Dinkin' Around

Linda worked at the school till noon and when she came home Stacey and I were ready to go eat at Wendy's in Columbia. We finished lunch and decided to look at some of the UTV's that are like ATVs with pickup beds. Linda thought Stacey would like driving one of those down to the mail box. I said that if we were going to buy one, we should get it with a roll bar and a top. My thinking was that if something happened and it turned over, I didn't want it rolling on Stacey. The top would be better to keep her dry in bad weather. We drove to the Kawasaki Dealer in Columbia and walked around their showroom a couple of times and then went outside to look at their Mule. No one would talk to us so we loaded back in the car and left. The Mule is probably one of the best UTVs. I turned the car back towards town because Linda had seen a JD Gator at a used car lot. We stopped and looked at it. The car dealer said it was a 02 model year, and that it only had about 200 hours on the meter. He wanted too much for it, and it didn't have a roll bar or top. We took off for Campbellsville to see what the TSC store had to offer. Once there, at TSC there were 2 models. One was chain drive, which I wanted to shy away from due to memories of having a chain on my motorcycles. It had a top and was equiped with a roll bar though. Brand new price, $3995, was the same as the used car dealer wanted for the 3 year old Gator. They also had a Honda powered model for $5195, that was closer to what I was looking for, except there were only back brakes on it, instead of the 4 wheel brakes on some of the other models. Turning towards home, we stopped at a John Deere Dealer and looked at 3 different types of Gators. They even had a 6 wheel model, though we didn't go inside for prices, I'm sure they were more than the TSC models.

Hot, Hot, Hot

Stacey and I went to the video shop and bank. Stacey usually checks the tempature on the bank sign. When she read it, I had to look for myself. Yep, she was right, it read 104 degrees. That is the highest I've seen it read. I don't think that it was that hot according to the weather men, but it was still too hot to do much outside.

Surprise Visitors

I was inside watching TV as it was above 90 again, when the doorbell rang. Stacey beat me to the door and opened it. Outside was standing Vicki and Mike Rees. I said, "Well you guys are the last people I expected to see at the door, c'mon in!" They did, and we hugged and began to catch up on what had been going on and what they were doing in this part of the country. They said how nice our place looked, so I started showing them our house and Linda came in from working at the school. She was glad to see them and had hugs for them too. After checking out our place they sat down and we heard about Trent, Jason and Kyle. Trent and Jason were both married. Kyle was still in Ball State. They told us about several of our old friends and what was going on with them. We spent about an hour and a half just getting caught up on things, when they had to leave to meet their boys near Byrdstown TN for supper. They said the boys were camping at Star Point on Dale Hollow. It was a real nice surprise to see them.

Barren Rive Lake Trip

We started the day by waiting on a call from Jennifer, to tell us what time they were going to Barren River Lake. She called a litte after 9 and said they would be ready about 12 - 1. Whattttt? I told them we would be there waiting on them. We called Brent and told him what the plans were and for Pauline and him to meet us at Mancino's in Glasgow about 11 to eat lunch before we all went to the lake. After loading the cooler and putting it in the truck we hooked up the boat and headed to Glasgow. We met P&B and ate lunch, then they followed us south to BRL State Park. Everyone loaded in the boat except me, I had to park the truck and trailer. I walked back to the lake and Brent was standing in the water holding the boat off the big rocks by the ramp. It had started and he had backed the boat off the trailer, but then the motor died. I jumped in the boat and got it restarted, backed out into the lake with Brent holding onto the side rail while I was dragging him through the water. He got in and we took off to meet Jennifer & Mike Williams , Leslie & David Cloyd and Brenda Lawrence. We made it to where we were supposed to meet, but they weren't there. We decided to swim and wait for them to show up. After an hour, we decided to look around the lake for their pontoon boat. No luck in finding them, so we went back to the spot we had decided to meet and went swimming again. About 1:30 Jennifer and Mike showed up. They told us the rest of their crew would get there around 2:30. Ok with me, we were on the lake and enjoying the sun and water. Mike drove the pontoon back to the dock with Jennifer, Stacey and Linda going along. They were gone about a half hour and came back with the rest of his crew, Leslie, David and Brenda. They had a tube so we hooked it to the back of our boat and took people for rides while the rest waited on or around the pontoon. Part of the time they would follow on the pontoon as we pulled the tube. We wore the riders out and decided to go for a relaxing swim before we left for home. We went to our favorite cove on Barren, but Brenda was worried about snakes. I told them we would keep the snakes beat off of them. We stayed until about 7 and told everyone goodbye and then took our boat off the lake. P&B met us at Cap'n D's for supper. After eating we said so long to them and head back home.

New Blog Feature

Linda, Stacey and I went to Sommerset Monday. We made a few stops including Fazzoli's for lunch, Aldi's, Wal-Mart, K-Mart, Goody's and Office Depot. Linda was buying clothes while I shopped at Office Depot. I saw a webcam from Logitech that had been priced at $79 but reduced to $39, so I bought it. I have it working now, shooting video out the front window of our house. I had to find and download another program from CNET to operate it the way I wanted. The program is highly customizable, will FTP files up to a web server and do several other things. I currently have the program taking a picture a minute and uploading to my space at duo-county. Then the blog page displays the file when ever a page load is called. The image is now placed in the right hand column above the calendar used to navigate the archives. I hope readers will enjoy seeing what is going on outside at our farm.

Blazin' Hot

For at least 2 weeks we have been in the 90s everyday, usally in the upper 90s too. No rain and the grass is turning brown. We have been ok with the mums so far, they haven't needed to be watered yet. Linda has been working at the school the last 3 days and Stacey and I have been staying inside during the heat of the day except to go to town for lunches. Any thing that has to be done, I'm doing during the evening. The heat goes away about 6 PM and it is bearable outside since we don't have mosquitoes. I've noticed that our ducks are even having trouble with the heat and are keeping their bills open to breathe. We have used a 'curry comb' on Cooter to get some of the extra hair off. I don't think it has made him much cooler though.

Guests Are Here

We had guests arrive late last night about 1:30. Imon brought Angie, her son Corey, her daughter Cassie with her friend Kenny. We had some breakfast and started the fun. First we showed them the house, even though they had slept the night here, they hadn't seen the rest of the rooms. We got aquainted a little then started the 4-wheeler riding. A trip around the farm to get the kids used to riding was the first thing on the agenda. Later Linda and Imon led them down the creek 3 or 4 miles. They seemed to enjoy the rides a bunch. Each time one would remark, 'this is the best thing I have ever done' or 'this is the most fun I've ever had'. It was neat to see them having a good time. Linda called and rented a pontoon for Imon and Angie's family for tomorrow. I think they will like going to the lake even more than the 4-wheeler rides. I told them that I thought today was the hot and dirty part and tomorrow would be even better. Pauline and Brent came over around 5 after Pauline had a job interview. She seemed worried and was considering quiting her job and starting teaching school at Edmonson County. We gave Brent his birthday presents and threatened to beat his butt, but we never did. We loaded up and went to Jone's for the buffet for supper. After a 'last ride' on the 4-wheelers, Brent got Corey and Kenny involved in a xBox game of Halo as darkness came around. Pauline and Cassie were looking for a game of Aggravation a little later if they could get the guys off the xBox.

Lake Trip

Linda had called the day before and rented a pontoon boat for Angie and Imon, so we were going to the lake early. We did get up early, ate breakfast and headed to the lake after much preparation. We stopped and filled the tank on the boat, got ice and drove off without paying... unintentionally. We were in the street at the stoplight when the owner of the station came running after us. I told him I thought Linda had paid. We pulled back into the station, went inside, paid and apoligized several times. They said they understood and we apoligized again and headed on to the lake. WOW, what a start!. Pauline and Brent were riding with Imon to make sure they new where to go to rent the boat and how to find us on the lake. Corey, Cassie and Kenny were riding with us to even out the load. We 'put in' at the State Park while Imon and Brent went to Sulphur Creek to get the pontoon rented. We made a short run to the spot where we were to meet and saw some friends of ours in their boat. It was Sussie and Gary Mader. After a little chat they headed to the dam and we had time to take a little dip to see how the water felt. Back in the boat after about 10 minutes and we met up with the pontoon. That didn't take as long as I thought it would, so we headed west to Pusley Creek. I told Brent where we were going and that we would go ahead and 'reserve' a cove. We found one near the end of the fingerlet and the pontoon arrived about 5 minutes later. We anchored and said we were 'home' for the day. The pontoon seemed ok, it ran ok and Angie and Imon seemed happy with the whole setup. Everyone got in the water and was having fun. After the initial excitement wore off, I threw out a couple ski ropes and took Corey and Brent for rides on the kneeboards. It was Corey's first time, but he got up on his first try, and rode it around the lake with Brent showing him a few tricks. We pulled back to the pontoon and hooked up to our anchor. Angie, Corey, Cassie and Kenny wanted to tube, so Brent and I filled up the tubes with the pump that runs off the boat battery. We tossed the tubes in and the riders got in the boat with Angie and Corey being in the tubes first. I took off and after they seemed ok, I started doing 'S' curves down the part of the lake we were on, Kenny and Cassie were in the boat laughing and having fun just watching me bang the tubes together and whipping them over the boat wake. Angie and Corey had enough, so it was Cassie and Kenny's turn. I did the same thing for them with Angie and Corey setting in the boat laughing and hollering about them getting beat around in the tubes. On one whip it tossed Cassie out of the tube and I think she got a little bit of rope burn. They had enough so we pulled back to the spot where the pontoon was anchored. Time to let them get some energy back. We had sliced a ham the night before and had a cooler full of it and stuff to go on the ham sandwiches, they started eating and drinking and jumping in the lake and just having a bunch of fun cutting up. The girls had mats to float on and the guys had fun hasseling the girls. We had told Sussie and Gary where we were going, so they stopped by on their way back from their 'dam run'. Gary had a couple with them and we swam and talked to all of them for about a half hour. They took off saying they needed to get back to the cabin because they had run out of beer and their dogs were needing let out. They told us it was about 20 minutes after 1 PM. Hmm, the time was going by quickly. A couple more kneeboard runs were the next thing on the list. Our boat was running weird when I tried to pull them, but we managed to get it going and they were slicing up the lake with the kneeboards while Angie and Cassie were taking pictures. Brent showed Corey that he could stand up on the board and also do '360s' on it. This seemed to help Corey and he became a little more adventurous behind the boat. After 3 or 4 runs around 'our' part of the lake we pulled back to the pontoon and relaxed a while. Snacks were being ate all day and a little beer and plenty of pop were consumed. Around 5 Angie and Imon said they had enough, so we pulled up anchor and waited on Brent to get the pontoon going. Once everyone was underway we headed back to the State Park dock to take our boat out. They were headed to Sulphur Creek to turn in the pontoon. We loaded our boat on the trailer, put the cover on and drove for home. Going home the weather looked nasty, with lightning being seen ahead of us. It looked like we got off the lake just in time. We put the boat in the shed and went inside, changed clothes and wondered where the pontoon crew was at. About a half hour later they came in, and Brent said the pontoon had quit running on them just outside of Sulphur Creek. He said it took about 15 minutes and then it restarted and they drove it back to the dock. Linda fixed us a bunch of hamburgers, which always taste better after a day on the lake. A little later there were games being played and pool being shot, but we all quit to enjoy some home made Hot Fudge Cake, like we used to get at Frisch's in Anderson. It pretty much hit the spot with everyone. I went to bed about 10:30, wore out, with video games still being played.

A Little Slower Day

Everyone was moving a little slower today, people slept in a little later and breakfast wasn't ready as soon. I think all of this is attributable to being on the lake yesterday and getting a work out in the water. Linda fixed pancakes with ham for everyone once we were up and moving around. Pauline and Cassie were eager to play some board or card games. Kenny, Brent and I were upstairs shooting pool. We played a version of war or kill, where all 3 of us could play. Each player defends a set of 5 pool balls (1-5, 6-10, 11-15) and we tried to put the other ones in the pockets and keep ours on the table. It is a decent game for an odd number of players with no one having to set out until their 5 balls are off the table. After that Pauline and Brent led Corey and Stacey along with Cassie and Kenny on a ride around Jone's Ridge road. Linda, Angie and Imon took off for Campbellsville to a flea market. They left me with everyone so I decided to go to Pizza Hut for lunch. I called and ordered 2 large pizzas. All seven of us loaded into the truck and I drove to town. We sat down, and told the waitress what drinks we wanted. She brought those, and returned in a couple of minutes with our 2 pizzas. We dug in and before long the pizzas were gone. We paid, left a tip and headed home. I told Brent to start a movie so everyone could relax after dinner as it was about 95 outside. I watched most of the NASCAR race while they were watching the new "Dukes of Hazard" movie. They came down yacking about Jessica Simpson and how little her part was in the movie, but that she looked 'hot'. It was about 4:30 when Linda, Angie and Imon came back from Campbellsville. They had found a couple 'butterfly' nets for Cassie to use to catch butterflies. They gave them to Cassie, Kenny, and Brent and they caught several and put them in a glass jar.
 
Pauline fixed a large pot of potato soup and Angie made fried green tomatoes for supper. Pauline and Brent left for home about 8 PM. A game of Aggravation was started about 8:30 once the dinner dishes were cleaned off the table.

Our Company Left For Home

This morning Imon was wanting to leave by 9 AM, but things weren't going quickly. Everyone was kind of dragging, especially Kenny, who was still sleeping at 10 till 9. Angie yelled for him to get up and eat breakfast that Linda had fixed. We had already been outside for Cassie to catch a few more butterflies and Corey was riding a 4-wheeler with Stacey on the back. Kenny came down and scarfed down some grub and went to take a shower while the rest were gathering up their clothes and things, and packing up for the ride home. About 10 we went outside for some pictures and good bye hugs.

Stacey was really sad to see them leave because she had a good time while they were here, we tried to tell her that they couldn't stay for ever, but that didn't help much. They said that they had a good time and loaded into Imon's truck and drove down the driveway with everyone waving good bye. Linda and I picked up a few things and then went upstairs to watch a movie and take a break. Just before dark, Linda and I went to the mum patch and cleaned out the grass by hand.

Rain and Cooler Temps

The rain started last night about dark and we had about 1/2" when I looked in the rain gauge this morning. I emptied the gauge and went back inside. Linda has been working at the school, so she had been getting ready to go. I let the ducks out and then took the trash to the edge of the road. It rained 4 or 5 more times during the day, sometimes it was coming down hard, other times just a drizzle. About 5 PM I checked the gauge again and we had nearly an inch. About 7:30 Linda and I rode a 4-wheeler down to the mum patch and there were a few with their roots under water. The plants were a dark green and looked great. I don't think the ones that were under water will be hurt, it wasn't deep enough to drown them. The high temperature was 84 degrees today, a lot easier on the A/C and me.

Saturday Morning View

 

This is a gif file made from several images taken from the web cam looking out our front window. The white dot is the moon showing in the first three frames and then you can see how it is real foggy early in the morning, but then clears up as the sun pops over the hill tops. Also, in the 9:21 image, there is a white vehicle going north on the road.

Jewelry Run to Campbellsville

Linda needed to go to Campbellsville to get some supplies to teach a jewelry class on Thursday. I said I had to finish mowing before I could go along and they could go ahead or wait a while for me to finish. I was suprised they decided to wait, but they did. We jumped into the Mustang and headed out. Thru Columbia and on to Campbellsville to stop at Wal-Mart. Stacey and I watched as Linda looked thru the safety pins and things she needed to make the 'USA' looking 'Flag' pins. She found what she was looking to get, and we started for home. Stacey and Linda wanted to eat before we came on home so we made a stop at Long John Silver's place. It's odd that they serve root beer with fish. On the way home we were listening to a MP3 CD I had made and an old song began playing. It was "For What It's Worth" by Buffalo Springfield. Listening to the lines, Linda and I had the same thoughts, that they should play that now because of the way Bush is conducting the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. We elaborated on the fact that today's generation doesn't even question the leadership, they seem to blindly follow and that it is still 'our' generation that is protesting the war. Cindy Sheehan is one of 'our' generation, and she is the current leader of the war protest. The only difference is, now we aren't protesting because they are killing us, we are protesting because they are getting our kids killed.

Here is a link to a Q&A with Cindy Sheehan.

Started Digging Mums

Linda needed some mums to trade for some daylilies with a woman she works with at school. We opened our box of plastic pots and tossed them in the back of the pickup and grabbed a shovel. Cooter was prancing around, so I let the tailgate down and told him to jump in the truck. We all rode down to the mum patch and parked the truck next to the patch and got out and I started digging. Linda would grab the plants and place them in the pots and finish filling the pots with dirt. We used craft sticks to label the plants with the color of the blooms since they aren't blooming yet. Hey, that is an improvement over last year, we didn't know what color they were going to be until they bloomed last year. Linda burnt the type and color and some other info in pieces of pressure treated wood and we laid those at the end of the rows this year so we would know which ones were where. That worked good until the first big rain washed the pieces of wood down to one end of the patch. It was a good thing I had made a planting chart before we set the plants out, and then saved it on the PC. I printed out another sheet and we went back and placed the wood markers where they should have been.

A Thunderstorm Rolls Through

Linda and Stacey left for Pauline and Brent's house Saturday morning. They were planning on pulling weeds and putting down mulch. I remained at home with a few jobs ahead of me. The first job I did was to start the old tractor and bush hog the mum lot. The grass had grown and was quite high when Linda and I were digging the first batch of mums the other day. After finishing that and taking a cool down period, I used a shovel to clean out some of the holes near the black drain pipes under the driveway. They fill up with sand and mud and if left alone they will eventually clog the black pipe. I took a shower and headed to town to eat lunch. I also stopped at the grocery for some grub for later in the day and Sunday. As evening approached, I was watching the NASCAR race at Bristol.
Sunday morning as I checked the radar, it looked like rain was on the way. I waited as long as I could for the grass to dry from the heavy dew. About 10:30 I went outside and started mowing. I mowed around the house and the front yard, then the barn lot, all the time the sky was darkening and as I was finishing sprinkles were hitting me. I put the mower up and came inside, just before the rain started coming down hard. It poured down for a while and then lightened up as Linda and Stacey came home about 5 PM. Later I checked the rain gauge and we had received nearly 2 inches of rain. The power had blinked off a couple of times too.

New Tires

Linda left to work at the school a little before 7 this morning. I opened the garage door to let the ducks out of their cage and I grabbed the shovel to fininsh cleaning out the drain hole for the black pipe under the driveway. I dug out 3 or 4 shovels full of dirt and mud and turned to walk back to the garage. I happened to look at the CK truck and noticed that the spare tire was on the left front. Linda hadn't said anything about having a flat tire, so I asked Stacey. She said it was flat when they were at the Smith's Grove trailer and Brent had changed it. Hmm, I went back out and checked out the tire, the steel cords were showing thru on the outer edge. It started raining again, so back inside I went. I looked at the radar image on the computer and we were getting rain from the outer bands of hurricane Katrina. About the time for Linda to leave work at the school, Stacey and I headed into town and tried to locate her. We looked behind the school, but no luck, so we went on to Jeff's Auto Service. I stepped inside and talked to Jeff a few minutes about tires and prices. I told him I would return tomorrow unless I could catch Linda. As we were going thru the stoplight, Linda was waiting to turn, so we waved and motioned for her to follow us. She followed along to the shop. I left the truck for the guys to put on 4 tires. Stacey, Linda and I then went to Jone's to eat. We finished eating and Linda took me back to the shop and the truck was done. I picked it up and headed home. About 5 PM I checked the rain gauge and it showed we had received another inch of rain. That was 3 inches in the last two days, and Katrina hadn't even got near here yet. It was still centered in lower Mississippi.

I've created a web page that shows hourly pictures from the web cam.
Here is the link... Norris Farm Hourly Observations

Rain from Katrina is Gone

We were lucky, most of the rain and wind from Katrina went to the west of us. We still got over 3" of rain as the storm system made it's way north past KY. Stacey and I went down and checked the mum patch and it looked in pretty good shape. There was a little standing water, but the rain really helped the plants turn greener and get bigger.
 
Three days of rain has just about made our grass 'out of control'. I started mowing about 8:30 in the morning and quit about 4:30. It was slow going with heavy dew in the morning making the grass stick under the mower. So I mowed the shortest grass first and let the taller sections go until later in the day so it could dry some. The section where the old house used to be had to have the mower deck raised so the mower would go thru without choaking it. One benefit is the grass on the hill in front of our house has filled in a bit more.
 
Stacey, Linda and I left for Smith's Grove about 5 PM to pick up the red trailer and bring some more 'stuff' back to the farm. We also went to Pauline and Brent's house to visit a little while. Brent, Pico and Poco were home, but Pauline was still working late. We stayed about an hour and then met Brent at Wendy's in Smith's Grove for some eats before we headed on home making it about 9 PM
 
This will probably be the best picture of the mum patch as we have started digging them for sale now. In fact, we had dug 10 plants before I took the picture above.