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Posted on Thursday, November 01, 2007
November Begins
Wednesday morning began pretty well, Stacey came in the bedroom and was
wrestling with Linda. A few minutes later she was in her room and I
heard her say "ohh!". I immediately went in and asked her what was wrong
and she was starting involuntary muscle movements. We headed for the
pills and to the master bedroom. I gave Stacey her regular morning dose
of pills and a 10 mg Valium too. It was 8 AM. Linda and I stayed in the
bedroom and took turns laying with Stacey. At 12:30 I gave Stacey
another 10 mg Valium as her spasms had returned. Linda sent me to the
store right after Stacey calmed down. I came back and around 3:15 Linda
gave Stacey another 10 mg valium. Stacey was fairly groggy after that.
We moved her to the living room so Linda could answer the door and let
the trick or treaters inside. Luckily, we only had a few. Stacey had a
few more problems the rest of the evening, but we didn't give any more
valium. They went to bed around 10 PM.
I was awake and Linda came in
and said she was giving Stacey 10 mg of valium at 4 AM Thursday morning.
They went back to sleep and when Stacey got out of bed a little after 7
AM she seemed nearly back to normal. She was still showing effects of
all the valium, but no involuntary movements. Linda fixed us a couple
sausage biscuits for breakfast and it seemed to get rid of some of the
left over effects of the medicine. Slightly after noon, the door bell
rang and it was an engineer from the company relocating the highway in
front of the house. I let him inside and we talked about the plans for
the road and how they would effect our property. He stayed for nearly 3
hours getting his questions answered and answering most of ours. We
loaded in the truck and went to Columbia for lunch to get Stacey out of
the house and moving around. After returning to the farm, we sold more
mums just before dark.
Posted on Saturday, November 03, 2007
Stacey's Story
The way Stacey's Story started was while I was at work, Linda went to
the doctor and he sent her to the hospital to deliver. My foreman came
and told me to head to the hospital and my wife was having a baby. I
went and was in time to get the scrubs on and go in the delivery room
while Stacey was born. Everything went well and we were in a private
room in a lot less time than it had taken for our first child, Brent.
We
left the hospital and took Stacey home with us and things went well.
Brent was happy he had a new sister and Stacey was a fairly good baby.
Stacey
developed as most babies and began walking about a month before her
first birthday.
Things
began going wrong with Stacey's health when she was about 2-1/2 years of
age. Stacey was riding in the baby seat on the back of Linda's bike,
when Linda noticed she had fell over against the side of the seat. Linda
came running in the house with Stacey in her arms yelling, "Stacey's
DEAD!" I freaked and jumped up, grabbed Stacey and noticed she was
breathing and told Linda she wasn't dead. We watched Stacey the rest of
the evening and about 11 PM Stacey had her first gran mal seizure. We
called the ambulance and went to the hospital. Things were strange for a
while, trips to Indy to Riley Hospital for Children, trips to
neurologists, CAT scans, EEGs, and about every test and question the
doctors could think of to do or ask. Finally, they determined it was
epilepsy for lack of a reason. In other words, there wasn't a tumor or
anything like that causing her seizures. We went on with our lives as
normal as possible.
We
put Stacey in speech classes, in physical therapy classes, took her to
BSU for extra workouts and started her in dance classes too. Anything to
try to keep Stacey caught up with her mental and physical development.
One
of my favorite pictures of Stacey is below. I took it when she was ready
for her first day of school. I was so glad she was healthy enough to be
able to go to school with the other kids.
Stacey
has always enjoyed going boating and we realized early she knew the best
place to go. We used to go to Missinawa Lake in IN and one year we went
to Dale Hollow Lake in KY. The next time we went to the lake, Stacey
said, "This sure isn't Dale Hollow!", and she hit the nail on the head,
it wasn't.
Stacey
was in middle school when we moved to KY and she started Warren East and
graduated high school from there. We moved to the farm and Stacey has
learned to ride 4 wheelers and help around the farm with the mums.
After
she cut her hair for "Locks of Love" to help out kids with cancer that
lose their hair, I realized that Stacey truly cares for everyone.
Since
Stacey can not drive legally, we bought a Mule so she could drive it
around the farm. She enjoys the rides we take each day to let the dog
run or just to look at the farm. It is nice to set back and let her
drive me around. I see it as a little more independence for her.
Stacey
was excited when Brent called and we went to the hospital to see their
new baby, Julie. Stacey wanted to hold her and promised to read Julie
stories. I think she will make a good aunt for Julie.
Lately,
Stacey has met Jason Strange and they have become good friends. They
enjoy meeting for breakfast in town and talk regularly on the phone.
Jason is a nice young man and treats Stacey with respect. Stacey and
Jason have a lot in common and enjoy several of the same things.
Stacey
still has some health problems, but we deal with those as they happen.
She more than makes up for the problems with the love she passes our
way. I will always remember the little Stacey that was about 2 years old
that came up, grabbed my hand and said, "I love you daddy!" in her
mangled English. I knew what it meant and can still hear it today.
Happy
25th Birthday Stacey!
Stacey's Birthday
Friday, Stacey's friend, Jason had out patient surgery on his right
foot. He had called late that evening, but was still under the influence
of the pain medication.
Saturday morning, Linda gave Stacey some
things for her birthday and we both spanked her playfully. Linda called
Stephanie and asked if Stacey could visit Jason and that was ok, so we
were going there after we ate lunch. We stopped in town and picked up a
'get better' card and a 'feel better' balloon for Jason, then ate and
went to Tommy and Stephanie's house. Linda and Stacey went inside and I
talked to Tommy and Hoy while they were draining the water out of their
travel trailers. After they finished, we went inside and I talked to
Jason a little while. He was doing fairly well, still taking some meds
to ease the pain though. His medication was starting to make him groggy
and he needed to take a nap, so we said good bye and left. Back at the
farm, Stacey found a delivery from the florist. Jason had sent her
flowers for her birthday, but hadn't mentioned it while we were over
there. Stacey was excited to get those and called Jason later to thank
him for the flowers. I used the tractor to spread out two dump truck
loads of dirt in Regina's front yard. I picked up the dirt with the
scoop and then spread it with the grader box. It took over an hour to
get it leveled out. We took Stacey and went to Columbia and ate a late
dinner. Stacey had received a few clothes, several birthday cards,
flowers from Jason, went out to eat and her brother called to wish her
happy birthday, so she seemed happy about the entire day.
Posted on Monday, November 05, 2007
Fall Colors Reaching Peak
We went for a Mule ride this morning with Daisy running along. I'll let
the pictures tell the story that the leaves have just about reached
their peak color.
Later
I took the HHR to the Chevy dealer and setup an appointment to have some
fuel injectors replaced under warranty. We went and ate lunch and bought
groceries, then returned to the farm. Linda worked at the day care for a
few hours and Stacey and I enjoyed the day on the farm.
Posted on Thursday, November 08, 2007
Highway Relocation Meeting
The newspaper had announced a meeting in Burkesville concerning the
relocation of SR 90 and SR 61. Stacey and I went to the meeting that was
held at the Veteran's Building in town. The parking lot was full and it
was standing room only when we arrived promptly at 6 PM. We went inside
and I signed a sheet for attendees. We looked at some of the aerial
photos that had been enhanced with property lines and the locations of
the proposed highways.
Shortly
the meeting was called to order by the Judge Executive Tim Hicks and
then he handed the microphone to the Chief Engineer.
He
explained a few things, went over some of the stuff in the handouts and
then opened the meeting for questions. There were several questions, but
not as many as I had expected. After about 30 minutes, the meeting broke
off into smaller discussions with several engineers that were present to
answer questions.
We
left the meeting after talking to several of our neighbors and asking
how the relocation was going to affect their homes and property. Several
are going to lose their homes. They will start buying property right of
way in January 2008 and the project should be finished by the end of
2010.
Posted on Wednesday, November 14, 2007
It's Over
We had a killing frost, so we're done selling mums. We've received the
check for the last 32 we sold, so pretty soon it will be time to divide
up the money. I counted the mums left in the field and we had 114 left
out of the 1,100 that we planted. That should figure out to a pretty
good year considering how little rain we received in August and
September. I've taken the bush hog off the tractor and put the grader
box on, then leveled a couple loads of dirt in Regina's front yard. I
don't think I will use the bush hog until I start trimming the fields
next spring. Linda used the mower to mulch up the leaves a few days ago
and we had a fire in the fire pit today. It had rained last night and
things were still wet, so there wasn't any worry of the fire spreading.
It took a while to get it burning though, then when it finally was
burning quickly, we had to go inside because it started raining again.
The fire burnt itself out after about two hours. Just before dark, a
couple of guys from Georgia stopped. They were dressed in complete
camouflage outfits and wanted information about hunting on the West Fork
place. I told them I didn't know much, but we talked for about a half
hour. So, to summarize no more mums, no more bush hogging, no more
mowing, just a peaceful time on the farm. I took the picture below on
the way to Columbia one morning.
Posted on Monday, November 19, 2007
New Dog Pen
Friday I went to the ATV / Feed store and bought 2 sixteen foot long
'cow fence' sections. They are like farm fence but a heavier gauge of
wire. They will just about stand on their own. We tied them in the back
of the truck and I hauled them home, unloaded them and leaned them
against the side of the barn. Saturday, I borrowed a post driver from
our neighbor. Sunday after breakfast, Linda and I went out to build the
dog pen. Linda located the small bolt cutters and I cut one of the fence
sections in half to use a piece for each end of the pen. I drove a
couple 't' posts in the ground and wired the end piece to the posts.
Linda held the longer piece while I wired it to the corner post and
drove another post in the ground to keep the longer section straight. We
moved to the other end and drove in the posts and hooked the fence to
the posts. Linda brought Daisy out of the barn and we turned her loose
in the pen. We left her in there for several hours without her trying to
get out. Eventually we moved her back to her stall in the barn. I never
attached the longer section to the corner post. The reason was so we
could open it up if we need to get inside to mow or do anything later.
Today, we cleaned out the barn stall where Daisy will be moved. It is
the farthest back in the barn for two reasons. One, I think it will be
warmer this winter and two, Daisy can go in and out of a hole in the
side of the barn. She will be able to get outside to the pen and then go
back inside the barn stall on her own. We went to town for lunch and
bought three clips to hold the fence sections together and put them on
when we returned to the farm. Total cost for the pen was about $40.
Posted on Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Popping Corn
Linda, Stacey and I had signed up as volunteers to help at the middle school, so we left home at 10 AM and I drove to the school. We went inside and walked to the lunch room. We met Bonnie and Henry Holly and talked a few minutes, then started popping popcorn. The school had one of the cart with a popping machine on top. I first measured out the oil, popcorn and sprinkled on a spoon full of popcorn salt. I turned on the popper and dumped in all the ingredients. Several minutes later the popcorn was pouring out of the kettle. As soon as it quit popping, I dumped the popcorn and refilled the kettle with ingredients again. I continued this procedure and then started dipping out the popped corn with a large pitcher into aluminum pans. Linda, Stacey, Bonnie and Henry began filling the paper bags with the popcorn. The teachers had taken orders from the kids and we knew how many bags we needed for each class. Bonnie was counting out the bags and placing them in boxes for the classes. I never let the popper stop except to refill it as soon as I emptied the popped corn. We continued like that, nonstop until a little after 2 PM. We still hadn't popped enough for all the classrooms. The assistant principal said she would tell the 5th graders they could have their popcorn on Monday. She plans on starting earlier next time they pop popcorn. It is a fund raiser for the school and she said they took in over $350 while only spending about $50 on the ingredients. She thanked us and we left.
Posted on Friday, November 23, 2007
Thanksgiving and Friday
Thanksgiving Day Pauline, Brent and Julie came over a little before 10
AM. It was nice to see Julie as it had been a while since I had seen her
and she had changed a little bit. Julie seemed more alert to her
surroundings and was watching each of us more intently. I also noticed
that she knew when we were eating and it seemed she wanted to eat when
we did. Linda fixed us a nice dinner and we ate too much as we usually
do. The menu was slightly tilted towards what Pauline and Linda liked,
so their plates looked the fullest to me. That was ok though, as it left
more room for me to enjoy the desserts. After the meal, we acted like we
were watching football while the fire in the stove seemed to put us all
to sleep at one time or another. We snacked off and on the rest of the
evening and went to bed around 10 PM.
Friday
morning, Stacey had promised Brent that she would make 'french toast'
for him, so Linda helped her crank it out for everyone along with
sausage patties. A while after breakfast, Brent and I went to the hay
shed and jump started the Ford tractor. We pushed the little Ford
tractor out of the hay shed and backed the blue Ford tractor in and
hooked it up to the back hoe attachment. That took about a half hour to
mount the pump, line it up, and get the pins in place. I raised the
stiff legs and locked the hoe's arm in place and pulled the tractor out
of the shed. We drove over to the other barn and put the small hoe
bucket in the front bucket, then returned to the shed. Brent pulled the
old Ford tractor with the Mule to get it started and I drove it back
inside the shed and parked it. We parked the blue tractor and started
inside. Linda met me and we took Daisy for a run. After about 20 minutes
we put her back in her pen and went inside. Bonnie and Donny Cox came
over and we talked with them as we all ate pieces of pumpkin, chocolate
or lemon pie. They stayed a couple of hours and we had some laughs and
enjoyed their company. I think that was the first time they had seen
Julie. Bonnie and Donny said their daughter Julie was planning on
getting married next summer. Donny, Brent and I checked out the 56
Chevy. Donny was impressed with the job Imon had done on the paint and
body work. Donny had a meter that we used to test the voltage of the
battery and several other places including to the coil, but we were
still unable to get the motor to fire up. They left a little before dark
and headed back to their cabin near Byrdstown. No one did any shopping
either day.
Posted on Friday, November 30, 2007
Nice Weather For Tractor Work
After the frost was gone Thursday morning it warmed up to around 60
degrees. The ground was a little damp from recent rains and it was easy
to move dirt with the tractor. I went to the other farm and used the
tractor to clean up a mess left when my Mom burnt down an old house
where they used to live when she was a kid. It had been nearly 8 years
since she burnt it and trees had grown up in the spot where it used to
stand. I had waited this long to let the nails and roofing rust so I
would not get a flat tractor tire. It took about 4 hours to push away
all of the debris and uproot the trees and shove them to a spot near the
creek bank.
I
left a couple of trees standing until I can get someone with torches to
cut the well casing off after I dig a hole beside it. Digging the hole
will take about 5 minutes using the back hoe, but finding someone to
come out and cut it off maybe a problem.
This morning, I loaded Daisy
into the Mule and we went to see how the area looked and to let her run.
I stopped down at the bend in the creek and took a few pictures as Daisy
played. It seemed as if she hadn't ever experienced ice in water before.
She pawed at it, jumped up and down and acted like a kid during their
first snowfall.
