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Posted on Monday, March 03, 2014
Ice Then Snow
We had received warnings for a day or two about a winter storm coming
through, so we had went to the grocery and to the wood shed to stock up
on food and firewood. Yesterday it began by raining off and on for about
8 hours. Then as darkness came, the temperatures dipped below freezing.
When we went to bed there was the tapping of sleet hitting the windows.
I was up in the early morning for a bathroom break and I looked out the
window. The driveway was illuminated by the street light and I could see
it was covered with something. When I finally made my way to the living
room and daylight arrived, the ground was covered with an icy layer.
Around 9 AM snow began to fall. A little before 11 AM, I went outside
and started the Mule, then loaded Daisy in the back. We rode down the
driveway and I began taking a few pictures. The sound of the Mule riding
over the snow covered ice was a little weird, like we would bust through
at any time.
In
the right hand picture above, the top of the tree that is busted off and
hanging up in the air was already broken before the ice storm hit. We
only had about a 1/4" of ice and the rest was snow. Probably about a 2"
total. Of course, Cumberland County Schools were closed due to weather.
lol. Linda received a day off that the schools will have to make up at
the end of May.
Posted on Saturday, March 08, 2014
Salem Park
PBJ&K came over early this morning. We were outside for a while, letting
the kids swing on the rope swing and the little dogs run. We then went
to Albany and ate at Major's Pizza. On the way back Julie asked if we
could stop at the park and let them play. When we exited the Traverse, I
could hear the sound of running water. Instead of going directly to the
playground area, we went down the bank to the Little Renoux water falls.
The
kids picked up sticks and watched as the rushing water took them over
the falls. They played near the water for about a half hour, then we
went back up the steep bank to the playground and let them play on it
for another half hour.
Posted on Sunday, March 09, 2014
Linda's Birthday
We had been outside most of the day and were down near the fire pit when
Jennifer & Lee pulled into the pole barn driveway. They walked down by
the creek as we talked for a little while, then Jennifer walked back to
their truck with Linda. She pulled out a brightly colored bag and
presented Linda with some birthday presents and a card. A bunch of
giggles and laughter immediately followed as Linda pulled each item from
the bag.
Jennifer
and Lee stayed about a half hour, then we all hugged and said goodbye.
Julie and Kyle were not ready to go, but Brent mentioned it was an hour
later than they usually left the farm and they needed to head home too.
Kyle was enjoying playing with his "sword" and we thought "he had a
little Captain in him", so I was able to get him to stand still for a
quick picture before they went to the house and then headed home.
I
think Linda had spent her birthday doing exactly what she wanted to do.
Posted on Monday, March 10, 2014
Lacy Visits the Farm
Lacy came home with Linda from school this afternoon. I had been working
outside with the back hoe on the tractor. Lacy was ready to go outside
when I came in, so we took the Mule with Linda going too. I asked Lacy
to open the door for Daisy to exit her stall. When Lacy first started
coming to the farm, she would scream when any dog came close to her, we
have worked with her to get her to relax and enjoy being around our
dogs. Daisy charged out the door and ran to the Mule, jumped in and was
ready to go. Lacy sat in the back seat and buckled her belt, then I told
her to stick her hand around the safety cage and let Daisy lick her
hand. She did it, then said it smelled bad. LoL. We rode our usual route
and Lacy wanted to stop on the gravel bar to skip rocks. Linda and I
watched, then we had a contest. While we were there, I let Daisy get
close to Lacy several times, then Lacy said she wasn't afraid of her. I
showed her that if you put your hand in Daisy's mouth, Daisy does
everything she can to open her mouth and get your hand out. Lacy
laughed, but didn't want to try it. OK.
We
rode back towards the house and then across the creek. I asked Lacy to
put down the tailgate and let Daisy out of the Mule.
We
made a lap around the hay field and put Daisy back in the barn, then
went to the fire pit area and was letting Lacy swing on the rope swing.
Lacy's Grandpa Jimmy came to pick her up about 5:45 PM.
Posted on Tuesday, March 11, 2014
Bulldozer Work
A little over a week ago, a guy that worked on the SR 61 Relocation
Project stopped in at the house and wanted to know if I needed any dozer
work done. I said I sure did, so he agreed to bring his dozer down to
the farm and do some work. He didn't come right back the next day
because of weather, it was about a week later when he stopped on the
highway to make sure I still wanted the work done. I did, so he pulled
across the creek and began working. Joey worked a couple of hours that
day and left due to his equipment malfunctioning. It was over heating
because of a sticking thermostat, but I guess he repaired it that
afternoon, because this morning, he was over there working by 8 AM. I'm
having some scrub trees cleared out of the low spots in the hay fields
where water has stood.
The
main work I was having Joey do was to clean up where the loggers worked a
year or two
ago. They left a mess in the bottom of the 'holler' and I've been
wanting it dozed out so we can ride 4 wheelers back there. Well, now
it's done and it "looks like an Interstate" through there. At least that
is what Brent used to say when we would clean out the 'holler' across
from the house. It will be more work to maintain, but I enjoy that sort
of work and people seem to like to ride the trails.
There
was a lot of wood that doesn't get used when they cut trees for timber.
Just look in the pictures at the wood the loggers left to rot.
Page
Bulldozing - 270-634-0073
Posted on Thursday, March 13, 2014
More Dozer Work
After a day of rain and colder weather, Joey returned to the farm and
began taking out two rows of trees that had grown up in a drainage
ditch. With the ground being wet it seemed like fairly easy work for the
dozer. Joey would just chain the dozer to a tree and begin pulling away.
The tree would be pulled out by the roots, fall over and then be drug
behind the dozer.
Joey
piled the downed trees in the middle of a group of trees near the creek.
That area is so low, it is mushy most of the time, so the trees can lay
there until they rot away without affecting anything else.
Posted on Tuesday, March 18, 2014
Mud Hole
After a day or two of rain, the area I had bulldozed has turned into a
mud hole. LoL! But it is better than it was before the bulldozing. At
least now, it's draining fairly quick. Before, the trees, roots and
debris were holding the water for weeks after a rain. There will still
be some water coming from inside the hill, but the ditch that has been
created should carry it away too.
There
is still some touch up dozing to be done. Then I will use the tractor,
the scoop and the disk to make it as smooth as the rest of the field.
Posted on Saturday, March 22, 2014
Next Year's Wood
Our wood crew went outside early, loaded the chainsaw, gas, oil,
toolbox, and axe into the Mule and headed back in the 'holler' to cut up
the trees that had fell a month or so ago. I hooked the wood splitter to
the back of a 4 wheeler and towed it back there also. We cut up the two
smaller trees and loaded them on the trailer, then hauled them to the
wood shed and dumped the pieces off onto the ground. I'll split them in
a few days. We went back and began cutting the larger two logs and
splitting those pieces as we cut them. When we had one trailer load cut
and split, we took it to the wood shed and went inside for lunch. Linda
had homemade vegetable soup ready to eat in the crock pot, so lunch
didn't take very long. Brent, his kids and I unloaded the split wood and
stacked it in the shed while the girls cleaned up from lunch, then we
all went back across the creek and to the logs.
Those
two logs made two more trailer loads of split wood, which filled up a
complete row in the wood shed. After we had finished with the good
pieces of wood, we had some pieces that were rotten in places, so I
brought the tractor over and we filled the scoop with those junk pieces.
Kyle wanted to ride with me on the tractor, so we put him in the scoop
and chained him in so he wouldn't fall out.
No,
we didn't really let him ride like that! He rode setting on my knee as I
drove back to the firepit and dumped the scoop. We will use that wood
for bonfires.
Posted on Wednesday, March 26, 2014
Sticker Tires
We began the day by moving the old cars out of the pole barn, then
hooking the red trailer to the truck and pulling it out. Stacey and I
unloaded the furniture from Mom's house and set it in the pole barn,
then we pulled the truck and trailer into the driveway by the house. We
loaded up two of our 4 wheelers and took them to Jeff's Auto Service in
Burkesville. He had ordered some new tires for the 4 wheelers. Enough of
the order had been delivered for his guys to remove and replace all the
tires on both of the 4 wheelers we had in the trailer. He had one more
tire, but was having to wait on three others to be delivered. No
guarantee on when. After the tires were on, we towed the trailer back to
the farm. Stacey opened the trailer doors and began rolling out the 4
wheelers with the 'sticker' tires on them.
We
fired them up and went for a ride. Wow, it was almost like new 4
wheelers, they didn't pull to one side or the other and were a lot
easier to steer. When Linda came home, we took a ride too. Linda and I
put the trailer back in the barn, then pulled the old cars inside.
Posted on Monday, March 31, 2014
Kitchen Floor
Stacey, Linda and I left the farm as soon as Linda came home from work
Friday. The traffic was great until we entered I-65. Then we were in a
race with ALL the UK fans heading to Indy for the Louisville vs KY NCAA
basketball game. When we crossed the Ohio River and were near the 9 mile
marker, traffic came to a quick dead stop. One of Linda's friends from
school was ahead of us about 5 miles and told us there was a wreck. We
crawled along for the next 45 minutes, only going about 8 miles, then
back to the race to Indy. When we turned onto I-465 around Indianapolis,
it was as if most everyone else had pulled into the pits. Traffic was
much better the rest of the way to Daleville. We went inside the house
and I quickly hooked up the DirecTV box, then found out we were not
going to be able to watch the ballgame. The second option was to go to
Elbert's Bar and watch the game. That worked out great. Stacey and I
were the advanced scouts so we picked out seats and ordered food for all
three of us, then called Linda and told her the game was on and the food
was nearly ready. We all sat at the bar, ate and watched KY beat
Louisville, then walked back to the house (150 feet).
Saturday
morning, we had a lite breakfast, then began cutting and fitting the
backer board and laying it on the floor. Linda was grabbing tools and
finding things we needed while I cut the pieces to fit. A little before
noon, Linda K and Imon came in the front door. We talked a little bit,
then Imon took me to Lowe's in his new truck. We picked up two more
backer boards and a pizza while we were out. I carried in the backer
boards and Imon carried in the pizza. We all ate and talked a while
longer until they said they needed to go, then we went back to work on
the floor. We finally had all the pieces cut to fit, so we quit for the
night and watched some TV.
Sunday
morning, after a repeat of Saturday's breakfast, I removed several of
the backer board pieces and mixed up some quick set mortar in a bucket.
I spread the mortar with a notched trowel, then laid the pieces back
down in their original positions. I got Linda started nailing the backer
boards to the floor and I kept mixing mortar and putting down more
pieces until we were done.
We
picked up the tools and debris, then took showers and ate a bologna
sandwich. We needed a break, so we went to Lowe's, bought tile and
mortar, then to Pendleton to visit Nana. She was surprised when we
called and said we were coming down, but even more surprised when we
weren't in a hurry to go on home to KY. Nana and Linda went to Imon's
and then went shopping while Stacey and I watched another KY basketball
game on TV. To my surprise, KY beat Michigan to move on to the NCAA
Final Four. When Nana and Linda returned, we talked a while then went
back to the Daleville house and I unloaded the tile and mortar. Linda
fixed supper. When Linda started to do the dishes, she immediately ran
out of hot water. I thought, "What the heck?" I recently had
electricians put in a shut off for the power to the hot water heater,
what could be wrong with that? I went downstairs to check. I looked at
the shut off box. The piece that pulls out to disconnect the power was
gone. I found it laying on the floor, evidently, all the hammering had
vibrated it loose and it fell to the floor. I pushed it back in the slot
and we could hear the water heater start heating water. This time I
snapped the power shut off box lid closed. About 20 minutes later Linda
was able to finish the dishes and we stayed the night.
Monday morning
we took it easy, our legs were sore from all the kneeling and work. We
cleaned up the place, packed up, shut things off and left about 9:30 AM.
We
made our traditional stop at KingFish's, ate outside next to the river,
then drove home, arriving about 2:30 PM.
Linda & I would like to thank Wilson
Electric in Chesterfield, IN for the work they did to our Daleville
house. They fixed everything on our list, did it well and all work was
done without us being there.
Thanks Karen & Steve Wilson!