Not Frog Herders

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

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

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?

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

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.