I didn’t drop a blog post yesterday because, as I’d predicted, things had slowed down. That doesn’t mean nothing happened in our American Life — we got around a little and accomplished a few things. It was a good day despite us not setting the world on fire.
Notably, we drove to the vape shop in Mountain Home to replenish our nicotine-delivery systems. We gassed up the Silverado ($3.399). On a whim, we decided to try out a Mexican joint in Flippin for lunch, but it was closed, so we deferred to one of our favorites — Carolyn’s Razorback Ribs.
Felicia, daughter of the owner, waited on us the very first time we ate there. She’s taken an interest in Deb and me ever since, and yesterday she pulled up a chair to our table, sat down and stayed. Another waitress took care of the rest of the customers. Felicia was there just for us, and we talked a long while.
She’s a great young woman, and her choosing to spend time with us was pretty special. (So, by the way, were the burgers and the huckleberry ice cream.)
Back on The Mountain, I saw a flowering ground vine I thought was morning glories, but in fact it was a wild potato vine. (Yes, the roots are edible.) We watched a peaceful sunset and a brilliant moonrise.
And that, more or less, was our Saturday.
Deb’s phone rang at 7:30am this morning. It was the Lowe’s in Mountain Home, calling to say they’d had a cancellation and to ask if we’d like our order of concrete blocks delivered today instead of tomorrow. We said yes, of course, and around 9:30am a flatbed truck appeared at the bottom of the driveway.
The delivery driver chose to unload down there and bring three skids of blocks up onto the homesite with his three-wheeled “mule” (essentially the same kind of contraption that’ll maneuver our cabin into place).
What we got was 140 conventional concrete blocks and 32 concrete cap blocks — well, not exactly. We realized shortly after the driver left that we’d mistakenly ordered 2x8x16 blocks, not the 4x8x16 cap blocks Graceland specifies. Deb quickly placed a pickup order for this afternoon, and we settled in to wait for notification that it was ready.
We relaxed in the recliners, enjoying relative quiet without the constant hum of the air conditioners. (This was the coolest day we’ve had in weeks.) Suddenly, Deb sat up and whispered, “Deer!”
A whitetail doe was browsing on greenbrier just south of the pad where the cabin will be. It was the first time we’d seen deer that close to the RV.
Eventually she disappeared into the woods near the shed, and a young spike buck emerged.
Their presence is an indication that ours is being accepted. Pretty cool.
We did get word from Lowe’s, and we did make a run to pick up the correct cap blocks. (We’ll definitely find a use for those 2x8x16 blocks, which essentially are pavers.) Later we had a grocery pickup scheduled, and since it had been a while since Smudge had come with us on errands, she was along for the ride.
And so, a day ahead of schedule, materials that’ll form the foundation for our modest cabin are here on the homesite. Other than dropping a few trees and maybe checking with the power company about that droopy transformer-to-meter line, we’re ready to go.
It’s a good feeling.
Take care of yourselves, Patriots. Stay calm. Stay sharp. Stay free.
#WiseUp #LibertyOrDeath #Ungovernable
#LetsGoBrandon #FJB