Transforming Legs

Several weeks back, Elder Pleshek was cleaning out some storage areas around Historic Nauvoo.  He came across a table that was to go to the burn pile.  Rather than putting it in the pile, he rescued it and decided he would fix and restore it for Andrew and Cierra.  It is NOT an historic table.

Pat built two new leaves to put into the table.  We both planed it so it would all be the same when it was assembled.  I wanted to keep the legs as they were and then decided that I would have a lot of work in stripping them if I wanted the wood grain to show.

I decided that I would sand them down and paint them black.  The table top is white so the contrast would be really a great look.

We painted them black and they look great!  Unfortunately I forgot to take a photo of the finished product.  When we unveiled it to the new owners they seemed pleased with it.  It is so much larger than what they presently have and this will serve them for years to come.

Blessing for Eddie

Friday, July 3rd, we finished our work day early and headed for Independence, MO for the blessing of our newest grandchild.  A long drive but so worth it.  It was good to meet this little man and reconnect with Cierra's family.  

I love this photo of great-grandma Gayle holding little Edward.  What a precious memory.  She just smiled at him and watched him sleep.  It was so tender.

Andrew pronounced a beautiful blessing on his son.  He told him that he would love all those he meets.  He will also be blessed with patience and a forgiving heart.  That sounds an awful lot like his dad and Papa.  

We only spent a couple of hours together before we headed back to Nauvoo.  On the evening of the 4th, they came to Nauvoo and spent the night here before heading home this morning.  He's such a little snuggler.  Seems to be a really good baby.  

What a blessing to have another grandchild.  This little guy is the only male to have the Pleshek name.  At least it will live on for another generation!

Alvin Smith District

Last week we met with President Julander.  He asked us to be district leaders.  Today we met for the first time with our newly organized district.  We met in the Cultural Hall aka the Masonic Hall.  

Once our sacrament service was complete, we talked about district assignments.  

On a side note, when I walked into the site the first thing I noticed was all the faux grain painted on all the wood surfaces.  I've seen it again and again over the years but until this spring when I spent so much time applying faux grain to window frames and doors and door frames, it never occurred to me that it wasn't original wood grain.

We have an amazing group of missionaries in our district.  Elder and Sister Lancaster are our zone leaders, Elder and Sister Flanders and Elder and Sister Ballard.  Elder Ballard was just called to be a counselor to President Rizley.  What a great group of people we get to meet with!

HCK Porch

As Jared has been giving me work orders, I've been finishing them and then looking for other things to do.  I had my husband put in a work order for the Heber C. Kimball porch.  It was finished late last fall or maybe even earlier this spring.  It needs paint.  I thought this would be a task that wouldn't take too long.  Was I wrong!

Elder Flanders and I began working on prepping it for paint on Wednesday.  I began with filling the nail holes and then going back to sand them.  Then it was evident that caulking was in order. We spent three long days out in the sun and heat working to get things ready to paint.  The painting will be easy once everything is filled and sanded.  He says he will have about 15 more minutes of prep work up top and it will be ready for paint. 
I've been working on the lower porch.  The inside is close, but I haven't begun the outer caulking which will need to be done on a ladder.  We also have the small porch to the east to do but I have been working on that as well. 
I really want that porch finished!

Greasy Spoon

On Friday evening the FM missionaries were supposed to supply the end of the month meal in Fort Madison.  We prepared what we were assigned to do on Thursday.  On Friday, the Bailies loaded up their back seat and we loaded ours and delivered the food to the church in Fort Madison.  Knowing the Bailies, we followed them to the Fort Diner.

This place is the original greasy spoon.  There is room for about a dozen people to eat in at this place.  Elder Bailie says they have a great cheeseburger so we decided to try.

The food was pretty much like any other diner.  The burger was good but I made a better one earlier in the week.  When you talk about a dive, this place is the kind of place you picture.  We don't believe we will go back there again.  The best part was being with the Bailies.  How we love those two people!

Porter

When we showed up to feed the young oxen on Saturday morning, I saw this young blue jay standing on the top railing of the fence.  It allowed me to get very close.

Once we brought Porter and Brigham to the shed to be sprayed for flies, Porter spied that little bird.  He stuck his snout right up next to it and sniffed.  Then he lowered his head as if to "buck" that little bird.  He did that a few times.

Finally, he pushed on that little bird until he pushed it off the railing.  I checked on it later and tried to catch it and put it back on the railing.  It flew up there all on his own so I decided it would be fine.

Social Distancing?

We received an email about having ice cream at 11am on Friday in the B building.  I thought this was for the FM employees and missionaries. We had an 8am meeting via Zoom with our site president that same day.  President Rizley spoke about social distancing and wearing masks.  We've been told that when we do open our doors for in person tours, they will be conducted by the young sisters.  The senior couples will keep their distance as they are more susceptible to Covid than those who are younger.  

So we have this meeting at 8 and are reminded to keep our distance and wear masks when we can't.  Then I show up at this ice cream "social" and find all the young sisters coming and going as well as the FM employees, interns, summer help and FM missionaries.  At one point there had to be 100 people in that building.  Those serving ice cream wore masks and a half dozen others including Presidents Wadley and Julander.  I was grateful President Rizley never showed up.   

This photo what the place looked like when the social began.  It got much more crowded.  Social distancing at it's finest!  :-)