Now, it's sort of quiet, just looking through seed catalogs and waiting for the Girl Scout cookies to arrive.
Jessica is back at school working towards her Masters of/in (?) education. She is training to be a biology teacher. She is excited about the process. She has come up to the house to help me organize the workshop in the barn. It is a slow process, but we are starting to see progress.
Julie and Jessica will be starting a quilt soon.
I suggested they may reach out to Kathy, Mom and Amy to be part of a virtual quilting bee.
Any body else want to join?
Bethany graduated in December from Shelton State College in Tuscaloosa as a fitness trainer. She is still working at Franklin Financial.
Robb is plowing ahead with his doctoral work in metallurgical engineering. He's doing a lot of research in nanotechnology.
Andrew likes his classes at Gainesville College. He has some classes with Jackie. He is still working at Beef O Brady's. He has been a big help up here when he comes up. Our next project together will be clearing the hill beside the house for a small pasture.
Julie and I are planning to add some sheep and goats. Grandpa/Dad has volunteered to help build a chicken coop so we are getting closer to the farm.
Julie's Aunt Garnet passed away earlier this year from complications from leukemia. I think there is a memorial planned this summer in West Virginia for her.
Her brother Greg lost his job at the hospital as a cabinet maker. If anyone has a need for a top notch cabinet maker, please let me know and I will put you in touch with him. He is willing to travel. By the way, I can personally vouch for the quality of his work. He creates outstanding furniture that are heirloom pieces.
Julie and I are well. It seems there is ALWAYS something to do up here. This house is one extended home improvement project. We mostly finished the stonework for the woodstove. Julie is going to trim out the edges with a cake decorator and wet cement.
I've cut and split what I thought would be enough wood for the season, but the cold lasted a little longer than I anticipated, so I might need to add more to the pile soon, so I don't have to buy those $3.99 bundles from the grocery store.
I have learned a lot about different hardwoods, sassafrass and birch split easily, oak and hickory are tougher and leave lots of splinters in my hands and locust is yellow inside and grubs like to live underneath the bark.
I'll be starting bookcases for the spare bedroom next. And then we will be replacing the roof on the barn.
We haven't had a TV since we moved to Ellijay. Well, a point of clarification, we have TV and a DVD player, not much use for broadcast or cable TV. We'll rent movies from Wal-Mart or Netflix. This does allow us more time for reading, but I do miss football and baseball.
We have had a LOT of rain this winter, the driveway has been impassable even in the truck.
Something about wet red clay makes it like driving on grease, combined with the erosion across the driveway makes coming home an adventure. The sides of my truck have a coat of perma- mud stuck to them.
We hope the remainder of your winter is mild, your families are safe, you prosper and thrive through the tough times.
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