Helping a friend is no chore at all, but let me tell you, getting up everyday after being retired for two years is a real bummer.  Each morning I arose at about 7:30 and Pappy would swing by and pick me up about 8:30.  Off we would go for a day of adventure in the mountains.   The first job we did was at a furniture store.  Pappy had wired this place over a year ago, but they were just finishing up one of the buildings.  They asked for many changes, so we spent all day moving things, wiring lights and trying to figure out how to make the stuff work that they wanted.  After that, we went from place to place each day, some new construction, some service calls, some air conditioning/heating work.  I wired two service panels in new houses.  For years to come, those folks will wonder who Bubba 1 is when they open their breaker panels and see my signature in there.  Apparently, it is tradition to sign a panel when you wire it.  Folks around here call me Bubba 1 and my friend John Mullinix Bubba II.  It just seemed appropriate to sign the panel that way.

I learned a lot helping Pappy for those three weeks.  While Libby and I built our own house with our own hands in the mid 80s, it always is a learning experience to work with someone who really knows what they are doing.  I built and installed heating and air condition ductwork, marveling at the tools Pappy has to construct this stuff.  I learned how to run flexible ducting and how to connect it to trunk lines.  I hung a bunch of fans for folks, including one that I had to crawl out on a walk board suspended about 15 feet above a floor reaching up to a very tall vaulted ceiling.

I went to places that before this month, I didn't know existed in Union County.  One of the first places we went was way back in the woods.  The fellow had lived in a fifth wheel for a while, had two metal buildings built and then turned one of them into his house while living in a mobile home.  The interesting thing about this guy is one of his buildings housed an antique Rolls Royce and in his very much under construction living room, was a full blown grand piano.  Another day, we were back up this valley way out in the boonies.  As we rounded the corner of the house, two pigmy goats were standing there staring at us.  One day a lady showed me the claw marks from a black bear who had raided their trash can on the back porch.   I spent time in a house that turned out to be a medical business.  They run a home nursing organization from one wing of the house.  One of the interesting things about Union County Georgia is that there is no zoning here.  There are also no inspectors except for the septic tank guy.  In fact, Home Depot is building a store here and the only inspection they are required to have is for the sewer.

Sometimes, folks take advantage of the lack of inspectors and building permits to do shoddy work.  One of the service calls we did was right on the North Carolina, Georgia state line.  In North Carolina, the county has many inspectors, on the Georgia side, there are none.  This lady had problems with her electric range.  When I pulled it out, the plug had been cut off and the cord was wired directly into the romex feeding it.  This is a violation of the National Electric Code and is just plain unsafe.  We made a run to the local supply house and while Pappy was doing some other electrical work there, I rewired the stove and installed the proper plug/outlet for the range.   One has to wonder sometimes why folks who know better would do work that is unsafe.

The last weekend of September,  Rich and Diane Emond stopped by for  few days as they were heading for Atlanta to spend a couple of weeks with their kids.  We took them to the important eating places in Blairsville and then sent them on south on Monday, October 1.  It was great to hook up with them one more time this year.  We may not see them again for a year or so and after spending about 16 weeks together this year, we will miss them.

That's about it for September, except that as we left South Carolina on Labor Day, diesel was $1.27.9.  Right now, at the Flying J in east Georgia on I 85 it is selling for $1.10.  (October 11).  We will remain in Blairsville until October 21, when we will jump over to Gaffney, SC for annual maintenance on the D at the Freightliner assembly plant.  Assuming the abdominal hernia my doctor discovered this week doesn't required an operation, we will then head west to New Mexico for several months.  It the surgeon wants to cut and paste, we may be here a few weeks longer.

Camping for September        $300
Fuel for September                     0
LP for September                       0
Maintenance for September       0