April 11, 2014---Brent’s in Brandon, Mississippi

The three of us were home this morning doing various jobs.  Brent mowed his yard.  He has quite a large area in grass so it takes him at least two hours to mow it.  He said he really doesn’t mind mowing.  In fact, he kind of likes it.  I know he wasn’t adopted, but he didn’t get that from either of us.

Bill continued to put crosses together for me.  After I marked them, he used the new drill press to make the holes for my wire work.

Since Brent had worked so hard all morning, I took him for a hamburger for lunch.  I had eaten earlier, but a Diet Dr. Pepper with Sonic ice made me very happy.  We took a prescription to Walmart before we returned home.  

Brent and Bill both took naps, but I stayed up and worked on book work kinds of things.  I also made some progress on hemming a pair of capri pants.

After dinner, I made Sara and her friend, Lexie, each a pair of earrings.  I was very glad I had gone back into the house to deliver the baubles, because ice cream was being served.  Too bad Bill had already gone to bed, but as they say, “You snooze, you lose.”

April 10, 2014---Brent’s in Brandon, Mississippi

Bill, Brent, and I went on some errands today.  You know the kind...Lowe’s, Hobby Lobby, Harbor Freight, things like that.  We also took time to eat lunch at Ed’s.

Ed and his partner, Tim, are on overload.  They are so busy with the restaurant and their catering service.  And so, May 1 will be their closing date for the restaurant.  

The catering part of the business will continue.  It has grown by leaps and bounds.  There are several large corporation that they cater nearly every day.  Ed said they will use their present kitchen to cook for the catering, and may rent out the rest of the building eventually.

When we got back home, Brent thought it was nap time.  Neither one of us argued with him.  I hadn’t been awake for very long when Sara came home from school.  She came out to the MH for a visit.  We saw Coleson later in the house.  It certainly is great to be with them.  They are both growing up so fast.

Bill spent some time putting a different blade on the radial arm saw.  He is working on some more crosses for me.  While he was doing that, Brent was setting up the new drill press they bought today.  Our friend, Dwight, says you should never start a project that you don’t need a new power tool for.  Bill and Brent took him at his word today.

April 9, 2014---Forest to Brent’s in Brandon, Mississippi

Just before 9:00 this morning, we were on I-20 making our way to Brent’s house.  Yippy, Skippy!

We traveled 50 miles today.  The town of Brandon is spread out over a large area, much of it in a country setting.  It took us about as long to get from I-20 to Brent’s house as it did to get from Forest to the actual town of Brandon, which is on I-20.  

When we arrived at 202 Overland Lane, Brent was mowing the grass where we park the motorhome.  It didn’t take Bill long to get us set up.

I needed to go to the Post Office and Brent needed to take Sara’s lunch to her so off we went.  After completing those two tasks, Brent wanted to know if there was anywhere else I wanted to go.  I said, “Only if you want to go somewhere for lunch.”  So off we went to Fannin’s, one of our favorite places for “down home cooking.”

Our friend, Polly, came to take me to deliver the necklaces I made for her sister’s shops.  We didn’t stay gone too long because Amy was coming at 3:30 and I didn’t want to miss her.  We made it in time.

It was good to see Sara and Coleson when they got home from school, but soon they were off seeing their friends (Sara is very social) and riding bikes.  Coleson rides his bicycle every chance he gets, and it was a beautiful day to be out riding.

Brent fixed crawfish, potatoes, and sausage for dinner.  It was really good.  And eating crawfish is kind of a social affair.  A lot of talking went on, because it takes time to peel and eat the little critters.

April 8, 2014---Demopolis, Alabama to Walmart in Forest, Mississippi

We pulled out of our campground spot at 8:35 this morning.  The sun was shining, there wasn’t a cloud in the sky, but it was quite cool...50°.  We turned west on Highway 80, making our way toward Mississippi.

The river where our camp site was had risen some, but we were up high enough that we weren’t in any danger.  However, as we drove toward the front gate, we noticed several RVs that were closer to the rising water than they probably should be.  It looked as if some moving of rigs was going to take place.  Seemed like a good idea to me!

Soon after crossing into Mississippi (extra loud honking and yahooing) we stopped in the tiny town of Kewanee.  There is a very old (fourth generation) Simmons and Wright Mercantile which is now mostly antiques, with a lunch counter, and a potbellied stove and chairs to sit around and warm yourself when it is cold enough for a fire.  It was an interesting place to visit.

We drove on into Meridian, parked at Sam’s Club, and unhooked the Honda.  While Bill rested, I went to JoAnn Fabrics, about a mile from Sam’s.  When I returned, we went in for hot dogs.

It had just began to sprinkle when we got back to the motorhome.  By the time we got back onto I-20, Mother Nature was getting serious about the rain, so we pulled off at an exit west of town and parked at a large lot by some trucks.  There was thunder and wind involved, but after about an hour, the storm had passed and we got back on the road again.

In Forest, we parked at Walmart and spent the evening relaxing.  Only 106 miles traveled, but we were tired.

April 7, 2014---Foscue Creek Campground, Demopolis, Alabama

Our plans for today were to drive to Meridian, Mississippi.  However, we were concerned that there might be flooding between here and there.  We had over three inches of rain yesterday and well into the night.

There was no rain today, but we did have some strong winds.

I continued my “clean out” system, starting with my side of the closet.  I took all of my hanging clothes out, straightened some of the things, and made some general order out of it all.

Next, I tackled the middle drawer on the right side of the new desk.  That’s where I keep my “office” supplies.  It had gotten rather jumbled and needed a major rearrangement.  With that out of the way, I emptied the small drawer above it.  That one didn’t take long.

I also spent time on the Internet.

All of this was done while watching the NASCAR from Texas.  Jeff came in second!  Tonight we watched Dancing with the Stars.  It is still one of my favorite programs.

April 6, 2014---Foscue Creek Campground, Demopolis, Alabama

The rain came all day long.  We had some lightening and thunder, too.  At one point, we could hear a warning signal coming from the direction of town, but there wasn’t a mention of tornados on the TV or computer.  After about 30 minutes, the siren went off.  But the rain just kept returning off and on.

As most of you know, Bill and I have twin daughters.  It has been a challenge, but a fun one.  They aren’t identical...Michelle is shorter.  Other than that, we some times we get them confused.  

They talk just alike and use the same expressions so sometimes we don’t know for sure who we are talking to on the phone.

All of this was taken to a new level yesterday.  At 10:00 last night I got a text message asking if I was still awake.  I was and call Meredith right back.  We had a nice visit, as always.

This morning, I was looking at my text messages and saw that last night’s text was from Michelle.  I called her and told her what I had done.  She laughed and said, “Now you can’t even tell us apart when we text.”  Oh, dear!  

April 5, 2014---Foscue Creek Campground, Demopolis, Alabama

It was a sunny day today, but with threats of a storm to come on the Weather Channel.  It never did make it, but Bill pulled the slide in at bedtime, just in case.

After breakfast I had Bill take everything out of the cabinet above his side of the bed.  I spent most of the rest of the morning packing and repacking the things up there.  One more big, unpleasant task out of the way!!!  Yea!

After lunch I made another cross, which Bill hung on the wall at the end of my desk.  I really do like it there, with my plants and a few seashells around.  The wood on the cross is from the redwood swing in Brent’s backyard.  Willie chewed on the swing when he was teething.  So this cross is made out of “Willie wood.”  Brent and Bill dismantled the swing on one of our visits.

I had planned on making two more crosses before I put this project away, but I ran out of steam.  I need to get on to other jobs...maybe not as much fun, but important, just the same.

We drove into Demopolis to check out the main part of town.  There were some really beautiful homes to see.  We found a cache at one of them.  We also went to the marina, before looking for another hidden “treasure” at an old school which is now being used for community theater and things like that.

Before going back home, we went to Burger King.  Practice, practice, practice!