Barrow's Illinois Nauvoo FM Mission: Sod, Garden pulling, and Exploring the River,

Once again, I skipped a week. So here is week 2 and 3 of October. As the tourist season ends, lots of things close, so we made sure we did some exploring before we missed the opportunity.

Anniversary and sod

October 7 -12

October 7 was our 43 wedding anniversary. To celebrate we got to work together. Richard called for all available hands to come lay sod where the pageant crowds had trampled the grass. This is an annual thing, except last year they tried seeding. I guess they decided they liked instant lawn better. We worked all day together, then we went in search of a ribeye steak, which we found at V's restaurant in Keokuk. The atmosphere wasn't very romantic, but the steak was pretty good.

President Lusvardi in the white shirt. And he didn't get any dirt on him. Another Nauvoo miracle.

Working together - symbol of our marriage

Another Farewell - The Spellmans

Our new missionaries arrived and we put them right to work laying the last of the sod. We had some rain and it turned cold, so we did a lot of greenhouse work this week.

River boat Museum, Keokuk, Iowa

We were assigned to Nauvoo on the Road on Saturday, so Friday was our p-day. The Riverboat Museum in Keokuk closes the end of October, so after doing our laundry, cleaning, and on our way to grocery shopping we stopped and took a tour. My mother grew up on the Monongahela River watching these paddle boats pushing barges of coal up and down the river, They were still working the river when I was young and visited Grandpa and Grandma Jeffries, so I really wanted to go on one and learn about life on these boats.

Pilot's cabin

Repair man's outfit

Laundry

Galley

Nauvoo on the Road at Bentonsport, Iowa

On Saturday we went to Bentonsport for our last Nauvoo on the Road. The purpose of Nauvoo on the Road is not to proselyte, but rather to invite people to Nauvoo, however I was able to practice the skills taught at mission training on how to give a Book of Mormon. He asked me to write to him, which I have. I hope he will reply.
Another exciting thing happened. A man playing a hammer dulcimer stopped long enough to give me a lesson on playing it. I brought my friend, Sister Howard, back so she could have a lesson too.

Hammer dulcimer lesson

Nauvoo on the Road tent

I started my grandma comic book collection.

Pulling Carthage gardens

October 13-19
Monday we pulled the president's house garden, and cut back plants at Land and Records.
Someone asked us how we know what to do each day. Sometimes Richard asks us to do something, like lay sod, pull gardens, plant bulbs, group projects. But usually we decide for ourselves what needs attention. Richard says he doesn't want to micromanage us.

Tuesday we headed out to Carthage to pull the gardens. Afterwards we followed the tradition of eating at Dairy Queen.

Before

During

Richard

After - all ready for spring bulbs

Dairy Queen tradition - notice the birthday cake box. There is a story for this.

Happy Birthday, Elder Barrow

Monday I baked a Duncan Hines cake for Dee's birthday. When I opened the oven door it went flat. We now had brownies instead of cake. I was going to live with that, until I saw a grocery store at Carthage. After pulling the garden I went over and bought another cake mix. This one instructed that the cake bake 8 minutes longer than the first one. Perfect cake. Buy Pillsbury.

We aren't suppose to have open flames in the apartments, so Dee came up with this. It flashes and can change patterns.

Tuesday afternoon to celebrate Dee's birthday, we invited the Bailies and the Weldons over for chicken salad sandwiches from the Red Front. They are so good. The Bailies are helping two boys in their out-bound ward finish their arrow of light, so they had to leave right after cake. We went with the Weldons to see Downton Abbey. The Howards joined us. There was only one other person in the theater. The Weldons and the Howards had never seen the show! They said they enjoyed it, but honestly, I don't think I would have if I didn't already know the characters.

One rainy morning we filled the "spider house" with plants that will go dormant for the winter. Then we gave the coleus haircuts and took some cuttings from the ones that only have one or two plants left of a particular variety. Sister Harker is our bow maker for Christmas decoration. We are so glad the Lord sent her our way. I don't like making bows. We started winterizing Sarah Granger Kimball's house. With all the peonies and hybiscus to cut back, it is going to take a few days.

Exploring Hannibal and the Mississippi

Honestly you are going to think all we do is have fun, but after being here over a year, the photos of work are getting repetitive. So the next set of pictures is of our outing to Hannibal. We did NOR last year at the Folk Life Festival, and didn't get to see much of the festival. We also wanted to take a ride on the Mark Twain before it closes for the season. It was a very overcast day. with a little drizzle now and then, but it never really rained. The best part was revisiting the bread pudding that we had last year. It was just as good this year - but I didn't take a picture of it.