper and twine caddies I built. I built most of the caddies and grouted the tile in the coffee cabinet. Bill filled the small ditch that ran along the north wall of the outside and threw away quite a bit of the vines there as well. So we thought it was a productive trip even if the silo idea was a time consuming expensive dud.

Jody came for a visit and confronted with the unusual task of "naming that cabinet" had quite a chuckle. She told us about the Wildlife Preserve down the Shoal Road. We decided we needed a drive so we took her directions and found REDBUD to be all she had suggested. If you come to Kanawha don't forget to take it in, either coming or going. It is kinda like a drive through zoo without a cover charge.

Monday traveling home was time to visit my parents. We learned where the Kanawha school was located. It disappeared long ago, but may help explain the number of teachers living in Kanawha in the late 1800's to early 1900's.

We will return this next week for a few more to-do's but NO MORE SILOS, not round or any other shape.

Texas IS a state of mind

2008-04-17T12:40:00.000-07:00

We are undergoing change and it is all because our son Stephen introduced us to Tim McGraw. Tim is a web designer who has offered to help us launch our christophers on-line store. He has been very polite about it, but I know I am a headache beyond his wildest imagination. With a truck load of opinions and ideas but no experience or understanding I keep filling his email box. He has lasted a week. He must be one tough Texan. If he survives this experience I will highly recommend him and you will be directed to our new store on-line.

+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+

I have been blessed to hear from another cousin, Michelle Ann. She lives in New York! This is our most distant cousin yet! She is from the Brown/Chambless families that settled Kanawha. Not only did she provide a connection between our Walker families and the Browns but she shared many beautiful details that help bring these families to life.

This is some of what she had to say: "...my Great Great Great Grandfather was Dr John Albert Chambless born in Forsyth Monroe Georgia... He traveled to Texas in the 1850's where he met Mary Virginia Brown. Perhaps they met because he and her father (Dr. Charles Porus Brown) were both local country doctors... My Great Grandma,John Albert and Mary Virginia's daughter, Mary Winifred Chambless ...was also a nurse and one of the first graduates of Paris's nursing school."
[Thank you Michelle! for these connections, and much much more you have provided.] Michelle is also sending us a picture of Dr. John Albert Chambless to add to our collection of growing materials for the store. She is a genealogist!

salt of the earth
One thing is becoming evident, the pioneers of this area spawned more than their share of doctors, nurses, teachers, ministers and social workers. They also had more than the average number of fraternal twins and practiced the Methodist faith. There were a considerable number who lost loved ones (husbands, fathers and brothers) in the Civil War.

+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_
Please keep Michael Bryant in your prayers. He has serious heart problems.

We will be in Kanawha for the usual four days, building that silo which involves a good deal of duct tape. The weatherman has promised no rain...we'll see.

Handle Side Down

2008-03-30T11:03:00.000-07:00

The store got a good ceiling vacuuming and scrubbing with degreaser. The three new fans are clean and operational. Turned on a lazy speed they should give the desired effect of times gone by and provide a much needed breeze. Bill and Mike were covered in pounds of dirt dobber nests that were concealed behind the wire covering a vent we will not use. Just when we thought the last of the nests had rained down a new vent full would descend. Mike hoisted a shop vac on a ladder and balanced it while Bill suctioned the vent. The fix was cardboard covered in plastic wrap and sealed with rows of black duct tape that disappeared behind the scrubbed and disinfected grate. With three fans, two vents, many square feet of dirty ceiling and two ladders Bills tendency to be accident prone had to surface. He "forgot" these things which all hit him in the head as he slid the ladder around: a paring knife, large shears and a tape measure. I have threatened to just bury him as I have no intention of taking a man with a paring knife sticking out of his head to a hospital emergency room. You know God watches out for him, because it hit handle side down.

The restroom got another coat of plaster mix so it is looking mostly finished on the walls. It will be clear whether this is complete after it dries and we watch for cracks.

Another of those odd cheap broken pieces of furniture from our favorite junk store was converted into a coffee condiment cart by tiling the top in black irregular tiles we sealed. Actually this is the side of a bunk bed set that housed a desk unit but by turning it sideways we will have a nice place to put our all you can drink/serve yourself coffee pot with enough room for cream and sugar. Underneath is a spot perfect for a trash can and a storage shelf for spare trash bags. It will need grout and casters for rolling installed on our next trip.

We got a visit from our cousin, Paul, who lives across FM410. Paul has a new baby girl named Kayla. She is doing well but needs our prayers as she is in Children's Hospital and not quite ready to come home. Because Kayla is a citizen of Kanawha she is very special!

The grounds around the store looked wonderful. Jody mowed and cleaned so our work at the store was all focused on the interior. Bless her for all the good she does as we enjoy the papers she saves for us and keeps the grass cut.

Cathy has leased the land across the street from the store to a family. They are carefully fencing and gating the area for future use.

At the end of the day Mike drove to Paris to visit with Steve, kind of hoping for a poker game but had to settle for a little brotherly visiting.

It was a positive trip with a good bit of progress thanks to Mikes help. Of course it rained- both going and coming.
_______________________
On a sad note we got a letter from our cousin, Bobbie. She told us her husband Vic had passed on in late November. We continue to pray for her and her family.
____________________________
I have emails from Judy sharing family history about the Bowman and Perot families that settled Kanawha early on inclusing portions of an obit published Feb 5 1928:
"...My mother was Sarah Josephine Perot. Her father was James Remy Perot who was born in Kanawha, Texas, on the Red River; he was the son of John C. Perot (and had a brother John C. Perot, also) who was a resident of Kanawha (after migrating from Campti Louisiana) and the husband of another Kanawha native, Sarah Mahala/Mahaly Hill Graham Bowman, who was the daughter of Tennessee Texas Bowman, a true pioneer

One of the early residents of Red River County, who rode horseback from
Tennessee to Texas when a girl 10 years old, Mrs. Tennessee Texas Bowman, 96,
died Saturday afternoon at her home on her farm near Kanawha.
Mrs. Bowman, who before her marriage was Miss Tennessee Texas Graham, was born
March 31, 1831, near Perryville, Tenn. She came to Texas with her family in
1841,...

Named for the State of her birth and the land of her parents' dreams, Mrs.
Bowman died in the house that she and husband, James Newton Bowman, built in
1869. Logs brought from Indian Territory were used to build the Bowman's first
house at Kanawha when they moved to Red River County in 1866. Three years
later the log house was moved away and used for a granary...

Mrs. Bowman in survived by a son, Robert Campbell Bowman, who lives near
Kanawha; six grandchildren, thirteen great-grandchildren and one great-great-
grandchild..."

Thank you Judy.

No Break for Helping Hands

2008-03-24T13:02:00.000-07:00

Two of our sons, Mike and Will spent most of their Spring Break at the store in Kanawha.

They emptied six feet of steel shelving from our garage and hauled it to Kanawha which true to form rained on them as they unloaded the nuts bolts and scraps of steel. The vibrations shook the shelves apart and they had to be rebuilt at the store.

The guys also painted the wall where the shelves were installed so part of the stock room is now complete. In addition they removed all the old ceiling fans. The fans we purchased for the store will hang lower and this should help distribute air.

I got an Email from Jody saying water had come up over FM 410 both north and south of Kanawha due to about 8 inches of rain in two days. I don't think anyone floated away, but it was something to keep in mind as we travel back and forth this Spring.

We will be in Kanawha for three days this weekend to finish the fan installation as well as build a silo if there is time.

The silo will fill in a 1 x 2 foot area at the end of the animal section adjacent to the counter. This will finish the right wall up to the counter area.

The silo/shelves will give some much needed vertical space to hold tall thin items like rolls of wire.

The silo effect on top will be accompolished by using a concrete form we found with our low budget and 12 inch diameter in mind. The silver effect for the dome shape will be strips of layered duct tape. At least this is the plan going in.

Meanwhile:

Our daughter, Mary Frances has offered to shop for some of the much needed items for the store. She is a Canton wheeler dealer who with her husband Chuck can dicker and make deals I can only imagine. She is looking for the last 7 chairs we need to provide seating for customers. (Three of the six chairs we have now are called mule earred chairs see picture above.) A scale that looks old but weighs correctly. A meat/cheese slicer for our bologna sandwiches. A cork gun. A metal fly swatter with a screen swat spot. (You know the kind that maintains a few residue fly parts from each past use) and the list goes on...

Timothy has volunteered to paint a map/mural sort of thing on the back wall of the store. He is too busy to begin now but we are excited about him starting on it once his other work slows down. Tim is very artistic and the store is very
needy:0)

Bill is rooting some old fashioned single deep throated althea (picture above) to carry to the store, hopefully a bit of the bridal-wreath and several red buds. These are bushes my Grandmother cultivated in her yard. She kept grass out of her yard and neatly raked the sand at the base of each plant.

8 feet of peanut butter and jelly

2008-03-03T17:44:00.000-08:00

Saturday was scrumptious with 75 degree sunshine toasting us, Sunday was 40 mile an hour gusts of wind whipped rain-enough to blow your socks off and Monday the chill sat in with 4 inches of snow scheduled to blanket Kanawha.

Fueled with three peanut butter and jelly sandwiches followed by a fried spam chaser Bill constructed another 8 feet of the store. I shudder to think what he could have done on a nutritious diet.

Country Etiquette
My Kindergarten through third grade years we lived in Eugene Oregon and each summer we drove over the mountains and came home to Kanawha where we got another years worth of hugs and my Grandmothers pound cake. When we reached Red River county a kind of hush fell over the car and my parents began talking in whispers. Moma had this glow like we were on holy land and my Daddy started giving people the finger.

Now we had driven over 2 thousand miles and he had not waved, saluted or other wise indicated anything, but as soon as we hit FM 410 he was raising his pointer finger at every truck or car we passed and the occupants of these did like wise.

So now years later when we bought the store and began traveling to Kanawha frequently I tried to explain this to my husband.
Now Bill is giving me a hard time about this, as he is a quiet guy who doesn't like to draw attention to himself. If you give someone the finger in Dallas you may be a victim of road rage so after he got comfortable with the friendly custom in Kanawha he began returning the one fingered "howdy", but not without some reservations and detailed explanation about exactly which finger he should use.

I know there are other special places on this earth besides Kanawha. Places where almost everyone you meet has a friendly finger salute to pass along, but they are rare and priceless. If you come to Kanawha, come friendly and remember to give on coming trucks the raised pointer finger, a nod of the head and a smile.

2008-02-27T14:19:00.000-08:00

In a past blog, we said we were searching for melamine plates for the store. Excited about something I can do from home, I was prepared to order the plates, cups and bowls for the store only to find they were made in China. The Texasware Melamine once made in Oak Cliff, a Dallas Texas suburb, is vintage among melamine collectors, but like all the plastic plates we found they are now mass produced in China.

http://planetpooks.wordpress.com/category/oak-cliff/
So I began looking for pottery or anything that would fit our store and keep us in our budget. I discovered one, ONE, brand made in the United States. Bill was not too interested in the dishes, he was probably thinking I was over focused, but after three stores and only one brand made in the United States he had only one thing to say: "ORDER THEM, before they are made in CHINA!!!".

If you want a peek at them you can see them here:
zestydishes.com
and here:
saveonseconds.com

If you need dishes...hurry. These are lead free, dishwasher safe and sturdy.

We will use cloth napkins.
You can read about cloth vs paper here:
http://www.care2.com/greenliving/paper-towels-and-napkins-vs-cloth.html

When you go shopping, turn the plates over and see where they are made. It was no small thing to find made in the USA. Don't even get me started about cloth napkins...they are made in India!

COUSINS
I can never say enough about finding lost family. Connie wrote to share her branch of the family with me. The Chambless and Walker family lived simple Godly lives leaving memories for their children's children to pass on. What a blessing to share stories of walking in that red sand as children. Thank you Connie, your memories are priceless. Here is some of what she had to share about her childhood visits to Kanawha:

"We rode horses several times. Cathy (her twin sister) and
I had a chance to feel like real cowgirls when we were allowed to
ride Shorty, an old and gentle horse. Papa and Grandmother Walker
certainly lived modestly. I think that they must have been some of
the last to get indoor plumbing. They got water from the well,
washed clothes in a big black kettle under a tree, and cleaned and
cooked their homegrown chickens! I remember a big fruit tree orchard
and vegetable garden.

On a visit, we found what was left of our grandparents' home.
Long ago, one side of the house was lined with Grandmother's
beautiful hydrangeas. The little one room church was still in Kanawha
at that time. We walked in and thought about the times we had
attended church there on our visits. The singing may have been a
little off, but the singing was saintly! We have a message that Papa
gave at one time in that church. Dad said that Papa taught school at
times. My sister has his school bell in her third grade classroom in
Childress."

FOUR DAYS mostly in MARCH

This week we will continue to build a cabinet for tools, auto parts, and another for pet and live stock feed and supplies. If this sounds like too much for one weekend you may be right, but hopefully simple construction will find us mostly done.

I'd fire him but there is a BURN BAN

2008-02-04T17:13:00.000-08:00

Our four days in Kanawha were very productive. The potting bench came mostly together, the wall is built including a almost finished barrel for garden tools that is missing a slat or two, black screen door handles are on the kitchen cabinet doors and 5 new shelves finish off the grocery side of the store.

Bill and I are to that stage in our lives where saying what you mean and meaning what you say are sometimes laced with "new" words only a two year old could create. Both of us understand exactly what we mean and mean approximately what we say and neither of us can understand the other.

Saturday I fired him. I knew exactly what I needed him to do, but was unable to explain it in any form a human could understand. He was sure he would never understand and had his own ideas about what might or might not work which he was also unable to explain to anything female. I felt compelled to take action before one of us burst a bloodvessel. So I fired him.

He owns the store, pays the bills and has done the vast majority of the labor but seemed relieved when I said "YOU'RE FIRED". It was like someone defused us and we just sat there happy he could let go of the paper we had both been furiously revising over the last 30 minutes. I began calling him the new help and he responded in the polite voice you use on your boss even when you know what you're doing and the boss is wrong.

It worked wonders for the relationship. As his employer who held the hire/fire power albeit given to me by him, it was easy to explain what I wanted, and he found it easy to say "sure". I think we may get this store together without a divorce if this ploy holds up to future trips or at least until they lift the county burn ban.

Kitty came to see us only once. A large skull of some animal we neither could identify was lying near the store. It rained twice. We missed seeing Jody who always comes bringing goodies, gifts or news. The trees are covered in curled brown leaves they refuse to let go of. The wind has a nip in it that reminds you there may still be cold to come. Thirty-six days left in 2008 and my one employee is asking about his benefit package!

FORTY DAYS in 2008

2008-01-04T08:50:00.000-08:00

This year should be very rewarding visually as the construction of the interior cabinets and a wall are on the agenda. We have 40 days...kind of like Noah. This amounts to 4 days or one long weekend each month for ten months. 2008 should see a considerable change to the front posts of the store and some trim work on one side. As the housing market slides so do the prospects for the store. Rather than take a grim look at our projects we will take this bleak outlook as a challenge to our ingenuity and count our blessings as we trek on. After all, if God blesses us, we can not fail. If he does not, no amount of determination will help us succeed. So that being said, we rely heavily on the Volunteer Army (our children) and the prayers of our supporters.

Our first major project for 2008 is a GARDEN section for the wall that is crooked bent and houses electric boxes we need access too. Flex space planning has been one of the more difficult challenges as we must be able to change with the needs of our community. The plan is for this area to transition to CHRISTMAS as the planting season ends but provide for seed displays, space for gardening tools and bags of unknown size weight and number most of the year.

Planning has consumed a great deal of our time. This is likely due to the inexperience we have at almost every task required to renovate, plan and open a store. This year we will seek professional help for accounting ie tax purposes as well as establishing a tax number to purchase wholesale items and seek information concerning laws rules and state mandates for those serving food, gasoline, cigarettes. All of these are free for the asking if you can just find them:0)

http://window.state.tx.us/taxinfo/sales/questions.html
http://www.tceq.state.tx.us/about/directory/region/reglist.html#5
http://www.tceq.state.tx.us/permitting/registration/pst/ast_ust_notification.html
http://www.tceq.state.tx.us/assets/public/permitting/rrr/forms/0659.pdf
http://www.valero.com/ProductsServices/Wholesale/CustomerForms.htm

Sunday was a fleeting trip to measure again...cut trim and murder the roots of that tree that is causing concrete cracks, and destroy the roots of the poison ivy that is rooted deeply in the flowerbeds beside the store. Bill made a small dent in the root issues and will likely be down for another fast trip to do more of the same.

Bill's cure for those pesky tree roots is boiling salt water poured into a fresh cut into the trunk. He read this in an online article. It is cheap easy and environmentally friendly. Now if it just works.

The poison ivy cure seems like a last resort. Again it is friendly to the environment and seems fool proof however it is a lot of digging, must be completed in the winter and does not help the area at the tree line where the vines are especially happy.

Christmas 2007

2007-11-24T15:59:00.000-08:00

http://www.newsweek.com/id/76929

article about rural stores selling unhealthy food

Listen...the leaves are laughing

2007-11-05T18:10:00.000-08:00

If we are in the path of a tornado I'll be under this very heavy cabinet Bill built. It is by far the sturdiest thing he has constructed. It looks pretty good too. It provided a base for our 25 dollar bargain desk top. It is the first thing we have installed on the right side of the store and the last construction this year. the top has a sliding compartment where we can keep pre-season cards. To get the finish to match the top we painted a dollar can of opps brown first and let it show through the black top coat this created a fairly close match and the used comfortable look we want.

The door frame for the restroom got put on but will need a finish coat of white paint. The choice of lumber with bumps and bruises helps it blend well with what was already on the baseboards from 1970. We owe some of the character of the store to Vann who used heavy sturdy wide boards to build with.

The baskets are salvaged school locker room finds. We will use them to display fresh produce or packaged dinners. We hung them on the grocery side after a fresh coat of crisp green paint.

Lots of painting on the shelves was done and left to complete but all and all it was a good trip.

We went for a walk and saw a doe and her fawn. They were about a city block from the store just lounging by the lane. It was a beautiful sight. We collected crimson leaves that floated down from the trees. They were chattering all crisp and curled as they fell.

We had a visit from a friend of Lonnie Ham's who said he is not well. We will keep him in our prayers.

We added Camel Lights cigarettes, bean dip, motor oil and plumbing supplies to our MUST CARRY list.

It didn't rain! The weather was perfect, but as we left wind began to gust, probably relieving the trees of the rest of their leaves. Kanawha in November is picture perfect.

burnin rubber

2007-10-08T19:01:00.000-07:00

This flattened stop sign was in Woodland four miles south of Kanawha. The hay trucks two stories high, their long beds outlined in neat strips of white Christmas lights thundering past our little store like tyrannosaurus rex made us keenly aware it is hay-haulin time.

We stretched our wall of grocery shelves from 8 to 16 feet. Running out of board and sweat we quit six shelves short, but the grocery out side section is mostly done. The turning of the end shelves sturdied up the unit and we are confident they will not be the cause of any grocery fatilities.

We will skip to the opposite side of the store in November and leave the aisle shelving till last so we have room to work. The next section is office/stationary/school supplies. We frequent a wonderful junk store that sells parts and damaged bits of furniture. The top portion of this next project was a $25 dollar bargain we found and with a bit of tlc think it will be a wonderful addition to the store.

Ray Spencer dropped by to ask about the store. He sells campers in Paris, but owns land nearby. He ask if we plan on serving breakfast at the store. We already have two breakfast items on our menu but this interest may make us think about a third. We were told this has become a popular deer hunting area. Guess we will have to consult our resident pro hunter Clint about what hunters reload, run out of and eat. Out Grandson and his dad Chuck have been hunting deer for years now.

We drove Woodland to Detroit and saw the Good Hope Ranch has started drilling for something. Oil maybe? The rig is quit impressive. The Circle C which has put short horns on their property in Kanawha, has been painting their fence posts white. In another move, they have been fencing some of their near Detroit property with a taller more dense fencing. Not sure if they are keeping something in ot out, but not the usual cattle fence we see on other ranches. In any respect, it is certainly a warm fuzzy feeling to see activity.

We celebrated my parents birthdays. They were born on the 10th and 12th of October so we just have one big party. Combined we needed about 160 candles, but settled for 96. It took three of us to light them all, the cake got so hot the candles melted wax on the melting icing. we sent Timothy to carry it in to them never thinking about his long beard! I think he got away with just a little singe. My moma's comment, "wait till next year". Our Granddaughter Danielle took this "perfect" picture. She is an honor student with athletic ability but maybe she has a bit of photo genius too. Danielle and her mother, Tammy, helped make this family gathering come together.

It rained, my camera got wet, I pulled something in my back that shouldn't be pulled, Bill got blisters and splinters, but this store is a labor of love and like all good things it is at times a bit painful. I can not remember seeing so many blue butterflies. The sasafras is turning red. The outside of our traveltrailer has mildewed. And did I say, it rained again.

Jericho

2007-09-26T16:03:00.000-07:00

Our son Timothy spent his Saturday in Kanawha completing the roof for us. It is outstanding like everything he does! I defy anyone to have a whiter roof or at least until the first dirt lands on it. Thank you again Tim.

We called the Glass people in Paris and got an estimate on replacing the door on the side of the building. I hope each of you lingers at the door of your favorite store and marvels at the beauty of the glass chrome that swings your way. One thousand three hundred ninety five dollars...approximately. On the up side the things are nearly indestructible and are installed with weather stripping and framing if needed. BIG OUCH! Putting a commercial glass door on the side of the building will not only let more light in the nether regions of the building but will make entering much more pleasant. We want to stay consistent with the front of the building door we were already blessed with so will match it as best we can when we are ready to replace the existing solid door.

Our trip on Monday was our first attempt to cover the walls on the inside of the building. This is important to close all the holes so air conditioning becomes a possibility. The solid back on the shelving will also look better and keep merchandise from sifting down in the waffle steel walls that are there now. The problem is a difficult one because it requires a material that can attach at only two places where there are 2x4's. That is not such a issue until you realize shelves can not be free standing in a store where they might take out a customer if they fell on them.

On a happy note: The paint lady at Home Depot where we shop was outstanding. She took the square of metal Bill managed to gouge off the wall and matched the paint so well we think we will be able to touch up the ceiling with it later. What a blessing. She also gave us two paint sticks an opener and glued an extra formula to the back of our sample! As Bill so aptly put it, "We don't get this kind of service from our Home Depot in Cedar Hill".

After two days of wrangling with plywood, nails, screws and one whacked thumb we got the 6 feet of shelves up and though not attached to the wall at the top yet are fairly strong as long as they are empty and no wind is blowing. Bill also created a wonderful mop/broom display table for the corner where we will have cleaners and dustpans for sale. We didn't cut anything off and nothing fell on us so it was a great trip.

While we were there we enjoyed the mowed and sprayed grounds around the store thanks to Jody who out did herself. In addition she shared some of her ant killer and blueberry muffins with us so Bill was happy. Jody told us the grandaughter of Blake Boulware has moved into the house across the way. Blake was the son of George W. Boulwares oldest son James.

The Allen and Sons truckers came by and talked a bit. They were in Kanawha hauling logs. They said they would be back for ribs. Bologna sandwiches were requested. This requires another look see at those slicing machines we thought were out of our reach.

Mowers parked across from the store and for two days they mowed neat swaths down the country lanes near the store. One of the mowers came in and ask if we had a box for his kitten. He was careful to poke holes so it was cool and told us his wife loved cats and would be pleased when he returned home. Another potential customer!

Speaking of cats. Bill said the moma cat who hunts near our store is bloated or expecting. What are the odds? Kittens to look forward to:0)

On the way home we stopped to visit with my parents. We gave them our progress report and they ask questions and shared memories about the store when Charlie Hart owned it in the 1930's.

It began to rain. It has rained almost every trip we make.

That's not SNOW

2007-08-26T19:28:00.000-07:00

Timothy and Sandra were in Kanawha on Sunday painting on the roof and back corner of the building. They had to squeeze it in between rain. Tim said he will finish up on another date. He used an industrial shiny white to reflect the sun and give our store top a crisp clean look. We are so excited to get this done. Thank you!!!

We are sad to find out we have no septic tank but glad to quit looking. Jody and Gerald Pardue came over to talk to Tim and they told him they may be able to help us with a solution that is economical and requires a bit of back hoe help from Stephen for installation. We seriously thank God for cousins and kids.

Michael and Timothy made pictures for us. Someday when we are all settled in and the store is finished maybe we can look back at these and chuckle.

WHEN is the question

2007-08-19T13:01:00.000-07:00

Friday night Bill and I made a quick trip through lightening that made the sky look like it formed a jigsaw puzzle inorder to get a quick start on the last bit of painting on the cedar and trim. We finished it up and headed home not even stopping for a visit with my parents because the thought of driving through that again was more than we wanted to deal with.

While we were painting the mail lady stopped to say hi and ask when the store would be open. It was good to see her friendly face but we have no answer. At one point we thought we knew but experience has left us sure we do not. We did promise we would post a sign on the door with the future opening date as soon as we knew when that might be. I hope no one is holding their breath.

We have a list of to-dos as long as all our arms put together and everytime we tic one off we find three to take it's place. I am an obsessive list maker. But with no store resurrecting experience I can list all I want the cows will just not be comin home till they are good and ready.

My having an agenda for each of our work days has left a long list of unfinished todos in its wake. Some items will be last minute but most of the inside store construction primarily covering the inner walls with shelving and constructing the free standing shelves for the asiles will be done on our next long work weekends ie 6 months. While we are between these work days we have purchased several sturdy furniture items for the interior of the store.

Fortunately for storage purposes our last two children are moving out giving us a bedroom for storage and also one for the sleepovers that may happen occasionally:0)

We continue to be on the outlook for the best recipes we can find and talk about how to pull this transition off continues. Somehow we must transition from Bills job to the store so all kinds of how to do this ideas are floating around to be discussed and discarded. Somewhere in there is a college graduation for our youngest and training for us on how to run a store.

I think it may be possible to predict our store opening by the end of next spring but that too can change.

NO ONE WANTS TO OPEN THIS STORE SOONER THAN I DO

The inside of the store will contain 3 tables and 13 chairs. There will be a cabinet for kitchen items, one for linens and clothing items, one for office/school supplies. The remaining areas are shelving, peg boards and baskets and pails filled with items such as garden, hardware, cleaners, tools, auto, feed and pet supplies. In addition we hope to have a small toy display mounted on the wall and a book case with books, movies etc. Just like Mr Whittle remembered, "some of everything".

Groceries will have an area all to themselves. I know the new stores have you zig zagging all over the place to find something for dinner but I hate that ploy to make you spend more time in the store. If you want to sit a spell we will be tickled to have you, but no need to keep a feller who is in a hurry to get home. It is just honest and fair to make a store easy to use. Hangin' out should be a choice.

104 and climbin'

2007-08-13T17:37:00.000-07:00

When it came right down to it we just couldn't remove all that history. So we cut out all the rotten wood and replaced it with cedar that is as close as todays cuts would allow. Seems that during the past 40 years boards got thinner and narrower.

Arriving at the trailer Friday evening we had the unpleasant surprise ants had found their way into our trailer and about 3AM Bill is hopping around the trailer yelling ants are in the bed. I flip my pillow over to show him it is all in his head and there are three ants doing a square dance so we spent a good bit of the night stripping the bed and spraying until the fumes put us to sleep. At one point Will who is in the bunk above us leans down and tells us to

turn out the light and go to sleep.

That sent Bill and I into a fit of giggles to think we have been telling children to turn out the light and go to sleep for years and at last they are having to tell us!

Mary Frances is training her horses for the State Fair Showing, Stephen has been so busy he can't look up with all the rain causing double the mowing and Timothy is working many weekends trying to get painting done now that it finally dried out, this left Mike and Will to help us out.

I can truthfully tell you I thought we might melt. The weather man forcasted 102 but the thermometer said 104 and we believe it. At some point we were brushing on half paint and half sweat. Needless to say we did not get everything finished. The plan is now shifting to next weekend when we hope to finish the painting. We will only have 2 days so I doubt the posts will get tackled.

Jody stopped to say hi and brought some zucchini bread. She has offered to slay the poison ivy. I think she is a professional so it was a wonderful offer. She said Gerald's mother was sharing family information with her so we will be able to fill in more blanks on the family tree. I look forward to her information. Bobbie Easterwood has also offered to supply information to some of the areas of her family branch. The Easterwood family has been a blessing to us. We continue to pray for Vic Easterwood's health.

Family Facelift

2007-07-26T19:32:00.000-07:00

We are contemplating what a new face will require. Hopefully we can complete this transformation in one weekend but considering our past experience we anticipate a mostly done situation at best.

Here is the plan:
We will remove the old siding from the front of the building. This siding holds many fond memories for our children and it has set off quite a debate.
Do we try to rescue and treat it? Do we replace it with more cedar siding? The answer is within the siding itself. It is very rotten, having not been treated for a long time and not savable. The price of new cedar siding is out of the question. This leaves us with new siding and we have opted for real wood not man made.

Before we can put on the new siding we will put up insulation and the new siding will be added over this. Then we need to frame out the windows and if we have time cover the posts with 1x12's.

All this bare wood needs caulked, primed and painted.

Estimated costs run around $500.00. Home Depot sent us a 25 dollar gift card and no interest on charge purchases coupon. Our orange card had faded to a sort of dingy peach color so they sent us a new one of those too. When I was a kid there was a song
http://www.lyricsdownload.com/ernie-ford-16-tons-lyrics.html
...It went something like this...

16 tons and what do you get

another day older and deeper in debt

Saint Peter don't you call me

cause I can't go

I owe my soul to the home-de-pot store

OK, I changed it a bit but you get the idea.

I am studying marketing and purchasing. I walk in Kroger and Walmart trying to learn by observation. Just how tall should a shelf be and where should it be placed. Does a store that sells more in a day than we will purchase in 6 months really have anything in common with our store? Truly I probably learn more from what a consumer needs to know than what the conglomerates are doing.

Like this 10 things your grocery store doesn't want you to know article.

http://health.msn.com/print.aspx?cp-documentid=100165289&page=0

It is refreshing to know our baskets will have fewer germs and be washed more often than any large stores.

I have been trying to come up with a friendly restroom sign. Something that says:

One at a time,

both sexes,

one at a time,

you need a key and

it is up front

where you need to sign for it and

oh by the way,

please leave it clean and

if you are from the city

we have a whole FYI about septic tanks for you to read and

we hope you have not wet your pants by the time we actually give you a key.

still trying to chew what we bit off

2007-07-16T17:54:00.000-07:00

Seemed like a simple straightforward task. We had Michael with us for help. However the third day came and went with the inside front wall still not near finished. How can painting one big flat wall barn red be so difficult? I guess the 99 nails in the wall, sanding, priming and two coats to cover were daunting enough on hind sight. The removal of the hog wire which had three coats of paint where it wasn't bare metal and the spray painting both sides which took an unbelievable 2+ cans to cover each side in sizzling heat seemed to last forever. I think it entertained the citizens of Kanawha though. The hog wire had to be cut with the grinder, another slow task not considered when we allowed four days. If you look closly at the goggles the guys are wearing you will notice one pair is usually worn playing racketball, a bit of improvising on Bills part:0) The framing out of the inside window was way easier to draw on paper than to execute. The two panes of new glass are still on the floor because Michael suggested they were safer there, so will put new glass in on another day. Seems empty buildings attract stray bullets like a bee to honey. There is a good bit of white painting to do on the 4 inch trim around the door but most of the difficult work is finished. One nice feature of the new window frame is it is installed with screws which makes it much sturdier and removable so washing the glass is easier.

We got a visit from Mr Easterwood, a cousin. He told us he hunted rabbit and squirrel all over Kanawha when he was as young as 10 and visiting his Grandparents, Ambrose and Opal Boulware. It reminded me about the banana candy Opal always kept for my mother. I guess we will carry banana candy. Opal was like that, always kind and willing to go out of her way to please. It was the tradition of hospitality that drew people to their store and made them linger. He also told us about the original store on our site burning when Charlie Hart owned it. He was a welcome sight on such a grueling work trip.

We waved to Gary Stewart as he passed on his mail route Saturday. Gary is another cousin, Grandson of Ernest Boulware. Gary has gone out of his way to make us feel at home and it is much appreciated.

We did check out the Sears store, where we priced AC window units and other appliances we will need. Window units should run about $400.00 each if we can find them on sale. Our goal will be to prep holes to set them in next spring so they can be purchased before the heat hits in the summer. Sears is one of the few places that will service appliances in this rural area.

One GIANT STEP

2007-06-25T21:13:00.000-07:00

This is the color of the building as Tim sprays. Unfortunately the shot of the whole building did not come out. So will share that one next time. Tim said satin sheen is more durable. He also told us some sealers can not be painted over.
After the building was painted we had a steady stream of neighbors drop by and say they liked the color or it looked good.

I can tell you it is a giant step toward our opening the store but one of many needed to finish the lengthy list of to dos we still have.

Stephen is searching for a door man for us. Bill is still waging a loosing battle with the poision ivy that just keeps coming back. We are trying to find a 30 by 30 space on this property to build a cottage that does not cross over a water line, electric line or pole, gas line, sewer line or obstruct our ability to do business. It will require a miracle only Mother Theresa could manage but still there is hope.

Bill has some vision a neighbor will sell us a plot of land close to the store but I am focused on the store that seems to have it's own problems stacked too high to see over.

In addition to the miracle of paint we got to eat the Bar B Q Bill made and it was wonderful again. That is three successful Bar B Q Ribs he has produced. Tasty enough thinking about them makes you hungry and yummy everytime.

Men like to BarBQ

Men will cook

if danger is involved

John Wayne

How many brothers fit on a log?

2007-06-25T21:06:00.000-07:00

Exterior Paint 101 and Four Brothers

2007-06-25T20:33:00.000-07:00

THANK YOU Timothy! Also thank Stephen, Michael and William who all contributed hours of their time and received little more than a scorching sunburn for their work. What would we ever do without the generosity of our children? We are very blessed.

To paint a 38 year old steel building Timothy tells us we will need to power wash it after every bolt is tightened and sealed. Of course he actually does most of this labor himself but he does get a bit of help from his three brothers. Power washing begins on the roof and finishes on the sides. This is followed by spraypainting the sides and back. The roof is saved for another trip and the front of the building must be delayed because of new siding materials the humidity is really high and the heat is intense sunburning my arms and I am on the ground manning the camera trying to look like this is helping.

The three brothers help with verbal commands and jokes while Timothy does a professional job in record time. The Dad manages to clear the sides of grass and trash. He also hauls off the third but not last truck full of trash. He burns limbs and wood for two days and we are beginning to see the mountain shrink.

Dish Issues

2007-06-21T10:31:00.000-07:00

How many Christophers does it take to unscrew a ceiling fan? Three, one Dad to hold the screw driver and two sons to turn the ladder. This coming trip is all about our son Timothy organizing us into a paint screw tightener sealer washer crew. His own little family army of parents and siblings. As a side venture we hope to get the old ceiling fans down and possibly new ones up.
http://www.acemart.com/merchant.mv?Screen=CTGY&Category_Code=C9
Some of the planning for serving food involves plates bowls and cups. So on our 26th anniversary we were crusing the asiles of resturant supply in Arlington. We were sticker shocked by exactly how much those plates cost! The bill for a divided plate 11" by 1" deep and bowls to match with a complimentary color mug for coffee runs over 500 dollars with out tax or shipping added. OUCH! This is double what I had budgeted based on what dishes for a home usually cost.
http://catalog.carlislefsp.com/dinnerware.html
Here is a break down on our conclusions about what to buy. A round plate 9 to 10 inches with several serving dishes for sides is not only difficult to pass and carry it is far more expensive almost double. The question of what will fit on a plate and what colors look most appetizing or coordinate with the store or keep our country look were all considerations. The mugs were easy. A big mug easy to fill and carry, comfortable to hold and classic style made it a no brainer but you would be surprised at exactly how difficult that can be to find.
http://www.servu-online.com/Bar-Refrigeration-Restaurant-Refrigeration/Commercial-Refrigerators.asp
Pottery was our first choice but plastic won out when we considered dishes in the sink to wash and possible dropped or chipped. The color was set when we found some crock style pictures in several sizes. They have a speckled finish with a deeper color inside and will help make the plastic seem a bit more homey, we got one size for the syrup and one for the BBQ sauce we have not yet developed. Please note we bought Texas/US/AMERICAN when ever possible and European as a second choice. No made in China if possible.

We had to consider the size of each meat and side as well as color so the food looked appealing. We discovered the ribs we have settled on were large and needed a good deal of space, pickles are long, slaw can be mounded and beans run everywhere, so inch deep plates were needed. We decided on cloth napkins that are generous, country colors and can double as a bib and will wrap the fork and spoon. The cloth napkins will also help soften the plastic plates.

Some ways we will save money initially are no buns or sandwiches just a bread (type as yet undetermined). All sugar creamer and other sweetener will be in a server on each table we found on sale at the rest-sup store. No glasses or urns for tea (plan to add these after we get store up and running). Menu is set at certain items we will always serve (while other items will come later reducing costs of what ingredients we will need on hand and hopefully have a few excellent items).

We have reduced the amount we need to spend on ref and frez units by half after discovering some nice smaller units we plan to refill as needed and will definitely help with opening the store where we went from over 4000 to over 2000. Great savings!

The never ending saga of the missing septic tank continues. We continue to dig and pray alternately.

The paint we are using on the store is a whole subject by its self and I will get to that with pictures after this long weekend. But think space and beyond.

The Fathers Day Anniversary and Bills upcoming Birthday were covered by ordering these items: 18 quart roaster oven, 12 cup food processer and unique waffle iron. I do not think the Amazon people have their act together and will avoid ordering from them again. Polite but inept would be my verdict. Saved a good deal of money by sticking to white and black appliances that will hopefully look clean. Costs about 200 dollars, another owie!

Have abandoned the idea of staining the floor even with professional son labor that costs hugs and all the Dr Peppers he can drink it is just money we don't have.

We are testing the ribs on our paint crew. Bill has prepared them twice and had is chewing bones and begging for more. But this is our first real test as kids at home are easier. Big kids and Grand kids verdict are most telling for future as their taste buds change once they leave home.

Steppin Up

2007-06-13T09:26:00.000-07:00

Michael and moma were at the store finishing up painting for the overhead and counter cabinets. We put in one long day and a few extra hours. But the cabinets are getting there. With a country look the trick is to be worn but not dilapidated. Kind of like old blue jeans and knowing when they are cool and when to recycle into a pillow. These cabinets were close to a pillow as you can get but a tub of wood filler and sanding till you choke does wonders. One of these cabinets was Van Brock's original counter and it made us glad to save it. The Brock family is intertwined with mine on so many levels.

The David L Brock family settled in Kanawha about 1895. He was married to Lucy Hulsey both born in Georgia. They had seven children. My grandmothers oldest sister Swan Elizabeth Walker married Henry Washington Brock, David's oldest son. Another son George Reese Brock married Battle Boulware, my Grandfathers older sister. Still another son William Davis Brock married into the Walker family. His wife Maud Walker was my grandmothers cousin. These good families are buried at Kanawha Cemetery.

Research about whether we need a partnership or sole owner is going slowly. There are advantages to both. Sometime between now and next year we need to resolve the issues.

The cooking what to cook how to cook it and serve it is more complex than we first imagined. Bill experimented with a BarBQ rub that made us all hungry for more. We are trying to weigh these different aspects.

1. Cost to make vs what someone could resonably be expected to pay.

2. A product that is somewhat original and difficult enough someone would not likely cook it for themselves on a regular basis.

3. Something we can consistantly do without crying and screaming or giving up.

4. Foods that are healthy after being prepared.

5. A way to heat and cool foods on hold for customers.

6. A way to keep food sanitary but visible.

7. Food laws and regulations.

We will not be frying food though we know Cathy's burgers were very popular. The doctor says bake, broil, grill and boil. Since Bill and I anticipate spending 12 to 14 hour days in the store we must be able to eat this food also. God bless Cathy's fortitude for standing on her feet all day, besides we know the Novice burgers are somewhat famous and we are not here to compete but to offer a choice.

Billie Bell was right about that pile of tree parts we have beside the store. It has been too windy to burn them and we do not want to be known as the couple who burned down half of Kanawha. Trying to start this store while living three hour drive away is like trying to give birth with out being pregnant. I want say it can't be done with adoption and all but it takes twice as long and the interim time sure leaves your drawers hangin out for everyone to see.

I am trying to collect pictures of the folks around this area in cluding Kiamichi so we can display them in the store possibly have some genealogy records to share with anyone interested. I have about ten years of searching combined with what some other generous people have given me. I owe a great deal of my success to those who shared their labors of love.

We went to see my Aunt Jane (King) Boulware before we left. She is still such a pretty thing even at 94. I know she misses Ernest. Me too.

In a few days we will converge on Kanawha with a face lift part one in mind for the store. Our son Timothy will be painting the store top and sides. The face will be later.

The Sink is Sunk

2007-05-22T16:46:00.000-07:00

We sank the sink and it works fine after the plumber and his trusty sidekick finished. Every trip is a trim, spray, mow, weed eat trip. This one included some burning as well. Will had an allergy attack and had to quit early but every single bit of help is appreciated. The hole where the mower is resting contained a whole nest of large Wolf spiders who did not take kindly to the mower invasion.

Michael is not holding his head because he got whacked with a board he is saying ...
DUH, we coulda done it that way! As you can see Bill and Mike got the cabinet top on with the hole cut and a sink sunk. This was truly a miracle and so fast too.

A good deal of Bill and Michael's time was spent putting the backing on the sink cabinet. We bought some kitchen and bath paint that should help keep it fresh looking. That painting part will have to happen next time.

We discovered several interesting things...the overhead cabinets are not hung evenly over the window which had us splitting the difference when it came to sink placement. The overhead cabinets will stay crooked as it would be a monumental task for 4 strong men to just remove them and that many more to put them back an inch and a half is not worth it. We stopped short of the second sheet of board that will finish off the back splash and window casing, but it is a difficult but doable task for the future.

The cabinets under the sink were scrubbed, sanded primed and old paint covered with the light brown we are using. We left the old aged shelves and plan to fill them with baskets.

We had a visit from Mr and Mrs Pryor. They invited us to their church and shared some of their history with us. Both natives of Red River County they purchased land near Kanawha in 1973 and after many years working in Dallas retired to their property in 2001. They used to eat in Kanawha when Van Brock ran the store.

We had the sad occasion to see a young man named McCoin hit a tree at the turn in the road. It is a big event when an ambulance, two wreckers, the Highway Patrol, The Sheriff and a fire engine all come to Kanawha.

We had a yellow stripe cat and a white with grey patches cat come into the yard to hunt. We do not know who they belong to but are very glad to see them visiting.

A Bob White family has taken up residence across 410. It was so comforting to hear them call one to the other with great confidence there would be an answer. Bill has taken up bird watching when he is not spraying wasps or poison ivy.

As usual we are both so stiff we can hardly walk. Actually Bill is so stiff he can hardly limp as he stubbed his toe and walks like Chester on Gunsmoke. We have determined we can only put in about three grueling days of this labor intensive work before we freeze up and can't move.

This trip we started several projects we will finish next time. Sometimes the thinking it through and try as you go phase take so long the fix part doesn't happen as in the cover up the pipes in the bathroom and repair the damaged wood on the cabinet.

June is going to be very exciting as we hope to gather the children and grandchildren to help Timothy paint the outside. This face lift will make a distinct impression for the better.

Before we left I tried to wash off as much dirt as possible and we drove to see my Aunt Jane Boulware in Kimatia. On the way we debated where Scrap used to be. I think it may have been at my Aunt Minnie Peterson's old place that sits on a hill to the right of 410. My Aunt Jane is in her 90's and still she is pretty as a picture. She is very quick and her mind is as bright as she is. I apologized for not calling. Our cell phone doesn't work correctly in this area. She was kind and welcomed us. She has a lady helping her out, I think her name was Charlese, who is very sweet. We could not stay long but I just wanted to tell her I loved her and would keep her in my prayers. She remembered Bill from Uncle Ernest's funeral.

Michael has volunteered to work at the store some this summer. We are excited to see so much progress until we see how very far we have left to go. Still it was wonderful to see a functioning sink in the kitchen area.

We feel over whelmed with so much kindness

2007-04-25T19:00:00.000-07:00

We were rescued by our daughter Mary Frances and her husband Chuck who brought our Grandsons Charlie and Clint. They came bearing burn barrel gifts and cut down one tree that was too close to the store and one sequoya sized red oak that had fallen years ago and was somewhat petrified. It was wonderful to have so many helping hands and of course the hugs, encouraging words and company were priceless. We felt loved and very grateful for all the help.

While Bill and Chuck were moving limbs Mr Houston came calling. He said he was born in 1922. He told them years ago a post office had been straight across the road from the store. He was very friendly and informative.

We had a visit from Michael Bryant who kindly loaned us a prob to help find the septic tank. Unfortunately gravel was poured over the sand out back so the prob kept finding rocks. We appreciated the generous thought anyway. And it was good to see him again.

Tuesday John Shores came and he made short work of the bathroom fixtures and water heater move and installation. He is not just a professional who does excellent work but he is a kind man too. He wouldn't even take money from us until he has completed the kitchen sink install. Again we were blessed. Mr Shores wife is not well and we promised to keep her in our prayers.

Billie Bell stopped by to introduce herself and wish us well. It was good to finally meet her. We look forward to seeing her again.

Mrs. McCoin came calling after she finished helping Mrs. Crutchfield. She promised to be our customer. It is always a happy day to hear someone say they will buy from you even if you haven't opened your doors yet.

On our visit to Paris Bill got information from Stephen on where to buy propane. This was very helpful.

Bill used his new burn barrell once before we had to leave. I think he just had to give it a try. He also helped me roll a big stump from the redwood Chuck chopped onto the porch to be used in the store later.

We covered the front of the cabinet that faces the front door with chicken wire and moved the other cabinet to the U shape we think will best serve our needs. It was difficult to remove the old contact paper, scrub shelves and drawers, remove old formica top and sand and paint but the work was very rewarding. Everytime we looked outside at Chucks chainsaw cleared sunshine view and everytime we looked inside the restroom at the bright white fixtures which function as well as they look we got encouraged.

paper bag brown

2007-03-26T14:56:00.000-07:00

The camera was recovered Sunday as we checked out the cabinet Mike and Will worked on for us. We have a picture Will took of Michael and a shot I got of Will as he lectured me about the cash register and inventory.

The cabinet looks really good in it's new shade of paper bag brown. We will use this same paint for quite a bit of the inside shelving and counter top area. it is the color we want Tim to paint the outside.

We are finalizing the placement of walls and shelves which have been drawn in so many different shapes and widths I can not say how many, but on Sunday we drew in the final version on the concrete floor with chalk and it made a few things clear. We had not left enough room for someone even with a small cart to navigate the asiles. So we enlarged them to 4 feet not three and we also had a few places mismeasured which actually worked to our advantage.

We drove to the Walmart in Clarksville and looked at the cabin samples Mr Hines told the boys about. We could not get inside but were thinking we would ask about prices/floor plans when we saw him next.

Bill sprayed the poision ivy again. But we do seem to be winning this battle. Some bulbs had come up probably from Cathy's efforts. There is a pretty red bud in the flower bed that is also too close to the store so must regretably cut it down too. It is small and should not pose much of a problem.

The store is beginning to change. Thank you again guys.

just imagine...

2007-03-15T12:58:00.000-07:00

Two sons 17 and 25 single full of well you know what and alone in Kanawha. There were three things they were to get done for us.

1.sand prime paint a long counter that is topless and backless.

2.find dig and follow the sewer line to hopefully a septic tank.

3.remove old wood from porch beams.

When the labor is free from children you love one out of three is not bad at all.

It came a torrent of rain and had them inside trying to stay dry and not blow away which led to some interesting conversations and lots of laptop computer games. They did find the sewer line which should be very helpful when the old folks try to dig it up next week. They got the cabinet in pretty good shape for a top/back and touch up next week. Also folks job.

All in all they had some good brother time that included a poker game with Tim's Harley buddies and Stephen's friends. There is the beard challenge where they are all four trying to grow a beard. Tim seems to have the corner on this one. Tims beard is bushmans dream. Michael is looking like the devil with his red pointy chin one and Will looks like a Wolfman with his werewolf version. I have no idea where this will lead or how it relates to the store but should be a deterant to anyone thinking about robbery. I have not seen Stephen's yet, that might be for the best.

A man who owns some picture pretty 20 acres in Kanawha came by and talked to our two youngest sons. He has a deep fryer, metal table and other cooking supplies for sale but we will be roasting and baking food. Our tables will be sturdy wood versions so we capture an era gone bye. He did say he is a builder of cabins and wanted us to see his samples in front of Walmart. Possibly something to check out. I am sure the impression the guys left since they were into their third day of no bath was one to remember. No one in Kanawha has seen us clean since we bought the store as everyday has been a work day. I hope we can live that stinky image down.

All in all the guys had a good time and we got some work done that is one step closer to JUST IMAGINE...opening a store. That was one L O N G cabinet and with many coats of paint to sand through. Thank you Mike and Will! You done good!!!

There were some pictures camera man Will took but they are lost in a sea of dirty clothes at the time of this post.

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Meanwhile back home, Bill removed the old uneven tiles in the center of the rectangle table and he discovered too late they were glass and very sharp. I sanded it down between serving on jury duty and the big storm. The red stain we put on it is to mimic the wood on the round table we will also be using in the store.

We want to put wood pieces back into the table and make a checker board so it can be played on. Nice addition to the store if it comes together.

=================

Mary said Chuck will cut chop and haul the two trees in question at the store. She said he would not need any help unless they were sequoyas...I am so glad because this is one more thing we have been very concerned about. I know Stephen will be sad we had to get rid of the tree that is beside the store but its roots are tearing up the concrete floor, it is in the way of the cottage we plan to build on that side of the store, and it is a sweet gum which is one of those trees that has balls and Bill likes his trees without balls tho I can't say why.

Just call me Noah and Delay not Tom

2007-03-08T12:37:00.000-08:00

The 410 Water Supply will turn on the water to the store with a deposit of $110.00. We expect this to happen before the end of March 2007.

We now have three monthly bills:

store payment, electric and water.

So far with some answered prayers and a few lifestyle changes we are staying afloat.

---------------------------

The Income Tax Man

Seems the work and expense of the store will be tallied up when the store actually opens. This delay makes that interim time expensive, but it takes the burden of trying to file bits and pieces for several years off our shoulders. We bought a portable filing system with pockets to keep up with costs trips and other information about the process. I got this information from the IRS number I found on line for small businesses.

the Plumber cometh

2007-03-07T08:26:00.000-08:00

We followed the pipes from the store outside and found the kitchen sink drained into the flowerbed. That was just a foreshadowing of things to come.

We have not found a sewer line but more importantly we have not found any sign of the septic tank. Our concerns about its condition have changed to our need to know whether there even is a septic tank.

It is just the two of us making a quick trip during the holidays. Bill says, "I don't have a tape measure". Forgot to pick it up as we left. And a few minutes later we are standing hip to hip in the restroom admiring the two pieces of chair rail high paneling we got on the wall last time. When he says, " I also forgot the blades I need to cut the panels". We reposition tummy to tummy and I said, " shh hear that". We stand silent and he says, "what"? and I say, "exactly". He looks at me and says,

" you love this place don't you"?

I say, "lets hunt the sewer line".

So we try to track it down and wonder if we ran over it with the tractor. Still no septic tank we can find. Bill stands next to the cut off so we can make a picture indicating where it is.

I promise to hunt a plumber. Actually I wrote Billie and she emailed back Mr. Shores name. She never used him but said his name came from my Aunt Jane so couldn't be a better recommend than that.

Stephen our oldest son calls him for me and we set up an appointment in February.

He looks at half the work we need done that will cover the restroom fixtures enabled and says 1200. That is double the money we have set aside for this work so some scrambling has to be done. We are impressed he will do a good job and the excitement of progress is helping us get back on track after the holiday lapse.

He gives us direction about finding the sewer line and septic tank and then with a knowing look in his eye he says You know there may not be a septic tank and as if to read our minds...I don't do anything with septic tanks.

We get some more of the wood and trim up in the bathroom. Bill does a poorboy version of venetian plaster with premixed plaster and a gallon of gold oops paint and it is looking soo good. The ceiling and walls seem to be shaping up nicely tho there is still a good bit to be done. I prime and paint the outside of the restroom in a barn red. It takes three coats but is so refreshing to see a change. I think we are bringing the country colors we dreamed about inside. All that time on the HGTV channel may actually have had some benefit.

Mr. Whittle comes calling. He tells us a story about him being a little boy and the old timers pulling his leg and sending him into the store my grandfather ran in Manchester. He said he bought a cork gun for a dollar and they told him Ras was buying cork guns for 5 dollars! Looking for a profit at age 6 he goes to ask about selling his cork gun and of course Ras tells him he isn't buying cork guns.

We will sell cork guns

so some unsuspecting customer can hear this history retold:0) Cork guns have gone up in price considerably! Mr. Whittle promises to come back. He is related to me through the Vickrey's.

We try to find a way to insulate and seal the walls. Bill sees some panel insulation that could stand alone behind the bead board paneling we envision. It is expensive and not as good an insulator but he reminds me we already have two steel walls with blown in insulation so this might be an answer. To attach it we might use glue and nails at the top and bottom where the only wood seems to be placed. It is a plan that needs some thought. Will run it by the sons when they are out at the store again.

---------------------------

March 10-13
Our two youngest the teacher and the in college to become a psychologist are going to spend a bit of their spring break working on the store for us. So on the 3rd we drag the trailer down and set it up so they can camp in it while they help us out. Bill puts an anti theft devise on the hitch and don't have any real worries about leaving it with the Good People of this community.

Their to-do-list looks like this:

1.wash sand prime and paint one of the cabinets (paper bag brown)

2.remove the old wood off the porch posts

3.follow the sewer line out to find where it leads

These things will be a tremendous help. These two are the least able when it comes to this kind of construction, but they are enthusiastic and willing to learn. Timothy may ride his Harley out to check on them for us.

-----------------------------

Addressing the question of credit extended or not...we took a vote and our children are split on it. Our sons said they will become bill collectors if we do extend credit however several alternate means of helping people in our community are suggested. One of which is unique to us. Timothy says you can give gas credit to someone in a crisis and for 10 dollars of gas you hold their drivers licence until they come to pay you back. It is something to think about because it would be hard to say no to someone in dire straits.

Just one more area where our inexperience may get us in trouble

so needs a hard and fast answer to both help the community and not bankrupt our business. Our daughter says absolutely NO CREDIT, who would want to try to collect a debt from your neighbor, friend or family? She has a point.

------

Now to get the water turned on.

STUCK is a four letter word

2007-03-06T06:59:00.000-08:00

We went to Home Depot with our orange card and the promise of no interest for 12 months. By the time we left we were considerably poorer. Bath fixtures, sheets of paneling, chain saw, water heater and cleaners. With what we thought were 6 months of supplies we calculated a 200 dollar a month payment to HD would leave us ready for another trip in the summer. At this point we no longer ask where the money is coming from. Credit cards are like that. Without the help of our four sons we would have never been able to load haul and unload all these items that are heavy and difficult to maneuver

Now we have pulled our trailer down to Kanawha and just the two of us are camped out. We plan to cover the problem walls in the bathroom with paneling. Looks easy, just put sheet on wall and hammer like they do on TV. Only there is the light switch, the corner which is several degrees off center, plumbing pipes a plenty, wall paper that is no longer attached in places and a wire that sits on top of the wall.

We decide to remove the old paper first. After several hours of removing one inch strips at a time we decide that what is under the paneling and stick on tight will just add to the insulation of the room. Loose pieces removed and cleaned up we try to decide which wall to do first. We narrow it down to one wall that has no odd angles only one plumbing pipe and no outlets. Bill decides to take it into the restroom and we immediately have a problem getting a 4x8 sheet through a 2 foot doorway (Yes, we have a very small utility closet size door on restroom. It is not in the budget to change this.) He wedges himself in and begins to call me. Not wanting to be stuck by himself no doubt. Winnie the Pooh has nothing on us. After about 10 minutes we manage to get the sheet of paneling into the restroom and the door closed. We are in a 4x6 area with a 4x8 sheet wedged between us and we can neither get it on the wall...ceiling slopes down, and it needs trimmed, nor can we get it back out the door. Bill begins to get that look in his eyes and things start rolling out of his mouth that should not decorate the cloudless day above Kanawha. Another 10 claustrophobic minutes and we pop out of the room like a cork both of us getting a little heated and sweaty. Bill slices off a chunk o panel after careful measurement in 4 places along the wall ceiling to floor. We begin the task of getting the paneling back into the room and behind the door but this time I go in with him and the panel follows. It took 5 more minutes to shove me out again so he can get it wedged and then he calls me and wants me back inside. Guess what, after another 10 minutes with only a curse or two holding the paneling in place, it still does not fit. We manage to get it back out the door and it is three hours into this ordeal and the paneling is winning. We are getting pretty mad at each other by this point. Mainly because there is no one else to blame. We make one last attempt and the wall is so off center we can not make it wedge in the spot but our efforts to do so have it stuck tight. Bill looses it and has a fit the size of Pennsylvania, his native state, which just makes it that much more difficult to get out of the room. I am not a carpenter he wails.

I am sure we will be found in the restroom next week

when we begin to smell.

Neither one of us has the strength to get out of this room and there is only one thing left to do. Laugh. After we catch our breath we make a hole big enough to slide through and finally the panel is out. We cut it in half and decide a chair rail effect is just what a 2 ft door demands. We worked into the night and got two panels up.

The next day we have a good bit to pray about. We begin measuring for the next panel and a neighbor, Robert Hall, stops by. He welcomes us and offers all kinds of help we are too embarrassed to take. For example he says we can off load our trailer at his facility designed just for that purpose. We thank him and know it was very kind but our poop will travel back to Cedar Hill where we will off load it at the state park. We have a season pass. We can't let the first relationship we have with a future customer be smelly like that. He does tell us a wonderful story about going to the W E Boulware Store and his little boy being given an oatmeal cookie. So his son asks his Dad if they can go to the store and get a drink and a

"Boulware".

I cherish this bit of love that demonstrates exactly the kind of relationship Ernest and Jane had with the community. I want to give "Boulwares" to our customers children too. It is a charming way to keep Ernest's spirit alive for future generations.

While we are talking to him Cathy the previous owner rides up on her bike. We listen as they talk about the good times they shared at the store. Seems the Circle C cowboys used to come in and order Cathy's burgers. Cathy has a good deal of charm and wit. It is easy to see how she made this store a place to come to. I hope she will feel at home with what we create of course right now we are stuck on the bathroom paneling which does not seem to speak well for our ever opening the store. I give Cathy a hug and her sweet grandson who sits quietly while we talk looks like a prime candidate for one of those Boulwares.

Bill and I have had it with confined spaces and go for a drive. Kanawha has put on it's coat of many colors and it is easy to just soak it up. As evening comes the new security light on our new pole glows softly over the heap of rubbish we still have not managed to haul off. It is quiet except for a dog the size of a calf who stands his ground across the street woofing at us. It would take a bear sized can of mace to take him down should he decide we taste like chicken. We debate what kind of dog can grow to this size, and are happy to note he recognizes property lines.

Not a lot of progress. We are frustrated and not excited about another round with that little restroom. Lots of problems to solve and skills we do not have needed. On the up side my husband seemed almost excited about getting back to work where he is knowledgeable and respected in his now perceived "roomy" cubicle.

Deconstruction

2007-03-05T08:31:00.000-08:00

At the store with the four sons

and our

grand

daughter

Danielle.

We removed the old oven, ripped out the area where a grill once sat and mangled the old AC vent wrestling it to the ground. Decisions had to be made about whether to reuse old cabinets or trash them.

Costs are of great concern as the first electric bill has arrived, payments on the store are relentless and the fuel bill for traveling to the store each month has exceeded the savings from the Rodeo payment Michael has assumed. The Rodeo sacrifice proves to be the easiest. It is the hairdresser every 6 weeks, occasional movie and eating out that are more difficult. Normal during each Fall includes looking for the perfect gift for family members. This year my wish list has these three items: toilet, sink, paint. My husband says his list looks surprisingly like mine.

More rat poison is set out. More sweeping, trash removal is getting to be more and more difficult as we haul trash home in our truck. Our Danielle sprays the outside of the building for poison ivy. She loves her Bepa who is still scratching a month and doctor visit later. The counter is pulled away from the wall to see how it would work as a buffet/deli food type counter.

Ceiling fans work but are covered in years of grease, the ceiling and walls have areas also grease covered and one area of rust. Numerous holes are cut into the walls interior and exterior. Even if we wanted to cover the walls or remove them to be replaced we are looking at a daunting task with heavy steel screws holding large steel sheets. Solutions that are cheap and easy seem to be what we are searching for.

We have an idea for opening the store onto FM 410 with a new porch but the wall crisis seems to be most important and will likely consume our dollars that changing the direction of the store front would have used.

The guys demo the restroom in a flash. The water heater is rusted through and a new one needs to be relocated into it's likely original position outside the restroom which is very small to begin with. It is about a 4' by 6 1/2' space. The walls are very bad condition made more evident when the fixtures are sitting in the store proper and the room is empty. Solutions to wall damage and fixtures that will not overwhelm this tiny area are needed. A scrap of the daisy contact paper Cathy had used to pretty it up is saved in the hope of having something sweet to remind her of the success she had here and the warm fuzzy feeling she left with the residents who consumed her burgers.

In the midst of all this deconstruction we get visitors. Lonnie Ham stops to say hello and introduce himself. He has a good bit of advise which summed up is something like...don't extend credit/you will have to extend credit and serve BarBQ or Fish. People need a place they can stop and get something to eat. It was fun talking to him and he was followed by the Bryant brothers to the past owner Gary. They also cautioned against extending credit. Friendly and excited we were going to open the store again it was refreshing to meet them. Mr Bryant said he would carry off some of the items we ripped out of the store because he makes bird houses. We suggest maybe we could sell them for him in the store and he nods but that is as far as the negotiations got probably because of the gaping empty of the store.

Jodie Pardue stops and leaves us some homemade bread. She is a welcome sight. With all the devastation going on we don't talk much. Our time is so limited with only weekends to get a lot done, visiting is out of the question but we will have long lazy summer days to talk once we are in the store. She recounts the two weeks with no electric power in 2004. We need some kind of heat other than electric she cautions. Listening carefully to the families who are living here is a way to be successful or at least we hope so.

That night when the guys left and we were in our trailer alone. We suddenly start noticing a good number of cars and trucks turning in front of the store. This heavy traffic lasts for hours. We are confused as to where they are going since the road they are turning on dead ends at the river several miles from here. We are optimistic at first thinking hmmmm future customers but as the night wore on and the traffic lasted into the wee hours of the night we questioned the wisdom of this plan. It is something to mull over as we continue the renovation we estimate to take between 3 and 5 years.

We end our work with an experimental brisket at Nanny and Popa's where we share what has been done. The guys all have a message for us.

You need a plumber.

let there be light

2007-03-02T08:45:00.000-08:00

City people don't question things they think are normal. I innocently called the electric company I thought was closest. They sent me on a 5 day calling frenzy that had me circling most of three counties trying to get someone to take my deposit. Finally someone decided to quit playing ball with my brain and said electric to Kanawha was provided by Lamar COOP not Bagota. Bagota may well be a front for the mob! But most likely they just wanted to see how many times I would dial someone else before I gave up and I can tell you after 12 I was still dialing but they tired of the game.

Bagota 1 Kanawha 0

I called Lamar Electric COOP and they could find no previous account for the store. I stuttered around and gave them the last owners name and they found no record of him ever having electric, gave them Cathy's name and they found a record but said I would need to meet the installer in Kanawha before they could turn it on.

I met electric man who immediately told me I had no electric right of way and no existing electric pole. He said this with a perfectly straight face

"You always get right of way when you buy property."

I said ...you mean to tell me I have no electric and no pole and no right to get either one???? Well I said what happened to the pole that was here? He looked at the chunk o pole decorating the right side of the lot. When we had the ice storm in 2004 it took out the poles in this area and only occupied buildings were repoled. He said the best way to get electric is through the property across the street. I ask what all this repoling and stringing was going to cost and he gets out his walking tape and begins stepping it off to the tune of 600 dollars. But the best part was I had no legal right to this pole on the neighbors property and was left with a paper I needed signed and notarized by someone I had never met asking if I could put a pole on their property. I prayed about it and went next door to meet my neighbor Mr McCarty.

Mr. McCarty is an older black gentleman. He was kind and told me it was Mr. Pardue I needed to talk to. I thanked him. Mr. Pardue was not at home. I sat in my truck under his confederate flag in front of his trailer and could hear his dogs barking. No one came out. I guess they were gone for the day. I would have left a note but I am a coward. I tried to sacrifice my 17 year old sent out with a note but he didn't want to loose a leg either.

When we got home I looked up Mr Pardue's phone number and address. I composed a polite note and enclosed a small check to cover gas and time. I mailed it to him. I got a phone call from the Lamar Electric lady and Mrs Pardue. She was a sweet person and returned my check saying we were cousins of her husbands and we would work it out. Her name is Jodie and she has become someone we look forward to seeing when we work on the store. Because of Jodies efforts and because of the kindness of Cathy we were able to get electric pole and all in it's original position across 410. It cost about 90 dollars for the deposit, 7 phone calls, three letters and 16 prayers. The time required was about 2 months. We met with the electric pole man one last time and he still did not smile.

The next month we went to work on the store we hailed the pole and for the first time in about 5 years we let there be light. It was as close to Genesis as we are likely to get ...well there is still that little issue of water......

Scratch scratch scratch

2007-03-01T07:44:00.000-08:00

August

To say my husband is allergic to poision ivy is an understatement. he is one of those lucky folks who can have a leaf blow by and it is all over him like a tick on a June bug. So we waded around in the stuff for two days and snipped and clipped. Stephen brought his tractor and trailer to help out and Timothy hopped on it and ripped and roared so we came away with one mostly cleaned up patch of land and one rash covered man.

We discovered the downed tree from the 2004 ice storm was way bigger than we could move and would need cut up. Lots of scrap metal parts and just trash of every kind littered the place. What was once a car wash and was now just an uneven piece of concrete with jagged pieces of metel protruding covered a good bit of the back side of the building. It began to rain or were those tears? The two youngest arrived just in the nick of time to serve us Chicken Express sort of like a 30 mile meals on wheels. It felt good to see the talents of these men as they tore into cleaning the place up.

Wet, dirty and wornout the guys group photo says it all. But we can now see the front porch thanks to their efforts. Left to right Will, Bill (husband), Mike, Steve and Tim. God bless them all.

Inside I swept up dirt and rat leavings. We set traps and hauled off trash. It was a very productive weekend because of so many helping hands.

We decided we needed electricity and after taking stock of the restroom fixtures which were all broken, that water was not going to happen for a while.

On the way home we stopped and visited Nanny and Popa to share what was happening at the store and just check in on them as well.

Because of the generosity of Stephens Boss we had equipment to deal with the years of vegetation and large pieces of sheet metal.

We had a dream

2007-02-28T09:28:00.000-08:00

In July 2006 we met in Clarksville to sign the papers on the store and a parking lot size piece of land. To our surprise the land was originally part of the M D Wright Plantation. Our piece had been considerably whittled down in size but we were much to excited to turn back now. The clerk smiled and told us she remembered stopping at the store and getting a Coke while she was looking at land along the river.

We drove to pick up my parents who were as excited as we were and went to look at what we now owed payments on.

Moma said where's the building? I remember a big step here.

Daddy just paced one side to the next avoiding all the trash and rat droppings as best he could. He paused to pick up an iron object and ask if I knew what that was? I said no and he said it's a nut cracker. And I said you can have it if you want, so he claimed his prize. We drove them home to Paris where we talked about all the possibilities and none of the realities until we had to leave.

On the way home my husband and I talked about where the money for the payments would come from in an already stretched budget. I said I would give up my 99 Rodeo, selling it to our son Michael so the payments would be diverted into the store. We thought it would cover the payments and give a bit toward the fixing up process. We also agreed to stay on this budget and give one weekend a month as well as vacation money and time to fixing it up. Remember this plan as the real deal unfolds heh heh.

Something should be said for my little husband. He is a good man. He is tolerant of most of my hairbrain ideas. He has a bit of a temper and can be riled if cornered but usually good natured and especially delights in spoiling me. I sometimes think I don't deserve him but then he has some wild fit and I remember why God put us together. He is well educated and highly technical working in the computer field. At this point, we do not know how that translates to refurbishing a store in this rural community. His nick name at work relates to a squirrel like rodent because he can find answers to problems others do not see. In July 2006 we thought this might be an asset.

We tried to focus on the first immediate problem. Not sure what that was we brainstormed for two hours driving home and decided we needed to get the trash out of the store and the weeds and grass cut. This sounded like a job with help from OUR FOUR SONS. We always knew we had five children for some reason:0)

2007-02-27T08:32:00.000-08:00

In July of 2006 the Christopher family purchased the Kanawha store from Gary Bryant

This blog is a record of the process that brings the past to the present and explains how it is progressing.