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Posted on Saturday, May 03, 2008
New Steering Wheel and Tonneau Cover
The rain was coming down this morning, so after breakfast, I went to the
garage and began taking the old steering wheel off of the 1956 Chevy. I
had ordered a new
steering wheel from Billet
Specialties and it arrived Thursday. I included a leather half wrap,
horn button, and adapter in my order. Getting the old wheel off ended up
being easier than I had anticipated. After removing the horn button I
just removed the nut and washer, then sort of slapped the back of the
steering wheel with the heel of my hand and it popped off. Now the fun
part, putting the new one on the right way, getting it centered so it
looked straight when the car was going down the road and then assembly
of the horn button. After sliding the adapter on three times I figured
out I was going to have to use a Dremel like tool to alter one of the
pieces for the canceling of the turn signals. It took about 5 minutes to
grind the piece to where the horn contact would work, then I assembled
the adapter with 3 allen bolts in the wheel for alignment purposes. I
tightened the nut and washer and the rest was simply screwing in allen
screws to attach the wheel and the leather half wrap to the wheel. The
entire process took over an hour, but the results were great IMO.
I
had also ordered a tonneau cover for the Triumph TR-3. I had taken it
out of the box and noticed it needed the attachment clips put on before
we could use it. After eating lunch in town, Linda and I began working
on the cover and I do mean working. We had to test fit the cover, then
determine where to punch holes in the cover. We started along the
windshield area and punched out about 12 holes, then took the cover off
and began attaching the clips that hold it on the car. This was a major
pain. We had to center the clips, then hammer them lightly against the
cover, then use a small hobby knife to make the holes for the clips,
then place the clip on the cover, then place the retaining clip on the
other side of the cover, then hold both pieces together while hammering
down the small flaps of metal that holds the pieces together. Then we
attached the cover back to the car, stretched it to fit as best we
could, mark more holes and continued like that until we had the entire
cover attached. Our fingers and hands were sore from all the pulling and
tucking to get the best fit we could. Linda test drove the car with the
cover on and half unzipped. It held on and she made it back. Our work
was a success.
Posted on Monday, May 05, 2008
Mowing and Flower Work
Linda fixed breakfast and after eating, I headed out to start mowing
with the tractor and finish mower. After about an hour, I noticed Linda
had started trim mowing with the little John Deere riding mower. I mowed
until about 11:30 AM and went inside to check on Stacey and fix lunch. I
tried out a new recipe for a BBQ pizza with ham and pepperoni. I liked
it and it seemed like it went over well with Stacey and Linda too. Linda
did mention that next time I should put some cheese on it too. I went
back outside and continued mowing but Linda and Stacey were working on
flowers. They had the little red wagon full of geraniums and were
planting those in several of our pots that we set around the house and
in the half barrels down by the old barn.
Linda
caught me in the picture she took of Stacey pulling the wagon. They
finished with the flowers and Linda went to work at the day care. Stacey
and I took Daisy for a run around the hay fields. Then I finished mowing
for the day while Stacey watched from the Mule. Steve stopped with his
Mule and dog to let her get a drink from the creek and we set and talked
down there for a while.
Posted on Wednesday, May 07, 2008
Norris Farm Aerial Photos
Steve Riddle told me he was having aerial photos made of his place and
wanted to know if I wanted some of our farm. I said I did and he agreed
to tell the photographer. Steve brought me a CD with about 10 images on
it and I was to call the photographer. I called and told him which image
I wanted printed and he promised to print one for me and give it to
Steve's wife, Nancy for her to give to us. A smaller version is below
and if you click it there is a screen size version.
I've
reduced the size of the other images and put them into a gif file to
give readers an idea of the flyover and how he took the pictures while
flying.
Posted on Friday, May 09, 2008
Kidney Stone and Kathy Mattea Concert
Wednesday started off a little crazy. Linda thought Stacey was going to
have some problems but they never developed. She told me and I went in
to the living room to keep an eye on Stacey while she watched TV. The
next thing I knew I was having pains in my lower back and wallering
around in the bed room trying to find some way to get relief from the
pain. There was none for about 2 hours. Finally, I dozed off to sleep
and when I woke up the pain was gone. Linda asked me to attend a meeting
to check on getting a 'quilt block' made for the old barn. I went to the
meeting and listened, then returned home and when I did the pain
returned. Linda talked me into going to see Dr Rice in town, but when we
arrived at his office it was closed for the day. We returned to the
house and I had bouts with the pain the rest of the evening. Thursday
morning, Linda and Stacey left for Smith's Grove to baby sit for Julie.
I tossed and turned in the bed and on the couch most of the day as I
went in and out of sleeping. The pain wasn't as bad as it had been but
it was still there to worry me. Friday morning I ate a sandwich and
drank part of a coke and the pain increased, so I decided if it became
worse, I would go to the doctor. It did and I went to Dr Rice's office
and again it was closed. I drove to the hospital and saw his truck so I
went in and asked to see him. I was told, he wasn't on call, he was
doing rounds and I would have to see the doctor in the emergency room. I
said OK and they checked me in as soon as I showed them my insurance
card. I had to answer all the routine questions and give a urine sample,
then the lady doctor came and talked to me. I told her I thought I might
have a kidney stone, but I wasn't a doctor and wasn't trying to do her
job. I mentioned that I had kidney stones before and she said from the
description, I might have one again. She said they would do a CAT scan
and see what turned up. After putting on robes to cover my butt, I
walked down to the room and laid down for the CAT scan. It took about 10
minutes and it was over. The girls sent me back to the ER and I asked if
I could get dressed. They said no. This was the first time I thought
that I might not get to go home. Don't know why that had not occurred to
me before then. Finally, the little woman doctor came in and said it was
a kidney stone and she was waiting on the urine test to see if I had any
infection before letting me leave. After about 15 minutes she came back
and said I could get dressed and prepare to go home. She told me it
looked like the stone was moving towards coming out on it's own, to
drink lots of liquids and if I had trouble to see Dr Rice. I thanked
them and left the hospital and went home after filling a prescription
she gave me. Linda and Stacey had just arrived before I made it home.
They were ready to go to Glasgow to see Kathy Mattea in concert at the
Plaza Theatre. Linda drove us over and we arrived in time to get our
usual parking spot by the courthouse, then head in to the theater.
Of
all the singers and bands we have seen at the Plaza, Kathy has the best
voice of them all. The first half of her show, she sang her hits and old
songs that had made her famous. Then she and the band took a 15 minute
break and came back and sang the songs from her latest CD entitled
"Coal". They were sad songs about the struggle of the men working in the
coal mines of eastern KY and West Virginia. They left the stage and
Kathy came back and did an encore song without any accompaniment then
the band came back and they played 3 songs for the encore and the
concert was over. Kathy had sang for right at 2 hours not including
their break. It was acoustically the best sounding concert I've
attended. The only bad thing I can say is the choice of material is
depressing.
Posted on Thursday, May 15, 2008
Hay Baler On Order
Wednesday we drove to Glasgow and I went inside the Ford Tractor
Dealership. I talked to a couple of salesmen and they gave me a price
for a new square hay baler. They tried to locate one while I was inside
using their computer network. They found several, but were unable to
obtain one of them. I said I would take Linda and Stacey to eat lunch
and stop back in afterwards. We ate at an A&W fish and root beer
restaurant, then stopped again at Ben & Elmer's Tractors. They still
hadn't located a baler that they could get the dealer to transfer to
them, so we came on home. Later the salesman called and said they had a
baler and they would be getting it for me. They said the earliest they
would be able to bring it to the farm would be on Monday May 19th. I
said OK.
Thursday, Stacey and Linda left for Smith's Grove around 6
AM. Shortly, they were back, with Linda leading Stacey inside. Linda
said Stacey was having problems and she had given her 15 mg Valium about
6:15 AM, then turned the HHR around and headed back to the house. About
7:30 AM we gave another 10 mg Valium and Stacey didn't have any other
problems the rest of the day with involuntary movements. Of course, she
was drowsy and slept off and on most of the day. Steve Riddle stopped in
and talked with Linda and I for a while. Around 4:30 PM, a lady came to
the door and talked to us about the state taking part of our property
for the relocation of the highway. She was nice and told us our property
would be appraised in the next couple of months and then she would be
back to talk to us about a payment around August or September. The state
will take our barn, boat shed and the small shed where we store the TR3
along with a stretch of land on the opposite side of the existing
highway from our house.
Posted on Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Hay Baler
Linda has been using the weed trimmer a lot this week to rid the farm of
weeds that we can't mow with the mowers. She even did between the trees
that we planted back in the 'holler'.
We've
been concentrating on getting the mowing done, because the mums were
delivered earlier today and that will take up quite a bit of time to
plant and water all 1,000 of those this coming weekend. We may have more
help than usual if Sabra and Jim come down from IN as is supposed to
happen. I had unhooked the bush hog from the Ford tractor and also took
the finish mower off the FarmTrac tractor in preparation for baling hay
later in the day. Leonard was raking the hay into wind rows and our New
Holland 565 Hay Baler was delivered a little after lunch. The delivery
guy told me a few things about the baler and then after about a half
hour he headed back to Glasgow. With a little help I hooked the baler to
the back of the tractor and pulled it over to the hay shed.
I
asked Linda to drive to town to pick up two more rolls of baler twine
and she went after those. I drove the FarmTrac pulling the hay wagon to
the other hay field with Stacey following me in the Mule to bring me
back to the house. I parked the tractor and wagon out of the way, then
rode back and we waited on Linda to return. Once she was back, we headed
to the hay field with me driving the Ford tractor pulling the hay baler
and Stacey driving the Mule with Linda. I pulled the hay baler into
position over a wind row of hay and engaged the PTO on the tractor. The
baler started spinning and I moved the tractor forward until hay started
coming out the bale chute. We had a problem, the bales were packed too
tight and it was busting the strings. Linda and I were worried we had
got in over our head as we looked through the manual and saw all the
things listed that could be wrong. I remembered what the delivery guy
had told me and started loosening the spring tension with the two hand
cranks at the rear of the baler. We started getting a few bales that
were tied. I stopped several more times and kept loosening the spring
tension. Steve Riddle drove up with Steve Anderson riding along. They
were ready to help with the hay baling. We hooked up the hay wagon to
the back of the baler and started down another wind row of hay.
Steve
R was catching the bales as they came out of the baler's chute and
passing them to Steve A and he was stacking them on the wagon. We
continued to have bales with broken strings and I kept loosening the
tension until the baler was making bales better. Steve was kicking the
broken bales off the wagon and Stacey and Linda would spread them out so
I could pull the baler back over and feed them in again. After a couple
of hours, we had the hay wagon filled and a few more bales on a trailer
behind the pickup truck so we headed back to the farm with our loads of
hay. I pulled the hay wagon with the FarmTrac and parked it in the loft
of the upper barn. I backed the truck and trailer in the hallway of the
barn and then we talked and rested a little while. Steve Anderson
collects junk metal, so I gave him some heavy pieces and paid him for
his work. Steve Riddle said I didn't owe him because I had helped him a
lot, so I thanked them both, then Linda and I went back to the hay field
and I drove the Ford tractor back to the farm and we put the hay baler
in the hay shed.
Posted on Saturday, May 24, 2008
Mum Planting Day
Friday evening Pauline, Brent and Julie arrived about 7:30 PM and Sabra,
Jim, Amber and Clayton arrived about 9:30 PM from IN. We talked a while
and played with all the kids and went to bed around 11 PM.
Saturday
morning, Linda fixed everyone breakfast and we began the day by heading
to the patch to plant the mums at 7 AM. We had lots of help, so we took
lots of stuff. Jim, Brent, and I were laying out the rows with Jim
drilling the holes for the plants with a cordless power driver. I was
filling a 100 gallon tank with creek water using the tractor scoop and
then watering each hole with a hose from the tank. Pauline and Amber
were dropping the plants in the holes and Regina, Sabra and Linda were
filling the holes with dirt around the plants. Stacey was watching the
two younger kids and pulling them around in the wooden wagon. It was
going well with the sky being slightly cloudy and cool. The kids were
having fun playing in the dirt and the planting was going fast.
We
took a break for a cold drink and then the sun came out and the
temperature started going up, but we were nearly done. We went back to
work and finished the entire patch of 1,000 mums and I checked the
clock. It was 10 AM. That was by far the quickest we had ever finished.
Everyone helped load up the stuff and we went back to the house. We ate
lunch and the next thing I knew we were headed to the creek to let the
kids play in the creek. The kids saw the water and started playing with
boats tied to cane poles, but the next thing we knew they were in the
creek and practically swimming in it.
After
a couple of hours in the creek everyone took the kids to the house,
dried them off, gave them baths and dry clothes. A little later they
made a trip to the barn to see a new litter of kittens. They took a
container and fed the kittens milk to get them to come out where the
kids could catch them and hold them.
After
a busy day, the kids and the adults seemed to go to bed early.
Posted on Monday, May 26, 2008
Bonfire
Sunday was a little more laid back with everyone just doing what they
wanted. I cleaned up a few places with the tractor and bush hog while
Sabra, Jim, Pauline and Brent rode the ATVs. Linda enjoyed Julie,
Clayton and Amber and took them to the creek again. Jim and Brent used
the chainsaw to cut up the boards Linda and I had taken down out of the
barn a week or so ago. We invited Regina, Nancy and Steve Riddle and had
a bonfire in the evening. We roasted hot dog and marshmallows and set
around the fire until after midnight.
Monday, Linda fixed french
toast for everyone, they ate then messed around a little and Sabra and
Jim left for IN with Amber and Clayton around 9:30 AM. Shortly after
they left it began to sprinkle rain. The sprinkle turned into a nice
gentle rain that seated in the new mum plants. Brent and I watched the
NASCAR race the DVR had recorded while the girls took naps. Pauline,
Brent and Julie left for Smith's Grove before 2 PM. It rained the rest
of the day.
Posted on Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Rain Continued
The rain began early on Memorial Day, continued through the night and
most of the day Tuesday. Wednesday morning it was still raining off and
on. I checked the rain gage and it was over 4" in the tube.
I
rode the ATV around the farm and noticed the creek had been out of it's
banks and through the hay field for the fourth time this Spring. It was
a mess and it will cause Phil to lose some of the hay in the upper field
and along the creek.
Posted on Thursday, May 29, 2008
Hay Is A Mess
Well the creek has went down and we were able to take Daisy for a run
around the hay fields and see what had washed into the fields.
I
guess Phil will mow what he can, then I'll shove the debris back into
the creek and bush hog the remaining hay to clean the fields up for the
next time. The left picture in the lower row is a Cicada.
There are so many of the adult cicadas around it sounds like a space
ship is landing outside or a bearing going out on a riding lawnmower.
Right now we can hear them anywhere we go around the farm.
