July 21, 2007

Our young climbers... Sunday morning was a baptismal service for Todd Hochstetler (Nelson & Deb's oldest son).  Mark Hochstetler brought the message on "Our New Life in Christ".  Ina Sue was hostess for dinner.  We had already invited Wendell & Naomi over for lunch.  Since there were no other unaccounted for visitors, we decided to just have a really relaxed small dinner together.  Ina Sue served us roast beef, sour cream baked potatoes, squash casserole, sliced tomatoes with egg salad, dilly rolls, and chocolate cake with thickened cherries for dessert.   We were really wanting a chance to take a nap in the afternoon but Landon did not want to go to sleep....  In the evening we went to church.  Bro. Gary had a good talk on "How the Church should Respond to Change".
Planning the walks We both got up in good time on Monday and I made waffles and sausage gravy for breakfast while Ina Sue started on the weekly washing.  I was really busy at work.  As soon as I got home Ina Sue left to take supper over for Carls.  Sis. Grace has a really bad case of shingles and Ina Sue wanted to help in some way.  After supper I worked some more on tearing up the flooring boards in our old screen porch.  I was surprised to find that there was a fairly nice looking old floor of laid brick underneath.  It was pretty uneven though so we plan to go ahead and pour concrete over top of it.
Mixing dye with the concrete Tuesday was a really big day.  I got up at sun-up and went out and started digging sod out from around our brick circle in the back.  I had offered the extra sod to Wendell to use in his front yard so he brought his truck over for me to stack it in.  Our concrete crew from Hartville, OH got here right on time at 7:30.  Tom Wagler, his three boys and another helper made up the crew.  Work has been a bit slow for them out in Hartville so they have been doing some odd jobs here in SC.  When I found out that they do the stamped concrete I gave him a call and they agreed to do the job.  We were very impressed.  They quickly got to work and before we could hardly believe it they already had things dug out, formed up and all ready for concrete.  The concrete truck from Webbs in Barnwell got here right around 10:00 and they mixed four buckets of brown die into the concrete while it was still in the truck.  Then they poured our front walk, some walks in the back, and the floor of our screen porch.
The concrete itself was dyed brown The concrete did not setup as fast as they anticipated so it was after 6:00 before they had it all dyed & stamped.  In the afternoon Betty & Caroline Heatwole took the children swimming for an hour or two.  For supper we went in to Barnwell to the House of Pizza for a farewell supper for my longtime Computer Solutions manager, Adam Cooper.  He and his family are moving to Ashville, NC to be houseparents at a boys home.  It sounds like a really good work but we are really going to miss having him at work!  We all had a nice supper eating and visiting together then we dropped by Walmart to pick up some essentials before heading home for bed.
 

The gray dust was a release agent packed in by the forms.

 We were pretty tired Wednesday morning so we slept in a little before I headed off to work to catch up on jobs I missed yesterday.  Ina Sue did some cleaning and odd jobs around the house.  The Wagler concrete crew came back around 2:00 in hopes of washing off & sealing the concrete job.  Unfortunately, it was threatening rain so they decided to come back tomorrow rather than risk it interfering with the sealant.  In the evening we went to prayer meeting.  Ina Sue got to teach the children's class while Andy Korver gave the 2nd part of his class on song-leading for the rest of us.  On the way home we stopped in at Carl Heatwoles for a little to drop off Carolina's turtle to stay with Ms. Karla.  Karla has a really nice fish tank and a very healthy turtle already.  Carolina really didn't want to give up her little turtle but when she saw how nice his new house looked and how he took off swimming she decided he looked a lot happier there then in his old dirty tiny house.
Landon opens his birthday present from Grandmother & Grandpapa I got up and fixed us all breakfast on Thursday.  I spent the rest of my day in the shop doing quotes and accounting work.  Ina Sue had an appointment with her back doctor so she dropped Landon off for a nap with Aunt Miriam then took Carolina Sue along with her.  Tom Wagler came back in the afternoon and finished up the concrete job.  We are really happy with it now.  The sealant really brought out the colors we were looking for.  I stayed at work until about 9:30 trying to get everything caught up.  Papa & Mother Showalter arrived from Virginia around 10:45.  We talked a little while then got them settled in and hit the sack ourselves.
Papa helps me pull out old decking boards I had planned to be off on Friday to work with Papa.  Unfortunately, I had a service call that I had to do first thing.  I went in to work around 6:30 and got home soon after 9:00.  Ina Sue made us Cheesy Egg Bake for breakfast then Papa and I got to work tearing up the rest of our old deck.  It was a big job (even with two people).  Our pest control company came around dinnertime to spray for pests and bugs around our house before we covered the ground up with our new deck.  One of our authentication servers in at the shop went down this afternoon and I had to drive in to work on it.  I was not able to get it completely fixed by 6:00 but decided to go hear Voice of Praise at Hephzibah like we had planned.  They gave a very good program and I was glad that we went.  After we got back to Barnwell though I had to stay and work on the server until about 4:30 in the morning.   I was propping my eyelids open as I drove home....
Mother helped Ina Sue patch wallpaper I hauled myself out of bed Saturday morning and Papa and I started working on putting in the new deck.  The ladies fixed us waffles and sausage gravy for breakfast then they worked on repairing some damaged wallpaper in our back room.  For dinner Ina Sue fixed us stroganoff sandwiches.  In the afternoon we men continued working on the deck while the ladies began washing the old concrete dust off our our back porch.  By the time we knocked off, they had finished washing the porch and Papa & I were beginning to put down the first of the decking.
Papa's & My handiwork For supper in the evening we met Don Heatwoles up at Duke's BarBQ.  As always, good food, and a very nice time visiting together.  They almost had to chase us out in order to close up...
Supper with Don's at Dukes BarBQ Burning our brush & trash pile