Tree-mend-us

Branches flew over the house.

They came, they saw, they conquered.

They had to hold my wires up to get the crane into my driveway.

I held my breath a lot while they extended the crane and reached into the backyard.

The crane lifted the cutter up to the tree. Then they had to decide a balance point between the branches end and the stump end of each cut they made and attach a cable at that point.

The final resting place of most of the tree was into the chipper. The bigger pieces are beside the driveway and up for grabs, first come first served.
I no longer have a tree on my house. YEAH!!!

I don't like Ike

This is looking out my back door on Monday Sept. 15 after the day Ike came calling in Ohio. We were without electricity for 3 1/2 days since our electric company sent most of our repair trucks and repairmen to Texas. They were called back and we even got trucks from Indiana and Illinois. My old wooden ladder got broken.

This was taken from the backyard looking back at my back door.

This is the "limb" that split and laid down on my house.

Does that roof look like it is damaged? Certainly the eave spout is smushed but won't know about the roof until the tree people come and remove the "limb". That may not happen for weeks as everyone has trees down. The winds were 75 MPH which just doesn't happen here.

This picture was taken from the side of my house looking into the back yard. Four limbs came off a maple and landed on the carport next to the garage.

A better look at the "limb" that split and landed on the house.

You can't read our sign so I will tell you, it says "NO TREES ALLOWED". We were a little late in getting it put up.

We got electric at 3:00 a.m. Thursday. We got up, danced around, flushed the toilet, made toast, and thoroughly enjoyed being back in the 21st century.

Kitchen Floor

The new kitchen floor was immediately tested for bounce by Red and her tennis ball. It passed the test.
I had to stop and enjoy the August lilies that bloom in the side yard.

Happy Birthday Aunt Ellen

The lady in the middle in celebrating her 100th birthday. Her neice, me, is standing in back, her great-neice is sitting on her right, her great-great-neice is holding her great-great-great-nephew on her left. The boys in the back are her great-great-nephews.

I know it isn't a direct line of 5 generations but we will take what we can get. She still is in her own home although she needs lots of help lately. She came to her party with a walker.

When I was a kid I saved the best school papers or craft projects for weeks to show her. She really looked at things and appreciated them. No pat on the head with a "that's nice" from her.

We love you Aunt Ellen.

Natchez Trace

The sign says the trace is 200 years old but one theory is that it was an animal trail way before that. Having grown up on a small dairy farm I quickly learned that if you follow the cow paths you get there in the most efficient way.

These small Indian mounds were thought to be where the chief built his home but I thought if that were true they would have been flatter on top.

Sometimes the trace was narrow and had cut quite a deep way into the ground. How many feet did it take to do that?

Sometimes it was more like a highway.

This is a picture of the Meriwether Lewis monument. He died, whether suicide or murder, along the trace. It was a dangerous trip with a few crude waystops along the way. When the mail was carried from Natchez to Nashville by horse (pony express has nothing on the east) a man would start from each end and they would meet in the middle and exchange mail bags. The trip took 2 weeks.

The Natchez Trace Parkway is a 2 lane 445 mile highway from Natchez, Mississippi to near Nashville, Tennessee. It passes through Miss., a corner of Alabama, and Tenn. There are no trucks or commercial signs allowed. I drove 347 miles of it from Jackson, Miss. to the north end. The speed limit is 50 MPH and there were few cars on it. Every 10-15 minutes I met a car and every hour or so a car would pass me. There are many historical markers and places to stop and take a hike. Sometimes there it passes through farm fields but it is mostly through forest.

Near Koscuisko, Miss. I saw a sign for a museum so I stopped to check it out. It was all about Oprah Winfrey's birthplace. The road to it also led to a busy road. I didn't stay long. Many state highways cross the parkway so you can get off if you need anything. Many of the campgrounds they show on their map are commercial ones near the parkway. There were 2 short detours for road work.

It's was a beautiful drive, the dogwood and redbud were in bloom. I would recommend that someone plan ahead where they want to stop as they only give you 1/2 mile to decide whether you want to stop and you don't know what it's going to be if you don't have a navigator.

Now I want to tell you about Time Warner Cable company. I made the mistake of having my cable service turned off while I was away. That included my phone as well as my internet and TV. I requested service to be turned back on while I was still in Texas. They called me while I was driving at 70 MPH on the way home and I told them they would have to call another time. They called the afternoon I got home and scheduled it for April 3rd. When they didn't show up I tried to call their automated answering service to find out what happened. I am afraid I got abusive on their recorder. Only after 6 calls when I agreed to accept a call to evaluate their service did I get a real live person to talk to. Until then I got a recording saying they couldn't take my call and to call later. So if I wasn't going to tell on them they weren't going to take my call.

The reason they hadn't shown up was that they had been calling the phone that they disconnected in Nov. and when it didn't work they decided they didn't need to show up.

They got an earful. The real live person asked for my home phone number at least 3 times then he got tired of me yelling "I DON"T HAVE ONE".

Today I got phone service as well as a fancy new box on my TV that will pause and record TV shows. This was something that I had been paying for for a few years but had never gotten. They tell me I will have a free month of phone service. When that is up I think I will change my phone service.

I'm just glad to be back in communication with the world. Also sad to hear that one of my faithful friends and readers has passed away this week. A moment of silence for Jon, you will be missed.

Home

We arrived home last Sat. about 1:00 p.m. EST. It's nice to be home but I need lots of naps between unpacking the RV.

I will tell about the Natchez Trace Parkway later when I can put on some pictures. Right now I am at the public library using their computer. I have no internet, no cable TV, and no phone until April 4. Add to that the fact that one of the outlets in the kitchen isn't working and every time I use the microwave I trip a circuit breaker. Hey, this house is over 100 years old so what do I expect.

Scooby went back to the rescue people on Monday. He dragged me all the way from the car into their building. They tried to put me off but had no luck. So I have a peaceful house with 3 dogs who do what dogs usually do - bark when someone knocks on the door, ask to go out now and then and expect doggy treats on a regular basis.

I got to see the Grandkids and Greatgrand kid on Sat. afternoon. Carson is 9 months old and crawling and squealing and grabbing and waving. Normal kid.

I just wish spring was really here but it will be soon.

East of Shreveport, La

I decided to spend the day here at the same place and rest up and wait for the weather to clear. It has worked nicely. About noon the sky cleared, the rain stopped and the RV stopped rocking.

I feel much better with the extra day of rest also. I have even decided to try driving the Natchez Trace from Jackson, Mississippi to Nashville, Tennessee. It is supposed to be a very scenic drive plus I cut out Memphis which is always a mess.

This may delay my getting home - oh well. I have to stop and smell the roses sometimes.