Back on the Net - In Tennessee and Smiling :-)

[Guest guest]

Hey y'all,

 

Howdy to all my old friends and to those who don't know me. I'm taking the

time to make this post now cause my butt is dragging .. musta piled up 8

tons of brush and tree limbs yesterday .. I kept climbing up on the pile and

jumping up and down on it so it would sink down low enough to allow me to

pile more onto it. It was 92 F and humidity was so high that fish were

swimming through the air from Barkley Lake to Kentucky Lake and younguns was

hiding in trees and catching them with butterfly nets. And Kathleen .. we

do got some Jakes around here .. mostly good Jakes like King and Chicken and

Black and such that eat mice .. and a few bad Jakes. Gotta few Copperheads

and as I was throwing all that brush onto the pile I had already started

last week .. a few of them was grumbling about me disturbing their mid-day

sleep .. so I says, " Listen Mr. No Shoulders .. this here be my land now and

there ain't room fer both of us here .. so y'all better slip on out or I'm

gonna set lite to this pile right now. They thanked me for my consideration

and went on over to the corn field across the road from me. Mr. No

Shoulders normally don't forget kind actions so I reckon they won't be back

anytime soon and if they do come back they ain't gonna bother us. And all

that work showed me (leastways for now) that my ticker is not in too bad a

shape. That says much for a feller who hasn't done much manual labor for 20

+ years. ;-)

 

I owe lotsa folks lotsa mail and will get to it as soon as I can .. just got

my telephone and new PC hooked up in the last week and we are still

unpacking lotsa boxes .. plus I am spending lotsa time working on the

grounds. My last post to the this list was around the 24th of May .. I flew

out of Turkey around then. Following is a rather short (leastways for me)

introduction for those who don't know me and an update of

where/what/when/why we have been for those who do .. it will answer many

questions that have been asked and most likely a bunch that have not yet

been asked.:

 

For the new folks .. welcome to the most friendly and informative News Group

on the net .. I've been here since the beginning and have watched it grow

from a dozen or so folks to more than 1,550 folks today. Its

friendly because long ago it adapted to the personality of the List Mamma ..

its informative because there are a large number of product dealers who must

depend on having correct answers if they wish to remain in business .. as

well as a large number of end users (non-dealers) who have both interest and

expertise in the areas discussed on this News Group. Those folks I just

mentioned also help to keep the group honest because we can smell the con

artists, bovine excrement spreaders and phonies when they put out garbage ..

they will be challenged .. and exposed if they don't change their behavior.

This group welcomes Young Living folks .. because many of the valuable

members are ex-YL'ers who learned from this group that they had been

victimized .. and had been led down the path of untrue, unsafe and dishonest

hype concerning use of EO by the self-styled guru of BS .. Mr. (Not Dr.)

Gary Young .. and his flock of misinformed groupies. If you want to learn

something .. ask questions .. you'll get answers. If you lurk and wait for

others to ask be advised that many other lurkers are probably doing the same

thing .. no question is dumb because nobody is born with the knowledge this

list is concerned with .. and you can bet that there are many folks who

have the same questions you have. So .. come on out and play .. introduce

yourself and you and your questions will be welcomed. :-)

 

I am a retired (30 years) US Army Military Police Officer who spent half his

life outside the USA .. I lived in Turkey over 26 years .. 19 + years this

last trip. After retirement I worked as a corporate manager on a contract

for the US Gummit for 5 + years .. then opened my own American invested

Turkish company for 10 + years. At the same time I co-founded and ran an

agriculture NGO (Black Sea Agri-Business Group) and created/managed a

Turkish company for SATO Travel out of Arlington, VA. I was into

consulting, creation of foreign invested companies and international

contracting .. and bulk export of Turkish origin essential oils (100 kg

minimum) and Rose Otto (1 kg minimum) for many years .. as well as export of

many other natural products with large volume minimums. I consulted on and

supplied the Rose roots/cuttings for a US AID sponsored Rose Oil industry

in Madagascar .. and consulted/planned similar projects in the Balkans and

in Afghanistan. I opened Appalachian Valley Natural Products (AVNP) in

Friendsville, MD in Summer 1999. AVNP still functions and continues to grow

... happy customers in 50 US States and 87 other countries now. We have

retail sizes at http://www.av-at.com/prices.html for all buyers and

wholesale larger sizes at http://www.av-at.com/wholesale.html .. folks who

are sellers of products can purchase EO (only) from that wholesale link

... no need for a tax ID, etc., unless the goods are to be delivered to an

address in Maryland .. then I must have data on file or charge the 5% MD

sales tax. No tax on goods delivered outside MD. I just noticed that the

email address on the wholesale link still leads to my old (no longer active)

address .. the new email address is ButchOwen .. it will be

corrected today.

 

All of our products are pure, unadulterated, high in quality (purity and

quality are not the same thing .. there are pure, mediocre oils out and

about) Lot Number Controlled and either GC or GC/MS tested .. buyers

requesting same can have a free copy of any analysis. I have neglected my

business since May 2007 but my folks in MD have continued to do an

outstanding job without me .. proving that the real work is done by them ..

but .. sales have dropped by 50% since May. Why? Because this is an

industry based on information (and unfortunately, often on misinformation)

... so if one is not active on the News Groups they will continue to get

orders from their long-term loyal customers .. but the new folks .. or those

who might sometimes shop because they are impressed by a particular article

written by a knowledgeable (or sometimes not so knowledgeable) seller ..

will not visit them. Sometimes outa sight is outa mind in this industry.

But as always before .. I have returned. So .. get to ordering y'all. ;-)

 

 

For those who have known me for many years .. and who often believed I would

never leave Turkey and return to the USA .. howdy doo and here I am in

Tennessee now. ;-) I look forward to meeting again (and for the first

time) many of the old friends at various AT shindigs .. and .. will do so at

the Austin, TX shindig the end of August. On that shindig .. true it was

that the cut off for discount accommodations had passed but that has now

changed .. Christina or Kathleen or someone will be putting something out on

that soon .. so y'all come on down .. you heah? ;-)

 

Wife Tatiana (Tanya) & Son Alexander (The Great) flew out of Turkey to visit

family in Russia in late April .. I flew out of Turkey to Georgia in late

May .. bought a new Jeep Grand Cherokee, spent a few days in GA then picked

up Tanya & Alexander at Dulles (in Washington, D.C.) on 5 June. We headed

to my company (Appalachian Valley Natural Products) in Downtown

Friendsville, MD (population 597). Stayed at an old (restored) B & B right on

the Yeogh River .. organic food and fresh baked bread daily, etc. I'll

post their link and contact information later .. some folks on the list

visit the store in Friendsville now and then and this B & B is the place to

stay. John Croskey has stayed there .. loves it too. Alexander had a ball

there playing out in the rain .. a first for him as it couldn't be done on

the streets of Ankara. ;-)

 

We headed to Paris, TN on 14 June .. started looking for a home. Lots of

inexpensive) properties in this vacation area of Kentucky & Barkley Lakes &

Land Between the Lakes (LBL) .. reason is because its not crowded ..

Kentucky Lake is 250 miles long as the crow flies and has close to 2,500

miles of shoreline. One can find a home on 10 acres (mostly woods) with

lake view for 200 K or so .. problem is .. those homes are normally 2nd or

vacation homes .. so they are small .. 1,700 sq ft or so. Also can be found

much larger homes but on small lots as they are normally lakeside and run in

the 400-500 K range .. and both types are off the beaten path .. maybe 10-12

miles from the nearest gas station. Paris, TN (county seat of Henry

County) is a quaint, totally Suthran town with a town square around the

courthouse and lots of buildings 150 years old and such .. population of

Paris is around 9,800 and Henry County has around 31,000 folks .. just my

speed. Entering Paris one sees a large Welcome sign topped by an

enormous Catfish .. Paris (and the Kentucky Lake area) are known as the

Catfish Capital of America .. they boast the world's largest fish fry in

early spring .. hundreds of thousands of folks visit this one week

festival. Paris is on Highway 79, roughly 120 miles NE of Memphis and 110

miles NW of Nashville .. 20 miles from Murray, KY. Paris is NOT a place

one should settle in if they are seeking their fortune .. its a place to

retire. Families here for 250 years have nailed down all the service

industries and there's really no room for new small businesses.

 

We found the home we wanted and had a contract on it within 8 days of

arriving .. closed on 2 July and took possession on Friday the 13th (the day

I turned 65). Nice place out in the county .. 6 miles south of Paris ..

surrounded by woods and corn fields .. a house here and there .. deer and

turkey play in my back yard and in the fields/woods around us. Not a

single day passes that we don't see wild critters. Bald Eagles thrive in

this entire area and they often visit our property and the woods behind.

Hummingbirds use LBL as a stopover for their migration and there's a

Hummingbird Festival at LBL next week .. lots of them flitting around our

patio too .. we have feeders out .. in addition to having honeysuckles off

the patio.

 

Our place is 3,800 sq ft, with 3 BR, formal dining room, formal living room,

family room, sun room, 2 full and 2 half baths .. with hardwood floors

downstairs except for the sun room. It sits on 2.5 acres of landscaped

property .. has over 80 nice, well placed trees .. ceptin' for 8 misplaced

sycamores who have now been turned into a very large brush pile. ;-) The

house sits around an acre and a quarter back from the road. Has a

brick/rock/decking patio with a hot tub and a 2.5 car garage. A bonus (at

least for me) is a 1,200 + sq ft insulated, electric wired steel building

out back .. that is my workshop and Fortress of Solitude .. one of the first

things I bought was an apartment size frig for that building .. so anyone

stopping by can have a cold drink of well water (great it is) or a soda ..

or an ice cold beer. ;-)

 

Tanya loves the kitchen .. wall to wall solid maple cabinets .. its roughly

1/3 the size of the apartment we had in Turkey. Actually, if I tally the

dimensions of the kitchen, laundry room and sun room (its 36' X 18 " ) the

three of them are roughly the size of the Turkish apartment. Come to think

on it .. the storage space (closets and such) inside the home cover roughly

more space than that Turkish apartment. She is grinning like a Cheshire

Cat cause the dining room looks sorta special now.

 

Those who know me and have visited me in Turkey know that back in 1994 I

planned to return to the USA and go to law school so I shipped all my

household goods to Clarksville, TN .. but with my ticket in hand .. I

changed my mind at the last minute and opened a Turkish company. Having

shipped all of my belongings, I had to start from scratch and as I was

single then and had plans to stay that way .. I chose to live with

mismatched pieces of this and that (early Salvation Army) I picked up from

various contractors who were leaving country. When I married Tanya we had

plans to return to the USA one of these days soon so we purchased nothing

new. When we hit the USA we needed furniture. I had a nice piece of

Duncan Fife and a half dozen pieces of Drexel bedroom furniture in storage

(for over 13 years) .. but had nothing for a dining room. Those who have

moved around a lot know that you can't empty many boxes if you don't have

lots of closet space and some dining room furniture. I started looking

around and was shocked to see lots of poorly made dining room sets .. a

table with 6 chairs and a china cabinet .. for roughly $2,500 .. not high

quality and most likely made in China or Bangladesh .. stuff that would lose

half its value when it was delivered. Got tired of that and as I had

decided to make Tanya's birthday gift a special .. but practical one .. I

went antique shopping. Found a 60-70 year old Drexel solid cherry set ..

table with 8 chairs, a buffet and china cabinet .. quality that will

continue to increase in value and something Alexander can pass to his

grandchildren someday. We're gonna eat beans, taters, collard greens and

catfish for a year just to pay off the Amex card I put it on .. but at the

end of that time we'll have something nice in the dining room and in the

meantime .. my wife is very, very happy .. as am I. :-)

 

Lazy the average Russian is NOT .. frugal the average Russian IS .. they are

used to hardships and Spartan living. Though better educated than the

average Russian, Tanya is the average Russian regarding these traits. She

was raised in the city but she and her brother spent summers on her

Grandma's farm .. so swinging a hoe or even a chainsaw .. and planting,

harvesting and putting up fruits and veggies is something she likes to do ..

and is good at. Lucky I am in this (and many other) ways to have her beside

me because a Spring Chicken I ain't .. and will come a time that I might not

be able to do all the work needed to maintain this place. She helps me a

lot now .. works hard she does .. and she accepted my desire for a fair size

chunk of land knowing full well that she will have her hands full in time.

 

Alexander loves this land .. he rolls in the grass .. chases crickets and

lizards and butterflies and all the little critters he had never seen

before. He lays beside me in the grass ..when he is not sitting on my

chest ;-) evenings and likes to watch the sun set .. then he looks at and

jabbers about the moon and stars. I have a tractor mower but also a push

mower for hard to get to areas .. Alexander has a toy push mower that blows

bubbles .. he spends an hour or so daily cutting grass with it .. he

considers this to be a very serious endeavor. ;-) He loves to work

outside .. yesterday I cut down 8 sycamore trees that were dangerously too

near the house .. dropping leaves and bark and such and blocking sun from

the area that will be our rose garden next year. I drug the logs and heavy

brush to the back of the place with my Jeep but all the lighter limbs and

such were dragged by hand .. the little rascal worked for hours dragging

limbs that weighed half as much as he does. Not an ounce of fat on him ..

all muscle and a bundle of energy and exuberance. He'll not turn 17 months

old till 5 August but he continues to function far ahead of his

chronological age .. folks guess his age at 2 + but he sometimes acts like

he is 3 +. I gotta be real careful what I do because he copies my actions

... he sees something one time and tries to do it himself. All parents

think their kids are special .. and rightfully so. I have 5 offspring ..

the oldest being 44 years older than Alexander .. and though all of them

were/are special and above average to me .. I can't honestly say any of them

were fabulously handsome or extremely special in their behavior .. not till

Alexander came along .. and my other offspring agree with me on this.

;-) He is mind boggling .. a danged genius this youngun. Those list

members who have met Alexander know how handsome he is .. and a more

charming and flirtatious youngun is hard to find. Folks stop us in stores

to comment on him .. and if they're ladies .. he turns on the charm .. if

they're men .. he just smiles at them. I reckon it comes across in this

writing that he is both my Son and my Sun. ;-)

 

Back to the place .. we waited 11 days from closing to possession because

the feller I bought from was a nice guy and needed the time. Like me, he

is a retired US Army Officer .. we didn't really do much negotiating .. I

bid quite under his asking and the next day he came back splitting the

difference .. I knew that he knew I had my eye on another nice place too so

I went up but 2% and added that this was dependent on his leaving the

appliances .. and the tractor lawn mower. He accepted and asked for 11 days

to clear out. He had to sell .. his kids had graduated university and had

flown the coup, he was teaching full time in a local university and he and

his wife were deeply involved in church activities .. no time to take care

of the land and the home was too large for them .. plus, they were building

a smaller home on a small piece of land that is much nearer to their church

and they needed to shake loose from this mortgage. It was a win-win

transaction and for that I am happy.

 

While waiting .. we went out to visit an old military buddy in Rogers, AR ..

he has a lotta waterfront land on Beaver Lake. Like here on Kentucky and

Barkley Lakes, Beaver Lake has a lotta Giant Stripe Bass (sometimes called

Rockfish). First day out we caught a bunch .. but they release most of them

and release all under 5 lbs or so. We kept but two that day .. one over 8

lbs and one 19 lbs & 7 oz .. 37 inches long. I hooked it less than 15

minutes our from his dock .. took over 25 minutes to bring her in on a

relatively light rod and 17 lb test line. It is true that most fishermen

are liars .. or is it that most liars fish? But I got photos of this rascal

and will post them to the photos section in a few days. ;-)

 

My 5 + tons of goods that had been in storage for 13 + years in Clarksville,

TN were delivered the day after we took possession .. the storage company

sent workers so it was not so difficult. It was like opening Christmas

gifts as I had forgotten many of the goodies that were in that storage lot

... but I hadn't forgotten the antique copper items and many Turkish carpets

and kilims I had purchased off and on since the early 60s. ;-) The 20 ft

container of personal goods/clothing, etc., shipped from Turkey arrived last

week ..and as I paid for shipping from apartment to door instead of

apartment to inside the home .. no labor was furnished .. so me and a couple

of off duty Paris police officers unloaded that container (over 4 metric

tons of goods) onto my driveway in 57 minutes flat .. only had 60 minutes to

do it or I would have had to pay extra to the freight line. We were tired

puppies when we again moved it all into the home .. and the cops realized

how lucky they were to be in law enforcement instead of being laborers.

;-)

 

Folks said I would have a lotta cultural shock when I returned .. and I've

encountered a bit of that for sure. Gasoline is very cheap in the USA

(compared to other countries) .. motorized yard tools like chain saws, weed

eaters, blowers, lawn mowers and such haven't really increased in price

since I left the USA in 1988 .. but hand tools like hoes and shovels and

ladders and such have gone up 200-300% and odds are none of them are made in

the USA now. Automobiles are cheaper than before and far cheaper than

outside the USA. Meat is cheap .. veggies and fruits are high .. setting up

a new household is expensive for sure and as I wrote above .. outta sight is

outta mind and sales go down while operating expenses stay the same .. so

buy my stuff y'all. ;-)

 

So .. I'm back but I'm not " too back " . Gotta lotta work inside and out

calling to me .. like cutting up a few logs when I finish this email.

I'll get around to answering folks this week .. still got places to go and

things to do .. gotta travel to Fort Campbell, KY (55 miles away) one day

this week .. the business there will take all day. Gotta buddy coming up

from Georgia later this week with a truck load of things I had stored in his

shed in 1999 .. mostly military memorabilia and items of value to nobody but

me.

 

I'll post more later .. gotta go cut some logs now. Good to be back in the

US of A and on the Oils & Herbs Group again.

 

Y'all keep smiling. :-) Butch http://www.AV-AT.com<http://www.av-at.com/>

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

Hey Butch WB

 

 

Graham Sorenson

http://TheGuideToAromatherapy.com

 

 

 

Hey y'all,

 

Howdy to all my old friends and to those who don't know me. I'm taking the

time to make this post now cause my butt is dragging

.

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

Hey Butch!! So glad you’re back! I don’t post much, but always read

messages. I’ve missed your musings.

 

 

 

Jan G

 

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