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Posted on Friday, September 06, 2013
Julie's Grandparents' Day
Stacey and I left the farm and I drove the HHR to South
Edmonson Elementary School to attend Julie's Grandparents' Day. We
arrived a few minutes early and were instructed to wait in the atrium
until Julie's class was brought down for lunch. We talked a few minutes
with other grandparents in attendance, then the kids started filing
through. We saw Julie walking by, so I said her name and she motioned
for us to follow. We joined the line and walked into the cafeteria Julie
showed us where to pickup the lunch trays and how to begin filling the
trays with food and drinks. We left the line when we had all the items
we needed and Julie picked us out a spot to sit at one of the tables.
Her friend, Amber, joined us. Then Ms Monica came by and we took
pictures of Julie and her teacher.
A
teacher taking pictures for the yearbook used our camera and took
pictures of us all setting at the table. The lunchroom was really crowed
with a lot of other grandparents and students enjoying the time together.
We
took a few more pictures as we continued eating, then Principal Woolsey
came by and we managed to get him to take a picture with Julie and
Amber. After lunch, we walked to the library to look through the Book
Fair and then to Julie's classroom.
Julie
was eager to show us through the school and tell us how she spent her
day doing things in the school. It was fun spending time with Julie in
her school.
Posted on Friday, September 13, 2013
Daleville Trip
Stacey, Linda and I had been loading items into the truck and red
trailer for two or three days. Stacey and I had our bags packed and
stuff laying out so that when Linda came home from working at the school
Thursday afternoon it wouldn't take long to be ready to leave. We packed
the remaining things, Linda fixed a cooler and we left the farm. After
driving to IN, we stopped in Chesterfield at the grocery store and then
picked up a pizza at the Pizza King. We drove to Daleville and went
inside and ate, then unpacked our clothes and went to bed.
Friday,
Linda and Stacey went to Muncie and ordered a birthday cake and picked
up some small items they needed for the party. They returned to the
house and we went to Elbert's Bar for a late lunch. We walked back to
the house and a few minutes after 5 PM, Mark, the cabinet maker came by
to check his measurements and let me show him where to turn off the
water and how to work the HVAC system. We gave him a key to the house so
he could work at his own speed during the upcoming months without us
being in IN. As he was about to leave, Kim Bourke stopped by after she
had left work.
We
all talked for a few hours until Pauline and Brent showed up with their
kids and dogs. Kim left about a half hour later and everyone went to bed
about 10:30 PM.
Posted on Saturday, September 14, 2013
Reba's Birthday Party
Saturday morning, everyone was slowly waking up, Pauline
decided to ride with me to pickup the birthday cake at Meijer's in
Muncie. We also bought dough nuts to have for breakfast. Linda was
baking the ham and Brent was controlling Julie and Kyle. We came back to
the house and the kids woofed down some dough nuts with a glass of milk.
I sliced the ham and Linda prepared some smokie links in a slow cooker.
Brent and I took Julie and Kyle to the little park in Daleville and let
them play while the girls were showering and getting things ready to go
to Shelly and Jeff's house for Nana's Birthday Party. Linda, Stacey,
Pauline and Julie all went to Shelly and Jeff's early to help prepare
for the party. Brent, Kyle and I were assigned the job of picking up a
bucket of chicken and then Reba. Linda had called her earlier and made a
dinner date, but the party was a total surprise. We arrived in Pendleton
about 1:15 PM and Nana immediately put Brent to work fixing her bathroom
sink drain and my job was to get her TV reset so she could watch it. We
did those things and began prompting Nana to get ready to go. She
piddled around, talking all the time, but I stayed on task and we
finally had her in the truck and were on our way. We chatted all the way
to Shelly and Jeff's driveway, then Nana said, "Oh this is Shelly's?" I
told her, "Yeah, the girls are here waiting on us." When I pulled up to
the garage area and there were lots of cars and trucks, Nana realized
something was up. I had Kyle lead her into the house where the hugging
and the celebration began.
Everyone
enjoyed the pitch in dinner while talking and telling stories. Nana was
shocked that everyone had come just to celebrate her birthday.
Nana
blew out the candles on the cake as Julie started singing "Happy
Birthday" with everyone singing along.
Reba
cut the cake as someone made a joke about one of the candles being
upside down. She didn't want to talk about that!
Jeff
had picked up some strawberry swirl ice cream that went really well with
the half chocolate/half white cake. Linda started helping with dipping
the ice cream and cutting the cake.
Nana
opened her presents with two of her great grandkids helping.
The
rest of the afternoon was spent with friendly conversations and hugs
before the party broke up around 6:30 PM.
*A special THANK YOU to
Shelly and Jeff for hosting the party at their house!*
Posted on Sunday, September 22, 2013
Two Funerals
Linda is an aide for a child at the Cumberland County Elementary School.
The child's mother passed away, unexpectedly, earlier this week.
Saturday, Linda went to visitation at the funeral home in Burkesville.
The funeral was later that day.
Sunday morning we left the farm at 7
AM and dropped Stacey off in Smith's Grove to stay with her brother
while we drove to IL to attend the funeral of Vera Bellamy. We used the
Garmin GPS to navigate the over 4 hour trip with a stop in Paducah for
lunch before driving the last bit to Ullin, IL. We arrived at the
funeral home about 40 minutes before the funeral started which gave
Linda some time to talk with her relatives that she hadn't seen in a
long time. Vera's Daughter, Helen and her husband, Peter were surprised
to see us. Vera was 98 years old and Linda's aunt. Linda's Dad, Abner
Bankson and Vera were brother and sister. Linda's Aunt Vera used to call
us on the weekends and talk and I enjoyed the conversations when we
spoke if Linda was outside or gone. Vera was up to date on things and
was always pleasant and talked with a positive attitude. Her calls made
the day better when we talked. After the funeral, we drove our car in
the procession to the Liberty Cemetery where Aunt Vera was going to be
buried.
When
the ceremonies were concluded, the people broke up into small groups and
continued to talk for a while.
Kathi
Walker, Linda's cousin, said "Nobody wants to leave because we might not
ever see each other again.", but finally everyone had to go. We drove
back out the gravel roads and the GPS found us a way back to the
Interstate and then a way back to Pauline and Brent's house. We went
inside and played with Julie and Kyle and talked for longer than an
hour, then drove the rest of the way back to the farm with Stacey. It
had been a 580 mile round trip. A very long day trip, but one Linda had
wanted to make.
Posted on Wednesday, September 25, 2013
Apple Jam
One of the volunteers at school had given Linda a bag of small apples
that they had grown on their place. Linda brought them home and we
looked at the apples. There were probably about a half bushel of small
apples in the bag. We decided we would make jam out of the apples with
our Ball Jelly & Jam Maker. I had to go to the store and purchase some
bags of sugar, so Linda started peeling the apples and cutting them into
pieces. I returned and used the food processor to reduce the size of the
pieces, then I placed the small pieces into a container so I could
measure out the right amount. I also measured the sugar and pectin, then
I added just 1/8 tsp of cinnamon to give the jam a good flavor. Twenty
one minutes later I was dipping the jam and pouring it into the jars. I
then put on the lids with the rings and set the jars of jam in a pot of
boiling water for 10 minutes. I was getting the next batch ready as the
boiling was completed. I started the next batch and then removed the
finished jars of jam from the pot and let them cool on the stove top.
Soon, we could hear the popping of the lids as each jar sealed. After
two batches, Linda's hands gave out from the peeling of the apples, so
we finished up the job the next day. We ended up with 18 half pints of
apple jam after we gave two jars away.
There
are little bits of apple all through the jam and the taste is like
eating an apple pie without the crust. Yummy!
Posted on Sunday, September 29, 2013
Fix Up Days
Brent and family came to the farm for the weekend. We tried to go
swimming at the Wellness Center but when we arrived we found out the
pool was closed for cleaning. We returned to the farm and decided to
have a picnic at the pole barn. We cooked hot dogs and ate chips while
the home made ice cream was freezing. We made two types of ice cream,
one with peaches and the other was chocolate. My favorite was the
peaches and cream.
Brent
worked on the walkway lights, re-soldering the wire connections, then we
replaced the spark plugs in the 4 wheelers and started three of those.
One gave us trouble with the brake drum being locked tight and not
letting the wheel and tire roll. Brent put it on the small black trailer
and hauled it to the pole barn. He also used the trailer to take some
Halloween decorations up to the house. We took the finish mower deck off
the FarmTrac tractor and hooked it to the NH Workmaster after we removed
the bush hog cutter. The FarmTrac has a broken lift leveler and is out
of commission until the replacement piece I have ordered arrives.
I
cooked chicken breasts with fried potatoes on the grill Sunday before
Pauline and Brent left for home. Later Sunday evening, I jacked up the 4
wheeler, then took the wheel and tire off the 4 wheeler and tapped the
brake drum with a piece of metal, then started the 4 wheeler and put it
in gear and the frozen brake drum came loose. I reinstalled the tire and
wheel and rode the 4 wheeler around for a bit to make sure things were
working.
