Logan slept really late, so I was able to get tons of things done before noon. By the time he had a few scones and I cleaned up my project, it was almost 3pm. We had a long chore list to do, so we set out. Lowes: gift card and pond stone. Walgreens: prescriptions. Walmart: get credit for incorrect charge and get key cut. Gabes: return a purchase that didn’t work. WOW: looked for something they didn’t have! Logan found a super soft Steelers pillow so he’s now happy with that purchase.
From there we picked up Chrissy and I took them to the Frosty Shack. I was expecting them to get something wild and crazy. Chrissy got a chocolate cone and Logan got a dream cycle cone! But that was fine. It was Hempfield Band Spirit Day so we contributed to a worthy cause.
When we got home, Logan came outside and helped me trim branches on the two maple trees in the front yard. I don’t like when the limbs hang low enough to get in the way when we walk through the yard or mow. Or for the cars on the street. So it’s all trimmed and we bundled the branches and put them out for Thursday’s trash! Logan wants Pizza Bagel Bites for supper but is not hungry (ice cream’s fault!), and I’ll eat something left-over once I’m done here.
As promised – a report on the farm! (All pictures are borrowed from Byron’s facebook posts.) I had messaged Byron mid-week to get permission to stop and just walk around the farm and yard. He was very agreeable and told me to make myself at home but he would be on vacation. So about 3:30pm Teresa, GiGi and I pulled into the driveway. There was a new road from Crouch Road to the barn door, and the driveway by the kitchen porch was double width and good gravel. Mya (I found out her name later) was on the porch working on sanding the table. Kent came out of the barn and walked over to the car.
I told him that I had talked to his dad, who had given permission for us to have a look around. Kent and I had a short conversation, and it was obvious Byron had not tole him we were stopping. He finally said if his dad said it was ok then it was ok. Then he said, ‘Who are you, anyway?’ I felt so bad that I hadn’t introduced myself first! I see pictures of him and Mya and the farm and family DAILY on facebook, but because Kent had just got home from the military in the winter it had been years since he had seen me. When I told him I was Dorothy’s daughter he was all excited, and had me walk around, and took me through the house and showed me what they had done and were planning to do! He was very excited to share!
The kitchen ceiling was open part way to put new electric and plumbing in the upstairs bathroom. The cupboards are all still there, and the sink, but nothing else. They haven’t really started on that much. The tiny bathroom was empty except for the toilet. The dining room has a repaired ceiling and a beautiful new fan and light fixture. The dining room, living room, and parlor are all painted and have beautiful new gray carpeting. The dark trim is not there – whether they will put it up I didn’t ask! They ceiling in the living room is fixed, too. They have a huge sectional, a double recliner, and a very big TV mounted to the wall near the door to the kitchen. Nothing in the parlor right now.
The new carpet is up the steps and on the top landing. The walk-in hall closet is being used for clothes for now, since the bedrooms are work-in-progress. They are using the ‘red’ room for the main bedroom, and there’s a spare bed in John’s old room. The third bedroom is just for storing extra doors and tools and projects. The bathroom is gutted down to the studs, and Kent described the layout of the vanity and shower, etc.
Outside he showed me their fire pit, and the stone wall he built around it from stones he picked up in the yard. There were tons! They tore out all the flower beds and shrubs and the bushes between Crouch Road and the house and yard. Kent explained how the culverts by the barn were all smashed and clogged, so they dug it up and put down new ones and the yard by the barn is all dried up now. They have fence posts put in from the barn out past the gas well, getting ready for the cows.
The pig pen in the back was burned down, and all the blackberry and blueberry bushes and even the rhododendron bushes are gone. Everything looks neat and like a yard! They planted an orchard back by the woods, and also planted corn in the back acres for the deer. The outdoor carpet is off the kitchen porch, and the wall on the porch is down. They like sitting on the porch looking at the deer, etc, and now have a great view! They are going to sure up the old corn crib and put a ‘glass’ roof on so Abby can have a greenhouse!
Everything just looked so different – like really on its way to a modern but traditional family farmhouse. Kent was SO excited to tell me everything, and said we were the FIRST ONES to stop by! I did not take any pictures, because it felt intrusive and inappropriate to be snapping pictures of rooms that were half-finished and disheveled and of course did not belong to us! But I was honored to be able to see their dreams on the way to coming true! It’s slow going, but they are doing a great job and have great plans! God bless the little Gurnee family!
August 9 – What was your best talent? “I learned to sew when I was big enough to pump the treadle on our ‘Franklin’ sewing machine. I have enjoyed the art of sewing all my life.” And she was very talented and generous with her creations! She made both Kathy’s and my wedding dresses.
Calendar Inspiration – Wrong date but great inspiration
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Scripture –
Random Photo –
Colonial Williamsburg
TOMORROW August 10th is:
- Agent Orange Awareness Day
- National Connecticut Day
- National Lazy Day
- National Shapewear Day
- National S’mores Day
I can be lazy – but I really don’t enjoy it and I try not to do that very often. I’d rather have projects! Have a wonderful day – God bless…
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