Peanut Shell Covered Floors

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.

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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.
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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

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

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.

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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.

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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

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.
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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.
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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

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