TheBanyanTree: Ike's Moon - 2008/09/15

[Dale M. Parish]

20080915T1916 

Got the tractor, tool belt, drill and bits, chainsaw,
skilsaw, Sawzall, nails, levels, and fuel cans all loaded by 0730 this
morning and headed out to the shop.  Left Mike a voice message that I
was there if he could get down here to help, but around 1000, I got a
call from Mitch, Mike's son, and Mitch advised that Mike was still up at
Huxley and probably wouldn't make it down today, so I finished the
preparatory work I'd been doing and got down to business.  The 12' x 12'
overhead door was still vertical, held up on one end by the door frame
and track, but on the other side, only by a 2x6.  It took many trips up
the ladders to get it fixed so that I could use the frontend loader to
hold it up and ease it closed as if it were hinged on the track side.  I
finally got the door scabbed up and filled with enough lag screws and
nails that I thought it would hold to a reasonable south wind.  I know
that it'll have to come back down and be replaced later, but for now, no
one can walk in and help themselves through it, although any agile
person could easily swing up on the diesel tank outside and crawl over
through the hole in the roof.  

After I got most of the shop closed up, Cindy came down to the shop and
we locked up went into Orange to get gas, then we drove across the river
to Vinton to go grocery shopping.  We'd been hearing on the radio that
there were no lines and all the businesses were open.  The parking lot
at Market Basket in Vinton was filled with Texas tags, but the store
wasn't crowded, and we stocked up on things we were low on, then drove
around trying to find a wifi hotspot to send mail, but never succeeded.
As we tried the Love's truck stop, I got a call from one of my team who
used to work at the race track in Vinton, and he said that we'd probably
have to go to Sulfur or Lake Charles to find a hot spot, so we gave up
and came back home.  

Son Joe called after supper to advise that they were camping out at Lake
Catherine State Park in Arkansas and planning to make all the quartz
mines in the literature they picked up at the tourists bureau.  Luke
said he went to bed early because there was nothing else to do with the
curfew and no power.  I've decided that I need to keep a written record
of how many hours the generator runs so I'll be able to change to oil &
filters when it's due.  There's no hour meter on it-- would make it a
lot easier.  

Hugs,
Dale 
--
Dale M. Parish
628 Parish Rd
Orange TX 77632
(409) 745-3899