Thursday, November 17, 2016 – Elder Cook, Plant more bulbs, Snake! Clean: Tin Smith’s, John Taylor’s, Pendleton School, Lyon Drug & Orson Hyde’s home

Another big and busy day. We started at Elder & Sis. Cook’s home to pick up a large pile of bush and tree trimmings. Elder Cook is the lead teamster and his home is right next to the horse barns. 

Next we planted some left over Allium bulbs along the sidewalk to the Family Living Center. We thought we were finished planting bulbs but Richard Hancock, our boss, came up with a few more, about 40 or so. They will look beautiful in the spring.

The best part of planting Allium bulbs was the help. Sis. Simmons volunteered to help us out all this morning. It’s her P-day (preparation day) and she was willing to give us her morning to help. Thank you Sis. Simmons, we really appreciated all of your help all morning.

Sis. Simmons did get a shocking surprise at the end of her rake while we cleaned the flowerbeds at the Tin Smith Shop. She discovered a Midland Brown Snake! This non-venomous snake is a native of Illinois. I like snakes since they help keep the rodent population down. I released him about 75 yards away from the Tin Smith’s Shop near some trees were he will be able to find cover. 

After the Tin Smith’s shop we cleaned four more historic sites and they took us the rest of the day. We previously cleaned the John Taylor home but we didn’t finish the back side. Today we were able to get it done as well as the back sides of the adjoining historic sites. 

 Next we were back at the Lyon Drug we cleaned yesterday. Richard had more for us to cut down and haul away. In the end, everything at the Lyon Drug Herb garden will be frozen and dead but for now we are only removing those things that look bad; if it’s green or in bloom we leave it for now. We are expecting a cold snap tomorrow that will last through the weekend. Who knows, maybe we will finally get a killing frost here in Central Illinois. It’s November 17^th and we still haven’t had a killing frost yet. The locals say this is the warmest fall they can remember. 

Our final Historic Site to clean was the historic home of Orson Hyde. It’s right across the street from the Lyon Drug and is vacant at the moment. It used to house the Pageant office and staff but now there is some discussion of restoring it to its 1840’s splendor. This is one of the very few wood frame homes that has survived, at least in part, from the 1840’s.

 

This evening we were in for a treat at out “Rendezvous in Old Nauvoo” show. Elder and Sis. Lee Master are in our cast and they had all eight of their sons & daughters at Rendezvous to watch them perform.  But then . . . when the show was over the Lee Master children called for an encore of all the vignettes Elder & Sis. Have a part in. So . . . after the show was over we stayed and did an encore of “Streets” and “Noah & Sophia.” And what a treat it was, they were a very enthusiastic audience. There was a lot of cheering and applauding going on. They were a great audience.