Assorted projects

Russ built a long countertop then I stained it. We plan to make the countertop limestone. Already have the big tiles and the sealer. To the right, the spot it will occupy; we'll remove the table that's there now.

Meanwhile, spreading chips to reestablish the path to the bathhouse.

Richmond Woods Drive Beautification Project

Finally getting back to work at Richmond Woods after taking a lot of time off for the holidays, bad weather, etc. Below, making "Christmas Blend" coffee Sara gave me in my stocking for Christmas, the living room/kitchen end of the cabin. It's starting to look nice and be more convenient. Bed end. Nice and comfortable at night! Living room corner with Debbie's beautiful glass table as a high point. Note cozy throw from Heather on the couch!







Now about that beautification. We've been talking for a long time about how the drive looks kind of nasty. Lots of limbs down, brush, dead trees. So we started the project by Carolyn picking all the stuff that was already down and putting it in a pile. Left, the piles. Right, the ugly brushy mess. Sure, animals love it, Amber. But they have 36 more acres that are untouched.




Then the weekend after that (how nice to have two beautiful weekends in a row, sunny, in the 60s, in February! Life is good here in the South. No gray February!), Russ rented an industrial sized chipper. Of course we didn't know how to work it too well at first....

Russ got us these lovely masks so we wouldn't breathe in too much sawdust. Yes, they are dorky. But they were comfortable and worked! Then we commenced to chippin' and blowing the cheeps into Russ's trailer. We have use for chips: to make paths, for the privy and for the mud in the front of the cabin.

The chipper was kind of good, noisy fun. And as we went along, we cut down ugly, dead stuff and chipped it too. The worst of it was emptying the trailer.

Beautification Phase 2: we are renting a brush mower and mowing along the edge of the newly debrushed road, 10-15' each side. Also going to widen the road across the pasture (it's all dirt road to those of you who haven't visited yet).

Phase 3: we will collect Alabama wildflower seeds this summer and strew along the roadside. And I would love to get/plant the new disease resistant dogwood, "Appalachian Spring" because just about all our dogwoods are gone. Russ had some big ones, but no more. A fungal disease, dogwood anthracnose, is killing dogwoods in the wild.

Heat!

The new slip connector didn't work so Russ ended up cutting a stovepipe piece he already had. Success! It was 27 degrees that night... but for us, 60 : )

Below, left: Wilbur (black, white, brown) and Orville, two extremely cute bassett hounds who came to visit with our friends, Ron and Linda Lee from Tallahassee. The Lees stayed in the Barn, a cabin at the Settlement at Monks Cove. Linda's sister, Arlene, came down from Nashville.

Right: We had a delicious Sunday dinner there: Russ BBQ pork, chicken and sweet potatoes; salads, cornbread, collard greens. It doesn't get much better than that!