I went walking…

What did I see?

 

I traveled up the hollow to a neighboring property and was able to see the hundreds of acres that were once owned by the builder of our cabin home.  Turning in place gave me a 360 degree view of the furthest tree lines which, as I understood it, were the *boundaries of his domain.

He put in a lot of work to make the oak woods his home.  As we work on our little 25 of the original acres, I wonder at the strength and stamina of a man who built a home of hewn logs, on the furthest west bit of territory he could find.  It seems hard for us to imagine now, that this place was the wild west in the early 1800s.

He lived here a long time and we now have the honor of refurbishing his legacy.  Do you see the green tin roofs in the last photo? The trees follow the little creek that is our east property boundary.  That is our Farmlet home in the Freedom Hills, of Alabama.  So much history!

I will share more history of our area as I discover it.

~*~

*I was able to locate by plat number the area in which he settled, but sadly, his recorded deed history was lost in a fire in the late 1800s.  😦

The work continues and Bob gets nailed

We spent the day up on the mountain again yesterday.  I was riding bareback on the suburban grass eater all day, while Bob slaved away inside removing the infamous floating wall.

At one point I saw him coming across the bridge in his demo regalia (space suit, face mask, and goggles) and he was carrying a gas can.

“You’ve been out here for a long time, I figured it was time for a fill-up.”  he said.

He was right, there was only about a quarter-inch of fuel left in the tank.

We hired a man with a tractor to come out and bush hog the pastures.  When the Octogenarian was here she had the young man from down the road keeping the place looking like a park!  However, when she left and we asked him to continue the service, well, since we weren’t around every day he seemed to lose interest.  But hey, it was summer, he’s only 17, and he had friends to hang with and football practice.  I actually do ‘get it’ , but we decided we couldn’t support his summer activities and had to let him go.  😉

That left the 2 – 3 acres around the house, cabin, and pond to mow.  Going non stop, it took me from about 9:00AM til 1:00PM.  I was almost done and I looked up again to see Bob out by the drive and waving at me.  He wasn’t looking so cheerful this time.  Disengaging the blades I zoomed up to the drive.  I arrived to find that while he was working he had been stabbed in the forearm with a very ugly  and rusty nail.

It had been well over 10 years since his last tetanus shot.

He had been prying off the old oak planks on that floating wall, when one of them swung back.   The weight and force of the plank falling then drove a nail right into the muscle causing the puncture and resultant swelling.  We talked about whether or not to go to the ER for a tetanus shot because we knew the ER would be expensive.  Being nervous about infection we went anyway.

One shot, a prescription for antibiotics for prevention of infection (2,000 mg per day!) and $200.00 later, we were on our way back to finish and clean up.  Oh well, it’s only money, and money well spent judging by the high dose of antibiotics prescribed.

So, as it stands:

In my next post I will explain a bit about cabin building in the 1800s!  It will be interesting!  I promise!  😀

My Window Faces the South

“My window faces the South, and [we’re] almost half way to heaven…”

(Please see the notes on this song at the end of the post!)

~*~

Follow me, through the woods…

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keep going!

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Past the pony who’s escaped his pasture.

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Hello, naughty Pony!

Past some pretty new flowers of spring.

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We’ll follow along the creek for a bit,

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and beyond the water pump,

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and the pond,

The pond

to…

The New Farmlet from the back

The new Farmlet!

An antique home (174 years and counting) on 23 acres with a pond for Polly and Frellnick, and that wonderful walking trail you just accompanied me on through the woods and along the creek!

New Farmlet two

Looking from the front you will see the rock fireplace, which is where the old log cabin was constructed in the 1840s.  Later, the home was expanded in the 1920s to the proportions you see here.  In 2006, there was an addition of a large bedroom and bath in the back.  All of the wood for the construction over the years came from the property.

I can’t wait to show you the inside, but wait we must until the escrow closes.

I feel as if I am in a dream, and now understand why God said, “No” the first time around. 

We are so blessed!

~*~

I want to thank each and every one of you for your prayers and heartfelt good wishes.  They mean so much! 

May all your blessings be returned to you tenfold!

~*~

NOTE:  The refrain above is from “My Window Faces the South.”  It was written back in back in 1937 by Jerry Livingston, Abner Silver and Mitchell Parish.  I always assumed, incorrectly, that it was a Commander Cody and his Lost Planet Airmen original.  Who knew?  I sure didn’t!  It was made popular by Fats Waller and has remained so to the present day.

CREDITS:  Want to know more?  Go to Community Voices HERE to read all about it.