The Tree house!

When Tom and Steve started building the tree house the statement: If you build it, they will come" was evident. Starting with Callie's help. Joshua put his whole heart and soul into tightening the bolt on the joists.

Marion and Callie were eager to stress test the joists even before the planking went down.

And when it was done, there was no shortage of people willing to try it out.

Joshua is already planning winter snowball fights from the superior upper position.

Washington DC

Friday morning Rebecca's friend dropped off some tools. So Tom bought supplies for a tree house in the back yard. Steve and Terry White arrived shortly after noon, and Steve and Tom got the tree house nearly finished by dark-- all the posts in, the floor on, and half the railings up. they had to work around happy children. Joshua and Marian and all their friends were over "helping." Callie and Delany spent time climbing up and asking to be helped down.

Saturday Tom continued with his "honey-do" tasks and finished the tree house. Dan, Sandy, Terry, Steve, and Callie headed for Washington DC. They stopped at the Pentagon to see the 9-11 Memorial there. All the waves with names heading away from the building represent those who died in the Pentagon. All the waves facing the building represent those in the planes who died. They are arranged in lines by age.

Then we saw the Iwo Jima Memorial. It's HUGE! The men's heads and necks alone are about the size of a person.

We then took the metro to Washington, DC and visited the Washington monument, the WWII memorial which listed battles in the Pacific and Europe. It was impressive. There were many vets there.We also saw the Korean memorial with it's toiling soldiers. And we saw the Vietnam, and Women of Vietnam memorials. They also had a National Book Festival in front of the Smithsonian. I got a book bag and listened to a Massi from Kenya tell about how the Massi donated cattle to comfort Americans in the aftermath of 9-11. A sweet story, and now a children's book.

We stopped at Five Guys for burgers on the way home, stopped for steaks at the store for the celebration of Dan's birthday that night, and came home. Dan had a nice celebration. Good food, and his brother, Allan, and Allan's wife, Brandy, drove up from Georgia to surprise Dan and help celebrate his birthday.

A Train and a BABY!

Saturday, at the end of the Young Living Convention, we drove to Dan and Miranda's great friends, the Merrills just north of Chicago. We had a comfortable night's sleep and went to church with them. We got to visit with Snapdragon, a 16" long spiny lizard. Quite friendly.

About 3;30 Tom Merrill drove us to the Metro. We took that to Chicago and schlepped our suit cases the 3 blocks to Union Station. It was sprinkling at the time. We got directions to go underground, but a homeless person kindly directed us a different way... for a small donation. Then as we were crossing the street, another homeless person kindly sheltered us with his umbrella... for a fee. We got our tickets, but somehow didn't get to the first class lounge, so we got to hobnob with the humble folk-- including one large man who appeared to have wet his pants.

The train trip was enjoyable! It's so fun to see the scenery. We parallelled the old B&O canal which was next to the Potomac River. We saw picturesque towns-- the kind Grandma Moses would have painted. The train food was better than I had remembered and the rocking train a little more annoying than I had remembered at night. I took birthday cards to complete on the train and got most of them done.

We got to Washington DC, transferred to the Metro, and to Huntington Station where Rebecca and children picked us up on Monday about 1 pm. Tuesday we went to Mt. Vernon. Rebecca, Callie, and Delany went with us in the morning and we wandered all over. Then they headed home and we toured the mansion and visited the museum. It was very educational and gave one a great appreciation for the miracle of the birth of the nation and a respect for a man who had great power and laid it aside so we could be governed not by a king or life-long ruler, but by the people. So many have sacrificed for our freedoms, I wish we would take better care of that freedom.

Note that this Tulip Poplar was planted by George Washington. It was HUGE.

Early Tuesday morning Rebecca and Dan headed for the hospital. We got kids up and to school and held down the fort while Rebecca delivered Rylee LaPriel White at 5:39 pm. She was 8 lbs 2 oz. and 20 inches long. She's cute. You can see the family resemblance to Rylee and the other White children. Tom and I visited Rebecca Wednesday night and again on Thursday. They let her come home late Thursday night.

Off to the Young Living Convention

Monday we finished up a myriad of tasks. Tuesday was supposed to be a packing day, but we managed to cram in running errands as well. We drove to south of Kansas City on Tuesday. Wednesday we were going by Des Moines, so we detoured and looked at Jonathan and Kristy's new house. It will be lovely for them! Then we got to Minneapolis before dark and saw this fantastic skyline. We got checked into the Young Living Convention. Then we checked into the hotel and then came back to the convention for it's opening bash with free food and NingXia Red.

It was a great convention. Lots of good information. I hope to type up my notes. If you're interested in hearing what they have to say on what oils work for what, and good nutrition, let me know and I'll send you my notes. Jilleen and Kevin Darracq went as well, and we spent time with them. We had good seats and really had a good time. The food for lunch was excellent each day. there were essential oils in most of the foods.

Our hotel was right next to the University of Minnesota. So as we came home at night, we'd see cars with sorority signs, and tons on students and bikes. We ate dinner in Dinky Town, just across from U of M. it was interesting that I could enjoy the students, with absolutely NO desire to be back at that age.

Sept 13 letter-- prep for trip

This has been another one of those weeks you are glad is behind you, but also portents only more of the same to come. When you spend your 39th anniversary working all day, you know your priorities are eschewed.

I was busy Monday and Tuesday getting the empty rental finished; it is all the little repairs that take the time as opposed to the big ticket items like painting. It does look good. And the good news, it is rented! Two weeks from tenant to tenant; not bad.

Wednesday Sandy and I left town bound for Ft Leonard Wood for more shots. We had a 1 pm appointment; I got meningitis and yellow fever; Sandy only needed the latter. All we need now is typhoid; we decided to go for the shot and save the $100 for the oral. We’re tough, what’s another shot! We then continued to St Louis to meet with Peter and look at a couple of homes for sale. Peter has been purchasing and renovating multi family homes for several years; he has a competent crew that works for him and so as we walk through a house, he can give us a good approximation of the cost to repair/replace whatever needs doing in a house. That way we can make a quick determination if a piece of property is worth pursuing. We had about two hours to look at a couple of prospects that evening, but didn’t see anything we were excited about. After a leisure dinner, we checked into the motel for the night. But not until we stopped by Trader Joe’s; Sandy has discovered that they once again carry one of her favorite chocolates: mint flavored UFOs.

Thursday, we met with Peter at 8 am. Found a real nice triplex (we came home and made an offer on it the next day – But shortly learned it was already under contract) as well as some other interesting homes. Some of the homes we look at have been cleaned out and look adequate for having been foreclosed on; others look as if people left in the night, leaving clothes behind and a few items of furniture. Then there are the ones that have been broken into and are void of copper pipe, electrical wires, and air conditioning coils. We had to terminate our house looking to get to the Title Co at 10:30 to pre-sign for the first house we are closing on. It formally closes on the 18th. Then Peter’s crew will go in and renovate it; this is a one bedroom duplex in a good neighborhood. The management company does not see a problem renting this one quickly, once it is completed, hopefully within a month. We also met with the insurance company we are working with to get this house, and the second one we will close on the end of this month, insured.

So, if we have two homes in the wing, why are we still looking if we are leaving in less than two months? Sandy’s comment: Because it didn’t start out with only two months. And since we’ve put the financial loans in progress, we need to use the money wisely. And I think we have the team in place to make things happen correctly.

We also are setting up an LLC. This will protect the St. Louis properties and give us limited liability in case tenants sue us. We had listed several names. The LLC came back with a misspelled name. We are currently the St. Louis Neighhood Redevelopment Group (should have been Neighborhood). It will take time and money to re-do it. The Attorney said he’d pay the $$, but we really don’t have the time. And we figure after 4 houses, we’d start a new one. Maybe the Yeahhood Redevelopment Group?

Friday we worked at Adam’s house, trimming limbs off the house and from around the power lines. In the afternoon, I spent four hours in our pasture burning three limb piles and recovering part of the pasture taken over by weeds. I decided we can’t ever replace our 50 year old tractor – new ones may not be capable of with standing the abuse I give this one.

Saturday I was busy helping one neighbor get a doggy door installed in her wall (she has four dogs and is tired of getting up at all hours of the night letting one or the other out). Then to the next neighbor to bush hog his three acres. The property manager called and told us she could probably rent Adam’s house if we would replace the (poo poo brown) carpet; it has a pet smell. So, Sandy and I spent a couple of hours pulling up this great quality, yet somewhat smelly, wool carpet. For financial reasons we opted not to recarpet this house; rather we will lightly sand the hardwood floors and then paint them (I know that this is sacrilegious, but it is affordable). The challenge is that we are leaving Tuesday at 4pm to drive north to the Young Living Grand Convention in Minneapolis, which starts Wednesday evening. We are going to be busy (see the second paragraph above) Monday and Tuesday. Can we make it? It will take a miracle! And we are expecting one!!

Saturday after we came back from Adam’s house, we found two chickens and a small pile of feathers. Alas, Bridged, one of the layers, is not to be found. We are down to Charlotte and “Hop-along” (formerly Lucy.) I think if we do chickens next time, we need to make a bigger place and have it totally protected. They don’t seem very good at protecting themselves.

We will spend Tuesday night on the road north of Springfield, MO and then attend the convention until Saturday afternoon. At this moment, we plan to spend Saturday night with friends of Miranda and Dan in the Chicago area. Sunday evening, we take Amtrak to VA to visit the “White” house (Rebecca and family) where we will spend the week. While we may have been sweating over removing carpet on our anniversary, we will make up for it this next week.

What's that thing in my backyard?

After listening to the well pump recycle in the middle of the night recently, I decided something was not right. Some simple trouble shooting indicated that pressure would drop approximately every 20 minutes triggering the pump to kick on. Since the water line from the well head to the house had just been replaced early in July, I was confident we did not have any leaks. So, until we could have it looked at, we shut off the pump whenever we left the house and at night.

On Tuesday the trusty pump guy, Norman, showed up with his truck. He did a pressure check and determined that there was a leak somewhere between the well head and the pump. He pulled the pump out, which was at the end of 84 feet of pipe and discovered that the check valve at the top of the pipe and the one at the pump were both faulty; consequently they allowed the pressure to bleed off and cause the pump to recycle. Since the pump was 18 years old, we opted to install a new pump and new pipe. He was done in less than four hours.

That evening, while Sandy was busy showering, the water pressure dropped. Fortunately she was able to rinse off before the water quit entirely. I got home shortly thereafter, about 7:30 pm, also in need of a shower and found the pressure switch had broken. So we spent the night without water, which meant no shower for me, until Norman returned early the next morning to install a new switch. Hurray! We now enjoy fresh clean running water – and hopefully a lower electric bill!

What's that smell?

Monday evening during the normal 'put the chickens to bed' routine, Lucy was UA (unauthorized absence). A quick check of the yard proved fruitless; she was not to be found. It seemed as if the chicken snatcher had struck again (we lost Ace a month ago). So we were about ready to accept the fact that we only had two chickens, when our neighbor called (the one with four dogs). “Would you like to come and retrieve your chicken from my bedroom?” So Lucy wasn’t UA after all, she was just visiting an off limits eating establishment. She isn’t talking, but based on the puncture wounds on her stomach and back side, we conjecture that she flew over the four foot fence and was attacked by one of the dogs, who clamped his mouth on her and dragged her into the house. Fortunately for her, she was able to get loose and was later found by our good neighbor in her bedroom. Guess that was a rather startling experience.

We brought her home, cleaned her wounds, and set up a portable cage in the kitchen for her. She was still alive Tuesday morning. The wounds on her underside are more serious and have affected her ability to use her left leg. Today she has been able to put weight on it, but hobbles around the cage. We are using essential oils on the wounds and hope for a speedy recovery, but it may be a couple of weeks before we can let her out full time with her friends.

Meanwhile, we have a greater appreciation for why animals live outside: she stinks!