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Posted on Saturday, May 02, 2009
Rainy Saturday
Brent used instant messages to contact us and see if we wanted to go with them to a Strawberry Festival south of Bowling Green. After a short discussion of the rainy weather, we decided to go. Stacey, Linda and I took Coco in the HHR and drove to Pauline, Brent and Julie's house. We arrived about 11 AM and played with the dogs and Julie for a while, then drove separate cars and went to Bowling Green for lunch at Applebee's. As soon as we finished dinner we both drove to Woodburn, just a few miles south of Bowling Green. We parked the cars and walked around the town looking at the things they had for sale in the booths lining the streets. The rain had stopped for a while and we didn't get wet at all, but it had put a damper on the festival. We returned to our cars and headed back to Bowling Green. Along the way, I decided to stop at a place where people were selling ice cream and other items. We ate ice cream cones as we looked around the large tent full of booths selling items. We finished our cones and went on to Bowling Green, where we shopped at Aldi's, Fishy Business, Hobby Lobby and Sam's Club before returning to PB&J's house. We stayed and played with Julie until 8 PM and we left for home with the rain once again coming down.
Posted on Wednesday, May 06, 2009
Getting Closer
The work on the highway relocation is getting closer to our farm. Our
neighbors had agreed to a settlement and the state hired Johnny
Davidson, a local contractor, to tear down a little house on the
property. Johnny unloaded his track hoe and started the demolition while
Steve and I watched. Nancy and Steve had lived in the house several
years ago when they were first married. Linda took these pictures from
our front sidewalk.
Johnny
pushed the walls in and crushed the ceiling and roof joists, then busted
the longer pieces as he continued to tear the walls down. It took about
30 minutes to reduce the house to splintered boards. Johnny is planning
on having a dumpster brought in and loading the debris into the dumpster
with the track hoe. Once he has cleared away the debris from the
demolished walls, he said he would bust up the floor and put it in the
dumpster too. He is saving the cement blocks for a guy that needs to
fill a pit on his farm.
Posted on Thursday, May 07, 2009
Julie Visits Early
Linda had made arrangements with Pauline and Brent to pick up Julie and
bring her back to the farm, so Stacey and Linda drove the HHR over to
pick up Julie at her baby sitter's house and then picked up her clothes
at PB&J's house. They were back at the farm by 11:15 AM and ready to go
eat, so we went to Columbia and had one of Julie's favorites, which is
pizza. We all enjoyed the buffet and then I drove back home. Julie is
really good at picking berries, whether they're blackberries,
raspberries or strawberries, so Linda took her around the end of the
house and let Julie find the red strawberries in our patch.
Julie
loves to eat them as much as she likes finding them, so the ones she
found didn't last long. Later she played with Coco, throwing his toy and
wrestling it away from him. Linda fixed another Julie favorite,
cheeseburgers, for supper with steamed vegetables. Julie completely
cleaned her plate of the burger and vegetables and then ate applesauce
for dessert. Everything went well for her first day of visiting with us
and Julie went to bed around 8 PM.
Posted on Sunday, May 10, 2009
Another Cleanup Started
After a few messages Saturday morning, we left the farm and headed to
Edmonton to meet Pauline and Brent for breakfast. Julie was glad to see
her Mom and Dad as we parked the car and went inside to eat. After
breakfast, Stacey and I rode with Brent, and Pauline rode with Julie and
Linda. Both cars went east on Highway 80 and stopped at a fabric shop
that was having a sale. Pauline, Julie and Linda went inside to shop and
Stacey, Brent and I went to Columbia to check out a Chevy Traverse. We
stopped at Harvey Ellis Chevy and looked at two of the new Traverses
they had on their car lot. Brent has been thinking about buying a new
car and wanted to see what those vehicles looked like. After checking
out the cars, Brent drove to Burkesville to sign a paper at the bank and
then back to the farm. Linda and the girls came home about a half hour
later with their goodies they had bought at the fabric shop. In the
afternoon, we moved the Sea Ray from the old shed to the equipment shed.
It required moving the TR3 out and pulling the hay baler forward to make
room for the boat. Brent also aired up the tires on the red trailer and
we moved some of the odd ball stuff that was still in the old barn.
Nancy and Steve saw us and stopped by for a while to see what we were
doing, but really to watch Julie playing in the water. After they went
home, we went and set on the back porch for a while, then went inside
and had supper. Brent gave Julie a bath and we all went to bed around 10
PM.
Sunday morning, I fixed breakfast to give the girls a break since
it was Mother's Day. We went to the equipment shed and worked on making
some small bench seats out of left over pieces of pressure treated wood.
The girls also uncovered the boat and cleaned it up on the inside while
Brent and I screwed the benches together. Brent drove the TR3 back to
their house with Pauline and Julie following in the HHR about 4 PM.
Posted on Monday, May 11, 2009
Two Week Countdown
I drove into Burkesville and down to the temporary office for the KY
Transportation Department's highway relocation. I asked for Jim Hawkins
and began talking to him. He is in charge of the relocation of Highway
90 and 61. He told me that we had about two weeks until they would begin
working on our farm. He said we could have anything that was on the area
the state was taking for the relocation, including the house trailer or
barn. After talking with Jim, I left and drove out of town towards
Glasgow, then turned off of 90 at Waterview and drove to Lester
Gingerich's place. I talked to Lester about building us a new pole barn.
He had gave me an estimate in December and we discussed going ahead with
the construction. He said he would come over just before noon to take a
look at the location. I returned home and watched Johnny Davidson load
the debris from the demolition of a small house into a dumpster with his
track hoe.
About
2 hours later Lester arrived and I took him down to the field in the
Mule and showed him where I wanted the barn built. Lester said it would
be at least two weeks until they could start working. I told him that
would give me time to get the hay cut and picked up if the weather would
cooperate. Linda went to work after Lester left and Stacey and I watched
wrestling, then took Daisy for a run before Linda came home. Our
neighbors came over and we set on the back porch and we all ate hot
fudge cake and then strawberries out of our patch as we talked.
Posted on Friday, May 15, 2009
Cleanup Nearly Done
Linda and I have been working on cleaning up the shed and barn that will soon be torn down. We have gave away most of the metal that was just laying in the buildings. Steve Riddle has hauled it to Steve Anderson's house. Steve A collects metal and then sells it to the recycling centers for cash. We've burnt the old pieces of wood and separated the glass into trash bags and set those out for the trash man to pickup. Lucky for us, the weather has been cooler and it has rained quite a bit, so it's been easier to work in the buildings. I've had to fight a few wasps, but the cooler weather has kept most of them in their nests. I had to take one large rear tractor tire and four regular tires to Jeff's Auto Center and pay to leave them for recycling. Linda and I swept the last of the debris into a scoop shovel and dumped it into trash bags to be set out for the trash man later next week. I still need to move a few more cement blocks and 4 pieces of telephone poles, but we are close to calling it a job done!
Posted on Sunday, May 17, 2009
Piddling
Saturday morning we left home and it was misting rain as we headed to
Smith's Grove to visit Julie and Brent. Pauline had went to Nashville
with her sister. Julie was playing in the living room when we arrived.
She gave us all hugs and kisses as we played with her and Pico and Poco.
After about an hour, we piled in Brent's HHR and he drove us into
Bowling Green for lunch. We ate and then piddled around in a few stores
until the skies had cleared up. Brent drove back to his house and he and
I mowed their yard. I rode the rider with Julie riding in a wagon behind
the mower until she was bobbing her head and falling asleep. Linda
picked her out of the wagon and took her inside for a nap. Brent used
his weed eater to trim while I finished the mowing with the rider. Julie
woke up from her nap and we enjoyed playing with her until about 7 PM
when we left for home.
Sunday morning was sunny and cool. I went
outside after breakfast and began mowing around the house and barn with
the rider. After trimming with the rider I used the tractor and finish
mower to do the barn lot and both sides of the driveway. Later in the
afternoon, Steve came over on his tractor with his sickle bar mower and
began cutting the hay where the highway is going to be relocated. After
he cut one patch, I took a few laps to see how I could do. The hay is
really thick because of the amount of rain we have had this spring. We
cut hay until dark forced us to quit.
Posted on Thursday, May 21, 2009
Pole Barn Construction Begins
Lester Geingerich and Emanuel Hostetler began construction on a pole
barn for us. The first day they unloaded a skid steer vehicle and two
people laid out the barn with string and batten boards.
This
morning, four people arrived to work and they began using the skid steer
with an auger attachment to drill the holes for the poles. Linda left in
the HHR with Stacey to go pick up Julie. Fairly quickly the holes were
done and there had been a truck load of wood delivered. They began
setting the poles and using the gravel I had ordered to fill the holes
around the poles. At the end of the day most of the poles were set and
the holes were filled.
You
can see the progress being made on the web cam picture in the right hand
column of this page during the daytime.
While they had been working,
so had I. I had taken the bush hog early in the morning and run it over
the hay I had raked out of the area where the pole barn was being
constructed. I had to spread the hay out so it would dry. Then I took
the bush hog off and hooked up the square hay baler. I had taken the
finish mower off the small tractor and hooked the hay rake to the back
of it. I raked the area behind the trailer and Steve showed up to help.
I raked the area in front of the house before starting the hay baling. I
baled the hay behind the trailer and let the bales drop on the ground.
Steve used his Mule to pull the black trailer and pick up the twenty
bales. We moved the wagons out of the barn and backed the trailer full
of hay inside and unloaded it. We took a short break, then started
baling the area in front of the house. This time we used the hay wagon
behind the baler and let it push the bales up to Steve riding on the
wagon, he then stacked them as I drove along baling the hay. Everything
worked as it should and we were done baling after about 45 minutes.
Linda returned with Julie and Stacey. Break time again! Steve went home
for a while and I went inside to see what Julie was doing. Later, I used
the small tractor to pull the hay wagon to the back of the barn and into
the hay loft when Steve returned.. Steve and I unloaded the wagon and
stacked the hay in the barn. Almost done, the total was 65 bales.
Steve
and I hopped on two of the ATVs and rode them down to the creek to see
what Nancy, Julie, Stacey and Linda were doing. They were having trouble
getting Daisy back into the Mule, so I rounded her up and Stacey and
Linda put her in the barn while Steve and I parked the tractors in the
hay shed and by the little house. Steve and I joined the girls setting
on the back porch for a much need rest and cold drink. Nancy and Steve
left a little later for home and to get ready to go to their niece's
program. Phil Garmon had came down earlier and teddered the hay in the
field across the road for me, so I put my hay fork on the small tractor
and went to his fields and moved his rolls of hay in position for him to
load on his hay wagon to move to his storage area.
Posted on Friday, May 22, 2009
Hay Baling
Julie and I started the day with a ride around the fields and letting Daisy run along. Julie kept a keen eye on Daisy and would occasionally tell me where the dog was running. We had went around the field and was headed to the house when Steve stopped us and we talked for a few minutes about working on the hay later in the day. After a few minutes we went our separate ways and put Daisy back in the barn, fed her, parked the Mule and went inside. I had the equipment hooked up from the day before, so it wasn't too hard to get started by raking the hay into wind rows about 11 AM. Julie, Stacey, Linda and I went to Hamilton's BBQ for lunch and see how Norm had been getting along. The food was good and Norm was working and feeling better after a tough battle with the flu. We returned to the farm and Nancy and Steve showed up to help with baling the hay. Steve, Nancy and Linda rode on the hay wagon and stacked the hay as the baler pushed it up the chute to them. We took it slow, had one problem when the new roll of twine didn't feed through to the knotters, but after a quick check of the manual to assure myself of the rethreading, we resumed baling without another hitch. We finished with 98 bales and they had it stacked on one wagon. After a few minutes break to drink a cold drink, Steve and I put the equipment back in the respective sheds, rolled the wagon of hay in the barn's upper loft and quit for the night. Linda took Stacey and Julie and went to the grocery store before our company showed up. Pauline and Brent arrived about 7 PM with Clayton, Sabra and Jim coming a little after 8 PM. We set inside and talked the rest of the evening.
Posted on Saturday, May 23, 2009
Tearing Down The Old Barn With Visitors
Linda and Stacey fixed breakfast for everyone and then the fun began.
Pauline took the kids to the creek with Stacey while Sabra, Jim and
Brent went riding the ATVs. I made a quick run into town to pick up a
prescription and stopped and bought a tray of strawberries. I returned
to the farm and mixed up a cake batter for a yellow cake while Linda
cleaned the berries. Linda had a ham in the oven cooking while the cake
baked. A little later, Jim's Mom and Dad arrived from their trip to
Myrtle Beach. They had Amber with them and they were glad to see
Clayton. We had known Barb and Mike Lindsey from the days before Jim and
Brent swam on Highland High School's Swim Team. It was nice to see them
again, and we talked for a while, then had ham sandwiches and strawberry
shortcake for lunch. Jim and Brent began tearing down the old barn after
taking Mike for a ride around the farm. Barb and Amber rode around in
the Mule with Linda driving.
The
sides on the barn came down fairly fast as Brent tossed them on a
trailer while Jim used the crowbar to pull the boards loose. Barb and
Mike pulled their truck down near the old barn and said goodbye to
everyone and then they left for their home in IN.
After
saying goodbye to Barb and Mike, Jim and Brent finished removing the
wood from the other side of the barn. Linda wanted the boards with the
stars cut out, so I drove the tractor down to the barn, lifted Jim and
Brent up in the scoop so that they could use a chainsaw to cut the
support boards away from the two boards that made up the three stars. It
took about 20 minutes to get those two boards down without breaking them
or the guys falling.
Everyone
went their separate ways after the barn job was done. I pulled the
trailer of barn siding up the hill and backed it in the barn hallway,
Jim and Sabra rode the ATVs, Pauline took care of the kids playing on
the back porch, Linda made homemade ice cream, Stacey fed Daisy, Jim and
Brent shot the 22 caliber rifles and then we would all come back to the
house and see what everyone else had been doing.
Posted on Monday, May 25, 2009
Kids
The Memorial Day Weekend was all about the kids at our house. As soon as
breakfast was over, it was play time. Usually Clayton, Julie, Amber, or
Pauline rode in the Mule with Stacey or me driving and we took Daisy for
a run and then fed her. After that, sometimes it was down to the creek
to play in the water or out on the back porch or around the house in a
wagon ride.
Pauline
and Linda kept the kids busy almost the entire time. After swimming in
the creek and walking back and forth to the barn to ride on the ATVs or
Mule, they were tired when the sun went down. An early supper, a bath
and then those kids were just about ready for bed. They would play a
little while after dark, but Linda or I would read them a story and it
would be lights out.
Sabra
and Jim began their preparations for going home and after eating lunch
they finished packing and left about 2:00 PM. Pauline, Brent and Julie
left for their house about 3:30 PM. I think everyone had a nice weekend.
After our friends and family had left, I rode down to the spot where the
new pole barn is being constructed to see the progress that had been
made. They have put up one truss and most of the banding around the
outside.
Posted on Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Rock Fill
The Gingerich crew building the pole barn had asked me to get the rock
fill delivered today, so I left the house about 7:30 AM and drove to
town trying to find the guy in charge of the highway relocation project.
I couldn't find him, but found the second in command and he started the
trucks delivering the rock to fill beneath the concrete floor of the new
barn. They had people on the road flagging traffic and keeping the
trucks rolling. I had to use the Ford Tractor to pull dump trucks up a
slight incline three different times because the grass and ground were
wet. The Hostetler crew had left some of the trusses off of the end of
the barn framing so that the trucks could back further into the barn to
dump their loads.
The
Gingerich crew was using a skid steer to move the large rock in first
and make a base layer out of it. Then they were putting a layer of dense
run over the large rock. After that layer went on, they added a thin
layer of number eight rock as the top layer. The other skid steer was
being used by the Hostetler crew to lift the trusses up as the fill rock
was getting closer to being done.
The
Hostetler crew put the last truss up just before the dump trucks
delivered the last load of large rock. The highway department had dumped
15 truck loads of large rock for me to use for fill. I had ordered four
loads of crushed stone from Gaddie-Shamrock to top off the fill.
Steve
had been watching the construction of the pole barn along with me, but
as the day went on and the weather dried up, he decided to go and cut
hay across the creek. I went down there later to see how he had done
with the new piece on his sickle bar mower. He was just finishing and he
said the new piece had helped and the field did look cut cleaner than
the last time.
Now,
hopefully, a few days of dry weather and we can bale the hay, maybe this
weekend or maybe Monday.
Posted on Saturday, May 30, 2009
Cumberland River Cruisers In Burkesville
Linda and I joined the Cumberland River Cruisers a few weeks ago and
today was the first meeting and cruise in to Burkesville. We had a
little trouble with getting the 56 Chevy on the road to the cruise in,
but after the initial delay, things went well. We drove to town and I
noticed there were a few cars parked around the Courthouse Square. As I
pulled around the square, there were more than I thought and I had to
wait a couple minutes for others to park their cars. I pulled in where
they told me and shut off the 56 Chevy. We hopped out and set up our
lawn chairs. Shortly, one of the Cumberland River Cruisers came and told
us to walk over to the Justice Center and register. We also picked up
our club shirts and looked at a few cars and spoke to some of the
members we knew. I returned to our car and picked up the camera and
began to take some pictures of the cars parked around the square.
The
club members lined up at the side of the Justice Center for a group
picture after a few words from the club president.
