Childhood Memories

On Thursday Janet and I visited the area where she was born and the Herd farm where she  spent her childhood years.  The area is located on Bar Creek in Clay County and is really beautiful.  Janet really enjoyed the visit and I was happy to be with her.  The following pictures do not really do not capture the quiet beauty of this lovely area.
  

 The barn and well box are the only structures left from the farm.

 Quiet beauty

 This field was adjacent to a log house located to the right where Janet and her family lived. Janet remembers watching her dad plow the field with his team of mules.

This barn was located on the Herd farm and Janet remembers her father working on the roof with a rope tied to him for safety.

 The tree in the foreground is a pear tree that stood in the yard. The tree still bears fruit and we were able to pick up several large pears that had fallen from it.

 This is the farm where her Grandfather and Grandmother lived.  The small building behind Janet is where her Grandfather had a small country store.  The barn was quite ornate.

 Janet is sitting on what is left of the chimney which was located in the center of the house

Road leading up Bar Creek

Red Bird River and swinging bridge at the mouth of Bar Creek.



Play House!

Madeline and I did a lot of work on the playhouse this weekend and she put it to good use.  Sophia we can't wait for you to come and play in it also.  We sure enjoyed having Madeline spend the weekend with us!

Mr Turtle

When Sophia and Madeline were here they looked everywhere for Mr. Turtle.  Today its baby showed up looking for Sophia and Madeline!  Hi Sophia!

What a Great Week

Not many words just some pictures of what Janet and I have been blessed with this past week:

Woodcreek Fun

We sure had a fun time this weekend at the cabin. We missed having our entire family however we know  they will be here soon. 

We:

Enjoyed some Boating! 

 Did smores over the campfire!

Rode the paddleboat

Enjoyed some Grandpa - Granddaughter time toghether!

Enjoyed some good food and family fellowship around the fire!

 Did some fishing and even caught a couple nice fish- something unusual for me!

 Worked on a playhouse for our granddaughters!  Plenty of work to do yet as you can see.

Kid proofed the dock! We are ready for the little ones!

In addition, we enjoyed time with the Grandmothers, went to a cookout, (the food was super) and enjoyed having our family at the cabin!  The little one caught at least 10 fish- what an angler she is!

Summer of 1967

ROTC was mandatory  for freshman and sophomores at EKU in the late 60's and we had the choice of leaving the program or sign up for the advanced course during our junior and senior years.  The advanced course included a commitment to go to the Army as an officer upon graduation. With likely service in Vietnam facing me upon graduation I decided to continue with the advanced course.

Between my junior and senior years I attended officer basic training in Indiantown Gap Pa.  I will never forget the words of encouragement from our Drill Sergeant the first morning there - "you better pay attention and learn to be a good officer because I don't want some dumb 2LT getting my good soldiers killed in Vietnam".  He was serious too.

We travelled past Indiantown Gap on our way to Providence RI last week and I couldn't resist stopping to see if the post was still there and to re-live those good but difficult memories. I was happy to see  the post had changed little and the old white barracks and training facilities were still there.

The training was realistic and  hard and I got injured on the infiltration course  and ended up in the hospital at Valley Forge Army Hospital in Philadelphia for three weeks with soldiers who had been wounded in Vietnam. Due to this my 9 week course continued for another 3 weeks however I graduated near the top of my class and returned in time for my senior year.

Life's experiences form the person we are and I am thankful for my time at Fort Indiantown Gap and in the US Army later.

Sunshine and Family!

We sure enjoyed our visit with the Sophia, Mark and Rebecca last weekend. 

The weather was nice and we were able to get outside to enjoy it. Sophia enjoyed her "pinto" thanks to the Hites.

We all enjoyed working on the "100 wishes quilt" for Claire. We have been waiting for her so long and can't wait until she is with us.

We went to the park and later watched the Wildcats win an NCAA game.

It always makes for a great weekend when the Wildcats win  and we can be with our family!  We can't wait to do it again.

Sewing Lesson

We sure enjoyed having Madeline visit us this weekend. We had lots of fun watching the opening ceremonies of the Winter Olympics and playing with the paint program. Janet sure enjoyed her sewing lesson this morning.