CIRCUS SQUARE PARK

The city has been trying to revitalize downtown B.G. Circus Square Park was opened last year and Concerts in the Park were held there beginning last year. The park has a nice fountain in the middle. There is no ponding so it's safe for children to run and play in. It's beautiful just to watch. There was an old building on the corner of the property that had been a service station years ago. The city has spent more than $200,000 to renovate this building into restrooms that can be utilitzed when there are activities at the park. Above are some pictures of the renovated property.

CONCERT IN THE PARK

Friday night Handyman & I went to the last Concert in the Park for this summer. The band that has closed it out for the past nine years, Skip Bond & the Fugitives played. This is a local band made up of guys whose ages go up to around 60. Some of them were in high school when I was. They do have some younger guys who play with them. They are employed in a variety of jobs including Plastic Surgeon, State Representative, County Magistrate, businessmen, and the lead singer is a Judge. They play a variety of music, but a lot of them are from our old schools days. They play a variety of instruments, including, guitar, keyboard, bass, trumpet, trombone, saxophone & drums. The crowd was huge last night. I always enjoy hearing them play. Here's a clip - it's not great, but it provides just a quick clip from the concert.

SLEEPING BAGS

We ordered the grandkids sleeping bags earlier this week from Amazon. They arrived today and Kristy uploaded some pictures for us. I love the bright pink!!

Aren't the girls cute?

BUSTING THROUGH

Handyman Husband made the first step in our next remodel. The wall is coming down between the old laundry room and the living room closet! This is the start to our new powder room. This is a fairly simple project compared to the last one. The wall comes down, repairs are made to the wall, there's some plumbing work in the walls and under the house, a new tile floor, electrical is to be moved, doors turned around so the doors open in, as opposed to out, new paint, fixtures set (pedestal sink & commode, hang mirror, wall sconce lighting, towel bar & paper holder. VOILA --- new bathroom!!

Well, it won't be quite that simple, but it shouldn't take nearly as long as the laundry room/pantry.

CHRISTMAS IN AUGUST?

I was on the web the other day making my daily stop at WOOT.COM. They had a turntable with all the attachments and software to convert old vinyl LP's & 45's to digital files. We have several of those old albums lying around collecting dust. I thought it would make a good Christmas present for Handyman. I ordered it last Friday and it arrived today. I had it delivered at work so I could hide it until Christmas. I opened it up and read some of the information that was included. The warranty paperwork stated that it only had 90 days of warranty from the date of purchase. Oh no, come Christmas, if it didn't work I'd just be out my money because the warranty would no longer be valid. So I came home and gave Handyman his Christmas present in August. He's been playing with it tonight and has a Beatles album playing now. We can put the files on a CD or on our MP3 players. Hopefully it'll be a nice change of pace from what we've been listening to. MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

ANOTHER BUSY SATURDAY

We got up on our "Sunday" time this morning (6:20). Handyman Husband was going to work at the Habitat House and my plans were to make pickles. I had mixed up my sour dough bread yesterday and after letting it rise overnight, put it in the oven to bake. Handyman cooked breakfast for us and then he left to go to the Habitat House and I took off for the Farmer's Market to buy cucumbers. When I got home I had to thinly slice 7 pounds of little cucumbers and 4 white onions. Then I had to grate 2 green peppers. After mixing the salt with the slices, I had to ice it down and let it sit for 3 hours. In the meantime, I started cleaning house. I got the downstairs all done, but still haven't gotten to the upstairs. After 3 hours I had to make the syrup and put the pickles on to heat for 2 hours and then fill 21 half pint jars with finished pickles. While I was filling jars, Handyman Husband came in and then left to go pick beans. He brought home about 3 - 1/2 grocery bags of beans. We broke 1-1/2 bags and we have enoughtfor 1 canner of pints and about 1/2 gallon to cook. I just didn't have the energy tonight to can the beans, they'll have to wait for another day!!

HABITAT HOUSE

The United Methodist Churches in our county are building a Habitat for Humanity House. They only work on the houses on Saturdays, so Handyman Husband has spent several Saturdays working at the house. They've had a slight problem of having more volunteers than work for them to do. That's a wonderful problem to have. There has been a lot of interest in the project. They have 2 crews per Saturday - one works 8-12 and the other 1-5. Volunteers bring lunch at 12:00 to feed both the morning and afternoon crews. That's the part I've been helping with. So far, there has been a lot of "ladder" work and I don't do ladders. I'm hoping to be able to help out when they get to painting or landscaping. The house is for a single lady who has 4 daughters. She's been working at the site each Saturday. It's going to be a real cute house when it's finished. It's got 3 bedrooms, living room, kitchen, 1 full bath, and a 1/2 bath/laundry room combination. So far the weather has been cooperating and they're 3 weeks ahead of schedule. The outside of the house is finished so now the weather won't affect the work. The girls are all excited about getting their new house.