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Posted on Thursday, October 04, 2007

Mum Patch Update

Wednesday morning Stacey, Linda and I rode in the Mule to the mum patch and I began digging mums with Linda potting them and Stacey carrying the potted mums to the trailer behind the Mule. We had dug one mum and Stacey put it on the trailer, then looked at us and said she was starting to twitch. I unhooked the trailer, we rode in the Mule back to the house and by then the twitching was getting worse. Linda gave Stacey and 10 mg Valium and about 15 minutes later, I gave Stacey another 10 mg Valium. It took a few minutes but her twitching subsided. A little after noon, Linda gave Stacey another 5 mg of Valium, then a half hour later another 5 mg for a total of 30 mg in less than 4 hours. I decided that we should take Stacey to see Dr Rice at his office, so we loaded in the truck and drove to town. I pulled to the back door, opened it and rolled a wheel chair outside and placed Stacey in it. As I rolled Stacey in the back door, the nurse directed us into an examination room and in about 10 minutes Dr Rice came in to see how Stacey was getting along. He explained what we should do for Stacey the remainder of the day if anything else occurred. After about 20 minutes of consultation, we returned to the farm. Linda stayed with Stacey and I went to the mum patch and dug the mums we absolutely had to dig for a customer. I returned to the house and Linda watered the mums while I cooled off and stayed with Stacey. We worked like that a couple more times during the remainder of the day. Stacey never required any more Valium and just had mild involuntary movements.
Thursday morning, I went to the mum patch about 6:30 AM and dug mums, then back to the house and watered them and set them in the hay shed. Linda, Stacey and I took the Mule and let Daisy run around the hay fields since she hadn't been out of the barn the day before. We were about half way around when I noticed Daisy had run right over the top of a snake laying in the trail. I ran over the snake with the Mule and stopped a little past it. I took the shovel out and chopped it's head off. Daisy came back and was a little scared of the dead snake.
 
We went back to the house and put Daisy in the barn, then Linda, Stacey and I went to the mum patch and dug a trailer load of mums. I'm guessing that the mums in the patch are about half gone.
   
Regina came down and helped us finish the trailer load and then we went back to the hay shed and watered the mums I had dug yesterday. They are supposed to be picked up on Friday.
  

Posted by at 8:19 PM
Categories: Current Events


Posted on Saturday, October 06, 2007

Edmonton Pumpkin Festival

Linda, Stacey and I went to town for breakfast and then returned to the farm. We took the Mule to the mum patch and dug mums. We had the trailer about half full when Regina joined us and helped with potting the mums I dug. We filled the trailer, then pulled it to Regina's front yard and set the mums on the hay wagon, then watered each mum. We decided to clean up and go to Edmonton to see what was going on at their Pumpkin Festival. I took a shower while Linda sold mums to her friend, Stephanie. Stacey and I picked up Linda and Regina and I drove to Edmonton. We found a close parking spot, then walked to the Courthouse Square and began checking out the booths and displays people had setup.
   
We strolled around the square amid the booths and hundreds of people. That was the most people I've seen at the Pumpkin Festival. Regina and Linda had me take some pictures of things they want to make once we are done with the mums. We saw one booth selling large mums for $15 each. We couldn't believe it, we're selling ours for $3 each. Granted, ours were not as big as the ones they were selling, but there wasn't many people buying those $15 mums either. We ordered a plate of potato spirals with cheese and bacon bits. I let Stacey wait on those while I went and bought 4 cups of fresh squeezed lemonade. I carried those back and once the potatoes were ready, we set down and enjoyed our drinks and snack. We took a country road along a creek on the way home that didn't have hardly any traffic. It was a nice ride on a curvy secluded stretch of highway. Back at the farm, we dug a few more mums and took Daisy for a run. Then we dug enough mums to fill the wagon right before sunset.

Posted by at 9:49 PM
Categories: Current Events


Posted on Monday, October 08, 2007

More Hot Weather

The last couple of days have set records here in KY. It was 91 degrees Sunday and 90 degrees today. We're still digging mums, today we dug them early to beat the heat. Then took Daisy for a run. After returning her to the barn, we went to Columbia for lunch and then did some grocery shopping. Once we were back at the farm, Linda went to work at the after school day care. Stacey and I went into town to the bank to cash several checks we had received for mums. As soon as we returned to the farm a guy came by and gave me a check for $90 to pay for the mums he had picked up on Friday. We're getting close to being out of the yellow mums, especially since we need to keep 30 for the Homemakers' Meeting in early November. Those are hard to keep because we usually have a killing frost before then. Linda came home and we let Daisy run again and put a flea collar on her as she has been scratching quite a bit.

Posted by at 8:01 PM
Categories: Current Events


Posted on Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Digging A Bunch of Mums

We started our day with bowls of cereal and milk. Next, Stacey, Linda, Missy and I drove the Mule to the mum patch and began digging mums about 8 AM. We dug about 10 and potted those to fill the black trailer. I had 12 mums on the trailer from the night before, so that made 22 potted mums. We headed back towards the house, but were stopped on the highway by a woman wanting to buy mums. I turned around and we went back to the patch. She pulled her truck inside the fence and we dug 12 mums and potted them and set them in the back of her truck. She followed us to the barn and Linda sold her a few small pumpkins, corn stalks and a bale of hay for $5. She said she would be back next year and left happy. We pulled the trailer to the house and watered the 22 mums. We took Daisy for a run while the water soaked into the dirt around the mums. After putting Daisy back in the barn, then we set the mums in the back of the pickup truck and hauled them to the elementary school. We unloaded the mums and a few pumpkins for their open house on Thursday. We ate lunch while we were in town and then went back to the farm. Linda wanted to rest a while so we waited till about 1:30 PM to dig more mums. We needed 16 yellow mums for Linda's friend, Brenda. We dug and potted those and took them to the house, watered them and set them in the back of the pickup truck. Then I put the cover on the truck bed so the wind wouldn't blow the blooms off when Linda drove to Smith's Grove Thursday morning. We dug a few more mums for the hay wagon and called it a day. Total dug = 65. We showered and went to Columbia and ate supper, then drove home just after dark. It had been a beautiful day to dig mums with a nice breeze and cooler temperatures in the mid 70s.

Posted by at 9:17 PM
Categories: Current Events


Posted on Friday, October 12, 2007

Comparison Shopping

Stacey and I began the day by going to Grumpy's and eating breakfast with Jason. A quick stop at the bank and back to the farm where we took Daisy for a run around the hay fields and fed her. Daisy had thrown her collar off somewhere while running loose. About 10 AM we backed the HHR out of the garage and went to Wal-Mart in Columbia to buy a new choker chain dog collar. After picking out a collar, on the way out, we stopped and looked at the mums Wal-Mart was selling for $7 each.
 
The trip home was a nice ride as the leaves on the trees are just barely starting to change colors. The road was almost deserted as we drove the 20 miles back to the farm.
  
  
I parked the HHR in the garage and Stacey walked down and picked up the mail. A little later, we went to the mum patch in the Mule and took a few pictures to compare our mums to the ones at Wal-Mart. We are getting near time when we could be hit with the first frost of the season. Last year the first frost was on Oct 13th and in 2005 the first frost was on Oct 31st.
    
After taking the pictures of the mums we rode around the hay fields and drove down the almost dry creek bed to the end of our property. Usually there is water in the creek about 6 inches deep in that area. We rode to the back of the 'holler' behind Regina's house and checked out the job I had done the day before bush hogging. I had knocked down some of the bushes and vines growing on the old barn back.
  
At the end of the day, the hay wagon was empty of mums and will need to be refilled tomorrow morning as we have people wanting more mums.

Posted by at 10:25 PM
Categories: Current Events


Posted on Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Tractor Customizing

The last few days I have been bush hogging around the edges of the hay fields and a few rough spots out in the fields. I put the tractor in 3rd gear in low range and it creeps along about 3-4 mph with the bush hog running and the scoop down. I kept the scoop low to push any fallen limbs or debris out of the way. I dropped the left wheels down in a drainage ditch and was cutting the weeds down along the edge of the ditch. I was watching to see the ditch didn't get too deep, that limbs where not going to tear the top off, the scoop wasn't going to hit a tree and the bush hog was high enough to not scalp the ground when I looked up and a vine had lassoed the exhaust stack and had bent it back at a 45 degree angle. I stopped immediately and backed up, but it was too late, the damage was done. It didn't break it off, just bent it back so it looked like the tractor had been streamlined and was ready to race. I finished making a lap around the hay field and put the tractor in the shed. Today we went to Columbia and ate lunch, then I stopped at the Ford Tractor dealer and bought a new exhaust stack. $65 dollars for the piece and we were on our way home. Back at the farm, I put the stack on the tractor and was shocked that it went on fairly easy. I cleaned up a little of the creek bank and then Stacey and I went for a ride on the 4 wheelers. We caught up with Linda in the Mule and Daisy running. It was a really nice day with several of the trees beginning to change colors and showing up brightly against the blue sky.
   
We rode around the hay field and when we usually get to this one little path that Stacey calls the Duke's Road, referring to the "Dukes Of Hazard" TV show, she starts singing the theme song. Daisy, Stacey and Linda were following as I stopped and took their pictures on that path.
  

Posted by at 9:02 PM
Categories: Current Events


Posted on Thursday, October 18, 2007

Light Rain

Linda left home around 5:30 AM for Pauline and Brent's house to babysit for Julie. After breakfast, Stacey and I went to take Daisy on her morning run. I took a camera and Stacey drove the Mule. As she parked in front of the barn, I noticed where we lay pumpkins to sell, that a pumpkin seed from last year's pumpkins had started a vine.
 
I loaded Daisy in the back of the Mule and we went across the creek with a light rain coming down. It didn't bother Daisy, she seems to like the cooler weather. I saw the mist rising from the back of the 'holler' and then we headed along the creek bank with Daisy in the lead. Stacey stopped the Mule so I could take a picture of the many layers of color between us and hillside including the old barn across the creek on Garmon's Farm.
  
We turned at the upper corner of the farm and headed around the backside of the hay fields. I found a couple of spots that our house was visible and took two pictures showing the colors behind it.
  
We went on down the creek and let Daisy continue back in the 'holler' to the old barn. We stopped before we got all the way back there and called Daisy. She came running back to the Mule.

It was raining harder then, so I put Daisy in the back of the Mule and we went back to the barn. We fed her and locked her in the stall. We only received about 1/4" of rain during the entire day.

Posted by at 3:46 PM
Categories: Current Events


Posted on Friday, October 19, 2007

1956 Chevy Delivered

Imon and Linda arrived a little before 10 PM. They brought the 1956 Chevy with them on a trailer from IN. Imon said on the way they had a small wreck just south of Louisville. He thinks something happened to his brakes during the wreck and they no longer work. He said he's not sure about it yet as he hasn't been able to check it out. We talked a little bit, then went and unloaded the car off the trailer. Brent was eager to try it out, so he took the first test drive down the highway. The car was cold and sputtering as he drove down the highway and back a couple of times. He parked the 56 and I told him to scoot over, it was my turn to drive. We backed out on the highway again and took off. The car was warmed up and accelerated fairly good. We went a little farther and turned around. On the way back, I hammered the accelerator and run the car up through the gears. It sounded a lot better once the motor was cleaned out. Imon has done a great job of rebuilding the car from being in a 'barn find' condition.
 
We parked the car for the night with it needing a few adjustments, a good wax job, and to be driven. We went back inside and talked a while before going to bed about midnight.

Posted by at 11:39 AM
Categories: Current Events


Posted on Sunday, October 21, 2007

Truck Repair

Saturday morning Linda fixed us breakfast, then we went outside and tried to determine what had happened to Imon's truck. I was sent to town to buy a can of brake fluid and when I returned we filled the brake reservoir. Imon and Brent laid under the truck and I pumped the brake pedal until fluid began squirting out of the rear brake line. The line had rusted where a clip held it in place on the rear end. Luckily, it was a line from the distribution block to the right rear brake cylinder. Imon and Brent removed the line and we went to NAPA and purchased another line. We returned and Imon installed the new line. We filled the reservoir again and pumped the pedal until the fluid had filled the new line. Then Imon bled the brake line at the wheel cylinder fitting and we were done. I started the 56 Chevy and told Brent to follow me to town to change the title from an IN title to a KY title. The car ran good and I pulled into the filling station for gas, put in about 1/2 of a tank and started to leave. The brakes were locked up and the car wouldn't move. We messed with it, then I went in the pickup and bought a brake adjustment tool, and we loosened the brakes with it. Brent had called Imon and he came in and helped. Finally the car would roll, so I drove to he courthouse, but the sheriff wasn't there to examine the VIN and authorize the license branch to issue a KY title. A little more trouble and I drove the car back to the farm. It made it back, but that was it. We pulled the car up the hill with the Mule and put it in the house's garage. We dinked with it a little, then had lunch and went riding on 4 wheelers and in the Mule with Daisy running along. Linda and I took Linda K to the mum patch and dug some mums for her to take to their house in IN. Later in the evening, after supper and dark had set in, the guys worked on the car some more, but we were unable to find the problem. About 8 PM, we called it a night and went in and relaxed. Linda K and Imon, Pauline and Brent, Stacey and Julie, and Linda and I spent the rest of the evening chatting and watching TV.
Sunday morning Linda fixed breakfast and then we went outside. Linda and Linda K stayed inside with Julie and Pauline. Brent, Imon and I went and test drove his pickup, loaded the mums in it and checked the trailer. We had loaded the old Ford 600 tractor that Imon had bought about a year ago. I also let him have a old junk bush hog that he thinks he can weld together enough to use. Linda and Linda K came outside and I dug some flowers for them to take with them to IN and they loaded the rest of their stuff and left a little after 1 PM. Brent, Pauling, Linda and I, took Julie to the hay shed and laid down some hay bales, set pumpkins on them and plopped Julie in the middle. I took a bunch of pictures while Pauline kept Julie's attention.

Julie is 4 months old and doing good. Imon called and said Linda K and he made it home slightly after 8 PM without any troubles.

Posted by at 9:13 PM
Categories: Current Events


Posted on Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Last Big Mum Dig

Monday morning I woke and it was looking cloudy. I checked the radar and listened to the weather report. The radar showed rain on the way and the forecast was for 3 or 4 days of rain. I went and woke Linda and asked Stacey to get dressed. We hopped in the Mule and headed to the mum patch. We dug 30 mums for the Homemakers' party on Thursday. We dug a few extras and some yellow and a few white ones that Regina needed to take to buyers. It began misting rain as we were finishing the digging and potting. We pulled the hay wagon to the house and left it set so the rain would water the potted mums and went inside. After lunch, Linda went to the day care and Stacey and I went to the hay shed and moved things around to make room for the hay wagon. Later, once Linda was home, she and I pulled the hay wagon full of mums to the hay shed and backed it inside.
Tuesday morning I pulled the wagon back out and let the rain continue the watering of the potted mums. We pushed it back in the hay shed about noon. That should be enough water for the mums. We received over 4" of rain in the last two days. We needed it bad as the creek had been dried up. It's good to see the creek water flowing again.

Posted by at 9:48 PM
Categories: Current Events


Posted on Saturday, October 27, 2007

Weekend With Visitors

Pauline, Brent, & Julie came over Friday night with Sabra and Jim following in their own car. Saturday Linda and Pauline fixed breakfast and then we went outside to work on a bunch of tree limbs that were hanging at the edge of one of the hay fields. They had been hanging since June, but Brent and Jim wanted to do some chain sawing, so we took the saws in the Mule and I drove the tractor across the creek. Stacey drove the Mule with Linda holding Julie and Sabra and Pauline rode with the guys on the 4 wheelers. I lifted Brent in the tractor bucket and he cut the vines that were holding up the broken limbs. Jim and Brent cut a few of the small trees that the limbs had knocked down and I pushed the debris to the edge of the creek with the tractor scoop. The job took about 30 minutes and everyone put the stuff back where it was stored and went to mess around. Linda took care of Julie for a while so Pauline could ride with Brent on the 4 wheeler along with Sabra and Jim on another 4 wheeler. Linda has been working on getting Julie to eat baby food from a spoon and I took a picture of them during a messy training session.

Later Linda and I dug several mums for Jim and Sabra to take home with them. We dug some for Pauline to give to her mom too. I mentioned that a couple of people had found Indian arrowheads in the mum patch, so they were all looking to find one.

I actually found a perfect one and Sabra found a slightly broken one. That is the first arrowhead I've ever found, I think it's because I'm usually looking for weeds when I'm in the mum patch.

They road 4 wheelers around the trails and we shot our 22 caliber rifles at cans back in the 'holler'. I had chose that place thinking that it would be safe because there was nothing but hills behind the targets. Boy was I wrong. It was a scary thing that happened next. We had just finished shooting 3 rifles until they were empty, when we heard a 4 wheeler motor and from the direction we had just been shooting came a stranger riding. He said he heard the bullets whistling around back there, but waited until we stopped to come out. He was lost and had rode down the side of the hill on our property and didn't think he could ride back up the hill to get back the way he came. We talked to him a while and found out where he had came from, then I told him how to get back so he rode off. We quit shooting for a while and went inside for a late lunch of chili and sandwiches. Stacey was picked up by Jason and his family to go to a birthday party and then to eat at the Farm House Restaurant. Pauline, Sabra, Jim and Brent went outside again and rode 4 wheelers, shot their guns, played in the creek and messed around until near dark. Stacey was brought home and we talked to Stephanie and Tommy when they dropped her off. They watched a movie Brent brought with them and then played cards until way after Linda and I had went to bed.

Posted by at 9:56 PM
Categories: Current Events