Kim and Kenny Visit

Friday evening, Kim and Kenny Bourke came down from IN to visit. We set and talked about what had been going on until bedtime.
Saturday morning Linda fixed us breakfast and then Kenny and I took a ride around the farm talking while we rode. I showed Kenny where I was cutting wood and the hay shed and where I was splitting the wood for next winter. We went back to the house and Linda took Kim a ride in the Mule. When the girls came back we walked up to the pond and Stacey fed the fish. A little after noon we decided to go eat. We loaded in our truck and I drove through Albany into TN and stopped at the Farm House. It is restaurant built with a log cabin type structure. We finished eating and drove towards Star Point Marina on Dale Hollow. We drove past Cindy and Bruce Beck's place so Kim and Kenny could see where their place was and see how it looked. For a while, Kim worked in the same factory area as Cindy in Anderson. Next we pulled down to the edge of the lake and talked about how low the water level was and how we had a lack of rain this summer and fall. As we were driving away from the lake we noticed a very large home under construction and almost finished. It was impressive setting amongst the rental units. Then we drove over to Bonnie and Donnie's cabin between Star Point and Eagle's Cove and as we pulled in the driveway, Donnie was standing out on the deck talking on the phone. He passed it to me and I spoke with Gary Brown and we wished each other Happy New Year. Susie and Gary Mader were also there with two of their friends. Oddly, their name were Susy and Gary also. Susy was a younger sister of Steve Keesling, who had been in the same Daleville High School class as me. We all gathered outside on the deck with a small fire burning in a metal fireplace while listening and laughing as Donnie and others told stories about the old days. We stayed a couple of hours and then loaded back in the truck for the ride back to Burkesville. Getting home about 9 PM, the ducks were waiting as we drove up and opened the garage door, they immediately waddled into the cage. A few minutes before midnight Kenny opened a bottle of wine and we toasted the New Year. It wasn't much later we all went to bed.

Visitors Leave and A Visitor Arrives

Kim and Kenny prepared to leave this morning as Linda was baking cookies. We said our good byes and passed out hugs and they headed north about 10 AM. Linda finished baking about 4 dozen cookies that were for the Army Reserve 623rd Division that returned from Iraq. Burkesville was having a parade through town at 2 PM for the soldiers that had returned. We finished baking the cookies and I went to split a few more pieces of wood in the hay shed. Stacey and Linda were going to walk around the hay field again so I said I would ride along with the chain saw and trailer behind the Mule. While they walked around the field, I cut the last section of the log into pieces that I could pick up and split for the wood stove. I finished sawing the wood and picked up Stacey, Linda, Missy, Pico and Poco and we rode back to the hay shed, where I backed the trailer full of wood inside the shed by the log splitter. Stacey and Linda walked the dogs to the house and I continued to split wood. They returned and helped stack the pieces that were split.
A little after sunset Pauline and Brent brought us another visitor, Trevon. He is the son of our niece, Jessica. I guess he is going to stay about a week. It was nice to see P&B in 'kid mode', where they are responsible for the actions of a child and are having to make their decisions based on what the kid needs, even if it was just for a few hours. Brent seemed worried that we might not know what to do with Trevon and as they were getting ready to leave, he started explaining some things to us, we laughed and told him we had some experience with raising kids. I think he then realized, that we had been through most of it with him.

Trevon Visits the Farm

Linda told me that Stacey and Trevon had stayed up till 11 PM last night, so I should let them sleep this morning. I did, but it wasn't long until they were awake and rustling through the house. I ate some cereal and went outside and used the tractor to pick a tree stump out of the hay field and drop it in the creek. I finished splitting the wood from the tree and filled the tractor with diesel fuel, then parked the tractor in the barn and headed to the house. Linda was backing the Mule out of the garage with Trevon and Stacey in the cab. I jumped on back and we went to walk around the hay field. I told Trevon he could pick up all the sticks he wanted and throw them in the creek or woods. He liked doing that and we let him run as far as he wanted without calling him back. We just told him to follow Cooter, because he would lead us around the field. Trevon beat all of us back to the Mule and then Trevon and I rode in the back as Linda drove us to the house. I fixed Trevon a bologna sandwich, but he told me he didn't like it, I put a couple of potatoe chips along side the sandwich and told him if he ate the sandwich he could have more chips. He ate the sandwich, but NOT the bread crust. I asked what was wrong with the crust, and he said we should give it to the dog, so I did. I fed him a little bit of fruit salad, that he said he didn't like either, but he ate the bananas that were in it. Lunch was done, and Stacey and Trevon went outside and the next thing I saw was Trevon on Brent's old trike.
 
Stacey and Trevon went to watch a Scooby Doo movie in the front bedroom as it looked like it might thunder and lightning. Later we called in an order at Pizza Hut and went in to town and ate. Trevon didn't eat much, but remained calm and nibbled on bread sticks and one piece of pizza. We came home and began watching the Pacer game while Trevon and I set up the Brio Train track. Stacey was watching the game as Linda was talking to Regina and Trevon and I were playing trains.
 

Trevon's Visit Continues

 
We all started the morning with PopTarts, strawberry flavored milk and coffee. The kids had the milk and the adults had coffee. Outside was a little cloudy and Trevon and Stacey decided to play video games on the Nintendo. There was some squealing going on in the bedroom, but no one was actually hurt in the car wrecks that happened during the playing of those games, really, they had a lot of fun. I had let Trevon try out some of the driving games on the xBox last night, but he couldn't handle the difficulty of those games. The Nintendo games they were playing this morning were better suited to his skill level.
We went to Corner Pool & Lunch and Trevon had a burger. He ate most of it and we took the rest to feed the dogs. We stopped at the video rental shack and Trevon picked out a Bob the Builder video. I also stopped at NAPA and bought a gallon of bar oil for the chainsaw. We went home and I started a fire in the stove while Stacey and Trevon watched the tape he had picked out. Supper was sandwiches called Fluffer-Nutters. That is a peanut butter and marshmellow creme combination on bread. Trevon liked those.

Colder Temperatures Again

This morning I checked the forecast and it was going to be colder today so I started a fire in the wood stove. Cooter has a problem, maybe he was hit by a car, or maybe just a stiff neck, but he can't move very well. There are no signs of injuries, but something has happened. He has been this way a couple of days. When we let him inside, he can't hardly lay down or raise or lower his head. After letting him inside this morning, Trevon asked me for a cookie and I told him to wait till he ate breakfast. I started fixing french toast, and I rang the bell when it was ready. I scrambled the rest of the eggs and gave each person a little bit of eggs. Stacey, Trevon and I ate at the counter, while Linda took her plate to the other room. Trevon said he didn't like eggs, but I told him they were good with a little syrup that was left over from the french toast. Hmm, he tried them and when I reminded him he could have a cookie after he finished the eggs, he gobbled them down. I gave him a glass of milk to 'dunk' his two cookies in and he was in 'cookie heaven'. I then sent him and Stacey to brush their teeth after finishing breakfast and I said they could play when they finished brushing. They had Hot Wheel cars and Legos, and we could hear them scratching and rustling through those for several hours while they were watching Disney movies. Lunch was hamburgers and french fries that Linda fixed. It was about the same, I had to make deals to get Trevon to finish his meal, but he did. We've noticed Trevon is asking for white milk with his meals and saving pink milk for snacks. Maybe because I said we might run out of pink milk??
 
Later in the evening, since Stacey and Linda had been reading books to Trevon, he decided to set by the stove and 'read' a book to Missy.
He can't really read yet, but the story sounded good to Missy as Trevon was getting warmed up after his evening bath.

A Nice Day in January

Saturday the weather had started to warm up, but not nice enough to be outside for long. We rode to Columbia and ate in the truck at Sonic, then went to Wal-Mart for a few items. Trevon can recognize signs, such as Wal-Mart and McDonalds. I remember how our kids started knowing signs right before they started reading, so he should be learning to read soon. We bought him a 'Scooby Doo' coloring book to help him learn to control a crayon and eventually a pencil for writing. When we were home, Trevon and I played with some Legos, and he can build things fairly well with those blocks. He likes to build cars, trucks and houses. It was funny, because a long, long time ago, Brent and Stacey made laps around our coffee table the same way Trevon was driving his vehicles around it. FLASH BACK!
This morning the weather was better and the temperature was near 60 degrees so we decided to walk around the hay field. Linda and Stacey rode in the back of the Mule as Trevon and I drove to the field.
 
We walked around the hay field and then went down to the creek and parked the Mule. The wind was blowing about 20 mph, but the temperature was warm enough that it didn't bother any of us.
     
We showed Trevon where he could stand on a dry rock and throw rocks into the creek without getting his feet wet while we set there in the sun watching.
While Linda was cooking lunch, Trevon and I colored a page in his new book. His hand gets tired quickly according to him, so I would color a section and then get him to color in Scooby Doo. Linda fixed us chicken breasts, mashed potatoes, biscuits and salad. Trevon likes salad, to my surprise, and ate well at lunch. Afterwards we read the book 'Toy Story' while Stacey took a nap. Trevon was listening to the story and we would talk about the pictures before we turned the page. After the story Trevon and Linda went to put up the Christmas stuff in the little house.

Another Nice Day

Today the temperature reached 61 degrees. The sun was shinning and it was nice to be outside again. Phil Garmon stopped this morning while he was driving home in the tractor with a wagon full of hay rolls. He came to the front door and paid me for the hay he cut this last year. While we were standing on the front porch, John Graves drove into the driveway. At first I didn't know who it was, but Phil said it looked like an insurance salesman. I said, no it was just John, but Phil took off anyway. I invited John inside and he said he was selling insurance. I rolled my eyes, and asked him what in the world made him do that? He said he was looking for something new to do. We set and talked for about a half an hour, and then he gave his presentation to Linda and I. He said he just wanted to practice his speech and that we were the first people he had actually pitched to since accepting the job. We listened and then told him we didn't want any insurance. He said, he didn't figure we would since we had BC& BS. He left after a few minutes longer headed to another friend's house to do one more practice run.
We went and walked around both the hay fields and Trevon had an idea to have a picnic because he said it was summer. When we got back to the house we headed to town to eat lunch. We stopped at Grumpy's and had lunch. Later we went to the Methodist's Store and bought Trevon some boots for $1. Once back home we put the boots on him and I drove us around the hay fields on the 4-wheeler while Linda and Stacey fixed a picnic lunch. We ate on the picnic table down by the fire pit and then Trevon and Linda waded in the creek with their boots. It was getting near dusk, so we headed to the house.

Trevon Is Puzzled

Yesterday and today were pretty nice for January as the temperature was near 60 degrees. Yesterday ended up cloudy and then it rained during the night, still cloudy this morning and then the sky cleared about 9 AM. It was warm enough that Trevon was riding the trike outside and Linda, Stacey and him were feeding fish at the pond during the day. I was on the 4-wheeler and found them in the Mule, so I asked if I could ride with them and cut some limbs that had fell down. Some were in the fields, some were on the trail to the top of the hill, and a big one was clear at the top of the hill. I cut the one in the field and then we headed up the hill and cut the limb laying on the fence near the lookout spot. Then we went on up to the top and I stopped the Mule and got out and cut a piece that was about 14 inches across and 5 feet long. We pushed it out of the path, cut two more pieces like that and moved them and then headed back down the hill. I was letting the motor on the Mule slow us as we were going down the hill, but the motor died and we were forced to use the brakes. The fuel had all run to the front of the tank and it needed filled. We coasted to the bottom and when we were on level ground the motor started back up, and we were able to drive to the diesel tank. Linda filled the Mule's tank and I started the tractor and we went to pick up a big rock. It was on a ledge along the creek. I used the scoop to pick it up and wow, it was bigger than I thought when I had seen it a couple of days ago. It rocked the rear wheels of the tractor off the ground. I took it slow and easy all the way back to the house and dumped the rock where I could pick it up later.
As evening came, Linda, Stacey and Trevon were working puzzles at the dinning table.
   
Trevon works puzzles well with a little help and wants to keep working on them.
   
In case you didn't know, those last two pictures are of Trevon putting in the last piece of the puzzle. I had to slow him down so the camera had time to cycle for the next picture.

Beautiful Day and Dr Appointments

There was a frost on the grass this morning, but the early morning sun burnt it off quickly. We spent the morning getting ready to go to Stacey's appointment with Dr Rice. I went to the office with Stacey while Linda and Trevon went somewhere else while we waited and saw Dr Rice. Stacey's checkup was a good one, no change in anything, just come back in six months unless something comes up. Then I asked Dr Rice if he could see me, he said sure, so he had Stacey get off the exam table and me get up there. I told him about the problem I have with my heart beats skipping and asked if I could get him to prescribe my medicine instead of me driving 160 miles to see Dr Bryant in Bowling Green. He asked exactly what kind of problem I had and I explained it and told him I had seen Dr Bryant four years ago for my trouble, she had done several tests and the last three years she had seen me once a year for about 10 minutes at a time. He checked me out routinely and said ok, he would write me a prescription for my medicine. I said thanks and he told me to fill out the forms and to come back in six months. Great, that was easy enough.
We went to Hamilton's BBQ and ate lunch, we also noticed the bank sign showed 62 degrees before we came home. Once home, we changed our shoes and went walking in the field. We stopped a little over half way around and let Trevon throw as many rocks in the creek as he wanted. We finished the walk and came home. Trevon, Stacey and Linda went to feed the fish at the pond. When they came back, they began watching the two movies Linda had rented at the video shack.

Trevon Heads for Home

Well, the nice weather was over this morning, rain and wind were the norm for the day. Linda and Stacey were getting ready to take Trevon back home and I was taking cold medicine last night and this morning. They packed up and left a little before 11 AM and were on their way to pick up Brent for the ride to IN.

Girls Return

Stacey and Linda came home from IN and said things went well returning Trevon. They had stories of Trevon seeing Anita, Nana, Imon, Jessica and Jeff. It sounded like Trevon took it all in stride without any problems blending back into life at home.

Back to Normal

Linda slept late this morning while Stacey and I were both up by 7 AM. We had Pop-Tarts for breakfast, Stacey and I took our medicine and I let the ducks out of the cage. I looked for Cooter, but didn't see him anywhere. He is not getting any better, and seems to be in quite a bit of pain. Linda got up around 9 AM and we lounged around until about 11. We decided to go to town and eat and buy a few groceries. After that we came home and walked around both hay fields, then went to the hay shed and put the bush hog on the tractor. Linda wanted me to trim the brush along the creek, so I went down there and cut the junk on the bank. Then I shoved the old pile of mulch into the branch hoping the rain that is headed this way would be enough to wash it away.

Someone had contacted me about listing our blog on their web site. The email he sent was polite and nice, so I signed up, at no costs, and I pasted a link to their site in the right hand column of this blog. It is called FLOOKIE, and is a non-commercial blog search site that has just started, so I'm not worried about getting a bunch of traffic on here.

I have also been updating the DVD Profiler Collection with the DVDs that I have rented from the local video store. You can view my updated list DVD Profiler Collection. I will be updating it a few at a time as it looks like I have over 200 more to add, so it may take me a while.

Rainy Day

I woke up last night with the rain coming down and hitting the windows fairly hard. I managed to go back to sleep and about 6 AM the phone rang, it was a call for Linda to work at the school. She said she would be there at 7:20, so Stacey and I were going to be on our own today. It had rained most of the night and the creek was up, but not outside of the banks. I also noticed that Garmons were working in the lower barn. The weather has been so dry they haven't been able to strip the tobacco off the stalks and with the rain, the tobacco was damp enough to move without it crumbling. I walked down there to the barn and talked a little while with them. They were taking all the tobacco down and stacking it in the hallway of the barn and covering it with plastic. They said it would keep it damp a lot longer than leaving it hang. That way they would have a longer time to get it stripped.
Stacey and I went to Subway for lunch and then to the video store and rented two DVDs. We came home and took a short ride in the Mule down to the edge of the creek. It was getting colder and the rain hadn't slowed down.
     
The branch by the hay shed was running water from back in the 'holler' too. The Garmons finished the tobacco in the lower barn, and the upper barn also. I helped them cover up the last stack of tobacco as Linda came home from working at the school just before dusk. Linda fixed a big pot of chili for supper that hit the spot.

The Rain Changed to Snow

Late last night the rain changed to snow. Linda's forecast was that there would NOT be school because of the snow. I didn't think it would be deep enough, but she said it was already too deep for school. After working one day, she wanted a snow day.
I got up early this morning and checked the WBKO Polar report and about 5:15 Cumberland County Schools had canceled classes for today. As daylight arrived I could see we had about an inch of snow on the ground with the roads being clear and mostly dry. It was cold and I went out to take some pictures before the sun came out and melted the snow.
   
The rain yesterday had left the creek with running water, but it never overflowed the banks.
   
There were just a few whisps of the clouds left as the sun was about to pop up over the hilltops.

More Nice Weather and Dam News

Today was beautiful and warm, I think the weather reports said 62 degrees. It was shirt sleeve weather. I let the ducks out and sent Cooter out since it was sunny and warm. Stacey and I took a Mule ride down to the lower barn to talk to Stevie Garmon while he was stacking tobacco on his trailer. I helped him uncover the tobacco and then Stacey and I pulled to the hay shed. I started the tractor and had Stacey follow me across the road through the creek and to the north end of the hay field. I bush hogged the creek bank while Stacey drove around the field. When I finished we went back to the hay shed and I took off the bush hog. We then went to the lower barn, where Stevie had removed the rest of the tobacco, and I hooked up the back hoe to the tractor. It took about 20 minutes to get the pump on, use the stiff legs to raise the back hoe, and manuever it into position to put the in the pins. I pulled the tractor out of the barn and went to try out the back hoe. It worked so I parked the tractor in the hay shed and rode with Stacey back to the house. Stacey and I had lunch at home today.

When Linda came home from working at the school, I had taken a shower and we went to eat at Grumpy's before going to the high school. The Army Corp of Engineers were having a meeting in the school cafeteria at 6 PM. The place was packed, standing room only, probably over 200 people were there. The Corp had about 8-10 people there to present their plans to the residents of Burkesville and Cumberland County. Lake Cumberland is the largest lake east of the Mississippi River and the 9th largest lake in the USA. They spoke for well over an hour, then let the local school officials present their evacuation plans. Then the meeting was opened for questions from the audience. I figured it would be a raucous affair from then on, but everyone remained calm and questions were asked and answers were given in most cases very politely. Both the presenters and the public were well behaved. It was very informative, but not all plans are completed or formalized. More info will be passed on as it becomes available.
We were given a web url to find information about the project as more info becomes available It is Army Corp of Engineers Nashville District
Stacey, Linda and I left the meeting a little after 8 PM, with over half of the pubic still there asking questions. We had heard enough, when the lady said that water would be 35 feet deep over the Big Renoux bridge on 61 north of Burkesville and it would extend north past the front of our house for about 3 miles.

Some Wolf Creek Dam facts are below...

• Lake Cumberland was filled with water in December 1950, and was constructed primarily for flood control and the production of hydroelectric power at a cost of about $80.4 million. Its shoreline measures 1,085 miles and the lake is spread over 50,250 acres at the top of the power pool.

• Cost to repair leak in dam (discovered in 1967) during late 1970s: $96.4 million

• It ranks 22nd in the One Hundred Largest Dams in the U.S. and required 11,568,900 cubic yards of material in construction. The reservoir ranks 9th in the U.S. in size with a capacity of 6,089,000 acre-feet, enough water to cover the entire Commonwealth of Kentucky to a depth of 3 inches. That's roughly 1.9 trillion gallons.
  

• More than 4.7 million visitors spent 73,252,200 hours in pursuit of recreation and added more than $152,395,044.00 to the local economy in 1999. The number of visitor hours ranks Lake Cumberland 4th in the nation among 383 Corps Lakes.

• Since it was impounded, Wolf Creek Dam has prevented more than $500,000,000 in flood damages for cities and communities downstream.

• The six turbines at Lake Cumberland are capable of producing 270 megawatts of electricity, enough to supply the needs of an average city with a population of 375,000.

• Cost of original dam construction: $81 million
  
  
• Estimated cost to repair the dam in 2006 till 2014 is $300 million.

Dinner with Pauline & Brent

The sunrise was nice for a while, but by the time we were leaving for a visit with Pauline and Brent it had started sprinkling rain. We stopped for gas in Burkesville and then headed towards Glasgow and on to P&B's house. We were pulling in their driveway and noticed Pauline had a different car. We went inside and she said the other one had a small problem and she was driving the one in the drive until her car was fixed. We let the dogs greet each other (butt sniffing) and play for a little while. Brent let them out and back inside before we went to Bowling Green to eat. O'Charley's had been picked, so we drove there and went inside, I almost was inside, when Linda turned around saying there were too many people waiting to eat. We loaded back into the truck and drove to Applebee's, too many there too. I pulled across Scottsville Road and into the Toot's lot. No problem with crowds there, they were busy, but we were seated right away and ordered. Our food came shortly and we began enjoying lunch. Toots is a sports bar with lots of TVs for viewing from every seat. We were talking and Brent said they had been to Toots the night before with three other couples. We laughed and asked why they didn't say something when I pulled into the lot. They both said they liked eating there and it didn't matter as we were finishing our meals. Brent bought lunch for all of us and then we went to the mall and walked around the entire place. Pauline bought a few things and Linda and Stacey bought us a clock for the upstairs pool room. We made the lap of the mall and then went to the 'Flea Market' and did a lap there too. Then to the Corvette Antique Mall for the last lap. By the time we left there it was dark and pouring down rain. We trucked back to P&B's house and talked a little while longer before loading Missy and us into the truck and heading for home. The rain was intense, puddling on the road and cars were going slower, but we made it home without any problems.

Rain Pushes Creek Out of Bank

The NOAA Radio had sounded the FLASH FLOOD Warning alarm last night and it had rained most of the night and was still drizzling this morning when daylight arrived. I could see the creek had been out of the banks from our front window. It was obvious due to the small amount of debris left at the high water mark. The debris was mostly leaves and small limbs, but there were a few larger limbs at the edge of the hay fields. Linda and I took a ride in the Mule to the near side of the creek to see how far the water had rose and to get a closer look.
   
The water was just barely back inside the banks and still running quite fast. The branch coming past the hay shed had been flowing bigger than a few days ago. I have taken my rain gauge inside to keep the cold weather from freezing the rain water and breaking the glass tube, so I can't say how much rain we had received.

Fog Lifts and Clouds Move Out

When I woke up this morning it was foggy, but as daylight arrived the fog had started to lift. I made some coffee and waited until about 7:30 to let the ducks out and take a ride around the farm to see what damage had been done by the creek and rain. I headed down the road and looked at the patch where we grew the mums and the water there wasn't bad. I pulled down to the creek and took a picture looking down the creek as the sun popped over the hilltop.
 
The next place I headed was across the creek and back in the 'holler' to see if any trees had fell or anything had washed down into the 4 wheeler trails. Things were OK, there was some gravel filling in the brook and causing a puddle about a foot deep to form, but that will be easy to clean out with the tractor. Water was still flowing through the brook to the creek.
 
I headed back out of the 'holler' and noticed that the sun was rising and burning off the fog.
 
I drove around the hill towards the north and saw Phil Garmon was on his tractor stringing his fence across the creek. It had been ripped down by the high water. There was a big log in his field and several small pieces in our hayfield. We talked a few minutes about the flooding and both of us bitching about the creek getting out of it's banks, then we said 'see ya' and I headed on down the creek checking for more debris. Eventually I made it back across the creek and to the house.
We headed into town for lunch and I told Linda I wanted to drive over to Waterview to check out the flood damage that Phil had told me about. The KY State Highway Dept. is putting in a new bridge and they had built a temporary bridge to allow traffic to get over the creek while the new bridge is finished. There were 4 or 5 big pipes with rock piled on top and paving over that as the temporary bridge. So I guess, Sunday night the rain was so hard the creek flooded. The opening in the temporary bridge wasn't big enough to handle the flow, so the water backed up, got inside the Waterview Church and at least one house, then overflowed the bridge and washed it out. They were using cranes, bulldozers and backhoes to replace the temporary bridge. We ended up eating and coming home.
We heard the water department in town had put out a boil water advisory for our area. Great, we're not supposed to bathe with the water and have to boil it to drink. Stacey, Linda and I worked on a flower bed at the end of our walkway until almost dark when Regina came over and we set in chairs at the door of the garage watching as the sun went down.

Regina In Hospital

We took our DVDs back to the video shack, went to the bank, took a package to the Post Office and ate in town at the Pizza Hut. The package was for Trevon's birthday and Valentine's Day. I picked up information at the Bank of Cumberland to sign up for internet access to my savings account. Since I have been using Quicken and internet banking with National City, I was in the habit of just throwing the statements in the desk drawer and not opening them. I can balance my statements online with just 1 click of the mouse. I forgot that my Cumberland statements weren't online, and I had an extra $438 in the account that I had not entered in my balance. At least it was extra money, not less than I thought.
A little after 7 PM, Regina called and said she was in the hospital, so Linda went up there for a little while. Linda said Regina had seen Dr Rice and he had put her in the hospital for heart problems. Pam, Regina's daughter, came in after Linda had been there a while, and she was still there when Linda came home.

Farm Sunset

We showered and went to town to eat and then to the hospital to see how Regina was getting along. We walked into her room and she was setting up eating lunch and talking with a lady like nothing was wrong with her. She had an IV in her left arm and a patch on her to make sure her heart was working correctly. We set and talked about 15 minutes and then a couple of guys from the 'Center' came in, so we relinquished our seats and let them set and chat. After a couple of minutes we said we would see her later and we left for home.
I took the camera and went for a ride in the Mule just before sunset and took a few pictures. There isn't much nice scenery to capture pictures of now, but I still like to take them and it helps me remember what happens at certain times of the year.
   
   

A Beautiful 65 Degree Day In January

The weather report was 'Nice Weather' today, so we set out to dig a tree and transplant it by the driveway. I dug a hole by the driveway where we were going to plant the tree. I drove the tractor and Linda drove the Mule with the trailer behind down the road to the hay field. I had marked the tree with a plastic ribbon early last spring when the Redbuds were in bloom, so I knew exactly which tree to dig. I backed the tractor close to the tree and used the backhoe to dig it out. With the tree in the bucket of the hoe, I moved to the driver's seat and pulled into the field. Linda used the Mule to pull the trailer next to the tractor and I set the tree on the trailer. We came home and went inside and had a couple of sandwiches for lunch, then went back out to plant the tree. I had to use the backhoe to make the hole bigger as the roots on the tree were bigger than I had anticipated. Once the hole was large enough, I set the tree in the hole, had Linda steady the tree as I used the backhoe to scrape the dirt back into the hole. We filled the hole the best we could, and then I turned the tractor around and pushed the dirt with the bucket till we had it piled up around the tree. We stomped the dirt down as much as possible and took a shovel and raked the rest of the dirt around the tree.
Since the trailer was hooked to the back of the Mule, we picked up Stacey and headed across the creek. I had used the tractor the other day to scrape most of the driftwood from the flooding back into the creek, but there was still some pieces of wood that we needed to pick up by hand. We made a lap of the fields and took our load of wood and tossed it in the firepit. We had found a piece of plexiglass, and we used that to cover the cellar window below the smokehouse. It took a little digging, but it fit like we had bought it for just that reason. We were in the 'bonus round'.
We went to town and ate, then came home and I asked Linda to drive the tractor while I used the backhoe to clean out a small ditch below the pond. We were working on that and were about half done, when a neighbor, Steve Riddle, stopped and talked for about a half hour. When he left, we finished and put up the tractor, trailer and Mule just before dark.

Morning Memories

 
After an overnight rain, the clouds were clearing out this morning as the sun came up. I rode down to the other hay field and took some pictures of the oldest barn on our farm. It was built before I was born. The wind has blown the roof loose and the barn may not last much longer.
 
This was my maternal Grand Pa's house. When I was a kid we stayed there, of course it was in better shape, but I can remember some times in the winter we would wake up in the morning and there would be a dusting of snow on the quilt covering us in the bed. They heated with wood and the fire in the stove would die out during the night, so it would be cold when morning came around.

Barn Along the Creek

Yesterday's rain was a short shower that left clouds today moving across the valley and the creek gently flowing towards the Cumberland River.
   
The barn is used for the horses and to hang tobacco too. The log was left by the creek flooding about a week ago.
   
The horse in the lower left can roam on both sides of the creek. The last picture was taken from on the hill behind Regina's house.