It has been pretty warm, even hot in the afternoons this week. The big difference between now and a month ago is the nights are getting cooler. I'm just glad to see the heat go.
PROGRESS. Pauline went back to the doctor on Friday. He increased the weight she can put on her foot to 50 lbs. She is due to see him again in a week and a half. At this rate she may be tossing the wheelchair and walker by Thanksgiving!
THE TRACTOR MOTIF. Ever since Jenna has moved upstairs and Nate has moved in with Ben we have been redecorating the boy's room from the Raggedy Ann and Andy look to tractors. We had bought several John Deere things to put in the room but we still have the mural on the wall with Raggedy Ann and Andy sitting in a swing which is hanging from a tree branch. We hadn't done anything about that because we didn't want to repaint that room just yet. Last week Janice Hellmann loaned us a bunch of things (sheets, bed spreads, etc.) to use in the boy's room. Stephen, her son, is now into "army stuff" so she had redecorated his room and thought our boys would enjoy Stephen's old John Deere and Case-International stuff. There's even a wall hanging that fits in with the decor and covers Raggedy Ann and Andy very nicely. Ben is so proud of his room that he makes up his and Nate's beds each morning without being asked! Their room is so cool I almost want to spend the night with them.
A DOUBLE TRAGEDY. Speaking of Janice Hellmann, she was thrown from her horse yesterday and broke her shoulder. It seems she was riding in a field with tall grass and came up on an electric fence that neither she nor the horse saw which caused the horse to throw her off. She is at St. Thomas Hospital and had surgery this morning. This is the second accident she has had with her horse, the first one was more serious than this one. Knowing Janice, she will ride again.
Janice's parents, Carl and Mildred Swann, are out of town this weekend. Being fans of Jimmy Carter they are in Plains, Georgia, to hear President Carter teach Sunday School. This is their third trip down there. They know about Janice. What they don't know about is the barn fire. Mr. Carl had a tobacco barn to burn down last night. Dark Fired Tobacco has to be cured with smoke and if you ride around Robertson County right now you'll see lots of tobacco barns with smoke billowing from all the vents under their roofs. Occasionally a farmer's worst fear is realized and the barn itself catches fire. Mr. Carl had about 4.5 acres of tobacco in this barn. Just estimating that the tobacco would have weighed in at 3000 lbs. per acre and sold at $2.00 per pound you can see that the loss in gross income is around $27,000. Then there is the loss of the barn as well....
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO WILL. Wilson Swann turns five on Wednesday but Kenny and Lori had his party yesterday. They hosted it at their house. One of the cutest things to watch was all the kids playing out in the driveway. They have two battery powered toys, a Gator like ours and a tractor, as well as several bikes and all the kids were riding around the turn around at the back end of the driveway. I think Nate ran at least one battery down. They had a piñata which actually busted open pretty quickly. (I keep remembering one we bought for Jenna's birthday several years ago. It seemed to be so tough you could have run over it with a car and not hurt it.) After the party we stuck around for hamburgers and such. It was a fun evening.
A GOOD FRIEND. One thing I am really proud of Jenna about is her friendship with Mrs. Vallie Douglas. Mrs. Vallie goes to our church. She will celebrate her 97th birthday this Wednesday. When she is able she drives from Springfield on Sunday mornings. One morning about 2-3 years ago Jenna and I were leaving for church and Mrs. Vallie drove by. Jenna recognized her and I told Jenna who she was and suggested that she speak to Mrs. Vallie when we got to church. She did and it has been so neat to see the two of them become friends ever since.
CONGRATULATIONS to Jonathan and Sheila Leach. Their third daughter, Sophia Grace, was born Friday evening. We are really happy for them!
Joe
