Christmas Came to Jane and Me

The very best gift anyone could receive is that of grandchildren.  Well,,, we've got 6 of the very smartest, most beautiful, most talented,,,,oh well you know!!!!

From left to right,,,, Sara Grace, Lucy Anna, Andrew, Elizabeth Bell (ZuZu), Si (the newest) and the little lady laying in Sara's lap is Sophia Catherine (Sophie Cat)

Now tell me,,,,,,,, pretty great huh?????








The entire family is below including Andy, Jen and all the kids.  Andy and Jen just moved to Johnson City, TN where Dr. Andrew is responsible for the interns and residency program development for East Tenn State University Medical School.   WE HAVE BEEN BLESSED......

They are so reserved and never have any fun!?

Mom and Dad get in the act too, so,,,,,  Andy works seven days a week and Jen works 9 days a week.

Six + One takes a few extra days a week you know.

Merry Christmas To All

Jane and I wish you all a very Merry Christmas, and a safe and Happy New Year.

This has been a great year for us with many many blessings.

We have enjoyed wonderful family activities and never cease to be amazed at the grace of our Lord and Savior.

2010 will be one of the best years we have ever had thanks to our family as well as the friends that we have made here in Rye, AR.  

We can validate the often used phrase "you are never too old to learn" in so many ways.

We have prepared the old house a little bit for the seasons with some Christmas decorations.

We look forward to the New Year and continuing the work here and trust you too will have a great New Year and come and visit with us anytime.

Well Howdy, Its been a while

We have been so busy with Thanksgiving and general family times we just haven't been very diligent in our posting so, here goes with an update.


Kay and Donald (and Lisa, Donna and Mark) had all the family again at their home for thanksgiving.  As usual the food was plentiful and the visiting was so good that the time passed so fast we all were surprised when it was over.  Somewhere around 37 people at one time eating and enjoying each other and giving thanks for all their blessings.  How good does that get?

As far as the house goes, we've just been enjoying the work we've finished and the blessing of being here and having such good family relations.  We've just finished insulating the attic and boy does it make a difference.   Donald and your truly spent the afternoon in a cloud of dust and a ended up with a pile of empty plastic bags that was full of insulation.  Looks pretty good and it does make a difference.

We got our first snow fall of the year and the ole place just shinned in the early morning hours.  Just beautiful we think

The kitchen, extra bedroom, hall and finally the "sleeping porch" will be our next projects.  We're still enjoying every minute (hour or day) of the work process.  Its just going to be beautiful.  All the original owners and users are gonna be proud of the ole place again.

We'll keep you posted and hope to be moving forward.

We would say Happy Holidays, but we say MERRY CHRISTMAS if you get the idea!!!!!!!

Wild Halloween Party Makes News

Have you ever been to a winnie roast with a bunch of seniors?  Well, if you haven't you've missed it.

 Its starts out with a good spirit and everybody helping everybody else.
Lots of fun and fellowship and howdy doodie for all.

Then it gets real quite, and still.  Concentration and technique are beginning to take over.  Just total concentration on that wonderful "tube steak" meal.
(Notice Pastor Wiles {denim jacket, red hair standing on the left} is getting just the right turn on his stick!)

The mood is turning really somber and the group is remembering what their first winnie roasts were like I bet.







Ms Marry Mercer was just back from her west coast tour vacation and was glad to be back home.

She really liked San Francisco.  Her other traveling companions were not at the roast, Mr Sam and Ms Brenda were recovering from the travel and excitement.




A good time was had by all and the evening was over early.   One really really good coconut cream pie
was missing after Ms Pat Ashcraft worked so hard on it.  I think it found its way up to Pansy to the only person that came from Pansy, I'm just saying.......

South side of the house completed

Well,

We finally got the south side of the house painted and it looks as good to us as the north side and the front of the house.

We have also finished the front porch by rebuilding and painting the porch columns and the concrete platforms that they rest on.  The only thing left is the porch floor which once everyone agrees on what we are going to do with the floor remodeling, we'll finish that off in short time.

As a "catch up" bit of info, we have all but completed our living room redesign and remodel and now have a nice antique mirror thanks to Margie to help in the living room.  We will be completed when we finish out he mantel we will custom build.

We have been a little delayed in our work due to some heavy fishing arranged by Donald Curry.  I had to leave the picture large enough so you could see the results of his skills and efforts.  Yep, that's a trophy bream caught by the master himself!

No, actually Donald has lead several fishing trips lately and we've all had a great time.  We've fished the banks of the Bayou Meto, the Saline River and Fort Morgan.  We all have caught some really nice bass and Donald has been able to boat several very large crappie.  Donald always gets the best help from Kay for the cleaning process.   

Donald is "on the hunt" right here.  Looks like a lot of hard work don't it?  (This is on the Saline River at Paradise Island)

Man what fun this has been.

Thats a big fish but the smile on my face is even bigger!  Caught that bass on an ultra light crappie rig, and that was fun.

Well, Ya'll come to see us.  We can't leave the lights on for you, utility rates and all but still, yawl come to see,,,,, you hear?

Not Much But We've Finished The Front

Well, not much to report, we've actually slowed a bit in our work.  Don't know why except we "got tired" and began to pace ourselves a little.

However, we have just about completed the front of the house.  We built and painted all of the columns and installed them this week.  We also moved all of the construction equipment and material to the back where we will be focusing on in the coming days.  Cleaned off the front porch too and boy did that make a difference.

Compared to the picture on the opening of the blog, I think you can see a difference.

The front porch will almost be usable now.  Great place to begin and end the day

From February to September

From the left side to the right side and a lot of hard work.  We finally got the windows rebuilt, installed and painted.
Looks like a new house too!

New tin roof, new paint job, rebuilt windows, partially rebuilt porch. We have to paint the south side of the house and the back.  Pray for us!

As you can see, we are building the porch columns back and they too will be painted to finish out the front porch and the entrance of the ole house.  

In case your interested in "how", heres the process.  We had to remove the old windows completely, piece by piece and square up the opening.  This all took place about 15 feet above the ground so it was a little "hairy" for this ole fat boy.  Once down we rebuilt them "piece by piece" back to their original condition or as close as we could get them.  Remember, these are custom built windows and are not "pre hung" windows of the modern day.

Thanks to Donald and "The Ole Big Red Massey" we were able to lift the windows back in the bucket and I could install them with a safer and more sturdy platform to work.  These windows should be here for another couple of decades at least. 

Once up there and in position it was just a matter of putting up with the 98 degree September 23rd typical fall day in Rye.  I think Donald was sleeping while I worked.   (No not really)

Anyway, its getting there and we are getting closer to being ready for a show and tell in person.  Maybe we'll meet our Thanksgiving Day goal.  Jane and I are blessed to get to do the work and we enjoy every minute of it.  From February 8th till now we have not had a bad day here.  Not many people can say that, anywhere in the world.  

Come see us.  Kay and Jane will fix pecan pie, banana pudding, cornbread and beans and we'll have a good ole visit.