Amazing Saturday!

Yesterday started out with the hopes of insulating the top floor of our house. It was definitely a great day for it - 80 degrees with a cool breeze. My hubby had pre-drilled the holes the night before, ladders in place, white suits ready to be worn, and respirators ready and waiting to make us look like aliens from another planet. Then we find out that the machine used to pump the insulation into the walls was already spoken for. So… now we have a whole day to play, go on adventures and meet new people! And that is just what we did!

We decided to take Petey for a walk. We went downtown (which is about 3 blocks from the house) and checked out the vacant property that a bunch of us had been wanting to turn into a fabric, coffee, bakery, and book place for women to gather, learn and relax. Once I saw the inside of the front room, ideas flooded my brain! What an exciting adventure this will be!

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As we were walking home from downtown, we noticed that our friend Doug was in his wood shop. So we went over to say "Hi" and look at the fun machines. He was cutting down some wood that he had let dry out for 2 years. It was amazing to watch the power of his machine just slice through the wood like it was butter. He then showed us his wood collection, which he uses for his many projects. I was in heaven! The picture does not do it justice. The smells, textures, grains, and beauty of the different woods he   showed us was way better than any lumber yard I had ever been to. I could have stayed their all day! Once we were done drooling over his wood collection, he took us over to his house and showed us his garage. This is where we got to see his wood working tools, air filtration system and the counters and shelves that were all dove-tailed and made from mostly recycled woods. I was in awe! The picture shows a floor to ceiling set of drawers that took him 3 months just to cut out all the pieces. All of the boxes had dividers in them, all sanded, stained and polished.

When we thought the tour couldn't get any better, he took us inside his house where we were welcomed with a mouth-watering aroma of fresh pepper jelly that his wife was making from the peppers in her garden. She gave us a taste - I was hooked by the sweetness of the jelly and jalapeno kick at the end. Luckily she sells it at craft fairs so I know where I can get some for the holidays! He then proceeded to show us the grandfather clock he had made, the kitchen cabinets, all of the wood furniture in the house and the antiques that he refinished and repaired. The entire time I thought about the times I watched my great-grandfather, grandpa and dad work miracles with pieces of wood. As the tour ended, they gave us a huge bag of apples from their yard (YAY!!!) and his wife and I talked about the pumpkin butter that she was planning to make the rest of the day.

What an amazing day and it was only 1:00PM - we then get a call from a friend of ours to let us know she has a pot belly stove in her shed if we to come and look at it. We have been looking for a wood burning stove for our living room to help with keeping us warm this winter so of course we did! So we took a nice drive out to their farm, when we got their I realized flip-flops were probably not the greatest footwear for tracking through weeds and goatheads (pointy little stickers - not actual goat heads). She took us back to one of the wood sheds where there was a pot belly stove from 1904 - sold by Montgomery Wards. It was beautiful in all its rustic, cast iron glory. It needed some work - I mean come on, it's from 1904, of course its going to need a little work. We took some pics to show a welder in town to see if he can reinforce the areas that are weak. We knew we wanted it - now it's just a matter of seeing if it's practical - so we didn't take it home with us but she is saving it until we can find out from a welder if it is fixable for our needs. After watching the pigs play and run around we headed back into town to look for the welders shop. On our way we stopped and talked to some friends who we haven't seen in a while. They were insulating the bottom of their daughter and son-in-law's new trailer. So the guys worked and the girls talked, we had so much fun talking and catching up.

While on our way home - I thanked God for such an awesome day! What had started out with one plan had ended up with a day full of adventures and excitement.