Laying sod on the lot where Peggy Miller used to live. The old house was demolished a few months ago.

Ben Fisher living the good life while in Pinecraft. The weather today was perfect, with sunshine from dawn to dusk. It was a mixture of cool wind and warm sun and a humidity of 34 or something like that.

The progress on Kruppa Street.

Waiting on the Pioneer bus to come in.

And the arrival of the full bus.

When I first came to Pinecraft this was the Jacob B. Freed’s Snowbird home. Back then I was in and out of this home whenever they needed an extra person to play Marble games. Albert Yoder and his wife from Hartville Ohio were always the other couple and then they needed two more people to fill in. Most times it was Elias Beiler who lived next door and if his wife didn’t want to play Marbles, I filled in.

I loved filling in as it gave me first hand experiences playing games with old people. When Jake and Peg hosted the game, we went my their Marble Game rules and when the game was at Albert Yoder’s place, we played by Albert’s rules. Elias never had any rules and I didn’t either. We just filled in. Every time we played there was a bit of confusion in remembering whose Marble Game rules were ruling that evening.

But the time has come when this house will be no more. After Jakes were too old and feeble to come down for the winter months the house was sold, and has been sold a few times since. It is now going to be demolished. According to public records this house was build in 1925, ninety-four years ago.

The backside.

This is the Philippi Creek bank. It is ugly, full of weeds and briers. But when I saw these three little trees rising up above the weeds, I saw the future. In another ten years or so these trees will give us shade. The briers die out and the weeds disappear. This is nature’s cycle if left alone.

This is the first week after turning our clocks back to standard time.We have long dark evenings. But it is that time of the season again.

Looks like Zoie is paging through the new Amazon Toy Wish book, trying to decide what she wants for Christmas.

This property on Gilbert Street will be up for demolition in the near future.

Today three buses came in from the north. Cross Roads from Indiana was the first to arrive. Soon after 10am Journey Tours from Daviess County Indiana pulled in. They also make e short run to Arthur Illinois to pick up passengers from there. And around 1:30pm the Pioneer Trails came in. They were a bit last due to being stuck in a traffic accident.

Journey Tours unloading.

Marvin Miller from Illinois. He has Miller’s Bike Shop in Pinecraft. It is that time of the year for more bike shops to be open and running.

Brothers – Melvin from Illinois and Ray who is local.

One thing the Illinois Amish have maintained is their handshake. They tend to shake hands when they meet and a “goodbye” handshake when they part.

A train of bikes waiting for the Pioneer bus to arrive.

Fred shaking up these children’s world by bouncing the Golf Cart.

Zoie’s Grandparents came for a short stay.

Two brothers and their wives. (Ivan & Roy Mast)