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Posted on Sunday, January 02, 2011
Beginning A New Year
We were a little surprised that Brent let us know they were coming back
over for New Years. They arrived a little before noon on New Year's Eve.
I had about a half of a truck load of wood to split, so we all went to
the equipment shed and split the wood, loaded it on the trailer, then
hauled it around the corner and stacked the wood in ricks inside the
wood shed. I was amazed at how well Julie worked handing the split wood
along the line from the trailer to where we were stacking. We finished
that job and went to the pole barn for pop sickles and drinks. We
managed to get Julie and Kyle to take naps after we ate an early dinner,
then around 6 PM we showered, woke the kids and everyone dressed in
clean clothes. We headed into town around 8:30 PM and went to the Rescue
Squad Building where there was a band playing. We had been invited to
hear Jason's brother, Bryant play guitar and sing in the band. It was
fun to have something in Burkesville to do on New Year's Eve. I made a
donation to the band and requested they play the theme song from the
"Duke's Of Hazzard" TV show, the "Good Ol' Boys". Julie stood in front
of the band and watched intently as she sang along. It was worth every
penny to see her enjoying the band singing that song. We went home
before 11 PM to avoid the commotion. We stayed awake until the ball
dropped and the new year had begun.
Everyone slept a little bit later
on New Year's Day and we stayed in our pajamas a long time, playing
games on the Wii and taking it easy. I got a picture of Stacey, Julie
and Pauline dancing to a Wii game.
Later
in the day, I had been messing with Kyle and had figured out, if Brent
held his hands above Kyle's hand, he would reach for them and take steps
to get to him. Before long, Brent and I had Kyle walking three or four
steps across the floor. If we didn't hold our hands high enough, Kyle
would drop down and crawl. After practicing a few more times, I asked
Pauline and Linda to work with Kyle so I could get a picture. They
weren't as far apart as Brent and I had been, so the pictures don't show
it as well, but Kyle was walking, maybe a little like Frankenstein, but
none the less, he was walking.
Pauline
and Brent stayed the night and we played games and with the kids until
about 4 PM on Sunday.
Posted on Wednesday, January 05, 2011
Stacey & Linda Take Trip
After Linda and Stacey had been packing their bags for a couple of days, they left about 8:30 AM on their trip to IN. Chuck Anderson had sent Stacey a commemorative Brickyard 400 jacket and two tickets to a San Antonio Spurs vs Indiana Pacers basketball game, so Linda had planned the trip around the game. She planned on staying with her Mom Wednesday and Thursday nights, then going to Kim and Kenny Bourke's house Friday. We purchased two more tickets to the basketball game so that Kim and Kenny could go to the ball game too. Kenny drives to the ball game in Indianapolis, which makes it a lot easier for Linda and she gets to spend some time with Kim while traveling back and forth to the game. I don't enjoy watching NBA games that much, so I remained at home and I am taking care of our dogs.
Posted on Friday, January 07, 2011
Fresh Snowfall
This morning the snow began falling straight down and sticking to the
trees and ground. I waited a while and after breakfast tossed a couple
sticks of wood on the fire in the wood stove, then opened the garage
door and backed the Mule out. I pulled to the front of the barn and let
Daisy out of her stall. She jumped into the back of the Mule and we rode
across the creek so I could take some pictures. I let her out of the
back so she could run and then I took a slow ride around the fields and
back in the 'holler'.
Posted on Sunday, January 09, 2011
Girls Return
I had called Linda and told her that there was a winter storm watch for
Nashville and southern KY, so they left IN at 9 AM and made it home
around 2 PM. Stacey had taken the little Nikon camera and she used it to
take pictures at the Pacer game on Friday. Stacey had received tickets
from Chuck Anderson and had nice seats at the end of the court on floor
level. The Pacers played against the San Antonio Spurs which is a team
Stacey keeps track of along with the Pacers. Her favorite player on the
Spurs is Tony Parker. 
Linda
had also taken a few pictures of Jeremy, Kenny and her Mom, Reba, during
the trip.
Linda
told me they stayed with her Mom Wednesday and Thursday nights, then
went to Kim and Kenny's house and went shopping with Kim before time to
leave for the basketball game Friday evening. Kenny drove them all to
the ballgame and Linda said everyone had a good time at the game and at
the restaurant where they ate. Linda said Stacey and her returned to
Reba's house to stay Saturday night before leaving for KY Sunday morning.
Posted on Saturday, January 15, 2011
Snow Daze
Cold weather and about an inch of snow provided a week of no school in Cumberland County. The main roads were completely clear, but the back roads were icy and bus drivers couldn't make their runs. When school is not open, Linda usually doesn't work, so all of us were home the entire week. We went out to eat and to the grocery store twice, but mostly, we just stayed in and kept the wood stove burning. I was outside every other day and changed Daisy's drinking water to a bucket of water that wasn't frozen and also gave her food. We were ready to get out of the house for a little while, so Saturday morning we took the HHR to Pauline and Brent's house. We played with Julie and Kyle while Pauline readied a bag to take along for Kyle. Everyone packed into their Traverse and Brent drove us to Louisville. He stopped at the Sea Ray dealer along the Ohio River and we all looked at a few of the boats. The dealer was having an event with snacks and beer for the customers that came in to check out the boats (lucky us). After that, we drove along the road going up river about two miles and ate at the King Fish Restaurant. We were able to watch the river barge and boat traffic while we ate. I had a shrimp feast that was yummy. It had been about 4 or 5 years since I had ate at King Fish and I really missed eating at that restaurant chain. After we finished our meal, we went to Cosco. I was surprised at the layout inside the store. It was exactly like a Sam's Club. Everything was in the same place. It was as if it was a Sam's Club with another name. By the time we walked out of Cosco, it was dark, so Brent drove us back to their house. We played with Julie and Kyle while talking with Pauline and Brent. Stacey called Jason and when their phone call was over, we headed back to Burkesville.
Posted on Monday, January 17, 2011
Boat Clean Up
The weather warmed up but the ground was soppy with water from the snow
melting, so we went to the pole barn and worked on cleaning the Sea Ray.
Stacey was eager to work on the boat, so she climbed into the interior
and started handing out things to Linda. When she had the small stuff
unloaded, Linda went up the ladder and climbed on board. We took
everything out, then Linda swept the boat with the shop vacuum.
I
started the salamander burning in the 'Club House' so that we could set
in there and warm up while we took a break. Stacey sat down and it
looked like she was just going to wait until it was time to go boating
with her being right by the Dale Hollow Lake sign on the wall.
We
finished the work, shut the salamander off and went to the house talking
about going boating this coming summer.
Posted on Friday, January 21, 2011
Fast Moving Snow
Linda returned from being an aide at the grade school and we decided to
go to the grocery in Columbia. There was a snow storm on the way and we
wanted to be part of the milk and bread rush. LOL We ate first and then
went in the grocery. The snow had just started as we walked to the front
door. We did our usual amount of shopping and then paid and exited to
load our stuff in the HHR. As we packed the groceries in the car we
noticed the parking lot was already covered with the white stuff. We
drove about two miles on the parkway and that was clear, but when we
turned onto 61 and headed south towards the farm the road was slick. We
followed a few other cars that were driving about 45 mph. That was fast
enough for the slickness of the road. I pulled the car into the garage
and we unloaded our groceries and put them away. Linda and I noticed a
few times that traffic in front of the house was crawling along at
around 30 mph during the rest of the evening. The snow stopped about
9:30 PM when the clouds cleared and then the moon brightened up the
night and made it hard to go to sleep.
This morning, the road was
still covered with snow and ice and the ground was white. I waited for a
while, then went outside, gave Daisy some fresh water and took her for a
run with the Mule.
Posted on Saturday, January 22, 2011
Weekend With Kids
Pauline, Brent and their kids came to the farm on Friday night. Brent
called when they were ready to exit the parkway so Linda had dinner
ready when they arrived.
Saturday we stayed inside and did nothing
but play with Julie and Kyle all day. Kyle is still learning to walk and
the round coffee table was a great place for him to practice. Linda was
winding up a toy train and sending it running around the top of the
table and Kyle would follow it around. Sometimes Kyle would catch the
train and sometimes he would stop and wait on it to come back around to
him. The train and Kyle made quite a few laps around the table while we
watched.
Julie
was busy tumbling in between rocking horse rides.
Of
course, Pico, Poco and Coco were chasing each other and retrieving toys
being thrown across the room while the kids were playing. It wasn't
quite a three ring circus, but it was entertaining to all of us. We
never left the house at all Saturday.
Posted on Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Another Couple Snow Days
The previous snow had all melted away on Monday and rain began falling a
little before dark Tuesday evening. During the night it changed to snow.
This
morning, I checked the Polar Report web site and Cumberland County
Schools were closed. I let Linda know she didn't have to work and she
could sleep in a little later. When Stacey and her were both up, Stacey
fixed us sausage biscuits for breakfast. A little before 9 AM, I went
outside and rode around in the Mule to see how much water was in the
creek and how much snow had accumulated. The creek wasn't deep and
neither was the snow, just enough to make the country roads slick and
keep the buses from running.
We
found out a little while ago that school is also closed tomorrow.
Posted on Saturday, January 29, 2011
Chevy Front End
Dave at DC Auto Service called me the other day and told me he was
nearly ready to work on the 1956 Chevy. Stacey and I took the parts down
to his work shop so he could look through them and see if there was
anything missing. On Wednesday, Dave said he was ready to begin the
actual work on Thursday, so Stacey and I rode into town in the pickup
truck and then brought Randy Stone back to the farm with us. Randy
followed me as I drove the 56 Chevy in to DC Auto. Everything went as
planned and Stacey and I returned to the farm in the pickup after
leaving the 56 Chevy. Thursday, I went to the shop to talk to Dave about
our car club meeting later in the day, Dave is the club president and
sometimes we go over things before the meetings. Dave had worked on the
Chevy and had the front suspension completely off the frame, had cleaned
the frame and painted it.
Today,
Stacey, Linda and I went to Albany and checked out a swap meet at the
Clinton County Fairgrounds. It was a big waste of time as there weren't
very many people there wanting to sell parts.
Oh,
well, it was a great day to just ride around, it was nearly 60 degrees
and sunny. I spent several hours on the tractor cleaning out some of the
ditches after Linda and I took Daisy and let her run a long time. The
shirt sleeve weather was a welcome relief to the cold weather we have
had. Dave Neff called and told me he was working on the Chevy and had
run into trouble with the assembly process. He asked me to come and take
a look, so I drove to town and checked out the problem. The connecting
shaft from the old steering shaft to the new power rack & pinion unit
wouldn't connect because a header tube was in the way. Drat!
We
decided to cut the header, leaving as much as we could for later when it
would need to be patched together by the muffler shop. Dave marked the
header, then cut it in two with a cut off wheel and a small air powered
reciprocating saw. Then the shaft fit perfectly and the steering worked
great. No play in the steering wheel and it feels like it will be really
nice to drive. When Dave let the car down, I could tell how it was going
to set with the lowering springs installed. It dropped the front end
about 2 inches.
Posted on Monday, January 31, 2011
Trophy Presentation
While Stacey and Jason were talking on the phone, Stacey made a point to
ask Jason to meet for breakfast the next time he worked. This morning
Jason was going to work, so we headed to Burkesville and into Jone's
Restaurant to meet him. He was already there and when Stacey walked in,
she presented Jason with a trophy for him winning our Blog
NASCAR Fantasy League. At first, they had trouble figuring out which
way to shake hands and also pass the trophy. But they figured it out and
I took a picture. We then sat down and ordered breakfast. Stacey and
Jason would talk while eating breakfast, then Jason would pick up the
trophy and remind Stacey who was the "CHAMP".
It's
just one more thing for the two of them to fuss about while they talk.
8-)
