Monday, August 13 - Still unpacking

Went to Paducah Saturday and Sunday to visit Rick and Laura, and have dinner with them and Buel. What a feed -- as usual! That man knows how to cook. Every time we go there I think Barry and I gain 10 pounds!

Rick, thanks SO MUCH for the grill. We'll certainly get a great deal of enjoyment out of it once the temperatures on the back deck drop below 90. Now we can really do ribs right.

Today, we just messed around at home -- Barry got the spearmint planted which we picked up in Paducah, I'm beginning to unpack books and put them on bookshelves -- great news, the Casey County Public Library is having a book sale beginning Thursday -- what a great time to cull once more and put so MANY of my books to good use -- providing for childrens' needs in the library.

The siphon system from the cistern seems to work well. It gets water down the hill near the pond, so Barry doesn't have to lug it much, plus it pulls water from where it is to where we want it. Just open the hose nozzle, fill the bucket, and we have water. The great advantage is that we're not PAYING for the water in the cistern. We need to get a real pump though, so we can use the water anywhere, not just downhill from the cistern.

I've uploaded a number of new history and genealogy books to my Kennebec Publishers website. There are many, many more to upload, but there's time to do it now. My hope is that KP will become a supplementary income now that I'm retired, so I can work from home, yet still have the $$$ for us to travel somewhat. Not Tahiti this week, but maybe the Gulf Coast soon.

None of the fish we bought on Saturday have come to the top -- dead. At least none that we've seen, so maybe they all made it. We bought four sterile carp and about a dozen bass, to go along with the catfish and bluegill we already have. Of course the little critters had to fend for themselves on Saturday and Sunday 'cause we weren't here to feed them. But they've gotten along fine for three years without us, so maybe two days won't kill them. We'll feed them tonight.

Rain -- well, we got maybe a dozen drops. It's so dry, even the WEEDS are dying. Good thing I got that cistern siphon going. Talk about making the most of our space -- Barry planted carrotts in with the Schefflera (remember Millicent Matilda Grungetta Fred II?), beets in with something else, and is looking for a place to start some Swiss Chard. We don't have good growing land so about everything will have to be in containers, or in areas where we add topsoil and composted manure to the soil. But RAIN is essential! We worked on the gutters, cleaning them out, adding holes for drainage, etc., but with NO RAIN to test it out I don't know if it's going to work or not!

OK, time to eat. Haven't been away from the house today -- only the second day I think, since we moved here.