First Shovel Full

Ground Breaking for the new Fellowship Building was Sunday afternoon.

Bro. Bill with the Gold Shovel

The Building Committee

Rainbow

We had just finished the Goat Playground and were gathering tools and such when we saw it. The skies had been dark in the eastern half of the sky most of the afternoon. In fact, we were forced to delay working on the playground due to a downpour about 2 o'clock.

One of the more spectacular rainbows of the summer. The geese in the field were wet about ten minutes later...

Goat Playground

When the kids were babies, a single bridge span was enough to keep them entertained. But Sugar and Spice are nearly a year old now and they have been needing extra room to play. So with scrap lumber and tulip poplar logs, we built extensions to the old bridge.

UPWARD AND ONWARD

"Daddy, would you make that 30" instead of 24" wide, because my bottom is so wide?"

Level and Square - even on a goat playground

Tri-Level Goats

Thank You Kiss from Sugar

Happy Birthday Metro!

Seven years old today! It doesn't that long, but then again, it is hard to remember him not being part of our life. Mama's Baby and Daddy's Big Boy.

Thank you for

• Puppy kisses on the nose
• the reminders that it is time to go to bed
• grunty hugs
• lean backs and kick'em overs
• stumped toes from toys left the floor
• all the joy and fun you give us

Baa Baa Black Sheep, Have you any wool?

NOT ANYMORE, he doesn't!

I recently received two boxes of leather and fabric samples via UPS from Hong Kong and China. They contained materials for upcoming styles to be produced in the next year. Many of the materials never make it pass the drawing board phase due to quality issues. But most of the "exotics" have already been selected for future production. So I am doing "after the fact" testing on 30+ samples.

One piece really caught my eye. It was labeled as Black Shearling. That's Sheep!!! The feel was exquisite. As I shared it with others in the company, they mostly said 'ewwwww' or 'yuk' .

What's the difference in "fur" and leather? We use leather by the tons. Is it because cows are also food? And their hides are by-products?

Given the small size of this hide, other parts of the animal in question may have been on some one's Easter/Passover table.

Can ya pass the mint jelly???

Lest we forget...

If you haven't read the Rainbow Bridge Story before, you should and you can read it clicking here.


Got a tissue handy???


Good!!!


On the morning of September 11, 2001, there was an unprecedented amount of activity at the Rainbow Bridge. Decisions had to be made. They had to be made quickly. And they were. An issue, not often addressed here at the Bridge, is the fact that many residents really have no loved one for whom to wait. Think of the pups who lived and died in hideous puppy mills. No one on earth loved or protected them. What about the many who spent unhappy lives tied in backyards? The strays that are force to roam. And, the ones who were abused. Who are they to wait for?

We don’t talk about that much up here. We share our loved ones as they arrive, happy to do so. But we all know there is nothing like having your very own person who thinks you are the most special pup in the heavens.

On that Tuesday morning, six years ago, a request rang out for pups not waiting for specific persons to volunteer for special assignment. An eager, curious crowd surged excitedly forward, each pup wondering what the assignment would be. They were told by a solemn voice that unexpectedly, all at once, nearly 3,000 loving people had left Earth long before they were ready. All the pups, as all pups do, felt the humans’ pain deep in their own hearts. Without hearing more, there was a clamoring among them—“May I have one to comfort?” “I’ll take two, I have a big heart.” “I have been saving kisses forever.”

One after another they came forward begging for assignment. One cozy looking fluffy pup hesitantly asked, “Are there any children coming? I would be very comforting for a child ’cause I’m soft and squishy and I always wanted to be hugged.”

A group of Dalmatians came forward asking to meet the Firemen and be their friends. The larger working breeds offered to greet the Police Officers and make them feel at home. Little dogs volunteered to do what they do best, cuddle and kiss. Dogs who on Earth had never had a kind word or a pat on the head, stepped forward and said, “I will love any human who needs love.”

Then, all the dogs, wherever on Earth they originally came from, rushed to the Rainbow Bridge and stood waiting, overflowing with love to share—each tail wagging an American Flag.

*author unknown and adapted

Eight Weeks until Frost

Like the weather lore I learned as a child in middle Tennessee, I learned a new bit of weather wisdom when I moved to Vidalia nearly 18 years ago.

When the Goldenrod blooms, the first frost of winter will follow in eight weeks.

/ Marks November 1 on calendar

On our ride to the Beaver Pond this evening, we spotted them. The dull yellow flowerets were bowing in the gentle coolness of the September twilight.
The heat of this summer has been overwhelming at time, so we are looking forward to cooler tempatures of fall (and winter).

Happy Birthday, Dad!

Seventy eight years ago, Linnie and Joe Stembridge welcome their first son to their family. His twin sisters had a baby brother to spoil. The humble home was little more than a four wall and a roof, but it was full of love!

So on what would be your birthday - HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DAD!!!

Hartmann Luggage

I has been 18 years since I last step foot inside the manufacturing facility in Lebanon, Tennessee. But, I believe I could still draw the layout of the building as it existed in 1989!

I found out today that Hartmann is closing down the production floor. No more Outline Line, Box Shop, Components, AB Line, 08, 03, 04, Linings, Leather Cutting...

Article from the Tennessan:

Hartmann Inc. is closing its luggage factory in Lebanon after 51 years, saying the plant is too expensive to keep open.

The company, which was acquired earlier this year by a New York-based private equity firm, said on Friday it would dismiss 90 people — more than half its local work force — and shutter the facility in late November.

Hartmann said it would outsource the work to companies in the Caribbean, Central America and China.

Hartmann's other local operations, including its corporate offices, customer service and the company's outlet store, will remain open. Those divisions employ about 75 people, said Ronald Roberts, an outside spokesman who represents the firm.

No Hartmann officials were available Friday to discuss the decision, Roberts said. A receptionist at Clarion Capital Partners LLC, the New York firm that bought Hartmann from Louisville, Ky.-based Brown-Forman Corp. in April, said the company's top executives were on vacation.

The closing will halt a production operation in Lebanon that has been turning out high-end luggage since Hartmann moved from Milwaukee in 1956.

The facility had remained open even after Hartmann began acquiring most of its raw materials from overseas, stitching together bags for sale domestically.

Outsourcing to foreign firms is not unusual in the luggage industry, and Hartmann has been making some of its products abroad for several years, Roberts said.

Hartmann, in business since 1877, has positioned itself as a premium brand. For example, a 50-inch garment bag, with Jacquard fabric and leather trim, sells on the company's Web site for $1,095.

But Susan Cavender, manager of Nashville Trunk & Bag Co., said the number of defective products from the manufacturer has increased in recent years.

Since the company began outsourcing the work to overseas manufacturers several years ago, the number of bags with broken handles and missing wheels has soared, she said.

"I have a lot of folks who are dyed-in-the-wool Hartmann customers, and they're saying, 'I would never buy another piece of Hartmann luggage,' " she said.

Roberts, the company spokesman, denied that the quality of the company's luggage has declined in recent years, and others in the industry said Hartmann remains a premium brand.
"We really haven't had a problem or anything," said Steven Van Kuren, manager of Mori Luggage and Gifts in Cool Springs.

Felicia Libbin, a spokeswoman for the National Luggage Dealers Association, said luggage makers have to keep a close watch on overseas manufacturers if they want to maintain quality after outsourcing.

"The best companies have offices overseas and designers overseas," she said.
Hartmann has no offices overseas, but it has worked with the same production facilities for years and is confident they understand the company's high standards, Roberts said.

Hartmann's decision to close its Lebanon plant was made by company officials this summer as it became increasingly apparent that the firm needed to shift operations abroad to compete with other brands that had already done so, Roberts said.

Another factor was the fact that most of the zippers, nylon and other materials that the company needs to produce its bags were already being made overseas.

One of the company's last major domestic suppliers, Quaker Fabric Corp. of Fall River, Mass., which had supplied the fabric for the company's well-known Walnut Tweed line, shut down and declared bankruptcy over the summer.

Workers at the factory will receive severance pay based on their years of service. Roberts declined to provide details of the package and said he did not know how much money the company would save by moving production abroad.

The loss of 90 jobs will be a blow to the economy in Wilson County, said G.C. Hixson, director of the Joint Economic & Community Development Board.

He hoped at least some of the workers in the Hartmann plant could find work at Tacle Seating U.S.A.'s new facility in Mt. Juliet, which supplies seats to Nissan North America's plant in Smyrna.


Wow, only 90 production employees? I remember a time when there was over 450.

Somehow that sounds all too familiar!!!

What do you do on Labor Day

You labor!

That is what we did today.

We actually started on Saturday. It starts with something simple... This time it was putting a new pole to raise the bird feeder at the kitchen window. While digging the post hole, you might as well clean out the pine straw, right? Nut and bahia grass had taken over the landscaped areas around the house. So, we clean the weeds and grass, planted two dogwood trees and generally made the west and south sides of the house much better looking (much like it was 5 months eariler). The cloudy day with temperatures in the mid 80's was a most welcome change from the 105° highs just last week.

Of course, worship at church on Sunday and a bit of rest.

Cutting the lawn was on the plans for Monday. We started as soon as the morning dew was dried. Sarah took mower first while I grabbed the weedeater and headed for the goat pen. You would think that with three goats that you wouldn't have to cut grass inside their pen. But, nooooooooo... I guess they don't like bahia grass!

I take over the cutting of the grass and Sarah is raking the trimmings from the goat pen. The goat bridge needs to be re-secured! I see Sarah carried the post hole diggers. The mower stops! We discuss the general look of the goat/chicken pen. It needs help! The roosters have too much room and the goats don't have enough. Too many make do renovations were made to separate growing chicks.

Rafters are installed and temporary tin dividers become new chicken coop roofing. It starts with something simple, and then - one thing leads to another...

But now we have much neater place for our animials!