That's not SNOW

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

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'

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.