Love Them Figs,,,,,,,

I tell you what, it just keeps getting better and better down here on Curry Road.  Seems like every week somebody calls and says "if you want some................ come on over and help yourself."

We've been blessed with peas, beans, tomatoes, potatoes, peaches, blue berries, corn, garlic, etc.


Now, we've even got some Figs.   Man, just how good can it get?

 These are tree ripe, soft, sweet, plentiful figs on trees maintained and carefully watched by Mike and Neda McLean here in Rye.   They are large and firm and make the best jam and sauces you can imagine.

There are two trees and they are loaded.  The Mcleans are just wonderful people and share.  Their yard is a beautiful display of flowers, fruit trees and tropical plants that are ever blooming and  ever producing fruit.

Mike loves his yard and it shows.  While here in Rye he is constantly watering, edging and generally making his place look like a Souther Living garden area.














Neda is the support staff for old Mike and I think she may be in charge of planning and definitely supervision.





This particular day, Neda had just finished canning about 12 bushels of crowder peas.  Both Neda and Mike are long time residents of the area and also enjoy time in the "city".  


We just can't get enough of this country and area.

You come on down and see us soon, we'll share as well.

Thanks Mike and Neda, the figs are already in the jars.

Bob and Mary Ellen's Fourth Of July Pool Party and Bash

Bob and Mary Ellen Nesbitt are two people that have more fun or create more fun that you can imagine.
Bob and Mary Ellen spent their productive years (business years anyway) as event planners and organizers for the Professional Bowling Association union cooperative or what ever.  Anyway, they are masters at hosting and leading the way to fun and joy.    This party is really a "front" for a family reunion of several families of Marry Ellen's side all originally from Rye.  Lots of cousins, aunts, uncles, etc.

Bob is a wounded combat veteran of the Korean war era.   Bob has a gift of welcoming people and just has a ball kidding and joking.   Bob is from New York (yep,,,, YANKEE) but he's 
probably been reborn to be a redneck like the rest of us.  ( I don't think he has changed his car oil on a Walmart parking lot yet, but other than that,,,,he's close)

Mary Ellen now is a "trip".  Never at a loss of or for words, can say anything and "get away with it" and is more fun than a barrel of monkeys.   Pretty good cook and hostess also.  This was a pool party so Marry Ellen had on TWO cover ups....... just to be safe.

Bob and Mary Ellen's house is custom built with a large enclosed great room that can handle a crowd of 30 easily.  That lets two families occupy the same room without a out and out fist fight!?   No, really they all love each other and have known each other for XXX years.

 Jane is seen here enjoying the company and food in the great "Great" room.  Donald Curry is in the back of the room standing and visiting with most likely one of his "First Cousins".  He has about 50 I think.

All of these people are family members and have been together for over 4 generations

The new pool is just to the left of this picture but was  not too busy on this day, since the food line was still open. 

Thanks to Kay and Donald's friends, we have met some great people that enjoy life and are great citizens.  What better way to spend a Fourth of July?

PS  Kay was in Little Rock due to her older sister Gail Johnson having been taken by ambulance to the hospital due to heart problems.  We will update that in the next blog.

We're Almost Done With The West Side,,,,,

Well, after many hours of scrapping, caulking, nailing, painting, cutting moulding and just plain ole hard work we think we are making progress on the Sleeping Room on the west end of the house.  The ceiling and walls are "plank, tongue and grooved bead board".  That means that each board some 90 years ago was installed perfectly in line and square.  Guess what, over a period of 90 years they get loose, some decay and most sag.  Give a little help of decay in the ceiling from previous roof leaks and you've got a project.   We used many man hours and a large amount of caulk tubes but the ceiling turned out pretty good, or at least we think so.  The color is a "beige" but Jane calls it something else.

The walls were also in need of a lot of tender loving care but they finished in pretty good shape as far as we're concerned.  Just keep in mind that if you ever have to paint bead board, it requires almost twice as much paint since you have to force the paint down into each groove and cover the sides of the grooves as well.  A large "1/2" nap " roller is a good start but expect to put a lot of brush strokes with lots of pressure to get the coverage you will want.

We also installed the oak laminate flooring and it just finished the room the way we had hoped.  The white moulding and wood work will set the room off even more.  

We had to take a break during this project for the Annual Bob and Marry Ellen Nesbit Fourth of July Bash so, come back and see what else we have completed real soon, ya hear?

We're Moving On Up To The West Side,,,,,Oopppps

Well the old song was moving on up to the east side but we're moving on up to the west side of this great ole house.  Yep, the Sleep Room-Sleep Porch special place.  Below you can see it was a bit of a mess even from the outside but what an opportunity.

I imagine you don't remember but we had to remove all the west windows and replace the bottom sills due to rot.  It took all of us and a lot of "tractor machine" help as well but we got it rebuilt and replaced in almost exactly the same situation as Mr. WG had built back in the 20's.

Once we got the windows rebuilt and back in place we had to work on the other rooms and we have been awaiting the chance to get to this great ole room and remodel the entire section of the house.  The picture below was after the windows were replaced and after Jane had spent weeks cleaning out the old bird, mouse and Bat, (yes I said Bat) stuff.  But remember, Boy What An Opportunity.

Jane and I both have used the old room as a work shop all winter and it became a "catch all" for anything left over or waiting to be used.  What a mess.  Jane did get her kitchen tiles painted out here and  it was out of the cold and rain.  Thank you Jesus.

Just so you can see the "before" situation the picture below is an idea of the condition of the ceiling before we started our make over.  The entire room is made of "bead board" tongue and grooved plank.  The wood was installed over 90 years ago and its moved, changed in size and endured many coats of paint and less than perfect maintenance.  Since we were going to make this our main living area we took extra precaution to resurface the ceiling as best we could.  We actually put 16 tubes of caulking on the ceiling filling the bead board groves and trying to realign the boards to the original appearance.

Below is the finished surface area and I think we got it.  At least Mr. Donald has signed off on it and Kay has yet to see it and give a thumbs up or down.  The ceiling will be a focal point of the room and the house and it should last forever. 

The walls were in about as bad of shape as the ceiling but not quite.  The leaking roof had taken its toll on the ceiling but the walls were in a bit better shape.  However, we still had to caulk and nail many of the bead boards and try to close the gaps and fill in the openings to try to get the appearance the house once had.  The following picture is our starting point on the walls.

From the two previous pictures you can begin to see the great color that Jane picked out for the room.  It grows on me and I am beginning to really get into it.  Its a Sunshine Yellow, Green or something, Sherwin Williams mixed it for us and I thought boy this bad when I opened the first can of paint.  But, as usual the color will grab you and its perfect for the "Sun Room, Sleeping Porch" effect that we want to have.  The picture below will give some idea of the new paint. (By the way, this is the wall we plan to install several exterior boards from Uncle Cokes house.  We have to wait till the snakes leave the Coke house so we can get in there and get the boards.  Neat huh?)

Looks pretty good with the white trim and the new light oak floor will really bring out the entire room
The final picture below is another view of the partially completed room.  As of today, after over 50 man hours we have finished the ceiling, walls and some of the wood work trim.  Hopefully we finish the remaining wood work trim and then lay the new floors next week.

Boy are we grateful for the opportunity and the chance to help recreate the great old house to its original glory.

Stay tuned for more updates on the completed room.   That leaves the hallway and the "mud room" as the final rooms and then,,,,,,rest,,,,ahhhhhhh rest.

Ya'll come,,, we'll leave the light on for you......

Esau's Corn,,,,, No Kidding

There's a place just outside of Dumas AR that grows the most wonderful sweet corn in the world.  When you eat it on the cob, all you have to do is get it a little warm and add a little salt.  Its the best thing you've ever eaten, or at least we think it is.

The entire thing is a process and its the same every year.   Their fields are all irrigated and the corn stalks are treaded like movie stars I'm guessing.  They have to be happy stalks to make this sweet of corn.

Once your inside the process moves pretty quickly and the entire process is over less than 15 minutes.  Give you name and time and they give you your corn sacks. 

You have to call and order your sacks of corn in April or sooner if possible and you get a day and a time to come and pick up your corn.  Yep,,,,,be on time and come with the money because if you don't someone else will get your corn.

We got ours and we have it in the freezer waiting for you to come and enjoy, so come on down.

Curb Appeal,,,,, Its Getting Better

Well, the summer is here, the tomatoes are coming in and the flowers and grass are blooming.
Thought you might want to see an updated frontal shot of the place compared to the original pictures in the beginning of the blog.

We are so blessed to be here, we have enjoyed every minute of our efforts here.  Donald and Kay, Mark and Dawn, Donna and Lisa have all made us feel welcome and have been so gracious to us.

Lots of work left to be done, but, we're getting there.

Remember what it looked like back in November 2009?  Great opportunity and lots of creativity could be used.  Well, speaking for the work and leaving the creativity to Jane and Kay, the below is only the beginning or the before.

The front looks a little different doesn't it?  Jane's flower beds, new grass on the north side and a little paint on the front begins the process.

Below is a nice "short"bed on the north side of the front yard.  You can see the new bermuda grass on the right side of the flower bed.  Takes a lot of time to  cut and rake that puppy but it sure is pretty.

Just in case you couldn't see the sunflower plants in the aboe 

Looks pretty good from the road too.  A nice semicircular flower bed divides the large front yard from Curry Road. A lot more flowers down the north side, roses down the south side and "Wa-La",,,, pretty.

Pink Tomato Festival Brings Out The Real Local Spirit

Warren, Jane's home town is in Bradley County and is known for their wonderful "Bradley County Pink Tomatoes".  And they are delicious and juicy and wonderful.  They are with out a doubt the best tomato you will ever eat.  The first are now coming off the vine and its like a fire drill for every one top get some.

The town has a festival that lasts for a week and they really do put on some great events to honor their crop.  The area has lots of local artists, singers and general characters so its a great time to enjoy the area.

A little town just north and west of Rye is called Rison and its actually the county seat for Cleveland county.  Every year some real authentic county people hitch up to their horse drawn wagons and travel the 25 miles or so south to Warren for a day at the Pink Tomato Festival.  This year, Kay gave us a "heads up" that they were coming down Curry Road and allowed us time to get the cameras out and catch the wagon train on film.

This first picture is of part of the wagon train coming down Curry Road with riders clearing the way and meeting anyone interested in the wagon train.  Can't you just imagine this as a way of life back in the days of Dick and Vera Curry (Robert Donald's dad and mom)?  This was some special treat for us.

We followed them around the bend of the old Curry home place and down in front of the WG and Erma Curry home.  (That's the one Donald and Kay are letting us remodel for family use)

Couldn't help but stop the authentic chuck wagon model in front of the house and get a picture.  This wagon is built completely to the original specifications and is considered a trophy winner at all wagon events.   I don't have the owner's name now, but when he sees this if he'll email me I'l give him the proper credit.  Great people, remembering the old days and extending the memories.  

I bet ole WG and Erma would have gone out and given them some pink tomatoes and a cold drink of water.

Man, this is just getting too good for my emotions.  We love it here, and we are so glad to be a part of Donald's and Kay's interest in restoring the old place.

If you like some of these last few blogs, call us and come on down.  We'd love to have you.