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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8 feet of peanut butter and jelly

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.