Cabin Restoration

A special week and a half of training for Elder Parkerson.

It was discovered last year that several of the logs in the walls of the Whitmer Farm log cabin have rotted and were in serious condition. Elder Young was serving in the Palmyra NY FMG at the time. Being a master carpenter of sorts he was called in to figure out what to do. He had a dream one night of how to repair the logs and has been working hard on them tis spring. It was learned that he would not be able to complete the task before his mission was finished so they invited me to learn how to do it. Here's me in my favorite position about a story up!

First you have to loosen up a log that needs major repair. You have to jack hammer out all the mortar and chinking that surrounds the log.

Then you remove bad log from the building. Not necessarily an easy feat as even rotten logs are heavy. In many cases though you don't have to take the log out of the building and can effectivly repair it in place.

After removing the log you bring it down where you can work on it. You have to remove any and all rotten material. Sometimes the log is so bad that you have to make a form to hold the pieces in place while you prepare to fill it with concrete. The log is then prepared with an epoxy based sealer to lessen further rotting and to protect the log from any chemical action by the concrete.

The prepared log is now hoisted back up on the scaffolding in preparation for filling with concrete.

Concrete is mixed on the ground, passed up in buckets and tamped into the waiting log. It is leveled and shaped and allowed to harden.

Now we are ready to slide the cement filled log back into teh building. And I thought it was heavey before the concrete was added!

The repaired log is now set into place where the notches hold it in place and mortar mix is used to fill in between the logs. After that hardens a good caot of "chinking" is applied between the logs. After that hardens you wouldn't even know that the log was worked on. It may sound easy but with the drying times for the epoys, glues and concrete and mortar it takes almost a week to do one log. It was fun and interesting. Now the Peter Whitmer farm house where the Church was organized will stand well for another 50 years...

Best wishes to all.

June 14 - 22, 2009

Well Pagent and the aftermath is over for this year and I guess its time to get this Blog caught up. I am weeks behind with Sister Parkerson's hundreds of pictures to identify and a Blog layout and program that I absouletely hate. It is the most user unfriendly thing I've ever had the mispleasure of using but its free so I can't complaint too much. I don't know if there is anyone even following this anymore.

Elders Parkerson & Murphy woring on rebuiding a Kawasaki engine that runs a 6 person transporter cart that the Pagent people use to bring disabled folks in from the parking lots. We got it done and running before Pagent!

We have a really nice shop with a car lift, welding equipment and a full compliment of mechanics tools.

We got to go strawberry picking on a Saturday off. The weather was warm and wonderful and the berries plentiful. The farmer would take you out into his field on a wagon pulled by his tractor and drop you off to pick. It was a lot of fun. We are looking forward to returning as they also grow cherries, rasperries, corn and peas.

Sunday, Fathers Day Sheri from the FM office managed to organize a surprise 60th Birthday party for Elder Parkerson. It was quite a surprise as I never expected it. I think Sister Parkerson also played a roll in it. We had a really nice afternoon and evening. All of the Senior couples we work with were there.

From the left is Elder Huffacker ( Sister Huffacker is taking the picture) Elder & Sister Parkerson, Sister Sheri and her husband Peter Baxendale (our hostess and office manager), behind Sister Sheri is Elder Murphy, Elder & Sister Picanco, and Elder and Sister Young

For anyone who isn't aware of it yet our e-mail address is

gaparkerson@gmail.com. So if you ccan't find a way to leave a message here don't hesitate to send off an e-mail. Also as our home is 2095 Maple Avenue, Palmyra all our mail should be sent to Elder or Sister Parkerson, 653 State Route 21, Palmyra, New York, 14522. Our apartment telephone number is 315- 597- 1567 and we now have an answering machine. Our love to all of you.

June 8 - 13, 2009

Another great week in the best mission there is! Among the highlights were the mid-week FM Group safety meeting. Sister Parkerson & Huffaker made a sumptuous Mexican luncheon for the meeting. They also spent much time in working the historical gardens at the Smith Farm. Elder Parkerson spent time loading the dump truck with the big CAT backhoe-loader and grading off a washed out area of path at the Pagent Stud Shelter. He also took the "zero turn" mower and mowed an acre of lawn at the "old farmhouse". On Thursday & Friday Elder Parkerson installed an outdoor outlet in an inconspicuous pace outside the Peter Whitmer Farm house and commenced training on " old log restoration". Elder Young will not be able to finish it all before he goes and they have designated me to finish restoring some of the rotting logs.

The Weekend

A weekend with nothing to do? NOT We went strawberry picking, shopped for some stuff we needed and while Elder Parkerson got a wood turning lesson from Elder Young, Sister Parkerson got a wood working lession on working with a scroll saw from Sister Young. After the strawberry picking they all had to be hulled and frozen. Of course given our family we had to watch the fire truck across the street from our house doing a training exercise. In the evening we enjoyed a beautiful sunset over the Harris Farm.

A Family Weekend June 5 & 6, 2009

On John and Kate's first time visit we started our walk in the Joseph Smith Sacred Grove and learned about 30 different types of trees and Joseph's vision of Heavenly Father and our Savior. We showed them some of the witness trees that would have been there in Joseph's lifetime.

Here we are relaxing on the beautiful lush green grass in our yard. I can't remember if this is Curtis or Lilly in the picture too. Katie and John are looking happy to finally be here, too.

At the Joseph Smith Farm we got to see how their bees would have been kept in 1830. Katie also got to help me water the garden.
We also got to visit Lake Ontario. It looks like an ocean. The rocks to build Martin Harris house came from here and are all over the beach. We also got to look at the lighthouse and this giant Weeping Willow Tree. I wonder what stories it holds.

Well we decided to pick up a new vehicle. We are called to change the toilet paper & towels. Fix the lights. Wash the buidings and clean the dryer vents. We cut the downed logs, mow the lawns, fix the broken stuff. We empty the trash, paint the walls, kill the ants. We fabricate what needs fabricating. We drive the carts, zero turns, tractors, backhoe, the dump truck and the "Dooley" So when something needs doing - who ya gona call -
The F M Missionaries.............................



When a way to get people up to the parking lot lights to fix them while waiting to get the man lift fixed Elder Parkerson was commissioned to build an attachment for the fork-lift. This was the result. >>>>>>>>>>

The well cover at the Peter Whitmer Farm historic site needed to be scraped down and re-painted. Elder Parkerson is right on it.














Sisters Huffaker and Parkerson had a mega squirt gun fight! Not really they got to pressure wash one of the missionary apartments. That day it was in the 50's. Would have been more fun I am sure on a hot summer day.

Also tasks this week were to clean out a dryer vent in the apartment building. Must have been 10 pounds of lint - vent was almost completely blocked off. Elder Parkerson loves to shop tools. He found a great one at Lowe's for connecting the cordless drill to a rotary brush that can reach all the way through the dryer vent. A shop Vac hooks to the other end. It comes with several attachments for various applications. Sister's Parkerson & Huffaker worked diligently on the Historic Gardens at the Smith Farm.

May 30 weekend

It was a beautiful Sunday. We rode down to our assigned Ward with the Picanco's and hosted a picnic lunch with the young Missionary Elders assigned to Geneseo Ward. We ate at the Letchworth State Park Dam Site. Its their "Grand Canyon".