Goodbye to the Old Van

Last week I said goodbye to the old van I used in 2002 when we first moved up here. It was a great work truck for Illinois, low to ground, good gas mileage, and would hold 11' long stuff. But I quickly learned it couldn't handle the mountains of Leetonia. Even the slightest slope when wet would make the tires spin. So I retired it to a storage unit for my tools and various things. When I used to feed the birds I kept bird seed in it and the bears often pawed at it looking for a way to open the doors to find treasure. This year it started to leak and its water proof days as a storage unit over a friend of mine Phil Dudkin helped me haul it to the salvage yard. Turns out it was worth $420.00 dead. Since, I had only paid $500 for it, I figure it served me well with little loss. The brush around it had started to devour it and it took a bit of chopping to get it out. I have realized how much the wet weather has made the brush grow up near the house and my next project will be cutting it back as fire safety.

We got a couple of cooler days this week, but the humidity is still with us and it is promising to go back up in temperature next week. Not the best outdoor working weather. Along with the heat and humidity the bugs have been bad as well.  

From now until September expect to see a lot of Bears out bulking up eating berries and any handouts they can find from campers. Seems like once September comes and they hear shooting they make themselves a bit scarcer. The birds are still chirping even before sunrise and the hummingbirds are in full swing keeping Lee busy filling feeders. 

Looks like PennDot will be tearing the bridge out in front of our house next week sometime. They expect to close the road for six weeks. I will let you know when they show up. Make sure to enjoy Summer, it won't be long until the cold comes back. Mountain girl, Paula, logging out.