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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 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 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.