Our new-looking driveway, Trade Days, saying goodbye, three days of training

After having missed their appointment with us on Thursday, the blacktop company showed up Friday afternoon. Mama and I had pretty much given up on them when she received word that they should be at the farm shortly. That was about 3 pm. They made short work of coating and sealing the driveway, but they took no time to fill cracks like we were promised when we agreed to the work. At any rate, they did a very good job applying the sealant. The guy doing the work took time to overlap the sealant to ensure heavy coverage over the entire area of our large driveway. He applied two coats at the point where the driveway meets the shop entrance and the concrete of the garage area. That is the most disturbed area of the driveway since we use that area to turn into the garage or to turn to park in the concrete portion on the driveway. It was the area most in need of attention. We did not drive on the new sealant until late Saturday afternoon – as we were directed to do. Mama was assured that the sealant would last for up to seven years. We will see, but it sure looks good right now. (After image will be added later.)

Before 

Not being able to drive on the new sealant made loading up for Trade Days a bit of a challenge. There were a lot of items in the shop that I had to load into the tractor bucket and take around the long way via the barn lot to the vehicles that had been parked on the county road to leave the driveway open for the workers to apply the sealant. It took me about an hour to get the truck and the Sequoia loaded for the trip to Trade Days, but we left about the time Mama had planned for that to happen. When we got to Bowie and began to set up, Mama discovered a couple items she had not included in the original list, so those items were assigned to Victoria to bring later when she came to help Mama.

Kimberlyn met Mama early but she had to leave early. They had a very pleasant morning together. Even though Victoria was keeping Rosalee, she stayed with Mama for several hours helping Mama with the sale of her Color Street inventory. All in all, Mama did pretty well. She was very encouraged. I did explain to her that she did not technically make any money. She merely recouped some of the money she had spent on the inventory she had on hand. Either way, she moved her inventory and that counts toward her business success. She will take the money she made and reinvest it in product to sell next month at the Weatherford equivalent of Trade Days. In addition to getting some of her money back, she made 13 new contacts while there. Those she will follow up on this week. Hopefully, those who bought from her in person will now order from her online.

This morning we will be going to the funeral for Jerry Brooks. He died of COVID related pneumonia last Thursday. The other gentleman from our church was taken off the ventilator last night while we were in the service. I have not heard about the outcome of that, but it is not often a good one – as far as this life is concerned. The funeral today will be at our church and we are expecting a packed house. In preparation for that many people to attend, the Pastor hired a company to sanitize the auditorium. That will not eliminate the potential for exposure to the virus, but it will eliminate the church building as a potential source. It is sad that we have to take those expensive precautions this day and age, but such is the world we are living in. I was telling Mama last night that it is a shame that as we are emerging from this pandemic, we will bury two of the members of our church who have succumbed to pneumonia associated with the virus. Such is the frailty of life in this world.

I will be in training for the next three days. Teaching Tuesday and Thursday. Participating on the class on Wednesday. It is a full week. I do not have too many of those, so it is nice to be busy enough to be seen as busy. With the remote working arrangement, it is too often out of sight out of mind.

I need a week like this one to help ensure my management that I am earning my keep.