So yesterday was a pretty relaxing day for me. A long leisurely breakfast followed by time to check email and facebook an write a little bit. Did managed to get outside around noon though and get some work done. Spent about an hour dealing with the rear roof vent mechanism in the trailer. The crank mechanism had slipped off of it's track a couple weeks ago and I finally got around to taking it all apart, fabricating a new part and then putting it all back together again. While it was still usable without the piece, it had this annoying habit of blowing completely open at the worst times... like when it was raining. Hopefully that problem has been fixed for at least a little while now.

    Also spent another hour or so on top of the trailer trying yet again to find the elusive leak that is allowing water to seep in and drip onto my bed. I really didn't see anything to make me think I missed anything the last time I was up there, but I went ahead and caulked everything in sight anyway.  I'll go ahead and keep the umbrella up for the time being and monitor the situation before figuring out what to do next.

    Once done with those jobs it was on to finishing up some tree branch clean-up on a tree I cut down a couple of days ago. Still need to cut the rest of the trunk up, but most of the branches are now cleaned up and disposed of. While finishing up with the rest of the tree branches Rima called to see if I wanted to meet her over in the town of Riner for dinner at the 'Buffalo and More' cafe. Of course that was fine with me... I still wanted to try out the buffalo quesadia my friend had last week when we had lunch together. A few minutes to put things away and hop in the truck and then 20 minutes to the restaurant. The meal was even better than I expected. I would highly recommend that restaurant and that meal to anyone.

   The rest of the evening was spent walking along the Little River and grocery shopping in town. Had to help put together a macaroni salad for a pot luck Rima was going to today. Hope it turned out for her.

Colonial Williamsburg Virginia - Sept 2013

The Public Armory. I like how it was built in the shape of an octagon. Not sure there was any real reason for this, but sometimes you just do something because you can.

Inside the entrance door to the armory. I assume that most of this level was used to store powder in.... never thought to ask about that. The 2nd floor was left for storage of weapons.

Some of the rifles, pikes and swords stored in the armory. Surprisingly, all of them work and most are still used in day to day demonstrations. There are a very few that are actually from the site and date of the original town. They are on display but are no longer used.

The interior spiral staircase from the 1st floor to the 2nd and then on to the 3rd. A very interesting room if you are into looking at old weaponry.

One of the small cottages being used as the cobbler's place of business.  

 

The interior view of the cobbler's shop. There was a guy here dressed in appropriate dress and 'in character'. It was really fun to stand there as he was busy making a shoe, a women's dancing shoe, while talking about how everyone during his day would of walked everywhere and how good shoes were made to last and could actually be repaired if needed because you couldn't simply go down to a Big Box Store and buy a new pair anytime you wanted. Oh... he also looked and sounded a lot like George Cloony.



A view of the cobbler's shop from across the fence at the blacksmith's shop.



Day #1 at the blacksmith shop and one of the staff is busy making hinges while another one was busy making nails.

Day two and another blacksmith was making some kitchen utensils for one of the shops on site.

I just thought this was a pleasing view. It was even better with the couple of horse's that were in the pasture.... but alas, that picture didn't turn out very well.




On to the Wheelwright's shop. Just in time to watch as they got ready to heat up and mount the steel tread. One thing I was surprised about was the use of rectangular mortise and tenon's to attach the spokes to the rim. I always thought they were round tenon's. But it makes sense to use square one's; less chance for the spokes to twist out and easier to put a wedge into the end of the spoke.



Was waiting to take a tour of the Wythe House when these two youngsters walked by. They were all it took to complete the scene.

The back yard of the Wythe house complete with chicken house and yard right next door. Mr. Wythe, I forget his first name, was a well known lawyer in the area who helped set up the collage of William and Mary. He was also a personal friend of Thomas Jefferson and his family. He was one of the first instructors of a young Tom and actually held classes in the house here at Williamsburg. It was rather thrilling to think that I was actually sitting on the window seat that Thomas Jefferson once sat on. ( I am such a geek!).

A last view of two young ladies walking down the garden path.

One display area was set up as a military encampment with period tents and paraphernalia. I was surprised to find that 6 guys were bunked in each of these tents.



Several young patriots showed up ready to enlist and found a willing Sargent at Arms to sign them up and outfit them. It was quite fun to watch them as they all stood up a little taller and straighter and shouldered their wooden muskets.

Another nice pastoral view.