We moved to 512 Ardmore Lane in Albany, GA in September 1990. You entered our 3 car garage from an alley behind our house. This was a very large house and much more room than we needed. It had a living room, dining room, kitchen, breakfast room, den with fireplace, 3 bedrooms, 2-1/2 bathrooms, laundry room, and a huge den that had been added on (and this is where we lived most of the time). A covered patio was off the den and we had a big storage room beside the carport, plus a storage building at the back of the lot. And if this wasn't enough, we had stairs to the attic that was floored and used for storage. I kept the maid that the previous owners had and Lillie Mae came every Tuesday to help clean this big house. Her home was flooded in 1994 and we got to help her out some, plus a lot of other people less fortunate. We didn't have any flood damage. The only thing we didn't like about this place were the big pine trees. Pine straw fell like rain drops in the fall. We had a yardman who came every week all year long. Eddie cut the grass in the summer and raked pinestraw in the fall and winter.
Jim worked in Cordele at Sero Shirt Co. and I had a part time job with the Univ. of GA Cooperative Extension Service as Occupant Safety Coordinator for SW GA for the Governor's Highway Safety Office. I helped organize a Safety Program for businesses and manufacturing plants in Albany area and served as President one year. When I had to go to state meetings every 3 months, I would take James along since Jim was usually away on trips. James got to know the people I worked with and they called him my assistant. Our meetings were usually held at resorts such as Jekyl Island or Savannah, or in Atlanta.
We enjoyed going to Covenant Presbyterian Church on Lake Lorene and made many friends there. We went back in 2005 to their 50th anniversary and many of our friends had passed away, including our next door neighbor Lamar Stewart who was the retired High Sheriff of Daugherty Co. Once when we were at our farm in Alabama, Lamar called us to tell us that someone had removed a window and broken into our house. We hurried home to find the sliding door on the patio open and the house filled with mosquitos. They took electronic items including tv's, video players, radios, coin collection, and other items. I thought we were safe with the retired sheriff as a neighbor.
We made many trips back and forth to our farm in Elba, AL when we lived in Albany. In the spring of 1996, we decided to sell our house and retire early (we were 62 that year), and move to our farm. We sold our house right away and the people wanted to move in the next week. That wasn't possible since we had to find a place to store all our furniture until we could remodel the farm house. It took us about a month to get everything moved. We were leaving our 3,000 sq ft home and moving into a tiny, two bedroom cottage by a lake in the woods. We converted an old 2 bedroom mobile home into a guest house and lived in it for about 4 months. More about that tomorrow!
We lived in Albany for 6 years and had many friends there. The Marine base was on the east side of town and we loved to going to their fireworks displays on holidays. I had a great DAR chapter in Albany.
James had his colon removed while we lived there after over a year of severe kidney infections which were caused by a leakage of E. coli from his colon. He was in the hospital for 2 weeks and I don't think I left his side very much during that time. My sister Alice came and spent some time with us to help out.
James hobby house on east side of porch. That banana tree has to go. It's too big.
This rose bush was rooted from one in Albany, Ga that my 80 year old friend could document back to her great grandmother's home in Savannah. I figured it is about 200 years old. The pale pink roses are so fragrant, but the bush is covered with so many torns we try not to get too close. I rooted some and have them growing on our fence in the back yard in Elba.
My favorite accomplishment was establishing a water garden in the spring area. We got so excited when we had our first water lily bloom. The cold winter killed it and I never got another one.
Today I am posting several photos of developments at our farm, which we named WhisperingPines since we had about 80 acres of pines that we planted in 1983. I will list some of these improvements and you can look for them in the photos. First, we installed a picket fence in front of the house and painted it white. Using a mold and many bags of cement, we made "large, smooth river rocks" for the walkway in the front yard. I added an arbor on the right side of the house, leading to the lake.
We cleared the woods beside the house and had a beautiful water garden where a spring came out of the ground under a big oak tree. This is the same spring where my mother did the family wash when I was small. What memories!! Tomorrow I will feature my plants and landscaping. We developed the area so much we couldn't maintain it. I felt like we were living in the middle of a park.
This is the front view in 1987 soon after the house was moved, and before the front porch was added. Later we enclosed the foundation with cement blocks. We used this place for our family to come on holidays for get-togethers.
We moved to 512 Ardmore Lane in Albany, GA in September 1990. You entered our 3 car garage from an alley behind our house. This was a very large house and much more room than we needed. It had a living room, dining room, kitchen, breakfast room, den with fireplace, 3 bedrooms, 2-1/2 bathrooms, laundry room, and a huge den that had been added on (and this is where we lived most of the time). A covered patio was off the den and we had a big storage room beside the carport, plus a storage building at the back of the lot. And if this wasn't enough, we had stairs to the attic that was floored and used for storage. I kept the maid that the previous owners had and Lillie Mae came every Tuesday to help clean this big house. Her home was flooded in 1994 and we got to help her out some, plus a lot of other people less fortunate. We didn't have any flood damage. The only thing we didn't like about this place were the big pine trees. Pine straw fell like rain drops in the fall. We had a yardman who came every week all year long. Eddie cut the grass in the summer and raked pinestraw in the fall and winter. 
We moved from Haleyville to Dothan in the spring of 1987. We rented this house in Grimes community near the Dothan airport. It was located at 401 Lingo Road at the end of the street. We only had one neighbor close by. The house belonged to a lady who had to move to Baptist Village assisted living. The house was well maintained (I think we were the first renters) and had a big orchard in the back with lots of pecan trees, which we enjoyed. We were not too far from Elba and enjoyed going to the farm on week-ends.
The landscaping was beautiful with lots of blooming shrubs. Here I am pictured with James in the front yard.
We were living here when our calico persian cat disappeared one night. Pupoki (Poki for short) liked to sleep on top of our car in the carport. We think she was "catnapped" since the carport was near the street and people were always turning around in our driveway at the end of the street. She was a beautiful cat and we spent about a week driving around looking for her. She came from Hawaii as a kitten and a neighbor in NC gave her to us when they had to move. They told us that Pupoki meant "cat" in Hawaiian.
