burnin rubber

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

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

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.