No longer a question of when...just how

The Glass people did themselves proud. We have a wonderful set of heavy duty frames in place and are just waiting for the glass to arrive. Meanwhile the windows are boarded up. Buying anything especially a craftsman type service in the country is always pot luck. When the plumber came we had no idea of the details and knew instinctively not to ask. Now the window people came and we are pleased with the heavy duty product, but it was a total surprise as we had no idea what we were paying for. The electrician promises to be the same. When you are so far from the mainstream you are just happy they will come find your building.

Ike watered Kanawha down pretty good. We found four more places that leak in sideways rain. Probably have to let Bill loose with his can-o-foam again. No tornadoes, no lightening and tolerable wind made it a dousing we could live with.

Bill added shelves and I painted. We scrubbed windows and admired the new lock on the door. Bill cut away the mimosa sprouts on the side of the building beneath the 3x2 kitchen window. The only non broken glass in the store. The next day about the same time he was outside working the day before we heard a loud bang. We jumped up and ran to see what happened but could see nothing. The following day Jody tells us Randy Fennel our neighbor down the lane was mowing when his riding mower got congested and blew up. She mentioned the loud bang. We showed her the pellet size hole in the kitchen glass and the how did that happen mystery is solved. If Bill had been tree trimming a day later it might have been him not the window with a hole in it. We are adapting to unforseen holes, Bill took a dime size piece of clear tape and patched it right up.

Mr Hart came calling. He works for the Circle C and said they are farming on the north loop. This is a blessing for us. He remembered Aunt Jane cooking his grilled cheese on a brown piece of paper atop the wood stove at the back of the W E Boulware store. I remarked there were Harts buried in Kanawha Cemetery and he promised to have his Aunt in Desoto call me to get the Hart genealogy records I have. I look forward to hearing from her. I am related to the Hart family by my Great Great Grandmother Julia P Oliver's marriage to Thomas J Hart. Julia's first husband, James Sharp, who was my Great Grandmothers father, died in the Civil War.

Vera Hill stopped to say hello. She lives in the home Ambrose Boulware built, where the road takes a decidedly right turn. (The handbook of Texas says Kanawha is located in a bend of the Red River but this "bend" is a right angle!) She said they enjoy gardening and have landscaped to protect themselves from the 27 cars and trucks that have missed the sharp turn.

Ambrose and Opal Boulware's Grandson, Ricky Easterwood, of Novice is running for Constable pct 4 in Lamar county. He is just about the most genuine guy you ever want to meet so if you are in Lamar County give him a vote.

Billie Bell stopped and told us about the coming storm and her recovery from a triple bypass. She is looking pretty perky and thin too! We look forward to seeing her again.

Our new neighbor that purchased the two cabins on 20 acres stopped to say hello. His wife is driving to Plano at 4:30 am until she gets a job closer. He hopes to raise a few cows after he gets settled in. It was nice to meet him but only after he left we realized we had failed to ask his name. I am sure he will be back.

The postman stopped to say hello. Dave Griffis is the Grandfather to baby Kayla who is doing well and expected to have the last of her three surgeries this week. He lives in Detroit. A mail box that can not be whacked with a bat is on our list of to-dos.

We drove to Paris and checked to see what kind of plug we needed for air conditioning. Leah at the Sears store was very helpful even after we told her we were not buying anything. So we gave her our list for next year, and she will get a commission. It is so refreshing to find someone who understands customer service. We are looking at a refrigerated upright unit with a glass door, two small freezer chest units with glass tops and the two ac units she helped us decide on.

We are trying to determine what kind of emergency exit we need to meet fire regulations. I think we need a fire extinguisher and probably an inspection. No doubt a call to the fire department is in order. Another to-do

One of our inquiries to Kathy Korte told us Red River County it is under the State's jurisdiction. You will need a retail food operation permit. This permit is a bit over 200 dollars a year. She also sent us two sites that list rules about running a store in this state. A little bedtime reading I guess. It's a good thing Sandra is bringing my new glasses Monday:0)

We saw hunters setting up their camp trailers to prep for the deer season. A reminder Autumn is around the corner. Bill and I look forward to opening the grocery section of the store on July 11, 2009 but dread the time we must live apart as he gets our youngest through college in Cedar Hill and supports the store with what he calls "his real job" when it cannot support itself. It is both a privilege and a chore. We have not lived apart for 30 years so it will take some prayer to get us through.

Made in Texas

We have contacted the Texas Basket Company and their sister site the Wood Factory for store shelving. They have responded with generosity and kindness considering our needs. We are excited to order several items from them and a trip in October to see Jacksonville that reportedly has those familiar rolling hills and red sand. Trucking rates have gone out of this world due to gas prices so we will save a good bit by hauling the shelf units ourselves.

We have another source for store products. Jennifer owner of Tangled Threads made grosgrain and gingham lanyards for us and has agreed to supply us with products she makes by hand. You can see her work on Etsy.

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.