Doing the Dishes

Posted on February 2, 2025 by Kelsey

It’s Sunday morning. I got up around six, before the curtain of night began to give way to the hot winter’s sun. It is stabbing now, killed the night and lights every corner outside, trying to find its way into the house and push everyone else out of bed. I did my usual wake up routine with coffee and a couple of tablets to help reduce inflammation and supplement my diet with vitamins and minerals, because the food pyramid and the diet I am not neither one provides enough from the foods I am recommended to eat. Then I took on a mountain of crockery that stood stacked high next to the kitchen sink.

While I washed and rinsed and stacked, I thought about the time recently when one of my daughters looked on at me washing the dishes kind of gleefully, and she asked why I liked doing the dishes so much lately. I have taken a break from doing them for years now, because in order to do them, I have to don some ridiculous looking long gloves that appear to be for preg-testing cattle. They are durable enough to give comfort to a man who is shoulder deep in a Heffer. They don’t contribute to the gentle nature required for some of the finer glassware, any they are an unnatural grip on any of the crocks. I don’t love doing the dishes that way, so my generous family has kept up on the chore while I took on other responsibilities that they are not well suited to. Feeding the livestock counts as one. Dealing with the firewood till it is split and stacked for winter is another.

My daughter is too young to have experienced years of feeling like a part of her life has been taken from her. But that’s what I feel. Years of my life have been spent feeling insufficient to keep up with some of the most basic household chores. But due to a change in diet and the inflammation diminishing for it, and due to my skin not cracking up leaving my hands feel like each has an hundred papercuts that feel like alcohol has been poured into them when they are submerged in hot soapy water, I have been able to do the dishes without suffering. That has been for me, much more than a welcomed relief. It has made me feel like I have been reborn into a new life.

It is such a simple thing, but I harken back to my grandfather and I going out for breakfast at one of the diners that once existed in Lompoc, CA. While we were there, a bubbly blonde waitress started her shift. It was a quiet Sunday morning, a bit like today. The sin was bright, and the red Beetle she drove up in glistened in the sun. She virtually exploded with happiness as she came into the large room and the chef called out from the kitchen and said her car looked really clean. She was so happy about this and went on about it and how she felt so good because it was. I was a bit awestruck by this attitude, and how something so simple made her so happy. I have always admired that moment in time, and the I have always treasured that little memory for the time spent with my grandfather and seeing such an example of how life can be filled with small things that make a person absolutely radiate with happiness. I have kept it, and now you can have a part.

It’s holding on to that and thigs like it that have made me to be happy to get back the ability to do a chore. I know that hose kids certainly appreciate me doing it. They say thank you, and I kind of grumble that they don’t need to. They don’t know what it means to me not do it and not just be repulsed by the pain, and they don’t know what it is like to have an ability taken from you, then to have to live with it for so long. The kids don’t appreciate what it means to feel like you are not doing your part or pulling your weight. Then to have that ability restored! It is a momentous event and can only be celebrated by living up to what you can do. It seems such a little thing to be able to do dishes, but in my mind, it is a red Beetle, glistening in the sun. And I know how to react to that. I was shown.

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Thomas Jefferson’s Report

Posted on February 1, 2025 by Kelsey

Today is February 1st. It has been raining last night. It is 33.5 degrees right now, so cold enough for snow, but when I looked out, there was no snow. We were meant to be getting three inches with this storm. Nothing yet on the ground. What a strange February 1st. I hac a local tell me this is normal. In my 12 years here in this part of Idaho, I started out walking at this time of year with the top of the fence almost to my elbow, and not the same fence is at my head. The snow levels are not the same as they once were. They were like that often in the beginning, but they have most definitely tapered off. Is this the effect of me not having seen as many winters here as the lifer? Or is it the lifer in denial that there is a change in the weather?

The average temperature for January in Preston since 1991 is 21.8F. Today is meant to get to 39F. Averages would include overnight temps and the coldest days, so the spread is not alarming. But it is not on the low end of the trend, either. I wonder if it will be sunny or not? If it is sunny, our front porch will produce plenty of heat to keep the house warm by just opening the door. If not, then the fire will be required for most of the day, but while it is above 35, there is almost no demand. A log or two continuously burning ought to be enough.

That’s my Thomas Jefferson for the day.

I did get two deliveries yesterday. I made nearly $14 for them both. Not too bad. It paid most of what I needed in milk and half and half. It could have been better. It could have been a lot better. I still have not seen a single offer from Uber. Door Dash barely pays for its space on the phone. It would be lovely if I could get more deliveries and make enough to cover the bills. But it is not looking like I will be able to from here at the house. Maybe I will need to drive down to Logan and spend the day sometime and see if these apps light up for my being there. I don’t know if they will or not.

I keep avoiding the shop because of the cold outside. This said in spite of the relatively warm weather. I wish I was braver against the cold. But being outside in the shop and working in the cold and holding cold tools is not a great way of spending the day, and using the sense numbing cold tools is no way to work safely. I have tried the Roman workbench in the front porch, and I kind of like it. I need to put together some jigs for it. I feel crowded out there, and like I need to be constantly cleaning wood shavings because of it. I think I need a table or something to go along with in order to put parts and tools down on in reach. Then I think it will do. I am not far off. I do lack a place to securely hold a piece while I saw it. I mean for things like dovetails, not long boards.

I think I could be making candle boxes and the like for the candle shop. I did see an amazing video showing how to make pipes for an organ. I am not going to lie, I would like to try a pipe or two and see if I can make them whistle. That would be cool. I can think of a couple of entertaining uses. But that would be just for fun. I would like to get the box making practice though, for sure. I would also like to make a table for the house. I need the experience. I need the practice there, too. So, there are some things to smile about and get on with it.

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Friday Morning and I Feel like Monday

Posted on January 31, 2025 by Kelsey

Trying Uber and DoorDash here is coming out as a bit of a failure. Uber has not even acted as though it were alive. I just get a standard map. There is one exception. It did pretend that it was alive in Rexburg, Idaho, and showed me a red zone for the pricing. Nothing more. IT was telling me that if I accepted any of the non-existent rides in a few blocks’ radius, I would get a $5.25 bonus pay. I am not driving to Rexburg. I’d spend more than that getting halfway there. Otherwise, the app has acted like it is not alive for a week now.

Door Dash on the other hand has been sporadic. It has offered me drives and I have taken them. They have been low earners. I got a decent one once, but I don’t think I will see a repeat of that feat. I am earning a tiny amount of money, but nowhere near enough to pay the bills or eat off of.

So, what will we do now? There is a fair amount of snow set to fall this weekend. I need to get some firewood cut and split today and put it on the pile ready to keep us warm for the next week or so. I think that’s almost what we are down to. I think we could last a week, or maybe a little more on what we have left. Probably two if I am a little more optimistic. But the point is, I will need to keep up for the rest of the winter. There is not enough to get us through. I wonder at times like this if I should finish my woodshed, then get more practice by making another one. Then keep them both full for winter firewood. I’d like to see a pile after that readying up for the following year and then start selling the rest. That requires a firewood sale rack.

My daughter just asked me if we still had the container for sourdough starter. I don’t know where it has gone, and if the lid has survived as it was seriously cracked, but not yet broken in half. Then I proclaimed that I could just turn a new one on the lathe. She laughed and said, “You probably could.” Well, yeah, I could. That’s the point. What’s more, I have that lovely walnut wood I can use to turn it from! That would make a lovely lid! Looks like I am looking for the ceramic sourdough starter pot today.

I could justify going down to Logan to see if the Uber app lights up there for me just being there. I could run in some bills that need paying with the hospital and with the eye doc. But I need to bring others along with me, so I could not earn a penny while there, unless I can get Door Dash to liven up. Then maybe. I don’t know. We’ll see.

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Come Wednesday!

Posted on January 29, 2025 by Kelsey

12:23AM

I just woke up from a heavy sleep, deep in a dream where I was making a YouTube video. I was high up in a tree, leaning all my weight against one branch, trying to lever it between it and another, so I could not come loose and fall the terrible distance from the ground. I even thought of what I would do to try to effectively black myself out should I come lose, or at least relax myself and ignore the coming collision with the earth, so I would feel it as little as possible, and not die in the anticipation of it. Relax, breath, close my eyes, and just be. There is no drop. There is no ground. There is just me, and we will see what is next. And after that. But the branch I had all my weight on with my left leg, and only the lower portion at that, was shearing in half under the strain of trying to hold me. It did not matter the branch above and wedging my leg between them if the one below were to give out. And then, as suddenly as a loud crack and the beginning of a drop, I found myself awake, heavy as a crash, but on my bed, wondering what really woke me since none of the cracking and falling had happened. That is certainly my last YouTube video of me climbing a tree.

12:32AM

Going to try to fall asleep again.

7:30AM

Slept the rest of the night through. Maybe this dream was my mind telling me I am afraid to do a YouTube channel. Then you know what that means? Get to it! Hey, it is another way to make a little money while I am at home, and that beats crap out of going out for it. So maybe I should try. It is the only way to stop bad dreams. Or at least to change them. Why should I put up with bad dreams of failure over something I am not even trying at? If life is going to be bad in any way, then I would like to know I at least worked for it and earned it. Look, there is time in the mornings in the cold season to do editing and such, and when it is too hot, that could be during the too hot part of the day. So there is no valid excuse that it takes too much time. There is always a time of the day when I would rather be hiding from the weather. It’s just the silly making of the footage that is, well, strange. But I did that time late last year when I practiced at not talking stupid to the camera and making more like it is a person there, rather than a tiny little device. (I’m just not from the generation that is comfortable talking to a tiny little device. Especially one that does not even have someone else’s face on it responding.)

January 29th. Where do the days go? You know, the middle of my decade will be here after a short while. I remember when I started my venture into the 50’s and thought about that, and how I would soon be in the middle. Well, here it comes! I wonder to myself if I am where I wanted to be by now, or if I am messing about too much. I think I am messing about toto much. Some people are stuck in jobs they hate and doing that instead of living their dreams. I think I am close enough to living my dreams by virtue of not being stuck in that hate job that I need to just nudge myself. So, dear self, the middle of the decade is on its way.

Right, time to end this and get ready for the day upon us. I tried GrubHub this morning. There is a waitlist in Logan, and that is 20 miles from here with a university in it. I don’t want to fight that waitlist only to be in a slot that could better serve some college kid trying to pay for school. So, I won’t press on with that one from here. Light up the two apps I do use for the day and see what comes. DoorDash has provided a very few dollars. Uber has not even behaved as though it were connected to the Internet. That one is doing nothing but taking up battery and bandwidth. Gonna try going to Logan and seeing if it lights up while I am there later this week. Then maybe I can get some jobs. If that works out, then maybe it is time to GrubHub, too. Yeah, on with my day. Apps on, woodshop work, and some firewood.

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Deliveries & Not

Posted on January 27, 2025 by Kelsey

It looks like Uber works like Door Dash. You have to be out loitering in your car for it to work. I don’t love that. I don’t really want to be out and about loitering for jobs to come up. I would be happy to leave the house for deliveries within a certain range. There is just no way to set it to do that. So, I will have to figure this out. I would rather be able to work in my shop and leave when called for than have to pick times to hang around somewhere like some kind of stalker with no one to stalk. How sad and lonely is that?

If I am a good boy, I will go to the shop tomorrow and turn a couple of carver’s mallets from the walnut I have out there. I also need to see if there is a decent hook somewhere I can put into my chandelier to hang it from. I will see what jobs are on offer, again. I might have to be weird and hang out somewhere waiting for a job on the apps.

Looks like everything from Columbia is now going to have higher prices. Coffee, anyone? Must be nice for those who can afford the higher prices and tariffs. But for the rest of us, I think we will see what comes of this at our expense. Really? Columbia? Well that’s interesting. If coffee is hit, loads of Americans will be hit by the prices. At least we get to experiment and see results of tariffs on something like that, and not on medicine or something important like that. We sure will see. Watch the coffee prices.

I found when I went to England in 2002 that the one thing the English famously hated most about Americans was what they called American Arrogance. I think they are going ot hate us more this year than ever before!

My youngest cleaned the car out today. She wanted to do that so I could use it to drive clients. What a great kid! She is amazing! She cleaned everything out, wiped down surfaces, and vacuumed. I will have to clean the outside. It is due for an oil change, too. I have some catching up to do!

I am watching an interesting video about a guy who is building a custom cabinet and veneering the base which is made of MDF. He is raising the question of if that is real woodworking, and talking about how some see real wood working as building only from solid woods. I don’t see it that way since wood stability is impossible to achieve with solid woods. I cannot count the number of pieces I have seen in the hundred plus year old category that were warped and broken to pieces because of wood moving with temperature and humidity. So I think the question is a made-up controversy. However, that said, watching the guy build he is highly intelligent. Hmm. Now he is gold leafing. Way out of my league! For now, anyway. But the man has got skills. Pedulla Studio is the name of the YouTube channel.

Best message from the video is, “If you are enjoying yourself, just do it.” Great!

Right. I am up early tomorrow. Off to sleep soon.

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Work, Work, Work

Posted on January 26, 2025 by Kelsey

So I got Door Dash to give me two deliveries last night. Perhaps it is meant to be an earn ad you drive along the way kind of app. It is not really for stationary use as a driver. Not really what I am looking for. But the two deliveries from last night were not too bad. I need it to give me more, though, to earn a bit. I have still not heard from Uber.

The first delivery was Mexican food like six blocks from the restaurant. The app gave me $7 for that. No tip. From my pizza days, that was usually a sign of a bad economy when people stopped tipping or dropped down to $2 or less. Right as I finished that up, I got an alert for a second delivery. Well, I hit accept right away. I don’t want someone else picking it up, do I? I have not scanned the screen fast enough to get details about the delivery, but the pick-up was close. It was the delivery that was a bit mad. I had to drive it down to Richmond. The app called that 16 miles! I called it a long delivery! I was figuring it would be limited to the area designated in the red boundary on the map, but that is apparently just the pick-up area. My kid will tell you, I was cussing all the way. But the app paid me out $12.99, and the guy gave me a ten dollar bill as I was telling him it was probably cold by now. He said he didn’t care. Okay! All set then! Pleasure doing business with ya! Hey, $25 is $25! But that was all for a Saturday night. It don’t look like there is a lot of earning potential in this thing. Certainly not enough to live on!

So, while it is better than nothing, and I can probably get some groceries in town while I am up there, such as bread and milk, it is nothing to live on, especially when wear and tear and fuel are considered. Will I carry on? Probably just to get a little money. That is a need. It is not the future for raising a family, that’s for sure! So, I will keep my eyes peeled for a job, and I will keep working on my stuff in the shop. But I am not confident in sales. Missus is having a hell of a time even getting anyone to stop by her little shop. She is spitting nails. I am with her on that. Does not one person see us opened up out there, and think, ‘hey! I think I will stop in and see what is going on there!” That’s right. In over a year of opening up most days. Not one. Well, one. One family did stop in once last summer. Three guys I know from around the neighborhood have stopped in, and one bought candles. Otherwise, the shop has been for naught. And that is so aggravating! People are just not into the things we are.

What are we into? Llamas, fiber, spinning and weaving. Missus also makes lots of things like her bookmarks, and wire flowers. The bookmarks include ones made from wood, paper, and even leather. She has prints for sale and has made little quote signs on magnets. She has put together tons of stuff for her shop and for her Farmer’s Markets. The Markets were always sort of break even. We would make back what we spent on some beef jerky and some drinks for the evening, and that was it. I don’t think we ever even made back the cost of the fees for the markets. Never mind the cost of the booth or the tables and chairs and such. I’d love to figure out how to do that still. It would be great to pull through this year. But I know she is not feeling it. That is a polite expression for what I know she is feeling.

So what now? We don’t have the next big trend for sale, apparently. We have always worked on a ‘back to basics’ mindset of self-reliance. Neither of us is into the trendy, but believe in the stability and reliability of traditional crafts, and their products as a means of securing prosperity. Why buy everything you need from cheap Chinese manufacturers when you can make it yourself or buy it from a local maker with higher quality and support. I know that speaking for anything I made, if it came back broke, I would fix it, and for free or minimal cost at all. We are set up here so we can do that. For me to make a new table leg is just a matter of a little time and a piece out of a log I have out back. I have access to the full supply chain that way. And I can replicate anything I have made with no trouble at all. Or in a worst-case scenario, I could just replace the whole piece outright. But that is will, and availability a the moment, and I have both. I don’t know what else to do. There is paying the billionaire on Facebook for ads. We are reluctant, I admit. That is aggravating. That is reintroducing to our model what we want to get out of it. But it may have to come to that. Will it target correctly? Or will we be pissing money into the wind?

What a looney situation it is! We can’t even get sales on the used car market, or with the saddles we have listed. It’s shit.

So, here we are. January… Wow! 26th already! Is it? That surprises me! That has gone speeding along! Must be the distraction of all the medical issues and everything Missus has gone through.

Anyway, so here we are, January 26th, already. And we need to figure it all out. I am trying to see if I can earn anything doing what I can best do for my old body, which is driving. I enjoy it. I enjoy the customer service aspect of it. I really enjoy meeting with new people, even if it is only briefly. I will try to build a few things, again, for the house to start with. Then I’ll replace them or maybe build a few for fun items and put them up for sale. I have got some happy enough workspaces set up now, and the tools I think I need to do just about anything I think I need to. I can do it and do it my way. From tree to furniture. Right in my own shop. That is such a happy place to be! January and February are meant to be the coldest, most awful months of the year. But thanks to that non-existent global warming, it is quite nice out, and perfectly fine on the front porch, though I find space a pretty big issue out there. So I am trying to figure out a nice little niche somewhere where I can push into and work. I have not figured out upstairs yet, because of wood shavings and carpeting. I cannot figure anyplace in the house where I could just go all day and evening, or night if I wanted. Everyplace else gets cold as soon as the sun is down, which is early this time of year. So… I’ll work something out. Imagination. That’s what I need.

I think come spring I will just plot out to the shop or under the willow tree with the Roman bench. That will be nice. I know that in the heat of the summer it is likely going to be night shifts for me if I want to get work done. If I am doing this myself, then I have that kind of adaptability. I won’t if I have to work to someone else’s schedule. One thing that has to hit the priority list is to finish that woodshed. It was jarring hitting the mallet the way I was. Maybe I can get used to it more? Then I could finish it and get the thing filled with next winter’s wood early in the season. That would be quite lovely! The dried wood we have been using this year has kept the house pretty easily warm. The wetter stuff, not so much. Well, like that comes as a surprise!

Oh! I got to work on some of that black walnut that the neighbor gave me. I turned a candlestick last night. It was a chore getting through that wood. Keep the tools sharp! That is for sure! But man, is it pretty! And it is tough wood. I am going to turn a couple of carver’s mallets from it and give one back to the neighbor. But I am also going to make a couple for me. Any more hand tools I need real quick? Holy crap! What a rich resource! I wonder if he can get any more? That is some nice stuff! He says he knows people who cut it down and throw it away. I’d take that stuff all day long! I may have to start a new scrap bin, and throw just walnut scraps in it, because who would want to waste the stuff? Holy cow! Which is a Hindu expression, I think.

Right. I am going to go back to sleep. An hour or two more, then get Sunday going. Why not? It is still dark out. Ain’t no sunshine just yet. But it will come.

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Door Dash

Posted on January 25, 2025 by Kelsey

Door Dash is difficult. I have to set up a schedule and where I am going to work. That seems simple enough. Time and location. Nothing more to it. Then it seems like it should be telling me when there are deliveries to make in that area during that time, and I can accept the deliveries and earn money. So simple. But when it comes time, I have to log in. The trouble is, I can only log in for about half an hour before the app loge me back out again. It logs out because of inactivity. How am I supposed to know of activity if I am logged out? So I have to keep it logged in, which means battery eating babysitting of the app. Not that I have better things to do. Then it argues with me about logging in and being IN the area that I am trying to log in to work in. I live a few miles out of town, and do not have the time to sit up there in town waiting for hope’s sake that an order will come through. I have things to do. I can drop and go from home if I need to. And I will. But to hang about in town is not even an option. Yet that’s what Dash wants me to do. So I get it logged in, and so far after three days, I have had two deliveries. One of which was very problematic, but that’s a different story. Another problem is that the area they want to have deliveries in barely covers town. There are a little over five thousand people in town, and 12,000 in the county. Why don’t they cover more area? I wish I had the code and could set up a Dash for the whole county and deliver to the whole county. It is not that big of a space, and if everyone in this county could order food, I think they would.

I reached out to the help desk and got the runaround that I needed to go to town and wait there for orders, I also got that I understand how the app works and need to use that knowledge to make it work rather than a solution to the problems. I think that is what they were telling me. It was plenty useless. It sure made no sense. I gave up after two people and finally being promised I needed to be put on with a supervisor then dropped from the chat. It was pretty stupid. I have got to say, I have made about $12 in the last three days. On the other hand, it was a pain in the butt. So that’s where I am at.

I am trying the Uber app, but it seems to think it is a standalone app that does not have any information in it.

So far nothing there.

Okay, that is my report. I cannot even say I will still be doing this at all this time next week.

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Dash and Uber

Posted on January 24, 2025 by Kelsey

Well, we did the Meet and Greet. How disappointing. Lovely that two of the guys who live in the neighborhood came by and visited a bit. They both arrived at near the same time. So it was a good chat, and Missus came out for a bit then went in finished her lunch. Otherwise, nobody showed up. I need to figure this out. There has got to be a better way to advertise the shop. I hate seeing Missus going through the effort and nothing coming of it. It really hurts to her hurt.

I did my first ever Dash today. I took a run from Burger King to a house about a block and a half from Burger King. I drove over five miles to do that. Oh well. It was a little different from doing the pizza joint I used to do back in the day. I had to get drinks and such. I would like to have a way of doing it without being so clumsy. So I need to work that out, and I would like to be sure I am getting the food to the customer hot.

This one run may be all I get this whole weekend, but I do think that tomorrow and Saturday will actually come up with some drives. I’d like to see how it goes, but just in case, I did go ahead and start the sign up for Uber Eats. I may go ahead and taxi with them, too. It is the right pace for my old body.

So there we go. I got some wood chopped up today. I also tried to jump the two trucks, but I got one running, then tried to jump the other, and it immediately killed the first one, and then neither one of them would start. I will have to try to start the first one again tomorrow. Maybe it just still had a dead battery. I dunno.

I will see how this whole thing goes. It is not a job in the practical sense, especially where I am working as a contractor at the whim of an app. No idea of it will produce enough work for me to earn enough to live on.

I am trying to keep my head around what all is going on with the new political situation now. Honestly, I don’t have a clue. Nothing makes sense. Well, maybe tomorrow.

Spoke to my oldest friend today. The one who lost his mother recently. Hopefully he is doing well. They have arranged her service. I wish I could go and be there. She was such a good lady. And he is a good friend.

The cold is here still. Looks like it will be warm again by a week from this weekend. Temps are meant to hit the 40’s. Well, this I have got to see! Off to bed for now. Goodnight! Or, good day, if that is when you are reading this. Or good morning.

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The Open House – Tomorrow

Posted on January 22, 2025 by Kelsey

Tomorrow we are opening up for a Meet and Greet. That is just a fancy way of saying we are open as normal, but we are really wanting to have people come by and say hello, and to talk about the things we have on sale, or the things we can make bespoke for them or their event. I’ll do a proper Open House on the Saturday following. But for now, I would just like to see if we can get someone through the door and to meet up with us and see that we are here. We have been opening up for ages with nobody coming by. So, since we are offering items for sale for everyday and for events, maybe we need to have events. Maybe we need to have them every day. But this business of opening up for nothing is really, really old!

As for today, I am reminded of the value of our Amazon Prime account with its promised two-day delivery. We are waiting on the fourth day now for a battery delivery for the alarm that sounds every time someone opens the door to the shop. Ours seem to have died, and we have not been minding it because we have no way of knowing when someone is there. That needs to be fixed, soon. But if I have to, I suppose I can put my new work bench outside and work through the day. After all, that kind of mobility is what it’s for. Also, I need people to see what I can make visa vie the workbench, and with my own mill and such.

Whatever the case, we need this to amount to something, and hopefully more than just a person or two coming by. But honestly, we would take that with a certain amount of overwhelming joy!

Speaking of the workbench, I don’t know if I want to put in dogholes, or just a couple of channels I can insert a square stick into as a stop to work against while running knives and the like, or should I build custom jigs for spoon carving? So many options! I need to see this able to work in the front porch where it is much warmer, so I can get a profit turned from it in these cold winter days. And again, being able to build it myself gives me the options! And I can offer such options to clients! I would think I could do it for $400 or $500 or so custom made, but I may look at it after and decide the fit and finish is not what it should be, then give a discount of $50 to $100. There are a lot of variables. Some to do with the wood, some with the final product and how it turns out, and then the cost could go up again based on moving parts or specialty work holding pieces. The more dogs and jigs included, then obviously the price would go up, too. I am talking the base price of a simple bench like the one in the pictures. But bear in mind, that one has a removable tabletop, and can be used with or without it.

Well, six AM is rolling up on me. I got up twenty minutes ago and put wood in the stove to warm it up downstairs. I best plan on getting up out of bed here real soon!

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Remembering When

Posted on January 20, 2025 by Kelsey

I remember going through the shop my great-great-grandparents had in West Virginia. It was an old-time gas station and local shop. As I remember it, it was complete with soda fountain. The building was pretty old when I was there in about 1978, and unbelievably, it seems it still stands. The gas pumps are long gone, of course, and now it is attached to a greenhouse in front of Erma’s old house. It was Erma Foor that owned it, and if the current owners were to go into the cemetery behind the house, I think they would find her grave there. Talk about a small world that Erma lived and died in! Work and home and a grave all within maybe 300 feet of each other or so! The place was called The Plant Cult when the more recent people had it, and I don’t know if it is still. I am relying on Google Earth to find this out. The cemetery is Mount Calvary. And the house is now hidden behind the old greenhouses that are in what once was the front yard to Erma’s house. I wonder if that closet next to the front door still has the pull chain flap in the floor where the laundry can be dropped down next to the washer and dryer in the basement? When I was a little kid and visited there, I thought that was the coolest thing ever. What a convenience!

It was not the only place I visited around Morgantown back then. Go up northwest to Black’s Run Road and there just before the Pennsylvania State line you will find Willa and Lester’ Raber’s house on the left side of the road. There was a hutch built-in in the dining room and to the right of it was a door that opened to a very steep set of stairs that lead upstairs. There was also a screened in porch on the back of the house and in it was a glider rocker that would sit three or so. That old thing is still out in my back yard now, 47 years later. Their kitchen table is in pieces out in my shop. Ask me why. Anyway, I will have to get it back together someday, maybe this summer. That would be nice. (I started to restore it to use for myself, and the minute I did, my grandmother suddenly went from not interested in it to wanting it for herself the moment I was done. I stopped work immediately, because that was not the first time I had been through that shit-show with her.) When I was there with my grandparents, granddad and I did something remarkable. He took me for a walk up the road so we could have a piss on the Mason-Dixon Line. What a momentous occasion! Still sticks with me till this day as one of the most amazing trips we ever took, and we took a lot of them together when I was a kid.

All this came back to me again tonight. I am sure I wrote about it before. But it is there, lingering in my mind, wishing I could grab it all and pull it out and walk my kids into that world at that time, and let them see somethings that belonged to people who were born more than 100 years before them. Hell, Lester was 92 in ’78! That would have put him as born in 1886 or so. Do these kids realize I have known people born that far back? Do they know how close history really is to them? If the people we met were simply neighbors in the next house, that would put the late 1800’s right next door to us. They don’t know. I mean, we have a picture that comes up in a digital frame every now and then of the guy who assassinated Archduke Ferdinand of Austria. When was that? June 28th, 1914? That means Lester was about 28? It’s crazy. If my math is correct.

I am off to get some wood on the fire and find a light meal for supper. I wanted to leave this here though. Who knows? Maybe the people who live in the old houses will find it one day and get in touch. I wonder how things are that way. I have always had a place in my heart for that part of West Virginia.

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