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Posted on Saturday, July 06, 2013
Rain, Rain & More Rain
The rain had been coming for three days. It seemed like forever though.
The creek remained in it's banks, but nearly over flowed two or three
times. I had to take the 4 wheel drive tractor across the creek to clean
out the ditch where we had put in some culvert tiles to make a crossing.
The limbs had clogged the tiles and I had to use the back hoe to remove
the debris so the water could flow through the tiles. The creek water
was deep enough to hit the bottom of the tractor and splash me as I
drove across. The tractor was heavy enough the water didn't push it
downstream very much. On the 4th of July, we were supposed to have a car
show for the Cruisers. I thought it was canceled and Linda and I sat at
home watching it rain. A little before 10 AM, a phone call notified me
that they were going ahead with the show in the rain. We went to the
Park and there were only a handful of people that showed up, mostly our
club members. Instead of postponing the car show, they decided to give
everyone there a dash plaque, a trophy and a door prize. We never
entered any vehicle, so we didn't take a trophy or door prize. The
second wettest July 4th on record and we had a car show? Bizarre! The
Nashville weather reports were that we had received over 8 inches of
rain in the last three days.
I'm
glad it didn't all come on one day. Finally, about 7 PM on my birthday,
the sun came out and we were able to walk out the front door and view a
double rainbow. For a few minutes it looked like the rainbow ended in
our front yard. Seeing it in person, the colors were a lot more vivid
than what shows on the picture.
Posted on Saturday, July 13, 2013
Week Events
Linda and Stacey left Monday morning to go to IN. I had to mow the grass
after a week of rain after they left. I spent most of the day doing
that. During the week, I went to town and paid the excise taxes on some
of our vehicles and brought the stickers back for the license plates. I
also renewed my driver license while I was in town. We had been having
problems with the HHR, so I managed to drive it to Don Franklin
GMC/Chevy and have it repaired. They brought me back to the farm and
picked me up when the repairs had been made. The HHR needed a new PCM,
which is an acronym for a Power Control Module, that cost me $520
including the labor. But anyway, now it is running and we can drive the
car. Linda and Stacey returned home Thursday and brought Julie and Kyle
with them. They picked the kids up on the way home. Oh, they also had
Pico and Poco. Pauline and Brent are in Louisville for the weekend to
run a swim meet. Since we had so much rain here on July 4th, the town
had postponed the celebration activities until this weekend. We took
Julie and Kyle to the park and I let them play on the playground
equipment while Linda and Stacey looked around. Then we let the kids get
wet on the inflatable water slide the town had setup.
I
stood at the end and watched while using a water hose to spray all the
kids that were sliding down towards me. It gave the other people that
had been working a break as I maintained order to keep kids from going
too quickly and sliding into other kids. Julie and Kyle played on the
slide for about an hour, until I could see a dark rain cloud headed
towards town. They were getting tired and didn't argue much when we
decided to go back to the farm. We just made it back before the rain
came pouring down. After watching a cartoon movie, we headed back to
town around 8:30 PM to watch the fireworks. We parked really close,
opened the back of the HHR and grabbed our folding chairs, set them on
the grass and a few minutes after 9 PM the show started. Julie started
to try to back up, because we were too close to see it all, but we told
her it was OK and to just slide down in her chair so she would be
looking up all the time. That worked. The fireworks were going off right
above our heads, about 400 feet up in the air. When the finale was over,
we folded up our chairs and I drove back to the farm. Linda had to keep
both the kids talking so they wouldn't go to sleep on the 6 mile trip.
When I pulled inside the garage, Julie and Kyle wanted to go to bed!
Linda and I knew we had done good when the kids were wanting to go to
bed instead of arguing about staying up. LOL
Posted on Monday, July 15, 2013
Julie's Jam
Julie and Kyle have been picking blackberries while at the farm. Kyle
has been eating the ones he picks and Julie has been putting hers in
containers and keeping them in the refrigerator. Each day she would ask
if she had enough to make jelly and I would tell her not yet. This time,
she had enough, so Linda washed the berries while Julie and I gathered
up the things we needed to make the jam. Five jars were the first thing
we placed on the cabinet, then the Jam & Jelly Maker. We measured out
the sugar, then the pectin. Julie and Linda mulched the berries, then
Julie poured the container of mulched berries into the jam maker, added
a pat of butter and pressed the buttons to start the process. I placed a
pot on the stove and put the jars in it, then Julie filled it with water
to the proper level and I turned on the heat. Julie watched the timer on
the jam maker and added the sugar when it beeped four times. Seventeen
minutes later, we took off the lid and Julie began dipping the jam into
the jar. I stressed the point that the jam was really hot and she would
have to be careful. She did it without any problems.
Julie
set the lids on the jars and I set the jars back into the hot water. We
boiled the water for ten minutes and then Julie lifted the jars out of
the water with the tool and set them on the stove to cool.
We
listened for the jar lids to make the familiar pop sound as they cooled
and sealed.
This morning during breakfast, I printed 5 labels for
Julie to stick on her jam. We cut the labels and she stuck them to the
sides of the jars.
Julie's
Jam was officially finished. Oh, we opened one jar and tasted the jam,
it was delicious!
Posted on Wednesday, July 17, 2013
Swim Lessons
When Linda brought Julie and Kyle home with Stacey and her, I mentioned
that we should sign them up for swimming lessons. The Twin Lakes
Wellness Center in Albany was teaching classes for the week Julie and
Kyle were staying at the farm. We called and made arrangements to go
over later that day and pay for the lessons, which we did while eating
lunch near the facilities. The classes are at 6 PM on Monday through
Friday. The facilities are nearly new and the kids liked the looks of
the pool before ever going in the water. Once they had their suits on
and were in the water, it was like taking a bath, splishing and
splashing all over the place.
It
worked out nicely, they had a few minutes to play before the instructor
called the class over to the edge of the deeper water. I kept sending
Kyle back to the rope and telling him to pay attention, but he was doing
better than the other boys in the group. Kyle was so small, his lower
body mass let him get fairly cold and he wanted to quit early. We let
him out of the pool to sit on the edge and then sent him back in when it
was his turn for training.
Funny
thing about Kyle being cold, when we were walking out towards the
dressing room, Julie and Kyle wanted to go down the water slide. I asked
Kyle if he wasn't too cold, he said "Nope, I want to go down the green
slide!" OK then, we put a life jacket on him and they both went down the
slides. That last picture is Kyle hitting the water as he exits the
slide while Julie is climbing the ladder to get out of the pool.
Posted on Sunday, July 21, 2013
Friends At Dale Hollow
Pauline and Brent came over early Friday and we all loaded into their
Traverse and went to Albany and ate sandwiches and then to the Clinton
County Wellness Center. It is the place that we were taking Julie and
Kyle for the swimming lessons. Brent put his swim suit on and swam laps
while the kids were taking lessons.
Saturday morning the phone rang
early, it was Lana and Frank Dial on their way to KY from IN. They told
us they had a caravan of people following them and wanted us to meet
everyone on Dale Hollow Lake later in the day. We agreed. After
breakfast, we readied our stuff, greased the kids down with sun screen,
packed the coolers and left for the lake about 10 AM. Brent filled the
boat with gas and I drove the truck with everyone in it and the boat
behind. Boats were lined up waiting when we pulled into the dock area at
the State Park, but after a short wait, it was our turn to launch. There
were three other boats backed into the water's edge when I placed the
Sea Ray between two of them and we moved our gear to the boat. In less
than two minutes we had the boat running and I was backing it off the
trailer, Brent was parking the truck and trailer. We picked him up at
the courtesy dock and away we went to Eagle's Cove. After about a 10
minute ride, we stopped, anchored and went swimming. Time passed quickly
as we were having fun, soon the people from IN were a little late, then
they were about an hour late. We decided to get in the boat and ride
over to where they were supposed to be launching at Star Point. We found
them just leaving the dock, they said they had trouble checking into
their cabins. OK, not a big deal, so we headed back to the original
meeting spot near Eagle's Cove. Soon, Karen and Steve Wilson arrived
with another couple, then Susan & Danny Rockhill, next were Lana & Frank
with Jennifer and Jeff and their two kids, finally Bonnie and Donnie Cox
with Julie and JR and their two kids. Those were the people I knew,
there were two more boats that also joined us, but if you know me, I
can't remember their names. The rest of afternoon we played in the
water, drank and ate until time to head back to the farm.
Sunday
morning was rainy and we hadn't planned on going to the lake anyway, so
we took it easy and slept in. After breakfast, we took Daisy for a run.
Linda had bought a box of peaches and she peeled most of them while we
were messing with Daisy, so when we returned they were ready to make
into jam. Pauline had brought enough blackberries to make 10 half pints
of jam, so we did those too. We made about 20 half pints of peach
preserves.
Posted on Wednesday, July 24, 2013
Wednesday Boat Trip
Brent came over with his family this morning to go back to Dale Hollow.
Linda had picked up ingredients for cooler hoagies so Pauline and her
made them before we left. It was cloudy, so I checked the radar and the
forecast before we pulled the boat out of the pole barn and headed to
the lake. It was my turn to fill up the gas tank on the boat, but I got
off easy with it only racking up $48 and change. A few minutes later, I
backed the boat down to the water, everyone climbed in and Brent drove
the boat away from the trailer. I parked the truck and trailer in the
lower lot and walked back to the courtesy dock where they picked me up.
This time the meeting place was about a 30 minute ride across the lake
and towards Sunset Dock to Jolly Creek. We were just slightly behind
Lana and Frank Dial with their daughter's family riding along.
We
pulled into Jolly Creek and anchored then went swimming while more and
more boats joined the group. Some were having private conversations
while others were in a large group.
We
spent most of the day right there, mingling with others and visiting
different boats. We even stretched a ski rope from one boat to another
to keep people from drifting away. LOL There were about twice as many
people as are in the picture and several more boats, just slightly out
of view. After saying so long to everyone, we returned to the farm and
Julie and Kyle decided to stay with us the rest of the week. Pauline and
Brent left for their house around 6:45 PM.
Posted on Friday, July 26, 2013
Small Lake Crew
The phone rang early this morning, it was our neighbor Stevie Riddle. He
had just finished working the night shift and was buying some sweet
corn. We asked him to get us two dozen ears. He delivered it to the
house about an hour later at 7:30 AM. We had some hot biscuits and
freshly made peach preserves that we shared with him while we talked.
After Stevie left, we slowly prepared for another trip to the lake. This
time it was just Julie, Kyle, Stacey, Linda and I going, so we didn't
need as much stuff, but it was more work without Pauline and Brent not
being there to help. Everything went smoothly and around 10:30 AM we
were boating away from the dock area and heading out on fairly smooth
water. We called on the marine radio to see if any of the people from IN
were still at the lake, but received no replies. We were on our own
today, so we found a nice cove and went swimming. Everyone was wanting
to eat, so we went to Wisdom Dock and tied the boat to the pier and went
inside. Once done eating, we rode across the lake to Pusley Creek and
took some time for swimming.
This
is where Julie and Kyle spotted a yellow butterfly floating on top of
the water. They watched for a while, then decided it was in trouble and
they would help. Julie and Kyle were both afraid to touch it, so they
gently splashed water till the butterfly was near the boat. Linda lifted
it out of the water and laid the butterfly on the boat cushions.
We
all watched as the butterfly began drying out and slowly flapping it's
wings. It fluttered into the air, but only made it far enough to land on
Stacey's shirt as everyone watched closely. It was a good chance for the
kids to see it up close.
Once
again, the butterfly fluttered into the air, this time it flew a little
farther and landed in the bottom of the boat. I took a picture of them
on the back of the boat before we left the area.
The
boat traffic had picked up quite a bit as the weekenders were arriving.
The butterfly rode along with the boat for a good ways, then finally
flew off as we headed towards the dock. Julie and Kyle were glad it was
going to be OK.