Wednesday, December 21, 2011

My very favorite Sister Worker sent me an e-mail scolding me for not up-dating my blog often enough, so it's time to do so.
I love Betty, and I really listen to her advice (on ALL things) and want to honor her counsel.
It's our anniversary.  Twenty-six years.  I wouldn't have believed we would make it this long.  I have such intollerance, and Steve has such a temper, that I would have thought that we would have killed each other by now.  I don't believe in 'fortune telling' or such, but once I saw on one of those table mats in a Chinese restaurant that his sign and mine should NEVER attempt a relationship.
I guess we've beat the odds.
I believe that we determine what we want to be and do, and that, if we apply ourselves, work hard, and seek God's will for our lives, we can overcome almost anything that does not kill us.
That's about how I feel towards 'Creekside', our new house.
It's so much work, and it seems that so little is getting done.  We work all the time, but so much of what we do is not visible.  People stop by to see the progress, and I can see the look of disappointment on their faces.  It's likely on mine, too.
You don't see the miles of plumbing, wire, insulation, and structural repairs that go into an old house re-do, but if they're not done correctly, you still have a dump.
Going to shop for and collect building materials, trips to the tool-rental shop, errands that are essential for building a house, and even taking away the garbage take so much time.
Janie has been a great help to me, and is almost always bubbly and cheerful, but she, like myself, is only one person, and can do only so much.  When you balance the amount of work with the size of our staff, you can tell that we're not exactly sitting around the wood stove drinking tea.
I don't know if I've mentioned the wood stove.  We installed a small one in the living room, and vented it up the fire place flue.  It helped with beating the cold, but was not adequate, by a long shot.  I had bought another one at a closing hardware store last summer, and it's like a barrel (quite a bit larger than the smaller one) and we traded them out.  There's a HUGE difference!
The barrel type takes much larger logs, and it heats the house very comfortably.  I still have lots of insulation to install, but we're fairly warm right now, with the nice heat from the wood stove.
Steve almost always gets mad at me for such purchases, but then recognises the need I knew would arise when we get the use from them later.
Shawn has bought himself a new truck, and it's a beautiful shade of purple.  He came by last night to help his father for a while.  He's such a handsome, pleasant man.
Stucco is working in the (formerly) striped room upstairs, and he is ready to do the plaster on the ceiling.  I had seen a ceiling detail in the home of Gary and Norma Burkett several years ago that some Brother Worker had done for them, and I described it to Stucco and asked him if he thought he could replicate it.  He not only replicated it on a scrap sheet of sheetrock, he improved it!  He took a wallpaper brush and manipulated it to make the medallion section look like the tail feathers on a peacock.  It's going to be beautiful.  He can do almost anything with plaster and stucco.  He spoils me.
Some of the rooms are about ready for paint, paper, and surface finishing, but I don't want to do them until all the plaster dust is finished.  I get so impatient, but I would hate to finish a wall, then have someone bump something into it and make a mess of it.
I hope Janie and I can get back to the floor installation in the upstairs sunroom sometime soon.  That is going to be one more stunning transformation.  We're putting down engineered wood flooring, and it's beautiful.  I've had it in my parlor, entrance foyer, and library here at Clairemont for many years, and it wears well and stays so nice.
I can't believe Christmas is almost here, and I'm so ill-prepared.  I put most of my blowmold nativity set on the front lawn of Creekside, and I've had RAVE reviews.  Ann Casson, the publisher of Grainger Today (our local newspaper) stopped by my table at the Down Home last week to comment on my 'lovely nativity'.  If I had the time, I'd put more into it.  I like to remind people what the season is supposed to be about.
Cherokee said that people were slowing down on Rutledge Pike to look at it.  We had some problems with getting the lights going for it, and last night was the first night it was lit.  Until then, people just had to observe it in daylight.
My physical condition is steadily worsening.  I can't sleep, and I can't get going.  I'm tired all the time, my voice sounds terrible, I cough, have to clear my throat, have difficulty swallowing, and I feel like I've swallowed needles.  I'm passing some blood in my stools, which have shown a dramatic increase.
That's the clinical report.
Steve has become quite concerned sinse he's been home this time, and has made me an appointment with another ear, nose, and throat man.  I go for my initial visit tomorrow.  Several people around town have commented on the fact that I look 'un-well', or look like I don't feel good.  And they see me only when I'm in public, and 'on'.  I put on quite a show of being the same as before I became ill, but it's becoming harder all the time, and people can tell that there's something wrong.  I'm not as bubbly, funny, and energetic as I once was, and I find it harder and harder to 'fake' it for my adoring public. 
I do very little at Clairemont any more, and it's showing.  I used to do everything: the livestock, fencing repairs, buildings for the livestock, home repairs and maintenance, the up-keep on the vehicles, the yard work, and just general maintenance. This year, I've failed miserably.
My hernia surgery knocked me out of mowing and heavy yard work, and then all the troubles with my throat made (makes) me feel like I've been rode hard and put up wet.
I'm very weak (compared to what I was), and I'm constantly exhausted.  It's not just being tired, it's total exhaustion.  When I'm doing something strenuous, my hands tremble from the effort.
I still play the instruments (when I have the time) but you can easily tell that I'm just too tired to put much into the music, and that I'm terribly out of practice.
Betty Pike and I used to play together, I've played with Margaret Cook, Irene Snider (now Schaffer), Annette Tallent (now dead), and I was the organist for the All-County Gospel Music Association when I was a bit younger and had more time for such things.
I don't believe much of anyone would want me now.
Mary (my sister, Mary Kelly) was in Rutledge yesterday to have two teeth pulled.  She had asked me to get Dr. Foutch (who is my dentist) to do them for her.  He warned her about how much pain she would have.  She's one tough cookie.
She didn't feel like coming to Creekside, so I still have some of her Christmas gifts for her.  They're stored up there, as is about everything else I own.  The 'stuff' gets in the way, and makes all our work a lot harder.  I erected a hoop barn in the back yard, and we're storing things like floor tile, lumber, insulation, cabinets, and materials in it, to keep them on the site and keep the space clear in the house.  We've got a lot of things in the garage of the house, but it's ricketty and needs to be torn off the side of the house, and a better one built.  I'm going to put the laundry room and (possibly) another bath between the new garage and the kitchen.
Steve and I went up to Kenny Singleton's property to look at what it would take to get the roofing tile away from there.  Kenny gave me some terra cotta roof tiles, and they're the same product we have on the rest of the house.  I'm planning to use it on the new garage/laundry room/bath when we build it.  Kenny is not well, and I'm trying to get that tile before there might be a new owner for the property, which is low ans swampy.  They might not be as accomodating as Kenny.
The ground is wet, and has been for the last few weeks.  I think there's supposed to be rain today, if it didn't start in the night.  I'm going to need to move some cut firewood from Clairemont to Creekside soon, and I'd like to have the fields dry when we do the job.  It's some wood that the Byrds cut when they were working for me.  It's dry, but stacked out in the fields where they worked, and will definately take some work to get it into the bed of the truck and up to Creekside.  Wood heat feels so good, though.
An old family friend from Dante died recently, Wayne Fine.  He was a really nice man, with such community good will.  He helped everyone and anyone.  He and his wife, Barbara, lived beside our farm, at the corner of Brown and Greer Road.
Another death, Bill Looney.  He had run a restaurant in the building that used to be 'Shine's' here in Rutledge.  He was a nice man, with a great sense of humor.
Barbara and I always watch the obits.  There's your mention, Barbara, so don't call me and 'rag' on me.  I mention you a lot of times, but when I do, it's not fit for public viewing.
I've got to get off this computer and get to work.
So much to do, so little time.