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Posted on Tuesday, March 01, 2011
Early Arrivals
Friday morning the creek was out of it's banks because of the overnight
rains. Sunday night and Monday morning more storms dropped lots of rain
on the area. There were several tornado warnings close to Burkesville
during that time too. This morning, I drove the Mule around to see what
the mild flooding had done and found several places that needed some
work done with the tractor to get the ditches back in shape. I also
found some early arrivals. The daffodils down by the old smoke house
were up and blooming.
There
are a few other flowers sticking their shoots up through the ground, but
the daffodils were the only ones blooming.
Posted on Friday, March 04, 2011
Marty Stuart Concert
I ordered 4 tickets several weeks ago for the Marty Stuart Concert at
the Plaza Theatre in Glasgow and
Stacey asked Jason to go with us. We left home and picked Jason up about
4 PM, then I drove to Glasgow. Stacey and Jason picked Mancino's again,
so we stopped and ate there before time for the concert. Then we rode
into the center of town, parked the HHR on the Court House Square and
walked about a half block to the Plaza Theatre.
We
talked with a few people from Burkesville that were also attending the
concert. We spoke with Jason's Uncle Tim and his wife, Patti, while they
were talking with Terry Murphy. I noticed Jimmy King and his wife were
also there as the theater was filling up. Then after a few
announcements, "Marty Stuart and His Fabulous Superlatives" began
playing.
Marty
and his group played several covers of popular songs and he had each
member of his band be the lead singer at times. Every member of the
group was a good singer and excellent instrumentalist.
Marty
played the mandolin for about 10 minutes while the rest of his group
took a break. They all returned and played a while longer, then left the
stage. They returned for an encore after a few minutes of applause from
the entire crowd. Marty hyped a few of their CDs and then played a
little bit longer.
When
Marty's group left the stage, they had played about an hour and forty
five minutes. The show had been excellent with the crowd responding
nicely to everyone of the songs they played. We exited the theater and
walked quickly to the car. I drove to our regular stop where Jason
bought us cold drinks for the ride back to Burkesville. We dropped off
Jason a little before 10 PM and then returned to the farm.
Posted on Saturday, March 05, 2011
Rainy Saturday
The weather forecast had been for rain most of the day on Saturday, so
we decided to visit Julie and Kyle at Pauline and Brent's house. They
had been to a birthday party for one of the kids that go to Rita's house
for day care. Julie and Kyle were excited about the party and Julie said
it was fun. We played with them a little while, then rode to Bowling
Green in their Traverse. We stopped at Hobby Lobby and shopped for a few
minutes, then dropped Pauline off at a salon to have her hair cut. The
rest of us went to several stores, such as Sam's Club and Kohl's, during
the time it took for the hair appointment. We picked up Pauline and
checked out her new cut as Brent drove to the mall. We went to the food
court at the mall because it was time for everyone to be eating dinner
and we knew most of the restaurants in Bowling Green would have long
wait times. Plus everyone could eat what they wanted since there were 10
or 12 choices available in the food court. After that, Julie and I went
to the Candy Shop and bought some good stuff. We talked about what we
wanted to buy and it was a tough decision with all those choices.
We
finally made our purchases, then returned to join the others and share
our treats with them. We ended up at the Merry-Go-Round with Brent
taking Julie and Kyle for a ride.
That
was the end of the mall trip, after that we went to Target for Pauline
to return an item and we looked around in there too. I kept Kyle busy
playing with a rubber ball while Julie tried on shoes that Linda and
Pauline picked out for her. We returned to their house with both kids
asleep in the car. Pauline and Brent put their kids to bed and we talked
for a while longer. It was getting close to 10 PM when we said good bye
and headed back to the farm.
Posted on Wednesday, March 09, 2011
Birthday Wishes
Linda's day started with a call from Brent and Julie while she was on the elliptical exercise machine. They wished her a "Happy Birthday" and talked a few minutes while she worked out. After Linda left for work at school, her Aunt Vera called to extend birthday wishes. I told Vera I would let Linda know she called. Stacey and I took care of some car club business at the bank and the post office. I also mailed our tax forms to the appropriate places. There were several envelopes addressed to Linda in the mail box when I checked, so I laid them on the counter and Linda opened them when she came home. Several of them were Birthday Cards. Regina came up to visit a short time before we went to Columbia for supper and a few items at Wal-Mart. Another call came in after we returned to the farm. I don't know if Jason and Stacey had trouble making their nightly call or not?
Posted on Sunday, March 13, 2011
Trucking
We scheduled a trip to IN and Pauline and Brent were going too. Stacey,
Linda and I drove the pickup truck and pulled the red cargo trailer to
Daleville Saturday morning. Pauline, Brent, Julie and Kyle had stayed
with Sabra and Jim Lindzy Friday night and met us at my mother's house
Saturday morning. We placed our three small dogs in cages inside her
house and Brent drove us to Portland, IN to visit with Mom. Virginia was
in the Life-Bridge section of the Jay County Hospital for a week of
evaluation before being returned to Woodland's Senior Care in Muncie.
Mom was in good spirits, better than we expected, and seemed to be doing
good. The nurses said she was socializing well and eating. Mom enjoyed
seeing everyone, especially Julie and Kyle. We visited with Mom during
her two hour visiting schedule and told her we were coming back the next
day. We stopped in Muncie and ate at Pizza King before returning to
Mom's house for some clean up work. Several hours later, P&B took their
kids and dogs and returned to the Lindzy's to stay overnight. Stacey,
Linda and I unhooked the trailer and drove towards Pendleton to stay
with Linda's Mom. Linda called and asked her Mom if she wanted Arby's
sandwiches for supper. Reba said she did, so we went to the drive-thru
and took several to her house. We ate the sandwiches with her and talked
about how Virginia had been.
Sunday morning, after a night's rest, we
drank coffee and talked with Reba a little while before leaving for
Daleville. After hooking the trailer back to the pickup truck, Stacey,
Linda and I worked a while on the house until Pauline and Brent arrived.
With the dogs in the cage, we locked the house and again rode to
Portland with P&B to visit with Mom. Virginia was eating lunch when we
arrived so we waited about 15 minutes for her to finish. She entered the
room and sat down with us and began talking, then after about 10
minutes, she got up and went to her room to change into the clothes we
had brought to her the day before. One of the items was a KY University
shirt and she wanted to put it on while the game was on TV. The sweat
clothes were a little big she said since she had lost some weight, but
looked OK. We talked and watched the KY basketball game. The two hour
visiting time went quickly as we watched Julie and Kyle play and the
ball game on TV. Mom interacted well with Julie and Kyle as we tossed a
rubber ball around the room and the kids would go after it. As usual,
the tough part is saying good bye, but we had to leave since the
visiting time was gone. We went back to the house in Daleville and
loaded a little bit more into the trailer, then locked the red trailer.
P&B were stopping in Pendleton to visit with Nana on their way home. We
worked a short time, then locked the house and hit the interstate. I
drove to Louisville, where we made a quick trip to the Kingfish for
takeout and then on back to the farm. Just before 10 PM, we unloaded our
clothes and then parked the truck and trailer inside the pole barn.
Posted on Saturday, March 19, 2011
Disney In Concert Event
Several weeks ago, Pauline had asked Stacey to go with Brent and her
when they took Julie to a "Disney In Concert" event at WKU in Bowling
Green. Our first plan had been to go straight to Pauline and Brent's
house, but they had let us know that Julie wasn't up to par, had an
upset stomach and was taking a nap. Instead, we made a trip to Bowling
Green around noon to Lumber Liquidator's warehouse to check out laminate
flooring. We took the two sample pieces the salemans gave us to place
against the walls and help us determine the color of the floor we want
to buy. We also went to Home Depot and looked at several other items we
were thinking about using. We ate a late lunch and then went to their
house about 2:30 PM. Pauline, Brent and Kyle came outside when we
arrived to let Julie continue her nap. We played ball with Kyle in the
yard and sent him down the play set slide.
After
a while, Julie woke and came out the back door. After hugs for us, we
went inside and observed how Julie was feeling. It was easy to tell she
wasn't at her best, but was feeling well enough to go to the Disney
Orchestra show. Julie had a few tough moments, then perked up and
managed to put on her 'fairy' costume as time came to leave for the show.
Our
job was to take care of Kyle while Stacey, Julie, Pauline and Brent went
to the music show. That started off easy because Kyle was taking a nap
when they left. About a half hour later, Kyle was up and ready to play.
Linda and I took turns playing with Kyle and the dogs. Nearly three
hours later, the music show was over and they had returned. Kyle was
quiet and the dogs were alive, so we had done our jobs. Julie and Stacey
were excited and told us a lot about the music and what songs the people
had sang.
Julie
had made it through the concert without being sick and had enjoyed the
songs. They all talked about how good the music and songs had been. It
wasn't long until Julie said she was ready for bed, so Linda, Stacey and
I said good bye and left for the ride back to the farm. We made it home
a little after 10 PM.
Posted on Monday, March 21, 2011
Club House Items
I had been talking with Phillip Davidson, a member of the car club,
about a display case he had stored away a few years ago. He was willing
to sell it, so Stacey and I rode out to his old place, where he used to
live, and took a look. The display case was in a garage and was in
fairly rough condition. He didn't want much for it, but the selling
point was that he would deliver it to our pole barn. A few days later,
we made the transaction and Phillip unloaded the display case off his
trailer and wheeled it into the 'Club House' on his two wheel dolly.
Stacey and I peeled the decals off the outside and Linda washed the
glass. Now we need some glass shelves for the inside and then Stacey can
display the NASCAR items that Chuck Anderson gave to her. We'll have to
go to Glasgow to have the glass shelves cut to fit inside the case.
A
day or two after we purchased the display case, our neighbor knocked on
the door and came inside. Bill told me he had finished the wood frame
for the GM sign that Gary Mader had gave to me a few months ago. That
was the good news, the bad news was that he had cracked the sign. We
went outside to his truck and took a look. There was a small crack at
the top, but not noticable from a distance. The wood frame looked great
though. His work was a trade off for some tractor work I had done for
him around his new house. After talking for a while, I took the sign and
Bill left. I went to the pole barn and cut a 2 by 4 into half lengthwise
on an angle to form a cleat for mounting the sign. I screwed half of the
cleat to the inside of the frame and the other half to the outside of
the pole barn, then hung the sign up.
Several
months ago, Gary Mader had removed the sign from the side of the old
Guide Lamp building where I used to work in Anderson, IN. The entire
place has been demolished and it sure looked strange when I drove by a
few weeks ago and there was nothing left but grass. Now, when I walk
into the pole barn, it's almost like going to work at Guide! LOL, not
really, but it is a reminder of the company that made my life a lot
easier and enabled me to retire at age 49.
Gary, THANKS for
thinking about me when you removed the GM sign and also for bringing it
down to the farm!
Posted on Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Trench Digging
It took me about 30 minutes to change the bucket on the backhoe Tuesday afternoon. I needed the smaller bucket to dig a few trenches for Steve and Phillip Garmon inside their partially done pole barn. Wednesday morning, I drove the tractor up the road with Stacey following me in the Mule. She sat in the Mule and listened to her iPod while I dug the trenches for the drain lines. I pulled the tractor inside the half done pole barn and began digging the first trench. As I removed the dirt, I dumped it into the scoop on Garmon's tractor. Phillip would then take the full scoop of dirt outside the barn and dump it, then return the tractor so I could fill the scoop again. I used the back hoe bucket to clean up what missed the scoop by scraping the dirt back into the trench and loading it in the scoop again. I finished the first trench and moved to the second one. It needed to be longer and took a little more time because the ground had been packed hard by traffic driving over the driveway for years. After finishing the digging inside, I moved the tractor outside and dug several places for the drain lines to exit the building. I didn't do any damage to the walls of the building and finished the job in two hours. It had saved Steve and Phil a lot of hand digging in hard ground. Stacey and I went back to the house and put away the tractor and parked the Mule in the garage. Later, Linda and I took a ride and noticed they had covered the pipes with gravel and were ready for the concrete to be poured for the floor. Steve and Phil are going to use the building to kill and butcher hogs and cattle inside.
Posted on Friday, March 25, 2011
56 Chevy Front End Finished
Dave Neff began the front end project on the 56 Chevy January 25th. The
deal was he would work on the car in his spare time when he wasn't busy
with other jobs. The new tubular 'A' frames were installed and fit
perfectly. The other new parts went on with only a few minor problems
along the way. I had to order a new harmonic balancer and pulley set and
a new mounting bracket for the alternator as Dave neared completion. The
driver side header's front tube had to be rerouted to avoid the steering
linkage for the new power rack and pinion steering assembly. Dave also
installed new disc brakes with slotted rotors and a power brake booster
and master cylinder feeding fluid through new brake lines and hoses.
The
car drives great, doesn't have any play in the steering and turns
quickly and with fingertip control even when setting still. The new set
of lowering springs makes the front end set two inches lower than it did
before the installation. I'm supposed to drive the car for a while, then
return it to the shop for Dave to make sure everything is staying
together and tight.
Posted on Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Glagow Trip
When Linda came home from working at the school, we took the HHR to Glasgow. The first stop was at Barren County Glass on Highway 90 just east of Glasgow. I ordered 5 pieces of glass to use for shelves in the old display case I purchased a few weeks ago. Next stop was at Tractor Supply for a five gallon bucket of hydraulic oil to use in the tractors. After that we went to Lowe's and looked at things to paint the bedrooms at Mom's house in IN. We bought two gallons of colored paint for each bedroom and three gallons of ceiling white. We purchased rollers, handles, brushes, tape, and several other items to use while painting the rooms. We went to Mancino's to eat and check our list. We had to return to Lowe's because we needed to pick up one gallon of semi-gloss Ultra White to paint the trim in both rooms. After buying the paint, we drove to Barren County's Schools and went inside. Pauline, Julie, Kyle and Brent were in the gym waiting for Julie's tumbling class to start. We hugged the kids before the class began, then played with Kyle while Julie did the exercises her instructor asked her to try. All the girls in the class are preschool and it was fun watching them as we talked with Pauline and Brent. When the class was over, we said so long to the kids, Pauline and Brent, then Stacey called Jason and talked to him as I drove us back to the farm.
