FRIDAY, JUNE 16,2006

Levi, Jon, and I set out for Missouri today to work on the house. Jon cant stay, but Levi and I will stay until June 28th.  We plan to get the windows and doors installed and work on the parking area. But mostly we are going to help our new friends, the Yorks, get settled on their new place on Lot A, up on Sunshine Lane, past Paul's place. 

Ken and Joyce York are from Youngstown, Ohio and, having put all three kids through college, they have decided to give up two crummy jobs to come live "the good life."  They will arrive about the same time we do with all their belongings in one pick-up truck and will camp on their land.  I offered them house space, but they want to tough it out.  The Yorks are going to come and help us build the library/loggia addition and learn the pole building technique and then use it to build their own house.  I helped them design a little pole house, 14'x 34', which will be simple for them to build.  If they have their power before we leave, we will go help them with the building.

Uneventful trip until we hit Fort Leonard Wood when a storm rolled through, driving rain, wind and wild lightening. By the time we reached Lebanon, it had cleared and there was a wonderful rainbow arching over Highway O.  We took that as a lucky omen for the week ahead.  Arrived at the house about 7:30 p.m.  Showed Jon the new rooms upstairs and unloaded the car.  We will have to mow first thing as the grass and brush have grown phenomenally over the last month.  Drove back to town for groceries and bought a new under-the-counter refrigerator to replace the little cube fridge. $134.00 for the new fridge. Had supper in town and home to bed.
 

SATURDAY, JUNE 17,2006

Gray partly cloudy day, bit of rain in the morning.  Jon and Levi up early for a run into town and then Jon left to visit his grandma in St. Louis on the way home.  Levi and I decided to clean out the store room and sort all the tools and materials to get things in order to start work.  Discovered all the duplicate tools we own.  No one needs 8 hammers, 6 tape measures including 2 50' tapes, huge handfuls of screwdrivers, boxes and boxes of assorted nails and enough sand paper to wall paper a small room.  And I really need to stop buying bargain light fixtures.  Where I will put all these chandeliers, sconces and lamps, I will never know. An embarasse de richesse. 

The Yorks arrived about 7 p.m. and we finally met face to face after months of chat and email.  They are really nice people and I'm sure we will be great neighbors.  We had a great chat about their trip from Ohio and plans and agreed to start work as soon as the lumber can be delivered.  And we have started off as neighbors by borrowing from each other.  The Yorks have a lawn mower, which works really well on rough grass and brush.  They just used it to mow their road and clear a campsite.  They are going to bring it tomorrow so we can mow.  And I loaned them one of our clocks as they had no way to tell time.  Hopefully the start of a mutually beneficial friendship.  A light supper and TV early to bed.  A short hard rain in the night.  I hope the Yorks are okay.

SUNDAY, JUNE 18, 2006  FATHER'S DAY

Still cool and a bit cloudy but no more rain.  Levi and I decided to work on the parking area and brush while it is nice and cool.  We are opening the new drive into the road, just opposite Adrianna's pre-fire driveway.  Its going to lead into a sort of oval area with room for 3 cars and then a path that leads out under the arched tree to the area right in front of the the new loggia.  We continued clearing the area we started last time and got most of the area open.  We had to cut down two small oak trees that block the way in and a pine tree that is too scraggy to save.  There is one tall oak I would like to remove, but we could never get it down without endangering either the house, the power lines, or several other trees.  It's sort of in the gangway, but we cleared enough room on either side so cars can pass without danger.  We made a good wide entry point on the road and it really makes a nice difference.  There is enough brush and shrubs along the road to insure privacy, but its open enough to be useful and it makes some nice open shade.  From the front of the house, you get a nice view out to the road and the cleared woods around Jeff and Adrianna's house.  From the road, you get a pleasant view of the house through the trees.  Once we get the library framed, we will clear just a bit more to open the view a little more.

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