The stone walls are all two feet thick.
Sunday, February 28, 2016
Lacey Michele's Castle
The stone walls are all two feet thick.
Life in the Castle
In the off season I try to get away for a writer's retreat. I found a reasonable deal on VRBO- Lacey Michele's Castle just north of Harrison. That makes it about 20 miles south of Branson. Monday morning after running a few errands we headed up to the Castle.
We really didn't know what to expect. Tom was thinking it was a resort. I was thinking it was a one cabin deal. It's off the beaten path and a mile down a dirt road... and a single unit. In spite of that, they did have a swimming pool (burr) a volleyball court, fire pit, man cave with pool table and large TV and our little unit.
The unit was cute and neat. I had somehow thought it was a bedroom, Living room, kitchen, bath. It turned out to be a studio with kitchen and bath. Our Sprint phone connection was mostly nonexistent. Shelby, the owner showed us two places we could stand-- outside in the cold-- to connect. There were a few other we found-- by the pond... down the road. And oddly enough, occasionally there would be just enough service in the unit to send and receive texts. And... while it had WiFi, we only had it periodically. So that was a bit of a challenge.
Still, it was a secluded, restful place to focus on writing. I made lists of things I could do offline and things I needed to do online. When the connection worked, I did the online things. When it didn't, I did other kinds of writing. I got a lot done. Maybe even more since I couldn't dink around on the internet. I never knew when it would go out, so I had to stay more focused.
The weather threatened snow on Tuesday night into Wednesday morning. Tom had things he needed to do in Mountain Home on Wednesday, so he headed out Tuesday afternoon. We just got this little bit of snow and the rain that came before and after melted most of it. While home, we learned of a septic problem in one of our rentals. Sigh. Tom also attended the Blue and Gold banquet for cub scouts. He drove back up on Thursday.
I'd gotten up at 5am to write on Thursday, so by 3pm I was brain deal. Tom and I drove into Branson for some shoe shopping and Harry and David retail therapy. We went to Panara's for dinner. I know. With hundreds of restaurants in Branson... why choose Panara? It was simple and I didn't need to think or drive all over town discussing restaurants.
Friday Tom headed off to Jonathan and Kristy's for part of the day. He took Zachary's birthday card with him and was able to wish Zachary a happy birthday. Jonathan and Emily were sick, but Tom had a chance to visit with Kristy and Isabelle. Jonathan came out long enough to work with Tom to track some wires in the barn. They want to put lighting in the stalls for lambing season which starts next week.
Motley Fool UK did hire me to write the long sales letter. They wanted to push the dates back so it totally overlapped the Sib's reunion-- giving me only 2 of the 4 weeks I needed (2 would be taken up by the reunion and travel.) I made some suggestions and they countered with starting just after the reunion. That should work out fine.
We came home a leisurely route down Highway 14 and got home about noon. We read the collected mail, unpacked and didn't do a lot more.
Today I drove the 1 hr 40 minutes to Mountain Grove ward. They were having their Visiting Teaching conference during the Relief Society hour. I wanted to be there. And I especially wanted to go since I'd missed their ward conference. It was really a great meeting! I went to the RS presidents house for lunch afterwards. She's got three kids 7,5, and 3. They were talkative and it was fun to interact. Interesting, like Jonathan, her husband also works from home for a firm in Denver. They looked in a wide range around the Springfield airport and settled in Mountain Grove.
Tomorrow I will drive one of the sisters I visit teach to Little Rock for a doctor's appointment. That will take most of the day.
We really didn't know what to expect. Tom was thinking it was a resort. I was thinking it was a one cabin deal. It's off the beaten path and a mile down a dirt road... and a single unit. In spite of that, they did have a swimming pool (burr) a volleyball court, fire pit, man cave with pool table and large TV and our little unit.
Still, it was a secluded, restful place to focus on writing. I made lists of things I could do offline and things I needed to do online. When the connection worked, I did the online things. When it didn't, I did other kinds of writing. I got a lot done. Maybe even more since I couldn't dink around on the internet. I never knew when it would go out, so I had to stay more focused.
The weather threatened snow on Tuesday night into Wednesday morning. Tom had things he needed to do in Mountain Home on Wednesday, so he headed out Tuesday afternoon. We just got this little bit of snow and the rain that came before and after melted most of it. While home, we learned of a septic problem in one of our rentals. Sigh. Tom also attended the Blue and Gold banquet for cub scouts. He drove back up on Thursday.
I'd gotten up at 5am to write on Thursday, so by 3pm I was brain deal. Tom and I drove into Branson for some shoe shopping and Harry and David retail therapy. We went to Panara's for dinner. I know. With hundreds of restaurants in Branson... why choose Panara? It was simple and I didn't need to think or drive all over town discussing restaurants.
Friday Tom headed off to Jonathan and Kristy's for part of the day. He took Zachary's birthday card with him and was able to wish Zachary a happy birthday. Jonathan and Emily were sick, but Tom had a chance to visit with Kristy and Isabelle. Jonathan came out long enough to work with Tom to track some wires in the barn. They want to put lighting in the stalls for lambing season which starts next week.
Motley Fool UK did hire me to write the long sales letter. They wanted to push the dates back so it totally overlapped the Sib's reunion-- giving me only 2 of the 4 weeks I needed (2 would be taken up by the reunion and travel.) I made some suggestions and they countered with starting just after the reunion. That should work out fine.
We came home a leisurely route down Highway 14 and got home about noon. We read the collected mail, unpacked and didn't do a lot more.
Today I drove the 1 hr 40 minutes to Mountain Grove ward. They were having their Visiting Teaching conference during the Relief Society hour. I wanted to be there. And I especially wanted to go since I'd missed their ward conference. It was really a great meeting! I went to the RS presidents house for lunch afterwards. She's got three kids 7,5, and 3. They were talkative and it was fun to interact. Interesting, like Jonathan, her husband also works from home for a firm in Denver. They looked in a wide range around the Springfield airport and settled in Mountain Grove.
Tomorrow I will drive one of the sisters I visit teach to Little Rock for a doctor's appointment. That will take most of the day.
Sunday, February 21, 2016
It's Good to Serve the Lord
We had a great time with Deborah, Ian and family here for a short time. They left Monday afternoon and all was quiet... but not for long.
We hustled to get ready for family home evening. We'd invited the missionaries and a less active couple with a child over. The wife came early... um... so I stopped preparing and started visiting. The husband came a bit late. I was so impressed. He'd gotten lost and wandered up and down roads for about a half hour. I appreciated his perseverance. We had a nice visit, invited them to church, and they came on Sunday.
Tuesday I facilitated the every-other-week AWAI Mastermind meeting for some fellow copywriters. It was a good meeting. I got some articles written. That evening Tom and I drove to Gamaliel-- about 12 miles away, to visit some sisters. I visit taught. He home taught. They were lovely and chatty and we spent the majority of the evening there. Nice people.
Wednesday I did a little more writing work. I also worked on creating invitations for the Women's Retreat in April. And I spent time looking at family names that could be taken to the temple and printing them off. Tom went to meetings that night.
Thursday Tom went down to the prison to visit with one of the prisoners. The week before he'd driven the 45 minutes south to the prison for his parole hearing... only to be turned away. The prison had no records of him applying to come visit. It was disappointing. But on Thursday he learned that parole had been granted for this man. He also talked with the chaplain and they encouraged him to start a study group for LDS or those with an interest.
We both went and voted in the early voting for primary candidates. Then, later, I watched a video on how the electronic voting machines can be manipulated. It was disconcerting to see the possibility to hijack an election with the machines.
Friday we got up at 3:45 to get to the van going to the temple by 4:45 and then go off to the St. Louis Temple. There were 23 people from our ward in attendance at the temple that day. Some did baptisms. I did initiatories, two endowments and several sealings. We had the chance to seal Franz Maximillian Ingas Ferdnand von Donop to his wife and 8 of the nine children. It was a neat experience for many of the ward members to be kneeling together around the alter in this sacred ordinance. I love that it gives them the freedom to choose to accept it or not. We ended up arriving back home a little after 9pm. A long day, but a great time!
On Saturday, I got the posters back from Vistaprint for the Relief Society Retreat. They turned out nicely and got them ready to pass out to the different wards on Sunday. I worked on searching for technologies and prepared for the Ava ward conference I was to attend on Sunday. I had prepared a lesson for the last ward conference (which I could use this time) and a spiritual thought for the stake council that was pushed back to this Sunday (that I could have used from the last time... if I could have found it.) I'm glad the scriptures are full of wonderful teachings and it wasn't hard to come up with a new spiritual thought.
Today I left about 7:15 to drive the hour plus to Ava for their ward conference. They really are a wonderful ward. Very on top of things. I think my lesson went well and they seemed to appreciate the training. They prepared sack lunches and then we went to visit a sweet 80 year old widow and her daughters-- one lives with her. After the visit we had Stake council and I returned home about 5:30. I sent out the missionary letters and now the blog. I'm looking for an early bedtime. It's been a good week.... but I'm tired!
We hustled to get ready for family home evening. We'd invited the missionaries and a less active couple with a child over. The wife came early... um... so I stopped preparing and started visiting. The husband came a bit late. I was so impressed. He'd gotten lost and wandered up and down roads for about a half hour. I appreciated his perseverance. We had a nice visit, invited them to church, and they came on Sunday.
Tuesday I facilitated the every-other-week AWAI Mastermind meeting for some fellow copywriters. It was a good meeting. I got some articles written. That evening Tom and I drove to Gamaliel-- about 12 miles away, to visit some sisters. I visit taught. He home taught. They were lovely and chatty and we spent the majority of the evening there. Nice people.
Wednesday I did a little more writing work. I also worked on creating invitations for the Women's Retreat in April. And I spent time looking at family names that could be taken to the temple and printing them off. Tom went to meetings that night.
Thursday Tom went down to the prison to visit with one of the prisoners. The week before he'd driven the 45 minutes south to the prison for his parole hearing... only to be turned away. The prison had no records of him applying to come visit. It was disappointing. But on Thursday he learned that parole had been granted for this man. He also talked with the chaplain and they encouraged him to start a study group for LDS or those with an interest.
We both went and voted in the early voting for primary candidates. Then, later, I watched a video on how the electronic voting machines can be manipulated. It was disconcerting to see the possibility to hijack an election with the machines.
Friday we got up at 3:45 to get to the van going to the temple by 4:45 and then go off to the St. Louis Temple. There were 23 people from our ward in attendance at the temple that day. Some did baptisms. I did initiatories, two endowments and several sealings. We had the chance to seal Franz Maximillian Ingas Ferdnand von Donop to his wife and 8 of the nine children. It was a neat experience for many of the ward members to be kneeling together around the alter in this sacred ordinance. I love that it gives them the freedom to choose to accept it or not. We ended up arriving back home a little after 9pm. A long day, but a great time!
On Saturday, I got the posters back from Vistaprint for the Relief Society Retreat. They turned out nicely and got them ready to pass out to the different wards on Sunday. I worked on searching for technologies and prepared for the Ava ward conference I was to attend on Sunday. I had prepared a lesson for the last ward conference (which I could use this time) and a spiritual thought for the stake council that was pushed back to this Sunday (that I could have used from the last time... if I could have found it.) I'm glad the scriptures are full of wonderful teachings and it wasn't hard to come up with a new spiritual thought.
Today I left about 7:15 to drive the hour plus to Ava for their ward conference. They really are a wonderful ward. Very on top of things. I think my lesson went well and they seemed to appreciate the training. They prepared sack lunches and then we went to visit a sweet 80 year old widow and her daughters-- one lives with her. After the visit we had Stake council and I returned home about 5:30. I sent out the missionary letters and now the blog. I'm looking for an early bedtime. It's been a good week.... but I'm tired!
Sunday, February 14, 2016
Another Week in Arkansas
Tom used the good weather to continue improvements around the house. Monday he put the columns up under the living room. I had lived in dread that a strong wind would somehow blow everything over. It did not. Tuesday he took out the jacks and let the weight back down on the columns. He spent time cleaning up any spare cement that had ended up where it should not be-- including scraping where the new footing met the old porch. It really looks lovely.
I had wanted to go away for a writer's retreat. We have Travel To Go that gives cheap timeshares when you book within two weeks. But every Branson getaway that showed up in the more expensive weeks disappeared before it got to the cheapest week. Very frustrating. So I spent time on VRBO- a rental site vacation rentals by owner. Except the cheap ones I found there sent back a message saying, "gee... that time isn't available. But if you want to sit in on a presentation we can get you a good deal." It reduced my pleasure with that site since it smacks of bait-and-switch. But we did get a place in a "castle" for later this month. It has to be spaced between ward conferences and Cub Scout banquets and other such events.
After Tom got finished with the front porch, he moved on to behind the barn. Our new-to-us tractor is too tall to fit into the barn or either of the overhangs on the left or right of the barn. But there was still the BACK of the barn. Tom took the aluminum cover that had been over the lower porch in front of the house and reattached it to the back side of the barn, high enough up so that the tractor could be parked there. Now it's safely up and the tractor happily parked below it.
When we had the mini-splits put in for heat and air in the downstairs bedroom and suite, it resulted in black insulated tubes running across under the new porch roof. Tom had this wonderful brainstorm to get metal sheathing formed into a box to enclose it. He found someone who could bend the metal and we got two 10' x 3" x 2" boxes back. So Saturday Tom pried open the boxes and shoved the dark covered tubes inside. Then he strapped it to the porch under-ceiling. WOW! the box was a light tan and it just disappeared up there. You don't notice it at all. Now we just have to figure out how to make the tube section that runs UP the wall and around the corner to the side of the house disappear, too.
This week my major focus has been getting a headline and lead written for Motley Fool UK. It's been interesting because we decided the promotion would revolve around the Brexit-- Britain's vote to leave the European Union... a topic I really knew nothing about. I did research for part of the week and finally Motley Fool UK send some places to look as well. I keep writing and rewriting. It always sounds good the first time... then less good each time I read it thereafter. Sigh. I also have two websites stacked up to do, and maybe some PR... oh, and a few articles. But it's fun and all is good.
Saturday Curtis Coleman, who is running for the US Senate, came to town and I went to listen to him. I'd heard him once before when he was running for Arkansas Governor. I was impressed then, and impressed again now. I hope he gets elected. If he becomes senator... this will be a valuable picture of us.
I had wanted to go away for a writer's retreat. We have Travel To Go that gives cheap timeshares when you book within two weeks. But every Branson getaway that showed up in the more expensive weeks disappeared before it got to the cheapest week. Very frustrating. So I spent time on VRBO- a rental site vacation rentals by owner. Except the cheap ones I found there sent back a message saying, "gee... that time isn't available. But if you want to sit in on a presentation we can get you a good deal." It reduced my pleasure with that site since it smacks of bait-and-switch. But we did get a place in a "castle" for later this month. It has to be spaced between ward conferences and Cub Scout banquets and other such events.
After Tom got finished with the front porch, he moved on to behind the barn. Our new-to-us tractor is too tall to fit into the barn or either of the overhangs on the left or right of the barn. But there was still the BACK of the barn. Tom took the aluminum cover that had been over the lower porch in front of the house and reattached it to the back side of the barn, high enough up so that the tractor could be parked there. Now it's safely up and the tractor happily parked below it.
When we had the mini-splits put in for heat and air in the downstairs bedroom and suite, it resulted in black insulated tubes running across under the new porch roof. Tom had this wonderful brainstorm to get metal sheathing formed into a box to enclose it. He found someone who could bend the metal and we got two 10' x 3" x 2" boxes back. So Saturday Tom pried open the boxes and shoved the dark covered tubes inside. Then he strapped it to the porch under-ceiling. WOW! the box was a light tan and it just disappeared up there. You don't notice it at all. Now we just have to figure out how to make the tube section that runs UP the wall and around the corner to the side of the house disappear, too.
This week my major focus has been getting a headline and lead written for Motley Fool UK. It's been interesting because we decided the promotion would revolve around the Brexit-- Britain's vote to leave the European Union... a topic I really knew nothing about. I did research for part of the week and finally Motley Fool UK send some places to look as well. I keep writing and rewriting. It always sounds good the first time... then less good each time I read it thereafter. Sigh. I also have two websites stacked up to do, and maybe some PR... oh, and a few articles. But it's fun and all is good.
Saturday Curtis Coleman, who is running for the US Senate, came to town and I went to listen to him. I'd heard him once before when he was running for Arkansas Governor. I was impressed then, and impressed again now. I hope he gets elected. If he becomes senator... this will be a valuable picture of us.
Sunday, February 7, 2016
New Pillar footings
Monday was a little hectic. Tom had rental house repairs he had committed to do. I had an inflexible 11 am phone call with Motley Fool UK (5 pm their time) and we had termite inspection people coming between 10-12. So Tom ran off to visit folks in the hospital about 9:30 and the termite inspector came about 10:15. Yay! Got that out of the way. So Tom was free to do his repairs and I could have my call uninterrupted. In the afternoon I worked on a hospital software coding website.
Tuesday I had my mastermind call and then an interview with the inventor of the paint can sealer. He was a kid who worked at ACE hardware store then went to engineering school and attended a class where they had to invent something. It had always bugged him-- the noise, the mess, the dented cans or paint spills from improperly sealed cans. He thought, there's got to be a better way. Like a true engineer he solved each problem and them figure out the form needed. It's a pretty cool tool.
A man from our ward who doesn't read allowed his ID card to expire. He can't get an ID card without a birth certificate. Turns out he couldn't get a birth certificate without a valid ID card. So I spent a few hours checking on line, calling the vital records in Nebraska and finally finding two alternate ways. Then he called his sister he hadn't spoken to in 7 years and she will send him his birth certificate.
Wednesday I finished the patient software website and sent it off. I also spent a lot of time working on the Women's Retreat we have coming up in April. I called all the teachers and asked them to teach the classes or be the keynote speaker. One planned to be out of town but gave me another suggestion so that turned out okay. I typed up specifically what the classes would be about, time, date, address and directions (some are from out of state) and sent the notes off to the speakers.
Thursday I spent more time on church stuff. This week is ward conference in West Plains. I was supposed to teach the Relief Society lesson. On the first Sunday of the month, the lesson needs to be created as there's no formal lesson plan. I had some ideas, but... I also wanted to move forward on some ideas I had for handouts and posters for the retreat to show my counselors when we met.
Tom and I both did some walking and running. At a garage sale last week, we purchased a quality treadmill for a very decent price. I've used it twice. It's not so hard to use at a steady mileage. But I was trying to read and walk and punched in a 25 minute exercise routine. Suddenly it like doubled the speed! Yikes! I decided if I"m reading, it has to be a stead pace. Perhaps I should listen to conference talks or books on tape or something.
Tom decided this was the week to change out the cement footings supporting the pillars holding up our living room extension. I met this idea with trepidation, but he assured me he could do it. So he rented some jacks and jacked up the support beam and removed the two columns. The cement below them had settled a little. He then rented a cement saw and cut a larger hole and the brawny man dug and pulled out the former hulking cement piers. Then he dug through the rock and clay to make the hole 24' x 24"x18"inches deep instead of about 16"x16"x12".
Friday we had a cement truck come and deliver3/4 yard of concrete to fill the holes. He did a lovely job of smoothing off the cement top. We only have a few cat prints to show for the work. It's curing over the weekend and on Monday he will reinstall the former columns. Then whatever cracks are in the drywall from the settling and moving can be patched and should not grow again.
Saturday was a service day. We looked at the last few rental properties to see what maintenance was needed. Then Tom picked up a member's dead car... that had been at another member's house to be checked out... and brought it to our house preparatory to them deciding to junk it or to use it as a trade in.
One of my visiting teachees was having a health problem. I spent the afternoon talking with her on the phone, going shopping for her and taking her the food. She lives a good 30 minutes north and west of town and her house is back from the road and unmarked. So Tom drove me out there to find it. (He'd taken the bushhog out to mow her fields once.) We visited and then came back home. We ate a quick meal and then another person dropped by for a visit and some advice.
I had not planned on any of that. I'd thought I'd have lots of time to finish my lesson, my hand out ideas and poster.... Oh the woes of procrastination. But by 11pm it was all done.
I had a lovely drive to West Plains today. It was a good conference and I think my lesson went well. We visited afterwards with a sweet sister. After listening to her trials, I felt very blessed. We do have some wonderfully strong women in our church! I think Tom had a little harder day than I but seems to be the lot of a bishop at times.
Tuesday I had my mastermind call and then an interview with the inventor of the paint can sealer. He was a kid who worked at ACE hardware store then went to engineering school and attended a class where they had to invent something. It had always bugged him-- the noise, the mess, the dented cans or paint spills from improperly sealed cans. He thought, there's got to be a better way. Like a true engineer he solved each problem and them figure out the form needed. It's a pretty cool tool.
A man from our ward who doesn't read allowed his ID card to expire. He can't get an ID card without a birth certificate. Turns out he couldn't get a birth certificate without a valid ID card. So I spent a few hours checking on line, calling the vital records in Nebraska and finally finding two alternate ways. Then he called his sister he hadn't spoken to in 7 years and she will send him his birth certificate.
Wednesday I finished the patient software website and sent it off. I also spent a lot of time working on the Women's Retreat we have coming up in April. I called all the teachers and asked them to teach the classes or be the keynote speaker. One planned to be out of town but gave me another suggestion so that turned out okay. I typed up specifically what the classes would be about, time, date, address and directions (some are from out of state) and sent the notes off to the speakers.
Thursday I spent more time on church stuff. This week is ward conference in West Plains. I was supposed to teach the Relief Society lesson. On the first Sunday of the month, the lesson needs to be created as there's no formal lesson plan. I had some ideas, but... I also wanted to move forward on some ideas I had for handouts and posters for the retreat to show my counselors when we met.
Tom and I both did some walking and running. At a garage sale last week, we purchased a quality treadmill for a very decent price. I've used it twice. It's not so hard to use at a steady mileage. But I was trying to read and walk and punched in a 25 minute exercise routine. Suddenly it like doubled the speed! Yikes! I decided if I"m reading, it has to be a stead pace. Perhaps I should listen to conference talks or books on tape or something.
Tom decided this was the week to change out the cement footings supporting the pillars holding up our living room extension. I met this idea with trepidation, but he assured me he could do it. So he rented some jacks and jacked up the support beam and removed the two columns. The cement below them had settled a little. He then rented a cement saw and cut a larger hole and the brawny man dug and pulled out the former hulking cement piers. Then he dug through the rock and clay to make the hole 24' x 24"x18"inches deep instead of about 16"x16"x12".
Friday we had a cement truck come and deliver3/4 yard of concrete to fill the holes. He did a lovely job of smoothing off the cement top. We only have a few cat prints to show for the work. It's curing over the weekend and on Monday he will reinstall the former columns. Then whatever cracks are in the drywall from the settling and moving can be patched and should not grow again.
Saturday was a service day. We looked at the last few rental properties to see what maintenance was needed. Then Tom picked up a member's dead car... that had been at another member's house to be checked out... and brought it to our house preparatory to them deciding to junk it or to use it as a trade in.
One of my visiting teachees was having a health problem. I spent the afternoon talking with her on the phone, going shopping for her and taking her the food. She lives a good 30 minutes north and west of town and her house is back from the road and unmarked. So Tom drove me out there to find it. (He'd taken the bushhog out to mow her fields once.) We visited and then came back home. We ate a quick meal and then another person dropped by for a visit and some advice.
I had not planned on any of that. I'd thought I'd have lots of time to finish my lesson, my hand out ideas and poster.... Oh the woes of procrastination. But by 11pm it was all done.
I had a lovely drive to West Plains today. It was a good conference and I think my lesson went well. We visited afterwards with a sweet sister. After listening to her trials, I felt very blessed. We do have some wonderfully strong women in our church! I think Tom had a little harder day than I but seems to be the lot of a bishop at times.
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