Crab Apples!!!

So, my feet are killing me. I've walked the 15 millionth handful of stuff to the garage. I look out the side garage door window as I turn to go back for another load. What do my wandering eyes see? This happy sight.

This lovely little bunch of crab apples on our tree.  This is the first year they have actually born real crab apples. So very happy to see this.

When I was a child, my mother bottled lots of jellies and jams. Claude and I really don't eat much jelly or jam. But there is a crab apple tree on Sadieville City property. I picked their crab apples one year and made jelly which I gave to the kids at Christmas that year. It was a huge hit with the kids. So I would love to have some right on my own property (without the poison ivy vine running through it) to make some more jelly for our kids. 

This is truly not enough crab apples to make jelly. But there is hope and promise for the future in this bunch of crab apples. I like that. A lot!

A Little House Maintenance...

Claude and I decided it was time to repaint and put new carpet on the main level of our home. We have lived in our home almost 12 years now. Claude knows the man who owns Oser Paint in Georgetown. We visited with him a month ago and picked out carpet and paint. He gave us the name of three men he would recommend to paint for us. These men would do the paint and we would pay them for labor, they would get the paint from Oser and we would pay Oser for the paint. When they are finished, Oser will come and put the carpet down. The only thing we had to do was move things out from the main level for all this to happen. This ended up being a huge job. Huge I tell you, huge.

We got home from Utah and to bed Tuesday night by midnight. Wednesday we both were gone all day. Thursday I started the moving out process and we finished Sunday evening. I took pictures Sunday evening after we finished.

First, this is what our garage looks like. Our cars, for the first time since we moved to Kentucky, are parked in the driveway. It was just easier to give up our garage parking to put everything on the same level as the main level. Aging joints really cry out with lots of stairs.

These are some pictures of the main level without lots of furniture and decorations. There is a big echo when you talk up there now. The rooms in order are the pantry, the kitchen, the living room looking into the breakfast room, the master bedroom and the master bathroom.  I told Claude, this was a little more like when we first saw the home and immediately fell in love with it. Now it seems so very empty!!

We did have to move things downstairs. We have a potential time to get the work done of 1 1/2 to 2 weeks. So we moved downstairs the clothes and things we needed to live for that period of time. We put up the newest queen size air mattress for us to sleep on. Claude set up his office stuff on the nice folding table at the end of the family room. I had a portable hanging clothes rack that we filled and Claude made an additional one out of a dowel and some chain attached to the rafters in storage. Claude drove the tractor to the patio and parked it there for the duration. Here is the basement. It is very, very full of stuff. Big contrast to the upstairs. I also moved all my green plants to the basement.

It all worked great today as the guys came to paint. They were amazed at what we had moved from when they visited to give us a bid on the work. However, the paint color we had picked out was way too dark for our walls. It is the color put on the originally but it is truly too dark. We picked out another lighter color (Bavarian Cream) and it is very, very close to what we currently had. We loved this color and are happy with it.

So now we wait as the work is completed...then...we get to put everything back!!!  Noooooo. We did ask if they would leave our picture hooks up so that part would be easier. They agreed. They just pull out the nail, paint the wall, then put the nail back in. That will make putting the pictures back a little easier.

Such an adventure.

MusicFest in Sadieville...

Friends of Sadieville hosted the first 4th Saturday MusicFest at Warring Pavilion on Main Street in Sadieville last Saturday (June 25th). These were held several years ago and we have had requests to try them again. 

Merle Tussey has a karaoke set-up that he brings and provides the music. The Friends of Sadieville donate the food and sell hot dogs, chips, beverage and cookie or brown for $5. The funds are used to restore the Mt. Pleasant Baptist Church with the intent of it becoming the Sadieville Community Center. 

As it turns out, Saturday was also the first night of the Scott County Fair. But we had good attendance and everyone that came really enjoyed their evening. 

A man and his lady friend came to where we were cooking the hot dogs on the deck of City Hall. He saw Bobby Bruner, our police chief, and commented that he used to be a police office in Morehead, Kentucky. Hmmm... I commented that Detta Wilson was from Morehead. I introduced him to Detta and he immediately knew who she was. He actually knew her father and described him as he tried to get Detta to recognize him. Turns out he was actually one year younger in school than Detta. This is the gentleman and Detta conversing at the rail of the deck. It is a small world. 

His lady friend loved the historical aspect of Sadieville. In this picture she is talking with Sandy Whelan, our City Clerk, about Sadieville's historic buildings.

At one point in the evening, the Friends of Sadieville walked across the street to Warring Pavilion. I explained who we were and the purpose of the event to raise the funds to restore the Mt. Pleasant Baptist Church. Then Detta Wilson, Secretary of the Friends of Sadieville and City Commissioner over Parks, presented a check for $2,000.00 to Mayor Claude Christensen. We hoped this would help those attending to see the importance of their participation and financial support. The Friends really want to provide the funds to restore those beautiful windows as they were originally made for the Church.

It was very hot evening but we all truly had a great time.

Something Wicked This Way Comes...

Thursday, June 23rd, we had a lovely storm. I happened to walk out on the deck in the back of our home and noticed we were right on what appeared to be the edge. I took a few pictures and a video then I headed back in the house.

Claude was out-of-town and I was busy moving things out of the main level of our home. It didn't take long for the storm to arrive. I added a weather app from our local television station and my first alert was a man's voice coming from my phone telling me to take shelter immediately. It kind of took me by surprise. Being alone you really don't expect to hear a strong male voice warning you to take shelter. I put on my sneakers, made sure I had something to drink and my cell phone and went to the basement. So much for accomplishing what I was trying to do. 

Into the storage at the back of the basement I went with my laptop. The television reception on the satellite was gone. But I was still getting Internet on my laptop. And I had the weather app on my cellphone. So I was tracking everything that was happening. Then the warning siren in Sadieville started to go. It would go for a long, long time, then wind down. As soon as it was wound down, it would go off again for a long, long time. This seemed like it went on for 2 hours. I'm sure it wasn't that long but that is how long it felt. 

I called Papa when I got the first male warning voice. He is so deaf he doesn't hear the warning siren in his apartment. And, he is oblivious to the wind and rain unless he pays very close attention. I called Papa a second time when the sirens in Sadieville kept going off and I could tell by the radar on my cell phone and laptop that this thing was right over Sadieville and headed toward Georgetown. I told Papa he could shelter in his storage in the middle of his home for safety. He assured me nothing was happening in Georgetown. He had television reception so he put his phone so I could hear it. I had information overload and I knew I was safe in my basement. 

The end result of this storm was that some friends saw funnel clouds form in the Stamping Ground area. They did not touch the ground. We were very fortunate with that. Stamping Ground was almost wiped out before we moved here with a tornado.  Nothing like a little weather excitement.

Claude was texting me to alert him as to how things were going weather wise. I sent several texts. I asked him if they had a place to shelter in Bowling Green. The storm went there after going through Lexington. He said they did...they went to a local restaurant for dinner. Geez!!

Treasured Quote...

President Thomas S. Monson
"Finding Joy In The Journey"
October 2008 General Conference Address

"This is our one and only chance at mortal life—here and now. The longer we live, the greater is our realization that it is brief. Opportunities come, and then they are gone.

"I believe that among the greatest lessons we are to learn in this short sojourn upon the earth are lessons that help us distinguish between what is important and what is not.

"I plead with you not to let those most important things pass you by as you plan for that illusive and nonexistent future when you will have time to do all that you want to do. Instead, find joy in the journey—now."