Wow, this is going slow... :)

No earthshaking progress on the house to report this week. Seems like every time I get over there either the lawn needs mowing (using the little walk behind mower) or I drift off into drawing plans for the barn or whatever. Still haven't gotten the pump hooked up to see if the well actually works. :(

The end of last week, the 21st and 22nd, I helped my buddy Todd out with the basement walls for his new addition. It was a lot of work laying concrete block in that hot sun but we had a great group of guys there and the kids pitched in and we did ok.

Earlier this week my sister and her husband were passing through town and I was on my way to meet them for a late lunch when I spied a nice old tractor for sale along the interstate. Just the sort of thing I've wanted. Took a picture and came back to locate the house (it's close to the interstate but durn hard to find on the ground). The owner, Carey, and I talked and we struck a deal. I was going to come back Tuesday and drive the tractor over to Walnut Hill, which is only a few miles by road. All's well. It's a c. 1960 International Harvester "Super A" that has been refurbished and runs great. It has a wonderful three bladed mower deck on it and cuts a five foot swath at one clip.

Tuesday I ran errands (bought some dandy books on housebuilding) and picked up the money for the tractor. I headed up there so I could arrive after he got home from work. Long story short, they had two boxers in the yard behind a chain link fence and as I tried to talk to his wife (he wasn't home yet) they got out of the yard and attacked me. I've got some dandy puncture wounds on my upper arms and legs and I got to meet some lovely people on the ambulance ride and the local ER too. I'm feeling like I was a bit beaten up, but otherwise ok. Visited my MD today and she said I'd probably heal up ok. I'm on an antibiotic and I have some pain meds if I need them. Other than the soreness, the downside is that I have to stay out of the sun with this antibiotic. :(

The good news though is that, Lord willing, I'll have the tractor at Walnut Hill by Thursday evening so I can begin to really whip the grass into shape. I may be "mowing by moonlight" but at least it'll be mowed. Now if I can just figure out how to put headlights on my hedgetrimmer... :)

Life's an adventure!

My grandmother used to say, "Life's easy if you don't weaken." She had her share of trials and I've had it pretty easy by comparison, so I'll take her advice.

Friday I'll be gone to a 3 day teacher conference, and next week I'm having some teeth removed on Tuesday so my work days are fast slipping away. School classes start four weeks from today, so my summer is fast drawing to a close.

I hope to get the pump going and the barn deck/stairs and siding done before I have to start focusing on school, but we'll see how far I get. My left bicep has gotten pretty sore and isn't much help to me at the moment. I'm hoping I can hire some kids from school to do some of the heavy lifting and stuff I'll need to do.

Stay tuned. You never know what's coming next! :)

Blessings,

Doug