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Posted on Thursday, March 01, 2007
Mild Storms
I was awakened during the night by thunder rolling and then Cooter
scratching at the back door. I let the dog inside and he immediately
headed to the rug in the living room and laid down. I went back to bed
but turned on the TV and monitored the storm reports coming from
Nashville. They issued a tornado watch for about half of TN, but nothing
was showing up for KY. I let the ducks outside when I went to take the
trash can down to the side of the road for pickup. It was a perfect day
for the ducks, with a small stream of water flowing at the bottom of the
hill behind the house. We had mild thunderstorms until midday, but
nothing was severe.
Linda, Stacey and I took the pickup and rode to Albany and ate lunch
at Major's Pizza, then Linda shopped at a general store in the center of
town. She picked up some stuff for crafts. We stopped and talked to
Regina at the Center for the Aging on the way home. The storms and rain
moved on and the sky cleared around 3 PM. The little streams around the
farm were running rapidly and filling the creek, but it never overflowed
it's banks.
Posted on Sunday, March 04, 2007
Culvert Built
Friday the water was flowing through the ditch between the hay fields
and I began digging out the dirt and gravel that filled in during the
winter. The digging is easier when the dirt and gravel is wet. The
tractor has the power to scoop it up, but it is a bunch heavier with the
water in the scoop. I had dug about half way back to the hill and it was
getting to be too time consuming having to drive half way to the hill
and back for each scoop full of dirt.
I decided to move to the end of the ditch nearest the hill and dig
from that end. I dug a few scoops out and drove up the side of the ditch
using the 4-wheel drive on the tractor to pull out of the ditch.
It was tearing up the edge of the hay field, so I decided to use 4
cement tiles I had laying around to form a culvert so I could drive
across the ditch.
Saturday I used a chain to carry the tiles from
near the hay shed, across the road and creek, and to the back of the hay
field. I scooped out a spot in the ditch to make it level on the bottom
and then rolled the cement tiles out of the scoop into the ditch. I then
used the backhoe to scoot the tiles into position, then scooped up sand
and gravel with the backhoe and partially covered the tiles. I changed
to using the scoop on the front of the tractor and scooped up enough
gravel and finished covering the tiles. Water running through the ditch
kept the tiles cleaned out while I was covering them.
I rode over the culvert several times today in the Mule to pack down the dirt
and gravel. I will have to level it a little better when things get
drier. The tractor scoop digs the ditch at least 6' wide and I've still
got about 75' to 100' of ditch length to clean out to reach where I've
dug to from the creek, so I will have plenty of dirt to use to level out
the crossing. I'm going to wait a few days though so the ditch will dry
out and the tractor won't sink as far as it has been with a full scoop
of dirt.
Posted on Tuesday, March 06, 2007
Storage Building Delivery
I had received a call Monday afternoon saying that the storage building
I had ordered was ready for delivery and that I should come over Tuesday
morning to help. Linda fixed us breakfast and I left the house about
8:10 AM and drove to Esh's in Marrowbone. The delivery guys were just
about finished loading the building on the trailer, so I went inside and
wrote the check to pay for the building. When I came outside the shed
was loaded and we were ready to go. I was to drive behind the truck
pulling the trailer with the shed on it to keep cars from passing.
The trip went without incident, but a few times I was a little
worried about how close the side of the building was coming to mailboxes
and road signs.
I didn't really get worried till we had stopped at the edge of the
road and the delivery driver started to back the trailer with the shed
on it around the side of the hill to the spot I had selected. I placed
pieces of laminated beams for the trailer tires to roll on to keep them
from sinking in a shallow ditch as the driver backed towards the leveled
spot with gravel.
Well, the shed didn't tip over and they put it right where I had
marked, then they used the hydraulic lift to raise the bed of the
trailer and unhook the strapping that had held the building to the
trailer during the trip. After undoing the straps, they laid down
concrete blocks for the building to set on, and slowly slid the building
off the trailer using the electric winch and lift to smoothly set the
building down. When only the last few inches of the shed remained on the
rear of the trailer, they used a side-shift tailgate to align the
building exactly as I wanted. Then they lowered the building onto the
concrete blocks and pulled the trailer out from under the building
without dropping or damaging any part. Linda and I were impressed.
They wasted no time and pulled out a large truck jack and jacked up the
building around the outside, then placed cement blocks under the
runners. They moved around until the building was leveled. They used
blocks and pressure treated wood in 16 places to support the shed. The
entire delivery and leveling took about 2 hours. Linda and I looked
inside and around the outside and were happy with the construction of
the building and the job the delivery crew did.
Posted on Wednesday, March 07, 2007
Busy Tuesday
After the delivery of the storage building, I took a shower and Stacey,
Linda and I headed to Glasgow in the HHR. The first stop was at
Ben & Elmer's Tractors to pick up a couple "D" clips to replace one
that had fell off my tractor. While I was in there I looked at several
Woods finish mowers.
I ended up buying a 72" model to be delivered once they have it
assembled. We then drove to Smith's Grove and met Brent at his house. He
wanted us to ride over to the place where a guy was painting the TR3 and
for us to take a look at how the work was going, so we loaded in Brent's
HHR and he drove. We checked out the paint job and then went to Bowling
Green to meet Pauline at Zaxby's to eat. Pauline arrived as we were
ordering and we all set down and ate. We talked for a while after we
finished eating and then left for the ball game. Pauline went back to
work and we went to Diddle Arena to watch Cumberland County girls play
in the KY State Basketball Regional Tournament. Another game was nearly
half over when we made our way into the gym and found seats with others
from Burkesville. Once the first game was over the CC Pep Band started
playing and the cheerleaders started firing up the crowd. After a
warm-up the tip-off started the game with Barren County controlling the
tip.
The game was close and Barren tried pressing several times but Laura
was able to beat the press and Barren eventually gave up the pressing
tactic.
Cumberland's team is not deep with talent and the longer college
length court made a difference in the game because it tired out the
players quicker than the regular high school length court. The coach
called an extra time-out or two to let the girls get their breath back.
Cumberland's best player, Kristen hurt her hand while making a hard foul
and set out the last 3 minutes of the first half which let Barren make a
come back and take a one point lead at half-time.
The girls came back out and warmed up and Kristen was able to play,
but Erica played the best for Cumberland in the second half. The score
was back and forth during the third quarter and by the middle of the
fourth, Barren had taken a 3 point lead when Cumberland was resting most
of their starters. A couple of key free throws were missed and it looked
bad for Cumberland's girls as Barren took a 5 point lead. The coach
called a time-out and the cheerleaders pepped the crowd up.
The game continued with Cumberland putting in their best 3 point shooter and
Kendra immediately hit a long range shot to bring the deficit to 2
points. After a quick double team and a steal, Laura hit two free throws
to tie the game with 33.5 seconds left. Barren's girls dribbled the ball
down court, passed it around to run down the clock, and with 5 seconds
on the clock the ball was nearly stolen and was knocked loose, 4
seconds, there was a scramble for the ball, 3 seconds, players from both
teams were knocked down, 2 seconds, the ball bounced to a player
sitting on the foul line, 1 second, she shot the ball while setting
on the floor, the horn sounded...
the ball rolled around the goal...
and fell through. The referee signaled the bucket was good and that
meant Barren County had just eliminated Cumberland County from the
tournament. Barren County fans went wild while the Cumberland County
fans were simply stunned. It was a great finish to an exciting game, but
the outcome wasn't what we had hoped would happen. We left the arena and
went to Pauline and Brent's house and stayed the night.
While We're There...
All of us stayed the night at Pauline and Brent's house. The next morning, they left for work then Stacey, Linda and I went to Hardy's for breakfast. We went to Sam's Club after finishing breakfast and found out they didn't open till 10 AM for regular customers, so we took a side trip to Lowe's to check out some stuff. I picked up two boxes of screws for the shelves I plan on building for the new storage building. As we were looking at other items, Dave Hill walked up and said "Hello". We stood and talked to him and his wife for about a half hour before saying so long and checking out. I drove back to Sam's Club and returned our Peter Pan peanut butter, but felt a little cheated. The salesgirl rang it up at $5 a can for the refund, but I mentioned we paid $6.86 per can. She said it didn't matter, they had lowered the price since the recall and that was what we got for not having a receipt. Hmm, I said, "I wonder why they don't just lower the price to nothing before more people bring the stuff back?" I guess she didn't think that was funny, but neither did I. Linda took the $15 and then we shopped for groceries, paid for our stuff and loaded it in the HHR. We left Bowling Green and headed home on I-65 to the Cumberland Parkway, then took 90 east to Burkesville and 61 north to the farm. After unloading the groceries and putting them in the pantry, everyone was tired and took short naps. Later Stacey, Linda and I took the 4-wheelers for a ride around the farm and down around the other farm. I was looking for a large rock to use for a step into the storage building. Back at the house, Stacey watched a Pacer game till time for bed.
Posted on Thursday, March 08, 2007
Sheds
I fixed omelets for breakfast, then dressed and headed outside. As I
walked past the old corn crib I noticed that the daffodils were
blooming. 
I started the tractor and headed across the creek, drove down the
creek bank and into the creek. I had picked out a couple of large rocks
to use for a step while riding the 4-wheeler yesterday. I used the
tractor to turn the first one I came to over and it didn't have the
shape I was looking for, so I went to the second rock and raised it with
the edge of the scoop so I could examine it closer. I decided it was the
best so I shoveled it into the scoop and drove to the new storage
building. I placed 4 by 4s under the rock, then hooked a chain around
both ends and lifted it using the chain and tractor scoop. I slowly
pulled closer to the building and set the rock on the gravel I had
dumped there earlier. Linda came down and watched as I inched it closer
to the shed and she checked it with a level, then walked in and out of
the building to see how it felt when using the step. She was OK with it,
so we pulled the chain out.
Next, I began digging the dirt I had excavatted before the building
was delivered and dropping it in front of the building. I smoothed out
the elevation change from the ditch up to the front of the barn. After
about two hours of moving dirt and smoothing, I figured it was smooth
enough and I stopped working on it. It will need more work after a
soaking rain settles the loose dirt.
Stacey and I took a short 4-wheeler ride, then returned to the upper
barn and helped Linda. She was cleaning out the barn loft and I helped
by removing a few of the poles they used to hang tobacco. Linda had
moved a lot of things around and swept out the tobacco chaff that had
accumulated. Stacey and I picked up the remains of a large rock I had
set on the bank of the hill. For some reason, it had burst into hundreds
of pieces over the winter. I dumped it in the gulley near the creek to
fill in where the branch had washed out a little. Maybe it will hold on
when the next rains come. I'm glad the weather is getting nicer, the 70+
degrees today were great and it was nice to be outside in our shirt
sleeves.
Posted on Saturday, March 10, 2007
Plywood & Two by Fours
Stacey, Linda and I met Pauline and Brent in Columbia for a late meal Friday night. Saturday morning we had breakfast, played with the dogs and then checked out the new storage building. Around 9:30 everyone loaded into the pickup and we hooked up the red utility trailer to the back and headed to Campbellsville to buy some wood for shelving. I drove into the lot at Lowe's and Brent and I unhooked the trailer and let Pauline, Stacey and Linda take the truck to look at whatever. Brent and I went inside and picked out 40 two by fours and put them on one of the wheeled carts. We then loaded up another cart with 10 sheets of half inch plywood. I paid and we rolled the two carts out to the trailer and loaded the wood into the trailer. When we were nearly finished, Brent called Pauline on the cell phone and told them to come back. They rolled up just as we were finishing, so we hooked up the trailer and went to Wal-Mart. They couldn't find the material they needed, so we headed to TSC for a bag of corn, then towards home. Linda wanted to stop at a couple of places in Columbia and after that we went back to the farm. I backed the trailer close to the hay shed and Linda, Brent and I unloaded the wood and stacked it in the shed on skids. Pauline and Stacey went to the house and let the little dogs out and Pauline began making bags for a game called "Corn Hole" . Brent and I sawed up a sheet of plywood to the sizes needed to assemble a set of game boards. Then we sawed the two by fours needed for the frame and assembled it, then screwed the plywood on the frame. The second board went a little easier as we had the dimensions from the first board to go by and that made it quicker. We finished the set of boards just before dark, then went inside to see how the bags were coming. Pauline and Linda had made lots of bags and now the bags needed filling with corn. Linda and Brent filled the bags with corn while I weighed the bags and Pauline stitched the bags to close the small hole they had left for filling. I took 4 bags outside and threw them at the boards we had made and everything worked great. We all went to bed about 10 PM.
Posted on Sunday, March 11, 2007
Shelf Building
Linda fixed everyone pancakes along with bacon for breakfast, then Brent and I headed to the hay shed to build some shelves for the storage building. I had a basic idea of what to build, but that changed a couple of times before we were finished. We used the miter saw to cut the 2 by 4s to the desired length, then clamped a piece of plywood to another sheet of plywood and ran the saw along the edge of one to cut the other sheet straight. That worked fairly well and pretty soon we had two sections of shelves built, each 4 feet wide and 6 feet tall. We cut a few more pieces and developed a plan for the 3rd 4 foot section that ended against the side wall. We decided to go to the house for a break and something to drink, well the girls had a different plan, it was to go to Grumpy's in town for lunch. Seeing how it was after 1 PM, we agreed and noticed Linda and Pauline had put together 56 of the bags for the "Corn Hole" games since yesterday afternoon. After lunch Brent and I tackled the 3rd section of shelves. It only took about a half hour to screw those together. Linda came down and gave her approval of the 12 foot of shelves we had built. I plan on building two more 8 foot long sections of shelving, one for each side of the building, but not right then. We closed the doors to the building and put away some of the tools, then went to the house and messed around with the dogs. Nancy and Steve came over in their Mule and Brent and I rode around the farm in our Mule with the Riddles following. We rode back in the 'holler' and stopped and talked a little while back there, around the hay fields and then back to where the old house used to stand. We stopped there and talked a little about old times and a few of my great grandparents and some of my more recent family. They had to head back down the road to their house and Brent was about to leave, so I headed inside. Pauline and Brent packed their stuff, gathered up their dogs and headed for Smith's Grove a little after 5 PM.
Posted on Monday, March 12, 2007
Stacey's Dr Appointment in Bowling Green
We left the farm at 7:30 AM and drove to Columbia, took the Cumberland Parkway to I-65 and then to Bowling Green, parked in the parking lot at Graves Gilbert Clinic and was inside by 9:05. Stacey and Linda walked to Dr Zhu's office while I checked her in at the reception desk on the third floor. We waited about 5 minutes and were then called into the examination room. The nurse took Stacey's vital signs, wrote down her prescriptions and talked a little bit with Stacey. Shortly Dr Zhu entered the room and began talking to Stacey about how she had been feeling. After Stacey told him OK, I handed Dr Zhu a paper with a list of the times and dates Stacey had seizure activity since the last appointment. He transcribed the information into his laptop and recommended we slightly increase Stacey's Keppra dose in the mornings. We talked a little while with Dr Zhu and he said he wanted to see Stacey again in six months. So, overall, a good checkup, no blood tests, and basically leave things alone as long as they are working fairly well. We left the clinic and were back in the HHR a few minutes before 10 AM. That was almost a record time for a doctors visit at the Graves Gilbert Clinic. We left and went straight to Hardee's for breakfast. After breakfast, we rode back to the farm. I went to town a little later to take some paper work to Dr Rice and pick up the license plates for Linda's Mustang and the red trailer. In the afternoon, I cut the wood for two more shelves for the storage building, then hauled it over to the building and put them together. I finished just before sundown.
Posted on Wednesday, March 14, 2007
Odds and Ends
After breakfast I went to the hay shed and decided to take the backhoe
off the tractor. It is a job that is sometimes easy, sometimes not. It
wasn't easy this time, it took about 30 minutes of getting on and off
the tractor, adjusting the position of the backhoe, hammering a chisel
against the pin that holds the upper link and sweating till my shirt was
wringing wet.
Stacey
and Linda drove the Mule down to the barn where the mum patch is and
helped me hook the tractor to the plow. They went across the creek and
dug some daffodils that were growing wild in the field while I plowed
three patches for the pumpkins, gourds and tomatoes and the mums. The
pumpkin patch was a little more moist than the patch for the mums, but
both broke up fairly well.
I
unhooked the plow and drove back to the farm. We went to Subway for
lunch, then returned to the farm and Linda helped hook the grader box to
the tractor. While we were in that area, I helped Linda move one of the
cabinets from the little house to the new storage building.
Incidentally, the shelving in the rear of the building is finished and
she has started storing things in the building.
I
used the grader box to finish smoothing the dirt around the building. I
had quite a bit of the load of gravel leftover that I purchased for
underneath the building, so I used the grader box to spread it all the
way from the hay shed to the highway.
As
darkness settled in over the farm, I went inside and Linda fixed supper.
Regina came over as we were getting ready to eat taco salads, so I fixed
a plate for her and she ate with us. We were almost finished eating,
when the door bell rang, it was Nancy and Steve on their way home from
church They came in and we all chatted until almost 9 PM.
Posted on Thursday, March 15, 2007
Another Dam Meeting
Since it was misting rain most of the day, I didn't do much outside.
Stacey, Linda and I went to the hardware in Burkesville and I bought 14
more 2 by 4s and a couple jig saw blades. We drove back to the farm and
unloaded those items, then a little bit later took the HHR to Albany and
ate lunch at Major's Pizza, then went to McWhorter's store and Linda
bought some embroidery items. Once back at the farm, I went to the hay
shed and cut the pieces I needed to make some shelves for Stacey to
store her collection of books. I didn't put those together, just left
them in the back of the Mule for another day because it was nearly time
to go to another meeting on the condition of Wolf Creek Dam. I dusted
the sawdust off my clothes and headed into town. The meeting was held in
the high school gym, but they had setup places for people to view the
Inundation Maps in the outer lobby.
The
meeting began at 6:30 PM with LTC Roemhildt giving a short presentation
and then introducing the other participants. There were Power Point
slides shown on a large screen that used a rear projection process and
explanations of each slide. After nearly an hour of those, the meeting
was opened for audience questions with answers provided by the
appropriate people.
There
wasn't much 'new information' presented that hasn't already been
available on the internet. The USACOE still hasn't decided if they will
build a concrete extension to replace the earthen embankment or just
fortify the embankment. They stated the current embankment would need to
be 'grouted' in either circumstance. The USACOE has finally decided to
place the Wolf Creek Dam Inundation Maps on the internet. I left the
meeting before it's conclusion, as most of the information had been
given and the discussion had turned to whether Cumberland County should
enter into the National Flood Insurance program run by the USA
Government.
Posted on Friday, March 16, 2007
Craig Morgan In Concert
Linda fixed breakfast and left for the training scheduled in
Tompkinsville. Stacey and I went to the storage building and put
together the shelves for her books. It was colder, around 55 degrees and
we worked inside the building with only one of the doors open to keep
the wind off of us. We finished the shelves and Stacey put a few of her
books on there to see how they worked. We went to the house and it was
nearly noon. Regina called and wanted me to hook up the red trailer and
pull it to the Center for the Aging to haul away some things they needed
to get out of the building. Stacey and I hadn't ate lunch, so we went
past Hamilton's BBQ and picked up a couple of things. I drove to the
front of the COA and backed the trailer close to the door. We went
inside and found they had a bunch of junk to be loaded. Hmm, this didn't
look good. I asked why they wanted me to take the junk and why not just
throw the stuff in the dumpster? I never received a clear answer. Stacey
and I set down and ate our lunch while two or three people started
loading the junk. Once we were done with lunch, we helped load the junk.
I towed the trailer home and set it by the hay shed. I don't know what
will happen with it now, I guess I will have to get rid of it, I can't
figure out how I am getting stuck with it or why?? I pulled the truck
back up by the house and Stacey said, "They delivered your finish
mower." Sure enough, there it set, in the driveway. Stacey went inside
and I went to get the tractor to move the mower out of the driveway. I
unhooked the grader box and pulled the tractor in front of the finish
mower, hooked it up with a little bit of trouble and backed the tractor
to the front of the garage. I raised the mower and began to adjust the
mowing height. Linda came home from the training and read the
instructions for me while I made the adjustments. It really turned out
to be easier than it looked when I started. I mowed the front yard with
the new mower behind the tractor. It mows great and the job goes a whole
lot faster than on either of the John Deere riders. Linda and Stacey
were moving more stuff to the storage shed and after I finished the
front yard we checked out their work. Stacey had completely filled the
shelves with books and seemed happy with the setup. About an hour later,
we were headed to Glasgow, stopping at Mancino's again for something to
eat before going to the concert. We parked on the Glasgow Court House
Square and walked a block to the Plaza Theatre, then went inside and
found our seats. Pretty good seats this time, 7th row center!
Promptly
at 7 PM the show began. Craig came out and played one of his popular
songs first, then played some songs off his newest CD.
About
midway through the show, Craig left the stage and came up the aisle
shaking hands and singing as he walked about halfway back through the
crowd. Stacey leaned out into the aisle and was able to shake hands with
Craig, which made her trip! He returned to the stage and continued his
show. Craig interacted with the crowd more than most entertainers it
seemed. He signed autographs while singing and took requests for songs.
He walked off after about an hour and fifteen minutes of singing.
The
crowd brought Craig back for an encore and he played three more songs
while standing on the steps in front of the stage. He signed autographs
while singing, so Stacey went down to the stage, raised up her hair and
let him sign her "Redneck Yatch Club" shirt on the back. Ooooweeee, that
was the best, in Stacey's opinion! I'd guess he signed at least 100
items for the crowd.
We
left the theater and it was 8:45 PM, so Craig had played for an hour and
a half. It was a good show! We made it home around 10:15 PM.
Posted on Tuesday, March 20, 2007
Mike Involved in a Car Wreck
Linda fixed breakfast and then her Mom called and told her our nephew,
Mike Bankson had been in a car wreck.
Picture
from last summer.
Reba said Mike had
been injured seriously and had been taken to Methodist Hospital in
Indianapolis. Details were sketchy in the beginning but after another
phone call things were a little bit clearer. We walked down to the hay
shed and worked on another set of Corn Hole game boards. Stacey was in
the little house working on packing her books into boxes while Linda and
I finished the boards. Linda went to the house and fixed lunch before
she left to work at the day care. Shelly, our niece, went to the
hospital and had been in touch with Brent. Then he filled us in on a few
more things Shelly had relayed to him as the day went by. Linda came
home a little after 5 PM and we rode to Columbia and ate supper. It was
a slow day with a few rain showers off and on. The last report we had on
Mike was most of the bones in his face were fractured, the doctors have
removed his left eye, but his internal organs were functioning.
Posted on Thursday, March 22, 2007
New TV
The morning started a little weird. I turned on the TV in the bedroom
and began watching the morning news. After a few minutes the screen
faded to black, then the picture came back on. Hmm, a minute later the
TV did the same thing, then the third time it faded to black and never
came back. The sound was still working, but no picture. I moved to the
living room and continued watching TV until Stacey and Linda woke and
came in the room. Linda told me that Stacey had finished one of the
hardest 500 piece puzzles she had ever done.
Later
in the afternoon we made a trip to Campbellsville to Wal-Mart to pick
out a new TV for the bedroom. We looked at the $800 forty two inch flat
screens, but we ended up with a 'old style' 24" Sanyo for $136 + tax. I
wheeled it out on a shopping cart and was just barely able to put it in
the back of the HHR. We ate at the Family Restuarant in Columbia and
then went on home. I took the old TV down from the wall stand and
replaced it with the new Sanyo. Linda put the batteries from our old
remote into the new remote and turned it on. Not too bad, the Sanyo had
a better picture with better colors than the old TV. I immediately
started watching the NCAA Tournament and went to sleep watching the
games.
Posted on Saturday, March 24, 2007
Corn Hole Tournament That Never Was
We had placed fliers around town, placed a free ad in the Cumberland
County News and the local radio station announced the community news
with our message about Krafty Kritters sponsoring a Corn Hole Tourney.
Pauline and Brent had came over Friday night and we went to the
Agricultural Building and laid out the courts for the tourney. We woke
and went to the Corner Cafe for breakfast. After eating, we drove
towards the Ag Building and noticed a large crowd in front of the
Veterans' Memorial Building.
They
were lined up to pick up their free weather radios courtesy of Home Land
Security. Some how, they had managed to get them to buy radios to warn
the population in the flood plane if the Wolf Creek Dam were to fail. We
continued to the Ag Building and opened the doors. There was only one
family that showed up to play in the tournament. We had been given a
clue that might happen since a few of the people had asked how much
money we were paying to the winners and we weren't paying any. So, no
tournament, but plenty of members and they had brought some food to
sell. So we had a party and played Corn Hole for fun. We ate a little
before noon, then played a few more games. I went over and picked up our
free weather radio, then helped close up the building and everyone went
home.
We
took a break for a little while, then went outside and dinked around the
farm. We lit a small bonfire at dusk and hung around the fire pit until
around 8 PM.
Posted on Monday, March 26, 2007
Trimming Hay Fields
Brent had helped me take off the finish mower and hook up to the bush hog Sunday while they were here. Also, I had noticed that the heat pump had quit working. So, Linda called Albany Heating and Plumbing and they scheduled a service call for 3 PM. After breakfast I went to the hay shed and started the tractor. I drove to the other farm and started the bush hog and cut the brush and weeds along the edge of the hay fields. This time of the year is the best to trim the edge of the fields as far back as possible. It was easy to see where I was going with no leaves on the brush and most of the limbs that had fallen were beginning to decay and were easy to bust up. Trimming as close as possible to the tree trunks was a wrestling match. I had to watch where the tractor tires were going and at the same time fight off the limbs of the trees as I went under them. Every once in a while a limb would smack me in the face and remind me to keep my arm up to ward them off. As summer gets here, the weeds will gradually grow further into the hay fields, but by cutting them back now, I'm keeping small trees from getting started and making the fields smaller each year. I met Stacey, Linda and Missy about half way around the field. They were walking the opposite direction for exercise. I finished and put the tractor in the hay shed. Linda returned to the house, then began working on a few flower beds. We went to town in the Mustang with the top down and ate lunch. After lunch we went for a slow ride through the country near the lake. The redbud trees are just beginning to bud out and there are a few trees showing small green buds also. It is starting to be a pretty time of the year in KY. We returned the key for the Ag Building to the Extension Office, then went back to the farm. The Albany Heating and Plumbing service man, John, showed up at 2 PM and took the side off the outside unit of the heat pump. He did a few tests and determined that our compressor had shorted out. He said that he would order the parts and they should be in on Wednesday, so he would install them either then or Thursday, depending on when UPS delivered the parts to them. I guess it will be under warranty, but I will probably have to pay the labor.
Posted on Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Budding Out
The last few days I can see the trees bursting out leaves all over the
hillsides. The redbuds are showing up prominently with a few dogwoods
sprinkled in amongst the green leaf trees.
While
Linda was working at the school, her Mom called and filled me in about
our nephew, Mike Bankson. Reba said that Mike had been released from the
hospital and had went home. He still had his jaw wired shut and has to
eat through a syringe. She also said that the doctors were planning on
working on his left eye socket in about 6 weeks. Mike was instructed to
not have visitors and to take it easy for a while.
Posted on Friday, March 30, 2007
Mowing Begins for Real
We had a day and a half of rain showers and the grass literally jumped up overnight. I had been piddling around the farm, mowing a few places to knock down the wild onions, but after the rain, everywhere needed mowing. Linda started the larger John Deere mower and started cutting the grass around the little house so I pushed the smaller JD mower around to the hay shed. I aired up the tires, checked the oil, and jumped started it off the Mule's battery. I will probably need to buy a new battery, but I'm going to wait and see for a couple weeks. I mowed the barn lot, the gully and close to the house, then we stopped and went inside for lunch. After lunch, Linda mowed around the trailer while I took the bush hog off and hooked the finish mower to the tractor. I mowed behind the trailer, near the creek and the front yard with the finish mower while Linda trimmed around the fire pit and where I couldn't get close with the tractor. I mowed the slope in front of the house by going across the slope instead of making vertical passes. It looked a bunch better that way. The small JD mower has a 44" cutting width and the finish mower has a 72" cut, so by using it instead of the small JD mower, I was mowing over two feet more every pass. The increased speed of mowing with the tractor makes a difference in the amount of time spent mowing too.
Posted on Saturday, March 31, 2007
Trash Pickup
Our neighbor, Steve Riddle, had mentioned that their church was going to
pickup trash along the road. Linda told him that we would help, so he
stopped at our house Friday evening and filled us in on the details.
Saturday morning Linda fixed breakfast, then I went out and drove the
Mule to the shed and hooked up the black trailer. I picked up one of our
benches near the fire pit and then loaded the second bench from the hay
shed onto the trailer. Steve dropped by in his Mule, then Steve, Linda,
Stacey and I all rode to the church in the two Mules. We waited around
for about 20 minutes while people showed up, then some had donuts and
drinks that Steve had brought. We put on orange vests and got ready to
pick up trash.
People
climbed on the benches I had on the trailer and I used the Mule to pull
them down the road to several drop off points. We worked both sides of
the road starting just beyond the church and worked south towards our
farm. As one group would 'catch up' to where another group had already
worked, I would shuttle them on down the road to another spot. In some
of the bad spots, I helped pick up trash also. Steve was picking up
trash and using his Mule to move the "Men Working" signs to warn drivers
to be careful as they passed the areas where we were working.
Bonnie
Holly and I went to the church and picked up drinks and donuts for
several people to have a cold drink during the clean up. As we were
about done, I hauled people to the finish point and they worked their
way back to meet the others.
When
the job was done, everyone loaded in the Mules and on the trailer and we
'raced' back to the church parking lot. Everyone had worked well
together and the entire job had lasted a little under 3 hours. There
were 28 bags of trash picked up by the group along the 2 mile stretch of
KY State Road 61. We drove the Mules back to our farm and unloaded the
benches and I unhooked the trailer. Later, Linda and Stacey went to
Bowling Green with Bonnie and some of her girls to shop. I remained at
the farm and used the tractor to mow the area around where the mum patch
will be.
