Pacer Playoff Shirt

Linda told me that Kim Bourke had went to a Pacer game and she had purchased a shirt for Stacey. Well, today, Stacey went to the mailbox and came back with a package addressed to her. I messed with her a few minutes about not opening it until Linda came home, but after reading the return address a couple of times, she opened it. The first item she pulled out of the envelope was one of the Pacer Playoff Towels and the second item was a Pacer Playoff Shirt.
  
Stacey was all smiles and she was happy to get the new shirt marking the Pacers' making the Playoffs. She immediately went into the bathroom and removed her old Pacer shirt and put on the new one.
 
It worked out great that today was a game day and the new shirt arrived in time for her to wear it during the game later tonight.

Thanks go to Kim & Kenny for thinking of Stacey and sending her those Pacer souvenirs.

Seems Like Summer

Literally overnight, it has went from being in the 60s during the day to temperatures in the upper 80s. The trees are completely leafed out and birds are hatching. It really seems like summer has arrived early. Below are some comparison pictures, taken from roughly the same spots, of the way the 'trail to nowhere' looked in March and the way it looks today.
  
  
This baby bird had left the nest and was setting in the hallway of the barn when I went to let Daisy out.
 

Grouting Trip

Stacey, Linda and I took Coco in the Malibu and drove to Daleville Thursday after Linda came home from work. We picked up a pizza on the way into Daleville.
Friday morning, we grouted the back splash tile with a gray colored grout. It was a mess. The grout had to be firm in order for it to stay in place between the subway tiles, so that made it hard to press into the gaps. The gray grout also looked black while it was wet and was also really hard to sponge out of the grooves between the tiles.

An area about 18 inches high and 18 feet long took us nearly three hours to finish. We had some large tenderloin sandwiches for lunch, then Stacey and Linda went shopping in Muncie while I remained at the house. Before they returned, I walked over to a couple of my friends places and talked with them. Later, we watched the Pacer game. Hey, they won!
Saturday morning, Stacey and Linda had hair appointments with Alicia Molnar in Anderson.
 
When they returned we began grouting the floor tile. The floor grout went much better. It was easier to spread and really not as many grout joints since the tiles were two feet long. After the grout had dried a few minutes, Linda began sponging it off. We used several buckets of water to clean the excess grout off the tiles. After changing the buckets of water about 6 times, we used a sponge mop to do the final rinse.
  
We took showers and went to Nana's house in Pendleton. Linda took her flowers for Mother's Day. Linda K and Imon were there visiting when we arrived. Jessica and Jeff came in with Arianne and Trevon before we left. We went to Gene's Hot Dog Stand for supper and enjoyed a few dogs and a root beer before returning to Daleville.
Sunday morning, after the grout had dried overnight, we used a towel to wipe the remaining dust off the tiles. Then we packed our duds and headed towards KY, stopping in Jeffersonville at King Fish. That place was packed. The cars in the parking lot were nearly wrecking trying to get parking spots. We had called our order in, so it was ready when I went inside the carry out. We ate down by the Ohio River in their outside patio.
 
The ride home wasn't too bad, but when we pulled in the driveway we noticed the grass had went crazy while we were gone. After unloading and taking a short break, Linda jumped on the riding mower and I used the tractor and finish mower to try to catch up on our mowing.

Picking Time

Several days of rain kept us in the house, but after going out and mowing, I checked the strawberry patch. I went back to the house and told Linda we had enough berries to make it worth going down to the patch. We took a container and picked about 10 minutes to nearly fill it up.
  
I took the stems out when we went back inside and then we ate some fresh strawberries.

Jam Time

Yesterday, Linda picked a couple gallons of strawberries and I cleaned them. We also ate a few. I pulled the Ball Jelly & Jam Maker out of the pantry along with the pecton, lids and the tools. I made two batches last evening and then quit. I was tired from replacing the blades on the Woods' finish mower and mowing.
This morning, I finished making the rest of the strawberries into jam.
  
After I washed the jam maker and all the other stuff that I had used, I had completely done that last batch of jam in about 30 minutes. The nearly two gallons of berries made a dozen 1/2 pints and 2 pints of jam. Stacey and I enjoyed some of the strawberry jam on toast. Umm-mmm it's delicious!

Boat Is Ready

Brent and I were preparing the boat for going to the lake on Sunday when Bonnie and Donnie Cox drove into the driveway. Brent shut the boat motor off and we began talking with them. Kyle ran down and told Linda and the girls that we had company, so they came up from the storage shed and talked too. Donnie said they were on their way to stay for three days at their cabin near Star Point. Before they left, we made plans to meet Bonnie and Donnie on the lake on Sunday.
  
We moved the last of the stuff out of the little house and put most of it in the storage shed, then went to the strawberry patch and picked berries.
  
 
When we finished, we had two heaping full gallon ice cream containers of fresh berries. Linda went back to the house and made an angel food cake. I cut the top 1/3rd off and made a one inch deep trough around the bottom section. I filled that with several layers of strawberries cut into smaller pieces and Dream Whip topping, then replaced the top section of the cake. Julie and Brent were eating the pieces I pulled out of the cake to make the trough as fast as I laid the pieces down. We waited at least two minutes, then cut the cake and enjoyed the heck out of it! Later that evening, Julie and I used the rest of the berries and made strawberry jam.

Day On The Lake

We had breakfast early and began preparing for the trip to Dale Hollow Lake. Pauline had made hoagies the night before and Linda put those in a cooler, Brent packed another cooler with drinks, Stacey put towels in a bag, Pauline was covering the kids with sun tan lotion, I was rounding up radios, cameras, billfold, sunglasses, hats and etc. All of a sudden, we were ready to go?!? We walked out of the house and headed to town in the Traverse and the pickup truck with the boat. I stopped and filled up the truck and boat with gas, while Brent was icing down the cooler of drinks. At the boat dock we loaded everyone into the boat except Pauline, who was driving the Traverse, and Brent, who was driving the truck. He pulled down to the ramp and backed the boat into the water. I started the boat and drove if off the trailer. Brent parked the truck and Pauline brought him back to the dock area. I picked them up at the courtesy dock and away we went. It was a little chilly and mostly cloudy as we left the dock area. I drove the boat past Lillydale and pulled up the throttle to stop the boat. We waited a few minutes and then Bonnie and Donnie arrived. Julie had bragged about being the first one in the water, so she went to the back and then hesitated... She jumped in and immediately swam back to the ladder to get back in the boat. She said it was COLD!! We talked for a while, then Susie and Gary Mader came boating into our sight. They pulled up and began talking, but no one was getting in the water. Meanwhile, the clouds had dissipated and it was getting warmer. We decided to take a little ride over to where Susie and Gary's son's family were hanging out.
  

Angie and Craig were in their runabout with their two sons. The boys had been in the water and eventually Bonnie and Donnie went in too. Kyle and Julie joined Stacey in the water fun, then Brent jumped in the lake. Nearly everyone came up making the same "WHOOOWW" sound from the chilly water temperature. We moved around on the lake a few times, then ended up in Pusley Creek where Pauline and I finally entered the swimming crew. By 5:30 PM, we were wore out, had ate most of our sandwiches and fruit, so we headed back towards the State Park Dock. Suddenly a pontoon cut us off!. I stopped the boat and it was Cindy and Bruce Beck. They had returned from living in Florida for 6 months to enjoy the summer at the "Holler". After visiting with them for about 20 minutes, we headed to the dock, took the boat out and drove back to the farm. I parked the boat in the pole barn, left the truck hooked to the boat & trailer and we all went to the house.
It had been a little touchy when we left in the morning, but the day had turned out great.

Memorial Day

After an omelet breakfast for everyone, we went outside to hang a new flag in the doorway of the barn. I brought the tractor up from the equipment shed and Julie, Kyle and Brent hopped in the scoop. Pauline, Stacey and Linda watched as I raised the scoop on the tractor so Brent could remove the old USA Flag and hang the new one. Kyle held onto the old flag while Julie held the corner of the new flag in place as Brent tightened the screws of the two small boards that hold it.
  
When Brent had finished, I lowered the scoop and they jumped out. Then Julie remarked that we should say the Pledge Of Allegiance like they do in school. So, we all placed our hands over our hearts and recited the pledge.
  
We cooked chicken breasts and fried potatoes on the grill, then moved to the fire pit area and ate watermelon before Brent drove his family home around 3:30 PM.

Some Hay Cut and Rolled

Larry Anderson and David McIntyre cut the hay on the Parrish Place on Memorial Day.
  
There is some grass starting to fill in the bare spot where I had the bull dozer remove a line of trees.
 
Yesterday evening, they were raking and rolling with all of their equipment and had a neighbor helping too. So I hooked up my rake and took it and the newest tractor down and began raking hay. There were three tractors raking and two pulling round balers trying to get done before it rained. When we finished with the raking, I came back to the house and put the rake in the pole barn and changed tractors so I could finish mowing. Well it never did rain and they were able to finish the hay rolling before I quit mowing due to darkness.
Today, Landon was driving the pickup truck pulling a hay wagon and David was driving the tractor with a hay wagon behind it. They have to haul the hay about 3 miles up on Jone's Ridge to Larry's farm.
  
It did rain today before they hauled all the hay, but it doesn't matter now that it is rolled.

More Jam

Linda went to the strawberry patch early this morning and picked. She came back to the house and washed the berries after taking the tops off. The she said they were for me to make strawberry jam. I started processing the berries and before I was done, Stacey and her went shopping. Oh well, I don't like to shop anyway and I did get 15 half pints of strawberry jam. There was also a pint jar about 3/4s full that I just put in the fridge.