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Posted on Saturday, May 01, 2010
Rainy Shopping Trip
While talking to Brent on the phone, we decided we would go to their
house and then into Bowling Green for a shopping trip. When we left the
farm and went to town to fill up the HHR with gas it was raining fairly
hard. We drove to PB&J+K's house in a hard rain too. We played with
Julie until Kyle woke up, then we went to Bowling Green in their
Traverse. Our first stop was at Harbour Freight, where I bought a couple
items for the pole barn. I purchased an air ratchet, a bench grinder and
a few other small items such as peg board hooks. Brent was looking at
water heaters, so he stopped at Home Depot and then Lowe's to check out
what they offered. Brent is interested in a heat pump water heater that
takes heat from the surrounding air in the house and uses it to heat the
water in the tank. Linda and I were checking on things at both places.
When we finished at Lowe's we went to Applebee's and ate lunch. After
lunch we went to Sam's Club and bought groceries. Every time we went
inside a place, it was raining and we had to hurry back and forth to the
car. That was the end of the shopping and Brent drove us back to their
house where we backed the cars together and left the tail gates up to
keep the rain off of us as we transferred our items from their car to
ours. We went inside and talked while Pauline fed Kyle. Brent put Julie
in bed as she had fell asleep in the car. Around 4:15 we headed back to
the farm and it rained on us all the way home. As we were coming from
Columbia to the farm, streams of water were flowing muddy and fast. I
pulled the HHR into the garage and we unloaded our things, then I took
the camera and drove the Mule around to take a few pictures. The first
thing I noticed was the pond was full and nearly running over. The two
drain pipes were letting water out as fast as gravity would allow.
I
headed down the driveway in the Mule and took some pictures of the creek
as it flowed through the yard and hay fields.
I
watched TV and used the radar site on the computer to determine we
weren't in danger of the tornadoes.
Posted on Sunday, May 02, 2010
Extreme Weather
The weather radio woke me up at 4:00 this morning.. Our area was in a
tornado watch. It also woke Linda. I mentioned I was going outside to
get the pickup truck so if we had to go to the cellar we could drive it
down there. Linda went to drive the Mule and take it to the pole barn.
We came back to the house and Linda cooked breakfast since we had some
time before the storms would arrive. Stacey dressed and we all ate. As I
watched the radar on the laptop, the storms were getting closer, so we
drove the truck and parked it in the pole barn. I worked hanging the
hooks on the peg board we had put up behind the cabinets. Linda and
Stacey were in the club house listening to the radio and Linda told me
the announcer said there was a tornado going through Tompkinsville,
about 25 miles away. I looked at the radar and decided we had better go
over to the smoke house before the weather turned real bad. We walked to
the smoke house and went inside. The weather was getting rougher, so we
moved to the cement steps, then lower down the steps as the wind picked
up speed. We huddled together in the smoke house stairway as the wind
probably reached speeds of more than 70 mph. It was scary and lasted for
about 10 minutes. I popped my head outside and could see the storm was
mostly over, so we all came out. Immediately, we saw the wind had blown
an old pear tree and another tree down right by the smoke house and pole
barn. We waited a few more minutes and then went to the house. The power
had been off, the radio station in town was off the air and our
neighbors called to say the wind had done some damage in town. We
checked the weather reports on TV and saw there was a calm spot coming
our way, so we put on dry clothes and rode to town in the truck. The
damage wasn't that bad, it had blown the roofs off of the motel and two
boat storage building, some power lines were down too.
We
returned to the house and continued to watch the TV news about how bad
it had been in Nashville,TN. I decided we would go back to the pole barn
in case a storm heading our way became worse. Again, we pulled the truck
inside the pole barn and closed the sliding door. Linda and I installed
the new top we bought for the Mule while it stormed outside. The weather
never became bad enough for us to return to the smoke house, but the
rain just kept falling. It would slow down and then just pour for a half
hour, then slow down and pour down again. The creek was big, then would
go down a little, then the next rain would make it bigger than the time
before. It was bigger than I had ever saw it!
If
you look closely at the pictures you can see that the water goes from
the pecan tree all the way to where the hill starts going up, probably
100 yards wide directly behind the pole barn. The water covers half of
the other hay field and is flowing through there fairly fast. You can
also see in the pictures, it was still pouring down the rain. Later,
during one of the times it was just sprinkling, we drove the Mule to the
house and put the truck in the shed. We also took a ride in the Mule up
and down the new road to see what else had flooded. There were plenty of
places that were covered with water. We have watched the news reports
from Nashville and the flooding there is really bad. There are thousands
of homes that are flooded and some that were washed completely away.
Posted on Wednesday, May 05, 2010
Cleanup & Road Opens
I've been doing a little work with the tractor each day since the
flooding on Sunday. I've dug out a ditch by the hay field, removed a
large pipe that had washed out, drug a couple trees out of the yards,
scraped rocks, sand and gravel out of the yards, filled in holes, and
replanted a bush that the water ripped out. While I was doing all that
the highway crew only worked one day. They finished the two layers of
pavement and striped the lanes for temporary use. They moved the plastic
barrels and opened the 2 mile section of new pavement for traffic.
Linda
and I were mowing as the first cars were traveling the new stretch of
pavement in front of our house. There is a lot of work still to be done,
remove the old road, grade the old roadbed to match the existing
terrain, add a finish layer of new pavement, add top soil to the edges
of the highway, and fix the driveways.
Posted on Sunday, May 09, 2010
This 'N That
Friday evening, Pauline, Brent, Julie and Kyle came over around 7 PM.
Julie wasn't feeling very good, but we went around to the end of the
house and she ate strawberries out of our small patch. We watched TV and
talked until bed time.
Saturday
morning, I fixed omelets for breakfast, we took the Mule for a ride and
let Daisy run. Pauline and Brent were giving Julie medicine to keep her
fever down, but we decided to go to Livingston after lunch. Several of
the car club members were driving their cars to Livingston and planning
on being involved in the cruise-in during the afternoon.
We
stayed at the cruise-in until the wind started getting too cool for
Kyle, then we loaded in the Traverse and Brent drove us back to
Byrdstown. We stopped and ate at the Bobcat's Den, then headed back to
the farm. Julie was feeling worse and we stopped on the way home and
bought some medicine to reduce her fever. When we were home, Brent gave
Julie a bath, then it was Kyle's turn. We watched some of the NASCAR
race from Darlington, but went to bed before it was over.
Sunday
morning, we finished watching the race while Pauline made breakfast.
Brent and I took the Mule across the creek and picked up some of
Garmons' barbed wire fence that the creek had tore down. We went back
and I started the tractor while Brent retrieved a USA Flag to hang from
the barn hallway. I used the tractor to lift Julie and Brent in the
scoop up to unscrew the board holding the old flag and then attach the
new flag.
Everyone
came down to the barn to watch Brent and Julie in the scoop of the
tractor.
The
wind had blown the aluminum glider in the pond and while he had those
rubber boots on he pulled it out of the water. Pauline, Brent and their
kids left for home a little before noon.
Posted on Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Linda & Stacey Gone
Stacey and Linda were up early packing their clothes and the HHR for a road trip to IN. Coco was running behind them as they walked back and forth carrying their things to the car and coming back in the house. After eating breakfast, we said good bye and they walked to the garage. I let Coco go out in the garage and I picked him up so he could see them leave while I waved. Once they had drove out of the driveway, I set him down and went inside and closed the garage door. Coco wasn't as nervous as he usually is when Linda leaves. During the day, I watched the highway crews as they made lots of dump truck trips past the house on the old road. They are removing the old road south of the house and hauling it up the road towards Garmons' farm. They are filling in a low area that was a pond with the old pavement and road bed. It looks like they will get to our place on Thursday. I used the tractor and finish mower to mow the grass across the road before noon and the grass in front of the house and around the barn in the afternoon. I have quit using FaceBook and have deleted my account on their service due to privacy issues with new rules and personal information sharing gimmicks that they have instituted.
Posted on Friday, May 14, 2010
Road Removal
The road relocation crews began work around 6:30 AM in front of the
neighbors' houses, but before lunch they were removing the old roadway
in front of our house too. They had a bull dozer, two track hoes, and
two large dump trucks working.
Coco
watched from the yard and I sat on the front steps as they continued
across the front of our yard. He wanted to go down there and tell them
not to mess up the yard, but I kept him in check.
The
crews used some of the roadway to build up the ramp for our driveway. A
track hoe spread the fill and then packed it down by hammering it with
the hoe. They had a dump truck of gravel waiting to spread across the
top to finish it off. Then they rolled it to compact and firm up the
gravel so we wouldn't spin when we drove in or out. This driveway is
temporary until they have time to return and smooth out the dirt and
make it even with the rest of our yards.
This
was the fastest I've seen the crews work. They fixed five driveways and
removed several hundred feet of old road in one day's work.
Posted on Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Fun Checkup
With Tuesday being election day in KY, school was out and Linda was
scheduled to work most of the day, so I took Stacey to her doctor's
appointment in Bowling Green. We left home a little before 9 AM and
drove KY 61 to Glasgow in a very light mist of rain.
When
we arrived at the Graves-Gilbert Clinic, the parking lot was nearly
full. We waited for a parking space to empty and then parked and went
inside. After registering at the front desk on the third floor, we sat
in the hallway while others were called into the office. After about a
half hour, it was our turn. We were escorted to the examination room and
a young girl took Stacey's blood pressure and her pulse rate. She wrote
down the medications we had taken to the office and then talked with us
for a few minutes. A couple of minutes later, Dr Zhu came into the room.
He spoke with Stacey and asked how she had been doing. Stacey told him
she had been fine and he was glad to hear that. After a few more
questions, he typed a few things on his laptop and then began
questioning Stacey about the Pacers. He made some predictions and then
Stacey asked Dr Zhu about Le Bron James. Dr Zhu thought that James will
be leaving Cleveland. Dr Zhu scheduled Stacey for a blood test to check
her medicine levels and her liver functions. We left the office, went
down the elevator to the first floor and to the lab. We signed in and
waited about 20 minutes till they called Stacey to have her blood drawn.
After that we went to Mancino's for lunch, then to Sam's Club to pick up
a few supplies while we were in Bowling Green. We took the Cumberland
Parkway home and Linda was already there when we arrived around 2:30 PM.
Stacey told Linda about what Dr Zhu had said about the Pacers and I told
her about what he had said about Stacey. Later in the evening, when
Jason called, Stacey used the info from Dr Zhu to tease Jason about his
favorite team, the Cavaliers.
Posted on Friday, May 21, 2010
Jason Takes Stacey to A Concert
Jason had asked Stacey to go to a concert in Glasgow with him and his
family, so after Linda helped Stacey by fixing her hair, I took Stacey
to Stephanie and Tommy's house. Jason met Stacey as she exited the car,
then Stephanie came out. Jason's brother, Bryant was there and we all
talked a few minutes while standing by the car before I left for home.
Bryant
and his girlfriend were going to the concert too, but in a separate
vehicle. They all met in Glasgow and ate at Tumbleweeds, then went to
the concert in the Plaza Theatre.
Jason
said they had good seats and that the concert was pretty good too. John
Connley was the artist and I believe he sang for nearly two hours.
Jason
called us when the concert was over and said they were on their way back
to the farm. He walked Stacey to the door and told me things went well.
He said that everyone seemed to like the show. Stacey said she had fun
and liked eating out and going to the concert.
Thanks go to Stephanie
for the pictures!
Posted on Saturday, May 22, 2010
Store Tear Down
I can remember when I was a kid and staying here in KY with my
grandparents that we used to walk a couple hundred feet up the road to
Shug's store. I would either get a slice of bologna and a 4 square
cracker with a RC Cola or a Choc-O-La and a Moon Pie. We would only go
once or twice a week for the special treats, but I still remember those
days.
Friday, Regina asked me to help tear down that store that sits
by the side of the new roadway. She told me I would be the crew boss of
two high school kids, one was her future grandson-in-law (Is that a real
title?) and the other is his buddy.
This morning the work started a
little after 8 AM. I took the Mule with the trailer hooked behind, three
hammers, two crowbars, the reciprocating saw, two extension cords and
the tractor and met up with Jamie and Tyler.
I
first used the tractor scoop to tear off some of the metal roof and
rafters, then to push the walls into the center of the building. I
busted up the walls as much as I could without getting a flat tractor
tire, then parked it and we started pulling the loose roofing off and
laying it on the trailer. We had a load of roofing metal and hauled it
to Garmon's and placed it where they could take it away when they hauled
metal to the salvage yard. Next we started cutting the boards apart that
weren't busted apart and loading them on the trailer, hauling them over
to our fire pit and burning them. The fire was burning pretty big after
we would pile on a load of wood. After 4 or 5 loads, we had to start
putting only a part of the load on the fire to reduce the size of the
flames, then let it burn down, then finish throwing on the rest of the
load. Since it was taking longer to burn, we removed the rest of the
roofing and hauled it to Garmon's.
Regina
sent Casey to Hamilton's BBQ to pick up lunch for all of us, we stopped
and ate on the patio at the pole barn while the fire was doing it's
work. I took Jamie and Tyler for a quick ATV ride back in the 'holler',
then we went back to working. Jamie and Tyler would hurry and cut up the
wood, load it and throw some on the fire, then go 4 wheeler riding while
it was burning, then come back and throw on the rest of the load. It
worked out pretty good, they enjoyed riding the ATVs and worked quickly
in order to ride more. We didn't get finished, but we were able to get
rid of a lot before quitting about 5 PM.
Posted on Sunday, May 23, 2010
Job Done (for now)
After breakfast, I took the FarmTrac with the bush hog and went down the
road and across the creek. I made two laps around the hay fields to open
up the trail we ride when we let Daisy run. I also cut the weeds down
all the way to the back end of the 'holler' behind Regina's old house.
We ride back there sometimes and I usually clean it up twice a year at
least. When I drove back towards our house, Jamie and Tyler were at the
pole barn with Regina and Linda. They were going to use the two
4-wheelers and the black trailer to remove the rest of the wood from the
area where the store building had been and haul it to our fire pit to
burn. Linda was opening the barn door and then they drove out and over
to Regina's. I talked to them a few minutes and gave them a plan of
action, then let them work on their own. Regina, Stacey and Linda kept
an eye on the fire while they sat in the shade and talked.
We
ate lunch in the pole barn's 'club house' and drank a cold drink while
taking a break from the near 90 degree temperatures. After the last bit
of wood was burnt, they took the remaining metal scraps to Garmon's and
piled it with the rest of the metal. They declared they were done about
2:30 PM, so I showed them where to park the trailer and then told them
to take a ride for a while.
There
is still some debris left, but the hope is that we can get the road crew
to bury the concrete from the front porch and the dry wall because it
won't burn.
Posted on Thursday, May 27, 2010
Mowing & Julie Visits
Linda and I spent part of Tuesday and part of Wednesday mowing on one
side of the road and then the other side. We had a few setbacks on both
days. I broke a chain connector one day and Linda had trouble with the
rider the other day. After quick repairs on each problem we finished the
mowing and declared it done until after the Memorial Day weekend was
over. Pauline and Brent are coming over for the weekend, so Linda
scheduled picking up Julie early Thursday. Stacey and Linda left around
8:30 AM going after Julie. I was working on a computer router for the
pole barn and some stuff for the car club. I managed to get the router
working before they returned. I received hugs and kisses when Julie,
Stacey and Linda returned. Shortly before 6 PM I left for the Cumberland
River Cruisers' club meeting and when I returned, the girls were down at
the pole barn. I rode the 4-wheeler down to see what they were doing.
Julie
was playing on the patio, running in and out, shoveling rocks and just
having fun. Linda and Stacey were sitting and watching. I sat down with
them and watched Julie get water from the cooler, then we ate pop
sickles Linda took Julie for a short 4-wheeler ride.
After
a second pop sickle, I took Julie for a ride on the 4-wheeler. We rode
across the creek and when we were almost to the culvert at the backside
of the hay fields, a deer popped out of the gully between the fields and
ran into the woods. Julie saw it when I told her to look at the deer. We
returned to the pole barn and she told Linda about seeing the deer. We
went to the house, gave Julie a bath and in very short order, Linda had
rocked Julie to sleep.
Posted on Friday, May 28, 2010
Julie Time
We started the day by getting dressed and going to town at 8 AM for a
meeting/breakfast. Linda met with other women about picking recipients
for the Home Makers' Scholarships. She sat at a separate table from the
one where Julie, Stacey and I sat. Julie ate most of her 1/2 order of
biscuits and gravy as Stacey and I enjoyed our food. We finished a
little before the women concluded their meeting, but it wasn't a long
time until they were done. The road relocation crews had busted the
county water line about a half mile from our house and we were without
water for about a half day on Thursday. The water department had issued
a 'boil water advisory' for our area, so around noon, I took a 5 gallon
bottle to town and bought water. I also went to the bank and picked up
fish dinners while in town. When I returned, Linda was filling the
inflatable swimming pool and Julie was about ready to get in the water.
We ate while the pool was filling and Linda was adding hot water to make
the pool water warmer. After lunch, Julie headed to the pool. Stacey
watched and giggled as Julie splashed and squirted water at Coco and
everything else.
Linda
went to work at the day care a few minutes after 2 PM. About 3 o'clock,
I called an end to the swimming and dried Julie off, helped her put on
dry clothes and sent her to bed for a nap. Stacey went along and about
20 minutes later they were both asleep. Linda returned at 5 PM and I
went in the bedroom and woke them both up. Julie and I had saw a deer
the day before, so she was ready to ride around and see another one. I
told her we might not see one every time, but we could ride around and
try. The four of us loaded into the Mule and went riding, no deer this
time, but we saw the beaver that has been cutting trees. The beaver was
swimming with a small tree branch in it's mouth. We parked the Mule and
walked over to it's dam that was being built. Linda and I couldn't
believe how 'busy the beaver' had been in the last day's time. We stood
there and let Julie throw rocks in the water for a little while, then
continued our ride back to the pole barn and then the house. We had a
message from Brent that Kyle was going to need to see the pediatrician
on Saturday and that they would probably be coming over after that.
Posted on Saturday, May 29, 2010
Update
Saturday Update -> Kyle had a slight infection and the doctor prescribed an antibiotic. Pauline, Brent and Kyle arrived at our house about 11 AM.
Posted on Monday, May 31, 2010
Weekend Report
We had a nice weekend. Kyle had a slight infection called oral thrush and was a little cranky, but Pauline and Brent were administering the prescription they had picked up and it seemed as it was clearing up the small white lesions on his tongue and inner cheeks. Brent helped me remove and sharpen the three blades on the finish mower. We also used the Mule, trailer and the tractor to pick up some pieces of metal that had washed down the creek. He rode in the scoop and fastened a chain to the three pieces of a hay ring and I lifted them out, one at a time, and set the pieces on the trailer behind the Mule. Since the pieces were bent and deformed by the creek water, we took the three pieces to Garmon's metal pile and left them. We all took rides in the Mule with Brent holding Kyle sitting up on the seat back. It seemed as Kyle liked looking around the farm. We ate pizza one evening and cooked chicken on the grill one day. Brent found a little squirt gun in the creek when we were picking up the metal and Julie and him took turns squirting everyone with it. Julie was in and out of the small pool several times each day. Probably the worst thing that happened during the weekend was when they took the small dogs for a walk around the farm. When they returned, we found that all three dogs had ticks all over them. We spent several minutes removing the ticks, then everyone was self conscious about any little thing being on them or the dogs the rest of the weekend. Pico, being the shortest fuzzy dog, held the record for the most ticks removed. The ticks were really hard to see on Coco, they're almost the same color as his brown hair and it was the easiest to find them on Poco, since he is mostly white. Brent also helped me to make the right settings on the wireless repeater that I installed in the pole barn. I'm using it to help pass the bottom web cam image in the right column to the internet.
