It was about the roof raising Last week at Queen's Hill
We had an Event!!! July third, a bunch of folks carried lawn chairs and coolers up Highway 22, where we were treated to a “Happening”. The roof was raised for the new home that Barbara and Lee Pennebaker are building, at Queens Hill.
The Methodist have a new preacher, he was there enjoying the festivities, I have been wondering what he went back home thinking….
Barbara, being the quintessential southern hostess that she is, had a big basket full of goodies she was passing out to the gathered crowd, her sister Merry Ellen was driving a golf cart back and forth, to and from the comfort facilities….It was quite an affair…..Nothing quite like it in my memory, not in Edwards for sure.
Oh one time, back several years, we had entertainment for several weeks, watching the paint being scraped at Mike Ratliff house over on Royal Street…Never saw such a complete scraping, they went down to bare wood and started over…. those painters were good.
But such event as house scrapings and roof raisings are quite rare…. Our entertainment often consists of counting train cars…watching tomatoes turn red on the vine…trying to guess where the next city water leak will turn up. We are pretty easily entertained.
Lee and his crew constructed the roof for the two story home, on the ground and then a big crane came and lifted it in to position, on top of eight steel supports.…the crane was assisted by Lee and his team operating two backhoes and a bulldozer…. There were a couple of anxious moments, once while the crane was slowly lifting the roof, the roof suddenly tilted and one side of the structure fell back to the ground. The crowd gasped collectively. They quickly recovered and the operation went on more or less smoothly…with the help of a brave young man, who when the roof or the steel supports needed a bit of persuading to act right, climbed up a ladder and did what it took to get the thing to fit together…sometimes it was with the help of a blow torch, occasionally it was a sledge hammer that was need to get the job done. Nobody left, until the roof was set in place and welded together. It was a Grand time.
My kids and Grand kids have been here and gone now, we had a quiet 4th, I did not allow fireworks on this hill…to the disappointment of the Grands…It was so dry…we did have a dribble of rain, but under the trees in the woods, the leaves and other debris were still dry and crumbly….I was afraid of fire…We have had a good bit of rain since, we needed it…ponds and lakes were as low or lower then the old timers ever remember seeing them.
Adam and I did get a bunch accomplished round here, routine maintenance type stuff, and I was exhausted. Not from the work…I can work…I do not mind work…in fact I like to work. What wore me out was the running to Clinton or Vicksburg for the pieces and parts we needed,…..and getting back home to discover we didn’t have exactly what we needed….we made lots of runs.
Frustration and aggravation will make you weary …much faster then work for sure! But still and all we only left two things on the list undone….we will do them in November when he come back.
I gave John’s old Ford 150 truck to Adam, because I did not like seeing it in the driveway, the sight of it made me feel very lonely….but when Adam and Philip pulled out of the driveway in John’s old truck….I cried and cried…. For many years it was the sound of that truck coming up the hill, and pulling in the driveway that brought comfort to the dogs and I, it signaled “The Papa Man” was home safe...We miss him.
Love to all, call if you need me
PS. I have pictures of the roof raising, ( and by the time you read this much more) on my Brand New blog, The blog will be taking the place of “The picture of the day” I have been sending around….I would love for you to visit me at http://gloria-ruralhindscountymississippi.blogspot.com/,
The Methodist have a new preacher, he was there enjoying the festivities, I have been wondering what he went back home thinking….
Barbara, being the quintessential southern hostess that she is, had a big basket full of goodies she was passing out to the gathered crowd, her sister Merry Ellen was driving a golf cart back and forth, to and from the comfort facilities….It was quite an affair…..Nothing quite like it in my memory, not in Edwards for sure.
Oh one time, back several years, we had entertainment for several weeks, watching the paint being scraped at Mike Ratliff house over on Royal Street…Never saw such a complete scraping, they went down to bare wood and started over…. those painters were good.
But such event as house scrapings and roof raisings are quite rare…. Our entertainment often consists of counting train cars…watching tomatoes turn red on the vine…trying to guess where the next city water leak will turn up. We are pretty easily entertained.
Lee and his crew constructed the roof for the two story home, on the ground and then a big crane came and lifted it in to position, on top of eight steel supports.…the crane was assisted by Lee and his team operating two backhoes and a bulldozer…. There were a couple of anxious moments, once while the crane was slowly lifting the roof, the roof suddenly tilted and one side of the structure fell back to the ground. The crowd gasped collectively. They quickly recovered and the operation went on more or less smoothly…with the help of a brave young man, who when the roof or the steel supports needed a bit of persuading to act right, climbed up a ladder and did what it took to get the thing to fit together…sometimes it was with the help of a blow torch, occasionally it was a sledge hammer that was need to get the job done. Nobody left, until the roof was set in place and welded together. It was a Grand time.
My kids and Grand kids have been here and gone now, we had a quiet 4th, I did not allow fireworks on this hill…to the disappointment of the Grands…It was so dry…we did have a dribble of rain, but under the trees in the woods, the leaves and other debris were still dry and crumbly….I was afraid of fire…We have had a good bit of rain since, we needed it…ponds and lakes were as low or lower then the old timers ever remember seeing them.
Adam and I did get a bunch accomplished round here, routine maintenance type stuff, and I was exhausted. Not from the work…I can work…I do not mind work…in fact I like to work. What wore me out was the running to Clinton or Vicksburg for the pieces and parts we needed,…..and getting back home to discover we didn’t have exactly what we needed….we made lots of runs.
Frustration and aggravation will make you weary …much faster then work for sure! But still and all we only left two things on the list undone….we will do them in November when he come back.
I gave John’s old Ford 150 truck to Adam, because I did not like seeing it in the driveway, the sight of it made me feel very lonely….but when Adam and Philip pulled out of the driveway in John’s old truck….I cried and cried…. For many years it was the sound of that truck coming up the hill, and pulling in the driveway that brought comfort to the dogs and I, it signaled “The Papa Man” was home safe...We miss him.
Love to all, call if you need me
PS. I have pictures of the roof raising, ( and by the time you read this much more) on my Brand New blog, The blog will be taking the place of “The picture of the day” I have been sending around….I would love for you to visit me at http://gloria-ruralhindscountymississippi.blogspot.com/,
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