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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 by Dave at 11:30 AM
Categories: Current Events, Farm


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 by Dave at 8:00 PM
Categories: Current Events, Farm


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 by Dave at 4:00 PM
Categories: Current Events, Farm


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 by Dave at 7:30 PM
Categories: Current Events, Farm


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 by Dave at 4:00 PM
Categories: Current Events, Daleville


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 by Dave at 7:30 PM
Categories: Current Events, Farm


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 by Dave at 5:30 PM
Categories: Current Events, Farm


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 by Dave at 6:30 PM
Categories: Current Events, Farm


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 by Dave at 4:30 PM
Categories: Current Events, Farm


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!

Posted by Dave at 8:00 PM
Categories: Current Events, Daleville