Up and Down the Gravel

Through the years, a lot of things have been built down at Papa's workshop
and then hauled somewhere down the gravel.

There were 2 or 3 goathouses that were built back in the days when we
had our goats.  Pa's tractor pulled them down to our place where they
served our goats well.

Hattie's playhouse was built by Pa at his workshop and then pulled on skids
to our house.  It was the only thing she wanted for her birthday when she was
about 5 or 6.  Her grandparents on both sides and Kent and I bought the materials
and Pa built it.  That playhouse has provided a lot of fun for Hattie, her friends
and cousins, the grandkids, and many other little people that have spent time at
Fernnook Farm.

One of the oddest things to be built at Pa's and hauled down the gravel was
a bathroom for G'ma Opal.  In the summer of 2008 brother Mike built a
neat bathroom for G'ma.  Her other one was getting a saggy floor and was
quite a traipse for a 97 year old to get to during the middle of the night. 
Mike built it, cousin Alan did some work down at G'ma's house to get things
ready on that end, and the whole family was involved in moving it.  Granted,
some were only involved to the point of shaking their heads and saying,
"This'll never work!"

But, as cousin Kenny has recorded on video, with great patience and several
false starts, that bathroom was moved and connected to the side of G'ma's
bedroom and and served The General well for the last 8 months of her life.

This past week, Uncle Jim needed his back steps rebuilt so that a water heater
could be moved up them.  So, once again, he and Pa repaired to the workshop,
built the steps and then Kent and I helped to move them down the gravel to
Uncle Jim's place.  I haven't heard the rest of the story...that is whether or not
the water heater actually got put in place. 

For us, it was a cow week.  Mostly we have been working on finding and getting
hay.  It is so dry in Mayberry this year.  Usually we don't have to feed hay until
December or even January.  But the cows are hungry and need it now.  When
hauling one large load of hay, Kent hit a small deer.  He just could not get
the truck and trailer with all that heavy hay to stop in time.  That is the second
deer accident for us this year. 

Iin other news: Bill's family went to a Pig Pickin' at their church yesterday. 
Elsie was especially excited to play with her friend, Elena, there.  I texted Bill
today and asked him how it went.  He elaborated with one word, "Good."  Not
even an exclamation point or an emoji.

Joel is slowly getting his field fenced in.  He has been working lots of hours at
his job and hasn't had a lot of free time to put towards the fence.  He is also getting
a telescope as a gift for working at B & S for 15 years.

Jenn won third place in a quilt show.  She put lots of time and effort into the quilt,
and it shows!  It is really stunning.