JKAMN visit

JKAMN just left our house for one night at Mimi and Pop's. We enjoyed having the girls for three weeks. Things are VERY quiet around the house now.

Hot and dry makes for good framing weather

We had a birthday party for JKAMN tonight -- all five of them since we will not be with them on any of their birthdays. We had vegetables -- peas, corn on the cob, fried okra, cornbread, cabbage, potato salad, stuffed eggs and other trimmings. Wish that JKSD could have been here to share in the meal and good time around the table. The cake is an ice cream one that Nana concocted -- ice cream sandwiches around the outside edge.
Jason and I went out to the house site about dark and most of my pictures did not take but AJ took some today and she will post those later tonight, so you will have a better idea of the progress. The pic above is from the play room looking up and Jason is standing about where the main entrance to the h0use will be. Floor joists were installed today and they will start the floor decking tomorrow. All framing for the basement is completed and now we can finally tell more about the size of rooms and flow through them.
This shot is from the road leading up to the house. The road continues up around behind the house and we will enter the house from the back (or the front or whatever you want to call it. It is going to be very tall!!

I am taking Jason and Kelli to Pine Mt. tomorrow to see IMPACT 360 campus and to meet the staff. Denny and Sherry will come tomorrow evening and stay through the weekend. JKAMN leaves on Friday am for Mimi and Pop's for the night.

Pete is 80! Mimi's reunion

We had a good trip to MS this past weekend celebrating Pop's 80th birthday and Mimi's Downs family reunion at their house. The reunion went well. I don't have any pics of the reunion as AJ took photos, but I do have one from Poplar Springs Church cemetery. Mimi is talking to my cousin, Sandra, from Little Rock. I will post below some pics from Pop's birthday party at Lusco's. It was a lot of fun and I heard Pop say that that was the best time he had in a very long time.

Cayson did the sign. Good job, Cayson!

Sticks going up

Jason took some pics out at the site today. Ron is on the skidder and I am on the trackhoe.


This was the first wall up and I was there to help them put it up. That is the bedroom window frame, not a door. 2x6 walls in the basement walls.

Cheryl is standing in the double window in a bedroom on the "view" side.

Pending good weather, the framing should be finished in a month.

Moving dirt

Ron and I moved dirt from the excavation pile to backfill the poured walls hole. We rented equipment -- a skidder from a friend of his and a Bobcat Track Hoe from the dealer.

LOT

We had a picnic out at the barn with the Barnetts, Bradys and Edens on Monday night. We really enjoyed out time together -- LOT retreat. Mike B calls us LOT -- Larry's Old Team.

Almost ready for basement slab

The view is from the "front" of the house - up the hill -- looking into the basement. A bedroom will be where the sawhorses are. The black is the waterproofing. After final inspection of gravel placement tomorrow, the slab will be poured on Friday.

We start putting up the building next week. The sub-contractor has ordered a load of lumber to be delivered on Monday, so the "sticks" are going up right away.

We have water at the barn now. Cows have eaten down the back pasture and the bull walked through the fence to get to some grass in the garden site. Good thing we came along right after he got out. I had to put the cows back in the front pasture with the calves for them to have more grass. No rain for three weeks, so I will be out of grass in a few days if it doesn't rain. I am thinking that I need to sell some cows or calves next Thursday -- sale day.

The bare spot is where I moved some dirt in a low spot. The dirt in the background behind my pond is where Stephen is still spending money on his pond trying to get it to hold water.