October 15, 2009

Our days in Kentucky are coming to an end. We will be leaving for Alabama tomorrow. Today we went to Michael’s in Irvine, Kentucky for dinner to celebrate our great friend Betty’s birthday. As always the food was fantastic and after desert some of the staff sang Happy Birthday to Betty.

Her sons Danny, Dale and Dean all came by the house to see Betty and wish her a happy birthday. We were there when Dale, his wife Sherry, sons Jordan and Hayden and Sherry’s Father Larry stopped. It was good to see everyone again.

Left to Right: Larry, Jordan, Hayden, Sherry and Dale

We enjoyed our visit with Mutt and Betty. They are adding hardwood flooring to their dining room and hallway. Mutt took the time to teach me little about installing new flooring. The open areas are relatively easy. The cuts around the doorways take time and there is a lot of measuring, cutting and fitting then more measuring, cutting and fitting and finally fitting and nailing. It is fun. With Mutt, the Master Carpenter, leading the way any project likes this is easy.

Charlotte and Betty also had fun visiting and looking for bargains.

The finished dining room.

Though this stop was short we had a fantastic time. We wish Betty a long, healthy and continued happy life. Thanks Mutt and Betty for being such wonderful friends.

October 13, 2009

Curt and Judy took us to see their daughter’s new home that is being built in Berea. It brought back some good memories to see a house under construction. There is something about drywall mud on the floor and scaffolding setting in the middle of the room that makes me want to pick up some tools and join the workers on the job.

Judy gave us a tour.

The family room.


The kitchen.

The beautiful front entry door.

Holes, trenches and piles of dirt in the yard mean utilities are being connected and Sherry is getting closer to moving in.

Where is that sewer connection?

Sherry will have a great place to raise her daughters. It would be nice to see it again after it is finished. Perhaps they will send us a couple of pictures that can be added to our blog after everything is completed.

October 12, 2009

After the cool weather we experienced last week in Indiana, we are truly enjoying these wonderful days in Kentucky. Today the temperature was in the upper sixties and the sun was shinning brightly so we went to Fort Boonesborough. It was a perfect day and I hope we have more this week.

Here are two friendly tourists with a bag of goodies from the gift shop.

We watched as this man tried to start a fire with flint and a striker.

He did it and made it look easy.

We watched and learned about spinning yarn.

It takes about two hours to make a wooden spoon.

We saw some wild critters also.

Char found what we were looking for-a beautiful leaf. We really want to see more of them on the trees but are a couple of weeks early.

As we learned during our visit, this is near the spot where Indians kidnapped young girls from Fort Boonesborough. Daniel Boone and a group of men rescued them a few days later.

Kentucky is very beautiful and we are having a great time. It is fun to go back to places we visited many years ago. Now I want to learn how to make a fire using a striker, flint, char rope and tow hemp.

October 5, 2009

Charlotte’s brother Bill had a building that needed the roof repaired. Luckily we were in Indiana and Bill let me help. We worked Friday, Saturday and today on this project. The first thing we did was raise the existing roof and add new rafters for support.

This is what the building looked like before we started.

Here Bill is cutting pieces for a ridge support.

The new ridge support installed.

We went to Bill’s shop to cut new rafters.

After putting up the new rafters, pieces were added for attaching the new roof.

Finally we start to install the new metal roof.

Jeanette’s brother Dick came by and assisted with the metal work.

Bill is adding the ridge cap.

Bill and Dick take a few minutes to admire our finished project.

After three days of lifting, cutting, pounding, pulling and climbing up and down ladders, I have a few achy muscles. I also have one thumb with a purple bruise caused by missing the nail with the hammer. But I must admit it sure was fun. Thanks Bill for allowing me to be part of your roof repair project.

October 4, 2009

Our day started with Bill, Jeanette, Charlotte and I going to the Lions Club Pancake Breakfast at the Westville Pumpkin Festival. This was another great local festival that we happily attended.

After breakfast the four of us went to the Chicago suburb of Stickney to visit with Charlotte and Bill’s Aunt Inie. We all went to lunch in a neighborhood restaurant and then returned to Aunt Inie’s home for some fun reminiscing.

Left to right: Char, Aunt Inie and Bill.

I am happy to say that at 87, Aunt Inie refuses to slow down. She enjoys walking to get her groceries. She exercises with a hula-hoop and said when her it stops revolving around her waist and falls to the floor she then gets to do her bending exercises. She confided she would love to live in a high rise in downtown Chicago where she would have a great view of Lake Michigan. Hopefully, she will get the opportunity to move to the place of her dreams.

Aunt Inie likes to knit and made these wonderful scarves for Charlotte and Jeanette.

Aunt Inie has had a tremendous impact on Charlotte’s recovery. She sent notes and letters of encouragement. The only request Char had for our summer travels was to be able to go see Aunt Inie. It was fabulous to see how happy Char was when see finally was able to give Aunt Inie a big hug.