A good thanksgiving even with the loss of my Aunt Rose

My trip to New York and New Jersey went well, although it was marred by the death of my aunt rose at 99. She died on the Friday before Thanksgiving and I went to the wake on Monday and the burial on Tuesday at Moravian cemetery. I caught up with my cousin Tina and chatted a lot with Alana and Jeffrey, two of her three children. My visit to Gabes was also good, although Julian got sick after he played for 2 hours at the Children’s Museum and I had to get him home in a cab. The next day I babysat him at home and it was kind of boring since I couldn’t go out until they all returned in the late afternoon. My visit to Gyorgyi’s brother for Thanksgiving was very good. Laura was very glad to see me and Gyorgyi and I played with her for hours. Andrew provided and excellent dinner and Sylvia (not spelled correctly) was nice to spend time with. At dinner we all had to give a short speech telling what we were thankful for and Laura said she was very glad I came to visit, and that she liked that I was funny and liked to play with her. The next day Laura and I went for a walk to the playground and had a very nice chat. I am looking forward to seeing Tina and her kids, Julian and Laura in the springtime. I returned on Saturday and went home to check out the road before I headed into town. On Sunday, I got the tractor out and finished digging out the trench and then partly buried the 50 piece of plastic 4 inch pipe. It is draining perfectly into the stream and saving my road. I got a hike in and I played piano (not bad since I hadn’t played in 10 days). I talked with Kelly and I think I cheered her up a bit. It makes me sad when she is struggling. AEP dropped off some supplies today and a backhoe with a 12 inch wide bucket (which seems too wide for the trench but I’m not sure). I think they will start very soon. I ordered the 8 speed cam for my bike and Ian is going to put it in very good shape. The whole project should cost about 500.

Thanksgiving approaches, just in time

I had a wonderful visit from my 203 students today. They really enjoyed the hollow and the hike and we had some good food and good conversation. I had the house in nice shape and tomorrow I will try to do some work on my trench with the water from the French drain. Classes are still going well with not big problems. I have one class left before the break and I am ready to get up to New York to see Gabes, Francesca and Julian and then Gyorgyi’s niece Laura. It should be fun. I texted Kelly some and I think we will chat this week at some point. She seems okay but is still feeling guilty about the house. Gyorgyi and I had a nice dinner at Rockfish Grill and went to see a very well done movie, Bridge of Spies. Tom Hanks was very good and the Russian agent was excellent. I still have lettuce so that is fun but the cold is coming. Bryan got the approval from the County on Monday so the AEP work should start very soon. I should have electricity by late December. Bryan’s overall bill will be about 3,000 and that I can afford. I just hope AEP doesn’t hit stone and they have to charge me several thousand to get through it.

My electricity is on hold

It is almost a catch up blog but since it is Friday I guess I am a little early. There seems to be a problem with the electrical permit. Bryan called me yesterday and asked if I had called the county since it seems someone has. I certainly didn’t, as I assured him, and he said he would go down today and try to see what is going on. I was hoping to have electricity by mid-December but late December is probably more realistic. I am still eating lettuce out of the garden and that is a treat. Two days ago I took the tractor out and dug a trench for the water pouring out near the greenhouse and that has dried up the upper part of the road completely. I purchased 70 feet of flexible pipe and I hope to get the trench fully dug and the pipe in by next week. No big rush on that since the road is now protected. I got the lawn tractor back today (241 dollars for servicing it) and I rode up to the house to cut up some of the remaining leaves and then did the same on the orchard road and in the orchard. That should help with evening the road since too many leaves prevent the scraper from working right. I saw Claire during the week and that was fun. I am supposed to join the Gallos for dinner tomorrow to celebrate Cathy’s birthday. I have two gift cards for her from her favorite stores. Kelly seemed a little down when I talked to her but she didn’t call back so I think she is handling things okay. Two more weeks till Thanksgiving break and I am looking forward to seeing Julian and Laura. I’m sure I will have fun with both of them. Had a nice walk with Rob yesterday and things are going well for him. I will be having my 444 class out tomorrow and I have done the major cleaning today. An hour and a half tomorrow should finish things. We will be moving into the new building in June, and I told Rosemary I won’t be ready with all my packing until the spring semester ends since I will need to use some of my stuff until then. I certainly don’t want to be looking in boxes until then. I haven’t heard back from CEA about my paper proposal but I had two essays accepted at Dan Woods’ Virginia English Journal. I am also hoping that my poem will be accepted by Floyd County Moonshine.