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Posted on Friday, October 06, 2017

Pepper Story & New Mule

Pauline, Brent, Julie & Kyle came over Saturday with their dogs. P&B stayed until Sunday afternoon when they took their dogs and went home. Julie and Kyle stayed the week because they had Fall Break at their school.
Brent had gave Julie and I a project of making a movie. He had also bought a book for Julie to read about how to create the movie. Julie had brought her Little Pet Shop so we decided to make the movie about her family acquiring their dog, Pepper. I suggested we have 3 scenes and asked Julie & Kyle to remember what had happened when they picked out Pepper at the shelter. Julie wrote down the events and then some of the things that had been said and how the decisions had been made. That took 3 or 4 days, during which we had several fires in the fire pit and roasted hot dogs and marshmallows twice. We finally were ready to start shooting the movie Friday morning. I was the camera man, director, and dialog coach. The first attempt, Julie tried to do all the characters, but that proved too difficult. The second run through Kyle and Stacey joined the cast.


We were only able to complete one scene due to time restrictions.
You can watch the 3-1/2 minute movie -> HERE.

Later we drove the Silverado, while towing a trailer, to Columbia. Julie picked the closest number to one that I had wrote on a piece of paper, so she decided we would eat lunch at McDonald's After eating, we went to Rex's Cycle Shop and picked up our new Mule that we had purchased on Wednesday. The top for it is back ordered, but we decided to take it home anyway.

After towing back to the farm, Kyle helped me unload the new Mule. Then Linda and I parked the trailer in the equipment shed, unhooked the truck and parked it inside too.
 
We drove the new Mule to let Daisy run around the fields and immediately decided it was too hot without a top. Hope it comes in soon!

Posted by Dave at 8:00 PM
Categories: Current Events, Farm


Posted on Sunday, October 15, 2017

Farm Camp Out 2017

Stacey, Linda & I had nearly everything done when the first campers began arriving about noon on Friday. They kept trickling in until about 11 PM. We had a campfire burning at the fire pit as soon as the sun began going behind the hills.
Saturday morning, Linda and I fixed breakfast for everyone that came in the house, Clarissa even carried breakfast to her Pa, Abner Jr down at his camper. People did whatever they wanted to the first part of the day, including riding ATVs, driving the Mules, playing in the creek, swinging on the rope swing, swinging on the swing set, throwing rocks in the creek and a lot of talking. Bob and I went to Hamilton's BBQ and picked up two pork tenderloins I had ordered. Dinner started about 12:30 PM and more local guests arrived with pies and other things. After lunch I hooked up the tractor to the hay wagon and pulled it around the farm and through the creek. Some followed on ATVs and in the Mules.
  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  
As night time approached, Valerie and Bob had brought a piñata filled with candy. They hung it from a rafter in the pole barn and let kids take turns whacking it with a plastic ball bat. It was a total blast watching the kids be blindfolded and then trying to bust the piñata.
  

  
After the piñata burst and the kids grabbed the candy, the adults moved to seats around the fire pit. Shelly and Brent kept the fire going while others relaxed and enjoyed conversation along with more food, drinks and desserts. Before the day was over, we had 31 people that came to the farm and enjoyed some time with everyone.
  

  

  
Sunday morning, Pauline helped Linda whip up breakfast as the kids played in the living room floor.
  
Slowly they all started packing their things and heading home.
  

  

  
I managed to get most of our guests to pose for a group picture before hugs and good byes took place.
 

Stacey, Linda and I enjoyed everyone being here and talking with them.

We hope that everyone had as much fun as we did and
that each one will return for our next Norris Farm Camp Out!

Thanks for coming!

Posted by Dave at 5:00 PM
Categories: Current Events, Farm


Posted on Sunday, October 22, 2017

Medical Problems and Leaf Colors

Wednesday, Linda had went to IN to check on her Mom. Nana had been hospitalized and was having to remain there at least a few days. She called after visiting with her and said Nana wasn't doing very well. At first, the doctors thought that Reba had experienced a small stroke. Later in the week, they seemed to change their minds to maybe it had been that her blood pressure had went too high.
Stacey and I were left at the farm to take care of the dogs and each other.
Thursday, I heard some odd noise and immediately checked on Stacey. She was having trouble, could not walk and was falling around in the bathroom. I pulled her out to the couch and placed 10 mg of Valium in her mouth at 7:15 AM. I then grabbed her regular medications and was able to get her to swallow them. I continued to monitor her throughout the morning and gave her another 5 mg of Valium at 9 AM. We ate lunch a little before noon and afterwards, I gave Stacey another 5 mg of Valium at 2:30 PM, then decided to take her to the ER for blood tests while she was able to walk. There was a nurse practitioner on duty in the ER and I explained to her what the doctors usually do when Stacey has trouble. She followed my suggestion and ordered blood level tests. She then called Dr Rice and asked what he wanted her to do. He told her to keep Stacey there and he would be coming into the ER at 5 PM. I agreed with that plan. Dr Rice arrived, visited with Stacey, checked the results of the blood tests and told me to give her an extra Depakote tablet when we went home, then to give 2 tablets instead of just one each morning along with her other meds. I did as instructed and Stacey did not need any more Valium. The next morning we returned to the hospital to get Dr Rice to prescribe extra tablets that I could pick up at the pharmacy. Stacey didn't see the Dr. We just picked up the prescription and went to eat at Jone's Restaurant.

That seemed to make her happy and relieve her nervousness.
Friday and Saturday, Stacey was returning to being more normal each day. Linda was calling and Nana was also responding to treatments and returning to being more normal also.
Sunday, while Stacey and I had been letting Daisy run, I noticed the colors of the leaves were beginning to change. Later, I took the drone outside to take some aerial photos.
 
The wind made it a little tough to fly the drone, but I went ahead and flew it without crashing.
 
The GPS in the drone makes it easy to fly and helps hold it steady in one place, even in the brisk wind.
 
I'm standing in the shadow of the house between the Mule and the drone. Being in the shadows makes it easier to view the image sent from the drone to the controller and then to my phone.
Monday and Tuesday, things went well with Stacey. Linda also called and told me that Reba was leaving the hospital and entering a rehabilitation program for at least two weeks at Countryside in Anderson.
Linda returned from IN on Wednesday tired, but relieved her Mom was doing better.

Posted by Dave at 7:30 PM
Categories: Current Events, Farm