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Posted on Friday, July 02, 2010
Julie & Kyle Visit
Thursday, we did a lot of running around in the HHR. We left the farm
and filled the gas tank and reset the trip odometer. I headed towards
Glasgow on 90 and we made it to the west side of Marrowbone where we
were held up by road construction. They were busting up the hillside and
had traffic stopped in both directions for about twenty minutes. Once we
were through that the trip went better. I stopped at Ben & Elmer's
Tractor Sales to buy a piece to replace a broken connector on my Ford
tractor. Sorry, they didn't have one. OK, on to Cave City to find a part
to fix Linda's 65 Mustang motor. I parked at Key's Shop and went inside.
I explained what I was looking for and he said we would need to look
through some old engine blocks. Well, he had them setting everywhere.
Inside the back room there must have been over a hundred, then we went
outside and looked in a shed, then in an old bus, then a trailer, still
not what I needed. I was beginning to get worried when he said he would
have to go look at his Mom and Dad's place. He left his business and was
gone about 10 minutes and returned with the part I needed. Great!
Finally we could get the Mustang back together. The guy wanted $10 for
the part, so I gave him $20 for the part and the extra time he took
getting it for us. Next I drove to Oakland to the Coke distributor and
picked up a free banner for the Cumberland River Cruiser's car club. No
problem there, so we headed to Pauline and Brent's house to pickup Julie
and Kyle's stuff. I dropped Linda and Stacey off at the house and I went
to their baby sitter's house. I went inside and Ashley was feeding Kyle
a bottle, so Julie told me the other kids' names. After a few minutes
Ashley put Kyle in his seat and we were ready to leave. I set his seat
into the base unit and strapped Julie into her seat and we picked up
Stacey, Linda and the suitcases. I drove the parkway back to Columbia
and stopped at the New Holland tractor dealership. They had the part I
needed, so I bought it and drove to Wal-Mart. Dave Neff had asked us to
buy a poster frame for him if we were there, so I called him, told him
the price and then bought it. We also picked up a two pack of pacifiers
for Kyle. I drove to Burkesville and gave Dave the poster frame and the
part for the Mustang so that he could get it back together, then we went
home to the farm. One hundred and eighty miles on the trip odometer when
I pulled into the garage. After unloading the kids and their stuff, I
replaced the broken piece on the tractor and moved some dirt for our
neighbor. They appreciated that and gave me some tomatoes, squash and
cucumbers along with a check for $20. I found Julie, Kyle, Stacey and
Linda at the pole barn when I returned to the farm. Julie ate pop
sickles and played with her stick pony until nearly dark, that's when we
went to the house.
Kyle was a good baby overnight and seems to be
enjoying his first trip to the farm without Pauline and Brent. We were a
little worried about it at first, but it's going good.
The
only problem we're having is, when we speak "baby talk" to Kyle, our dog
Coco thinks we're talking to him and he wants to be the center of
attention. :-)
Posted on Monday, July 05, 2010
4th of July Weekend
Julie and Kyle were already here when Pauline and Brent joined us Friday
evening. We went out to eat and then spent the evening relaxing and
playing with the kids.
Saturday morning started a very busy day for
us. Brent and I had loaded some stuff in the back of the pickup late
Friday evening, but there was plenty more to pack in for the Independence
Celebration the car club was participating in at the park in
Burkesville. We were selling T-Shirts and taking pictures as well as
compiling the votes for the People's Choice voting. We had also
collected items from merchants to give away to everyone participating in
the cruise-in. Pauline, Brent and Stacey took Kyle and walked along as
Julie rode her tricycle in the bike parade while we took care of
business at the cruise-in.
We
were at the park beginning at 9:30 AM and left at 5 PM. It was a long
hot day! After going home to rest for a while, we returned to the park a
little before 9 PM to watch the fireworks show.
Sunday, the 4th of
July, was a day to recooperate from the heat the day before. We did get
outside long enough to take the kids for a Mule ride and let Daisy run.
We also unloaded the truck that I had parked inside the pole barn.
Pauline worked on a flag she was making with buttons that Linda had in a
jar. I cut a piece of poster board the size to fit inside an old picture
frame for them, then they glued a piece of material over it and hot
glued the buttons in place.
Brent
shot off some bottle rockets and Roman Candles from the front of the
garage after dark. We sat in our lawn chairs and cheered and clapped
just like we did for the big fireworks the town had shot off the night
before.
Pauline and Brent had to work on Tuesday, so we celebrated my
birthday on Monday. Julie and Kyle helped me 'blow out' the battery
powered candle on the cake Julie had helped decorate with colored
sprinkles. I then cut a small piece of cake and gave Kyle the first
taste. The icing was VERY BLUE!
We
all had a piece of cake with ice cream.
Posted on Friday, July 09, 2010
Dry Creek
We haven't been mowing at all because of the weather. The heat has been
in the 90s nearly every day for almost a month. There hasn't been enough
rain to keep the grass growing. The hay fields are still green with
Johnson grass, but the clover and fescue hasn't done much growing since
it was cut just after Memorial Day. The creek has a few pools of water
left, but no water is flowing. The blue herons are picking the small
minnows and fish out of the remaining pools. We interrupt them each day
we let Daisy run. They fly off when they hear us coming, make a large
circle and return as we drive away. The flowers have taken a huge hit
with the high heat and dry conditions, I'm glad we didn't grow mums this
year, it would have been a bad year with no rain and hardly any creek
water to use.
There
is rain in the forecast and it is showing up on the radar, but several
times that has happened and when it arrived in our area, we never
received any. Usually, hurricane season provides us with plenty of rain
showers.
Posted on Saturday, July 10, 2010
Bank Celebration
Linda was going to walk with Nancy for exercise at 7 PM, so Stacey and I
went to Burkesville to check out Citizen's Bank 10th Anniversary bash.
They had some old cars cruise-in and parked in front of the bank. Some
of the Cumberland River Cruisers car club had brought their cars. 
The
bank had employees passing out free hamburgers and hot dogs and there
were coolers where people could pick up free soft drinks and water. 
They
had two musical groups that played during the evening while people were
playing Corn Hole under the drive up window area.
The
bank was having people sign for tickets and drawing names for savings
bonds and a flat screen TV. There were two or three hundred people in
attendance while we were there.
Posted on Tuesday, July 13, 2010
A Field Trip & A Few Showers
Linda went on a field trip with the kids at the day care. They went to
Tompkinsville, KY and visited the Old
Mulkey Meeting House State Historic Site. The kids did 'rubbings' of
the names on the old tombstones of people buried on the grounds.
They
also stopped for lunch at McDonalds before returning to the day care and
hearing a story read by a guest reader, Jason. After the story was read,
they laid on mats and watched a movie while taking a break.
We've
had a few showers of rain and the temperatures have been in the mid 80s
the last two days.
I
hope the little bit of rain that fell will get the hay fields growing
and cause the fescue to fill in the gaps. There is a little water
flowing through the creek.
Of
course the grass in the yard has quickly greened up and began growing.
Posted on Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Driveway Work
I went down to the pole barn this morning to work on a piece of glass
for the frame of the button flag that Pauline had glued together. I took
a piece out of an old storm window. On the way back to the house, I
noticed that the road crew was working on the driveways in front of the
little house.
Stacey
and I went to the hardware store and bought a small glass cutter and
returned to the farm. I cut the piece of glass the size I needed for the
frame and took it to the house. Then I went back outside and drove the
Mule down to watch the Gaddie-Shamrock crew pave the little house's
driveway approach.
One
pass, then they backed up a little and turned slightly to widen the
approach where it met the highway. A little shovel work and they were
done in approximately 20 minutes. A guy on a roller came over and rolled
it after about another half hour and it was done until the finish layer
of pavement is laid down. I went outside just before sundown and took
two pictures on the way back to the pole barn.
Posted on Thursday, July 15, 2010
House Driveway Paved & Mustang Engine
This morning the paving crew was back at work and started paving the
driveway approach to the house. They graded the driveway smooth, spread
a gravel base, rolled it till it was packed hard, then paved it with
asphalt and rolled it till it was firm.
While
the paving crew was finishing the driveway the road crew was putting the
final touches on the dirt bank in front of the little house. I watched
them work for a while from the front porch, then began watching the
humming birds swarm the feeder that Linda had filled the night before.
They are draining it nearly every day.
Dave
Neff had asked me to help replace the hood on Linda's 1966 Mustang, so
Stacey and I went to his shop in Burkesville. He had stored the hood
above his office in the attic space below the roof. He handed the hood
down to me, then he climbed down the ladder and I held it while he
bolted it back in place on the car. He started the engine and it ran
fine, he shut it off and restarted it, it was good to see and hear it
run again.
Dave
wiped some of the smudges off the windshield, then I drove the car to
Jeff's Auto Service to see if they could replace the muffler. It had
blown apart when the engine backfired at a parade last fall. We left it
there and Randy picked us up and took us back to DC Auto where we had
parked the HHR. We drove home and were only there a short time when the
muffler shop called and said they didn't have a muffler that would fit.
I ordered one from Amazon.com, then Stacey and I went back to town and
picked the Mustang up and took it back to DC Auto Service for some minor
adjustments. I paid Dave for his work and then we returned to the farm.
Linda had been at a training seminar for the day care until nearly 5 PM.
Posted on Friday, July 16, 2010
Grand Kids Stay Over
After Linda came home from her training session, Stacey, Linda and I
drove to Pauline and Brent's house to pickup Julie and Kyle. Pauline and
Brent were going to Louisville for the weekend to run a swim meet for
WKU Coach Powell. They were about ready to leave, so we talked a few
minutes, then loaded the kids in their safety seats along with Pico and
Poco and headed back to the farm. Kyle slept most of the way, but Julie
wouldn't take a nap, she seemed too excited to go to sleep. Once at the
farm, both the kids were wide awake and ready to have fun. Julie was
parading around the living room with Elmo on her back and saying she was
'back packing Elmo'. Brent does it with her and says he's, 'back packing
Julie', so she was mimicking his actions.
Kyle
was happy, after a short feeding of formula, while Linda sat him in the
crack of the love seat, so I snapped a picture. Him setting up in the
crack makes him look older, I think.
Julie
was ready for a Mule ride and a couple popsickles so away we went. Kyle
didn't care for the ride that much, but he's getting used to it.
Posted on Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Trips
We enjoyed most of the weekend with Julie and Kyle watching movies,
playing with Kyle, eating pop sickles with Julie and taking both of them
on Mule rides.
Sunday about 2 PM, Brent called on their way home from
Louisville and we agreed to meet them after they unloaded their car. We
packed Pico, Poco, Julie and Kyle into the HHR along with Stacey and
Linda and then I drove us to Glasgow to meet Pauline and Brent. We met
in the K-Mart parking lot, then drove to McDonalds. We all set in the
play area outside with Pico and Poco while we ate ice cream sundaes. P&B
told us about their trip and how the swim meet had went, we told them
how the kids had been and some of the usual things we had done with
them. We said good bye to them and drove home.
Monday
Donnie Cox,
one of my buddies, with his son-in-law JR, stopped at the house and
invited us to come over to Star Point for a cookout on Tuesday evening.
They stayed for about an hour and talked about who was at the lake and
how long they were going to stay. We agreed to go over there Tuesday
evening.
Tuesday
I had ordered a new muffler and a neutral safety
switch for the oldest Mustang and the safety switch was delivered, so
Stacey and I drove the 97 Mustang to town and gave Dave at DC Auto
Service the switch to install. We returned to the farm and found that
there had been a thunderstorm go over while we were gone. Evidently,
lightening had struck near the house because our electric garage door
opener was messed up, the power was off in the bedroom, and the computer
in the pole barn was off. The last picture it uploaded to the internet
shows the lightening lighting up the sky.
I
was able to reset the breaker for the bedroom, but I haven't been able
to fix the garage door opener. The computer in the pole barn is probably
toasted as it won't even start. Later, Linda and I took the muffler to
DC Auto Service and picked up the Mustang. Linda drove it to Jeff's Tire
Service to have the muffler put on the car. They removed and installed
the new muffler in about 30 minutes, they also installed the safety
switch but we returned the Mustang to DC Auto to have Dave adjust the
switch. The car is running good and it sounds much better with the new
muffler. We left the farm in the HHR and drove to Byrdstown and ate at
the Bobcat's Den before going on over to Bonnie and Donnie's cabin.
Their daughter, Julie was there with her little baby girl named Callie
(sp?). She is seven months old and they were not going to take her over
to the lodge for the get together. I guess Susie and Gary Mater had
their boat quit out on the lake, so Donnie and JR helped them tow their
boat to the dock, which caused Donnie and JR to be running late. We
stayed and talked until they were nearly ready to go, then we headed on
over to the lodge. We met several of our old friends and some lake
buddies at the get together. There were probably 30 to 40 people there
having fun, cooking out, drinking, lying and farting. We stayed until
about 10 PM, then said good bye and drove home.
Posted on Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Mustang
After Linda came home from working, we went to DC Auto in Burkesville to
pick up her 1965 Mustang. We had the engine bored .030 over and
completely rebuilt at Southern
Kentucky Engine. We also had the C-4 transmission rebuilt at Lee
Myles Transmission shop in Bowling Green. Dave at DC Auto had
cleaned up under the hood while we were waiting on the other work to be
completed. He then put the engine and transmission together and
reinstalled them in the Mustang. He replaced the hoses and belts and
freshened up the entire under hood area. Dave had also installed the
neutral safety switch that we had ordered. He pulled the car out of the
lube bay and parked it. Linda looked it over and we told Dave thanks for
his well done job. Linda drove the Mustang to the filling station and
filled the tank with gas, then drove on home and parked it in the
garage. The Mustang had 82,406.1 miles on the odometer when we parked in
the garage. Our farm is 6 miles from town, so we're going with 82,400
miles on the car when the engine and transmission were rebuilt.
We
waited a little while, then Stacey, Linda and I drove the Mustang to
town and ate at the Subway shop. The Mustang still has some minor
issues, but I guess we will see how this set of repairs goes before
starting work on anything else.
Posted on Friday, July 23, 2010
Blazing Hot
We've had enough rain in the last few days to cause the water in the
creek to begin flowing again. The water is really muddy from the road
work being done a couple miles upstream from our farm. Some of the
freshly bull dozed dirt has washed off-site and into the creek. The hay
fields are growing again and will probably be cut in a week or two. The
hay is not as high as usual, but by delaying the cutting, the harvest
will be nearly normal. It may make the fall cutting a little bit
shorter. We've been taking Daisy for runs in the early mornings due to
the extreme heat later in the day.
The
Nashville TV channels have been forecasting temperatures of 100 degrees.
I'm not sure if our area was that hot, but I did see that our
thermometer, on a post in the equipment shed, was showing 96 degees at 3
PM, and it is mounted in the shade. I was headed to the tractor to do
some mowing. I mow for a while, then go inside and cool off, then back
and mow a little more. Linda is trimming on the riding mower and doing
the same thing.
Posted on Sunday, July 25, 2010
New Links to Pictures
I
have uploaded a set of pictures taken from January 1, 2010 to June 30,
2010. There is a link at the bottom in the right column of this page or
you can click HERE.
I have also created a separate set of pictures that you can view as a
slide show and change the size of the pictures to fit your monitor size.
The newest group is located HERE.
There is a new section in the right hand column titled "Around The Farm
Slide Shows" that has the links to the pictures I have placed into the
slide shows. The pictures are divided into the first six months and the
last six months of each year. If you need help, you can click the image
below for a larger image that shows how the slide show pages work.
When
you have time, please make a comment by clicking below and letting me
know if you have any problems.
Posted on Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Door Opener Problems
I had mentioned in a
previous post last week that a lightening strike had messed up some
things in our house and pole barn, one being the electric garage door
opener.
Tuesday, I had removed the electric eyes at the bottom of the
garage door tracks and when Linda came home from working, we drove to
Campbellsville. I went to the Overhead
Door Company and talked to a service man about the trouble we were
having with our garage door opener. He took the two electric eyes and
put them on their floor model in their show room and said they worked.
He said I must need a circuit board replaced in our door opener. He then
showed me the circuit board and gave me a quick course on how to replace
it. I paid the $80 plus tax for the new board with my credit card and
took the circuit board and my old electric eyes. We ate lunch and then
walked through the Peddlers' Mall. After that, we drove back to the
house and I worked on the door opener. I replaced the circuit board,
which was easier than I thought it would be.
After
closing everything up and tightening the screws, plugging the door
opener back in, it still didn't work properly. AHHHHHH CRAP!!!!
Wednesday
morning, Linda was up early, fixed breakfast and was packing for a trip
to IN. Stacey had said she was going, but as time to leave was getting
closer, she was having second thoughts. She finally packed her bags to
the HHR and then we all said good bye and I took their picture right
before they drove away.
As
soon as they left, I went to work on the door opener. I took the circuit
board out, put it back in the box and then drove the truck to
Campbellsville and returned the circuit board for a credit. I bought two
new electric eyes, $38 plus tax, and headed back to the farm. I replaced
the eyes and tried the door opener. Once again, AHHHHHH CRAP!!!! It
still didn't work properly. I tried calling Overhead Door for a service
call, but the place never returned my call to schedule a time. I may
ride the Harley up there tomorrow, 90 miles round trip, and re-buy the
circuit board and install it, now that I know I have two working
electric eyes. The service techs told me it can only be those two
things. If that doesn't fix it, then I guess I will just tell them to
install a new unit. The last few evenings a group of deer have came out
of the pine and cedar trees behind our house and walked down the hill.
Tonight, I was able to take pictures of three out of seven that walked
by the end of the house. There were five doe, a spotted little one, and
a young buck just growing his antlers for the season. The buck is to the
right in the picture.
Coco
was standing at the back door barking like crazy while I slid the
kitchen window open and took the picture through the opening. It was too
dark by the time all the deer came out of the trees and they wouldn't
stand in a small group for a flash picture. :-)
Posted on Friday, July 30, 2010
Opener Repaired
I drove the Mule down to the pole barn, opened the sliding door and
started the Harley. I rode it outside, shut the door and headed to
Campbellsville a little after 8 AM. After a nice ride in the cool air, I
pulled up in front of the Overhead Door Company and turned the bike off.
I went inside and talked to the service manager, who handed me a new
circuit board for our garage opener. He said he had called and left me a
message on the answering machine. He had scheduled a service call next
week when they would be working in our area. He told me to replace the
circuit board and if that fixed the problem to call and cancel the
service call. I agreed, took the circuit board and put it in the saddle
bag on the Harley. When I rode out of the parking lot, I wondered if I
was going to get wet on the way home, but the closer I rode to home, the
lighter the sky was becoming. No rain at all. I parked the bike in the
pole barn and took the Mule back to the house and noticed it was nearly
10 AM. It took about 15 minutes to replace the circuit board, make a few
settings and then program the opener to our remotes. IT WORKED! Just
like it had been working before the problems had begun, finally success!
Raising and lowering the door to make the adjustments had drove Coco
into a frenzy, he was thinking it was Linda and Stacey coming home, so I
had to let him out into the garage to see they were not home. I erased
the message on the answering machine and called and canceled the service
call. I mowed grass with the tractor and finish mower until I was unable
to see because of the sweat running in my eyes. At that point, I went
inside and cooled off and watched TV until time for the Cumberland River
Cruisers meeting at 6 PM. There was a thunderstorm that went through our
area while I was at the meeting.
Posted on Saturday, July 31, 2010
Green River Kruzers' Car Show in Columbia
I was looking out the window when I saw a couple of our Cumberland
River Cruiser members going up the road towards Columbia. I
remembered they had talked about going to a Green
River Kruzers' Car Show in columbia when they were at the club
meeting Thursday, so I decided to drive the 1965 Mustang up there and
look around. I pulled in to the Columbia Fair Grounds and they asked if
I was showing the car. I said, I didn't think so, they talked me into
putting it in the show, so I drove in and parked where they told me.
They said open the hood, the trunk and leave one door open while I went
and registered. They handed me a grab bag of stuff, including a dash
plaque. I began walking around and taking pictures of some of the other
cars in the show.
A
lot of trophies were passed out and Linda's Mustang was presented with
one. I also won a door prize while I was there. It was a bucket with a
large bottle of car washing liquid and a wash sponge. I drove home after
the show was over, parked the Mustang in the driveway and took a picture
of it with the trophy.
