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Posted on Monday, April 02, 2007
A Real Good Day
Linda and I were setting in the bedroom watching TV and drinking our
morning coffee when the phone rang. It was Grandview Welding and
Equipment and they said they had a new tractor for me and was ready to
deliver it. I said "Great" and proceeded to tell the delivery guy the
directions to the farm. They were located in Tompkinsville and it would
take about an hour for him to drive over, so I finished the coffee and
dressed. A little before he should have arrived I grabbed the camera and
went outside to take a few pictures as it was looking like a beautiful
day was beginning. I drove the Mule and went down by the fire pit near
the creek and took a few pictures of that area.
I
was lucky to notice the butterfly and it seemed to pose for me while I
moved in closer and took several shots. It finally fluttered away and I
turned my attention towards the highway and moved closer to take a
picture of our house with the tree Kim and Kenny gave us blooming along
with the redbud we transplanted.
The
driver pulled in with the FarmTrac 545 tractor on a roll back truck. He
had the tractor unloaded in less than 5 minutes and gave me a quick run
down on how the controlls worked and where to check the fluids. He stood
there until I got on the tractor and had it running, then he backed up,
turned around and headed down the road. Linda and Stacey came and took
the Mule to go walk around the hay field. I moved the tractor over near
the hay shed and hooked up the bush hog. I went back in the 'holler'
behind the trailer and cut the brush that had been growing up along the
trails. The bigger Ford tractor had been too large to work in that area
and this tractor was just what I had needed for areas near trees. When
Linda and Stacey came back from walking we went to eat, then returned to
the farm. I removed the bush hog and put the finish mower on the new
tractor. I made some adjustments and tried mowing. Not too bad, it's
easy to drive with power steering and small enough to get in close. I
made a few laps around the yard in front of the house, then parked near
the house and went to get Linda. About then is when John, the HVAC
service man showed up. He had our new compressor for our heat pump and
was ready to install it. We moved a few things and he drove behind the
house with his service truck and pulled to the end where the outside
unit was located. Linda climbed on the tractor and I showed her how to
operate the controlls. She headed down to the front yard and mowed for
about 30 minutes. She seemed to like the way it drove and rode. It's
faster than either of our riding mowers and mows a wider swath too. She
quit mowing and I took over and mowed the slope in front of the house. I
was wondering how the tractor would feel going over that area, but it
felt 'safe', like the old Ford tractor. I finished and put the tractor
in the shed and went to the house to see how John was getting along with
the compressor. It looked like things were going good, he was filling
the lines with Puron, which meant he was nearly done. After charging the
system he went inside and flipped the switch and we were back in
business. The AC came on and started cooling. He put the side back on
the outside unit and told me he would bill me later, after he filled out
the warranty stuff. Luckily, we hadn't really needed the heat pump the
entire time it had been busted. The temperature in the house had rose to
78 degrees a few times, but wasn't too bad. I'm extremely glad, if it
had to go bad, that it went out now instead of in the middle of summer
during the 90 degree days.
Posted on Friday, April 06, 2007
Colder Again
Linda and Stacey left Wednesday afternoon to stay overnight with Pauline and Brent and they took Missy to see the 'bad boys', Pico and Poco, so I was on my own for a couple of days. I watched a couple of movies during the evening, washed the HHR Thursday morning and did some other odd jobs during the day. I picked up the generator at the ATV shop in town. They had replaced the float valve in the carberator and it seemed to work. Linda worked at the school Friday and Stacey and I went to town for lunch. The temperature has been in the mid 40s during the day and is supposed to be below freezing at night over the weekend. I hope this is winter's last gasp!
Posted on Sunday, April 08, 2007
Zapped
Temperatures were in the lower 20s Friday and Saturday night and it zapped most of the plants that were leafing out early. I've noticed several bushes with the leaves completely blackened from the freezing temperatures, and most of the flowers have laid over too. Saturday, was windy and cold and we stayed inside and let the heat pump do it's work. We were lucky to get it repaired just in time. Sunday was better, the wind was milder and the temperatures were in the lower 50s during the day. We went to the Bobcat's Den in Byrdstown TN for dinner. It was clear and sunny and a nice drive in the HHR, but it was still cold when I took a ride in the Mule after returning to the farm.
Posted on Tuesday, April 10, 2007
Pistol Packin'
As temperatures have return to normal, lower 60s during the day, I've been outside quite a bit and have seen the first snake of the year around the farm. It was in the gully between the hay fields. I quickly turned around and rode to the house, picked up the .22 caliber pistol that was loaded with bird shot and returned to the spot where the snake had been. It had only taken about 3 minutes to retrieve the gun, but the snake was gone. So, this morning, after breakfast, I put the pistol in my jean's pocket and went to mow. I started the tractor and headed across the creek, but immediately noticed a snake laying in my path to cross the creek. It started swimming to escape, but I quickly drew the pistol and fired shots in the direction it was swimming. The fourth shot stopped the snake before it made it to the weeds. I continued across the creek and it wasn't a minute later, I ran across another snake in the location I had seen one the day before. I popped a couple of shots at it and that was all it took. I guess the snakes are coming out of hibernation and laying in the sun to warm up. I'll be packin' a pistol for a few weeks. I mowed the open area in the back of the 'holler' with the new tractor and finish mower, then headed down the road and mowed Regina's old house yard and the mum patch. Later in the day, I used the Mule and the black trailer to haul the little JD mower to the open area in the 'holler'. I mowed between the two rows of trees we planted a couple of years ago, then hauled the mower back to the hay shed and unloaded it.
Posted on Wednesday, April 11, 2007
5 Tons of Work Ahead
A few days ago, while returning from Byrdstown TN, we made a short stop
at a landscape company and nursery in Albany. The owner told us that
they were too busy to take on any more work due to large jobs around
Dale Hollow, but if it rained we should call them. OK, so today it
rained and I called about 8:30 AM. I spoke with the owner and told him
we wanted to order some rock to cover our flower beds. We had decided to
order 5 tons, which was the most he could haul on his small dump truck.
We worked out the directions and he said his driver would call when he
came through Burkesville. About an hour later, the driver called and a
few minutes after that he drove up the driveway and behind the barn,
where I directed him to dump the load of rock.
We
plan to remove the mulch in the flower beds, put down a weed block
fabric and then cover it with the rock a little at a time. I'm hoping
that this will be better than putting down new mulch every spring.
|
The USACOE Wolf Creek Innudation Maps are now online at the url
below... |
Posted on Friday, April 13, 2007
Friday The 13th
The forecast was for showers off and on all day, so we ate breakfast and
made plans for a trip to Cookeville. We left home about 11 AM and headed
through town and towards Celina. I took a left turn in Celina and drove
towards Livingston TN, then a right towards Cookeville. Our first stop
was at Lowe's. We were surprised that they had a promotion going on with
DeWalt's NASCAR race car parked outside. They had free hot dogs and
drinks for anyone that walked up, so we did. We ate our hot dogs as we
looked at the car and while shopping. After we had looked at the lawn
and garden stuff, we picked up 2 rolls of weed block, a couple of
flowers, some weed killer and checked out. Our next stop was a
restaurant called Cheddars. We had ate there before and liked their food
and the hotdog apiece had just not done the job. We were seated at a
table promptly, a waitress took our drink order and returned with the
drinks. She immediately dropped a glass on the table and busted it.
Glass went flying and the liquid was all over the place, including the
crotch of my pants. Hmm, that looked weird. We moved to another table
and a different waitress took our food order. We ate without any other
incident, paid our bill and left. Luckily, my pants were dry by the time
we left. We made a few more stops including a fabric shop, Kirkland's,
Kohl's and finally Sam's Club. As we entered Sam's Club, we noticed they
had weed block fabric too. Oops, it was a bunch cheaper than what we had
just bought. We decided to buy what was at Sam's and take back what we
had purchased at Lowes. I also noticed that I had bought two rolls at
Lowes and only needed one roll of fabric at Sam's. We filled our cart
with supplies and checked out, then headed to Lowes. We ended up saving
about $80 by taking back the stuff to Lowes. After that we headed
towards home with one more stop at Pamida's in Livingston. We made it
home just before dark in a light rain.
I've added newer pictures
online. The link is January
07 - June 07 Pictures
Posted on Sunday, April 15, 2007
Baby Bassinet
It rained most of the day Saturday and was still raining when we woke
Sunday morning. We had breakfast and were watching TV when the doorbell
rang. It was our neighbors, Nancy and Steve Riddle. They had went to
church and stopped by when the service was over. Linda and Steve had
been talking the other day on the phone and Linda asked Steve if he knew
anyone with a bassinet for sale. Steve had asked Nancy and her mother
had one. Nancy's mom told Nancy to just give the bassinet to Linda, so
they had brought it over. Steve set it down in the living room and then
they set down and stayed a little while. We talked about Pauline and
Brent's forthcoming baby and how Linda would use the bassinet. I told
them the bassinet would set about arm's length from the edge of the bed,
just like when Brent and Stacey were babies.
We
thanked the Riddles and asked them to thank Nancy's mom for us. Nancy
and Steve left, saying they were on their way to Glasgow to see Elaine
Brown in the hospital. Elaine is in the Krafty Kritters Home Maker Club
and lives about a mile up the road from our house. She had hip
replacement surgery. Stacey, Linda and I ate lunch and watched the
NASCAR race. Afterwards, the rain had quit and I went outside for a
little bit. It was windy and I didn't stay on the 4-wheeler very long.
Posted on Monday, April 16, 2007
Ride Around The Farm
The wind had dried things up quite a bit, so after breakfast I went
outside and began mowing. The rain had caused the grass to jump up
literally overnight. I used the new tractor with the finish mower to mow
most of the yards. I stopped and went inside near lunch time and we took
the HHR to town and ate at Subway. After returning to the farm, Linda
went to work at the school's day care facility and then to her Krafty
Kritter's Home Makers meeting. They held it at the new Veteran's
Memorial Center in Burkesville. Stacey and I decided to take a 4-wheeler
ride around the farm to enjoy the warmer weather. We crossed the creek
and went back in the 'holler' where we noticed the little trees we had
planted were starting to leaf out.
Cooter
loved running along with us and wants to lead the way. He doesn't always
know which way Stacey is going so sometimes he has to hurry to catch up
with us, but if we head for the house, he sure knows that direction and
will get way out front.
I've
never seen the trees on the hills look like they do this year. They
leafed out a little bit and the hills were turning green, then the cold
weather struck. The temperatures were around 20 degrees for 3 nights in
a row and that turned all the leaves brown. The trees looked like they
do in fall, now they are starting to put leaves out again. It is really
strange looking.
The
hay fields are starting to grow a little and Phil Garmon spread
fertilizer on them to make them grow faster. Phil said that the
fertilizer would help them recover from the freezing temperatures. We
talked about how much the cold weather had harmed the crops. Estimates
are that most of the strawberries, 95% of the apple crop, 35% of the
planted corn has all been lost for this growing season.
Posted on Wednesday, April 18, 2007
HHR's 1st Oil Change
We had breakfast and decided to build another set of shelves for the
storage building. I went down and measured the area beside the door of
the shed and determined how long each piece of 2 by 4 would need to be
cut. Linda and Stacey followed a few minutes later with some stuff
Stacey had taken out of her room to store in the building. I cut the two
remaining 2 by 4s into the size that were needed, but that wasn't
enough, so Stacey and I took the truck to town. We picked up two more 2
by 4s at the hardware and returned to the farm. I finished cutting the
pieces that were needed and we went to the storage building to assemble
the shelves. Stacey and Linda were busy removing items from the little
house and moving them to the storage building while I screwed the wood
together to make the shelves. I finished the framework and Linda brought
the HHR down to the hay shed and we loaded in and rode to Columbia. I
pulled in the Chevy dealership and asked the service manager if they
could change the oil in the HHR. He said it would be about 15 minutes
till they could work on it, but that we could take their mini-van and go
eat lunch while they changed the oil. I told him that would be great, so
we drove the van to Wendy's and ate, then returned to the dealership and
picked up the HHR. I had over 12,300 miles on the HHR since we had
bought it April 20th, 2006 and it was the first oil change, which I
never thought would have been possible. Usually, car dealers want you to
change the oil every 3,000 miles or 3 months, but the HHRs have a
computer that tells the driver when to change the oil. Actually, I still
had 5% of oil usage, but I thought it was close enough. The dealership
also checks other things and runs a computer check with GM to see if
there are any recalls or warranty items that should be fixed, nothing
showed up. The total cost was $28.48 for oil and filter. With that done,
we drove back to the farm and went back to working on the shelving. I
had to cut 4 pieces of plywood for the shelf decking and screw those in
place, then Stacey started filling the shelves with books. Afterwards,
Stacey drove the Mule around the farm with Linda and I riding along. The
day had started out rainy, but turned into a nice day with a temperature
just a couple degrees below 70. If you have ever visited us at the farm,
then you have probably seen a type of rock that I'd always wanted to
know what they used to be.
Well,
I've finally found out the actual name and what the rocks really were in
the beginning, but I'm going to wait a few days to give readers a chance
to figure it out. If you know, click the comment link at the bottom of
this post and make a comment with the name and a description of what you
think the rocks were a long time ago. I'll let you know if you're right
or not.
Posted on Thursday, April 19, 2007
Strawberry Patch
This morning we ate breakfast and I went to mow the mum patch and around
Regina's old house. After I had finished that I drove the tractor back
to the hay shed and parked it. Stacey was working in the storage
building and Linda had a shovel and was digging around the strawberry
patch. It had been over run with stringy grass since last season. She
was removing the plants near the edge and pulling the grass out of the
roots. We decided to move some of them to a new patch by the house. I
took the Mule and hooked the black trailer to it, then started the
rototiller and put it on the trailer. I pulled the trailer to the end of
our house and unloaded the rototiller. I laid out a rectangle and
started the tiller and tilled up the dirt. I was raking the loose grass
out of the dirt when Linda brought up a box of plants. She set those in
the shade and helped rake the grass out of the dirt. Around noon, I
picked up Stacey from the storage building and we headed to Columbia to
eat lunch and pick up some bags of a humus and manure mixture. We bought
eight bags at Wal-Mart and returned to the farm. I tilled the dirt once
more quite a bit deeper than before and raked the last bit of grass out
of the patch. Linda and I dumped the bags of humus and manure on the
dirt and I tilled it several times to mix the manure with the dirt. I
shoveled a place along the edges to lay two rows of pavers that Stacey
and Linda were loading in the Mule. They returned with the first load of
pavers and we laid those down. They went back for a second load as I
finished shoveling the space for the last row of pavers. We had way too
much dirt after covering part of the space with pavers, so we shoveled
the extra dirt onto the black trailer. I raked the patch smooth and
Linda planted 40 strawberry plants in the new patch.
She
watered the plants while I put the Mule and the tools away. I don't know
if we will have any strawberries this year. The extremely cold weather
about a week ago has ruined a lot of fruit crops. The strawberry plants
have blooms, but the center of the blooms are blackened. Some say that
we should pinch the blooms off and the plants might bloom again. Others
say, they won't bear fruit. That was one of the reasons we decided to go
ahead and move some plants to a new patch.
Posted on Saturday, April 21, 2007
We Picked Up Linda's 1965 Mustang
Stacey had a few minor twitches yesterday afternoon and we had gave her
a 5mg. Diazapham around 5:15 and another at bedtime, so Linda and her
were a little slow getting up. Stacey seemed OK, so we decided to go to
the Corner Cafe for breakfast. We ate and then drove towards Albany to
pick up the 1965 Mustang. Alvin Pharis had been working on it all winter
when he wasn't working on something else. Linda had worked it out so he
could tinker with it in between jobs so he wouldn't charge as much.
Linda paid and drove the car towards Burkesville. She stopped at the gas
station and filled the tank, then I drove it the rest of the way to the
farm. We pulled it in front of the garage and washed the outside, then
Linda climbed inside and washed the windows. I did a little mowing while
Linda and Stacey drove the Mustang down by the creek and parked in the
yard. They cleaned the interior and had a 'picnic', really they were
just sitting in the sun by the creek on a quilt. Linda was shopping by
reading the Mustang catalogs and picking out stuff she wanted to order.
After
the car was clean and I had finished mowing, we drove the Mustang to
Columbia and ate at Sonic. Once we were done eating, we rode around town
a little then headed back to the farm. I was impressed with how well the
old car drove. There are some items we need to address before we take a
longer road trip, but overall it wasn't too bad.
Posted on Sunday, April 22, 2007
Pauline's Baby Shower
Linda fixed breakfast and we all showered and loaded in the HHR for the
ride to Pauline and Brent's house. As we drove in the driveway, Pauline
was outside sitting on the steps. We went inside for a while and played
with their dogs. We had forgot to take Missy along with us. Pauline was
nearly ready to go to the church for her baby shower. Linda and Brent
helped load some things in their HHR, then Linda and Pauline left for
the shower. Stacey, Brent and I watched a movie, then went to Bowling
Green and ate lunch at Toot's. We went back to the house and checked out
some things on the Triump, then watched some TV until the girls came
back. They filled us in on the happenings at the shower and we checked
out the pictures.
It
sounded like the girls had a good time and Pauline received a lot of
nice things from her friends and family. There were more than enough to
fill a play pen with items. Pauline was tired after the shower, so
Stacey, Linda and I headed home around 5:30 PM.
Posted on Tuesday, April 24, 2007
What Are They?
Crinoid
Fossils is the technical name.
It is a sea lilly fossil. It is an
animal that lived on the bottom of the ocean. Yes, that is correct, an
animal. The sea lily looks like a flower growing on the ocean floor.
That is where it gets its name. Sea lily fossils are known as crinoids.
They have been mistaken for Indian artifacts and called Indian beads or
Indian money. Crinoids lived attached to the bottom of the ocean by a
slender, flexible stem. At the top of the stem was a cup or calyx, to
which arms were attached. These arms caught particles of food from the
currents flowing past them. After a sea lily died, it disintegrated very
quickly which is why we usually find these fossils in fragments. The
fossils you see are the crinoid stem. It is the part that attached to
the sea floor. The center was an opening that was filled with a fleshy
stalk which provided food to the lower part of the animal. It also held
the stem together and gave flexibility to the stem. Crinoids are
commonly found in sedimentary rock. There are still sea lilies alive
today in deep sea waters. That is why they are referred to as "living
fossils".
Now
you know, the rest of the story, and so do I.
Posted on Friday, April 27, 2007
Girls Gone Wild (Not Really)
Linda had scheduled Thursday for Stacey to meet Debra and Katie and go
to Bowling Green. They left the farm a little before 9 AM and returned
in about 20 minutes. Linda had forgot the directions to Debra's
Grandma's house. They picked up Debra and then Katie on the way to eat
at Bob Evans. After eatting they went to the Bowling Green Mall and
looked around. They stopped at Toy's R Us to check out baby furniture.
Afterwards, they went to Pauline and Brent's house to play with the dogs
and watch a movie on their big screen TV. The girls took pictures in the
Triump and acted like they were actors in the Charlie's Angels movie.
Pauline
and Brent fixed sloppy joes with chips for supper. After their fun at
P&B's house, Linda started taking the girls home, she let the girls stop
in front of Warren East Middle School and take a picture in front of the
school sign where they all used to go to school. 
They
left the school and Katie needed to return home for a church function,
so they took her back first, then took Debra back to her grandmother's
house. Debra's Mom was also there and Stacey and Linda stayed a little
while and talked. Stacey and Linda left and returned to P&B's house and
stayed the night with them.
Stacey and Linda returned to the farm a
little after noon. I was working on mounting the sprayer tank on the ATV
and piping the plastic tubing to the 4 sprayer heads. I've put together
PVC pipe to hold the sprayer heads about 16" from the ground and about
16" apart. This seems to be the best spacing for uniform coverage. I've
only tried it with water so far and haven't glued anything together yet.
We went to town and ate at Jone's for supper.
Posted on Sunday, April 29, 2007
Roof Repairs
Pauline and Brent brought their dogs and came over early Saturday
morning. After Linda fixing everyone sausage and eggs for breakfast,
Brent and I went to the hay shed and I showed him how the new tractor
worked. He took it for a drive around the little house a few times and
said a few things about it and how easy it was to drive with power
steering. We started the Ford tractor with the scoop and I used it to
lift Brent up even with the roof on the boat shed. He used a battery
powered screw gun to put some roofing screws in the old roofing. The
wind had blown several sheets loose and Brent screwed as many back down
as he could reach. I moved the tractor around the shed to give Brent
access to as many places as possible without him actually having to step
out on the roof. We moved over to the old barn and did the same to the
loose roofing on it. I lifted Brent as high as the scoop would go and he
leaned against the roof to reach up as far as he could. We put the
tractors back in the shed and the girls were outside walking the dogs.
After watching the dogs run crazy for a little while, we put them in the
house and drove the 65 Mustang to Hamilton's and ate lunch. We rode
through town with the top down and the weather was in the 70s. Back at
the house we watched some Comedy Central shows starring Wanda Sykes and
played with the dogs.
Sunday, Linda fixed breakfast, then we went
outside and Pauline and Linda dug the weeds out of the lily flower bed.
I loaded up bags of mulch in the Mule and pulled it down close to the
bed, then Brent opened the bags and dumped them. Pauline and Linda
spread the mulch out and then we went on a ride. Linda, Stacey and I
rode 4-wheelers and Pauline and Brent rode in the Mule since P is
pregnant. We rode around both hay fields then went down the road and
rode around the farm down there. Brent, Stacey and I watched the NASCAR
race after we returned to the farm. Pauline took a nap and Linda was
outside. Pauline and Brent left for home after the race was over around
5 PM, then Linda and I went outside and mowed. Linda used the larger JD
mower while I was on the tractor using the finish mower. We managed to
mow the entire place before dark.
