Been pretty busy these last two days. Lot's of stuff to get done and not all that much time left to get it done in. Since it was raining on Thursday I spent a few hours driving to Christensburg in search of a battery for the riding mower. Found one there in the Home Depot that looked like it would work, but it wasn't an exact replacement so I was a bit hesitant about it. Still... what the heck, I went ahead and picked it up. Lucky for me I spotted a NAPA automotive store on the way back out of town. The guy at the counter there was able to find the exact replacement for me.... and it was even cheaper so that was a plus. Of course it meant going back to Home Depot again to return the other one. I did keep the other odds and ends I bought, so they still did okay for themselves.

     Once back at the 'ranch' I pulled the battery out to take a look and found it was a ''assemble' your own kind, who knew they even made such a thing, but by that I mean they give you this separate little bottle of battery acid that you have to  put into the battery cells and then..... well then, you have to put it on a charger and charge it up before you can use it. Did Rima have a charger handy... well of course not. So sitting there trying to figure out what to do I happened to look over at the trailer where my batteries sit and realized that it had it's own charger and controller built in. So I grabbed my jumper cables and hooked on to one of my trailer batteries and then hooked it up to the new battery and hoped for the best. In the meantime I headed out to cut down more trees.

     Cut down about a dozen trees that night and managed to drop only one of them on a fence, so it was a pretty good evening. Once Rima got home she took over and with me holding up the cut trees, we managed to cut and stack about a third of a cord of wood into her woodshed. Not bad for only an hour.


   Of course it was dark by then so it was finally time to quit and go get something to eat. We just had time to clean up and head into Natasha's for dinner. Fried chicken, mashed taters and gravy and greens for me. As always; it was delicious.

    So the battery charger actually worked believe it or not. By yesterday it was all charged up and time to install it and see if the mower was even going to turn over. After a couple false starts due to not having something turned on correctly or adjusted just right, it cranked right over. Better than that though, every thing actually worked on it to some degree or other. The blades worked, even though they're duller than dirt... literally! The transmission will shift from forward to neutral to reverse, even though it takes more time than you can believe. And the brakes.... well lets just say that the easiest way to stop is to put it into low speed and aim for the nearest tree trunk. It works, but it's not pretty. With all of that I took off mowing about two acres of pasture that really should of been mowed and baled. It took me several hours and two rounds before I got most of it cut down to a manageable height. It looks a lot better, and now there will room for people to park during the party on Sunday night.

    I met up with Rima at 5:30 and we headed over to Odd Fellows to meet up with some of her friends for happy hour. They had a special beer on tap for happy hour and it was just what I needed after several hours out in the sun. We talked for an hour or so and then wandered around the streets of Floyd for another hour or two. It was Friday so everyone was in town playing music and strolling around. We finally ended up at the Mexican restaurant for some food. I'm starting to figure out a few meals that are worth eating there. The fajitas are fine, as are the soft taco's. Most of the standards, burritos, tacos and enchiladas though, are pretty mediocre. Mostly it is a problem with no 'fire'. Even the salsa is more like chopped up tomatoes and not much else. No heat and no green chili. It is still better than no Mexican food at all I guess. It's not El Tejado though.

    A quiet night at home afterwards. It's going to be a busy day today though. Food to cook, more mowing to do, some more tree trimming and some more chain sawing. Guess I ought to get busy on it. In the mean time, here are some photo's from a week or so ago. I went and had lunch with a friend who lives nearby. After lunch she offered to show me the house that she and her husband had designed and built on their own. It is truly a magnificent structure. Kind of a new age hobbit house.

Jean's wooden house - Oct 2013
  

My friend Jean and her husband created this masterpiece in wood. Not only did they cut and mill most of the wood that went into the structure and finish, they also put it all together.

Built in the form of a spiral it reminds me of an ancient ammonites or a modern day nautilus. Each of these trusses or joists, whichever you prefer since they work as either, has 5 separate joints. So as the spiral became smaller in both height and width, each had to be adjusted accordingly while still keeping everything lined up as needed. Quite a task.... but one they did very well.

Another view of the ceiling. All of them end at a center point within the central stone chimney. It creates quite an effect.

You may be noticing that some of the wood boards between the trusses appear to be different colors and textures. You would not be wrong, nor is it a mistake... they planned their house to be a showcase of wood, so there are some 200+ ( Is that correct Jean?), different species of wood in it.



The living room opens out on this huge deck that overlooks the Little River valley far below the top of the hill the house sits on.

The kitchen is another marvel in wood. Notice also all of the little wooden odds and ends sitting around on shelves and counters. Many are items crafted by Jean, and her husband Lloyd, while others are gifts from friends.

Another view of the kitchen with the den/office in back.

Outside on the front deck looking at the front window wall and how the roof line of the house spirals down from a high point to a lower one.

Looking up at the front of the window wall and the front of the deck.

I like how the house nestles down among the trees at the top of the hill.

A final view of the house shows how the roof line spirals down around the central chimney. One of the most interesting and beautiful homes I've ever been in.