Just a few thoughts in closing !     Since the above articles were first written, much has happened.      After several enjoyable years aboard our sixty-foot houseboat, "Knight Krawla",  following retirement, cruising the thousands of miles of the Inland Waterway network, a problem arose.

Despite a lifetime of prior sailing worldwide, with no real after-effects from the loss of his right ear at Halton in 1944, Mick started having major vertigo attacks . . . . the deck had a tendency to spin violently and then come up and hit him in the face . . . very disconcerting !     Apparently the oscillatory motion of a houseboat is considerably different to that of a sailboat.   The US Veterans Administration, who act in lieu of the UK Social Security system for we WW2 veterans, advised moving back ashore . . . . things would not improve they said . . . but they could get worse !

So, already posessing a comfortable motor-home used for occasional travel in the winter, the boat was sold and Mick and Momma became landlubbers again. Eventually "full-timing" can become tiring, so a search started for a "home base" at which to settle for lengthy periods when not travelling.    We finally decided on a 14 acre plot on a remote Tennessee mountain ridge overlooking the beautiful Sequatchie valley.    Did some necessary clearing of timber and brush, a little grading with the help of a neighbour and his bulldozer, and set up the motor-home.

Now, just clearing and grading is hardly adequate.    Friendly contact with the ex-Sheriff of neighbouring Rhea County resulted in getting him to bring in his drilling rig and sink us a 150 foot deep well  . . .  to find the right spot Mick resorted to his old gift for "water-witching".    A pit and trenches also had to be dug and gravelled for the installation of a 1000 gallon septic tank and several hundred feet of drain field tile. Then, after due pause for rest, it was decided to grade a little more and put up a large 2-story barn and workshop . . . after all, one has to have a storage facility while away travelling !

As time passed, Mick became more ambitious . . . a few spots of garden were scratched out and flowers planted . . . still not satisfied with this effort, rock-banked terraces were added to some of the hillside gardens.     Then, while travelling to California in the motor home one winter . . . with the aid of his trusty lap-top computer . . . a comfortable little two-storey cabin was designed.    The following Spring, upon returning to Tennessee, the cabin was built, again with the help of neighbours for the heavy lifting and climbing chores.

Later that Fall, it was decided to sell the motor-home and take up permanent residence in the cabin.    But . . . the urge to travel on occasion still existed  . . . so a smaller travel trailer was acquired in its' place.   Hiking trails were hacked out of the thick woods and brush around the cabin, now over one and half miles of them !    Not found in everyones' backyard, one interesting project was the 50 yard rifle range  . . .  have to practice somewhere before heading off to shooting matches nationwide.

The latest project is felling suitable trees, cutting them to length, splitting the logs lengthways, and building a "snake" fence around the property . . . only 3/4 of mile still to go !

The question now is . . . . what next ?    Momma has her heart set on roofing over and enclosing the front deck of the cabin  . . .  she usually gets her way
  . . .  eventually !

PPS:

Not sure if it has anything to do with a certain one-year stay at a place called St. Athans . . . don't seem to be able to stop "Inproving" things around here !

Momma now has her enclosed sunroom on the front of the cabin . . . already hinting at a covered deck outside the back . . . over 10 acres of the dense woods have been logged and the timber sent to the mill . . . a 100 Metre rifle range has been graded for Smallbore and Silhouette competition and a backstop built using the excavated stumps of many of the felled trees . . . an additonal barn has been added to house the lawn and garden tractors, ATV and other equipment . . . What's next ?