The Coldest Weather In 25 Years

It seems a little strange that we would be complaining about weather in the 50’s or 60’s, or having to endure those dreadful night temps down in the 30’s even 20’s, but maybe it’s a sign that we’re getting acclimated. I know those of you living further north must be a tad bit jealous, and you should be. But the cold down here has reportedly been the coldest weather in 25 years and it has caused some problems. But first let’s get to an update on the nutty old people that left that pleasant house in the greatest neighborhood for their home improvement adventure that includes climate change, LP gas, blue laws, state liquor stores, and country living.

The Well:

I’m sure you are wondering, but on January 11 Randy and Dave finally finished the well. It took three tries, but we have clean, clear water, 100 gpm, good pressure, and Deborah is so happy. Now I have to get the sand out of the system. One toilet was replaced yesterday, and I need to reset the other one and replace the guts. I will also replace a couple of faucets, but eventually it should be good. We may have to get a water softener to treat for calcium, but we are going to wait to see how that develops.

Lizards and Roaches and Mice…Oh my!:

A few lizards have come out when the afternoon temps were over 60, but Carl the bug man was here a few days ago and whatever he did created a pile of dead lizards in the carport. The mice have met their match with Carl and he defies a roach to even come into our neighborhood. Deborah loves Carl.



Barber Shops:

Remember Billie’s Barber Shop that was closed for the holidays? Well the story gets stranger. Billie was apparently closed for the holidays and I thought that seemed a little strange. I mean why close a barber shop when people are going to most want to get a haircut? I was needing a haircut worse than before and so I went back the Saturday after the 1st. My mistake…Billie’s is only open on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. And they are closed on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. Now I am beginning to imagine that this is a slow moving, semi-retired gentlemen, Billy, an old boy, and he takes life as easy as he can. So I decided it was OK for Billy to be off 3 days a week and for the holidays. A week later I tried Billy again, and when I drove up to the shop the sign said "CLOSED" and there was a post-it on the door that said "closed for illness." Wow! I hope Billy has a lot of money, because this barber business can’t possibly be that lucrative. Well, I hope Billy recovers. I went back yet again the following week, on a Tuesday after I went to the dump and on the way to get gas for the truck. My fault…It was 2 pm and I should have realized that Billie’s is closed from 1 to 2:30 (for lunch I suppose). After all, 8 hr. days are a bit overrated. I finally went back on Friday at 3 pm and walked into to see 2 women cutting 2 young boys hair while 2 men that looked like their grandpas watched. I went to sit down and one of the women asked if she could help me. I said that I needed a haircut. She said that they were kind of busy and I should come back next week sometime. That was it. What ever happened to barber shops? What happened to Floyd in Mayberry? I miss my barber in Aurora…Dave, a real barber, a friend, a great guy with a great sense of humor… a guy I could swap cigars with and discuss the world and what’s going on. Dave was the only human being I ever trusted to trim my moustache. Now barber shops are style shops, or salons, with women, or cheap cuts…What NEXT!!! So I searched the net and my huge yellow pages (both pages), and I can’t find a real barber. I will have to drive to Summerville to get a cheap cut. I miss Dave. The world is losing it’s character.

All I want is a regular barber shop.



You know...like Floyd.



Dave is the only barber I have known for the last 20 years. Dave is the guy with the beard. The other guy is a dear friend, Nate, in the barber shop.



Dollar Stores:

Aside from stores like Piggly Wiggly, Hardee’s, or Waffle House, there is one more apparent staple of the south…dollar stores.



There are Dollar Stores where you can buy some things for a dollar and other things too.



There is Family Dollar where you can buy things for your family for a dollar or more.



There is Dollar General where things generally cost a dollar.




Then there is Dollar Plus where you can buy thing for a dollar plus a little more sometimes.

You may even want to shop in Dollar USA where you can buy things that probably weren’t made in the USA.




Dollar stores are the small town Wally World. These country folk are truly innovative.

The Farmer’s Posse:

You have to read this article from the Orangeburg T & D. This gives a great deal of insight into my new neighborhood. There are two things you might want to catch as you read. They mention Danny and Bart Hutto. Danny grew up in the house I am now living in, and Bart is his cousin, the son of Charles and Harriet who live four houses up the road. Also, note the comment on the article by sic&tyrd. For those that don’t know, CWP is “concealed weapon permit.” We live in Providence Community and we are protected by the Providence Fire Dept. This is funny but kind of cool.

Look out for the boys from Providence




Careful What You Say:

There aren’t many secrets down here. We recently went to rent a storage unit. We met with Theresa who owned the storage units. Theresa asked where we lived. We told her and she said, “Oh! Miss Carolyn’s old place,” and then went on to tell us how the place had gone down and she was glad to hear that it would get some needed care. A lady at church asked where we lived and Deborah told her. She then told us all about how Miss Carolyn used to feed the farm hands and what a great lady she was. I was talking to a man in church and he asked where we moved to and I told him and he said “Do you mean the Hill place?” I said “No, Bobby and Betty live across the street. He then said “Carolyn’s old place.” He went on to tell me that his daughter used to go with one of Charles and Harriet Hutto’s (Carolyn's in-laws) boys up the road. You start to think that everybody knows everybody or they are related. Deborah was working at Home Depot and while talking to a customer and telling him where we lived, he said, “Yeah! You’re having a well put in.” She asked how he knew and he said he saw the well rig. You may not want to express some derogatory opinion or comment about someone (not that we would anyway) because the person you assume doesn’t know who you are talking about probably does, or they are related. Gladys Kravitz lives.




Church:

Deborah will unfortunately miss church about half of the time due to work. However we did go to an Ultreya this past Sunday and we hope and plan to be involved in Cursillo. For those who are not familiar with Ultreya or Cursillo, it is a secret organization that meets and sings strange songs, and they do things like pray, and then there is a fair amount of laughter, and of course food (I’m kind of partial to the food). The people are nice, but they wear strange pins and nametags and greet you with Spanish words like De Colores! I could tell you more, but then I would have to…no we don’t do that. For more information, ask me in person where we can speak quietly. I may let you in on some of the secrets.








I have started tutoring kids in the hood through a youth ministry at church. It is kind of fun to be solving inequalities, working with polynomials, absolute values, and even fractions. Also, I have joined yet another radical organization called the Brotherhood of St. Andrew. It’s a great bunch of guys and our next project will be a pancake breakfast on Shrove Tuesday. We are also collecting toiletries for the prison. All of the folks at Epiphany are the best.

We have been invited to join the VFW, but we have to check Deborah’s schedule.

The Cold Weather:
When we moved here, Bubba Herbert was kind enough to lend us a truck that I have talked about before in this blog. It is an excellent old Ford Pickup that has become like a friend. Back in August or September I had questioned Herbert as to whether or not I needed to use coolant in the truck, because it had a slow leak, and he said "No!" in his typical gruff way. I suppose in a negligent sort of way I just accepted that. Until recently, when one night the temperature got down to –18. Deborah asked me if the truck needed anti-freeze and I told her that Herbert said not to worry about it. Then she said that it got down to –18 and I was struck with fear. I went out and started the truck and it ran OK for a while with no leaks. So I headed for the dump with the truck. About three miles from the house the truck started to steam. I looked under the hood and discovered the thermostat housing had cracked in half. I called Deborah, and she took me home to get the Jeep. I went into town and bought the parts. After my roadside repair, I started the truck only to be disappointed to see water blowing out of the side of the block. Then I called Herbert because he had said that if anything ever happened to the truck, I should take all identifying information off the truck and run. I wanted to know if he still wanted me to follow that plan. Herbert came out and we put an expandable freeze pug in the block and crossed our fingers. There’s no such luck. Now water was blowing out of a different freeze plug. Back to town and the auto parts store. We put in another expandable plug and tried it again. This was my lucky day. Between luck and Herbert I was redeemed. No more leaks!! My friend the truck would live to continue to serve me. Who would have ever thought I would be worrying about freeze plugs in South Carolina?

We have spent a fortune on LP gas. We had no idea how expensive it was. When we realized how fast we were going through gas we tried to lower the thermostat and cut off rooms we weren’t using. We tried running two small space heaters, but we were still using gas way too fast. Finally Deborah figured out what to do. We turned off the furnace. Then we used hardly any gas. So with a new, excellent heater, it may not get worn out too fast. I may just go in and dust and polish it once in a while and never actually use it.

We have even started to wear jackets and sweaters. Bring on the global warming.



Mud Room:

The mud room is done and we now have a new, working washer and dryer. Deborah thought it was Christmas. After days of fooling with floor leveler and numerous coats of paint to cover the paneling and natural wood, buying a small refrigerator, putting in the wire shelf, we have a decent and useful space.







Update:

What we have done so far---

New roof
New carpet in master bedroom, guest bedroom, family room and dining room
Painted the rooms that got carpet including the walk-in closet and the common bathroom and mud room
Repaired missing ceiling in the family room and guest bedroom
Repaired buckled floor in guest bedroom
Replaced galvanized plumbing in the missing bathroom with copper
Put a temporary floor in the missing bathroom
New furnace and A/C
New hot water heater
New LP tank and gas line to the house (the old one was leaking)
New well
New ceiling fan and light in the family room
New light fixture in dining room
New light fixture in walk-in closet
2 new light fixtures in the kitchen
New heater vents in rooms that were painted
3 new light fixtures in the common bath
New light fixture in the carport and by the back door
New faucet and sink drain and toilet in the common bath
New floor in the mud room
We’re wired for cable and internet (and they work)
Rented a storage unit and cleared out the carport.
Cleaned gutters and mildew on out side of the house and cleaned the windows in rooms we are using
Trimmed bushes and trees (you just can’t imagine)
Burned and removed the trash pile (about a dozen trees and trash) including the 10’ satellite dish
Plus we cleaned and cleaned and cleaned

To be done or in progress---

Build a new pump house
Resetting the toilet in the master bath plus a new faucet
Replacing the missing doors to the master bath and master walk-in closet
New bathroom to replace the missing bathroom
New closet to replace the missing closet in the pink room
Everything new in the pink room
Repair front entrance threshold and paint front porch
New light fixtures for the front porch
Refinish hardwood floors in the living room, hall, and two other guest bedrooms
Paint the living room, hall, and two other guest bedrooms plus all new light fixtures
Repair guest bath tub drain
Repair broken stove top burner
Replace mud room faucet
Installing the Advantium in the kitchen
Refinishing the windows in the family room
Glazing all windows
Make screens for all windows
Power wash fence, driveway, and some shudders and front porch
Topping Bradford Pear trees and others
Plant a large garden
Plant flowers
Finish tree trimming
Build a 24' x 24' garage with electric on concrete slab
Do whatever Deborah tells me to do, but slow.
And then I'm building horseshoe pits.

It’s an adventure, but we’re making progress and usually enjoying it.

To friends and family, we continue to do better, and everyday things improve. There are some things that take some getting used to. But then when you have to drive down a lovely country road to get somewhere, and the climate is very moderate, and your church is charming, and all of the people are so friendly, and your family is accessible, and you have plenty of room, it makes pause and know that you are blessed. It kind of makes you want to just go sit out on the patio and smoke a good Dominican cigar.

It just makes me want to say…

Thank God I’m a country boy!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Sorry it has taken so long to provide an update on our excellent adventure, but I was a bit distracted by life…you know, Christmas, New Years, family, church, traditions, and food. So with bad water (sand), unpainted and unprepared rooms for Christmas, the kids and Mama coming to stay with us, and having all of the Christmas stuff tucked in the back of the inaccessible pink room, we have not been bored. But, believe it or not, we pulled it off. And as you read on, remember one thing…the holidays are all about food! I gained 5 pounds.

Christmas:

Barbara came to visit in time to be at her grandmother’s 95th birthday party on the 18th. That was great and provided a chance to see almost all of the family.

Just a few of the grandkids with Mama:


The following Sunday we took her to our lovely country church and introduced her to Father John (such a friendly guy).





The next Wednesday we started gearing up for Scotty arriving (he goes by Robert, but we call him Scotty). I made a loaf of Honey Oatmeal Bread, some Oatmeal Raisin cookies, and some of our famous Turkey soup. After dinner Deborah and I went to church for the last lesson from Rick Warren’s “The Purpose of Christmas”. Then later we went out back with the kids and we had a bonfire with some Starbucks Christmas blend and smores. I partook of a Bauza stogie (rated 92 in Cigar Aficionado).



The day was memorable and complete. Thursday, the next day, Deborah and I went to pick up a small refrigerator from Home Depot (to hold all of the extra food), and we did some last minute Christmas shopping we said we would not do, but we did it any way. Then we went to Christmas Eve service at church (at 6:30 PM) and then we came home and had dinner with the kids a little late. Deborah had a ham and homemade macaroni and cheese. And need I say there was an abundance of cookies. Christmas day we were all together after Deborah drove to Charleston to pick up Mama. We had breakfast, opened some gifts, and had a quiet day. Deborah made turkey dinner with all the fixin’s and it was excellent. After that meal we could hardly move.







To prepare for this event, I had to dislodge the Christmas decorations from the tubs in the living room and put the rest in the pink room to get it out of the way. We cleared everything out of the living room, but we did not have time to paint or work on the floor. I had a huge pile of stuff to find a home for in the white room that will be the office, so that Scotty would have a room, and no time to paint in there either. Through all of this, since the well failed and still is not finished, we had to put up with sandy water and plumbing fixtures that wanted to act up. But despite the minor problems it was a nice holiday.

New Years:

Barbara had gone home after Christmas, and Scotty was in Savanah visiting a friend. Deborah worked New Years Eve and New Years Day. On New Years Eve we were invited to join Carolyn and Brian for dinner with some friends, but Deborah was very tired from work and not feeling real well, so we sent our regrets. Carolyn said the plates were on the table for us. I’m sorry we couldn’t go. Deborah went to bed at 10 pm and apparently had the TV on. I was paying some bills and she came out and said Happy New Year! and kissed me and then went back to bed. We are just too wild. We remembered many New Years with our friends in Aurora. We miss them all.

New Years Day I fixed Hoppin’ John and collard greens and corn bread. That is a southern tradition. The collard greens are supposed to bring you money in the new year and by all means, let’s not pass up a chance for some more money. The Hoppin’ John is supposed to be good luck. You can tell this is a southern tradition. When I went to the Piggly Wiggly to get the field peas and collard greens you could tell it was New Years. The end caps and aisles were packed with field peas for $.99 a bag, and the produce department had an abundance of collard greens which were two large heads for $1.50. Jiffy muffins were 2/$.99, Except for some left over ham and a little bacon and spice, dinner was less than $3. We will have to do this more often. And everything turned out good. So it’s a new year. We have been here three months, and things will start to normalize after this holiday. We will have to get on budget and get into a routine.

We didn't have The Pig up north.



And people like to wear shirts with the pig.



Do you like collard greens? You have to try them. Just cut out the stems, slice into one inch strips, and cook in some chicken stock with bacon and onion for about 30 to 40 minutes. Yum!



Deborah’s Job:

Deborah started to work normally after Dec. 27. She works most weekends, a lot of nights, about 32 hours/week, but she is still considered part time. She is working in the appliance department at Home Depot. She is not looking forward to working and has enjoyed the time she had off. We will just have to take the whole job thing day by day.

The Well and Water:

Randy the Well Guy showed up December the 18th to say that he would take care of the collapsed well. His drilling rig is in my yard, but this is now January 2nd and he hasn’t started fixing the well yet and we are still back on the old sandy well. We are waiting for reliable water to put the washer and dryer and new dishwasher in. We also need to fix the running toilets. And I would love to get the well drilling equipment out of my yard. I will be so glad when this water problem is solved.

Lizards and Roaches and Mice…Oh my!:

No strange friends lately…probably because it’s too cold. The lizards are sleeping for the winter. The mice are avoiding the cat that has been hanging around my house, and Carl the bug guy is doing a good job.



Blue Laws:

I should have a hint about how this works by watching how long the well guy is taking to finish my well. But these people don’t work all that hard. Deborah went to the Post office to mail a package to JJ and they are closed on Wednesday at noon. They are open on Saturday from 9 am to 10 am, and you don’t want to accidentally catch them on their lunch hour. They closed at noon on New Years Eve. I went to get a haircut at Billie’s Barber Shop and it is closed for the holiday season. I’m glad business is good. I miss Dave, the best barber ever. Nearly everything is closed on Sunday and except for Piggly Wiggly, everything is closed after 6 pm. Even the Hutto Exon on I-95 closes at 9 pm.



Miscellaneous:

Betty and Bobby, our wonderful neighbors came over to give us some advice on a water softener. They are fun.

We found out that our fireplace has a flue and will burn real wood. That was a pleasant surprise.

I burned leaves in my yard, and I haven’t done that since I was a kid.

Terry, my next door neighbor, brought us some fire wood.

I bought a tractor cart to haul dirt from the well project and the burn pile to put in some of the holes in the yard. I like to support local business when I can. I could have bought the cart from Tractor Supply in Summerville, or at the local Ace Hardware. It was going to cost $15 more at the local Ace Hardware. I went into the store and told the guy that the cart was dirty and looked old and would he make me a deal. He knocked $15 off. Nice! So I bought from the local guy.

The kids took us to a place called Sweatman’s BBQ half way between Wells and Eutawville. It is supposed to be nationally acclaimed. It is only open on Friday and Saturday. It is a buffet and they have pulled pork, ribs, cole slow, hash and rice, white bread, and tea. Pretty good actually. People drive from near and far to eat at Sweatman's. Check it out.





Home Improvement has been a little slow with the holidays, but things will get busy now that the holiday is over.

LP Gas is costing us more than expected and we will have to do a little energy conservation.



Next year there will have to be some deer hunting and fishing when it gets a little warmer.

When you hear that it is 2 deg in Chicago, and it is in the 50’s here, and you are driving down a lovely country road with hardly any traffic, and people are friendly, and things are moving slow, I just can’t help but think I could get used to this.

I am learning some truths about the south. These are important things to know:

No true Southerner would ever assume that the car with the flashing turn signal is actually going to make a turn.

Only Southerners make friends while standing in lines, and when we're "in line"... we talk to everybody!

Put 100 Southerners in a room and half of them will discover they're related, even if only by marriage.

Southerners know grits come from corn and how to eat them.

And a true Southerner knows you don't scream obscenities at little old ladies who drive 30 MPH on the freeway. You just say,"Bless her heart"...and go your own way.

___________________________________

We are three months into our life in the South. We get frustrated. We get a little discouraged and sometimes we worry, but we are happy. Things aren't just the way we want them, but we are accustomed to making changes and adapting. We are near family. We have a lot of room, and it's ours. We knew what we were getting into. No, we are not crazy. And no, we are not looking for sympathy. We have too much to be grateful for. We are blessed. We pray for YOU.

Deborah and I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and we wish you all the best in 2010. Happy New Year!

Thank God I’m a Country Boy!