3rd of July Boating

Brent came over Saturday morning and we just messed around. We ate at Hamilton's for lunch since Brent likes their stuff. We did water the mums about 6:30 that evening.
Sunday we had planned to go to Dale Hollow Lake and were to meet Bonnie & Donnie out there along with some other people. We packed up our stuff early and headed toward the lake, gassed up the boat and stopped at Grumpy's for breakfast. After breakfast we drove to the lake and things went pretty well, there was a small line of boaters waiting in line to launch. It took about 10 minutes on the dock and we were launched and boating away from the dock by 9:45. We were supposed to meet the others between 10 and 11 but we didn't have far to go. We made the trip easily and were just diving in the water when B&D boated along side. They had some friends of Julie, their daughter, with them. Susie and Gary Mader pulled up a few minutes later. They had Gary's mom and her husband with them. We were all in the water swimming and talking for a hour or two, but it started to cloud up and the wind was picking up, so B&D had to take Julie and her friends back to the cabin so they could head home. We decided to move southwest to get away from the cloudy weather that was moving in, so we went over to Pusley's Creek ate some ham sandwiches and tied up there. By the time B&D returned the weather had passed on and we boated over toward Holly Creek and found a cove south of there that was fairly quite. We laid around in the water some more. About 4:30 Susan and Gary headed back to Wisdom dock with B&D and us following, as they rounded the corner by Trooper Island we waved bye and turned to follow Bonnie & Donnie over to where Gary Brown had their houseboat docked. They were grouped with about 8-10 other houseboats in a cove. We pulled up near their boat and just talked for a while. Brent saw Jason Rockwell, one of his high school buddies from the swimming team.After about 30 minutes there we moved on, B&D wanted to head to Star Point so we followed them in and said so long. We rode back to the KY State Park and took the boat out about 5:30. The lake had been really busy, but it being so close to the 4th of July I had expected that.

Rain On The Mums

The 5th of July it rained on the mum patch. It packed the dirt down and we were planning on fertilizing them, so the 6th we used a hoe to bust up the dirt close to the plants. Linda fertilized each plant and then I ran our new tiller thru to cover the fertilizer and churn up the dirt. After I made two passes down each row with the tiller, Linda used the hoe to finish covering any fertilizer I didn't get covered. We worked till about 10:30 and went home for some quick PB&Js and back down to the patch. It was close to 2:30 when we quit. We had done about half the patch. Inside for a shower and hookup the red trailer to pull over to Brenda and Timmy's house. They are using it for Leslie's wedding decorations. We unhooked the trailer over there and talked with B&T for about an hour, Brenda showed us a lot of the decorations she has made. She did a really great job. After leaving B&T's house we went to Pauline and Brent's house. We headed from there in to Santa Fe's for dinner. Things went OK it seemed, they took our order and brought us drinks and bread. We talked and before long our waiter came over and said it was taking too long, and that all our dinners were free. We said thanks, but wondered what happened, none of us had bitched. So 5 of us ate and drank, and all we had to pay for was the beer Brent and I drank. We stayed at P&B's house for a little while and came on home.

The Rest of the Patch and Dale Hollow

So we got up early and headed to the mum patch again. We had the second half of the patch to do. I said I would go ahead and get started hoeing the dirt between the plants. So I went down and back enough to get 8 rows done and Linda and Stacey showed up and Linda did a couple rows. We both said that we noticed our backs were still sore from the day before. I finished hoeing the remaining rows, while Linda started the fertilizing. Once again going thru with the tiller and Linda covering up after me. We decided not to fertilize the biggest ones, but I tilled them too. We were done.
I hooked up the Sea Ray and off to the lake. Linda ran in at Subway and picked up some subs for the boat trip. We launched the boat, found a cove, anchored and I went swimming to 'wash off' the sweat from the mum work. Stacey and Linda munched down their sandwiches and then went floating on the big blue mats. I munched down mine with a couple Buds and it was time to relax. It was a smoother day on the lake with less boats than the last time. We moved around a couple more times and swam a lot too. We left the lake a little earlier than normal to beat the rush of taking the boats out at dusk. On the way back to the house, we took a side road and checked out the competition's mum patch. We were shocked to see that he had lost maybe a couple hundred plants. I think the difference is we have been able to water ours from the creek.
Back at the house, Linda fixed up some BLTs with garden tomatoes.

More Rain

Linda left for Smith's Grove to help Brenda with Leslie's wedding preparations. Stacey and I were left home, but we are going Saturday.
We were lucky to get a nice rain shower about 4 PM this afternoon. It was just what our mums needed.

Leslie's Wedding

Linda has been helping Brenda & Timmy Lawrence preparing for their daughter's wedding. So Stacey and I went to Pauline & Brent's to meet up with Linda. Everyone was ready and we left for the wedding. The church was nearly full, with over 100 people, and the decorations were nicely done.

Leslie and David Cloyd were married at a church in Oakland a little before 7 PM July 9th.

The reception was held in Bowling Green. Linda and Brenda had the decorations looking great.The bride and groom arrived and the party was started. There was a DJ for music while the festivities were going on. Leslie and David cut the cake, toasted, threw the garter, tossed the bouquet, danced for money and took best wishes from friends and family. We left about 11:30 PM while Leslie was still dancing.

Stacey, Linda and I stayed the night at P&B's.

Routine Visit

Stacey and I stayed in Burkesville while Linda took the Mustang and went to Bowling Green. We had over a 1.5" of rain the night before and it was still raining from hurricane Dennis.
Stacey went to see Dr Rice and we were lucky to be seen quickly.Stacey had no seizure since the last visit and the Dr was happy. We were in and out of the office in about 40 minutes. On to Pizza Hut to use the FREE BUFFET coupon my insurance agent sent us. Stacey likes the instant service, of get it when you walk in.
Linda's day at Best Buy didn't go as well as hoped. They were able to put the radio/CD/mp3 player in the dash, but had trouble getting the speakers to play. 3 hours later, they had enough and told her to bring it back next Friday. So when she got home she had the radio in playing on about 2 speakers out of 6. She told me the installer said 'that car had electrical issues'.

Two Days of Rain

Hurricane Dennis, downgraded to a tropical storm once it came ashore, has dropped over 3" of rain on us, at least those are my measurements. I was surprised by how well the mum patch soaked up the water or let it run off. No gullies or drowned plants, so far, that I can see.

The rain has sure greened up our yard too. I had a nice break from mowing for a while, but when I didn't have to mow, due to no rain, it meant that I had to water the mums. It's a lot better to have the rain and enjoy the green grass and hills all around us. But green grass means it must be mowed.
 

Done Raining? Time to Mow

It was still raining this morning, but quit about 9 AM. We couldn't mow yet, and weren't able to work in the mums so it had been a day to clean inside a little. We became secret spies about lunch time... We were going to Albany, so we took the 'scenic route' and checked out the competition's mums. They weren't as bad as they had looked the other day. 3 days of rain had helped them a lot. Well, on to Albany for lunch. Angus Burger at BK was my choice, with Linda and Stacey getting Whoppers. After coming home we started the mowing and trimming and worked on that until about 8PM. It looks like more rain for us tonight.

Campbellsville in a Convertible

I went to the mum patch this morning and was running the tiller through the entire patch when Linda came down and started to trim the plants with scissors. She had already done 8 rows of early yellow mums a day ago, so her fingers were already tired and sore from making so many cuts when she started. She trimmed one row while I finished tilling the patch. It was decided to make a trip to Campbellsville to purchase some battery powered 'grass trimmers'.
After a quick shower, we checked the radar and headed out in the Mustang with the top down. The ride was nice until we went thru Columbia, where the traffic was slower, but as we left Columbia, it was good crusin' to Campbellsville. We made the stop at Lowe's and found a Black&Decker trimmer we thought would do the job. After buying those and stopping at Arby's for a little lunch we motored on back home with the top down.
Whew, talk about hot, it's like riding in the boat, but you can't jump into the water to cool off, and you can't drink beer while you drive. I don't know about convertibles?

A Bad Day on the Lake...

A bad day on the lake...
is better than a good day at work...

That's the saying that I've heard, and Tuesday was not a real good day on the lake. It started out fine, but around 10:30 the clouds started rolling in and blocking the sun. We had met Bonnie & Donnie and we all decided to move farther SE of the Lillydale campground. That gave us another hour, but eventually the rain started there also. We waited for a slacking of the rain and made a quick run to Star Point and spent about a half hour under their covered boat slips. Once the hard rain was over we boated out in the middle of the lake and looked for some sun. We could see it in the north, so we headed to Fannie's Creek to try to get to some better weather. The sunny skies were further north and we were unable to reach that area. We stayed there with short times of light rain and partly cloudy the rest of the day. About 4:30 we decided to head to the dock while there was a time without any rain. We loaded the boat and tied down the tarp and headed for home. The closer we came to home, it looked like less rain had fell. By the time we pulled the boat in the shed, there had been no rain at the farm.

Clicking on the small map will load a PDF file. 

A Visit by Imon

Friday evening Pauline & Brent came over. We were expecting Imon and a friend early Saturday.
Saturday we hung around waiting and watching for their arrival, but no one showed up when we expected them, so we went outside for a while, when we came back inside we had a message saying they were going to be later. Then we received a cell phone call saying they were on highway 61 headed towards Bardstown, I told them to turn around, they were going the wrong way. About an hour later, another call saying they were on the right road, but were stopped by a parade in Summersville. Finally, Imon and Angie arrived about 3 PM. We spent the rest of the evening visiting and hearing what had been going on with them the last few weeks.

Sunday we decided to go to Dale Hollow, since it was too hot to do anything else. We loaded up the cooler, hooked up the boat and headed towards the lake. Everything went smooth and we were on the water in no time and boating away from the dock. We soon stopped and everyone got wet to cool down. It was only around 11 AM but already hot enough even the girls were in the water without any remarks of being cold. After swimming a while, we climbed aboard the boat and headed south to Ashburn Creek to look for a few of ours friends. We didn't find anyone, so we moved on to another spot and everyone dove back into the lake to cool down. After that swim, we turned the boat towards Sunset Marina and made the run down the lake to their docks. Once there, we tied up the boat and went inside for a cool lunch. The air conditioning was a nice break from the 97 degrees outside. We ordered our food and went to the marina's store to 'look' while the food was prepared, then back into the restuarant for lunch and desserts. When everyone was finished, we loaded in the boat and headed back towards KY State Park. After about a half hour ride, I pulled into one of our favorite spots for one last dip in the lake to cool down.
We took the boat off the lake about 5 PM and headed back to the farm.
When we came inside, we had a message, telling us where some of our friends were located on the lake. I guess we had missed them by not going far enough into Ashburn Creek.

Mower Problems

Imon helped me load the John Deere mower into the back of the pickup and then Angie and Imon left about 2 PM Monday and headed for Jasper IN to see Angie's dad. Linda, Stacey and I took off for Glasgow to get the mower fixed at the dealership. I believed the problem was the neutral safety switch wouldn't let the mower start and seeing how the JD dealer had worked on the transfer case not too long ago, I thought I would see what they would do about fixing it. Once there, I backed the truck up to the workshop door and the guys worked on my mower right in the back of the truck, They had the seat, rear body, drive belt pulley, and several other things off in about 5 minutes. They confirmed my assessment of what the problem was and offered to order the part for me, saying it would be in Wednesday. I didn't act like that was ok, so they offered to wire around the switch. I took that offer and they put the mower back together and it was started and running in about 20 minutes total time. I asked how much I owed and the service manager said, "NO CHARGE." Great,some thanks, and with a stop at Sonic for some shakes, we were on our way home. I unloaded the mower at home and climbed on and started the mower, drove towards the gas tank to fill up, but didn't make it that far. The mower went dead. Would not do anything. Linda and I pushed it back into the truck and I pulled the truck up the hill to the driveway. It was too late to go back to Glasgow.

Tuesday morning I started to Glasgow about 8 AM to find out what had happened to the mower. I talked to the service man again and he said it was probably a blown fuse. I went out and pulled them out so he could look like I had done, but they used a light to shine thru the fuse and could see it was blown. He gave me two fuses to put in and when I did the mower started 4 or 5 times and would continue running. Back at the farm I unloaded the mower and mowed the little house yard just to see if the mower was going to keep running. It did! By then, it was nearing noon and getting too hot to mow, so I went inside to cool down and see what the girls were doing.
Linda went out and began mowing later, I was using the tractor to bush hog the trails around the hayfields and hollers. I also did around the mums, while Linda was doing the front yard, old house yard, and the barn lot. We quit about dark.

Major Thunderstorm Rolls Through

We had a pretty nice sunrise, but the weather turned about 10 AM. A slight rain had left a little over 1/4" of rain in the gauge when Linda looked. But then around 2 PM we had a thunderstorm come over. Lightning was all around, Cooter came to the door and waited to be let inside, he doesn't like when lightning and thunder are really close. The rain was coming down hard, the ducks were having a great time in the 'stream' of water running behind the house at the bottom of the hill. Our mulch in the flower bed was washing over the walkway and a stream of water was running down our driveway and across the highway. When the storm was over, I went outside and the rain gauge read 2-1/2". That was in less than an hour, so it was pouring down. The creek came up and was muddy for 4 or 5 hours too. Stacey, Linda and I rode the 4-wheelers down to see if the mum patch was flooded. There was a couple spots with puddles, with 3 or 4 mums with their roots under water. Overall, they looked pretty good.

Mum Tilling

After getting several inches of rain, the mum patch had turned green. Yep the mums were green, but there was grass growing in the patch too. I went early Friday morning and tilled as close as I dared with the Mantis tiller. It is a small and quite nimble tiller for getting close to the plants. I ran that thru the patch length wise as the larger tiller wouldn't go thru in that direction. The Mantis is a smaller tiller, but harder on a person to use. I have to keep pulling back on the tiller and try to keep it from 'hopping' and accidentally wiping out a plant.

Saturday morning, Linda went along and spread the fertilizer around each plant once more. I then used the larger tiller to cover the fertilizer with dirt. We stopped at 9:30 and I took a quick shower and we headed to Corner Pool and Lunch for breakfast. We cruised into town with the top down on the Mustang and ate.
In the afternoon we drove to Columbia, had some Taco Bell stuff and quickly shopped at Wal-Mart. We put the top down and rolled on home. I went to the mum patch and fininished the last 8 rows.