I Saw

Gray Ladies Digging

on a warm spring day

 can be taxing work.

Although extremely exciting

it is very exhausting.

Just ask me...another gray lady digging in the garden with Lil.

We were both very serious about and satisfied with our work.

Sometimes You Get Lucky

and meet wonderful people with stories to tell

and with great cars filled with history.

This was our day.

Like a excited child I oohed and awed.  Then I asked a total stranger if I could photograph his car. He pleasantly acquiesced and began to share tales of his interstate travel and southern engineering repairs along the way.  It contained the original motor. I was too enamored with history in my face to even think to snap a picture.  Hubby knew the questions to ask as we were told it was a 1927 Model T Ford.  

The conversation turned to Dad's old Motel T that sits here At The Farm.  Discussion led to parts. We have the frame, the motor and many, many parts of it here and there. I have the man's name and number and the knowledge he loves his car as much as Dad did his. He said this car began as only a frame.

The thought occurred to me that maybe Dad would be proud to have a man who loves this car so much take what is left and give it life again.  I will discuss it with family.  

If I have learned nothing else in this life I have learned things unused do not last.  So I'm still thinking. I believe Dad would like the idea of his car living on and loved by a master mechanic and a keeper of stories and history.  

I have no idea what to ask for a price.  I'm just thinking Dad would like it to happen.  We will see...

Ping Pong Work and Chip Board World

Fill the sink, clean the floor, put dishes in the water, clean the stove, start a load of clothes, empty the trash, wash the sink of dishes and put in some more.

Ping Pong.  Here.  There.  Back again.  No one's keeping score as long as the ball is in play. I'm sure there's a more relaxed way of doing but I bounce.  I seem to accomplish few things during the play but when all is said and done chores are completed.

This past couple of weeks we've tried to replace Andrew's floor.  The chip (Commingled Half-baked Interfused Paste) board had reached the end of it's life and was slowly disintegrating. This repair entailed removing carpet, padding, tack board, chip board, glue, two inch steeples and taking it all back to the two by floor joists.

This has been a comedy of errors.  Not only are our bodies not cooperating, the minds went on strike too.  I'm a firm believer of planning, measuring, and doing both again before a cut is ever made. We discussed which way to run the plywood...yes, plywood is replacing this mess of sawdust.  We decided first this way, then that and finally, because I couldn't remember which way we had decided I drew a big arrow on the floor so I would not forget again.

To see two non-agile people step/walk across two inch boards carrying power tools and big boards while praying we keep our balance would have made a great little movie.

I've laughed many times at old cartoons where a character would saw a limb off while they were standing on it.  Well, I even tried that, kinda.  I cut two slices through chip board in one section and stepped to the next to cut two more strips so they could be pried up with a crowbar. Having finished that cut I promptly stepped onto the previously cut piece and plummeted to the ground, grateful it was just under two feet. Didn't have to pry that chip board off...it went with me.

Slowly we have battled the deconstruction and the reconstruction.  To quote Hubby, "I ain't no damn carpenter!" but we've managed.  One more sheet and a tiny spot of piecing and we will be ready to lay the floor covering.

Another challenge was doing this without removing the furniture.  It has been the biggest jigsaw puzzle we've ever tried to piece together.

On A Spring-Like Day

the bees come out to play.

The early garden is plowed

and sweaters are shed.

Onion sets are planted, three kinds in short rows.  As these sprout and begin to grow later onions will be planted to satisfy our green onion hunger. In the mean time, fresh garlic will do for cooking with a tiny bit in salads.

For those still deep in snow...spring is on its way.