Living in "Mayberry"

Rushsylvania, Ohio. Population of about 650 people. Future home of the Gibson family. On Tuesday morning Scott and I left the kids to sleep in the hotel room. (we didn't get in until 3 am in the morning, so they were tired) We went to the look at the property. It had snowed and was windy so the cornfields had snow blowing across them. Unknown to me until this trip, Rush Creek Township has some of the highest spots in Ohio. (1200 feet above sea level--the highest spot being 1500) Sooo...there is some wind. We found the land and Scott wanted to get out and look it over. (It is a nice, slightly rolling 6 acres) Being the good wife that I am, I got out too. I had on jogging pants and sweatshirt, a coat, and tennis shoes. I mentioned that it had snowed and was melting. Let's just say that tennis shoes get very soggy, as do the socks and feet in the tennis shoes, when a woman steps into melting snow. I tried to be a trooper and not complain, even though by this point my feet had turned blue and were feeling very much like ice cubes. Note To Self: Buy a nice pair of winter work boots and make sure they are waterproof!

Scott had set up an appointment with some men from a local concrete company. They met us at the land to look it over. They were super nice guys. They are locals and have lived there their entire life. They know everybody--and I do mean everybody! God definitely had his hand on this meeting. They gave us names and numbers of people. They took us to meet their brother who does excavation. We learned a lot about what needs to be done. Then these guys told us about a house that they had just poured for. Would we like for them to take us over there to look at the place? Now, just let me say that going to this mans house was an interesting experience!! We turned onto this country road between cornfields. It was mud and water...and lots of it. Good grief! It was a good mile back this road (more like a mud pit) to the house. By the time we got there Scott and I looked like we had been mudding. The van was literally covered. We could hardly see out the windows due to the mud splashed everywhere. (I took pictures!) This man had a shop that was built similar to what we are looking at. He had Amish men build it. He told us 6 Amish men built that building in just 3 days. (4800 sq. feet) I was incredulous . It was like a barn raising. All that work and with no electricity. All hand tools. Amazing! Of course, if one wants to work with the Old Order Amish one must meet with them in person, as they don't use telephones or computers. The next day Scott and I did go by this Amish man's (Mr. Miller) house, but no one was home. It was a nice drive though, beautiful farmland. You could tell it was an Amish farmhouse because there were no lights on, and in the driveway one could see very thin marks made from the buggy wheels, no big tires! Oh, and that same day we passed a one room Amish school house. The children were playing outside during lunch. There were some buggies parked in back. The kids were interested in the Amish people. Kendrick wanted to know why they wore such dark colors? (We saw some Amish couples in town in their buggies too.) I explained to him that the Amish are very plain people. They try to live very simple lives and they don't feel they need the bright colored clothing, electricity, or other "modern conveniences".

Another funny kids story... When we were out and about in the country side we had taken a wrong turn. We turned around at a small farm. They had some animals in a pen near the road. We couldn't decide if they were baby deer, baby donkeys, or baby llamas. Kendrick said that we could call them the "llama-donka-deer." That is what we did. We had a good laugh about our "new" animals. Have you ever seen a "llama-donka-deer"? Well, we have!!!

The village of Rushsylvania is small, that is true. (I'm learning how the whole town system works in Ohio. It's all new to me.) It starts with the unincorporated areas, they are very small. Then the villages, next bigger are the towns, and then then there are townships which are like districts. Finally, there are cities. So we will have a Rushsylvania address (about a mile out of Rushsylvania) but we still live in the Rush Creek Township. I know that once we move everyone in town will know everything about us probably within a week. That is fine. This is the type of small town that I read about in my Jan Karon books. (Mitford Series) I'm sure I'll have a lot of interesting people and things to blog about.

Well, I guess that is it for now. I'll keep everyone posted about the ongoing building process, travels, and getting used to the small town life. (Well, Bellefontaine --remember it is pronounced Bell-Fountain--is only 10 minutes away, it is the county seat of Logan County. Bellefontiane is there when we decide we need a Wal-mart trip, some good coffee, a home improvement store, or church.) This is going to be an adventure......