Counting Cars...

When I was a child I used to sit on the porch with my grandfather whose house was on the main north/south road in Arkansas, playing cards and counting cars. I would count cars from one direction and he would count those from the other. On a good day one of us might get up to 10 or 12. In the photo John and I are sitting on a bench on one side of the Mason town square counting white pickups...

If the street looks really wide, that's because it is. Mason has double lanes in a square around the courthouse which sits just outside the photo to the left. There's also room for diagonal parking in front of the stores and a wide sidewalk. In between counting pickups I did wonder why so much hard surface. Cattle drives? No lawn to water and mow? Less dust? Locals have always wanted to host the Macy's Day parade?

PS - Monday is our day off this year so the new homeowner has an opportunity to work with us on Saturdays.

Dump Run

Saturday in Mason is much like Saturday in Earlville except Mason didn't have the weather forecast of a "meteorological dilemma". Here it was clear and sunny and a perfect day for a dump run. Taking the recycling bins apart in the front yard (or the Texas equivalent of a yard) means the landscaping can begin, a sure sign the house is nearing completion.

Stephanie, the new homeowner is on the left wearing the pink pants, the two guys in the shadows up front are experienced stone masons (there are some things best not left to us volunteers) who are building the bottom part of the front porch posts.

Habitat Olympics

Is Roland practicing for the Habitat Olympics or has quitting time just been called?

Notice he did uncover the beautiful ceiling beams while he was up there...

Awesome!

The outside of the house is all painted... with two coats! Awesome!

The bedroom walls are all painted! Awesome!

The temperature here was in the high 80's today! Awesome!

And, of course, these socks one of our volunteers has (her husband found them at their local grocery store in Washington state) are totally AWESOME! Bruce - you could score some big time points if you found socks like these for Leigh!

Teal green

The outdoor paint crew rushing to complete the second coat of paint on the front of the house before quitting time. Can you guess which direction that persistent Texas wind was blowing from today? There's a reason everyone is on this side of the house and it's not just team spirit...

Another new home

Just one photo can tell you so much. Just so you don't miss anything I'll point out some things.

  The new home is what our Habitat group is helping to complete for Stephanie and her three children. By the time we leave in three weeks (in spite of or, perhaps because of), they will have moved in.

  This home will be the first zero energy home in Mason with photovoltaic panels on the roof. (Thank heavens Texas law requires they be installed by professionals in the field, not volunteers!)

  The home is a simple Craftsman style. Keith, who designs the homes, has an amazing ability to take a simple rectangular home and, with a little extra effort, make each one energy efficient, each one unique (no tickitack homes in Mason), and each one affordable to both the home owner and the community that sponsors them.

  The blue bonnets, yellow bitter weed, and pink golden eyed phlox are in full bloom. You can see how dry the ground is around them so it's truly a miracle that anything is blooming!

  And, we must be in the south. The pickup is white...

A family portrait

This is a rare event so thank heavens there was one among us who was savvy enough (also = young enough) to figure out the delayed action on the camera. In reverse (just so you too have to think a bit), sister Becky, husband John, brother Jimmy, mother Alice, oh dear - that's me, niece-inlaw Jessica, nephew Scott. We're all smiling just for you.

Just watching grass grow...

It's happy hour in Brady and Pensacola Joe is not the only one who can enjoy happy hour while taking the air. Becky says we hit one of about four evenings when it's really enjoyable to do that (outside that is). It's either too cold (hard to make a New Yorker believe that's possible) or too hot but mostly too windy. A little spring grass is beginning to show although heaven knows how that can be since they've only had about half an inch of rain since November. I suppose you could say this is Texas' approach to energy conservation as it does cut down on mowing.

From the geographical center of Texas

Yup... We made it to Texas and are looking southeast. Joe, you must be out there somewhere...

Toes above the water...

How far is the center of NY from the center of Texas? (I prefer not to think about it!) After two days of driving followed by more driving followed by... Well, you get the picture and we hadn't even reached Texas yet. Thank heavens for Arkansas' DeGray State Park... and lodge... and pool. The photo is specifically for Jim, our swim leader at home. John wanted to show him he could still do the toes above the water routine. (John probably doesn't want Jim to know the pool was warmer than Colgate's and I had to use that chair lift to get him out... Just kidding, about the lift, although with John only a few days away from 70 I probably had you wondering, didn't I?)

A new sinkhole...

Some of you long time blog readers may have thought from the title of this post that we acquired another old VW in need of repair. Sadly, or perhaps thankfully, no. 

The sinkhole referred to is inside the Corvette Museum in Kentucky where a gigantic sinkhole ate/sank part of its Corvette collection this winter. John "sank" $10 into a raffle ticket for the car in the photo. The drawing is on your birthday Judi C.  John says to expect a birthday ride around Smyrna! (The pessimist here thinks folks should start getting their imaginations in good working order!)

What's new?

Having driven the same route far too many times does anything (other than snow depth) ever change? Well, yes. This year the NYS Thruway offers parking areas to allow safe texting. No multi-tasking though. Bathrooms are another 5 miles up the road.

Also new to me were the gadgets available at the truck stop to plug into your car dashboard. My favorites - a crockpot (flash mob potluck?) and a popcorn popper!  Does this mean we'll soon have special parking areas (the pop stop?) for those as well?