Another Week in Arkansas

Tom used the good weather to continue improvements around the house.  Monday he put the columns up under the living room.  I had lived in dread that a strong wind would somehow blow everything over.  It did not.  Tuesday he took out the jacks and let the weight back down on the columns.  He spent time cleaning up any spare cement that had ended up where it should not be-- including scraping where the new footing met the old porch.  It really looks lovely.

I had wanted to go away for a writer's retreat.  We have Travel To Go that gives cheap timeshares when you book within two weeks.  But every Branson getaway that showed up in the more expensive weeks disappeared before it got to the cheapest week.  Very frustrating.  So I spent time on VRBO- a rental site vacation rentals by owner.  Except the cheap ones I found there sent back a message saying, "gee... that time isn't available.  But if you want to sit in on a presentation we can get you a good deal."  It reduced my pleasure with that site since it smacks of bait-and-switch. But we did get a place in a "castle" for later this month.  It has to be spaced between ward conferences and Cub Scout banquets and other such events.

After Tom got finished with the front porch, he moved on to behind the barn.  Our new-to-us tractor is too tall to fit into the barn or either of the overhangs on the left or right of the barn.  But there was still the BACK of the barn.  Tom took the aluminum cover that had been over the lower porch in front of the house and reattached it to the back side of the barn, high enough up so that the tractor could be parked there.   Now it's safely up and the tractor happily parked below it.

When we had the mini-splits put in for heat and air in the downstairs bedroom and suite, it resulted in black insulated tubes running across under the new porch roof. Tom had this wonderful brainstorm to get metal sheathing formed into a box to enclose it.  He found someone who could bend the metal and we got two 10' x 3" x 2" boxes back.  So Saturday Tom pried open the boxes and shoved the dark covered tubes inside.  Then he strapped it to the porch under-ceiling.  WOW! the box was a light tan and it just disappeared up there.  You don't notice it at all.  Now we just have to figure out how to make the tube section that runs UP the wall and around the corner to the side of the house disappear, too.

This week my major focus has been getting a headline and lead written for Motley Fool UK.  It's been interesting because we decided the promotion would revolve around the Brexit-- Britain's vote to leave the European Union... a topic I really knew nothing about.  I did  research for part of the week and finally Motley Fool UK send some places to look as well.  I keep writing and rewriting.  It always sounds good the first time... then less good each time I read it thereafter.  Sigh.  I also have two websites stacked up to do, and maybe some PR... oh, and a few articles.  But it's fun and all is good.

Saturday Curtis Coleman, who is running for the US Senate, came to town and I went to listen to him.  I'd heard him once before when he was running for Arkansas Governor.  I was impressed then, and impressed again now.  I hope he gets elected.  If he becomes senator... this will be a valuable picture of us.