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Posted on Thursday, November 01, 2012
Trick or Treat
Wednesday, Stacey and I went to Bowling Green for a quick checkup with
Dr Atalla. He was pleased with the healing progress the incision area on
my back had made. After that, we stopped and ate lunch, then went to
Sam's Club before returning to Burkesville. We picked up a check from
State Farm Insurance for the Events Committee and were denied one from
the check cashing business. We had a few trick or treat visitors between
6 and 8 PM.
Thursday
morning, we had our first killing frost. The front yard was mostly gray
and later in the day, I noticed most of the flowers and weeds had bit
the dust.
Posted on Sunday, November 04, 2012
Birthday & Barn
Jason called early in the day on Friday and was wanting Stacey to go to
dinner with them. Stephanie, Tommy and Jason came by the house to pick
Stacey up at 5 PM and they all came inside for a few minutes. Jason gave
Stacey a birthday card and then a small box. Stacey opened the box and
put the ring on her finger.
We
teased Stacey and Jason about the ring for a minute or two before they
all left our house to go eat. Linda and I went to Columbia to eat while
they were gone. On the way home, a car pulled up next to us and then
fell back behind our car. When we turned into the driveway of our house,
the car followed us up the driveway. It was Brent driving their car with
his family inside. Jason and Stacey returned around 8 PM, Stacey gave
him a hug and thanked him for the gift, card and dinner.
Saturday, we
had plans to tear an old barn down that was across the creek. I had
hired Jake McClain to come down and do the work, but since Brent was
here, he could help Jake. We took the tractor with a hay wagon, the
pickup truck with the black flatbed trailer, the Mule and several
hammers and crow bars. I pulled the tractor and wagon as close to the
barn as I could get it for the guys to stand on and reach the upper
boards. Then I parked the truck and wagon right next to the hay wagon so
they could throw the boards onto the trailer.
Jake
brought his sister, Hannah to help too. Brent and Jake would pull the
boards off the side of the barn and hand them to Hannah. She would then
toss the boards on the trailer. When one side was finished, I moved the
tractor and wagon and the truck and trailer to the other side of the
barn. When both sides were done, I pulled the vehicles away from the
barn and used the back hoe on the tractor to knock down the interior
poles that were originally used to hang tobacco. I then moved to the end
of the barn and pushed the end walls into the middle with the front
scoop on the tractor. We took a break and went to the house for some
hamburgers that Linda had fixed. Jake and Hannah went home and picked up
a trailer, then returned and stripped the metal roofing off the old
barn. They took that home with them and were planning on selling it to a
scrap metal business.
Brent
and I went back to the barn at 5 PM and I used the tractor to shove the
debris back into the pile. Brent lit a fire at one side of the pile and
it didn't take long until it was burning way too big. At times the
flames were shooting higher than the tree that had grown right next to
the barn. It was scary, there was a wind that was blowing embers across
the hay field, but the field was damp enough that nothing else caught
fire. Finally the wind died down and the burning slowed. Brent took a
picture with his phone just before Linda, Stacey, Pauline and her kids
came to the barn in the Mule. They had two pizzas and drinks that we
enjoyed while watching the barn burn.
Stacey
wanted to talk to Jason at 7 PM, so we all went to the house. The fire
had slowed down enough it could be left unattended the rest of the
evening.
Sunday morning, Linda, Brent and I went down to see how much
had burnt during the night. Every wood piece of the barn had burnt, the
only things left were pieces of the trees that I had pushed down that
grew next to the barn. Brent picked out a few pieces of the metal roof
and we used the tractor scoop to dump those in the old cellar. I used
the scoop to scrape up the nails and pieces of metal into piles, then
hauled the piles away. We had it fairly clean when Pauline and Brent
left for their house after dinner.
UPDATE: Stacey and I took
Daisy for a run this morning and I took a picture of the place where the
old barn used to stand.
Posted on Wednesday, November 14, 2012
Bowling Green Checkup
Stacey and I took the HHR and drove to Bowling Green for my checkup with Dr Atalla. The appointment was at 10:15 AM and I arrived a few minutes early. We waited until I was called to the exam room. Dr Atalla checked on the spot where he had done the surgery and also removed a mole on my back. A couple of stitches and I was done. He said everything looked good and I could get the stitches removed in about 10 days by someone in Burkesville instead of having to return to Bowling Green. Stacey and I left his office and I drove to Aldi's to pick up some groceries. Stacey had a quarter for the shopping cart and was ready to shop. I had the list Linda had gave us, so we were all set. We made a lap through the store and checked out, took our purchases to the car and packed them in the back. Stacey returned the cart and retrieved her quarter. We rode about two blocks to Zaxby's for lunch. After we ate, we went to Sam's Club near the interstate highway. We didn't need a lot of things from Sam's, but we just walked through and picked up some impulse items. After making a complete round of the store, we checked out our own items in one of the self check registers. Since our cart wasn't full, it was easy to take the pistol grip bar code reader and zap each item without removing them from the cart. Not lifting the items onto the conveyor was easier. Swipe a card and we were done. We loaded the items into the back of the HHR and headed for home. A little over an hour later, I pulled into the garage and we unloaded our supplies.
Posted on Saturday, November 17, 2012
John Michael Montgomery Concert
Stacey, Linda and I picked up Jason at 5 PM and I drove the Malibu to
Glasgow. We made the regular stop at Mancino's for grinders and pizza
because their food is good and the service is always quick. That way we
are never late for the concerts. After eating we rode to the Courthouse
Square and parked right on the corner of the square. We walked a half
block to the Plaza and I picked up our four tickets at the 'will call'
counter. Stacey stopped at the souvenir booth and bought an autographed
CD before the music started.
"Angel
Mary and the Tennesee Werewolves" were the opening act and they began
right on time at 7:30. They were a family band with the lead singer,
bass player and drummer all related. They were probably the best opening
act we had seen at the Plaza.
There
was a short intermission while the roadies changed the instruments, then
John Michael Montgomery came on stage and began singing his hit songs.
"Beer 'n' Bones" was one he played right away and Linda and I thought
he'd had more than a few. LOL John talked a little too much at first,
but then got into playing several of his bigger hits and a few ballads.
His voice quality was still pretty good. He sounded as good as his
recorded music. As with a lot of the artist we see at the Plaza, we had
forgot how many hit songs John had recorded. He has 15 number one songs
and has sold over 18 million albums.
One
of the songs that brought back memories for Linda and I was "Be My Baby
Tonight". We both began laughing when he began playing that song. We
remembered Todd Schaefer and Brent singing that along with the radio one
year while we had rented a house boat on Dale Hollow Lake.
The
concert was about over when John called out the warm up band and thanked
them. He then played a couple more songs, threw out a few guitar picks
and finished with "Sold" and walked off for a couple of minutes. I
stepped down the center aisle and picked up one of the guitar picks that
had hit the floor. He came back, played two more songs and was out of
there.
Everyone
walked out of the Plaza about 9:50 PM. We stopped at a filling station
and picked up drinks for the ride back to Burkesville. After dropping
Jason off a little before 11 PM, we made the short ride to the farm and
parked the Malibu in the garage.
Posted on Thursday, November 22, 2012
Thanksgiving 2012
Pauline and Brent came over Wednesday evening and brought their kids and
their dogs. Pauline told us that she had taken Pico and Poco to the vet
and had their teeth cleaned. The vet had also pulled two of Poco's
teeth.
Thanksgiving Day, Pauline fixed a quick breakfast and then
Linda began cooking dinner. Brent and I kept the kids busy with toys and
a Mule ride with Daisy running along. We stopped and the kids threw
rocks in the creek until the creek was nearly full. LOL! Back at the
house, Stacey was helping with setting the table and Pauline set up the
drinks. We had a nice Thanksgiving Dinner with too much food for one
day. When everyone was done, we quickly cleaned up the table and put the
food on the counter, then began playing Aggravation. Where ever a person
sat down determined who was on teams. We played with three people on two
teams and everyone had to get their marbles to 'home' before the team
won. I was surprised at how well Julie played. She stayed interested the
whole game and did great at counting her marble moves. Pretty good for a
5 year old. After the game, we all took short naps, then several of us
took a long Mule ride. We went down the road and around the hill to
Little Renoux Creek. I drove the Mule about 2 miles on that road to a
place where we could use the gravel road that TVA had made to construct
the new power lines. We went up the hill and traveled along the ridge
top for a couple of miles to the place above our hay fields where the
power lines stretch from one hillside across the valley to another
hillside. Brent walked up to a slightly higher spot to look out across
the valley while I turned the Mule around. We rode back down the hill
and headed back towards the farm. I stopped at Salem Park and we let
Kyle and Julie play on the playground for a little bit. Then we went
back to the farm and went inside. Everyone's naps were over by then, so
we played another game of Aggravation as it became dark outside.
Posted on Thursday, November 29, 2012
Flare Up Problem
The day after Thanksgiving, Brent and I worked on the DirecTV hookup for
the house. I had ordered a new dual receiver DVR and we needed to run
some new cables for the equipment. We moved the old receiver to Stacey's
bedroom and placed the DVR in the master bedroom. Brent also renewed
several of the cable connectors to clear up our TV pictures. When we had
finished that, we loaded into the Traverse and took a trip to Central
Furniture. On the way, I became seriously ill and I remained in the car
with Kyle as he slept. Back at the farm I began chilling and couldn't
get warm. When Pauline and Linda returned from a short trip shopping, I
was having trouble. They gave me Tylenol and my 101.2 degree fever
receded a little. I went to bed.
Saturday I got out of bed long
enough to say good bye to Pauline and Brent and the grandkids. I was
having trouble walking and my mind was a mess. I couldn't think
straight. I had trouble rolling over in bed.
Sunday, I was
complaining about my back hurting and all my muscles were sore. Linda
looked at my back and said it looked like the surgical incision had
become infected and there was a large red place on my back that didn't
look good.
Monday, I went to the doctor's office and asked the nurse
what she thought, should I see a nurse practitioner or see Dr Rice?
After she looked at my back, she said I needed to see the Dr. She made
me an appointment for a little later in the day when they had an
opening. When I returned for the appointment, they took me into the exam
room and Dr Rice said that it was an infection. He cut my back open and
let some of the liquid drain out. He prescribed an antibiotic and told
me to come back in three days. I went to the pharmacy and was having
trouble finding my way through town and back. I don't think I should
have been driving. I made it home and began taking the pills. Within
about 4 hours, my thinking was clearing up and I was feeling better.
The
next few days, I remained home and took the antibiotics. Each day I was
getting better. Linda noticed that there was a lot of liquid trapped
below the surface of my back. I returned to the Dr's office and he was
pleased with the progress my body had made in healing. We wanted to
leave the small incision open to drain.
