At Shiloh

   Today is Friday, our second full day at our new place, which we have christened “Shiloh”.  Our address is on Shiloh Road, and one of the meanings of the word is ‘tranquil’ – a perfect description of our little piece of heaven.  Yes, I know – Shiloh was the name of a major Civil War battle, but we’ll just forget that definition – I don’t have any cannon set up in the front yard.

   Wednesday was a busy day – the movers showed up at the apartment to get our furniture (so glad we didn’t have to do that move ourselves!).  We found Joe (A Guy with a Truck) on Craigslist, and he arrived with a friend just as promised, and everything went very smoothly (yea Craigslist!).  Wednesday was also Direct TV installation day – LOVE Direct TV!   Again, everything went as planned, the guy showed up, got it all done, 1-2-3.  Of course, me being a GUY, the neatest thing about Wednesday was taking delivery of my new LAWN TRACTOR from Sears.  The big truck arrived, they unloaded my dream buggy, they showed me the basic things about the tractor, and I finally came down from the clouds!  WOW, wodda machine!  I got it all gassed up, then reluctantly put it in the garage because other tasks were demanding my time (danged moving stuff, keeping me from my TOY).  During our shopping expedition to Sears last week, I also bought a gas-powered weedeater and a small chain saw – good shopping trip for ME!  Oh, and Kate got a blouse.

   Yesterday I got my first chance to drive the Red Beast!  Everything worked as advertised and I took off, neatly trimming all that tall grass, HUGE smile on my face!  I got to mow for about an hour before the whole thing came to a halt – I made contact with an unyielding root that was hidden in the grass and one of my mower blades did a WHANG and took on enough of a bend that mowing was impossible beyond that point.  Dang!  I drove Beast into the garage and set to work removing the mower deck so I could get at the problem.  After struggling for 30 minutes or so, I got it apart and found that I only needed to do a basic blade replacement.  Quick trip to Sears in Corydon, $30 for a 2-pack of blades (the mower uses 2 blades), and I was back in the garage, putting Humpty back together again with 2 new blades installed (heavy duty blades this time).  The rest of the mowing adventure went without incident – I didn’t come across any hidden boiler plate, pythons or anything else in my path, and all went well.  I even managed to avoid mowing down the tomato plants I had put in the other day!

   We still have one more trip to make to the apartment, packing up the last few things from one closet and then doing the ‘sweep and swab’ thing.  Not much fun, but we’ll get it done and have that behind us.  No complaints about the apartment life, it was on the ground floor, it was pretty new and clean, and we were living almost in the woods.  But now, we  have our place to do with as we please, and we are going to be busy busy busy, but loving it all!

   It’s a drizzly, misty morning – a nice respite from the warm weather.  Haven’t seen any deer wandering around this morning but we did see a couple out here just the other day.  I feel like Kate and I are living the best parts of the Green Acres show – so sweet!  “Green Acres is the place for me, Green Acres is the place to be!” 

  Come see us – plenty of FREE PARKING!  🙂

p.s.   Neighborhood note:  in case you just can’t seem to get enough of wrestling, then you’ll need to come hang out in our neck of the woods.  We saw a hand-lettered sign pointing the way to “Hard-Core Wrestling” – turns out they have wrestling matches about once a month (only in the summer, I’m thinking) in a place just down the road from us.  I happened to be at Domino’s Pizza the other day, and the guy in there was *quite* familiar with the wrestling operation – I guess it takes a lot of pizza to keep the crowd fed!

   Anyway, if you gotta have wrestling, southern Indiana style, learn all about it at http://www.myspace.com/strictlyhardcorewrestling

Our new place, and other places, too

  We found out today that the current residents are finishing up their move and we can take possession tomorrow!  We are really excited, just can’t wait  🙂  We went out there a day or two ago, about an hour before sunset, and had a little picnic in the front yard area.  We had our folding chairs, sandwiches, and cold drinks – we enjoyed the shade, the cool breezes, and the quiet.  We realize that it’s not *total* paradise, there’s work to be done and critters to pester us, but I think we’ll do fine.  We have to remember to spray the Deep Woods Off on our pantlegs to help ward off the ticks, but that’s ok.  We were out there today doing a little watering on our newly planted items – it’s been pretty dry, with no relief from that for another day or two.

   We took a little road trip today – we  had to go to New Middletown, IN to arrange for water service at the new place and Kate wanted to visit an antique store she saw on a previous jaunt, so we drove from there to Elizabeth, IN, about 10 minutes on down the road.  Of course, when we got there, the antique place was locked up, with no postings about their hours, so we figured that’s just typical of Mom & Pop businesses.  So, I guess their sign could read “Flexible Business Hours”.  The only reason I’m mentioning the trip at all is because of the lunch we had while in Elizabeth.  We saw a little building half a block off main street that had a sign stating that it was “Ollie’s”.  Could have been “Ollie’s Hardware”, but we gambled and went on in – it was a *really* small place, kinda like a hot dog stand, with standing room only inside and a couple of ordering windows.  According to their Health Department permit, it was actually called “Ollie’s Trolley” – there were brass rails above our heads with leather grab straps, just like a subway or trolley.  We were the only ones in there and ordered a fish sandwich and a couple of corn dogs – how long could *that* take??  The two ladies in the tiny place were busy, busy, busy, making and wrapping sandwiches, frying things in the frylator, and taking phone orders.  Then the parade of customers started, 1, 2, 4 at a time, picking up their phone-in orders – that accounted for the busy busy scene.  Turned out we were about 7th in line when we arrived, but it just wasn’t apparent.  At one point one of the ladies placed a short phone call and said, “Louie, your order is ready”.  Wow, when was the last time you went to a place like that?  Talk about customer service!  Kate went out and entertained KD dog while I waited through numerous orders until ours appeared to be ready.

   As the lady started placing my last corn dog into the sack, it went overboard onto the floor, so I had to wait another few minutes until the replacement was ready.  No problem, it gave me a chance to catch up on the local dirt.  Seems that the local tavern was getting their beer license re-instated, and that was all the buzz of the conversation.  At one point, a fellow standing near me turned, smiled, and reported, “Yep, on Friday nights I used to listen to the police scanner, all them knifings and stuff – very exciting!  They’ll be open again soon.”  One of the ladies behind the counter shouted out, “Now, don’t get carried away, this isn’t Mauckport!”  Mauckport is a tiny little town right on the Ohio river, about 15 miles south of us.  I guess we know where the excitement is around here  🙂  

   Maybe I need one of them scanners.

A Country Home

  It was a struggle, but we made it through the loan process, and now have a 2-acre plantation just southwest of Corydon, Indiana.  Because it is located on Shiloh Road, we’ve decided to call our new home Shiloh – has a nice, peaceful sound to it, don’t you agree?  It’s a 3-bedroom, 2-bath manufactured home, just 5 years old.  Everything inside is in tip-top shape, and I’ll have plenty of time to work on the rough spots outside – nothing major, just needs some touchup here and there.

    We went out yesterday (Saturday, first full day after closing) and planted our purchases from the nursery department at Sam’s Club.  We put in elephant ears, plate dahlias, peonies, hydrangeas, gourd plants, and 4 seedless grape vines.  I was telling Kate that what we’re actually doing is in the nature of an experiment with the plants, and that experiment can be called “I wonder what deer and rabbits like to nibble on?”  We’ll expand the experiment to include whatever goes into the vegetable garden.  I should probably plan on doing some fencing in that area, because I’m thinking that corn might be irresistable to deer.

   When we were at closing, the young couple who were selling the property said that we’d likely be able to take possession in about 10 days, when her mother finished moving out.  But, when we were out there to do our plantings, we discovered that the mother had a small U-Haul truck there and was already starting to load things.  We chatted a bit, and she said she was trying to get moved out by Monday (tomorrow).  So, we’ll see how it goes, and with some luck we might be able to start transferring our stuff out there in a couple of days.  I’m planning to buy a small utility trailer to accomplish most of the move – the trailer will come in handy later, I’m sure.  When we get to the really heavy items we’ll have to have some help, but we already have someone in mind for that part.  Between moving furniture and gardening, I think just maybe this could prove to be a BUSY week!  🙂 

   Regarding Corydon nightlife:  we’ve been going back to Magdalena’s on the square the last couple of weeks on Friday or Saturday night to check out the live entertainment.  Last week it was Gary & Mary Byrne, husband and wife guitar players who did a nice job with their singing and playing. 

   We went again last night to hear the Salty Dawgs, a couple of really nice guys who played guitar and 8-string mandolin.  They were also quite good, and we had a fun time then, too. 

   

 Life is good in Corydon, things are progressing.  We plan to have our first visitors to the new place next weekend – Kate’s mother Frances, brothers Alan and Bruce with wives Janice and Joyce, possibly another brother (Don) and his wife (can’t remember her name) will be in visiting from out of town.  It’s a birthday celebration for Kate’s mother – she’ll be 90 years old.  Gonna need a BIG cake to hold all those candles!!  Joyce’s birthday falls in right there, too, so she’ll also have a seat of honor.

    Come see us, we’ll set some more places at the table!!

House, maybe?

   They have simplified the loan application process.  These days it’s quite smooth, and can best be described as something like a combination Spanish Inquistion, crucifixion, and being drawn and quartered.  All this while they strip all your financial self-confidence and make you wonder why you entered the office in the first place.  And you thought dealing with the *realtor* was stressful!  We’re getting closer to closing date, although the date is still secret to those NOT in the Inner Circle.  We are not in that circle, so we wonder.  Now, the main thing remaining is for us to find the birth certificates of our children and then be prepared to promise their souls to the bank.  See  how simple?  🙂

  In lighter news, we went out on the town last night – this means we went to the town square in Corydon and wandered around.  We went into Emery’s, which is a very nice ice cream parlor just off the square.  They have ALL the mega-caloric treats you could ever dream of.   We stumbled around in a daze, almost drooling on the display cases.  Finally, we decided to just head on out and come back another time.  I think I felt a heart attack coming on while we were reading the big menu.  If you come visit, we’ll have to go down there and have an old-fashioned milkshake or something else in the 2700-calorie range.  It’ll be GREAT!  🙂

   The main reason for our outing was to drop in at the Cafe on the Square (part of Magdalena’s) to enjoy another performance by the husband and wife team of The Howards.  Apparently, that’s their last name.   Aren’t I clever?

  We had heard them at this venue before and had a really nice time, so we were eager to come again, and we were rewarded with another fine performance of country style ballad singing.

      A very pleasant outing, good coffee from the coffee bar and good music from a couple of reallly nice folks.  They did a great job on some of our favorites, like “Norwegian Wood” and “Blue Moon of Kentucky”, plus some others we were not familiar with.  They’ll be back at the Cafe on May 8th, I believe, so maybe we’ll see you there!

   Now then, back to worrying about the house loan.  Maybe if I sacrificed a goat or something.  I’ll keep you posted – cross your fingers, ok?