Thunder and rain

Again the plans have changed. Had already decided not to pick up the Alfa today. We’re going to wait until the renovation is done so the contractor (and delivery trucks- more on that later) won’t have problems getting in and out of the driveway. We have a parking spot for the Alfa at the bottom of the driveway but when we first bring it home we want it by the garage so we can clean and load it up. So another week at least.

And we woke up to thunder and heavy heavy rain this morning. Don’t want to drive Alfy in it if we don’t have to. So where is Bill? Why he is out driving in the heavy heavy rain! Why? Where did he go? Guess…..The delivery trucks have made the driveway seem like a depot the last few days. FedEx, UPS and even one U-Haul It van. Package after package with “stuff” for the little pickup! Right now the two of them – Bill and his truck – are down at the mechanics getting the K & N filter installed and the new muffler system?????? Yesterday it was shocks and window tinting. Men and their toys. And all this time I’ve been slaving over a hot computer. Where’s the justice?

Went into town – when I say “into town” I mean the big town Columbus where there are actually some stores – to go to Wal*Mart and Menards yesterday afternoon. I was reading the list and saw “corn” – had to ask what kind of corn? Canned corn for people, bagged corn for deer or dried cob corn for the squirrels. It was the squirrel kind this time. Also reminded me to get some people corn too.

Did you get some more corn?

Here it is – yum

The one on the bottom is good too. Hanging by his tail.

Oh boy the TV just went out – no signal – Here in the hills all we can get is satellite. Hope it’s back on by 10 so I can watch the Truck qualifying. Come to think of it I hope we don’t lose our electricity – the ground is so wet and a little wind and the trees start going down around here. At least with the Verizon MiFi we can usually keep our Internet signal in a storm – not like Hughes Net that was out more than on.

I’ve only got one more square to knit and I’ll have all the pieces for my baby afghan. Just have to figure out how to put it together now. And should the pieces be washed and or blocked before I put it together? Will it shrink? Guess I’d better call a knitting friend. And I wonder if I can use my embroidery machine to put some cute designs on it? Humm will have to think on that.

I’m waiting to finish the paint in the bathroom until the contractor is done. And he is almost there. Shower doors will come today. Then it is mostly trim work. Funny how bland a room looks without any personal stuff in it. 

Nope toilet isn’t working yet – still needs a few things. And knobs need to be put on. Also got white paint for the door and window trim. At least in a couple of days it is supposed to cool down to the mid 70s again – good time to paint. 

Tonight we are supposed to get severe weather with high winds. Ugh.

Finally - Database is done

Finally I finished the data base program and it all works! And I even have some hair left. Now I can’t wait to go on a trip and use it. This is just the front page it opens the other forms and what it covers. 

I just have to click on a button and the form opens and I just input the info. Then it does any calculations for me.

Well it’s almost noon and Bill is somewhere in Columbus getting the windows on the pickup tinted and gosh knows what else. I’m afraid to ask. Hope he gets home soon ‘cause the contractor was thinking about working on my bathroom ceiling but he needs extra hands to hold the pieces up. The upstairs is coming along. The doorway is finished and the medicine cabinet is up. Some more work on the walls and I’ll be able to finish painting them. I did get to vacuum the floors up here though. Was tired of listening to them crunch when walking on them.

Tomorrow – I hope – we are going to pick up the Alfa. I want to get all the stuff out of the garage put away before any creepy crawly things find them. Also want to see what we have much too much of and get rid of some of it. Good Will here we come. Going down now and work some more in my closet. 

Keeping really busy with computer and painting

Well I worked on the database – so I have several less handfuls of hair. The tables and queries are okay (except when I forget to add one vital calculation) but the forms drive me nuts. If I forget to put that vital calculation in query and don’t notice it until I’m building the form I can just add it to the query but then I have to rebuild the entire form again – and again – and again if – more like as - I discover more forgetful errors. The forms are the ones I put the pictures in the last blog. I'm adding some more forms to it this time for even more information. So can't wait to use it to see if it really works good. 

Guess I drove Bill out – he just left for the mechanics, with his new/old truck. Guess he is going to trick it out too. While I was painting I turned up the old traditional country music station on high enough to rock the upstairs. Sure are a lot of sad songs. And some great oldies.  Love Hank Williams Sr. and even Buck Owens. On Direct TV we can sometimes catch Hee Haw on the RFD channel. What simpler times then.

And yes I’ve even started to paint the bathroom. Mainly the area behind where the toilet will go and around the big vanity where the mirror will go. 

Before

After

Can’t do too much ‘cause the walls still need a lot of repair. All the stuff is out of the living room and hall though. Thank goodness. And after painting part of the walls I have decided that all the white trim needs to be painted too. It is in horrible shape – funny how you don’t notice things getting cruddy.

My bathroom ceiling is still waiting for help. Going to put up panels that look like pressed tin. Love that look. 

Cannot believe the tornados all over – there were even a couple of small ones here in Indiana but so far the bad weather has all been north of Indianapolis (we live south of Indy about 45 miles.) We are getting warm humid weather – supposed to hit the high 80s for the next couple of days. But low chances of rain. So maybe I’ll start on my next project – repainting the bridge – as soon as I can get Bill to replace some of the floor boards.

And I want to do a couple of painted quilt squares for the car port. Think they would look good up there. One for each side. 

Just a picture of one of the tea roses that have started to bloom. Soon the whole bush will be covered. 

Well time to get back to the database - will try to redo the form I had to undo yesterday. I wish I could figure out how to set it up as a form other people could use - but I run it right off my computer in Access. 

Paint? Computer? or Read Which should I do?

Guess this is getting to be an every other day thing – but really not too much interesting going on.

Watched the NASCAR races on Saturday – Kyle won the Nationwide race – so far he’s won 6 out of 9 races this year. Then yesterday watched the Cup race – Interesting to say the least. Kyle’s #18 got all tore up when a cable from an over track camera broke and came down on the track just as he was going by. They got it fixed during a 15 minute repair red flag – amazing and he was leading again when his engine blew. Ended up not finishing. Guess it just wasn’t his day.

What first – oh yes Bill’s new truck. Here he is polishing it – again. It’s a 2001 with a rebuilt engine. 

And after he bought it I actually got to drive my car home. Longest I’ve driven in over a year – about 25 miles!

The bathroom doesn’t seem to be getting much done. Of course nothing over this weekend. We talked about me painting a couple of walls before the stuff is reinstalled. We’ll see how ambitious I am later today. I should do it before the weather gets hot again. Tomorrow it is supposed to be back up in the mid to high 80s. And rain chances today and tomorrow.

Wish I hadn’t of lost the pictures the other day. I had taken one of the front when it was half covered with the new mulch – But any way here are a couple with all the mulch down – really looks nice now.

Also retook a couple of the flower pictures. The water iris.

And something growing wild??

A couple of the tea rose bushes are full of buds – can’t wait until they bloom.

I mentioned I’d been working on my Access travel database – use it to keep track of all our expenses when we travel. Got a question about it so here are a couple of the pages from it. Keeping track of campgrounds and daily mileage – all the calculations including changing from $ to pesos are done automatically. I just have to fill in the blanks with basic info. If you double click on them they get larger and easier to read. 

One for daily expenses – again calculations are automatic. This one is getting a lot of changes. Taking a few things out and adding others.

And diesel for the RV. Calculates liters to gallons, mpg, changes pesos to $ etc.

Also have pages for auto expenses, maintenance for both auto and RV, a daily journal and an address book. I just hope I can remember how to set up all the calculations so it works again.

Hum? Should I paint or work on database or read?????

Construction still going on.

Well now getting off to a good start today. Or not. I’ve fed the birds and the deer and cooked up a batch of nectar for the hummingbirds and managed to delete all the pictures on my camera before putting them into the computer. Can you say STUPID!

We’ve been busy but not busy the last few days. Around this time of year I’m always in a little funk but seem to be getting over it faster than usual this year. Thank goodness.

The bathroom is still a mess! The contractor and plumber are both supposed to show up “sometime” today and install the shower and hopefully the toilet. The floor is down – wood – but needs all the trim. One vanity is sitting in place the other is still in the living room. A paint color has been picked out but waiting for the walls to be repaired before that can be done. AAAARRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGG.

The front looks really nice though with all the new mulch on the bank between the lawn and the road. However – I think the county is going to be pissed about it going right up to the roadway. Kind of will make it hard for rain runoff to travel down the hill. We’ll see. Flowers are blooming everywhere – took lots of pictures of them – will take more I guess.

And we got another truck – a 2001 Dakota – at least I can reach the pedals on it. It has a rebuilt engine 20,000 miles ago so hope we don’t have any problems with it. Bill has already been out there polishing and waxing it. So Willie will sit in the garage until we’re ready to head out on our next trip. From now on he won’t have to do any work, just vacation.

Finally saw a robin here yesterday – even took a picture of him! But you’ll have to take my word for it unless I see him again. We still don’t have the Alfa home. Now we’re waiting until the main part of the construction is done so Alfy won’t be in the way of the contractor’s truck.

If the sun comes/stays out I’ll go get some more pics of the flowers and front and post them mañana. 

Humm - smells like Bill is cooking breakfast. Yum.

Nothing to say today

Did not do anything special today. Stayed around the house.
Contractor was here for a while - only about 3 hours a day! At that rate he'll never get done. It's funny but it really isn't.
Part of the bathroom floor is in and the lower part of the shower unit is out of the living room into the batrhroom, sitting on it's side.
Had some rain today and will get more tomorrow - but not too heavy.
I'm going to rebuild my Access travel database as I want to make several changes to it. That should keep me busy as it is quite involved and I'm not sure I remember to do some of it. But I'm sure by the time I get it done I'll remember all the four letter words I know.

Life in Brown County

Lots of very heavy rain before dawn this morning. Now it is sunny and warm out. With more rain due later today.

I’m going to quote parts of an article that was in our paper today. It is by Cinda Crull who lives here and writes off and on for the paper - The Brown County Democrat. But talk about a great description of Life in Brown County.

“We live in the woods. We do not live in a forest. The latter is in some other part of the country.

We tell tall tales. It must be the water.

About that water, since we’re not on the town system, that’s both good and bad news. No, wait, it’s mostly the former, as all we need to do is filter, not boil. Check out the signs at the McDonald’s (in town) and you’ll see how often the latter occurs.

Expect your electricity to be off at least a couple of times per year. It’s the price you pay for living where tree branches fall on power lines during storms. Buy lots of batteries and candles and enjoy the ambience. The lights will be back on soon.

Stay away from town in October unless you’re tired of the quiet sanity of the woods. You only need go to the colony once to see why. Visitors seem to be unable to distinguish crosswalks from streets, and sauntering is the only speed they know.

We wave here. Finger waves, vertical arm thrust waves, or get creative and make your own. We wave at everyone, and if you try it, you’ll get a response.

If you’re not already creative and eccentric, after a few years you will be.

You can’t tell rich people from poor.
We all look alike and this is the most egalitarian spot you will ever experience. We are unpretentious and we only tolerate – with our small town manners – those who are. We have nationally renowned residents but you have to be an insider to know who they are.

If you don’t want your business known, don’t tell a soul. I can’t stress this enough. Welcome to Brown County where if you allow it, you’ll fall in love with the land and the special people who live here.”

A pretty good description of where we live and why we live here. 

Pray for Oklahoma

Going to be a very warm and humid day today. Have all the fans running already.

Sure feel sorry for all the people in Oklahoma, Kansas, Iowa and Illinois where the tornados touched down. That bad weather is supposed to move into our area by tonight and tomorrow. But we’ll probably just get rain and maybe some wind. Any really bad weather seems to go around our hills to the north and south of us.

Doing laundry and paying bills today. Had a dream last night about cleaning house. Woke me up! Guess more like a nightmare!

The contractor is here spreading more mulch on the roadside bank. It is looking really nice. Don’t know what he’ll be doing in the bathroom today – hopefully a lot of patching so the flooring can go in and prepare the walls for paint.

Bought a new photo editing program to go with my new camera. Well not actually new but an updated version of the one I’ve been using. Lots of new fun things in it – once I figure out how to use them. Mainly I use it to resize my pics for the web. Speaking of which – walked out on the north side this a.m. and the water iris are starting to bloom in the pond.

And this clematis plant is outdoing itself this year. 

8:00 pm

It has finally started to cool down so only have to have the fans running.

Went to look at a truck up near Indy this afternoon. Whole bottom was rusted out! Not something we are used to seeing. Turned around and came home. Nice drive though - through lots of farming land. 

Cannot believe what is going on in Oklahoma. How horrible for them. And I complained about the heat. Shame on me. 

I hate renovation work!

Well the All Star race yesterday was a real bummer and I stayed up until midnight to see the end. Jimmy Johnson won again! For the first four heat races he wasn’t anywhere to be seen but the money section there he was. Kurt and Kyle lead two heats each and neither could win the big deal. But both of them had great cars. Hard to really like or dislike Johnson he is just there. All the time he is THERE.

This morning we took a ride out into the country to check out a small pickup truck – older but nice and clean. One that we could actually use once in a while. Like when we go to Menards and buy plants and stuff for the on going repairs around here. Not like that big hulking Ram that I hate and can’t drive. Bill wants to keep the Jeep, Willie, just for when we travel as he is getting a lot of miles on him.

Back to out in the country – most of the farmer’s field we passed are not planted yet but look to be drying out a little bit. Now if we could just go a few days without rain……But boy does every body’s yard look nice. So lush and green. And lots of mowing going on. Smells so good. We took the convertible out for the ride. I’d forgotten what a nice car it is. Fun to ride in and comfortable. Put the top down for the drive home even. Just realized it is 15 years old, can’t believe it was that long ago that I bought it. And it still looks new.
What a mess this house is in – how can so much of it get messed up just fixing one room…all the stuff from the tore up bathroom is in the spare bedroom. All the new stuff is in the living room and front hallway. My bathroom has the stuff to repair the ceiling – tiles, glue, levels etc. in it. Boxes all over the place…..eeeeekkkkkk! Stuff – dirt, pieces of plaster etc. tracked through the hallways and up the stairs. I refuse to clean until the major demolition and dirty repair work is done. Going to take some major cleaning when everything is done. But it will be beautiful I keep telling myself. 

Tub is gone

The contractor showed up early this morning with the plumber in tow – the big plumber. But the plumber took one look at the cast iron tub sitting on its side in the bathroom and said basically – no way we can carry that thing out of here. But it is now out and gone. So how did they do it. With a bigger hammer! Actually the plumber said that the best way would be to break it up. We all looked at him with skepticism on our faces. It’s cast iron! Well replied the plumber. These old cast iron tubs get brittle with age and break up easily with a big sledge hammer. And it did. A few, well maybe more than a few, mighty swings and there were pieces of tub all over the place. Easy clean up from there. Yipee! Another thing done. 

Contractor will be back on Monday to start on floor.

Oh yes, all the stuff for the remodel was delivered yesterday – so now another room in the house is messed up. Everything is piled up in the living room.  Sigh! Well no cleaning until everything is done.

Yesterday while watching NASCAR non-stop I did do something constructive. I actually finished a knitting project. It is a scarf. It’s not very big because I was just using up some small amounts of yellow and pink yarn. But it is done.

Watched the qualifying for the trucks, shootout and All Star race and then the truck race. And Kyle will start 4^th in the All Star tonight and he won the truck race last night.

Saw her this morning but she heard me coming and left. 

Construction on going, rain has gone by and races are on.

Cooler and cloudy with something like 70% chance of rain today. Most of yesterday was nice with the exception of one very heavy shower in the middle of the day. Weird.

And as usual the best laid plans of mice and men – We will not be going to pick up the Alfa today after all. All the stuff for the repair of the bathroom is going to be delivered today – sometime between 8 and noon – or maybe later. The work in there is coming along. Still have to get the tub out though. It will take a couple/group of big strong people to get it out and down the stairs. If Bill even looks like he is going to help I’ll kick him in the knee! That bathroom is weird – it is kind of like two rooms. The first part has sink/vanity and toilet. Then a doorway with a door to the area with a tub and another sink/vanity. So while everything has to be torn up anyway we are taking out the door and expanding the doorway so it will seem more like one bigger room.
Strange day today first sunshine, then a couple minutes of heavy rain with thunder and lightening and now sunshine again. Have to go back around and open all the doors and windows I just finished shutting.
What is with all the TV shows, movies and commercials that are about men shaving their chests etc. When did that start? Is it a new fad?
Went out a while ago –before rain – to see if the water iris were blooming yet and when I got up to the pond a big snake slithered off the rocks into the water. Kind of startled me. He just looked fat, long and brown what little I saw of his back end. Going to be on the look out for him next time I go out there. Hate to step on him.
NASCAR heaven today – all kinds of practice, qualifying and a race. Except my favorite driver had to put a new engine in his truck so didn’t get any practice in it before qualifying starts. But he is doing good in the All Star practice.

Sun shine, good customer service and good dinner out.

For our son John

 

We could not say our last farewell

Or even say good-bye

For you were gone before we knew

And only God knows why.

As you can see I’m back to posting. The price with Verizon - $10 per extra GB -  isn’t too bad and I’m curious to see how many extra GBs we’ll use in 13 days. The regular price is $50 for 5GBs a month. And we’ve never even come close to going over it. But I did find out that for $80 a month we can get 10GBs. Not worth it for us.

Construction or I should say destruction on the upstairs bathroom started yesterday. The contractor has worked for us before and he is very good. The thing I like about him is he really loves his work. Don’t think I’ve ever seen such a happy person when they are working. And he has lots of good ideas on how to improve things. Yesterday he got the bathroom almost gutted. Discovered the tub had been sunk in three inches of concrete when it was put in. What a mess – also discovered water damage behind it too. The tub was installed when the house was built in 1972 – it is cast iron! Going to be a bear to get downstairs!

Late yesterday afternoon we went into Columbus to Best Buy and returned the Surface. No problems, no extra fees. I was surprised they took it back without a fuss. I will stick to my new camera and old laptop for now. Don’t need anything else to mess with. Technology has gone so far past what I need…..or understand….

After that we went to pick out the vanity etc for the bathroom. Then to dinner. Discovered that one of our favorite restaurants serves a Senior dinner of liver and onions, one of my favorite things. We usually are in town earlier in the day so haven’t had dinner there before. So much food I couldn’t finish it. And very good. It is a small Indiana chain – Lincoln Square.

Our contractor is also bringing us lots of mulch – he gets it free from the landfill. The landfill grinds up all the vegetation and makes it into mulch, supposed to be pretty good stuff. And Bill has continued to plant more hostas along our bank to the street. Sure hope the deer repellant works because they love hostas. And more of our flowers are blooming every day. So pretty.

Lots of blooms on this one. 

Back to shorts and t-shirt weather here. Yesterday it reached 90 here in the hills. And no rain for us. Today is supposed to be cloudy and only in the mid-80s. And wouldn’t you know tomorrow it is supposed to rain and we’ve made arrangements to pick up the Alfa and bring it home. Hope the weather holds until we get home. 

Not posting for a while

Between using the wifi with the camera and the new Surface we've about used up our monthly - until the 28th - supply of GBS and I understand it is very very expensive to go over so until I figure out if I can purchase more at a reasonible price we will not be going on line very much. Going to call Verizon to see what I can do.
And the construction starts on the bathroom today - so lots to do.
11:30
Have talked to Verizon and it isn't too bad. I will have to pay only $10 per GB extra that we use. And we will not be using that many! Going to return the Surface - not really something we need at this time. Especially with limited Internet time. And won't be using MiFi to put pictures from camera to computer. Phew! Feel much better.
Georgous weather today - well this morning at least - might get rain this evening - but that's okay. going to be in mid 80s with a nice breeze. Have all the windows and doors open - smells so good as neighbor is cutting his grass.

Making Brooms in Nashville, IN

Yesterday afternoon we went into our little town just to get out into the sunshine and move around a bit. A few tourists were out and about but not too many so luckily it was easy to find a parking place for that huge Ram truck.

A friend of ours just bought one of the older restaurants on the main street and is remodeling it into a restaurant, supper club and sports bar. {They also own and operate a beautiful Spa in town.]

The grand opening is in a couple of days but yesterday it was open with a limited menu for lunch. So we visited a bit and ate lunch. Bill had a Caesar Salad that he said is one of the best he has ever eaten. And I had a very good Garden Salad. I think I’ve mentioned before that the little town rolls up its sidewalks about 6 p.m. so if we want to go out to dinner we have to drive into one of the bigger towns around us. Well this restaurant will now be open at night. Hallelujah. And it seems like they are going to have a good menu. Wishing them the best.

Then we walked around a bit to see what was new and found a broom making shop. What attracted me to it were the walking sticks out front. We’d been looking for nice walking sticks in Mazatlan but couldn’t find any. And here they are.

Walking into the shop called Broomcorn Johnny's, the first thing we saw was the owner, Brian Newton, busy making the sweeping part of a broom. He is working on a rather large broom called a Barn Broom. 

Some information about the sweeping part of the broom. Never knew what they were made of.

Some of the broomcorn waiting to be used.

A big supply of twine to tie the brooms. And a couple of brooms made using the walking stick handles.

The broomcorn has to be weighed out for each style of broom. 8 ounces for a regular broom.

Holding the broomcorn in a machine from 1873! While in here Brian wraps the twine around the broom to hold it in shape. This is what he was doing when we first came in. 

He uses a special tool too pass the twine through the broom to knot it in place.

Bundles of colored broomcorn waiting to become brooms.

A display of colored brooms for sale.

Another machine behind him. I'll have to go back in and ask what it is for. 

This is called a ribbon broom, two different colors. 

Very interesting. They opened their shop just after we left last year in November. Here is their web page link
We live in an interesting little town. 

Simple things amuse simple minds.

Up early this morning as Bill had docs appointment for blood drawing. One of those things he has to do now on a regular basis. And it was blooming COLD out 33 degrees! I expected to see frost on the meadows but didn’t. Guess cause it was too foggy/misty out. Going down the hill into town.

The sun trying to shine.

On the way home we were going to stop at the only restaurant in the little town that serves breakfast. But couldn't. It isn't open on Mondays! 

This is going to be kind of a simple things amuse simple minds blog.

Yesterday morning we went into big town for breakfast. And on the way home of course I was playing with my camera. Here is some Brown County Yard Art.

And evidence of the hard winter. Last year it wasn’t leaning quite so much.

I mentioned the ferris wheels with corn that we put on the trees out front. Well the squirrels finally got brave enough to try them. He is eating the corn.

They are on the ground under him eating the kernels that drop.

Be interesting to see how long it takes them to figure out how to get to the other three pieces. 

Because it was so pretty out yesterday – though cold – I went outside and walked around the yard some. Lots of flowers are blooming.

We planted these Lilly of the Valley a couple of years ago and this is the first time they’ve bloomed. 

They smell so good. They remind me of when I was a real little girl living on a lake in New York state. We had a big wood pile and they bloomed all around the wood in the shade. Them and violets.

Another bloom in the middle of no where. Maybe it’s a columbine – not sure.

And one of the bushes – just beginning to bloom.

Walking around the pond I noticed all the pollywogs in it. The frogs have been busy this year.

A closer look at some of them.

Just looking across the side yard towards the woods in back. It really is a pretty area.

Not much on the agenda today. Trying to learn more about the Surface and how it works. Maybe a little cleaning – or maybe not.

And we're still waiting for the contractor for the bathroom repairs.

Tried yesterday to talk my son into trading me his truck for my Mustang convertible. He said NO! Truck has original motor in it. He found it sitting in a field in Montana a couple of years ago.