03-31-05 Journal

March 31, 2006

The Milton Hobbs Family	Sunday was a beautiful day with just a bit of chill in the morning. I went to the jail for the Sunday school hour. We were privileged to have Earl Barnhart at church for the sermon. He preached on "What is Truth, and How it Relates to the Christian". We had invited Miltons over for lunch and they came for the church service as well. Ina Sue fixed us stuffed chicken, wild rice pilaf, green beens, salad, custard & bars. We had a nice afternoon together talking and playing Password. (The wife and I ended up as big time losers) In the evening we went to Barnwell for church. Hendrick told about his time as instructor at Heritage Bible School, and led a discussion from his Bible & Science class. Very stimulating.
Playing ball with Carolina Sue.	I headed off to work Monday morning while Ina Sue started working on the laundry. In the evening I took Carolina Sue with me to Olar for a town meeting regarding the proposed new combined water system. I was a bit disillusioned with the whole affair. The people presenting the project kept repeating that we as townspeople would not need to pay anything. Everything would be paid for with government grants. I asked them how many homes the existing water systems supply. They said that Govan had 27 homes and Olar about 120. The project they were proposing would cost approximately 2 1/2 million dollars. That works out to over $14,000 per residence. We could all drill our own wells for around $3,000 per household. Its not hard to see why our government is going into a monetary hole!
Paul Anderson with Low Country fixed my Starband system.	I went in to work early again on Tuesday to get ready for our managers meeting. Ina Sue & Carolina drove up to Orangeburg for some shopping. While they were there Ina Sue picked us up some "Weed & Feed" granules to put on our yard. After they got home Ina Sue made us "Bran & Beef Stroganoff". This sounded way too healthy for my tastes but it turned out to be quite good. After supper I went in to the jail for Bible Study while Ina Sue cleaned up the dishes & the house.
Relaxing with frozen Pops	Ina Sue made us French Toast for breakfast on Wednesday. I had a full day at work. Ina Sue & Carolina worked at cleaning up the house and vacuuming out the minivan. She also cleaned up the back porch and trimmed up our ivy. (It has a bad tendency to take over) I had to work late in the evening and didn't make it home till after 9:00. Jordan Ehst came over and visited for a while.
Heading off to Virginia	I took off Thursday from work and spent a lovely day at home. I was determined that this would be the day I got our Starband internet system back working again. It has been down for the last month or two. I spent several hours working and making phone calls before basically throwing in the towel. I found out that a local shop in Bamberg is certified installers for Starband so I called them and unbelievably, the main man was available and was willing to come out almost immediately. I was happy to see that he also had quite a bit of trouble finding the satellite even with his advanced tools. He did get it locked in though and it is working great now. Carolina Sue and I drove in to Barnwell for some errands in the afternoon. Ina Sue spent the afternoon making granola & spiced nuts and started packing for her trip tomorrow.
Driving the four wheeler with Marsha & Andrew	Friday morning we all got up in good time and I helped get my ladies off on their trip to Virginia. They left around 8:00 with Susie Byers. They got to Ina Sue's home around 5:00 because of some traffic jams. Ina Sue quickly got them cleaned up then they rushed off with the rest of the family for the Hickory Hollow School program. Her brother Sherman is graduating this year so she had really wanted to be there for the program. The program was on "Our Body" with the younger grades presenting more of the physical aspects and the upper grades pointing out the spiritual comparisons. After the program they all got together for a big party back at Papa's. Uncle Galens, Uncle Lees were there along with the whole Kenny Showalter family (excluding yours truly). They say they are missing me.....
Sherman and his new girl friend. (Amber Heatwole)	Saturday I got up in good time and got a lot done during the day. I picked up two loads of pine straw and spread it around our back yard. I also cleaned out my car and vacuumed it. (An all day job just in itself. I also got drip irrigation installed for our new shrubbery on the west side of the house. In the evening I fixed baked hash browns with spam, cheese & peppers for supper. It was delicious even though Ina Sue turns up her nose. Meanwhile, in Virginia, the Showalter family got up and had Denver Omelets for breakfast (whatever that is?) Ina Sue did some scrap booking in the morning then took a rest for a while. In the afternoon they went over to the obligatory Farmer's Market for a hot pretzel & fellowship. The whole family was planning to go out to Applebees to celebrate Robert's birthday but due to some illness had Applebees takeout at home instead.