November 16

The Day the Tractor Disappeared Under Ground

In 2022, our family was deep, (no pun indended) into having my Father and Mother’s property cleared and prepared to host a wedding for Kristie, our youngest daughter.  To do this, huge trees were removed and pushed to the back of the property where the massive roots were put on a fire in hopes to clear the land without the expense of removal.  The weight and massive size of the trees would have cost a great deal to haul away so we tried burning to save.  The biggest problem was the huge tree logs and roots were fresh wood and not easily burned. In addition, we went through a rainy season which kept the wood damp.   When push finally came to shove, and our time was getting short before the wedding,  we hired a young guy who had a new Kubota tractor.  Boom!  Done in a matter of minutes.

Ronnie, Kristie’s Dad videod the whole event and in the video showed this young forester, literally disappearing into the ground digging out a hole big enough to put 3 gigantic roots weighing thousands of pounds.  The roots were almost as big as the equipment he was driving but he had no trouble digging out that dungeon and pulling in those massive pieces of wood, then covering them with a smooth surface.

He was on the property about 2 hours for which his payment would be $500. In that time, he spread a full truck load of number 57 rock, disappeared into the hole numerous times, leaving us with  a walkway between the chapel and barn and a parking lot with a smooth surface of dirt for which to plant grass.

His disappearing act was exactly what was needed to prepare our grounds to host a perfect wedding and yes, we had that wedding.

Derrick and Kristie

See you tomorrow,

November 10

The Storm After the Wedding

Thankfully, the weather was beautiful before, during and after the November 5, wedding. It was so grand that everyone sat out in the open air at the tables and rocked and rolled with the band until about 10:00 pm.

Fast forward only a few days and we’ve now removed the 20 x 40 tent, secured anything that might blow away or fall and stacked the chairs. (Although, I think I’ve stacked them too high and strong winds might take them down. We shall see?)

A now designated hurricane named “Nicole” is on the way up the middle of Florida and expected to skirt the west side of Jacksonville. I’ll keep you posted as to what happened to the chairs.

See you tomorrow,

November 9

The Proposal

Derrick wanted to make the proposal special so he called Katie the sister of Kristie to see what could be done to make that happen. He chose to allow the family to be a part of this momentous occasion and we all were thrilled. Love was in the air and through a turn of events, it was scheduled that we would all get aboard a horse and buggy in St. Augustine and Derrick would do the honors, even getting on one knee.(Not pictured here but he did).

(Photo: Nan, Ramey, Katie, Ronnie, Kristie, Derrick)

We all were a part of it in the Nation’s oldest city, St. Augustine in December of 2021 and afterwords ate at a luxurious restaurant to seal the deal. Great fun was had by all.

They were married last week in November at the family Homestead in Jacksonville, Kristie’s hometown. It was wonderful. They will live happily ever after.

See you tomorrow,

November 8

After the Wedding

After the wedding was over, we had a team of people willing to help. Chairs had to be stacked, food had to be covered and refrigerated, trash had to be gathered and all of the small details had to be put in place in order to leave the venue.

One of the last things to come down was the flower display which had been place over white painted antique doors. Now what to do with them. They still are resting over wooden benches in the chapel. We don’t know how to store or even wrap for possible future use.

Any ideas out there?

See you tomorrow,

November 6

Wedding Clean Up

It took us some ten months to prepare for this wedding. It was over in about 35 minutes, we had a party and then the clean up. Wow and wow! We had everything from tables, chairs, food, and bags of garbage, incidentals and more to dispose of or store. The morning after began for Katie and her team at 8 am and they kept at it long into the afternoon.

We left it as neat and clean as possible and removed anything that the rodents might be interested in….To be sure the didn’t get into anything, we stored all trash bags inside the bathrooms until the next day when we could take it out to the trash pick up. Good thing too. We forgot one bag in the tent and the racoons had a hay day…( No pun intended).

See you tomorrow,

November 5

We Had a Wedding

In December of 2021, Derrick, my daughter’s boyfriend proposed to her in St. Augustine on the mount of a horse and carriage. It was sweet and heart-felt. Fast forward to November 5th and they married among friends and family members. Congrats to the happy couple.

While they both live in Alabama, Kristie wanted to marry in her own hometown so she did. She was born and raised in Jacksonville and she came home to seal the deal. More to come….

See you tomorrow,

December 23

We Planned for a Wedding

This has been a fun journey getting ready for our daughter’s wedding. In December of 2021, her boyfriend came home with her to Jacksonville. She lives and works in Alabama where she met him but she wanted to get married in her hometown.

To make things special, he rented a horse and buggy in St. Augustine and invited the family to come along. It was a fun night with love in the air.

Derrick got on his knees and asked Kristie to marry him and that began some ten months of a lot of work at the family homestead. Details coming…..

See you tomorrow,