Norris Family Blog

Hay Cut

Since the rainy weather ended about a week ago and the heat has moved in and raised the temperatures, everyone is cutting hay at the same time. Phillip Garmon cut the ones across from the house on Monday. Landon McIntyre cut the ones down the road and across the creek on Tuesday. Larry Anderson will probably roll that hay Friday afternoon. Phillip will probably roll the hay across from the house on Thursday.

There were a few spots that were too wet to mow. The ground still has lots of water and the wet springs are causing spots that have remained muddy.

This is the area I had bulldozed last fall to remove a lot of scrub trees. It will probably stay wet for a while, but hopefully I will be able to bush hog it later in the summer when the weather has been dry for a longer period of time.

Posted by Dave at 5:30 AM
Categories: Current Events, Farm

Trucking To IN

Stacey, Linda and I took Coco and headed to IN Thursday morning in the pickup truck.

We drove to Daleville and checked out the work that Gery Scott had been doing on the bathroom at Mom's house. He had the vanity removed and also the wall covering was gone. Linda cleaned up some things and I hauled them to the dumpster around the corner of the block. We unloaded some ceramic tile and related items, then Kim Bourke stopped by and asked us to stay the night with them. Linda agreed, so Kim left with Stacey riding along. As we were leaving, someone stopped to talk to me. It was Dave Scott, a plumber, so we took him inside and asked about him working on the bathroom in a few weeks. We need the vanity, bathroom sink and toilet installed. Dave said he could do it whenever Gery had finished with the carpentry work. After finishing our conversation, we left and went to Lowe's to check on a new vanity. We didn't find anything we liked so we left and headed towards Kim and Kenny Bourke's house. We passed Linda K and Imon riding his Boss Hoss motorcycle. We honked, then pulled over and talked to them about 20 minutes, then drove on. Kim and Kenny had dinner almost ready, Kenny just needed to grill the steaks. Zach and I went outside and talked with Kenny while he cooked. Stacey, Linda and Kim were inside getting things ready. When the NY Strip steaks were ready, we went inside and sat down to eat. The meal was really good. Afterwards, we talked until after midnight before going to bed.
Friday morning, Kenny cooked breakfast for all of us before leaving for his job with Keg-n-Bottle. Kim needed to go to work too, so we packed up and headed to Menard's in Anderson. We spotted a Dodge Prowler like one of the car club members has been wanting to buy, so we stopped, took pictures and asked the salesman about it. I plan on sending him the link to their web site in case he wants to look at it.

At Menard's, we picked out a vanity, a vanity top with the sink molded in, a faucet, towel bar and toilet paper hanger, then paid and loaded the stuff in the pickup truck. We drove to Daleville and unloaded the items into the bedroom.

Gery Scott stopped by the house and I paid him for the materials that he had purchased for his work. A bathtub surround had been installed and cedar boards for the walls were already at the house. I took a picture of the outside to show the new roof that Fredericks Inc had put on the house. They replaced a lot of the roof decking and are supposed to install guttering in a few days. Trying to get work done in IN while living in KY isn't easy, but we're making progress.

Stacey, Linda and I went to Muncie and visited with my mother. Mom wasn't doing as good, health wise, this time. The nursing home had installed her TV and we sat in her room with it on while we talked. We had a nice visit this time that lasted about two and half hours. We left the nursing home and drove towards Pendleton, stopping at Bird's Smoke House for supper, then on to see Linda's Mom. We talked with her and stayed the night.
Saturday morning, we took Nana and went to Daleville to eat at the Lion's Club Pancake breakfast. While there, I talked with some of my old friends from Daleville High School. Rick Smith, Arnold Everett, Myke Rees, Jason Rees, Jim Dragoo, Joe Scott and some others were there either eating or working. We finished and took Linda's Mom back to her house in Pendleton, loaded up our clothes and headed to KY. We stopped for take out at KingFish Restaurant in Jeffersonville before crossing the Ohio River. We parked the truck and went in our house a little before 4 PM.

Posted by Dave at 6:00 PM
Categories: Current Events

Furniture

For a dozen days in a row the temperature has been above 90 degrees and the next seven days are forecast to be above 90 also. We've been working in the early morning or evening and just staying inside during the hottest part of the day. With nothing going on during the day, we decided to go to Central Furniture near Greensburg and look for a new couch and love seat. We walked around the entire store and picked out a couple of pieces we liked. We took one of the seat cushions and went through the store again to see if there was a chair that would go with the fabric on the two pieces we liked. Linda didn't find anything she liked, so we decided to just get the couch and love seat. We agreed on a price and made a down payment, then told the sales lady we would be back the next day with the truck and trailer to pick up the couch and love seat.
Thursday morning we hooked up the trailer to the truck and left them in the pole barn until it was time to head back to the furniture store. We drove through Greensburg and to Central Furniture. I pulled the trailer around the building and backed it up to the large garage door. We went inside and paid the balance, then waited a few minutes while their two guys loaded the couch and love seat into the trailer. We stopped for lunch on the way home, then parked the truck and trailer in the pole barn. We're going to wait until Brent comes over to help carry the old furniture out and the new stuff in.

Posted by Dave at 7:30 PM
Categories: Current Events, Farm

Boating & Pauline's Birthday

Julie, Kyle, Pauline and Brent came to the farm Friday afternoon. Brent had two new ski ropes and a "Stingray Tail" to mount on the boat to enhance the ride attitude by using the trim setting. We drilled the holes and bolted it to the lower unit, then returned to the house. We ordered pizza and just dinked around with the kids during the rest of the evening.
Saturday morning we were on a mission. Going to Dale Hollow Lake. Linda fixed breakfast and everyone ate fairly early. Pauline and Linda began working on sandwiches for lunch on the boat and Brent readied a cooler. I gathered up various items we needed to take and kept the kids busy putting on their shoes, shirts and swim suits. Linda and Pauline covered them in sun screen before we left the house. We drove the Mule to the pole barn, opened the doors and pulled the truck and boat outside. We transferred all our things into the back of the truck, loaded into the HHR and the pickup truck and headed towards town. We stopped for gas and ice at the filling station, then drove to Dale Hollow State Park. Once we were on the ramp, we uncovered the boat and transferred everything into the boat, including all the people. I backed the trailer into the lake and Brent started the boat. I unhooked the chain and winch strap and Brent backed the boat off the trailer, I parked the truck and trailer in the lower lot and walked back to the courtesy dock. They were waiting for me to step in the boat and then we idled out of the dock area. Brent took off and just went a short way, then stopped the boat in a small cove and we jumped in the water. Wow, it was at a perfect temperature. Julie and Kyle already had their life jackets on, so it didn't take long to have them ready to get in the water. They were both scared at first, but soon were having fun in the water. Pauline and Linda thought the water temperature was nice too. We played in the water for a long time, then boarded the boat and took a ride. Around noon, we stopped out in the middle of the lake and let the boat drift in the wind as we ate lunch on board. We power boated over to another large fingerlet and picked a secluded spot to swim. The kids really had a good time at this spot after being used to getting in and out a few more times. A while later, we decided they had enough sun and we should be going, we loaded into the boat and began to leave. The boat died and was a little hard to restart, but it eventually fired up and ran good all the way back to the dock. Brent took the wheel as I stepped out on the dock and I walked up the ramp to the truck. I backed the trailer into the water and Brent drove the boat on. I secured the boat to the trailer and pulled it to the top of the ramp and into the tie down area. We unloaded the stuff back into the truck and put the cover on the boat. Everyone picked up a cold drink and loaded into the HHR and pickup truck for the ride back to the farm. I backed the boat into the pole barn and we rode the Mule to the house. We had a little over an hour until time to drive the old cars to Columbia for a cruise-in. After letting the little dogs out, we chose the car we wanted to drive and got ready to go. Linda, Stacey, Julie and Kyle were in the 65 Mustang, I was driving the 56 Chevy and Pauline and Brent were in the 58 Triumph. We pulled down by the road and waited for the Cumberland River Cruisers to come by. We had agreed to take our cars and follow along with them to the cruise-in at Columbia. We ended up with 11 or 12 vehicles following one another North on SR 61 to the Cumberland Parkway and then to the TSC parking lot. We pulled in and parked, then registered and talked with other club members about the day. Our group picked the fast food place they wanted to eat, went and bought the food, then met at one location to set together while we ate. We were fried from the day on the lake and the temperature was over 90 degrees, so we didin't last long at the cruise-in. Brent won a door prize before we left though. We pulled our cars out of the lot and headed back to the farm, put them away and went inside to cool off. The AC felt great! We had one more job before the day was over. We had to remove our couch and love seat and replace them with the new pieces we had bought on Thursday. We hooked the red trailer to the truck and pulled it to the garage, then unloaded the furniture and carried the pieces in and out of the house while Linda and Pauline carried the cushions and held the door.

Sunday morning, it was Pauline's Birthday. We fixed omelets for her for her birthday. After breakfast, we sat and decided whether to go to the lake again or not. It was a close call, but too much sun was the main reason we decided not to go again. Julie, Brent and I had baked a cake for Pauline, so we sang "Happy Birthday" to her and she cut the cake. I dipped ice cream for everyone to eat with their piece of cake.

Pauline and Brent left for their house about 4 PM.

Posted by Dave at 8:30 PM
Categories: Boating, Cars, Current Events, Farm

Heat Wave Ends

The heat wave that began before Memorial Day finally ended. We had about 15 days that the temperature was over 90 degrees and there had been no rain. This morning the sky was cloudy and the air was cooler. About 10 AM it sprinkled a little rain and quit, then a half hour later it began raining and that time it lasted for a while. I'd guess we received about 3/4" before it quit. We took Daisy out of the barn and let her run around the hay fields in between showers.

Posted by Dave at 5:30 PM
Categories: Current Events, Farm

Friends Drop In

I had received a call from IN about Tuesday, it was Frank Dial telling me they were coming down to Dale Hollow. I checked with Brent and he wanted to go with us to meet them on the lake on Saturday. I woke to thunderstorms this morning and checked the radar. The radar was a mess, storms were on the way and it looked like they would last most of the morning at least. Brent and I decided the lake trip was canceled unless it cleared up in the afternoon. Around 8 AM, Lana called and said they were close to our house and were going to stop because they didn't want to get caught in a storm. About 20 minutes later they pulled into the driveway. We met them and I asked Frank if he wanted to put his boat in one of the barns, he wasn't worried about it, so we went inside. Frank wanted to see Brent's boat, so we drove the Mule down to the pole barn. I uncovered the 56 Chevy and showed it to them and then the boat. About that time, it began to rain, so we went back to the house. I fixed Lana and Frank some stuff for breakfast, then we sat and talked a while. When the rain lightened up, we took a ride in the Mule around the farm. It began raining again and we went back to the house. Around 1 PM, it had stopped raining and Lana and Frank said good bye and headed on over towards Byrdstown and Star Point.

Posted by Dave at 7:30 PM
Categories: Current Events

Julie's Birthday Party

We spent the morning watching TV and using the computers to browse the internet because it was raining outside. We showered and left the farm at 10:45 AM for a trip to Pauline and Brent's house to attend a family birthday party for Julie. Her birthday is the 20th and Pauline is taking stuff for a kids' party at their baby sitter's house Monday. We arrived at noon and Brent let their dogs out to meet us. Then Julie came running out for big hugs along with Kyle. We stepped inside and had just sat down when Beth, Dorothy and Larry arrived. Julie was excited to see everyone and was just jumping up and down in anticipation of the party. Pauline and Brent had food for everyone to make sandwiches, so we ate, then Julie opened her birthday presents. Brent had Julie try on her snorkel gear and I took pictures of her modeling it.

When Julie was done opening her gifts, Pauline brought out the Birthday Cake. We all moved to the dinning room where we sang "Happy Birthday". Julie then blew out the 4 candles and everyone had strawberry cake and ice cream. After the cake we sat around and watched Julie and Kyle play while everyone talked. Pauline's family left for Morgantown and about 5 PM we headed back to Burkesville.

Posted by Dave at 6:00 PM
Categories: Current Events

Acquaintances

Early Friday morning, we packed our things and took off in the HHR on the way to IN. We drove through McDonald's before getting on I-65 at Elizabethtown and then crossed the Ohio River about 8:30 AM. I stopped at the bank in Daleville first, then at Mom's house to put Coco in the dog cage. We drove though Arby's and took the sandwiches to Muncie and visited with Mom at Woodlands Nursing Home. Mom ate some of the sandwich we had for her, but wanted the lemon drop candy the most. Virginia talked with us and seemed fairly reasonable most of the time we stayed. She seemed better, health wise, than the last time we had visited about 3 weeks ago, but she was still using a wheel chair instead of a walker. After saying good bye, we stopped at her house and let the dog out for a few minutes, then went to Kim and Kenny Bourke's house just north of Anderson for a visit with some people that Kim and Linda used to work with at Emge Packing Company. Kim had asked Linda to come to visit with Jane Kaihakina before Jane moves to Arizona. There were several ex-employees enjoying conversations about the old days when we arrived. Linda joined in and I even knew some of the stories they were reliving. People that were still there when we arrived were; Karen Carter, Jean & Carl Tharp, Joyce & Clyde Dame, Niedra & Hoadley Flooke, Priscilla Johnson, Jane Kaihakina, and Jack Gwinn and his wife. After a hour or so, Kenny told me about a woman he worked with at Keg-N-Bottle, so he made a phone call and two of the people I had worked with at Guide Lamp drove over to visit. Suzy and Doug Hiday came by and we visited while the Emge crew were still chatting. Doug and I had spent many hours talking while at work and it was fun to find out what Suzy and he had been doing since that time. They were interested in what had happened to the people after Guide Lamp had closed. Doug said he had been reading this blog once in a while to keep up to date on me. Well, before long, someone noticed that the sun was about to go down and the party began breaking up with hand shakes, good bye hugs and a few tears. We had to go back to Daleville to get Coco and then we went to Pendleton to stay with Linda's Mom. We sat in the kitchen and talked for an hour or two with Nana before going to sleep.
Saturday morning I went to Hardee's to pick up breakfast for everyone. I talked to Joe Mack, he had worked at Guide Lamp too, while we each waited on the food. After telling Joe 'so long' and going back at Nana's house, we ate breakfast and shared the family news with each other. As we were loading our things in the car to leave, Jessica stopped to visit. She had Arianna and Trevon with her. It was the first time I had seen Arianna. We talked and played with the kids for about a half hour, then said good bye and drove to Daleville. The "John Dillinger Rod Run" car show was happening at the American Legion, so we stopped and walked through the cars. Linda bought each of us a shirt and I talked to several more friends that had worked at Guide Lamp while we were there. Jeff York, Kenny Gaddis, Fred Thomphson, John Baysinger and Don Boblitt were a few that I could remember the names of while I'm writing this blog post. Linda talked with another Emge employee named Paul Mudd that had a hot rod entered in the car show before we left and headed towards KY. We made a quick stop for take out at King Fish in Jeffersonville before crossing the river and heading on home.

Posted by Dave at 6:00 AM
Categories: Current Events

Sunday Boating

When we returned from IN, Pauline and Brent were at the farm with their kids and dogs. They stayed overnight and we made plans to go boating. Those plans were put on hold when thunder and lightening woke everyone Sunday morning about 6:15. We checked the weather radar and there was a large area of rain heading our way. I began breakfast by making pan cakes and sausage. After eating we sat around and talked about what to do. Pauline and Brent were leaving Julie and Kyle with us for a week because their baby sitter was gone to Texas on a vacation. The kids were playing and having fun and I was watching the radar. I decided that we were going to the lake and asked Brent to help me hook up the boat to the truck. He said that he had just decided not to go. I explained that I figured the weather was going to be OK and that we couldn't wait for a perfect day or we would only go once or twice a year. He agreed, so we went to the barn and readied the truck and boat. We went back to the house and told the girls to get ready to go. Linda made sandwiches while Pauline was getting ready, then Pauline finished the rest of the sandwiches while Linda was getting her suit on. I dressed Kyle while Brent fixed a cooler of drinks. We put the stuff in the Mule and drove it down to the pole barn, pulled the truck and boat out of the barn and transferred everything into the truck. Linda, Julie and I pulled out in the pickup with the boat and headed towards town to buy gas for the boat. I realized that I didn't have my billfold with me, so we waited on Brent to drive his Traverse to the filling station. He pulled in and handed me my billfold and mentioned I had drove to town with the tailgate down and the cooler setting on it. Hmm, good driver or just lucky? Both! After filling the boat, we were on our way to Dale Hollow Lake. I turned the truck and boat around on the dock and backed it down to the water's edge. Brent pulled his Traverse in front of the truck and we all made the boat ready for launch. Brent rode in the boat as I backed the trailer and boat into the water. He started the boat and I unhooked it, then he backed the boat off the trailer and I pulled the truck up the ramp and parked. I walked back to the courtesy dock and they pulled the boat to the edge of the dock and I stepped in. We were under way, idling through the 'no wake zone' and out to the lake. Brent punched the throttle down and away we went. With the rain delay, it was just a little past noon. We decided to eat at Wisdom Dock since the temperature was still a little chilly after the morning rain. Lunch there wasn't that good. Back out on the lake, we found our favorite spot and anchored, then took a swim for about 3 hours.




We moved to another spot on the lake while the kids took naps. We ate our sandwiches about 5:30 PM and.they played a little more, but about 6:15 PM we took a slow ride back to the State Park Dock and loaded the boat on the trailer. We wiped the boat down, put the cover on and headed back to the farm where we parked the boat and truck in the pole barn and went to the house. Pauline and Brent packed up their things and said 'good bye' to everyone and they headed back to their house. We took Kyle a short Mule ride and Julie watched a movie with Stacey until bed time.

Posted by Dave at 10:30 PM
Categories: Boating

Grandkids Staying @ Farm

Julie and Kyle are staying all week with us while their babysitter, Rita, is on vacation. The grandkids aren't hard to entertain, but small problems do pop up. The first one was Kyle was like a 'giant baby Godzilla' that was knocking over all the Playschool toys Julie had setup.

I moved Kyle to another corner of the rug with the barn toys and all was OK. Crisis averted.

Later in the day, Julie, Stacey and I went for a Mule ride and then to the pop sickle barn and ate pop sickles while Kyle was taking a nap. So far, so good, nothing too tough.

Posted by Dave at 8:00 PM
Categories: Current Events, Farm

Pool Time

We had a new swimming pool installed. Yeah, Linda blew it up and filled it with water for Julie and Kyle to swim while they're staying this week. She filled the pool around 9 AM and then let the water warm up until the afternoon. Julie and Kyle were ready to splash and play when Linda said it was OK.

There were two lifeguards on duty, Stacey in the pool and Linda in the chair. We let the kids swim for a few minutes and then had them put on their T-shirts to avoid sunburns. Julie and Kyle would get out of the pool, count 1, 2, 3 and then run and jump in the water. Kyle can't say words yet, but we could tell he was counting. He had to climb over the pool walls instead of jumping in like Julie.

The kids obviously weren't tired when I made them get out and take a short break, Kyle almost went to sleep in the break chair. When break time was over, they both went back to having fun in the water.