Norris Family Blog

Class of 1969 45th Reunion

Stacey, Linda and I left the farm about noon on Friday and headed to Daleville. Traffic was terrible around Louisville and then 20 miles south of Indy it was literally stop and go on I-65. We made it without being involved in a wreck, but it was a close call a few times. I hooked up the TV and turned on the water and the water heater while Linda went to Chesterfield for groceries and a pizza. When we finished that, we walked over to Elbert's for a couple drinks, then back to the house and called it a night.
Saturday morning I had to go to the BMV to try to get Mom's car title changed into my name. Even with court papers, death certificates, the old title, letters of administration, letters for guardianship, it was impossible according to the ladies behind the counter. They recommended I have it done in KY. I proceeded to explain that I had already been to the IN BMV once, then to the KY County Clerk's office once and neither of them would change the title regardless of the paperwork I had shown them. It looked like I wasn't going to get the title changed, then the lady leaned over and whispered to me, "Here's what I'd do if I was you..." and proceeded to explain that if I could get someone in IN to buy the car they could change the title. To make a very long story short, I called our niece Shelly and she and her husband came to my rescue. We made the title out to her, basically sold it for $1, I paid the fee and they will get the title in less than a week. Then they can sell it back to me. I hope... for just a dollar. :-) I have confidence in everything going well. Imon and Linda K came to the Daleville house and visited with us for a while around noon. While they were there, an old friend dropped in. Jim Cooper walked over and came in for a while to talk. We had some great times back in the day and he had all of us giggling like crazy before he left.
My class reunion started at 6 PM, so Linda and I drove to the Lions' Club and started to go inside. The teasing began before I was able to shut the car door. Inside were a bunch of old people, not the young kids I remembered. Then it hit me, these people had aged just like I had. Geez, what the heck? I recognized most as I met them, but there were a few I could not put a name with the face. A few people had trouble with my name also. We stood and talked for a while, then Jeff Dickey gave a short prayer before we all filled our plates and then enjoyed conversations during the meal.

Janet Robbins presented Ron Everett with a special quilt she had made. The quilt had every classmates name embroidered on it and Ron asked each of us to sign it later during the evening. Then they asked the people that had served in the Armed Forces to stand in front of the USA Flag for a picture.

Then it was time for a group shot with everyone at once.

Then the girls in attendance. From Left to Right are: Deborah Hale, Janet Robbins, Debra Oakley, Nancy Selby, Hannelore Gascho, Kathy Brandenburg, Vicky Daily (hidden), Judith Anderson, Kathi Robertson, Mary Beth Maddox, Ronnette Nixon, Charlene Luttrell

Then the guys in attendance. From Left to Right are: Jeffrey Babb, Russell Bradway, Charles Clevenger, Ronnie Everett, Gary Sneed, Wayne Atkinson, Wayne Reagan, Steven Keesling, Jeffrey Dickey, Reddric Robertson, Eric Hopper, Keith Earhardt, Steven Nale, Virgil Hall, David Norris, Benjamin Parsons

As soon as the picture taking was over, we began to break into groups and reminincse about the old times and also what had happened in our lives since we left high school. Some left sooner than others, some stayed late. I totally enjoyed the get together and seeing people I had not seen in 45 years. In one second we were right back like we were still in school and a second or two later the time was now!

AWESOME FUN!

Posted by Dave at 9:55 PM
Categories:

Hay Fields

The Garmons are in the process of finishing the second cutting of the hay fields across from the house. It has been hot and dry enough that they were able to cut one day and almost finish rolling the hay the next day.

The thunderstorm we had about a week ago left several small trees laying at the edge of the hay fields. Now that they have the hay cut, I will need to get those cleaned up. I will trim the limbs off and keep the larger pieces of the tree trunks for firewood, then shove the debris out of the fields with the tractor scoop. Looks like two of trees will be good to cut up and will make decent firewood , so I might get some extra benefit out of the clean up job.

Without sowing any seeds, the grass in the area that was bulldozed earlier in the year has filled in fairly well.

Posted by Dave at 11:00 AM
Categories: Current Events, Farm

Wheel Bearings

In order to clean up the trees at the edge of the hay fields, I needed to replace a wheel bearing on our small black trailer. I towed the trailer to the pole barn and jacked up one wheel, took off the grease cap and removed the bearing nut. Then took the entire wheel and hub off the axle, pounded out the bearing races and took all the pieces to NAPA. The tech found me two new sets of bearing and also sold me a tub of grease to pack the new bearings. I returned to the farm and pounded in the new bearing races, greased the new bearings and placed them on the axle and in the wheel.

Wow, things actually went as they were supposed to go. I tightened the bearing nut, put the pin in to lock the nut in place and tapped the bearing cap back on the hub.

The wheel bearings were making a noise from lack of grease, maybe caused by a bad bearing seal letting water in the back side. Now, they're running quiet.

Posted by Dave at 2:30 PM
Categories: Current Events, Farm

Smooth Water

Brent & Pauline came over with their kids Friday evening. We tried a new dish we made from a recipe I found on the computer. It was called "Lazy Stuffed Peppers". Everyone ate it, said it needed something, but ate more and more until it was nearly all gone. Either they were really hungry or it was pretty good just the way it was made??
Saturday we had planned on going to the lake. It was a little cloudy and a rain shower had went over before daylight, so we were slow getting started. After breakfast everyone fired up as the sky was getting brighter, so we loaded up and headed to the lake. We launched the boat and headed to our favorite cove, but it was occupied, so we went to Pusley to find a spot. When we pulled in there, the water was so smooth it "looked like glass", I mentioned it looked like it would be great for knee boarding.

Kyle was the first one out, then Julie, then Brent. Then Julie took a couple turns on her skis, then Brent skied. Once they were all ready for a rest, we pulled out of there as more boats had found our sweet spot and were churning up the water. We moved to another cove that not many people know about and it looked like it was just our lake.

We spent most of the day enjoying the privacy, eating lunch and swimming in that cove. We finally took a ride near the end of the day, saw Cindy & Bruce Beck and talked to them on the radio. They told us where Brenda & Gary Brown had their house boat, so we went over there a little bit, talked about a half hour and then went back out on the main part of the lake. We swam a little more, then took the boat out and headed home just as it began to sprinkle rain.
Sunday morning after breakfast, we loaded the crew into the Mule, along with Daisy, with the small black trailer behind and took chainsaws to clean up the last one of the trees that had fell in the hay field. Brent and I were both cutting the tree into pieces as the girls were picking up the small pieces and throwing them on the trailer. I quit sawing a little before Brent and began tossing the larger pieces on the trailer, then the kids picked up the debris and tossed it in the edge of the woods. We were completely done in about 45 minutes. We pulled the trailer back behind the equipment shed and dumped off the wood, put the tools and trailer up and went to the pole barn for refreshments while the kids were swinging on the rope swing. Brent started the brush pile burning in the fire pit and Julie wanted to roast marshmallows or roast hot dogs or something. LoL I went to the store and bought hot dogs, buns, marshmallows, small chocolate bars and graham crackers. When I returned it began raining, so we headed to the patio at the pole barn. Brent took the hot dogs and roasted them in the rain, then a few marshmallows so that everyone could have what they wanted to eat. It wasn't perfect, but the kids didn't care and neither did we, it was still fun! I think they left for home a little after noon.

Posted by Dave at 10:00 PM
Categories: Boating, Current Events, Farm

Good Checkup

Monday, Stacey and I had breakfast after Linda left for the school. The Overhead Door repairman showed up, backed the HHR out of the garage and had the new door springs halfway installed before Stacey and I even knew he was in the garage. I had told the service manager that we probably would not be at home and for the repair guy to punch in our code and do his job without us being home. He was earlier than scheduled and had the job done before Stacey and I had to leave for Bowling Green. As soon as he finished, we hopped in the HHR and headed to Gilbert-Graves Clinic for Stacey's appointment with Dr Zhu. We filled up with gas in Burkesville and headed west on 90, then immediately ran into the road construction. We had about a five minute delay, then on our way again. After circling the parking lot twice, I found a parking place and we went inside about five minutes before her appointment time. That worked out fairly well, we only had about a ten minute wait before being called into the exam room. Vitals were taken, pill dosage written down and then we waited about two minutes for Dr Zhu. He immediately asked if Stacey had any seizures since our visit a year ago. The answer was no. I explained that we only had to give Stacey Valium on 5 different occasions in that year. He looked for the blood test results, which weren't there, he stepped out into the office and told the girls to get those results, then came back in and began conversing with Stacey about the Pacers and Paul George being injured. He cringed at the thought of George's injury. Dr Zhu said the Pacers were done, at best they might make the playoffs. Stacey had a few things to say, but Dr Zhu knew his facts and countered with how Cleveland was building a championship team. The blood test results were brought in and Dr Zhu said everything looked good, to keep doing what had worked and he wanted to see Stacey in 1 year. Great, we were out of there after making an appointment for August 2015. We ate lunch at Mancino's and then stopped at Aldi's, which is a mess because of the construction to redo the place. Then we went over to Sam's Club and bought supplies, then back to the farm.
Stacey's NASCAR Brickyard Winner die cast car arrived in the mail. It was one of her favorite drivers, Jeff Gordon, that won this year's Brickyard 400, so she was happy to get his new car.

Posted by Dave at 3:30 PM
Categories: Cars, Current Events

Day Of Rest On The Lake

Monday I spent most of the morning taking the disk off the NH-55 tractor and pulling out the hay rake and tedder. I hooked the tedder to the tractor and then went to the house, prepared a cooler with drinks and loaded up all of the stuff in the Mule. Stacey drove the Mule behind me on the tractor as we went south on KY 61 to Randall Flowers hay field. I began teddering the hay around noon and finished about 4:30 PM.
Tuesday, I hooked up the hay rake and prepared the things we needed to take, loaded the stuff in the Mule and headed back to the field a little before noon. My neighbor was supposed to help rake the hay too, but the rake he borrowed tore up on the way to the field. I ended up raking the entire field. I finished it about 4:45 PM. Linda and Stacey helped me push the equipment back in the pole barn when I was done.
Wednesday I needed a day of rest, but Linda had taken a day off from working at the school and she wanted to go to Dale Hollow. Well, I'm not one to turn down a trip to the lake, so we packed a couple small coolers and opened the pole barn doors. I drove the truck out with the boat behind it and we were off. After filling the boat with gas, we drove to the State Park Dock. Only one truck & trailer was in the entire parking lot. I guess everyone else was waiting on Labor Day to be on the lake with a thousand other boats. LoL Once we left the dock area, the lake was practically deserted, so I told Stacey it was her turn to drive.

Stacey drove us past our usual stop and on over to Pusley Creek, where we picked a cove that was usually taken by house boats. We anchored there and swam for a long time. We had planned on going to Cedar Hill for lunch, so around 11:30 AM we pulled in the anchor and headed towards the dam. The water was the smoothest I've ever seen it, everywhere! When we hit a rough spot, the Sea Ray just glidded across the inch high ripples. LoL

We pulled into the dock area at Cedar Hill, asked where to park and if the restaurant was open. It wasn't, so we didn't bother to tie up. We went on towards the dam and passed the swinging bridge in the Pleasand Grove Recreation Area.

Linda had taken enough stuff so that we could have a snack, which we did while floating in the large area by the dam. Then I drove back towards Pusley Creek. We made the trip in 30 minutes and never met another boat during that time, just smooth water!

We played in the water until about 3 PM, then we rode to Wisdom Dock and went inside and ate at the restaurant. Their food is pretty good, but they don't have a large selection. After that, we took some time to swim in a cove we had never stopped at, then took a ride past the cliffs to dry off and then to the head waters, where past there, it is Idle Zone Only.

We turned around and motor boated back towards the State Park Dock. It was a few minutes past 7 PM when we pulled the boat out of the water and up the ramp. Not another vehicle with a trailer in the lot. Wow!

There are different types of days on the lake, days with family, days with friends, and days like today, some better than others, all great in their own way. But this was one of those PERFECT days!