The Ripley Museum in Ripley, Ohio. This is a major landing place for the underground railroad. Just across the Ohio river in Maysville, KY is where Harriet Beecher Stowe first saw slaves being auctioned off on the steps of the courthouse, which inspired her to write the book, "Uncle Tom's Cabin".

We toured the museum and of course there were certain things that caught my eye in the museum. So here they are.

I spotted this old permanent wave machine. The client's hair was rolled on rollers and then one of these clamps was put on each curler and then they were plugged in. The clamps provided heat which was needed to activate the solution.

Another perm machine. At least you didn't have to be directly hooked up to the electricity.

Top left are those perm rods that went to the above machines as well as some other curlers. Top right are home made leather curlers. Bet they made for some 'wonky' curls. Bottom are 2 marcel curling irons and on the bottom a wave iron. They went into an electric heater and hopefully you didn't get them so hot that you burned your hair and had a handful of curls no longer attached to your head!

Victorian Funeral Coach. Inside is a casket size basket from which the phrase, "going to h*#l in a handbasket" came from.

Pretty amazing picture huh? Even more amazing when you see what it's made of...

Bugs! It's all bugs!!! What kind of a person thinks, "Gee, I want to make a picture, and I think I'll use bugs."

Victorian Sailor Shirt. The detailing is wonderful.

Heirloom Baby Dress. Beautiful pintucks and insertion lace on the bodice and Scalloped bottom with lace edging and Embroidery. Gathered lace edging on the puff sleeves. Beautiful french seams and all of this is hand done!

I finally found some booties that are done with as small a hook and as tight as I make them. They are in ecru thread.

You may think this stove is a child's toy, but it is actually a sample that salesmen used. They could show all the features without hauling a full size model around.

Child's toy sewing machine. These actually worked, they only sewed a straight stitch. They were powered by a hand crank.

Another child's sewing machine, with a hand crank.

These are both heirloom doll dresses. The workmanship is done as well as on the baby clothes we saw. What a treat for some lucky victorian child.

I missed the whole heads of these rag dolls in their hand made dresses. They appeared in "Doll Magazine". Many people have found their way to the museum because of them. I took the picture because this crib is the same as the Amish Doll Crib that Greg gave me for my birthday.

Full set of mourning clothes. Also on he left metal chain purses.

This dolly is dressed in her Heirloom clothes and seated in an antique cradle.

A set of 6 very fine battenburg lace doilies.

Treadle sewing machine and other sewing implements. On the right there is a shoe hook and a couple of tatting bobbins. To the left a set of crochet hooks, sewing basket and embroidery hoops.

The machine in this picture is a pleater, used for smocking and for pleats that are sewn into clothes. I'm grateful for my "modern" one that puts the threads in at the same time. Also pictured are knitting needles, crochet hooks, shoe hooks and a tatting shuttle.

Decorating Julie's House

This picture was taken the day after Thanksgiving. It has a great story I want to share with you. Earlier in November, our neighbor across the street, Julie lost he 38 year old husband, Charles. He had lost his job and the stress just killed him. They have 3 children, a daughter (7) and 2 sons (4 & 1). At the funeral, the man on the right in this photo (our next door neighbor, Bryan) related that last Christmas Charles was outside putting up tons of Christmas lights. Bryan asked him why he did all that and his reply was that "the kids love it so much!"

Since Charles wasn't here to do it this year, Bryan went and bought a bunch of lights, and when we got home from shopping there he and our other next door neighbor were putting them up. Greg went over to help, so even though you can't see Ken, he and Bryan and Greg had a great time putting them up. Julie was surprized and moved to tears when she came out to see what had been done for the kids. 2 Catholics and a Mormon serving their Christian neighbor. Isn't the mission field great!?!

Leaves for Lisa

Hey Lisa, we saw these leaves and thought of you! I'd have jumped on them for you, but I was still in my Sunday Clothes.

Our Adventure to Huntington, West Virginia

This is the famous "HillBilly Hot Dogs". We have heard from many missionaries about it. They make a 5 pound hot dog with every disgusting thing you can and cannot put on one. You get a free t-shirt if you finish it. No shirt is worth that much! However, the most unlikely missionaries have gotten their shirt!

This is the front of the building.

Sorry about the blur. This is their sign by the door. In case you can't read it, it says,

"If 'n Our Standards ain'T High enough for you:

Please Lower Yours

maw & paw"

Here's the side of the building.

And the back of the building.

And is this a blast from the past!?! Classic 50's style architecture for the bus station.

Our Sweet Little Pokey Died

Here's our sweet little Pokey in her bed. She only liked it for a short time. She really liked sleeping in her special "tuna fish can" box. Or the fluffy rug in the bathroom.

Chrissy is feeding Pokey with a doll bottle. We got her before her eyes were open and had to use doll bottles. We got cat nursers from the pet store but the nipples had too much resistance, and the weakened kittens couldn't suck hard enough to get anything out. She had grown alot and loved her bottle by the time we took this picture.

If Greg left his shoes out, Pokey just went mad. She would stick her whole head inside and roll around on the floor. We never could get the camera out in time to get that picture. This is Pokey resting after one of her "fits". Who needs catnip!?!

Her favorite place to relax at the top of the stairs. She could see out the front door and keep an eye on the neighborhood, she could see who came and went from the front door and the garage. You couldn't get to the main floor without greeting her and stepping over her. She would not move out of the way.

Surveying her little "kingdom". She loved to be in the backyard with her family. She knew she was safe, well, except for the time that a Robin chased her all the way across the yard and into the garage.LOL.

E.B. Grandin Print Shop, Bindery, Book Store

The original E.B. Grandin Building is the red storefront on the left of the one that says' "Book of Mormon". This is the place where the first 5000 copies of the Book of Mormon were printed. This shop is also unusual because it included a print shop, bindery and a book store all in one business. This never happened in a small towns like Palmyra during this period in history.

The NEW printing press that arrived at the print shop only 5 months before Mr. Grandin was employed to print the Book of Mormon. The quality of printing from this press was dramatically improved from the old press (located to the right of the one pictured). We saw samples of the comparisons.

The bindery where the Book of Mormon was bound. The entire process was done in this room. The leather covers were put on across the room from these binding tables.

The Book of Mormon and The Holy Bible are bound in leather so the people would know that these books were "Important".

As you can see on the shelves surrounding the Book of Mormon and the Bible, books of this time period were typically paper bound, making them more affordable to the general public.

The Beautiful Palmyra Temple in Fall

The Temple is stunning as we view it from The Smith Farm.

View of Moroni on top of the Temple.

A careful look at the windows reveals the etched grove. From inside the Temple you look out upon the Sacred Grove. This feature is a custom one designed by President Hinckley. He had them make the President's office smaller so these windows could be stratigically placed. They are NOT the Hinckley windows, he directed, they are the SACRED GROVE WINDOWS. Elder Bednar and Elder Jensen gave us a small version of the windows in a stand that was made by the artist that made these windows.

The view that is had from the "Sacred Grove Windows".

The Church is Organized. (Doctrine and Covenants 21)

The Whitmer home. Inside is where those 6 of the 1st few members met and organized The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The home close up.

The room Where the church was organized. In the evening we came here, the ropes were removed and we had a sacrament meeting, presided over by Elder David A. Bednar and Elder Jay E. Jensen. They sat at that very table as they presided over us. What an indescribable experience we had as we learned about the "Spirit of Place" that exists where significant things take place.

The Whitmer Farm.

The visitors center at the Whitmer Farm. We had our day of meetings here, presided over by Elder David A. Bednar of the Quorum of the 12 Apostles, and Elder Jay E. Jensen one of the 7 presidents of the 1st Quorum of Seventy.

The Hill Cumorah

Looking up at the Hill Cumorah from the road beside the visitor's center.

The Switchback road up to the top of the hill.

Looking up toward the top and the Angel Moroni Monument.

The Monument at the top of the hill.

Looking down the hill and beyond, from the Angel Moroni Monument.