Perry's Pond

My brother Perry Wilson has a new project!  He acquired some property near the Elba by-pass from his grandson Bradley and is turning it into a beautiful get-away.  He has cleared 5 acres of dense forest around the 2-acre pond and behind the cabin his son Brad was building when he died several years ago.

Perry contracted with someone to come in and pull up all the trees less than 6" diameter and pile them up to be burned later.  Then the area was leveled and grass sown (hasn't come up yet).  At the back of the cabin is Beaver Dam Creek - which flooded downtown Elba in 1998.

More later.................

The Might Pea River is rising

Weather map on The Weather Channel on TV

Tropical Storm Lee arrived yesterday (Sunday) and it was cloudy and light rain throughout the day.  Today
was the big day here.  It was raining when we got up after being awakened by the weather radio informing us that we were under tornado watch.  Then about an hour later it got very dark outside and the tornado sirens went off.  We saw this map on TV and there was a notice that a tornado had been seen over the Elba airport, heading north.

Tornado warnings and watches, severe thunderstorms, etc. have been broadcast all day.

We went downtown for me to get a couple of photos of the Pea River which runs through Elba.  It's on its
way to being very full in the next 24 hours.  I will post some more photos this time tomorrow.  It is very
muddy and full of debris.

There was a truck with a boat trailer near the boat ramp.  I can't believe someone is on the river in all the rain and tornado warnings we've had today.

We've had almost 5" inches of rain in the past 24 hours and it's still coming down.  Glad we didn't have any high winds or thunder or lightening.   It was really just a gentle and sometimes heavy rain and feels nice and cool outside now.

We are supposed to have nice, cool weather all week.  Can't wait!

Waiting for Tropical Storm Lee

It isn't often that we eagerly anticipate a tropical storm to arrive from the Gulf Coast.  But this time it's different.  We need rain badly.  We don't need a lot at one time but this time it's predicted to move through slowly and the soil is so dry, it should soak it up as it falls.  We DO NOT want Pea River (that flows through Elba) to flood again as it did in the 1990's three times (1990, 1995, 1998).

Tonight the rain is supposed to move into our area.  YEAH!  I don't think we've anticipated rain this much in a long time, and without hurricane winds and tornadoes.



Large vats of peanuts boiling

 We took advantage of the cloudy and breezy day to take a short trip to nearby Luverne, AL to get some boiled peanuts at the "World's Largest Peanut Boil".

Held in conjunction with The Shriners' World's Largest Peanut Boil participants in the festival will have a great chance to purchase some of the over 60,000 pounds of peanuts which are sold each Labor Day weekend as a part of the Shriner's annual peanut boil - recognized as the largest peanut boil in the world for over 30 years.


Then we settled down to watch the Ala football game, the Auburn game, and listen to Clemson and Troy ballgame on the radio.  Several of our family were at the Clemson/Troy game where our granddaughter Nerissa is a 2nd semester Senior in Nursing program.  Several people from the Elba/Troy area went to the game.

We had an early Labor Day cook-out tonight.  Jim grilled some good rib eye steaks and I made  baked potatoes and a big garden salad to go with the steaks.  And a tall glass of good cold iced tea.  He is waiting awhile for a dish of Homemade Vanilla Blue Bell ice cream that I bought today; the best ice cream in the world according to Jim Gilmer!

Celebrating two birthdays



Katie and Caroline opening their gifts



 Two of our granddaughters have birthdays a week apart; Katie was 20 on August 29th and Caroline will be 16 on Sept. 5th (Labor Day).  We traveled to Florence, SC for the birthday party on Saturday, Aug. 27.

Their Uncle Jerry and Aunt Alice came from Charlotte to help celebrate, along with the girls' boy friends.

Caroline is shown in the next photo dressed for school on Monday, Aug. 27, wearing a new outfit she got for her birthday, including feather ear rings.

In the next photo, she is off to school, the 2nd day dressed in hot weather clothes.  She is driving now and has her own parking place at school.  She drives the family car and Bill drives his pick-up to work or goes on his motorcycle.  He has to keep up a truck, a motorcycle, an SUV, and two other cars.  I can only imagine his insurance bill!!

Caroline, Nell, Nerissa, Jim and Caroline



DAR District Meeting

John Coffee DAR Chapter officers - L-R:Gaye Hines,
Elsie Hilton Nell Gilmer, and Alva Graves

Yesterday I traveled to Montgomery to attend the annual District meeting of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR).  At this meeting at Wynnlakes Golf and Country Club, we got our instructions for the next year.

This is how the DAR is able to so efficiently carry out their order of business.  There is an annual Congress held each July in Washington, DC.  The state officers attend and get their instructions for the next year and in turn hold district meetings in each state and pass the instructions on to the local chapters.  Our new chapter regent, Gaye Hines, shown on the left in this photo has been busy getting her agenda ready for the new year.  She has had board meetings at which time meetings were planned for 2011-2012 year.  Committee assignments have been made and yesterday she received info to pass on to the committees.

It's always fun to attend these meetings and see other DAR members that we see at state meetings in March and at other informal gatherings during the year.


We had to get up early and leave at 7 a.m. to be at the meeting by 9 a.m.  After a delicious lunch, Elsie and I headed to the new Earth Fare organic food store at Eastchase Mall in Montgomery.  Ah, so much to see.  I tried not to spend too much and came away with some natural peanut butter and locally canned Rasberry Chipotle Salsa that I have a hard time finding.  I found a pint for $4.99 - and can't wait to make our favorite black bean dip using the salsa.

We were back home by 4:30 pm, in time to go to church supper.

Summertime Picnic with Friends

Each August we are invited to the SAR (Sons of the American Revolution) picnic.  This year it was held in the shady back yard of President Perry Vickers in Enterprise.  The food table was set up indoors but tables were set outside in the large carport on the back of the house.  The big shade trees provided comfort from the almost 100 degree temperature and about 99% humidity.  Plus there were several large fans circulating the air.

Three large beverage containers hit the spot while waiting for lunch to be served.  Choice of Southern Alabama sweet tea, water and lemonade.  Around 50 SAR members, spouses, friends and family were present for the enjoyable occasion.

The entre is always barbecue which they purchase from Larry's BarBQue restaurant.  The other dishes are prepared and brought to the picnic by members and spouses.  The food table was beautiful with all the picnic foods.  And you never saw such a big dessert table.  I cook Jim's favorite dessert:  Cranberry/Apple Casserole.  Others must have liked it since there was only a small serving left over.  I buy cranberries in Jan. and put them in the freezer since they are only in the grocery stores during holiday season.

Maybe I'll have some photos to publish here in a day or two.

Making Pear Preserves - a Family Tradition

My grandmothers peeled and preserved pears and my mother did the same, all from the same pear trees.
Today I gathered pears from my brother Perry's pear tree and I'm spending the afternoon peeling pears, getting them ready to make preserves. They will sit overnight covered with sugar,  and I will cook them tomorrow.

It's not an easy chore - making pear preserves.  First you gather the pears and they are so heavy you can't put many in the bucket at the time.  You have to be careful not to bruise them.  After you peel the pears you cut the pear away from the core in small slices or like apple slices.

Cover with sugar and slowly  boil for 3-4 hours

You need a pan of water for peeling pears, a pan to put the peeled pears in, and another for cooking the pears. You pour  sugar on them and let them stand for a few hours or overnight,  before preserving them by cooking them slowly for a long, long time - all afternoon.  Takes 3-4 hours, depending on how fast they cook.  I usually let them come to a boil and slowly boil so they have thick syrup and the pears become dark

.