The store front with CHRISTOPHERS sign.

Alfred Hitchcock sorta event

This was a long extended vacation stay...Saturday to Saturday. We are trying to get a handle on whether we can get everything in place to open in July 2009. Truthfully, we just do not know. a person with store opening experience, which we will only have AFTER the event, would know how to plan and prioritize.



So Saturday finds us post Brookshires unloading at the store. The next morning I notice a swarm of something winding up the electric pole like a black snake, but I fail to mention this to Bill as we are heading off for Home Depot with do not forget list in hand. We shop and return to work. Our working and eating lead to a down time when we notice a large number of small black paper wasps on the front porch. This leads to a discussion of the swarm I noticed early on the pole. Then we see them on the back porch and all over the trailer. For three hours they surround the building, all 60 feet of it and hold us hostage. Trying to make light of it I suggest this might put a small cramp in our ever actually selling anything. Bill looks as me and we say in unison, Alfred Hitchcock's... The Birds!!! After sundown the wasps went back to the pole and that night it got right cold. I guess they were just looking for a warm place.



We had three visitors, a new neighbor and a passerby. Vera pulled up. She was on her way to get medicine for asthma. Her brother is helping Michael Wright restore his historic home on the plantation. We hope she is feeling better.
Jody stopped to tell us about her trip to Colorado to see the Walker relations. She and Gerald no sooner got home than they had their little 2 and 6 year old grandchildren come visit. She told us about her rheumatoid arthritis acting up. Still, she remembered to bring copies of the Detroit News for us. I don't see how she does it all, but we are grateful she does.
Billie came by and we got to hear some of her Kiomatia adventures. She is having some challenges. She was on her way to shop, see the doctor and get a haircut.
The M C Lester moving truck placed a home down the lane by the store. We look forward to meeting our new neighbors.
Several days into our stay we saw Houston drive by in his red and white van. It was good to see him driving around enjoying the beautiful Autumn colors.

We have a CHRISTOPHERS sign up. The right side of the building has trim around the windows outside and most of the inside wall finished. The back wall is complete. We outlined the wall that should seperate the utility area from the store using a chalk line Bill brought. The shelves for the chips, cookies, crackers, paper products, fruit, vegetables, beans, rice and noodles in bags are finished. We purchased them from the Texas Basket Company established 1919 Jacksonville Texas. Jacksonville has deep darker red sand and hills a bit steeper than Kanawha almost Mountain like as the Look Out Mountain sign suggested. It was a nice place to visit with friendly folks.

Back home, I ask Bill about some holes in the big steel cross beam at the end of the store building and he said he saw sky when he looked up. Another purpose for that trusty foam. We discovered another wonderful invention...liquid nails. Bill has been screwing and nailing every board in our remodel with a touch of wood glue to be safe. But liquid nails has become his new best friend.

Free is only good if it is functional. I found a chair for the store in our neighbors discards. Finding assorted chairs that have similar size and shape under $50 has been a challenge. This one had promise. Unfortunately the back was trimmed in real leather. I painted it with primer only to find it was still sticky after three weeks. Bill suggested I go ahead a put the finish coat on it and seal it with a clear poly something. The result was a dry non-sticky chair back. He was right! We are still short a large square farmhouse type table and four chairs, but well on our way to filling up the store.

We have no new store pictures due to not charging the camera battery.

The new windows are in.

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.