All of us Saint's Day

Hello Church Family,

Here we are again. Actually it is Janet and me(Andy) today. Sally and Thad are around somewhere. (We get to go for ice cream at the Pharmacy down the street after our inputs as a treato).

Today we finished work at Tim and Tina's house. Tim was away today and we had a bit too little to do. We had 14 people watching Dale as he built roof over the back porch. Janet says "No we didn't". Well perhaps we helped a little. It is nice to have an architect along. And it doesn't hurt to have a few engineers either for the math. And of course it is always good to have a native American along. Dale did what he wanted to anyway.

Ruth says, "Another fun game of Cranium last night. Testing our 'gnilleps' backwards ability. Also, this morning waking up at 6am to see the sunrise. It was a little early for me but worth it". It wasn't quite so early for the rest of us.

John Wyatt, an Appalachian storyteller (The Appalachian American Specializing in Acoustical Folk, Gospel, & Bluegrass Misic with Stories and Songs of the mountains) came to visit last night and told us many stories about West Virginia. He claimed that they were all true. He was a brakeman and conductor on the railroad for many years and continues as a Baptist Minister serving two congregations and performing a prison ministry. He told us about gettin bit by a copper head snake. He made it back to his tent but failed to get his leg inside the tent before he collapsed. In the morning, he awoke to find himself still alive. He unzipped the tent screen and found a two foot high pile of dead mosquitos. He said that he hasn't been bitten by a mosquito since. (We had some doubts as to the veracity of this claim).

I think we all ate too much candy last night. There were no trick or treaters. John Wyatt sang us a song about the Pumpkin Man who eats little children.

On the way back to the center, we had lunch at the Great Bend Tunnel, where legend has it that John Henry died racing a steam engine to lay track. (John Henry won but died of the effort). We could see through to the other side but there was something on the floor blocking some of the light, perhaps a rock fall. The Great Bend Tunnel is no longer used. The Big Bend Tunnel is quite active though. Dave took some pictures of two trains passing through it. We only saw some maintenance vehicles today however.

Well we are supposed to get back to the Folklife Center to help with some maintenance issues. We should be going. (After our trip to the soda fountain of course).

Andy