28 October 2012

Phase I of the kitchen installation


Before



Checking the weight capacity 



After



Judith is one happy camper


Our First Frost






                                                                                                                                                     Photograph by Silas

                                                                                                                                                      Photograph by Silas


Crowd Control


Emerson

Creamy Joe the Tiger of the Ozarks

                                                                                                                                                     Photograph by Hank

Birds, bunnies, mouses and rats BEWARE!

Morning Dew photographed by Hank




21 October 2012

Toto we’re not in Fort Lauderdale anymore


When moving from a big metropolitan city to a rural area, it doesn’t take long to see that there is a real difference in lifestyles. Things like people dressed like cowboys even though there’s no rodeo in town, beef jerky-sushi joints, highway road kill every 300 or so feet, towns closing up at 5 pm and nothing open on Sundays, rebel flag clothes, Carhartts, Carhartts, Carhartts, and still more Carhartts.

Toto we’re not in Fort Lauderdale anymore:

I went to Wal-Mart to buy some food.  As I was walking down one of the aisles, a female employee bent down to pick up a box and as her shirt rode up a very large tattoo on her back was revealed.  Not the usual tribal work you see on most girls back home but it was a huge tattoo of a Peterbuilt 18 wheeler complete with floodlights and the trailer.

Another time, I was at our local supermarket and an older lady asked an employee where she could find a certain kind of spice and unaware to the customer it was right behind her.  And, I kid you not, she turned around and said, “Well I’ll be bit by a snake.”

Mayberry at its best:

Last week, we went to a parade in the downtown.  I was walking back to the car and I notice an older, mature looking lady parked in the middle of the road talking on her cell phone.  As I approached the car from the sidewalk side, a sheriff walked up to her on the driver’s side.  Well coming from South Florida, I figured he was going to taser her and have her car towed.  But, without skipping a beat, she said in a very stern voice, “Eric did you enjoy those peppers I send home to you?” His reply, “Yes ma’am.  I ate them in a day and a half” and he kept on walking down the street.

I bet that lady changed that man’s diapers.  You have to love these people; they’re so real, so middle America.

Big sale we couldn’t miss:

A couple of weeks ago we went to a “Midnight Blowout Sale” that was held between 9 and 10pm.  After all, farmers get up early … real early.

This past weekend I went to the local lumber yard and while I was at the counter, a man and his son walked in and asked for a bunch of two by fours.  The counter man asks, “How long?”  The man looked at his son and then back to the counterman, hesitated and said, “A long time … we’re building a house.”

Okay, I made the last story up but you could see how enjoyable it is for us anyway to live in a small town atmosphere.  The people are pleasant and sweet.  They are genuine and sincere.  This place is beautiful and full of adventure.  

And we’re happy to be part of it.

08 October 2012

Today I turn 50


Quote of the day

I love everything that’s old, — old friends, old times, old manners, old books, old wine.
- Oliver Goldsmith

I was showering in 50 degree weather ...


The weather outside is frightful...

 
The weather is changing and showering outside is becoming more and more difficult. It went from invigorating to downright numbing. Honesty, I didn’t know parts of my body could get that small.

Good news and bad news and good news


Echo’s labs came back and the good news is he tested negative for Lyme disease, the bad news is he tested positive for Rocky Mountain spotted fever. . .but the final good news is the meds he was prescribed are working and he’s doing fine.

It's live!

After 3 months or so Judith’s Suburban is finally up and running.  It all started with a terrible shake and no power and through “Process of Elimination” which should be called “drain your bank account and your time or hire a mechanic dummy” it’s alive once again.

 Thank God!

 

Who knew a little thing like a bent valve could so much grief to a man.