Birthdays and a Shiny Floor

Upon arrival at Afton Station, Ron M. and I were blinded by light emanating from our reflections on the newly stripped and waxed floor. My incredible friends and helpers -- Marly, Robin, and Phil -- stayed very late last night to make the formerly filthy floor of the showroom shine like the top of the Chrysler Building. Marly actually stayed until 2:30 a.m. to finish the job. Our first order of business this morning, then, was to return everything that had been relocated to the back room for the wax job to their original places. That, of course, led to the desire to weed out a lot of the junk I don't need any more, rehang some pictures, etc. etc. It was a busy morning.

We did, however, stop long enough to celebrate the birthdays of Betty W. and Ron "Tattoo Man" Jones (or what's left of him after several weeks of a rigid diet). We had smily-face cookies instead of cake this time, and NO singing was done. Happy Birthday to these two awesome folks!

Here's a picture of the painting I mentioned on Tuesday, done by Jon Edwards and presented to me as a gift. It's an awfully nice painting from an extremely talented friend.

Among our 17 visitors today were these lovely folks hailing from New Brunswick, Canada. Although they're driving Route 66 on this trip, they told us about their several LONG walking trips in France and Spain, 600 miles each. I suggested they try walking Route 66 some day. I know they'd enjoy it and have absolutely no problem doing it.
Another group of jolly Aussies came in toward the end of the day. They're from Sydney and, like every Australian I've ever met, were having a great time and exuding friendly smiles. Other folks came from Knoxville TN, Mineral Wells TX, Nampa ID, Tulsa OK, and Bozman MD, fine folks all!

This is NOT one of today's visitors, thank goodness! Instead he is our first Halloween decoration, provided by Robin and Phil. I hope he doesn't scare too many people away! BOO!