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Posted on Thursday, June 11, 2015
June IN Trip
We all left for IN Thursday morning in the truck. We had a dual purpose
of attending a graduation party for Annaliese Bankson and towing the 56
Chevy back to KY. The trip was nice without much traffic and I decided
that I would avoid going through Indy on the way home due to so much
construction on the south side. We arrived in Daleville about 2:30 PM,
unpacked and a few minutes later Imon stopped in on his way home from
work. After talking a bit with him, I rode to his house in his 55 Chevy.
He backed our 56 Chevy out of the barn and I headed back to Daleville.
Imon had replaced the rear end with a 9" Ford posi-traction with a 3.50
- 1 gear ratio. The car ran in a nice comfortable RPM range as I went
I-69 back to the Daleville exit. I parked the car in front of the house,
shut it off and tried to restart it. No luck, so I went inside worried.
A little later we heard the rumbling of Harleys, so Linda and I walked
over to Elbert's to see who was going on their dinner ride. We ended up
staying outside on the bench and talking with Irene & Gary Sneed and
several others the rest of the evening.
Friday morning, I went
outside to see if the 56 would start, nope. OK, so I removed the battery
and headed to NAPA for a replacement. Luckily for me, I was eligible for
some money off on a warranty. I took the battery back and put it in the
battery holder in the car, but when I tried to hook up the positive
cable it was broke at the starter. Another trip to Anderson, then back
to install the new cable. Tim Bolton came over and helped. After
replacing the battery and the cable, the 56 sparked to life and starts
with a single quick turn of the key nearly every time. Tim and I went
for a ride through the country in the 56. Later that evening, Stacey,
Linda and I drove the 56 to Gene's Root Beer stand for coney dogs and
root beer.
Saturday, while Stacey & Linda visited Nana. I went for a
couple more rides in the 56. I stopped and visited with Vickie & Myke
Rees on one trip. Stacey & Linda returned to Daleville and went shopping
while I took another ride. I returned to the house and was unable to
unlock the door. My key had worked many times before, but something went
wrong with the lock. The key would unlock the dead bolt, but not the
door knob lock. Linda was on her way back and in 15 minutes she was
there trying her key. It would not unlock the door either. We looked for
a window to try to open and nothing would budge. Tim Bolton saw us
having problems and came over with tools to try to open the bedroom
window. We scraped the putty out of the window frame and removed the
metal points that hold the glass in place, then began gently prying the
glass away from the window frame. SNAP!! the glass broke in two pieces
all the way from the top to the bottom. After that it was easy to pull
those two pieces out and let Tim step inside to unlock the door. Linda
went to Lowe's for a new piece of glass while Tim and I continued
cleaning out the window frame and sweeping up the debris inside and out.
We had glazing putty, so we put the new glass in the frame and puttied
it in place, then screwed the storm window back on the house. Linda
followed me to Imon's house so he could load the 56 on his trailer. We
stayed until they were ready to eat, then we went back to Daleville.
Sunday,
we made our appearance at Annaliese's graduation party in Albany, IN.
Annaliese is going to Purdue University starting in the fall. It was a
nice party and we were able to talk to several of Linda's family along
with some others. I'm glad we went. After the party, we took the truck
to Imon's house, hooked up his trailer with the 56 on it to our truck
and towed it to Daleville. I parked in the alley, hoping the nearby
cement block building would keep the coming storm from doing any damage
to the car and truck. The weather never got that bad.
Monday morning,
we closed up the house, packed the truck and left for KY in a light
rain. I was a little nervous since I didn't have the electric brakes on
the trailer hooked up, but it went well... until we were in Columbus,
IN. A couple, that were riding a Harley in the light rain, pulled up
beside the truck and were making motions. I rolled down Linda's window
and they said, "Do you know your tailgate is down?" Heck no, we didn't
know it was down. I pulled over and checked, everything was just as I
had packed it, including a plasic bag with empty pop cans inside. As far
as I could tell, nothing had blown out, or even moved. We closed the
tailgate, then filled up with gas and took the interstate the rest of
the way without a problem, then went our usual roads through
Campbellsville and to the farm.
We
managed to unload the car, unhook the trailer, unload the truck and put
everything inside before the stormy weather arrived.
Cody Garmon has
wired the shelter house, installed our lights and turned on the power
today. Cody did a great job with everything done as I had planned.
Posted on Thursday, June 18, 2015
Friend Gone Suddenly
“Chuck” Strange, age 61, of Burkesville, Kentucky, passed away on
Wednesday, June 17, 2015 at the Cumberland County Hospital in
Burkesville, Kentucky. Survivors include his wife, Carolyn Lee of
Burkesville, Kentucky, his daughter, Sarah (and Corey) Garner of
Shepherdsville, Kentucky, his brother, Mark Strange, his sister, Deana
Dunn, both of Anderson, Indiana.
I had known Chuck longer than
anyone else I had known in Daleville. Our families lived in the same
house, them downstairs and us upstairs, when I was about 5 years old. We
had our birthday parties together when we were kids. Later, Chuck and I
were on the same high school sports' teams, including the Daleville
basketball team when we won the Delaware County Tourney in 1969. We rode
Harleys together for a while, did a lot of other stuff together too. LoL
I lost touch with Chuck when he moved to KY, but we became reacquainted
when I moved to Burkesville. He went through a lot of health problems,
including a liver transplant and recently a near fatal motorcycle wreck.
I saw Chuck in the bank about two weeks before his death and then he
seemed happy and was telling me about getting a new Harley. It sure was
a shock to find out how he ended his life. I guess, the pain from the
motorcycle wreck was unbearable?
Posted on Saturday, June 20, 2015
Julie Is Eight
Pauline & Brent came over with their kids Friday evening.
Saturday
morning we started celebrating Julie's 8th birthday with her opening her
birthday presents.
Julie
had asked to have her party at Dale Hollow Lake on their boat, but the
weather wasn't cooperating. So, we decided to go to the Wellness Center
in Albany and swim in the indoor pool. Julie was happy that we had an
alternative solution.
We
played in the pool for nearly 2 hours until the kids were ready to get
something to eat.
We
showered and dried off, then Brent called in our order to Major's Pizza.
The pizza was just about ready when we walked in, but they brought out
the bread sticks right away. After eating we returned to the farm and
took a break. About an hour later, Pauline and Brent lit the candles on
Julie's birthday cupcakes. Julie made a wish and then blew out the
candles. We had ice cream with the cupcakes too.
On
Sunday Kyle, Brent and I cooked chicken breasts and sliced potatoes with
green pepper and onions on the grill. Linda fixed some other side dishes
in the house. We all ate and then Brent and family left for home and to
celebrate Father's Day with Pauline's Dad. Beth and Dorothy were going
to be there too.
Posted on Monday, June 29, 2015
Golf Cart
Stacey, Linda and I drove to Smith's Grove, KY on Monday June 22nd. We
stopped at the Saylor's Golf Cart business and talked to Tom, the owner.
We looked at several carts and didn't see exactly what we wanted. Tom
told us it would be no problem to build one like we wanted, so I asked
could he have it done by Wednesday, two days later? He was fairly sure
they could get it done, so we gave him a deposit and headed back to the
farm. We had planned on making a trip to IN to return Imon's car hauling
trailer and that was the reason for the time constraint. Saylor's called
Wednesday around 11 AM and left us a message that the cart was done and
ready to be picked up. We had previously hooked up the trailer, so we
all headed to Smith's Grove to get the golf cart.
It
was exactly as we had asked them to build. After paying the remaining
balance, one of the workers drove it onto the trailer and threw a strap
across the floorboard, then went inside. I went ahead at put three more
tie-down straps on it while Linda used bungee straps to tie-down the
seats. We drove back to the farm, stopping a time or two to check the
straps and see if we had blown anything off of the golf cart. Nothing
was gone and we made it without a problem.
Thursday morning, we
packed the truck and headed to IN. A few miles and I was used to pulling
the trailer and nothing was blowing loose, so we were making decent
time. Louisville tested my towing skills as the new bridge construction
and resulting interstate relocations were barely wider than the fenders
on Imon's trailer, but no scrapes or scratches. We had about 35 miles of
smooth sailing until the construction on I-65 in IN caused me to take
IN-9 the rest of the way to Anderson.
I
called Nationwide, our insurance company for the Daleville house, and
made arrangements to drive to their office to let them take a picture of
the golf cart for their records and fill out forms for an insurance
policy. Then we went on to Daleville. Linda and Stacey unloaded the
truck while I unloaded the golf cart from the car trailer. Linda and I
quickly cleaned out a small spot in the yard barn so we could see if the
cart would go inside the barn. Linda and I were both happy that the cart
went in the barn (we hadn't known until right then). I messaged Imon,
who then dropped by to see the golf cart. Linda and Imon took a short
ride in the cart, then we went inside the house and talked a while. When
he was ready to leave, we hooked his trailer to his truck and he took it
home with him. Linda and I went for a short ride so I could see how the
cart drove and to cool off.
Friday after breakfast, we went back out
to the barn and moved some more things around so the golf cart would go
in further. We went to Menard's to buy some deck boards for the tires to
roll on to keep from tearing apart the floor. We bought items to make
the golf cart legal and to enhance the lock on the doors of the barn
too. We took the golf cart to the police station in Daleville and paid
the $10, filled out the forms and put the sticker on the cart that made
it street legal. Friday evening, we went to a Pizza King in Muncie to
meet a few of my high school classmates and to eat. Before we arrived,
several flash flood warnings came over my cell phone and the rain was a
total downpour. We had fun, for a couple of hours, reminiscing and also
hearing what was currently happening in other people's lives as we ate
our pizza, then hugs and good byes before dashing out to the truck in a
still pouring rain. Traffic was crawling on McGalliard with water across
the road in several places as we drove to I-69 to return to Daleville.
Saturday
we installed the hasp and lock on the door, laid down the boards, then
took a ride around town in the golf cart. The ride didn't last long
because the weather was foul, misting rain and cold. Stacey and Linda
were nearly ready to go see Nana when Jim Cooper stopped to say hello. I
stayed at the house and Linda and Stacey went on. Jim and I decided to
go to Elbert's and have a beer or two and to catch up on things. I
eventually went back to the house and let Coco out, Jim said he would be
over Sunday to show me one of his projects. Linda and Stacey returned
about 9 PM.
Sunday, we rode around town for a while in the golf cart
and as we were returning to the house, I spotted Jim in a 'race' rat
rod. He followed us to the house and parked. I introduced Stacey and
Linda to Jim's wife, Kathy, then Jim and I checked out his car. It has a
lot of race car parts that Jim has built into a streetable rat rod. His
workmanship was excellent. Jim offered to take me for a ride or let me
drive, so I doubled up my legs and got inside in the passenger's seat.
It is a better ride when you let the guy that built it show you what it
will do. We rumbled out of town and once on the country roads, Jim stuck
his foot in it. WOW! A 427 rat motor making 450+hp in a car weighing
around 2,600 lbs. Needless to say, it felt like a rocket. Never once did
it seem out of control though, handled great and rode better than I
thought it was going to do.
After
several times of Jim jarring down and running it up through 3rd gear, we
returned to the house and began talking. Jim's brothers, Rick and Kenny,
pulled up on their Harleys and talked with us too. They all used to live
next door to the Daleville house when all our moms and dads were alive.
Our moms would set on each of their front porches and control the
street. Imon and Linda K came riding up on the Boss Hoss and stopped.
Imon got off and was checking out Jim's car and Jim and his brothers
were checking out Imon's bike. It reminded me of the old days, when we
would set on the porch and people would stop and talk. The longer we
would set out there, the more people would come by. It was fun then and
is fun now! Too soon, everyone had to go though. Linda and I took
another ride to finish our tour of the entire town before putting the
golf cart in the barn and locking the door.
Monday morning, we took
our time, ate breakfast, slowly packed the truck and headed back to KY
about 10:30 AM. We still stopped at Kingfish and ate under the roof on
the outside patio, it was pouring rain. We made it to the farm about
4PM. While we were in IN, it had rained everyday except Sunday, but I
was told the same type of weather happened in KY.