WHAT'S UP DOC? THIS AND THAT!

Welcome to some new followers.  Jessica and Harry.  They are preparing to enter the world of full timing.  Also we welcome RonTOG  What does it take to become an old geezer?  Am I there yet?  


Sue Castle has joined as a follower, but I can't find her blog!  Sue let me know how to find you!  Donna K from Travels in Therapy has also joined our family, welcome! Miss Lazee, welcome to you too!  What a cute name!  Michael, love your blog!  The simpler life is what we want!


Every time I think I have a closet cleaned out, I find something else I can donate!  What's up with that?   Closets and drawers are becoming the bane of my existence.  I suppose all you full timers out there are giggling right now, right?  


Friday, an antique dealer came.  She named prices she was willing to pay for each piece.  We sold a few pieces and all our books to her.  The pieces we kept, we are going to send to an auction house that is well known for getting the best prices.  That has to wait until the house is sold since all are part of the staging.  The pieces that left Friday were not part of the staging process.

Yesterday, Saturday, we went to our granddaughter Lucy's gymnastic meet.  Watching this thirty one pound, very short seven year old do the beam, floor exercise, vault and the bar was quite a nail-biting experience.  She earned two medals and improved her scores in each of the exercises.  

Lucy, is not really competitive.  She is there to have fun.  This comes as a shock to her mom.  


When Holly, her mom and daughter number three was in middle and high school, she was a very competitive varsity volleyball and basketball player. Her loyalty to her teams was admirable. 


When she was a junior, she started having severe headaches.  I took her to our family physician.  He asked her if she was under any stress or trying to make an important decision.  


Voila!  The answer came out.  Holly was an honor student, yearbook editor, and athlete.  Her senior year was coming.  She knew she could not play in college since she was going to study pre-med.  What was she going to do?  Waste her time and take someones spot who REALLY wanted to play?  Or would she tell her coaches her decision and focus even more on school.  Once she made the decision, her headaches were gone!


She is a good mom, she's a pediatric oncologist and hematologist.  She allows Lucy determine her goals and gives Lucy the encouragement she needs.  No pressure.  


Oops, I digress.


Tomorrow, John works on the guest bath.  He will be installing new hardware at the tub, shower and vanity sink.  A new light will go up and the walls are to be painted.  


It has been raining here since last night.  Flood warnings are being broadcast.  At least it is not ice or snow!  It will be a good day to work inside!  A good day for me to go through all the kitchen cabinets and whittle down the contents.  I had no idea we had accumulated to much "stuff."


People are amazed that I can let go of so much.  I keep saying that it is just things, just "stuff."  It's much more important to lay our treasures in heaven than to try to accumulate on earth.  


While watching the Colt's game today, I noticed the commercials touting the term "you deserve."  What makes us deserve?  The fact that it's time to spend money on Christmas presents?  I don't get it.


And the message that we must have the biggest and best and newest cell phone, car, truck, clothing, diamonds cuts me to the quick! Oh yes, don't forget to charge everything on your American Express, Visa or Master Card!  (so they can charge you interest if not paid in full.)


We forget that Christmas the celebration of Christ.  And this Christ then gave us the most valuable Christmas gift.....eternal life.  Even though we do not deserve it, he gave His life in order that we have eternal life.  Now THAT is a true gift... that is grace.  


As we enter another week of travel, of work or whatever is on our schedules, keep in mind that we are offered the best of the best!


Thanks for visiting.  I have enjoyed your comments.  


God bless you in His season!  

RUN OVER BY A MACK TRUCK!

That is exactly how I feel this evening.  The last three days have been, what can I say......excruciating?......busy?......hard?......tiring?......really, I have no word to describe them.  

Tuesday:  pack the  motor home.  Run errands, Pack the motor home more.  Pack, load, pack, load....bed.

Wednesday:  Stock refrigerator.  In  other words, ....  Pack food and load refrigerator and freezer.  Finish getting clothes into motorhome closets and drawers.  Since the temperatures went from ninety eight degrees to fifty in a twenty four hour period, we had to pack for cool and hot temperatures.

We pulled out of the drive about three hours later than we wanted.  We need to get fuel.  Pull up to the pump and I discover that my business debit card is not in my purse.  Can you spell getting testy?

Exit BP station, drive back home, up the drive, go to green barn to look for the card that I think is in the Miata...not there....walk to house to look for missing card...oops!  It's in my book bag from my trip to the library and Tuesday's errands.  

Back to motor home that John has turned around and is poised, maybe a bit impatiently, waiting for take off.  Back to BP...fill up with gas and we are off and two hundred dollars porer. (we did not fill up)



Now, to make things interesting, we are now entering the rush hour madness.  We cannot take Interstate 74 west since there is a major road construction effort underway, including a HUGE detour.  So we decide to take the south loop of I 465 to I 70 then cut up on state highways to 74, thus missing the detour.  Right..sure...have you heard of Murphy????

Traffic is not toooo bad......UNTIL.....we get around Interstate 70 and I 465, out by Indianapolis Municipal Airport.  Just as we commit to that and voila, a traffic jam.  Not an ordinary traffic jam, but for over 2 hours there was no need to use the accelerator.  Just take foot off brake and let the rig creep up five or six inches, hit the brake and wait for about ten minutes and repeat!  That does wonders for our m.p.g! 

We finally reach the state highway that will take us up north to I 74 and we are off!....., Not so fast, buddy.  THAT road had a detour!...just a small one though.  But..... we decide to take another road that actually takes us through the town that NASCAR drive, Jeff Gordon is from.  

Pittsboro is the name of the town and it has a restaurant that serves great catfish.  We love young catfish, so we stopped at Frank and Mary's for our first F & M's catfish in fifteen years our so. We had our dinner, which did not live up to our memories and off we went on our trek to Wisconsin.

The drive from our driveway to Frank & Mary's would normally take us a little over an hour. Then our meal would last an hour - maximum.   Our driveway to the Indiana / Illinois state line takes about two hours.  So that would mean that if all conditions were good, we would arrive at the state line in three hours.  That would be seven o'clock.  

We arrived at the state line at nine!  You get that?  NINE O'CLOCK! 

Mapquest said this entire trip would take six hours and fifteen minutes and we were at the state line in five hours.  Can you say, we...are...running....late?  

Well, we drove until about midnight, stopped at a new Sam's and Wally world complex at the intersection of I 39/I90 and WI 26.... (nice) and fell into bed to wake up at nine this morning.  Are we having fun yet?  

We awake bleary eyed...I wonder why???   After a drive through at Micky D's, we drove a short, short distance to Jefferson Wisconsin for the Wisconsin Sheep and Wool Festival. Ahhhh, finally achieve our driving goal. 

We were fortunate enough to be able to drive the motor home right into the building and unload.  I think that is our first good break in over a week!  God is good!

The booth is set up and if I must say so myself, looks great.  I have an antique Canadian Production spinning wheel for sale and a gently used Schact Matchless spinning wheel in our booth to sell.  There are the knitting / plying / warping bowls thrown by our friend and potter John Todd, aka PawPaw Pottery.  Then we can add our fiber, knitting lights, needle felting and wet felting supplies.  


I am looking forward to meeting fellow blogger, Mad City Mike.  Hopefully, Karen in the Woods will also show up and introduce herself.  If there are others in Wisconsin or traveling through the area, please come to the Country Market - West building, north west wall, come buy and introduce yourselves!  


But right now,  It's 8:06 and I am going to bed!  Night all!


God bless and hold you in the palm of his hand.  

OUR WANDERINGS IN SOUTHEAST INDIANA

Of course we planned too much to do in one day, but we did have a nice relaxing day.  Our goal was to leave here by nine o'clock, and we were pretty close to our goad.  We left twenty five minutes late. Our goal was to shop for rare coins for John and another circular sock machine for me.  

Originally, we wanted to go to an auction, but none looked promising so we took our second choice and thought we would try antique shops.  Having a limited interest today made the shopping easy.  We went in, looked carefully for our "prey", double checked with the shop owner and were on the road again.  



Our first stop was Shelbyville, Indiana.  Back in the seventies, there were two great antique shops in Shelbyville and we purchased a brass bed from one and a china cabinet from another, but Saturday, both shops were gone.  

We did find two shops just outside Shelbyville though.  They were at an interstate 74 exit just east of the Shelbyville exits.  One shop was located in a building just off the westbound exit ramp and the other, Jim's Antiques,  was on a road just after the ramp.  

Each time, after looking around we would ask about the circular sock machines, (CSM).  Each time we would receive a bland look on the dealer's face and they would say "a what?" Then I would get my DroidX out and bring up a photo to show them.  "Nope," the have never seen a CSM.  

Our next stop was St. Paul, Indiana which is a bit further east, again right off Interstate 74.  We had gone to an auction there back in the seventies.  I bought John a mantle clock that he fell in love with for his birthday.  The auction was after sunset and we did not see the town.  This time, we had a treat!  We cruised through the town, up and down streets.  What a neat old town with lots of history.   

We were not traveling on the interstate, but on US 421 that parallels the interstate for some time.  And on down the road, we came to Greensburg.  Now this city is the county seat therefore the courthouse is located there.  Greensburg is noted for having a tree growing from the tower of the courthouse. 

I believe that the courthouse tower grows new trees constantly, and steeplejacks have to cut them out and trim the main tree. When the current tree gets too old or a disease, they will allow one of the others to grow and take the current one down. Never has one been planted. They are believed to be seeds from bird droppings.  

 

In Greensburg, the highway leaves Interstate 74 behind and proceeds through the countryside. We visited Napoleon and Osgood.  We stopped and had our picnic lunch in Osgood and were greeted by General Osgood, a metal sculpture. 

 

Next to the "general" there is a spider web complete with spiders.

I wonder what message the artist was trying to convey.

I love finding these sculptures as we travel.  They pop up in the most unexpected places.  

 

After our picnic, we were off again.  We were in and out of interesting shops.  Some had the horrible musty odor typical of some primitive antique shops.

 

Our next stop was Versailles.  One of Indiana's state parks is located there.  It is a nice quiet place to visit.  We didn't stay as long as we had planned since the shops that had been located there were also out of business.  

 

Then we decided we would just "tour".  We wanted to drive back roads to explore a portion of the state we had not often visited. 

Even as we wandered Indiana county roads, we found ourselves in the midst of an unusual  setting.  But as we approached, we could hear very loud gunshots!  What in the world were we heading into?

This is what we found.....were were in Friendship, Indiana.  

 

Friendship is the home of the National Muzzle loaders Association.  People come from all over the world to compete in their annual competition in June of each year.  

They have a full hook-up campground there.  From what we were told the area is filled with thousands of visitors for competitions and reenactments throughout the spring, summer and fall.  

We found some old, old campers mixed in with new rigs there.  I don't know how old some were, but I took a couple of pictures to share with everyone.  

  People of all ages and families are enthusiasts of shooting muzzle loaders. And those a huge guns.  They are longer than I am tall.  I think I'll stick with my fiber art.  

 

After our tour of the area we were off on more of our adventure.  The drive was quite nice, but hot.  Oliver was with us because the prediction was for cooler weather, but the temperatures were in the low nineties (too hot for Oliver).  He drank a lot of water!  

As we traveled through the countryside, John spotted a beautiful stone work bridge. This is the

best shot I could get with my

not so hot camera.  I have no idea of the age of this bridge, but am assuming that it is from the late 1800's to early 1900's.  It is one lane and shows none of it's beauty from the other direction.  If possible, I would like to try to find it this fall for more pictures.  This would make a beautiful fiber painting.  One of my interests is taking fiber, dyeing it and laying it out to create a painting, just as I would do with oils if I were so incline.  I just prefer fiber.  

So we turned around and continued our scenic tour.  Going in the opposite direction.  I hope you can see how narrow this road is.  Even with the Miata, as we passed each of the two cars we encountered on this quiet country road, it was a bit crowded.

The majority of the rest of the trip was as beautiful as this scene until we came into Madison, Indiana.  

And in Madison, we were greeted with rain, lightning and thunder.  So up went the top and we continued our way, now inching toward home by the way of more county roads and state highways.  

All in all, it was a fun day.  A nice ending to our Anniversary celebration.  And now, it's back to work.  John is working on the columns in the between the kitchen, dining and front rooms and I'm about to head to the studio to prepare for the class I am teaching in Wisconsin.  

Have a great day and of course, God Bless! 

Preparing house to sell

Carpeting is up, thanks to Zack - grandson #1. All squeaks in the floor eliminated. Roofing liner partially down and John is resting today. This is hard, slow work for someone with COPD. Today is a day of rest for him. He has slept most of the day. BUT, he says that If he enjoys this, we may remove all carpet and lino in RV and put down hardwood.

I'm working on Hoosier Hills Fiberarts Festival today. Placed ads in Spin-Off, Interweave Knit, a special edition of a Knit magazine, Interweave Handwoven, Crochet, Piecework. Guess I've spent enough money today.

Tomorrow, move that huge antique, finish the liner (serves as a moisture barrier) and begin laying the cherry hardwood. I'm getting excited, but sad that we will not enjoy the fruit of our labor for long (we hope).

I sold my desk and credenza! Another positive move. Now to take photos of antiques and get them on Craig's List.

The Road House (name of our 35'Winnebago Adventurer) is in the drive calling our names. It's ready to roll. Wish we were.