Now I know...

Where to find my hubby.  I was just cleaning up all of our files on the computer before the big move and I very unexpectedly came across this picture...

I don't even know what to say, where did this come from? Who took this? Is this why I couldn't find my hubby for long periods of time while at his parent's house?! Is that the mystery meat we ate for dinner? Is it roadkill and he just wants to look cool?! Totally kidding on the last 2, but talk about random!  

Flesher Home Site

We were so excited to be able to go exploring and find the old Flesher Home Site.  This post is full of pictures (what else is new right!?) and I have included the emails from Tyson's Grandpa Dann for the background about the house. 

There are actually 2 houses, but being in the middle-of-nowhere West Virginia, we didn't have cell phone service and after talking to a gentleman at a nearby house, whom was a distant relative, we thought we had found the second house/property so we decided to put our hot, hungry, and tired children out of their misery and left.  As soon as we had service again, we called his grandpa and actually discovered we had not found the second house/property, it was further down the road then what we had thought.  By then the kids were done, so we decided to keep heading home.  Later on, after rereading the emails from Dann, we were both kicking ourselves, we should have gone back and found the second house.  Even though we didn't find the second house, we were so glad to have seen the 1st house, which was where Grandpa Dann spent a majority of time at and where his father grew up and grandfather built(?- someone please correct me if I am wrong). 

So without further ado here's the emails and pictures...

This was your great and great-great grandfather's home, and my vacation wonderland when I was a kid. I called my cousin Leroy Towner (Joseph Leroy) Sunday. He is 2-3 years younger than me and a childhood summer vacation playmate. Leroy, like me, was named after your great-great grandfather _Joseph_ Lot Flesher who lived at that farm and worked the land. The property was actually owned/inherited by several members of the family, he and his cousins. Granddad worked it but then moved to the big city, Clarksburg, after a stroke.

Leroy says the old homestead is abandoned but still standing, and with a few clues from him I was able to locate it on Google (see map coordinates). It is on Wilhelm Run (County Road 50/3): turn South 19.7 miles west of Smithburg, just before the new prison facility. It used to be a dirt-mud/slate-rock road and a long drive from the old US 50 route, but now it is actually the first house off of the Newer US 50 and should be relatively easy access. If you look at Google there is a hairpin turn (concave to the east) on road 50/3 just south of the new US 50. There used to be a log-cabin barn at the hairpin: a dirt road/drive drops into the little valley and the old house is a few yards south of the end of the road.

Leroy now lives in Smithburg, WVa, and still owns and keeps a few beef cattle on his parent's old farm. That was my uncle Glen and aunt Valley (nee Flesher) Towner's home. That 'farm' is further south on Wilhelm Run (2). It is a place where the road, a stream and the railroad (now gone) were the only flat area between two green mountains. The Towner house is up the side of the hill, 40-50 feet, which was a long (for a little kid) climb from the only parking spots at the side of the road. (Now there seems to be a road cutting into the house from further upstream).


We used to sit on Uncle Glen's porch on a summer evening looking across the railroad at the coal black wooded hillside . It looked like a giant Christmas display, with a firefly every five feet or so flitting through the trees.

Puleeeze send me some photos of these two homes before they go away. Include the barn at the top of the drive if anything remains, the little stream that cuts across the road, the house in the valley, the porches (front and back) and especially the entry to the fruit cellar. The house sits on a spring, that bubbled up out of the basement's dirt floor and ran out through a narrow trench. The temperature there under the house was a cool 50 +/- 5 degrees in the hottest summer and coldest winter, and the walls were lined with jars of my Grandmother's home canned fruit, vegetables, and meat (they butchered their own hogs and beef).

A churn sat on the small kitchen porch, that I sometimes cranked to make butter. And a twig-built doll house sat on a table on the front porch. In spring it was full of baby chicks, in part to keep the kids entertained, but mostly to help the broody hens repopulate the yard.


They had a beautiful old organ in the living room which my aunts played, and a hand crank-party-line phone. But the house was lit at night only by kerosene lanterns or candles.
 The long table in the kitchen had bench seats against the window wall and chairs on the other side. Grandma Ida started fixing Breakfast about 4:30 AM and had an 8-10 course meal ready before I even got up (That was on a wood burning stove.). Your mom reminds me of her when we eat at her house: lots of food and lots of people. Of course your mom does a better job of getting various slaves to help cook.



For some of those summers my own great-Grandma and great-Grandpa Lasure were there. What I mostly remember was that great-grandpa had a white stringy beard that went to his belt line. And he wasn't at the house a lot; he would get up early and climb up the driveway to a corn and vegetable field even higher up the hillside somewhere across the road. I was only up there once or twice, it was quite a hike. Up there he would work the fields and provide a chunk of the food needed each year for both the people and their animals.


Dann

 See the attached photo. This was probably taken about 1937-8 when I was less than 2 years old. I am relatively certain this is the Kitchen door which is on the North side of the house, the side you drive in to and where there is a level area to park to the left or behind the cameraman (who may have been my Dad). There was no drive way, only a path around to the 'front' door. I used to help churn butter in a hand cranked oak churn on the little porch when I was 5-6-7-8----.

The people in the photo are my great-grandmother Lasure on the left (who I don't really remember), and great-grand father Lasure on the far right. Standing is my aunt Alma Flesher Elder. Then seated is THE cook, my grandma Ida Lasure Flesher. Standing is one of the twins, either my aunt Elsie or aunt Chelsea? (probably Chelsea, she smiled more). Seated is aunt Valley Flesher Towner and in her lap is her oldest child Isabell Towner Hogland (Isabell is my cousin and sister to Joseph Leroy Towner who you hopefully will meet). The other Twin (Elsie?). And finally (again) the old man who used to leave the house every morning carrying garden tools and climb the road and on up to the top of the hill to hand till about 10 acres of crops.

I first remember the twins and Isabell in their teens. They would play with us younger kids, and help us take care of the live baby chicks in a doll-house-log-cabin on the front porch. They were attractive girls and I had a crush on all of them.

We didn't dare go inside, it looked as though there was quite a bit of water damage to the house and didn't want to risk falling through any floor boards. According to the relative Tyson talked to, the mother of the current resident in a newer house on the property was living in the house until 2004, it looks like it was used as a "party house" evidenced by beer bottles scattered around the house and a beer pong table set up. 

In an eerie contrast to the poor condition of the house there was a vase of silk flowers which looked relatively new, dishes in the sink, and a jar of peanut butter on the counter. Makes you wonder!

We've been tagged

I went downstairs this morning to find this on our garbage can...





The culprit... my one and only hubby.



When asked about the said white trash tagging of our garbage can, his only response was... "in case there's ever a dispute over ownership of the garbage can, we will win... at least the lid."



Guess a can of spray paint should never be left unattended in our house :)



Speaking of spray paint, this very spray paint was used to spruce up an old shelf that was decidedly removed from our LARGE (one of these days we will be fully 'dejunked'!) yard sale pile... its new life will begin soon in Micah and Hallie's room as they are getting a new reading corner for their birthday! :)

6 long years...

It's our anniversary today! 6 years ago we we're married and 12 years ago we started dating! So to celebrate, we'll get real crazy, you know... watch some football, I'll blog some, maybe take a trip on the metro to costco for lunch, then head out to buy a NEW popcorn popper, AND maybe even go out on a little dinner date (with our kids in tow- no babysitters yet!) It should be a fun day! This weekend we'll try to head out into the "country" or over to Chesapeake Bay, pretty much where ever the wind takes us- with only one stipulation- OUT OF THE CITY!!!!

How long have you been married? 6 years (totally kidding about the 6 long years- its been a fun and exciting 6 years!)

How long did you date? 6 years to the day :)

How old is he? 30

Who eats more? Him by A LOT! He usually bats cleanup on my food. He's learned, however to ask first... when he was younger and unwise he used to snatch things off my plate without asking, and because I always save the "best bite" for last he would take the "best bite." After many chewing outs he thankfully learned his lesson :)

Who said, “I love you,” first? I think he did? It was too long ago to remember!

Who is taller? Him thankfully, I searched long and hard to find someone taller then me and at 6'5" I did just that!

Who sings better? He does by far although he says I can sing well, but please... I've heard my own voice before!

Who is smarter? I think we make a good team in the smarts department, where he lacks, I excel, where I lack, he excels.

Who’s temper is worse? His by far! I'm way more calm then he is!

Who does the laundry? Unfortunately, I do... although I rarely fold or put away clothes so when I do he usually helps fold- especially since he is home more now.

Who does the dishes? We both do.

Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? I used to until Micah and Hallie were born, then I got booted to the left side cause it was closer to them.

Who pays the bills? He makes the cash, I pay the bills.

Who mows the lawn? We both do. Funny story this summer (when he was home) we would fight over who got to mow it cause we would use it as a workout- Tyson runs while mowing (I know, real safe huh!?!) and yeah, I don't need to run with it to get a workout!

Who cooks dinner? Unfortunately for our taste buds I usually do. I've said it before and I'll say it again- he cooks WAY better then I do. Back in his rebel days he worked with a chef and learned lots of great tricks... he creates meals that melt in your mouth. I follow a recipe, cross my fingers and hope it turns out!

Who drives when you are together? Right now, TYSON!!!!! He is the only one authorized to drive the rental and why put miles on our own vehicle when we can ride in style (and comfort) in our rental! Usually if we're going anywhere far away, I try to con him into driving so I can do something crafty while we drive... of course that doesn't really happen that often anymore :(

Who is more stubborn? We both can be pretty dang stubborn. But I'm usually stubborn only when I'm right :)

Who is the first to admit when they are wrong? I am usually, he does, but... the whole temper thing gets in his way sometimes- it usually takes him a little while :)

Whose parents do you see the most? Right now? neither! Before probably equal, I saw my family more with just me, but together we saw them all about the same.

Who has more friends? Probably me... I keep in touch with friends more then him, but he seems to pick up right where things left off with all of his friends.

Who has more siblings? Him by a lot!

Who wears the pants in the family? He wears the pants, but I'm the mind behind the pants :)

Bottom line... We make a great team!

We have had a wonderful 6 years and we are looking forward to so many more! Have a great New Years day!

Visit a look into the past for some more of our wonderful "young" pictures!

It's a BIG one!

Happy Birthday Hubby!

I'll give you a clue, it's the one after 29 and the one before 31! I know I know it's a tough one to figure out, but the number is not to be spoken in our household. :)

I usually make jokes about ty being an old fart, cause he's got me by a couple years, but I don't think the jokes will go over well this year- he's having a rough time with this one. So I'll skip the jokes and just say HAPPY BIRTHDAY! I think the hardest thing for me is not the age, but not having him here for his bday- he's still playing military man. :( We miss him SO much and can't wait for him to be home so we can celebrate!

So here's to my goofy, sweet, hilarious, energetic, passionate, adventurous, enthusiastic partner in crime!

The bestest husband ever!

He's the greatest... he's working a 16 hour shift from 11pm to 3 pm, he's simply the bestest. He's been working crazy hours lately and does this so I can stay home with phil and lil... i don't tell him thanks enough, so here's to my crazy-i -work-super-hard-so-my-wife-can-stay-home-HUSBAND! Thank you!

ps only 2 weeks til VEGAS!! :)

daddy tricks

silly daddy tricks!

When daddy watches us...

we watch the TV!!

He's got skills

A tribute to my hilarious husband, who back in the fro days could totally (i don't know if this is a good thing!) pull off the "Napoleon Look"

He's pretty much the best Napoleon ever don't ya think!?!

What a good daddy

Tyson is such a good dad, he has been such a huge help lately and is so fun to watch him interact with both of the babies- they smile everytime he comes into the room or comes home from school or work! they really do love him!