Almost at the end of the Walkabout

BarredBuff

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Excellent story so far, what year is the move to Kentucky?
 

walkaboutjacks

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The trip to KY took several days and I really enjoyed seeing all the different sceinery in each state as we passed through...awesome stuff! I have heard many americans so in awe of Australia and it's scienery, "Oh I've always wanted to go there! It's just so beautiful! and on and on they rave. I usually told them they should see and appreciate more what the states has to offer! A couple of years ago we went to yellowstone..... OMG! we ran out of words to describe it as each turn in the road we saw something else even more splendid!
On our road trip to KY each and every state had something unique to offer and each lunch/ dinner stop new and different foods to try.

We discovered that Chris's playpen would fit on the folded down back seats in the minivan tight up against the ceiling so he couldnt climb out, so whenever he got tired and cranky being in his carseat for all those miles we would put him in the playpen and he would play with his toys or take a nap. Probally not the safest crash wise, but hey..sure gave me some peace from the screaming :lol:

It got colder and colder the further towards KY we got and when we finally reached lexington there was several inches of snow on the ground. A snow plow on the overpass dumped a huge "chunk" of snow on us just as we drove under it! scared the heck outta me!
My first time seeing snow as well! wow! totally beautiful but really really cold! :lol:

After a couple of months we had the business up and running, thanks to financing from a local bank...Spec houses were built and sold including a model home and things were looking quite rosy, I was in charge of the office which was great because it was in the remodeled garage and I could take care of chris at the same time. The next year he got financing for an apartment building and that was going ahead nicely and at the same time we bought 40 acres out of georgtown and started building a small home and he bought in a house trailer to work out of. It was sooooo pretty back there! My favorite thing was to sit on the porch and watch the fireflies hovering around in the tall grass every evening! They don't have fireflies in Aus.
A local farmer sharecropped tobacco and mowed the whole property in exchange for a few rolls of hay for my horse (yay I had my first horse!) and then for Billy Bob the goat...who by the way, thought he was a dog! We had several shihTzu's and every time we came home they would all run out barking, so excited to see us home and there was Billy Bob in the middle baaa-ing away! he liked dog food too and always wanted to come in the house so he could steal some! It wasnt until he started jumping on the car hood that hubby said he had to go. *sniff*
One day we had a tremendous storm overhead that sat over us for 2 hours! I love, love storms but this one was a doosie! The thunder was so loud it left your ears ringing and rumbled the ground, the lightning was so intense your eyes didnt have time to adjust between flashes! hubby and son were stuck over in the house trailer and I was inside with newborn daughter. Good thing they had some snacks over there because there was no way they were running the short distance to the house for dinner with all that going on. One lightning strike hit a bug zapper we had hung on the covered, full house length, porch and I saw the blue light arc from one end of the porch to the other! Never been scared during a storm except for that one!

I have to insert here a few stories about my son..one of the most difficult kids I have come across! he was always taking things apart (can you say destroying) when we lived in the rental home it had upstairs floor vents for the heat/ac and he was supposed to be taking a nap...uh huh. I hear scratching noises from up there so I went up to see what he was doing, at first I couldnt see him, but then spot his feet sticking up from the floor vent! He had removed the cover and was on his down to see where it went! :rolleyes: :lol: I pulled him out and placed him back in bed and went to get hubby to fix the vent which he did with some roofing nails nailed to the floor......
Left to go back downstairs and finish whatever it was I doing before, not 1/2 an hour later I hear more noise up there! There he was, using the ears he had removed from his mickey mouse clock trying to pry up the nails so he could get the cover off again!

During a visit to the pediatritions office I was distracted changing DD's diaper and turned around as the doctor walked in and we both just stood there with our mouths open as he had dismanteled the sink faucet! I said to the Dr..."see Dr Hambrick, how on earth do you baby proof a house against someone like him?" he just laughed and said "good luck"
Other exploits of his
1. cut all his sister's blonde ringlets off
2. nearly drowned in partially frozen pond
3. climbed up on top of trailer loaded 8ft high with hay rolls and fell off head first..earning him 4 stitches on his forehead
4. set the car out of gear making it roll backwards into a tree
5. when older drove our spare car racing around in the sand on our property and hit another tree

Such a lot happening in a short time eh? Thing is my hubby, bless him, always started businesses with no money and was constantly robbing peter to pay paul and he thought nothing of taking out those huge loans from the bank.....
One day we get a letter from the bank...absolute disaster! The FDIC had closed the bank and they were calling in all of the largest loans on the books, ours being one of them, so please pay $108.000 in 14 days time :th Of course that wasnt possible so Garry handed over all properties under construction, got an extension on the farm loan and all income just stopped! I of course then had to go out and get a job which I did at cracker barrell, so at least we had food on the table. THAT was when I started kicking myself for not starting a vegetable garden or chickens or anything to provide food...arrrgh! The gas got turned off so I set up a campfire in the driveway..the water got turned off, so I went and turned it back on! naughty me!
Garry and I were at each others throats and I was ready to divorce him...I sat out one night crying buckets and I looked up at the stars and said out loud to God... " God..why ME?" " I don't understand! Why?" "why did you do this to me? What did I do to deserve this?"

I was at the library the next day and this book was right in my face .....Why Bad Things happen to Good people. I devoured it in a couple of hours and began my journey with God at that very moment, still with a bunch of questions, but at last in the right direction and no longer blaming God for everything.
Garry came to me and said "I am going to Florida, are you coming with me?" and after much consideration I said yes. Mostly because if he left...then where would I be? Alone with 2 kids, no money, no family to back me up, no where to go, I had lost my horse and my home. Very sad. Worst of all, I knew I didnt love him anymore.
 

i_am2bz

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walkaboutjacks said:
I was at the library the next day and this book was right in my face .....Why Bad Things happen to Good people. I devoured it in a couple of hours and began my journey with God at that very moment, still with a bunch of questions, but at last in the right direction and no longer blaming God for everything.
Excellent book. Oops, sorry to interrupt... :pop
 

BarredBuff

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I have loved reading your stories this week, I cant wait to read more..... :pop
 

walkaboutjacks

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The trip to Florida was rather miserable, Becky was 3 and Chris was 6 and both came down with pink eye. I put their eye drops in when we stopped for lunch each day and it must sting because it was dern near impossible to hold them down long enough :rolleyes: That, plus the fact Garry and I were not talking much and had just enough cash for gas and food for the trip, nothing extra for important things like getting a place to rent! Because we had to turn in the car we had in KY, we were driving an old pickup with a topper in back. The kids were settled in there with plenty of bedding and pillows and at first (being winter) dressed warmly so they wouldn't freeze! The heater didnt work for the front section so we also had blankets to keep us warm...leaky, rusty old thing it was LOL But at least it got there!
As soon as we hit the GA/Fl line it was warm! Ahhhhhh! Blessed warmth! We stopped in ocala for a bit of a look around and I fell in love with it! but we couldnt stay there because he was headed to bradenton, where an old business aquantance had an apartment complex. I don't know how he thought he was going to get an apartment off him for free......so i went ahead and said we could pawn my ring.
Back in Aus he had given me a diamond ring for our engagment.. a solitair 1 carot heart shape diamond..it was the most beautiful thing I ever saw and there it was gone....for a 3rd of it's value.
Of course he promised me up one side and down the other, he would get it back. never happened, like everything else he promised me.

We slept on the floor of the apartment the first few nights, and each day the kids hit the pool to the astonishment of the locals who thought it was WAY too cold to be swimming :lol:
Garry was job hunting and finally found work at a place that teaches classes for contractors to take their licencing exams. They needed someone to write study guides and that was right up his alley. All the contractors in Florida had to take a trade related exam plus a business and law exam to be licenced and the people who wrote the exams like to make it as tricky as possible..even including fake questions, so it was quite a lucrative business with selling them books as well.
Of course the lure of working for himself again was eating at him, and he was itching to move to Naples where he heard that business was booming in homebuilding. SO many more people to rip off eh?

Then he heard about a printing company for sale in sarasota (owner finance) and he quit ( I could've quite cheerfully strangled him at that point) and so we moved..... again....The guy had apperantly run it into the ground (we found out later) and neglected to disclose that the major equipment was leased and he hadnt made payments on it for ages! Garry of course knew how to run a press and I had worked in a print shop before so I knew how to run the folder and other assorted equipment. A lot of our work was barter and one the things we bartered for was private school for the kids and restaurant vouchers..Nice! I loved eating out! And the school was fantastic. It had an extensive "arts" program and each year every student participated in a huge production held at the arts center, even the kindergarteners. The first year the kinda group did 2 songs, "it's a jungle out there" and "boot scootin boggie" Becky was adorable in her black cat costume, but she insisted on carrying this long strapped purse (she said it matched her costume) she got from an Aunt. She was up there singing away and doing all the moves, but got a tad bit carried away and started swinging her purse around and around, completely oblivious the fact she was hitting the little boy next to her making him duck and back up! It was hilarious! cept for the poor boy I suppose :lol:
Then it got to Chris's turn and his class was doing some robot song (I forget what it was) but I had made him a costume out of a box, cut holes for his arm etc...It was perfect! until he had to kneel down during the song (they didnt tell me that!) anyhow...he couldnt get back up to a standing position and fell over on his front :lol: just laying there for the rest of the song with his legs and arms flailing all over the place! "Help! I've fallen and I can't get up!!" :lol: I think my kids were the highlights of the whole production!

The printing business was not doing well, so garry, in his wisdom, decided to hire a sales person. Miriam was great! and got us quite a few new accounts, but it wasnt enough and then the printing press got repoed! LOL
We were down to our last restaurant voucher that was located near the beach..so we ate in miserable silence. Garry suggested letting the kids play on the beach for a bit so we could talk, and during the conversation he said "God..what the %$#& do we do now?"
A few minutes after that i noticed a small group of people strolling past and they were almost past us and a couple of them turned to look back at us...changed direction and came over to ask if they could pray for us. (no they didnt overhear him) I wasn't too keen on that idea, a little embarressed to pray in front of others, but garry said ok and next thing I know we are kneeling in a circle on the sand, holding hands with complete strangers and them praying for us! After I left I asked Garry...."ummm....what just happened? what is the answer?" and he said "We have to believe..thats all..just believe" Driving back home the kids asked us when we would see the "God believers again" :lol:
Next day, when we giving Miriam the sad news about her short lived job..we mentioned the "God believers" LOL and that we were going to their church that sunday...well it went deathly quiet....she looked garry right in the eye and said "IF you go to that church instead of our home fellowship tonight........I swear I will break every. bone. in. your. body.
So of course we went to her house! It was so nice! and peaceful and joyful...we loved the teaching and singing the kids songs and couldnt wait for next week to go again.

Next friday rolled around and just after lunch we got a call from the school saying that Becky had fallen off the play equipment and they think she broke her wrist...so off to the hospital we went. Doc exrayed and showed us the minor fracture and put it in a temp splint until monday when he wanted her back to check it. Walking into fellowship that night of course they all noticed her splint and asked if they could pray for her healing...so of course we said yes.
Monday, back at the hospital the doctor walks in with the 2 xrays and puts them up against the light board...."Look, he said..this is friday and this is today..I can't see the break anymore! Don't kids heal fast?" Just leave the temp splint on for a couple of weeks just to make sure. :lol:
We continued going to fellowship and took all the classes they held, learning far more than we thought we could about God and the word he gave to us. As a child I was forced to go to church and I hated it! all fire and brimstone and guilt trips etc, so once I grew up and left home I never attended or even gave God another thought...never imagining that He was directing my path all along and I came all this way just to find Him again...pretty awesome eh?

Well, another door opened, and Garry had a chance and a potential investor to start another school and construction company in naples...initially to design and build a home for that person on Marco island and with the deposit money in hand......
To naples we went. I always wanted him to succeed and I must admit I was lured into having money again...such an easy trap don't you think? This time he was starting 2 businesses at once! again on a shoestring, Construction and his own contractor classes, complete with videotaped classes featuring him as the instructor! problem is, one kinda ran the other and I had no clue how the money merry-go-round worked....just sometimes the suppliers got paid and sometimes they didn't.....so I just buryed my head in the sand, listened to all his explainations of how it's going to be ok, especially when this happens... or that deal comes through..... and ran the office like a good little secretary and went out to the new homes to do the finish paint detailing, repair drywall boo boos, and clean the place ready for the new owners to move in. Also I met with customers and guided them as to appliance selections and counter tops etc. I loved working with the customers even though some were rather..um difficult, as rich people tend to be.

One homeowner wanted an office extension added to his home and being who he is, (rich beer company owner)......it had to be perfect! and huge!
His wife, Mrs S, wanted it to blend with the rest of the house so matching the wood flooring and windows was of the utmost importance! One day I was in there to paint the matching fireplace mantle and Mrs S and I went to the paint store so we could match colors..she drove ahead of me in her Rolls (silver cloud) and I followed and had to wait while she backed into a parking spot...Can you believe she backed into an old painters truck right behind her? I was flinching and just sat there in shock as she got out of her car and headed into the store! She didnt even check it for damage! :ep

The next day I was there painting away and at the same time the flooring guy was setting up to stain the wood floor. About lunch time Mrs S came to me and said she wanted to show me something...so I followed her to the bathroom that was just inside the new entrance to the office...Oh MY! a solid peice of granite on the floor (how on earth did they get that laid?) and gold plated, sink, faucets, shower door, toilet seat...the works! She then called my attention to the note on the door....it read "Do NOT use this bathroom!!!!"
So she left to run some errands and shortly after I went to grab some lunch, I wasnt long, but came back to hear yelling as soon as I stepped out of the car. It was Mrs S screaming at the floor guy. "I told you NOT to use that bathroom!!" He kept insisting he hadn't! She started yelling at me for not making sure he wouldnt use the bathroom, so then I confronted him about it..."Did you use that bathroom?"
"No, I didnt!" he shouted I was just washing my brushes!
 

BarredBuff

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Im loving these stories at the end here what is the year?

:pop
 
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