July 22, 2008 

9 am

  lept until 8:30am. I am still tired, but not to the point of being a dangerous driver anymore. I had actually thought of taking a nap on my office floor before I drove home last night. I really should not have driven. I am taking the entire day off today.

Not alot exciting to report around the farmstead today. The garden is growing. The potatoes need to be hilled. I pulled eggs from the broody hens as no one has hatched for a bit, so I was not sure they were not duds and I did not have time to make a new candler to check. Only one hen has some eggs left. The other hens I kept in the brooder house for a bit and then kicked back into the main poultry barn. The baby chicks are growing, so are the hogs. The heifer has indeed stayed with the horse in the back 40. The horse calls for her when they cannot see each other. "Dixie" the horse does not get along with other horses, yet likes company... go figure.

My house is a disaster... complete shambles, so cleaning it is on the agenda. I have to figure out what is wrong with my vacuum cleaner as it is not sucking. I have all the wooden flooring for my house, so my vacuum may make me mad enough that I start to tear out the carpet sooner than later.  But not today. I am taking the day off!

9:31 pm

After I finally got my posterior moving for the day, I went on
a couple errands and then went to a little abandoned church which I have had my eye on for awhile. I had company with me this afternoon, so we went to check it out. When we got to the gates and small (5 person) cemetery, I stated I thought it was not just an abandoned church, but it was a private family's church. Within a few minutes, a woman and a small girl along with 2 dogs, showed up on a 4-wheeler. I inquired if we were trespassing. She reassured me that I was, but it was Ok. Many people come and look at the church and we were allowed to go in as long as the door was shut after. She gave me the history of the very old unused boarded up windowed church and told me the man who had built it was buried within the fence in the graveyard. The woman now owned his former ranch. I went to the grave site again to acknowledge all of his lovely work. I am guessing that the church would hold about 40-50 people. It was woodstove heat and gas lighting. Even though the outside is in rough shape, the inside, although a slight musty smell, looked like it might still have services held there every Sunday.  The pews were all handmade and even my companion was complimenting how solidly the building was built and in such good condition now.

Picture Above: Arthur Gagnon's grave, the man who built the very beautiful country church for the community. He was born in 1884.

Then we meander-
ed on a road I had never been on before and we found a lovely little lake called Elk Lake. There must be 100 million Elk Lakes in the world and this is one of them. If you see a black dot near the island, that is my friend "A" (my new guy's housemate) whom was my traveling companion for the day. He was wearing shorts, was hot and went for a swim. I was not too worried about him as he used to be a lifeguard. He said the water was nice and warm. I was not about to go in my jeans, nor skinnydip, so I sat on shore, played with frogs &  fish fry and took pictures instead.

It was a good restful day... and much needed. Back to the grindstone tomorrow *L*.