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Posted on Friday, April 04, 2014
Greening Up
After a day or two of rain, the creek is up and so is the grass.
Seems
like the grass turned green and jumped up over night. I tested the
finish mower a few days ago, so I think I'm ready. I'll need to get my
iPod charged and update the music, then I'll be officially ready to mow.
Posted on Saturday, April 05, 2014
Grandkids Stay
Julie and Kyle's school was on spring break this week, so we picked them
up in Glasgow Wednesday evening at McDonald's Thursday and part of
Friday were rainy, so we stayed inside most of the time. Linda had Kyle
perched in front of the TV watching Learning Tree shows on NetFlix.
He
needs more structured activities than he gets at the babysitters house.
When he wasn't watching the educational shows, I took him outside with
me and we spent time talking and doing things together. One time when we
went out, Kyle jumped in the log we had cut open to plant flowers
inside. Julie joined him and it looked like a log flume ride, or a space
ship, or a race car, they were imagining all kinds of things.
Saturday,
the rains were over and the creek water had receded so we were able to
go across the creek in the Mule. While we were letting Daisy run, we
came across the hay field with the daffodils growing wild. We stopped
and I took a picture of Julie and Kyle setting in the middle of the
flowers.
Posted on Monday, April 14, 2014
Daleville Tile Job
Stacey, Linda and I left the farm Friday around 3 PM, Pauline, Brent and
their kids left their house a little later. We all arrived in Daleville
in time to watch a little TV and talk before going to bed.
Saturday
morning, Pauline went for breakfast and brought it back to the house
while we were preparing to lay tile in the kitchen. I began by mixing
the quick set mortar and laying the tile along a chalk line we had
snapped to guide the placement of the first row of tiles. After working
across one half of the kitchen floor, Pauline began back buttering the
tiles and Brent took over laying. I helped by cutting the tiles to fit
along the edge of the room.
We
decided to quit trying to fit the edge tiles and to just get the full
pieces laid. We worked the remaining half of the kitchen back to the
door and stopped to let the tile mortar setup firm. Pauline and Brent
took Julie and Kyle to an indoor water park in Indianapolis to swim and
have fun. They returned about 5:30 PM and were ready to eat. I suggested
we go to Anderson and eat at one of our favorite Pizza King restaurants.
That was OK with everyone, so we loaded into their Traverse and headed
out. The service was great, the bread sticks and pizza arrived quickly,
and the pitcher of beer was good and cold. We returned to the house and
company began arriving. Jim Lindzy and girl friend, Liz, came in with
Amber and Clayton. About 20 minutes later, Kim and Kenny Bourke arrived.
We all laughed and talked till about 10 PM when the company left.
Shortly after that, it was bedtime for everyone. The work and beer had
done it's job, we were worn out.
Sunday morning, I made a run to
Anderson for a couple dozen dough nuts and a sack of holes. Julie and
Kyle ate 20 of the 25 holes before they quit. Several of the dough nuts
were left, so Kyle claimed them to take home. Linda wrote his and
Julie's name on the box and taped the box shut so they would make the
trip without spilling. Pauline, Brent and I finished laying the
remaining tiles that had to be cut to fit around the door facings and in
the corners. Brent and I cut the bottom of the door off so it would
swing open and closed without dragging on the tiles. We cleaned up the
mess and sat down. Pauline and Brent loaded their things into their car,
the kids gave us hugs and they headed to Nana's house planning on taking
in a pizza. I walked over to Elbert's Bar and bought 3 giant tenderloin
sandwiches, then took them back to the house for us to eat. Linda and I
sat there for a while, then decided to paint the kitchen with the paint
we had brought. Linda taped the trim and cabinets while I stirred the
paint. She used the brush and I began rolling and using a paint pad
along the edge of the ceiling. The paint covered fairly well considering
what a mess the walls were in when we started. Once we were done, I
washed the pad and threw away the roller, cleaned my hands and arms,
then took a shower while Linda cleaned up the counter and floor. The
rest of my evening was spent laying around watching TV. Linda and Stacey
went shopping in Muncie.
Monday
morning, we evaluated our paint job and decided it was going to need
another coat to cover some of the speckled places that were showing
through. My plan is to paint the ceiling white and to come down the
walls a half inch or so, then paint the walls gray and use the paint pad
with the wheels on it to draw a straight line around the top of the
walls. We shut off the water, water heater, packed our things, locked
the doors and went to Pendleton to visit Nana. Linda had bought an
Easter Basket with a flower and candy inside to give to her Mom. We sat
and talked for over an hour, then I managed to get them to stand still
for a picture before we left for home.
Posted on Friday, April 18, 2014
Jason's Birthday
Stacey called Jason to find out if he was busy or not. He said he had
been taking calls all day wishing him a 'happy birthday'. Stacey asked
if he wanted to go to eat with us and he did, so we planned on picking
him up at 5:45 PM. We cleaned up and drove over to Jason's place and he
asked us to come in and check it out. We went in and he showed us
around, he pointed out a nice quilt that his relative had made for him
out of his old Mark Martin shirts. It looked nice and Jason had
decorated his place with a lot of his NASCAR memorabilia. Stacey gave
Jason the birthday gifts she had for him and then we went back outside
and talked with Stephanie and Tommy. Christy and Bryant were there also.
After
a short talk with them, we hopped in the car and drove to Applebee's in
Glasgow. That was Stacey and Jason's choice. When we were seated, we
ordered an appetizer, then our meals and chatted until the waiter
brought our food. Jason enjoyed a partial rack of ribs, Stacey had a
fish dinner, Linda and I went with steaks. The place was busy, but not
packed so we had good service and the food was tasty. Afterwards, we
headed back towards Burkesville, stopping to drop off Jason, then on to
the farm.
Posted on Saturday, April 19, 2014
Egg Hunt
Pauline, Brent and family came to visit Saturday morning. Brent and I
took the last 4 wheeler to Jeff's Auto Service to have the new tires put
on while Linda and her flower crew planted the flowers in the hollow log.
After
everyone had finished their jobs, we took Daisy for a run and let the
kids play on the gravel bar by the edge of the creek. Julie looked for
pretty rocks and played in the creek sand while Kyle found some toys
that had washed down the creek to play with on a log that had drifted
onto the gravel bar.
We
went back to the house for a while, then Linda and I took Julie and Kyle
for a Mule ride. The others were helping the Easter Bunny hide the
plastic eggs while the kids rode in the Mule and played in the water. We
returned to the farm about 20 minutes later and the egg hunt began.
The
real work for the kids is opening 125 plastic eggs. Then enjoying the
surprises inside is the easy part.
Posted on Sunday, April 20, 2014
Easter
The Easter Bunny brought Julie and Kyle their baskets early.
The
kids had a few toys inside their baskets and lots of candy for later.
After
dinner, when the grass had dried and it was warmer, Pauline dressed the
kids in some nicer clothes and we took their pictures.
We
had some of the pictures made into 8 by 10s and bought two new batteries
for the ATVs at Walmart. Pauline and Brent took their family home about
4:30 PM.
Posted on Friday, April 25, 2014
Tractor Work
Welll, here's the story, Joey Page's bull dozer is broke down and
setting in the back of the 'holler' across from the house. The weather
has been dry long enough that most of the water had dried up where I had
Joey remove a line of trees. Here is a picture of what it looked like
before I started working with my tractors.
I
decided that I would use my tractors and smooth out the dozer tracks and
pull out some of the tree roots that were remaining in the ground. I
also straightened out the ditch in the picture's foreground. After about
3 days of working off and on with two of my tractors, the overnight rain
has made the place look fairly good. Here is a picture of what it looks
like afterwards.
After
a few more rains to firm up the ground, I may have to do a little more
work with the back hoe attachment, but I'm happy with the outcome so far.
