George Washington's Gristmill

View of the gristmill from across Dogue Run Creek.  In 1771 George Washington constructed a large gristmill at Dougue Run Farm.  Washington changed from tobacco to wheat as a cash crop in the 1760's and needed the gristmill to process this wheat and corn into flour and meal.  In 1791, Washington installed the automated flour mill system invented by Oliver Evans.  This system greatly improved the milling process and made Washington's mill more productive.  This restored Evans system is the only working example  in the U. S. today.  I have more pictures of the mill that I hope the hubby got that I did not.  I have lots more to post on George Washington's, distillery and his home that we visited in Mount Vernon, Virginia.  I will not be posting for the rest of this week.  I need to take a quick trip out to see my sick step-father.  When I do get back I will post more on the tour that the hubby and I took.

The top picture is of the Gristmill, the second is the water wheel that they use for power to run the big wheel grinders to mill the whole corn and wheat, the bottom picture could of been better but you can see where the corn was ground into cornmeal.  We actually bought some cornmeal that was made at the gristmill.

Hope you all have a good week.

Graduation!

Our daughter graduated Saturday afternoon with a Bachelors degree in psycology.  We are so proud of her!  It was very long day though, two hour drive up and a two hour drive back plus a three hour program!  It has been a very long three days so far.  We drove back from DC which is an eight hour drive, then Saturday we drove, Sunday we were on the road for six hours and then of course we are going to Illinois which is a 14 hour drive.  The husband is tired of seeing the inside of the truck.  We defiantly give a thumbs up for all the long haul truck drivers that is for sure.  The husband says he drives enough that he couldn't imagine driving truck all the time!

Another day in paradise!

Spring is here and the horses are shedding and look a little ragged but they will be looking better soon.

I came down with the hubby to DC,(90degree weather)  we are thinking of going to Mount Vernon and maybe to see the Washington gristmill and distillery, also.  I, of course, forgot to bring my camera thinking that I would be stuck in a motel room for the week and not knowing we would have time to play tourist.  I will have to use the phone camera.

Lots of news, we are going to Illinois to see the family, the step-father hasn't been doing good and it is time to see him before things get worse.  We bought a different truck, it is a 98 dodge diesel with no rust and in great shape, at least compared to the truck we had, we really didn't need that big of a truck but the price was right and we got a good price for our dodge that was a complete rust bucket and on its last legs.  I will have pictures later this week.  Hope everyone is having a good week.

Wordless Wednesday (new bird house)

Good Morning

The horses say good morning.  I now have to bring in both horses at night.  Annie has gotten a little skinnier than I like so I have upped her feed and to keep Sirocco from eating it, I bring them in at night.  Annie had a stone bruise and the vet came in and used the hoof tester to try and find the abscess and of course she didn't find it.   The farrier called the very next day and I told him about it and of course he found it for me.  I told him from now on I was calling him and not the vet!  She is lots better now.

Now that school is done for the semester I will be getting a lot more horse time in.   I did get all A's for the semester and I now have a 3.90 GPA average.  I do have just one class this summer, but it is online, which makes it a lot easier.  Then, just one more semester to go.   Hope to get lots of weaving in and put up a website just for the weaving part.  I will let you know.  I will be attempting to do the site myself, we shall see how well that goes!

Hope you all are having a good week so far, I will be blogging a lot more now.  So, have a wonderful day!

Not the only smart one!

This is my smart son!  He was inducted into the National Technical Honor Society last night.  He is in Info tech which is computers.  He plans on going to FMCC which is the college that I am going to at this time then he plans on going to Suny IT in Utica, NY for computers and criminal justice.    I am so proud of him, he has struggled through school from bullies picking on him all the time and not having that many friends to having a hard time with his regular subjects in school to being inducted into an honor society.  He was even awarded a scholarship this year from what is called the Clark foundation out of Cooperstown, NY.  Congratulations, Kegan!

Kegan put our new desktop computer together.  He actually put all the components that go inside the computer together and built if for us.  All I had to do is buy the parts.  I am posting on the new computer as I am writing.   I was so used to using my laptop that I forget to come over and use the big computer.  All I have to do now is get a bigger desk to work on.

Hope you all are having a good week.  One more day and it will be Friday for those of you who have a regular Monday through Friday day!

At the beginnning

Yes, it all started with having to get the big tractor and the post hole digger to dig four holes for the strawberry arbor.   The holes were at least 3 feet deep.  It will be amazing if we can get the strawberries to grow and survive and then have them dangling down above our heads.  The hubby saw an idea for the strawberry beds from Pintrest, but they used house gutters to make the beds instead of wood.  For us the wood is much cheaper!

This is the last week of school and I have done two tests out of four.  Tomorrow is a final and then Friday will be my final test and hopefully by next week I will know for sure how well I did.  I anxiously look every day to see how well I did on the test but so far no grades have been posted.

My husband tells me to quit worrying and that I am going to do fine and it is what it is.  Easier for him to say and harder for me not to worry.

Hope everyone is having a good week.