Day 3 of working 12 days straight.

Day 1: Swept out the historical homes. I was supposed to help Peter mow but since it is so dry we are going to put off on mowing for a little bit cause it would just cause the water to run completely off.

Day 2: Drove out to Fernland. It was so amazing out there. But the trip down there had it's hightlights. We were supposed to leave at 8. Didn't leave until about 9:15ish. I also got doughnuts for us.

On the way down we had: Helen's truck- with me and Helen; the Silver Bullet- the museum truck driven by Mike and Sandra riding it; and renting/ borrowing a university truck with Mac and Peter. Helen and I were in the lead and right when we get to Conroe we get a call from Sandra that the clutch and transmission went out in the Silver Bullet. (Which is a Ford F150 from the 80's or earlier). So we turn around to go get them.

Well I had the Fernland Key to the gate and Mac and Peter beat us there and were waiting on us to get there after we had picked up Mike and Sandra. Finally we all arrive and go to the cabins.

It was like stepping back in time to the 1800s. The cabins looked amazing the stuff in them was amazing. Just that it was put there in the 1970s by Mr. and Mrs. Thaurp. And basically hadn't been taken care of since. I forgot how the University managed to get it but it was given to the Museum. That day was the day we went down to get some of it.

Unfortunately. We can't take it all. Sandra had a list of what we were going to take. We ended up come back with 1 blanket chest, 2 beds, 1 washstand, 1 table, and 2 pie chests. Some time later on in July or the end of June Sandra, Helen, Rebecca and I are going to go back and box up some of the smaller things to bring back to the museum. We are doing that to either use or might end up selling on ebay. We might be able to get some money for some things but not really sure about the rest.

The reason we are trying to get the stuff from Fernland- a collection of Jardine, Crane and Bearbend Cabins along with a blacksmith shop, and several storage/ work sheds- is because the Unversity is planning on selling the property and basically the cabins on the land. The museum wants the Bearbend cabin but there is just so much involved in getting it to the museum and actually putting it on the grounds.

Some of the concerns involved with the adventure are:

• Funding will be needed for it- Sandra and I were talking, we are going to need more than a grant, we will need funding from an institution or organization
• When will the move take place if we can get them here?- the sooner the better so the university can sell the land
• How will it happen?- Will we hire a company to do it? Will the museum do it? Will there be a class offered to help?- It's too far to really ask for a class or trustees to help. Will it be taken apart and re assembled?- very time consuming. Will it be just loaded onto trailers and then driving up to the museum?- Where would we get the vechicles to do?- We would have to rent. Have to cut down trees to get it done. Get permits to move it on the freeway.
• Where will it go on the grounds? - There isn't a whole lot of room unless we aren't picky about where it is placed
• Who will be in charge of this?
• If the University was to keep the property and therefore the cabins down there. How would the cabins be maintained? Would need plumbing, electrity, welcomeing center, staff to be at each cabin to watch them, demonstrate or be there to talk about like a living farm. Parking would be needed, better pathways to get to each place. The rodent and insect infastation would need to be cleared out.
• And so on and so forth.......

Anyways... it took forever to pack this all up and figure out how to load it on the trucks because we had one less truck to work with. Somehow we made it all work. Well on the way back up to Huntsville we passed two tow trucks and an 18 wheeler about in the place we had left the Silver Bullet. Since the Silver Bullet wasn't running we had to call our Secretary, JoAnn (even though she does more than just secretary stuff) to call the Unversity to have them take a truck out there to pick it up and work on it.

Hopefully we will get a new truck. Unfortunately with our boss you tell him something that needs to be addressed or taken care of and you are lucky if it gets done. Peter, Mac and Mike had been telling Doc that the truck needs a new transmission, a new clutch or a new vehicle period for months now. Well the running joke now is that anything Mike drives for museum purposes breaks down and we should have done that a while ago; of course now we don't have anything that will work. So we are going to have to buy a vehicle to use now.

Back to the 18 wheeler. After we see the 18 wheeler- which by the way has a smashed front end- we wonder if accidentaly the 18 wheeler hit the truck and trailer and that is what caused the accident so we are waiting to get back to the museum to talk to JoAnn to make sure that the truck was picked up and not sitting in a montgomery tow lot.

Turns out the truck is sitting in the lot on SHSU West campus to get worked on. We finished unloading the trucks, brought the furniture into the back of the exhibit hall to be cleaned and repaired and then placed in the houses. I will be helping Sandy with that this summer at some point.

Day 3: I now know how to work a surger machine, the thing that makes a chain stitch on your clothes so it doesn't unravel. I had to surge the ends of my fabric. Then I washed it and in a few minutes will iron it to then start laying out the pattern to work on cutting and slowly putting my dress together.