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Posted on Wednesday, September 01, 2010
Breakfast With Jason
Jason had called Stacey and made arrangement to have breakfast together,
so we drove to town and met him at the restaurant. Jason had been on a
cruise ship for nearly a week with his Dad, David Strange. He had not
been able to call Stacey a few days while he was out of the United
States, so they had a little catching up to do. He told us about his
trip and where they had stopped and went ashore. While he had been at
one of the stops, Jason had bought a gift for Stacey. He gave the little
box to Stacey and she opened it. It was a necklace in the shape of a
sail boat. Stacey thanked Jason while Linda helped put it on her so we
all were able to see how it looked.
Jason
said the boat was big, nice, and that there were about 15 levels on it.
They had nice weather while on the boat, but Stephanie had worried about
them with it being hurricane season. Our breakfast was delivered and we
talked more as we ate. Stacey gave Jason a hug and thanked him for the
necklace before we left for home. Brent messaged us and told us they
were coming over for the weekend and Sabra and Jim Lindzy were coming
down from IN with their two kids. We had a bunch of mowing and other
things to get done before they arrived, so we went to work.
Posted on Saturday, September 04, 2010
Building a Sidewalk
Pauline and Brent were the first to drive in with Julie and Kyle. Sabra
and Jim Lindzy arrived late Friday evening with their kids, Amber and
Clayton. Amber is six and Clayton is almost 4 years old. Linda cooked a
big breakfast the first thing Saturday. Sabra and Pauline fixed plates
for the kids and we sat Clayton, Julie and Amber at the bar.
Brent
had made plans with Jim for us to lay a sidewalk with pavers for the
backside of our house, so I had ordered the crushed stone and it was
delivered on Friday. After breakfast, I asked Linda to round up the
tools we needed while I used the tractor to remove the large creek rock
we had been using as stepping stones. Jim and Brent, along with the
others, watched while the tractor did the work lifting the rocks out of
the dirt.
Once
the rocks were out of the ground, I used the scoop to pick them up and
haul them away from the area. Jim and Brent had to help load a few that
I couldn't get in the scoop. After that I used the tractor to scoop out
the dirt and level the path where the pavers were to be laid. We then
laid down 2 by 4s for a border and poured the crushed stone out of the
tractor scoop in between the boards. Julie, Jim and Brent used rakes to
spread out the gravel, then we used a straight edged board to screed the
gravel until it was level.
We
turned the corner and continued along the back wall of the house. Once
the gravel was almost done along that section, I used the tractor to
remove the rest of the creek rocks going towards the garage door while
Jim and Brent finished spreading and leveling the gravel in the back
section. We then spread the gravel most of the way to the garage.
Clayton
had caught one of the small lizards that scurry around the barns and was
holding it in his hands while Sabra took it's picture. I was tired and
ready to quit at dark, but Brent said it was just getting nice to work,
no sun and cooler, so we laid two sections of pavers. One section was
over 40 feet long and the other section was about 12 feet in length. We
used the Mule to haul the pavers to Brent, who set them in place while
Jim used a hammer to tamp them down level. We quit after that and went
inside, played with the kids a little, took showers and went to bed.
Posted on Sunday, September 05, 2010
Sidewalk and Kids
After breakfast on Sunday, we began laying pavers right by the back
porch and working our way towards the driveway.
The
kids played inside while we finished up the work on the sidewalk, then
we loaded them in the Mule with Linda driving and they also took Daisy
along.
We
crossed the creek and Linda let Daisy out while I took a picture. Sabra,
Jim and Brent were riding on the ATVs and managed to catch up with us
when we stopped to throw rocks into the creek. All the kids found
special rocks they wanted to keep and piled them in the Mule. Clayton
needed a change of clothes after just about every trip to the creek. He
just can't stay dry when near the creek water.
Linda
headed back towards our farm and drove through an old barn along the
way. When we arrived at the pop sickle barn, Jim grabbed a frozen pop
sickle and laid down in the gravel pile where the kids were playing.
Pauline
joined us and had brought Kyle down to the pop sickle barn. Linda let
him suck on one of the pop sickles and he liked the way it felt. I think
it helped him as he is cutting teeth. Brent started the Triumph and took
Amber, Clayton and Julie a short ride around the yard in the little car.
Then Jim and Brent drove the TR-3 to town to pick up some stuff for Jim.
We
went inside and ate ham for lunch. Jim and Brent played a few games of
pool upstairs until it was time for them to head back to IN. Sabra
packed their bags and we all went outside and told them good bye before
they left for IN about 5:30 PM
After
Sabra and Jim's family left, Pauline and Brent said that they and their
kids were going to stay another night.
Posted on Monday, September 06, 2010
Labor Day Winding Down
Sunday evening when Nancy Riddle stopped at the house to walk with Linda
for exercise, she gave us a home made loaf of bread, so Monday morning I
sat it on the table on a cutting board. I sliced a piece and spread some
of the home made jelly that Pauline had made this summer on the bread.
Both tasted real good and together they were even better.
Julie
and Stacey had cereal with milk for breakfast. Linda was straightening
up the bedrooms and running the dish washer while Brent and I watched a
NASCAR race that was recorded. I went outside and was working on the
last bit of the side walk, then Brent came out to help. Pauline brought
Kyle out to the garage and set him in the stroller while she helped.
Linda came out and her and I decided to remove a small section of pavers
in the flower bed so we would have enough pavers to finish the side walk
completely. Pauline and Linda picked those out as I carried the
remaining new pavers over to Brent and he laid them in place. By lunch
time, that work was done, we went in the house and had ham sandwiches.
Brent mentioned ham salad, so I made enough for them to take a container
home with them and us to have some too. After stopping for pop sickles
at the pole barn, we all took a Mule ride with Daisy running. Julie went
to sleep whiile riding in the Mule. I made a short stop at the equipment
shed and Brent helped me unhook the finish mower and hook up the grader
box. We returned to the house, Brent and Pauline loaded their car, put
their kids in the car seats and headed home at 2:30 PM. Around 5 PM, I
went back to work moving the dirt along the back of the side walk. I
used the grader box behind the tractor to scrape it several times. I
pulled the dirt into a pile, then used the tractor that had the scoop to
move the pile. I was still working on it when Nancy and Steve stopped by
the house. Steve and I sat on the back porch and talked. When Nancy and
Linda were done walking I finished replacing the line of bricks between
the new side walk and the flower bed. Nancy and Steve went home just a
little before dark, then Linda and I smoothed out the gravel and dirt
and went inside about an hour after dark.
Posted on Thursday, September 09, 2010
Tractor Work
About 7:30 AM, our neighbor, Bill Pollick, was at the door and asking me
to help him. He needed me to do some work with my tractor. I took the
tractor over to his place to help with the construction of a house he's
building. First I pushed some piles of dirt out of the way, then used
the scoop on the tractor to spread gravel over a perforated drain pipe
around the foundation. Large dump trucks from the highway relocation
work were hauling in dirt and dumping their loads as I was moving more
gravel and filling in the area for his garage. The trucks probably
dumped 30 loads of dirt. I quit dumping the gravel in the garage area
about 10 AM. He was going to have his worker compact the gravel later,
so I went home and showered, then headed to the Burkesville Bicentennial
meeting. 
Linda
and Stacey went to Campbellsville to shop. I ate at the restaurant after
I attended the meeting, then made a few changes to images for the
committee and emailed them to the people that had requested copies. I
came back home and changed clothes, then went over to Connie and Bill's
place and dumped another layer of gravel into the garage area to be
compacted. I also leveled a few piles of the dirt that had been dumped
in order to get close to the foundation area. I only worked about an
hour this time, then put the tractor back in the shed and went inside.
Linda and Stacey returned from shopping without buying much.
Posted on Monday, September 13, 2010
Helping Our Neighbor
Linda and I had finished the side walk Saturday.
Sunday, she laid
down weed block around the flowers between the house and the new side
walk. I used the tractor to scoop up the river rocks and dump them into
several 5 gallon buckets with the ones that missed the buckets falling
back in the pile. I then set the full buckets in the empty scoop and
drove them to the edge of the side walk. I carried the buckets to where
ever Linda need more rocks to cover the weed block. We did this until we
had covered the entire flower bed with the round river rocks. I also
scooped up enough rocks to finish the two flower beds on the other end
of the house the same way, while Linda redid the square flower bed
outside the master bath window. Linda dug out around the flowers, then
laid down a weed block and covered it with mulch instead of rocks.
Monday,
after we had breakfast, I took the tractor to Connie and Bill's
construction site to move a small amount of dirt for him. After I
finished with the tractor, I told Linda I was going to help him a while
since Linda was taking Stacey for an eye doctor appointment. I rode the
ATV down to help Bill. He had fastened the sill plate to the foundation
and I helped cut 2 by 12s for the beams across the piers. Bill used his
fork truck to get the wood from the stack and lift it to where we could
transfer the 2 by 12s over to where we were working.
Then
we nailed one of the rim bands in place and started nailing the 2 by 12s
for floor joists in place. We were able to finish half of the floor
joists before we ran out of energy and time. Linda had came home and
dropped Stacey off, then went to work at the day care. When she returned
we took the Mule and let Daisy run, then stopped at Connie and Bill's to
see what Bill and I had done.
Posted on Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Water Off
I came into the house and Linda said that the fairly
new washer wasn't working. I went into the laundry room and she
turned it on. I could hear the water valve buzzing, so I said to turn it
off and we went into the kitchen and tried the water. None came out of
the faucet. Linda called the water department and they thought the road
crew had hit the water line again. Since the road crew wasn't that far
from our house, I told Linda I was going to check it out. I drove the
Mule to where they were working and sure enough, they had hit the water
line that runs along Garrett Creek Road. 
The
water line wasn't buried very deep and a bull dozer cutting a ditch for
the road had busted it. The track hoe was brought in to dig out around
the busted line in order for it to be replaced. I returned to the farm
and told Linda about the line. Around three hours later, the water was
back on, but I guess we need to boil our drinking water for a few days.
Posted on Saturday, September 18, 2010
Bluegrass Festival & Cruising
I've been using the tractor to help the neighbor with building his
house. The job I'm doing now is scooping up small gravel in the scoop
and filling up the void where his garage will be. So far, I moved 40
tons from the pile dumped by truck and poured it inside the foundation.
Bill had a dozer shove the dirt up to the foundation so that I could
finish filling it. I went early and finished the pile, but he's going to
have to order another truck load before it will be full. I returned to
the house and Brent and I instant messaged for a little while. He sent
me a picture he took of Kyle.
After
I showered, Stacey, Linda and I drove the 65 Mustang to town and pulled
into the park.
The
Bluegrass Music Festival had started Friday night and was continuing.
Linda was scheduled to work at the Home Makers' booth for a couple of
hours so we went early, ate 'fair food' and then listened to music while
she was working.
Everyone
was saying how big the crowd had been Friday night, that it was the most
people they had ever saw in the park. We were glad to hear that the
festival had drawn a lot of people. After Linda finished her time
volunteering at the booth, we returned to the Mustang and prepared to
drive to Russel Springs with several of the Cumberland River Cruisers.
Six vehicles went together on the trip. We drove out of town and took a
scenic route around the west end of Lake Cumberland and across Wolf
Creek Dam, through Jamestown, KY and then to Russell Springs. The Ol
Boys Toys' cruise-in was being held in a parking lot behind Sonic
Drive In Restaurant.
They
furnished hot dogs and hamburgers free for everyone attending. They also
gave dash plaques away and at the end picked winners and gave them
trophies. Around 5:30 PM, the cruise-in was over, our group left and
headed back to Burkesville. After the ride home, we parked the Mustang
and went inside, put on long pants and headed back to the Bluegrass
Festival.
We
stayed there until about 9 PM.
Posted on Sunday, September 19, 2010
Visiting
Linda and Brent were instant messaging and Brent wanted us to drive over
to their house after breakfast. We decided we would leave the farm about
10 AM. After the drive over, we pulled into the driveway and Julie came
running out to meet us along with their dogs. We went inside and played
with Kyle while we let the little dogs stay outside a few minutes. It
took about a half hour to get things ready, then we rode in their
Traverse to the Bowling Green Mall. Brent parked near the food court
entrance and we went inside and each person bought what they wanted for
lunch. We let Julie eat quickly and then run around a little distance
away from our tables. Pauline and Linda were on missions to buy certain
items, but Brent and I really were just along for the ride. Stacey
pushed Kyle in the collapsible stroller and we let Julie run ahead and
then come back to us as we walked through the mall. Brent and I watched
Kyle while the girls went into some shops. I fed him a container of baby
food, then he took a nap for a lot of the ride through the mall.
We
left the mall and shopped at several other stores before stopping to eat
at Toot's Restaurant. Brent drove us back to their house when we
finished our dinners and we played with Julie and Kyle until it was time
for Kyle to go to bed. We told everyone good bye and headed for home a
little after 8 PM.
Posted on Saturday, September 25, 2010
Odds 'n Ends In Lebanon TN
A few days ago, Linda and I cut some pieces of cedar for the women in
the Home Makers Club to use to construct candle holders at their monthly
meeting.
Pauline,
Brent and their kids came to visit Friday evening. Linda had supper
ready to eat when they arrived, but Brent gave Julie a breathing
treatment before we ate.
Saturday morning, Julie was feeling better
and ate a good breakfast. We let Daisy run and since the hay has been
cut and rolled, it seems like she is happier running around the entire
field instead of just around the edges. Julie wanted to stop at the 'pop
sickle' barn, so we took Daisy back to the barn and then had pop
sickles. I suggested going to Lebanon, TN and looking at antiques and a
quilt shop. Pauline was all for that, Linda thought it would be a good
day too, so we went to the house and packed the stuff for Kyle, then
loaded in the Traverse and Brent headed towards Celina. After about an
hour ride, we arrived in Lebanon and drove to the town square. Brent
parked, we immediately ate lunch, then started going through the antique
shops.
I
was looking for old display cabinets instead of the smaller items inside
them while Julie found some small furniture and toys made out of wood.
Stacey drove the stroller with Kyle riding in it, so Pauline, Linda and
Brent browsed at their own speeds. We circled the square, going in each
shop and then returned to the Traverse. The quilt shop I thought Pauline
would like had closed, but an antique shop owner had told me where
another one was located, so Brent drove us to it and we went inside.
When
Pauline finished looking in the quilt shop, we rode to Cookeville and
shopped a while. Around 5 PM, we stopped shopping and ate at Applebee's
before riding back to the farm.
Posted on Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Hay
Brent had called and asked Linda to come over to their house to help
with Julie and Kyle. Pauline was involved in a lawsuit against WKU as a
witness and she didn't know how long the trial would last each day.
Stacey and Linda left the farm Tuesday evening after Linda finished at
the day care. I have been trimming with the bush hog around the hay
fields that Larry Anderson had finished cutting and rolling. Steve
Riddle called and borrowed my hay rake and was raking his field on
Jone's Ridge. Garmons had cut the other fields across the creek and
raked and rolled that hay while I was at the pole barn.
I
talked with Phil and Steve Garmon after they finished the hay. The
weather had been dry early in the summer, so they had waited later for
the second cutting, which made the last cutting a little smaller. They
said they had made over 100 rolls off of the fields for the year, which
was a pretty good year. Phil invited us to a pig roast they've been
having every fall. Later, just before dark, Steve Riddle returned the
hay rake and said his hay had turned out good. He thought he had the
most rolls he had ever made off of his field. We pushed the rake back in
the pole barn and I closed the doors, then I went to the house.
