What A Week!!!

We have been in Marksville Louisiana enjoying the casino and too much buffet.  Kids I am happy to say we did not lose the farm, so to speak.  We decided to up the amount to $60 for mom and $60 and for me, we usually do $40 a piece.  We only lost $50 so blowing $70 for a week’s worth of fun isn’t bad.   We did see the latest Harry Potter movie and it was quite interesting.  I have never seen Harry Potter in a theater and the special effects was fantastic.  We also found a cemetery and did a little wandering around town. 

OH CRAP

The biggest issue I have with the van is when I check the grey and black tank levels it always reads full.  So every three days I empty and then I flushed the tanks.  When we arrived in Marksville the weather was warm and a couple of days later the temperature plummeted.  One night the temperature dropped below freezing and it was that day I decided to see if I can empty the tanks every four days.  To keep the water from freezing I let the water in the kitchen drip.  I also decided not to run the furnace but to use the electric heater.  That meant I needed to stay up until the wee morning hours because I don’t like running an electric heater unless I can keep an eye on it.  For those of you that live in a RV I know you know where there is going but bear with me.  I am curled up in bed watching a wonderful classic movie and I decided I needed a glass of chocolate milk.  I stepped into the kitchen area and the floor was unbelievable wet.  Oh yeah.  I immediately thought “leak” and looked under the sink but it was dry.  I thought to myself “Oh Crap, it is the toilet.”  So managed to look under and around the toilet and it was dry.  Now the water is getting deeper and the rugs couldn’t soak up anymore so I grabbed the two towels and two washrags I had.  The whole time I was thinking what is it?  Then it dawned on me that I needed to stay with the every three day plan.  My grey tank was overflowing.  I couldn’t run out and empty my tanks because of the noise the Macerator Pump makes.  So I turned off the water, finished mopping up the floor and just hung up all the wet stuff outside then I went to bed.  The next day was Laundry Day.  Never a dull moment around here, I will tell you.  I am thankful it was the grey tank. 

DysFUNctional

I am so excited about Christmas not because I finished all of the calendars but because of the gift I am receiving from my daughter, Hannah Jane.  When she was a teenager she was curious about my decision to remain single.  I told her that if she could find me a man that looked like Leon Russell I would give up my single ways.  As a family I never claimed that we were normal.  Well she found a CD by Elton John and Leon Russell (be still my beating heart) and then she asked me if I wanted it.  I was drooling and I said yes and I want it now!!!!  She is making me wait but I have been busy on youtube listening and is a fantastic CD.  Hannah why are you torturing me and making me wait?

Memories

A fellow blogger is building a home in Jamestown Tennessee and that is where the Peavyhouse family resided.  George Washington Peavyhouse, after the death of his first wife, married Melvina Jane Wright.  Melvina’s husband, Samuel Houston Albertson died young and she brought to the Peavyhouse family her 4 children.  One of her children was Hannah Elizabeth Jane.  When Hannah was 16 she married her step brother, Francis Marion Peavyhouse and they moved from the hills of Tennessee to the hills of Kentucky.  They are my great grandparents.  About 6 years ago mom and I traveled to Jamestown searching for the gravesite of George and his first wife, Rachel.  All I knew about the gravesite was the name of the cemetery, Jay Evans.  The librarian told us to go down the road to Forbus Tennessee and talked to the folks at the general store.  I asked where the general store was located and she said it was the only building left standing.  Mom and I drove to Forbus, located the general store and went inside.  We asked the clerk about the cemetery.  She said “if you want to know anything about this area you need to ask this gentleman.”  When I turned around I was face to face with a tall lanky man who was probably in his 80’s and all he said was “follow me.” 

Mom and I are very cautious people.  We know not to follow strangers but it all happened so fast. He walked out and we were running for our car.  We got in it and got it going just in time to see him take a turn out of the driveway.  It wasn’t “follow me” it was a chase.  We caught up with him and turned on a dirt road and drove about 5 miles before he took another turn down another dirt road.  There we drove for another good 5 miles.  He was in a pick up truck and we were in a car and he was hauling butt.   Then he slowed down,  pulled over, and got out.  Before we could get stopped, unbuckled, and unloaded he was was already in the woods. 

Mom and I are usually very cautious people and we know not to follow strangers into the woods.  What the heck were we thinking?  It was pure adrenaline, folks because we went chasing after him.  Part way into the woods an old coon hound came out and it was like something out of the movie Deliverance.  About a 1/2 mile to a mile hike into the woods we caught up with him and there it was.  A little cemetery that was slowing becoming earth.  Most of the stones were sandstone and they were just fragmented.  There in the corner stood, in perfect condition, the gravestone of George and Rachel Peavyhouse.   The man leaned against a tree and let us take pictures and pay our respect.  Then he said, “lets go” and we were off again.  He lead us out and back on the highway.

Like I said we are usually very cautious people. 

A few pictures I took of Sam Rayburn Lake, Cemetery in Marksville, and odds and ends.