About 1pm today we became aware of a fire at the old Avondale Mills building. Its been deserted for some time. Salvage crews have been working to extract some value from the heart pine construction and old machinery. Apparently lightning struck it setting off a blaze that couldn't be contained. All that old dry wood, cotton lint, and grease made for a combustible mix. But it is sad to see it lost. My Dad started there in 1955 as a floor sweeper. He worked with Avondale till his death in 1984. So many people in this community drew their livelihood from that company. Sad.
After my recovery period for Covid, I went to Cullman on Monday the 8th and started catching up on the mowing and farm stuff. Pretty much everything needed mowing. The big tractor made short work on the main north fields and David helped me with the field across from the pond. The grass had grown quite long and with the two week absence, I simply started and mowed all of them. There is always some mowing to do. At least no trees had fallen. There were some indoor projects pending. A couple of shower fixtures had to be replaced. The screen door latch didn't hold and had to be improved. The old JD mower needed a bit of tuning so it would climb better and the mowing deck replaced. And the garden needed to be disked and more corn and okra planted. David should have had a shot on the groundhog at the old house but forgot to check his ammo. The hammer fell on an empty chamber. I got the conibear traps out and caught one of the groundhogs that lived by the spring. David had ...