Fractured Knuckle

In other news, I managed to fracture my left index knuckle. It's a small "avulsion fracture." When it happened Saturday evening, I went to the First Care Clinic and got it x-rayed. They taped it up and got me an appointment with an orthopedist this afternoon. 

After he looks at the x-ray, I will find out what, if anything, he wants to do. I really hope he says I can take off this stupid finger splint and stop the buddy taping to the middle finger. If it's supposed to limit my use of my left hand, it is really working well. I blame all typos on this.

I was working at our daughter and son-in-law's new house. I had removed a storm window, and when I was trying to put it back, the prop for the inside window was getting in my way. So I removed the prop and jammed the window all the way to the top. (What could possibly go wrong?!) It seemed like it was going to stay there just fine -- right up to the moment when it came down at warp speed and dealt a sledge hammer blow to my hands. The knuckle got the worst of it.

Honestly, it doesn't hurt at all unless I try to bend the finger. And then it's the finger that hurts, not the knuckle. (Experiments done while rewrapping.)  But I suspect he will want me to continue with the splint a little longer to avoid re-injury. 

Update: I don't have to wear the splint any more, but have to keep the fingers "buddy-wrapped" for a few weeks.

Obion County Courthouse

The Obion County courthouse is an imposing structure that sits on its own city block in Union City, Tennessee. Like many courthouses, it was built during the Great Depression by PWA workers. It has a limestone veneer, and it probably provided a lot of jobs for local men both at the quarry and on the construction site.

I know that scholars disagree about the success of New Deal projects in ending the Depression. Many say that the Depression only came to an end because of World War II. But one fact that can't be argued is that we are still using many of the public buildings, bridges, roads, and state/national park improvements that were public works projects in  the 1930s. Isn't that a success in itself?

The New Old House

Hydrangeas on the north side of the house

Our daughter and son-in-law have recently bought a home. They were looking for an old house, and I am glad they finally found one. Their house has many of the things that they had hoped to find -- a brick exterior, high ceilings, a formal dining room, a pantry, beautiful woodwork, hardwood floors, several bathrooms, lots of space.

The house was built in 1933, when workmanship and materials were still good. A home inspector checked the entire building thoroughly. The wiring was fine; the plumbing had some leaks. But structurally, it was sound.

Keely and Taurus made a bold offer, far below the appraised value of the house, and  the seller accepted it. Completing the sale took a long time because the financing included a State of Kentucky first-time homeowner program. In late October, the last bit of red tape was finally cut, and Keely and Taurus got the keys to their house.

Vintage fan in the basement

Since then, they have been working in the house getting it ready to move in. One of the first items on the agenda was the plumbing.  Our son-in-law has worked hard on it day after day when he arrives home from work, and he has installed two commodes and several faucets and various pieces of plumbing connected to those fixtures.

Meanwhile, Keely removed the old wall-to-wall carpet, with the help of a friend. She has spent her evenings working very hard on the floors. She pulled up the nails and tacks left from the carpet and put down a fresh coat of shellac, and finally, a coat of paste wax. The hallway, which had a double layer of old carpet, has been a challenge. There, she is still scraping up the foam backing of the bottom layer of carpet.

Keely has also been fixing cracks in the plaster and getting the walls ready to paint. And she has painted the pantry shelves. I have been helping as much as I can with thorough cleaning. No heavy cleaning had been done in the house for a very long time, even before it sat empty for two years.

Old wallpapers in a closet corner

They will be moving in a few more days. It would be lovely to have enough time to paint every room in advance and solve every little problem, but that isn't possible. We are thankful for what we have accomplished  The rest will be done in its own good time. The house already looks 100 times better. It's a jewel, and it's beginning to shine.

Harvest Before the Rain

As we drove home from Hopkinsville last night on our little blacktop highway, we came to a pickup truck parked crosswise, blocking the way. The farmer explained that he had a couple of big combines coming down the road, and there wasn't enough room for them to meet any other vehicles.

We could have gone around by a different road, but we weren't in a hurry, so we waited. In about five minutes, the combines arrived. They did indeed need the entire road for their extremely wide heads. The drivers carefully maneuvered the combines across the little bridge, and moments later, they were harvesting soybeans.

I hope the farmer got all his beans in before the rain began to fall late last night. It's supposed to be rainy off and on for several days.