BUSY, BUSY, BUSY!

Tuesday, September 25 – We've been keeping ourselves pretty busy getting moved into our house. With painting, yard work, and furniture shopping it doesn't leave much time for pleasurable outings.

This huge, past-its-prime bush is history.

Marsha is thrilled to get hands back doing yard work. Yes, she is strange.

Results of just under an hour of trimming and removing yard debris.

There will be many more similar photos like the one above this next spring.

We haven't sold the motor home yet, but have had several people come to see it and several more wanting to see it as we head South. So there is some hope. As we've said, we still plan on traveling as Snowbirds between Ohio and the northern states during the summer and Texas and the southwest during the winter. We have been looking for 5^th wheel trailers to use for future travels.

If you are interested in seeing the MH inside and out, please click here.

Our plans are to leave Ohio by mid-October. We will be traveling to Augusta, GA, to visit Paul's brother for about a week. From there we will slowly work our way toward Houston, TX. We want to stop in either Foley, AL, or Bay St. Louis, MS, to enjoy a week or so at the Gulf shores.

Not sure where we'll spend the winter. Much depends on when we sell the motor home. Most likely, we'll hang around Texas until the motor home sells so shopping for a 5^th wheel will be a little easier. It seems like we see a lot of RV's for sale in Texas.

Besides working around the house, we have made time to spend with good friends and family.

Sharon, Randy, Rick (Marsha's brother), Chris (sister-in-law), Marsha, Paul

Dave, Kelly, Marsha, Paul

We have been enjoying watching Bella react to the move. She spends a ton of time each day exploring and reexaming her surroundings.

Bella picks a safe place to watch us paint.

After all the painting, she needed a little rest in the sun.

Must have been another big day of exploring.

She needed to try out the new comforter. Wonder if she will have to try it out again once the bed skirt gets on.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y'all back real soon. Have a great day.

SIGN, SEALED AND DELIVERED!

Thursday, September 13 – We met at the attorney's office this morning to sign the final papers for the house purchase. We are once again homeowners.

After the closing we drove over to look at the house again. We toasted another “new” page in our life story and planned things we wanted to do before moving in. “Moving in” should be a pretty simple task – we don't have any furniture. We sold pretty much everything three years ago when we began full-timing.

That paper will be gone very soon.

The next day, Friday, we headed back to the house for some painting. First job is removing the wallpaper borders. This was NOT the strippable style boarder! We spent all morning removing the borders in just two bedrooms. Later we'll have to tackle the wallpaper in the kitchen....yuk!

After getting the paper off and scrubbing the walls, Paul painted the ceilings and Marsha painted inside the closets. Tomorrow we do the woodwork and doors in those two bedrooms and maybe start painting the walls.

We want to get the bedrooms done before Monday, so we can move in our newly purchased beds. Yep, that's the only furniture we own – beds! Hmmmm!

Saturday, September 15 – Back to the house for more painting. Our daughter, Kelly, came over to help and spent the entire day helping us paint. We finished two bedrooms. They look really nice – Good job Kelly!

Painting is not one of Paul's favorite jobs, and windows are the worst!

Kelly helps trim before she does her rolling.

Sunday, September 16 - After church we continued our painting work. We moved into the living room and got the ceiling painted, a coat on the woodwork and windows. Unfortunately, all the woodwork, windows, and doors need two coats....whew!

More windows for Paul…YUCK!

Monday, September 17 – More painting! Did we mention how much we DON'T like painting. Paul enjoys working, but painting is not one of his favorite tasks. We'll be glad to get this first round of painting completed so we can move on to some more interesting projects.

We won't get everything finished in the house before we head South for the winter. We want to get it livable so when we return for the holidays we'll have a place to live. We plan on driving back in the car and leaving the motor home in the south (either Texas or Florida).

Now this is more what Paul likes to do. When we had our other house, we had a couple of acres of land. He really enjoyed getting on the riding mower and cutting the grass. This yard is much smaller. It still took him over an hour to mow it.

Got the beds delivered this afternoon. Didn't even get to lay down and take a nap, we are too dirty. We'll have to wait a day or two until we move in to try them out.

You may ask…What is Marsha doing all this time that Paul and Kelly are working? She is painting also. While Paul mowed, she did a deep cleaning of the bathroom. Paul keeps forgetting to take pictures of her in action. As she reminds Paul every day….A women's work is NEVER done!

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y'all back real soon. Have a great day!

MEETING NEW FRIENDS, MARGERY AND PAUL

Monday, September 10 – When we got out of bed this morning, it was 44* F on the thermometer. Fall is definitely here, and it's getting close to “heading south” time. Turned on the over-head heat pump to take the chill out of the motor home. We really like the heat pump feature in our air conditioner. Most of the time (when temperature is 41* or above) that's all the heat we need. If it is too cold outside, the heat pump feature doesn't work....just not enough warmth in the air.

We met fellow bloggers Margery and Paul of Living our Dream for lunch this afternoon at the Der Dutchman Amish Restaurant in Walnut Creek, Ohio.

This is in the heart of Amish country, here in Ohio, and we enjoyed seeing the beautiful countryside, gorgeous farms, the Amish in their buggies, and several Amish farmers working their fields with teams of horses. What an amazing group of hard working people.

Margery and Paul are staying in Amish country, one of their favorite stops. They've been relaxing in the country for several weeks and will be heading to Pittsburg (their former hometown) soon, to visit family and friends. Interesting note from Marsha…Margery and Paul's blog is the first one she EVER read and followed. She was so happy to meet them in person.

We had a great lunch and an even better visit with friends Margery and Paul. We hope to see them in the near future, somewhere down the road.

Paul, Margery, Marsha and Paul

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y'all back real soon. Have a great day!

MARSHA AND HER DIVAS

Friday, September 6 – One of Marsha's favorite things to do is get together with her "Divas." She has several different groups of "Divas" she has lunch/dinner with. We have been here only a short six weeks, but she has made time to have lunch with almost all of her friends.

The "Church Divas" spent several hours at the Gervasi Vineyard. They didn't go there for wine tasting, just to have a few hours of chit chat and lunch.

The Vineyard has a beautiful setting.

The "Church Divas" are the gals Marsha worked with at our church, St. Stephen Martyr Lutheran Church. Lynne and Ann also taught with Marsha in the Jackson School District. The gals say the office hasn't been the same since Marsha has left. We are sure it is probably much quieter and less crazy.

Lynne, Patti, Ann, Marsha

Another one of her groups is the "Stark State Technology College Divas." Marsha taught at the College, now known as Stark State College, for several years part-time and eight years full time.

Shirley was Marsha's office mate all her full-time years. Besides being a wonderful teacher, Connie doubled as a babysitter for us on occasion. Believe it or not, Pam has the same lasts name as us but no relations. She is from West Virginia.

Shirley, Marsha, Pam, Connie

The biggest group, when everyone can make it, is the "Jackson Divas." These are all gals Marsha taught with at Jackson. Everyone is retired in the group except for Leigh Ann. She is a bit younger than the others and has a few more years to go.

Front: Marsha, Stephanie, Sharon. Back: Leigh Ann, Marlene, Cindy

She always has a wonderful fun time with each of her friends and feels very blessed to have them all in her life.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y'all back real soon. Have a great day!

HARTVILLE MARKET PLACE AND FLEA MARKET

Monday, LABOR DAY, September 3 – We went looking for bargains this morning at the Hartville Flea Market.

This is one of their busiest days of the year, so he picked up Marsha's brother and sister-in-law, Rick and Chris, at 7:30 am so we could beat the crowds.

Well we almost beat the crowds.

We had a ton of rain the past two days. Looks like someone has a sense of humor.

Established in 1939, the Hartville Flea Market (re-named the Hartville Market Place) has grown into a year-around shopping experience that you have to see to believe. The two-story facility combines the best of days gone by with all the amenities of a modern shopping center. It is air-conditioned and heated for year-around comfort. Among the more than 100 permanent dealers you can find anything from fresh meat, cheese and produce, home décor, clothing & accessories, jewelry, and much more.

The outdoor Flea Market is a 12-acre bargain hunters' paradise. Enjoy shopping under two covered pavilions that can hold 200 vendors or stroll on the smooth blacktop area, which can hold and additional 800 vendors.

The fruits and vegetables were delicious looking.

We bought these HUGE red peppers. DE-LIC-IOUS!

It seemed everyone was carrying some sort of flower.

No, Paul, we don't need a 100 lb. bag of potatoes.

The Market is open all year on Monday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. The three summer holidays are the busiest time to shop.

Need any scissors?

What about FIVE bras for $10? Now that is a deal, but we weren't buying.

These are the fanciest toilet bowl brush holders we have ever laid our eyes on.

Guess this guy is celebrating Halloween a bit early.

We made several purchases each. Again, just trying to help out the local economy.

Sign for the day.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y'all back real soon. Have a great day.

 

THE FAIR IS IN TOWN

Saturday, September 1 - It is that time of the year again…The Stark County Fair. This is the 163rd year for the fair. The first Stark County Fair was held in downtown Canton near Public Square and the Courthouse on lots and in buildings owned by the Presbyterian Church and Union School. Livestock was exhibited on church grounds.

This year we went with Marsha's brother, Rick.

Fair Board changed the entry amount to $8.00 this year. Now we aren't exactly Cheapskates, but $8.00 is a bit much when we won't be riding any of the rides.

With much to see, we started the day at the goat and sheep barn.

These two little ones were playing the favorite goat game, "Butt the Head."

What are these two "old" goats doing with these babies?

Off to the beef cattle and milking cows.

This guy was too lazy to get up to eat.

Marsha thinks the cows are so cute. She asked them to pose with her.
 

We watched some of the judging activities.

Even though the fair took great strides in helping the public keep aware of the Swine flu,

we opted to skip the pig barns and just watch some of the pig auction. Boy was it well attended!

Of course, there were the llamas, rabbits, ducks, horses, etc..

We then walked through the political area where people running for office were handing out tablets, rulers, buttons, maps, etc. Not being a registered voter in Ohio any longer, we breezed through grabbing a couple free items.

When we hit the “huckster” barn, we notice empty stalls. Where were all the people selling "must haves"? There were still many companies trying to tell us we needed to see the latest in bathroom remodeling, aluminum siding, replacement windows, swimming pools,etc., but we weren't buying today.

Marsha's favorite area is the hobby barn where quilts, knitting, canning, flower arranging, cakes, pies, huge vegetables, photography, and other hobbies are entered for showing. This year the barn didn't disappoint her.

 

Ohio's top crops are soy beans and corn.

A cool sand display.

We noticed that the attendance was way down today. Making our way around the machinery, the trapping & hunting buildings, the 4-H areas, and of course 100's of food wagons was very easy. Amazingly, we were able to skip the sausage sandwiches, onion rings, and soft drinks but not the Fair Fries…YUMMMMMMMMY!

"No, Paul. Not in this lifetime!"

We always enjoy the tractor-pull contest. We sat several hours and watched all sizes of tractors attempt to win their division.

It was another wonderful, fun day at the Fair. Thank goodness the rain held off until after we left.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y'all again. Have a great day!