Bert's Musings

Yesterday we went to town for a few supplies but I didn't do much beyond that. The news last night reported that yesterday was the hotted June day ever recorded in the area. Temps were reported as being between 106-108 depending on to whom you were listening. This morning we got up early and did more tree/bush trimming. It was around 10 when I unloaded the truck. The temperature was 90. It is currently 100 and still on its way up. By the time I unloaded the truck and did a few small odd jobs I was done for the day. I took a shower to cool down and rested until lunch. After lunch we headed for Kelsey and Andy's. Kathy is helping Kelsey fix food things for the get together after Lydia's dedication on Sunday. In case you have picked up on it from previous posts, the weather in Missouri SUCKS!!! It has now been over 100 degrees for at least 3 days in a row and the high are forecast to be over 100 degrees on Saturday and Sunday. For Saturday through Thursday there are two days w...

It was hot today but praise God the humidity was low. It did get down into the 60's last night. No more 60's in the forecast. Highs are forecast to be above 100 degrees for the next two days. We worked outside this morning. Kathy used the chainsaw to cut down more of the bamboo while I did more weed eating. She didn't cut down as much as she did yesterday but we still had a decent truck load to haul back to the brush pile. I went through another tank of gas in the weed eater. Kathy went to town to get prescriptions refilled, etc. I mowed the lawn. Boy do I miss my John Deere! The 54" deck would be way to big for here but it was 10 times as good a mower as this Craftsman. We don't actually have that much lawn to mow. My guess is that we will spend twice as much time "weed eating" as we will mowing. The grounds around the house are starting to look decent. Once we get some type of small trailer we can start picking up all the trash wood that has been thrown...

We got up early, at least early for us, and did more yard work. The "back yard" has lots of bamboo like plants. Kathy wanted to cut them back drastically so she worked on them with our electric chainsaw. They were to big to cut down with the weed eater but almost to small for the chainsaw. This is a "before" photo of the bamboo patch outside the door out of the downstairs kitchen/dining area.  This is the after photo of the area. While she was running the chainsaw I ran 2 tanks of gas through the weed eater. I didn't even get completely finished on the lower lawn.  We then loaded the bamboo in the truck, hauled it back to the brush pile and unloaded it. After we got the truck unloaded we took showers and Kelsey and Lydia came over at 11:00 to take us to Columbia, it is about 45 miles to Columbia. Kelsey drove so that I didn't have to take the tool box out of my truck. Also, her truck is the MegaCab while mine is only the smaller 4 door cab. We had a good lun...

I did more tree trimming today. This pickup load came from the cedar tree in the foreground. Previous to today I already carted about half this much stuff to the burn pile, from this tree and the area around it. I think one more load from this tree, cutting off the branch/trunk on the right, and I will be done with it. I cut off the branch/trunk on the left with the 14" electric chain saw we bought recently. It worked fine. I also worked with the house water softener today. There was no salt in the brine tank when we arrived at the house. I got a bag and put it in the brine tank, only put a single bag in because once I'm sure everything is working properly I want to take the brine tank outside and clean it. After about two hours of putzing around with it I finally got the valve out of the bypass position. I called the local Culligan man, it is a Culligan softener, to find out why the valve seemed frozen. He told me it was probably mineral deposits and that I should use the h...

It made it to 100 degrees today, according to Weatherbug. At 8:45 it is still 96. Yesterday when we got here I noticed that the frost proof hydrant by the barn was dripping. I played with it a little but couldn't get it to stop dripping. I noticed that it was loose in the ground and looked like it had been hit. It was only dripping so it wasn't high on my priority list. This morning I got up early and when I stepped out of the RV I stepped in mud. The hydrant had leaked a lot during the night. I looked for a shut off valve but could not find one. I then looked in the electrical panel to find the breaker for the pump. None of the breakers are marked. Kathy had the idea of standing by with pressure tank while I turned breakers on and off to find the one that started the pump. After shutting off the pump I dug up the hydrant and then turned the pump back on to see if what else I could find out. By the time I got back out by the barn the hole was full of water. We went to town and ...

We were parked in the driveway of our new home by 9:30 this morning. We are connected to 50 amp electrical service. We have a water hydrant is within 15' of our water connection. Dumping the waste tanks, probably won't happen but once, will be a little of a challenge but I think we can back down in front of the house and dump into the lagoon. One of the better wastewater systems in Missouri is a lagoon, so we have been told. They look like a nasty pond. All the wastewater from your house goes directly into the lagoon. They are not supposed to smell, most of the time, and are supposed to be better than septic tank and drain field systems. We will live in the RV, but shower in the house until we get back from TN with stuff. We also need to get a stove and refrigerator. We will probably order them online since they are so much cheaper. Kathy has been shopping for bedroom furniture but hasn't found anything she likes yet. She helped me a outside for awhile this morning and then...

We worked at the house today. Kathy cleaned and I cut more brush. I burned what I cut today as well as some of the stuff we cut clearing the driveway. I also got the outlet hooked up so that we have full electric when we take the motor home there tomorrow. That doesn't seem like much when I write it, but it was enough to make be dead tired. We won't have a level place to park the motor home, there aren't any level places on the 5 acres, except those that have been regraded. I had hoped to move a portion of a loose stone retaining wall today, so that I could ask Carl to use his skid steer to level an area large enough for the motor home. I just flat ran out of energy. Anthony, Doug, Kelsey & Lydia went to the Amish grocery store in the morning. It is about 10 miles from Kelsey's.  The brought us peaches, tomatoes and smoked cheese. We met them at Moose Brothers, in Russellville for lunch. We totally pigged out! I had a breaded tenderloin and Kathy had the hamburger s...

Yesterday we guys (Anthony, Doug, Andy and I) met for breakfast at Scribners, a Mom & Pop, place in Russellville. After breakfast Andy headed off to work and we loaded up. along with Kathy, Kelsey & Lydia, and went to Columbia shopping for appliances and furniture. No luck on appliances but we did buy a used chair at one of the places and a new recliner at Costco. Kathy and Anthony are trying them out. Doug and Anthony raised the kitchen cabinets along one wall 4" so we now have plenty of height clearance for any refrigerator Kathy might get. They had to take the microwave down, it was a wall mounted unit in the cabinets, to raise the cabinets. We know that there are some problems with the start button on the microwave. Since it is already down we may just give it to Carl & April, it matches their black stove and black refirgerator, and buy a stainless steel model that will match our new refrigerator and stove. I am writing this Friday morning before heading to the hou...

Yesterday Anthony came from Indianapolis and brought the chairs for the dining room, and some of my tools that he and Doug were storing. We didn't do a lot. This morning Kathy and I went to the house. She did some cleaning and watered flowers while I ran the weed eater. I tried to cut down the weeds next to the barn, where I eventually want to be able to part the motor home. It took me awhile to get the weed eater going after I had put two cycle gas in the 4 cycle weed eater. (I put all the blame on Doug <grin>. He brought me his multiple head weed eater to use and told me that it was a 4 cycle engine. He also brought be a partial can of gas. The gas was for 2 cycle engines. This morning I dumped out the  2 cycle gas and filled the tank with regular gas. I finally got it started after a lot of cranking.) I put the head on that has one of the "bump" heads for extending the line. I ran it for maybe 15 minutes and the line quit feeding. I couldn't get the head apar...

This morning I went to Larry's Barber Shop for a haircut. It is located in downtown Jefferson City, a few blocks from the capitol and a few blocks from the governors mansion. Basically its right in the heart of power. Larry has been a barber for 58 years. He is a really interesting guy. He lives not to far from where we are parked in the RV. He was living here when the park started and actually was able to watch the construction of the dam that caused the 180 acre Binder Lake to form. After the haircut I came back home and Kathy and I met Kelsey and Lydia for lunch at Dudley's. Kathy and I are really getting hooked on the place. The food is just good old plain food, which is what I like. Kelsey got a hot beef sandwich, Kathy had the chicken fried steak again and I had pork chops. All were good. After lunch Kelsey, Lydia and Kathy went shopping and I came back to the RV to try and figure out why our water softener had quit working. I had emailed the place we purchased it from a...

Not much is going on with us. It has been in the low 90's during the day and low 70's at night. We did get some rain last night. To hot for this old fat guy. Praise God for air conditioning. We are still waiting to get in our new home. The previous owners are working hard to get all their "stuff" moved from the grounds and out buildings. They have another 6 days. Today Kelsey, Andy and Lydia had Fathers Day dinner for the family. I think there were 13 adults, a teen, and 4 children. Tomorrow we will probably get around to doing some more scouting to see what work needs to be done to make a parking space for our RV. Good night to all and may God bless you and yours.

Kathy's Dad told her that there were not enough photos of Lydia on the Internet so  here are some. This was the night of her first picnic. The excitement wore here out.  Relaxing at home.  She wore this outfit, with out the flower, today at the furniture store. Her shirt says GRAM is my BFF (best friend forever).  With Grammy.

This morning we walked over to Dudley's for breakfast. It is a half mile over there so we didn't have to feel guilty about eating big breakfasts <grin>. I had an 8 oz ham steak (it had to be at least 10 oz) with two eggs, hash browns and toast. Kathy had a chicken fried steak, two eggs, hash browns and toast. On the walk over we noticed people working on the ball fields in the park where our motorhome is parked. On the way back we saw a guy spraying the outfield grass. We watched for awhile to try and figure out what he was doing. He was painting the grass green! He was using a small boom sprayer, maybe 6-8' wide, and he was actually spraying something on the grass to make it look greener. When we left to come out to Kelsey's later in the day you could see a huge difference between where he had sprayed and where he had not. Where he had sprayed looked like fresh, green, healthy grass. Where he had not sprayed it looked like my yard used to during the hot summer mo...

Today we cleaned carpets. Doug left his "carpet cleaner" out here and we put it to good use. Kathy did Kelsey's dining room carpet and then I did half of her living room carpet. We could only do half of the living room because we didn't want to have to move all the furniture out of the living room. After practicing at Kelsey's <grin> we come home and cleaned the carpets in our motorhome. The weather was nice today. High in the mid 80's with lows last night in the mid 50's. Just about perfect. It is supposed to getter into the low 90's by the end of the week. I'm not looking forward to that. Supper tonight Pork steaks, fresh sweet corn and watermelon. The restaurant food has been good here, but nothing could beat this meal. Good night to all. May God bless you and yours.

Yesterday we all (Doug, Andy, Kelsey, Lydia and Kathy & I) went to Scribners, a little restaurant in the back of an antique shop in Russellville for breakfast. The place was opened just before we went out to enclose Kelsey's carport, way back. I think that Ed Ott and I were the first ones to check it out, for breakfast. Kelsey, Andy & Lydia went for Lydia's first checkup (everything was fine) and Doug, Kathy & I did more appliance looking. We had lunch at Freddie's, a place Doug had run across during one if his earlier trips out here. It is a fast food hamburger place. The food was good and we will eat there again. In the late afternoon Doug headed back to Indy. He arrived home a little after 10 last night. Kelsey, Andy & Lydia came over to the campground for steaks on the grill. It was Lydia's first picnic. I bet Kelsey has better photos on Facebook. After eating we took a walk around the  park. It is such a nice place. Today we are headed to our house ...

This morning we went to church at Solid Rock Family Church. It is just down the road from the campground. They have two services on Sunday, one at 9 and another at 11. We went to the 11 AM service. It let out around 12:30. The place was 90-95% full, and it is fairly large. The diversity of the worshippers made it quite an interesting congregation. Before the service started a lady and her husband stopped. She told us that they had helped build the current facility 22 years ago. They were probably in their 80's. They were probably the oldest people we saw but there were people of all ages attending the service. Most were probably less than mid-40's. The contemporary music was LOUD. If we go back I will take ear plugs. With a set of ear plugs I think I might even be able to make out the lyrics. Not my taste in music but it was certainly popular with others, and that is what is important. The meat of the message was good, although the shouting delivery was not...

Not a lot going on here right now. We are getting acclimatized to the warm/hot weather. Todays high is supposed to be 90 with a low of 67 tonight. Where we are parked at Binder Lake we have some shade. We haven't had to run the AC at all so far but that is probably going to change today. Fortunately we have a 50 amp electrical connection so we can easily run both AC units, as well as any other electrical appliances. We have extended our reservation at Binder Lake until June 20th. Hopefully by that time we will be close to being able to move our motorhome to our house. We don't have a sewer connection but should have a good electrical connection so we can run the air and sleep in the motorhome, in case we haven't bought new bedroom funiture by then. Yesterday we did some appliance shopping and I started checking out metal roofs. Our shingle roof is on its last legs, which we knew when we bought the place. Kathy thinks she would like the looks of a metal roof and with our set...

Our great-granddaughter arrived around noon today. Baby Lydia, Mom Kelsey and Dad Andy are all fine. We went out to our new home today. This is the first time I've seen it. It has the potential to be a beautiful place, but it is going to take a LOT of sweat before the grounds get close to their potential. This is the largest of the outbuildings. Carl's, the previous owner, woodworking business was located in this building. We planted the rhubarb we brought from Elaine's. It looks pretty sad right now. This rabbit watched us while we planted the rhubarb. Carl & April used to raise rabbits. Some of them escaped. They think this is the last one still around. It was no more than 10' from us while we planted the rhubarb. Carl walked up to within about 3' from it before it took off. We have closed on the house but we don't take possession until June 23rd. Carl and April have already moved to their new house but they, especially Carl, have a lot of moving to do. I ...

Today we drove from Elaine's in Collins, Iowa to Binder Lake Park in Jefferson City, Missouri. It was about a 280 mile drive. The roads were good, with a few minor exceptions, and traffic was light. We arrived here around 5:30 PM. We filled up with fuel at a BP station in Macon, Missouri, $3.599/gallon. With the exception of one place that was the cheapest price we saw for diesel. Later we saw what we think was diesel advertised for $3.469. Most stations had diesel priced between $3.649 and $3.759/gallon. We had checked this park/campground out when we were previously in the area. It is a nice little campground and a good deal for only $15/night. The good news is that we are here. The bad news is that every camp site is reserved starting tomorrow, so we won't be able to stay here as we had planned, unless someone cancels. The reservations people had already gone home for the day before we arrived so we will call them in the morning to better determine our options. I'm sure ...

This morning, after breakfasting on some really good egg casserole at Elaine's, we headed out for the day. First stop was to see Marvin Senter, another good friend from our days in Maxwell. We had a good time renewing acquaintances. We had not seen Marvin for 32 years. After our visit with Marvin we drove by what had been our home in Maxwell. We had 29 acres, all inside the town limits. It was interesting to see that parts of the 29 acres had been sold off and to see the newer homes on what had been alfalfa fields while we lived their. We then went to West Des Moines to shop at a Costco. Once we get to Centertown, Missouri the closest Costco will be in St. Louis, a two and one half hour drive. It was interesting to see all the growth around Des Moines. We headed to downtown Des Moines for lunch. I remembered eating at the Spaghetti Works while working in Des Moines, and it is still there. We had a delightful, and inexpensive, lunch. Des Moines is a beautiful and interesting city. I...

Yesterday we "veg'd" at the park in Adrian, MN. It was a beautiful day and we just sat around and enjoyed the day. Actually we did do some "people watching" as many of the groups packed up and headed out. By then end of the day there were very few left in the area where we were parked. Today we drove to Collins, Iowa. It is only a few miles from where we lived in Maxwell, Iowa; from 1977-80. We are parked at Elaine Anderson's house. She was one of our good friends while we were out here (that doesn't sound quite right, she is, and always will be, one of our good friends). She and her husband Max came to visit us when we lived in Niantic, Illinois, around 20 years ago and that was the last time we saw one another. It is so good to renew acquaintances with friends. Current plans are to stay here a few days and to then head for central Missouri. We drove around 280 miles today. It is about another 300 miles to our new home in Missouri. Good night to all and...

We got up this morning and went to the Mitchell Corn Palace. It was worth seeing. It is amazing what people will do to drum up some tourism. According to the story the reason for starting the Corn Palace was to lure people to the area by showing them that corn was a viable crop in South Dakota. By the way, we never saw any corn west of the Missouri River, in South Dakota. As soon as we crossed the river we started seeing corn fields. http://www.cornpalace.org/ All the ornamentation that you see is an agri-product, mostly corn although rye grass was one of the other things mentioned. The "balls" and towers appear to be of standard construction. The building exterior is completely redone in a new scene every fall. It takes about 200 acres of local crop land to grow the materials used.  One of the murals on the inside of the auditorium.  Zoomed in on the cowboy. You can begin to see the different colored ears of corn. Zoomed in on the horses head.  The above mural is at the ...

Today we left the Badlands National Park. It was so nice again today that we almost stayed another day/night. This was the edge of the road on the way out of the park. I almost didn't get this photo snapped. Over the edge of the road is at least a 50' drop. The road has started to "slide" down the hill. We stopped at the 1880 Town near mile marker 170 on I-90. I was apprehensive about it being a tourist trap but I wanted to check it out. Look at the beautiful sky. I could have taken dozens of photos of just the sky today.  The 14 sided barn is the entry to the "town". It also contains many artifacts on two different levels. Note the train cars to the left.  Before actually paying to go into the town we decided to try out the diner. It is actually the kitchen car and a string of dining cars. You get to walk through the kitchen car on your way back into the dining cars. Today's special was hot beef sandwiches (Beef Manhattans). We both had one. They were e...