Time's a flying!

Gosh I don't know where the time is going. It seems like just yesterday it was deer season and we were eating every night at the cabin. 

 Lots of family time, lots of good food.

 There was a lot of card playing while consuming hot chocolate too.

 Alex always made sure the fire was stoked.

Lizzie and I had a Grandma and Lizzie day. We went downtown Jefferson City and did a little shopping. Enjoyed lunch out and even had dessert!

Connor didn't make it to deer camp. So his Mommy sent us a picture of his spider leggings. After all Florida is a long way to come for deer hunting.

Turn around and it's Thanksgiving. Lizzie was my kitchen helper the day before turkey day. She toasted 2 loaves of bread. Notice her stick, it was to keep from burning her fingers. 

For Thanksgiving we had a small group, only 8. So we all fit around one table. However out of those eight, we had 4 generations. Did I get a picture of them?  No.  (Bad blogger!)

Lori made the best peanut butter pie. What you don't see in this picture is a layer of chocolate under the whipped cream!

I made a new recipe for pumpkin bread with maple icing. It was so good!  Jeremy said his beer paired well with the pumpkin bread on his great-grandmother's antique Lord's Supper plate.

The boys played cards with their grandpa and great grand-mother. (So the Lord's Supper plate would have belonged to the boy's great-great- grandmother!)

It's now two days after Thanksgiving. I had leftover dough in the refrigerator so for breakfast today, I made home made cinnamon rolls for the blacksmith and me!  Yum-yum! 

What's next?  Somebody turns ONE!

I don't know about you, but I'm thinking sand and sun!

Deer update!

I was reminded by the son that I needed to update the blog. 

The blacksmith scored a big 8 pointer earlier this week. 

Deer season started out a little too warm weather wise, but then tonight it is making up for that. Sixteen degrees is the predicted low!

Deer camp has been fun with some great food being prepared, both by the men and the women. The first night a Cajun feast was made. That's where you make sausage, potatoes, corn on the cob, and 8 pounds of shrimp all in one pot with lots of spices!

Sunday night, 8 pounds of hamburger was made into grilled burgers. We've also had Bernie's famous beef stew, served with hot corn bread, Gumbo with hot crusty garlic bread, and ham and beans.  

Tonight it's grilled beef steaks! Oh did I mention we've had a few desserts too? There was one huge pie that had four sections of different pie fillings, peach, cherry, apple, and blue berry. Then I saw pecan tarts, chocolate sheet cake, angel food cake and strawberries, and last night it was chocolate chip cheesecake.

I'd like to say the diet will start Monday, but we all know that's Thanksgiving week. 

There are still some without success in deer camp, but there is still a few more days, right Pat!

It's deer season in Mid-Missouri

 It's like a national holiday around here. Deer season!

It was youth season first. Alex the 9 year old grandson got an awesome 13 point buck!

Regular gun season opened this past Saturday. Brady, the 12 year old,  shot an eight pointer. I love this picture, it's hard to tell who is more proud, son or Dad!

So while the guys are away at deer camp (two miles from our house), I sew.  Our youngest grandson soon will turn 1 year old. My how time flies! So it was requested to make him a birthday shirt.

It my spare time I have been sewing miniatures. I mean TINY, these measure  one and one half inch square. Some have as many as 21 pieces of fabric. 

If you look in the bottom left hand corner, it has been made into a pendant. That is my goal!  My friend Tammy (Flat Creek Farm) and I, took a jewelry class in Columbia, Missouri. We both were so over whelmed with information overload that neither one of us took a single picture. I know that's sin for a blogger(s).  We will make it up when some day we start our jewelry production!  LOL

So there's a few more days in deer season, not sure what I will come up with next.

What's old is now NEW

November 2010 I wrote about this old house. 

Today this is what it looks like. 

This article appeared in our local paper a few weeks ago. 

If they had had power tools, they likely would have used them. Instead, 19th century German immigrants settling in the rich Cole County farmland relied on strong backs and good neighbors to build their homes.

An uncovered one-room log cabin on Route E near Honey Creek has been under restoration the past six weeks by GK Meyer Construction and Repair LLC, a historical restoration company from Leslie.

Submitted photo

Herb Sommerer was curious when his wife, Charlene, told him there was a log cabin inside her childhood home on Route E. He and a friend dismantled the surrounding additions and found a structure worth preserving.

On each of the timber frame or log projects owner Gary Meyer works on, his goal is the same — to put it back together as well as they originally built it.

Meyer doesn’t hesitate to use the modern construction conveniences including a bobcat, power saws and cranes. But he has deep admiration for the men who relied on arm strength, mule teams or simple physics.

“There’s no mechanical fasteners,” Meyer said.

V-notches at the corners held the logs snug to one another. Each long, heavy log was hewn by hand and cut to fit exactly.

For some steps in the restoration process, Meyer prefers to use hand tools quite similar to the 19th century counterparts.

“You get a lot more feel for the wood,” he said. “With a power and motor, I can’t tell what the wood is doing; I have to stop and look.

“The hand is better than the eye.”

Several of the logs needed to be replaced at the Route E cabin. Meyer found appropriate logs he had salvaged from other log structures he has dismantled.

The most crucial step for the log cabin’s continued survival was to lift the entire structure and rebuild the stone foundation.

Because the home initially was built so tight and within 1⁄2-inch of being plumb, that was not too difficult, Meyer said.

As his team cleaned the exposed wood and filled in the gaps, they used preservative materials to help it last another century.

“I hope the original builder would be proud of this,” Meyer said.

The 18-by-20-feet log cabin is owned by Herbert and Charlene Sommerer; both are fourth-generation Cole Countians.

As happened with most late 1800s log homes, this one was added onto and covered with siding, so its exterior appeared like a more modern home.

Charlene’s great-grandfather Franz Josef Propst immigrated from Germany and bought 80 acres for $125 on the Cole County steps in 1873.

Charlene’s grandfather Edward Propst bought the property from his father and an adjacent 80 acres.

Edward reared his children, including Charlene’s father, August Propst, there. And even Charlene lived there before marrying Herb, he said.

But for the past several years, the home sat vacant. When Sommerer suggested it needed to be razed, that’s when he heard for the first time a log cabin was underneath.

“I wanted to see what it looked like,” Sommerer said.

So he and neighbor Kim Wheeler dismantled the surrounding home carefully over the next couple of years.

“When I first saw it, it looked pretty good, worth talking about,” Sommerer said.

Since Franz Josef Propst was age 70 when he bought the property, that supports the theory that the log cabin was built before 1870.

Once the logs were exposed to the weather, it was time for restoration.

Many who have driven by in the past six weeks have honked or shouted encouragement to the workmen.

And a few even have stopped to take photos.

Meyer Construction will finish up the exterior this week.

Then, Sommerer will work on the interior and floor as time allows.

“I don’t know how it’s going to end up,” he said.

I am so in love with this house!!

The last of our trip

We arrived in Steelville Friday mid-morning. The RV park was pricey but it's a park that caters to the river people. I wish they would have off season rates. It was convenient to what we needed though. 

 (No we weren't always alone over the 4 days there)

While shopping in town on Friday afternoon, we heard that there was a community ham & bean dinner that evening. We checked it out and found nice folks to eat dinner with, at a very reasonable price. 

There was also a pie auction. We didn't buy one as we didn't want to have to eat the whole thing.

That evening we saw a sign about a gospel sing at 7 PM.  We gave it a try. It was in the Rivers of Life Fellowship Church. I'm pretty sure we were the only non-members there but they welcomed us with hearty hand shakes. It was the best 2 hours and 38 minutes of gospel music. 

The next day we went back to the antique shop, where the blacksmith bought this beautiful amethyst brooch for me.

We also stopped by Maramec park.  It's the home place of one of the largest old iron furnaces. The spring was beautiful. 

The blacksmith checks out the huge furnace.

 The fishermen were trying their hand at catching the trout.

 Here's my selfie picture. We are standing on the bridge looking into the stream.

Our whole reason for visiting Steelville was to attend two concerts at the Steelville Music Theater. On Saturday night we went to see the Isaacs. It was a wonderful bluegrass gospel show. 

Before the music show we went to Davisville to see Dillard's Mill. Pictures don't begin to show you how beautiful it was sitting back in the woods. Normally it's a $4 tour, but since they were short staffed, she gave us a free tour of the first floor for only a donation. The other 2 floors were off limits. 

Sunday morning we attended mass at Holy Cross Catholic church in Cuba, Missouri. The rock work was absolutely amazing both inside and out. I just didn't think they'd appreciate me taking a picture inside during mass. 

Sunday afternoon we went back to the music theater for the Dailey and Vincent show. Another couple of hours of wonderful bluegrass music. 

After the show it was dinner time. We found Frisco's Grill and pub in Cuba. It had free WiFi too. We were having withdrawals as the expensive campground's WiFi only worked if you were at their store, sitting on the front porch in 40 degree temperatures. 

Back to our Casita for one last night out this year.

Some of the 20+ bunches of cane through out the campground. 

 . . .time to go home after an eleven day trip. This making our 30th night spent in our little Casita this year. Time to go home and winterize it. Although we did have several below 30  degree mornings during this vacation. 

Happy trails

LIG