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Posted on Saturday, December 02, 2006
Bowling Green Shopping Trip
We left the farm around 8:30 AM and went north towards Columbia. I
decided to make the turn onto the parkway even though the new entrance
ramps were not open yet. They worked fine, I just had to drive around
the "ROAD CLOSED" signs. A little later we stopped in Glasgow and ate
breakfast at Hardees. I filled up with gas, then picked up the girls and
drove to Pauline and Brent's house. Pauline was working on adding lights
to their Christmas Tree. We stayed there a little while and then left
for Bowling Green. Hobby Lobby was the first stop, then to the mall.
Pauline and Brent ate at Chick Fillet for lunch. Our timing hadn't
worked out good for everyone eating at the same time, so we just had one
snack pack for Stacey, Linda and I along with drinks. We continued
shopping through the mall for about an hour, then we left for Sam's
Club. We wound our way up and down each aisle around the crowds until we
had covered the store. Pauline and Brent had a cart of stuff driven by
Stacey. Linda and I had our cart partially full. Then we checked out and
loaded our supplies into the back of the HHR. We headed to Smith's Grove
to unload Pauline and Brent's stuff.
The dogs ran out to meet everyone as the stuff was carried inside and Pauline
put it away. We stayed and watched a movie while Pauline was working on
the tree decorations. After the movie was over we left for
Burkesville. I took the parkway home and exited at the unopened exit
ramp. It was a little tougher getting around the signs on the exit ramp,
but we made it and continued to the farm. I fed Cooter a sandwich and
Linda put the ducks in the cage. We unloaded our supplies and shut the
garage door.
Posted on Monday, December 04, 2006
Cold Weather Is Here
The coldest temperatures of the season have reached our area. Sunday night the temperature was down to 18 degrees. Linda and I have been burning the wood stove and the heat pump hasn't been running at all during the days or evenings. It does run a few times after 3 AM, but by 7 AM, I have got up and tossed more wood in the stove and it ignites from the heat of the glowing embers left from the night before. The living room, dinning room and kitchen are staying around 78 degrees while the bedrooms are a little cooler, around 71 or 72 degrees. I'm not sure how much money burning the stove saves us, but it is a 'good feeling' kind of heat. Missy likes laying in front of the stove on the dog pillow, Cooter wants to be inside, but not real close to the stove. His heavier fur keeps him warm without being close to the stove. Linda came home from working at the school with Subway sandwiches and we ate. We started to watch a movie upstairs, but were interrupted by the doorbell. It was Regina and we stopped the movie and went back down stairs to visit a while with her. She stayed a little over an hour and then we went back upstairs and watched the movie. When the movie was over, Stacey rushed downstairs to check on the Pacer game. They were playing the Lakers and ended up losing after I went to bed.
Posted on Tuesday, December 05, 2006
Time To Shop
Linda surprised us by coming home from school early. She said neither of the two boys she helps with at school were there, so she decided to just come home. We took off in the HHR and went to the bank and then on to Somerset and to the Golden Corral for lunch. After eating we made our usual stops at Jay's, Big Lots, and a few other places. Our supplies were running a little low so we stopped at Aldi's and then headed back towards Burkesville. Not quite halfway home, we stopped at the Super Wal-Mart in Monticello for groceries. By the time we made it home it was dark and the ducks were waiting at the garage door. We put them in the cage, unloaded the stuff and closed the garage door. When we had been shopping over the weekend the parking lots were nearly full, but by going during the middle of the week the crowds were not nearly as bad.
Posted on Wednesday, December 06, 2006
More Shopping
Linda called the school and told Priscilla that we were going Christmas shopping in Cookeville. Priscilla mentioned that if we had a chance to eat at a restaurant named Cheddars. I called her back and found out where it was located and we left for Cookeville in the HHR armed with the laptop and the GPS running. We went through Celina and then Livingston TN and about an hour after we left home we were in Cookeville. Hobby Lobby was our first stop, then over to Kohl's and Kirkland's We drove towards Interstate 40 and made a turn onto a road next to Interstate 40 everyone called 'restaurant row'. I parked in Cheddar's lot and we went inside. They had steaks, seafood and a complete selection of foods. We made our choices and the waitress turned in our orders. It was a unique building with lots of interesting items for decorations. One thing Linda and I noticed was a giant aquarium It was probably a 300 gallon tank. The thing that made it really interesting to both of us was the fish inside were African Cichlids. Those were the same type of fish we used to have in aquariums at our house. The waitress brought our meals and we ate what we could and then asked for a 'to go box'. Most of what we had left was from Stacey's meal. Our food was great, plenty of it and reasonably priced. After eating we left Cookeville and I drove to Livingston to the Pamida store. We shopped there a little while and headed back to Burkesville through Albany.
Posted on Thursday, December 07, 2006
First Snow In KY
Linda left for school this morning and shortly there after it began
snowing. The ground was still fairly warm, so most of the snow was
melting as fast as it hit the ground. After about a half hour, the grass
was cold enough that snow was starting to accumulate. I went outside and
started the Mule, loaded up the trash cans and hauled those to the edge
of the road. Cooter was like a school boy while I was outside, he was
jumping and running crazy in the snow.
I rode up the hill and around the hay shed and Cooter ran alongside
the Mule until I parked the Mule and went inside. Stacey and I went to
town for lunch and rented DVDs while we were in town. By the time we
returned to the farm a little after noon, the snow was totally gone.
Linda came home in the evening and we made pizza for supper using our
old
family recipe.
Posted on Friday, December 08, 2006
Panther Basketball
Stacey and I were home during the day and when Linda came home she
wanted to set by the stove and get warm. She called a BBQ place in town
and ordered fish dinners to go. They have the best fish dinners around,
so I agreed to go to town and pick those up. I also had to take back the
DVDs we had rented the day before. I made a quick trip in and picked up
the dinners and returned to the farm. We ate and decided to go to the
basketball game at the high school. I quickly showered while the girls
were getting ready and we left for the game. We arrived early enough to
get a good parking spot and went inside. The boys were warming up and
their game started after the National Anthem was played. Linda and I
evaluated the teams before the tip off and it looked bad for Cumberland
County. Scottsville's boys looked older and bigger. It didn't take long
to realize we had been correct in our analysis. Soon Scottsville had a
big lead and the outcome of the game was no longer in doubt. It was hard
for the crowd to stay interested in the game, but eventually the game
was over and Scottsville had won by around 30 points. The Cumberland
County Girls team came on the floor and began to warm up. Once again,
Linda and I made our predictions, but this time they were just the
opposite. It looked like the home team was quite a bit better than the
visiting Scottsville girls.
The ball was thrown up and the game began. Soon the Cumberland girls
were leading and early in the game had doubled Scottsville's score. The
visitors made a few attempts to comeback,but never got closer than 15
points in the second half. The Cumberland girls have played as a team
for a while, only losing one player to graduation last year, so they
have a good chance to have a winning season. The Cumberland boys are
mostly freshmen and sophomores and will take it tough this year, IMO.
After the game had ended we left the gym and headed home to find there
were a couple messages on the answering machine. Linda called our
neighbors to return their calls and I ended up having to deliver some
ingredients for spiced cider to them at 10 PM.
Posted on Saturday, December 09, 2006
Burkesville Christmas Parade
Linda worked on Christmas decorations for our house during the day. In
the afternoon we headed in to town and looked at our neighbors setup in
a flea market store. Then we ate at the Corner Cafe and drove back to
the farm. I loaded the WKU lawn chairs in the back of the HHR, Linda
brought 3 blankets and Stacey grabbed some gloves and a hat. We all put
on heavy coats and loaded in the HHR. We drove to town and parked on the
Court House Square to watch the Christmas Parade. We stayed in the car
until 5 PM. The parade didn't start on time though, due to technical
difficulties with Santa Claus. Charla came over and talked to Linda and
Stacey while a group of carolers were singing on the church steps behind
us.
Around 30 minutes later the parade finally started. It was led by the Grand
Marshalls, the 623rd National Guardsmen that had returned from Iraq in
November. The Cumberland County High School Band was the next group to
pass by and they played Christmas songs as they marched through the
Square. There were several floats with Girl Scouts, ball teams,
Christmas themes, manger scenes and so on...
There were more floats than I expected and then came the old cars with some of
the queens riding in convertibles. Of course the end of the parade was
the horse drawn wagons and horses.
Posted on Sunday, December 10, 2006
Norris Farm Forum
I have a Norris Farm Forum running for those readers that would like to
reply to some of the posts made here or to chat with others about
anything else. It started off as a test forum for trying out things to
keep spammers from abusing another phpBB forum, and I believe I have
found a decent combination. So, I decided to open the forum to
registration for blog readers, web friends, personal friends and family.
Right now there isn't much content on there, but I'm hoping that some of
the readers will join and post their thoughts. I want to hear about you.
If you would like to join, please do so. The
Norris Farm Forum is ready for you to sign up, but in order for you to be
granted access, you must
REGISTER using the Invitation Pass Code below...
Norris07
Posted on Wednesday, December 13, 2006
Wolf Creek Dam Trip
A little over a year ago, on Dec 2nd, I posted about the
Wolf Creek Dam Might Burst and how the Army Corp Of Engineers (ACOE) were
concerned. About a month later on Jan 19th, I posted about the meeting
held in Burkesville for the
ACOE to explain their plans. So today, almost a year later, Stacey and I
decided to ride across the dam and take a look to see what had happened
since that meeting. In a few words, not much! There has been some work
done though. The plan, as I remember, was to remove the boat ramp near
the base of the dam and relocate it. That work has begun, but isn't near
completion. We drove the HHR, and our first stop was at the Wolf Creek
Dam Overlook. We exited the car and walked a couple hundred feet to the
overlook and I took a few pictures.
In the left picture, the area just past the transformers that is a
little darker green, is where the trouble is supposed to be. Water is
seeping through to the top of the ground there and may cause a breach if
not stopped. In the zoomed in picture on the right, you can see the hill
in the distance has been clear cut of all the timber. That is the only
place that we noticed work had been started. We left the overlook and
drove down towards the dam to the next overlook along the lake. Then we
drove across and down to the base of the dam and checked out the Fish
Hatchery and a Recreation Area near the discharge into the Cumberland
River.
Stacey and I walked around the Recreation Area and there were lots
of picnic tables, shelter houses and areas for fishing. No swimming
though, the water is always too cold. There were warning signs about
quick changes in the level of the water due to electricity generation
requirements too. We drove back to the top of the dam and to the boat
ramp where the earth moving had been done. There was no actual work
being done while we were there, but there was evidence they had been
working there sometime in the last year.
In the left picture you can see there has been rock moved to behind
the boat ramp parking area and the removal spot leveled. It is an
enormous amount of earth to move, and probably requires blasting since
it is mostly rock, but I had expected more progress. The main thing, it
seemed to me, was the ACOE wanted to assure everyone at the meeting in
Burkesville, that the recreation areas would still function during their
work, and true to their words, someone used the boat ramp while we were
there, as you can see in the picture on the right. We left the dam and
drove to Albany for lunch, then back to the farm. Linda came home from
school and took Stacey with her to Campbellsville Christmas shopping.
Posted on Saturday, December 16, 2006
Saturday Shopping in Cookeville
Around 8:15 AM Pauline and Brent opened the back door and let their two
dogs in the house. They walked in after their dogs, and Cooter came
inside like he was part of their family. There was a rush of excitement
when their dogs first came inside that subsided after a few minutes.
Later we took the picture below of Pico about to snooze on a Christmas
blanket.
Pauline told us how she had been feeling and what had happened during her
visit to the doctor. We chatted a while and then decided to go to
Cookeville for some shopping. I took a quick shower while Stacey and
Linda were getting ready. We loaded in our HHR and were off. We went
through Celina TN on the way and arrived in Cookeville fifty minutes
later. We decided to eat at Cheddars to fill everyone up before a 'tough
day' of battling with Christmas shoppers. We were sort of early, maybe
the 3rd or 4th group to arrive at the restaurant. The waiters and
waitresses were all lined up to escort people to their seats and we were
seated immediately. Our food was great and when we finished eating we
left and the place was full and there were twenty or more people waiting
to be seated. We drove to a new shopping area on the west side of
Cookeville. We parked and walked along the front of a strip mall since
the weather was beautiful, around 70 degrees and mostly sunny. We looked
in several of the nearly thirty stores, but Pauline, Stacey and Linda
wanted to look in more of the clothing stores than Brent and I, so we
walked ahead and checked out a store that sold video games and systems.
When the girls came out, we loaded back in the HHR and made another stop
at Hobby Lobby near the center of town, then headed back towards
Byrdstown. We made another stop, then back on the road north. Linda
picked out a flea marked to stop at, so we pulled in there and went
inside. This place was longer than a football field and had three rows
of booths the entire length. After the walk around the flea market, we
piled into the car and drove back to the farm. After making a quick trip
to the store for a green pepper and stuff for breakfast, Linda and I
fixed a pizza using the remainder of our precooked pizza meat.
Posted on Sunday, December 17, 2006
Extra Nice Sunday
Linda started our day off by fixing bacon and eggs for breakfast, then
Brent and I went outside. We used the tractor to drag a tree down to the
creek. I had dug it out several weeks ago because it was going to
eventually block water flowing through a gully and was trouble to mow
around in the summer. That only took about 20 minutes, and after putting
the tractor back in the shed, we rode around the farm in the Mule. We
returned to the house and helped Linda set out some more Christmas
stuff, then messed around with the dogs. Linda finished with her stuff
and we all loaded in the Mule and drove across the creek. We walked
around both hay fields with dogs running loose. It was near seventy
degrees before lunch. Back inside, Brent cooked hamburger and made it
into sloppy joes. We ate those and were watching a TV show recorded on
the TIVO, when the doorbell rang. It was a group of carolers, so I asked
them inside and they sang a couple Christmas Carols. We talked with them
a few minutes, they were from the Jone's Chapel Church just up the road
about 3 miles from our farm. They left and we finished the show we were
watching. Pauline and Brent took Missy and their dogs and left for
Smith's Grove just a little before dark. Linda and Stacey went to the
church for a Christmas program the small children were putting on.
[UPDATE] Nashville news reported the 73 degree temperature was a record
for the date.
Posted on Monday, December 18, 2006
Homemakers' Party
Linda started the day by putting a turkey breast in the crock pot about
6 AM. She was as busy as one of Santa's Elves all day. She was putting
out Christmas decorations, baking a ham and cleaning at the same time.
We took time out to go to lunch in town and buy a few gifts for an
underprivileged couple the Krafty Kritters Homemaker Club had picked out
to help. We returned to the farm and continued the frantic pace of
getting things ready. I took a shower and guests began arriving about
5:20 PM. We showed some of the new members around the house and talked
with others until everyone had arrived and the food was ready.
The line to fill the plates began with filling two plates for Rose
Anderson and her husband and then Henry taking those up the road about 2
miles to them and returning (Rose couldn't attend because of her
husband's illness). Meanwhile, everyone was getting their plates filled
and finding a place to sit. Four members' husbands attended the dinner
and four members' children came too, for a total of twenty people. There
was plenty of food and everyone seemed to enjoy the menu created by the
pitch in dinner.
After dinner, most of the guys left and the women started their gift
exchanging. I asked them to please stand up and get together for a group
picture, then I printed the picture for them to see after their meeting
slowed down. I went upstairs and showed a couple of the boys how to use
the xBox to play the games. Linda came up and told me they needed me to
come down and call Bingo for them, so I did. They played several games
and awarded prizes to the winners. I called some variations of Bingo and
we made sure everyone was a winner of something by calling numbers until
everyone had a prize. Finally, the bingo was over and members began
loading the gifts they received and their prizes into their cars. The
party was over a few minutes before 10 PM. Regina and Linda continued to
rehash the party until about 11 PM and I went to bed a little after
Regina left.
Posted on Friday, December 22, 2006
One More Shopping Trip
After a couple of days of rainy weather, it was forecast to clear off later in the day, so we decided to head over to Bowling Green for some extra shopping. We showered and left a little before 9 AM. When I rang the doorbell at Pauline and Brent's house the dogs went wild and as we walked inside I heard Pauline say, "Brent, you should have told me your parents were coming!" Pauline was working on a quilt and Brent was surfing the internet, but the most excited was our dog, Missy. She had stayed at their house since last weekend because of us having the Homemaker party. Missy ran to see each of us and was so happy she was squeaking while we were petting her. We left Stacey with Pauline and Brent and headed on to Bowling Green. Linda wanted to stop at Home Depot first, so we parked there and went inside, then over to Target. We left Target and stopped at Zaxby's to eat lunch. Lunch was good and fairly quick, so we went to Lowes next. The Greenwood Mall was our next shopping stop and we looked inside several shops. When we exited the mall, the weather had cleared a little and we could see sunshine. I can't remember all the stops we made, but the last stop was at Arbys for 10 of their roast beef sandwiches. I headed the HHR towards P&B's house as it was starting to get dark. We went inside and ate the sandwiches with Stacey, Pauline and Brent. Stacey fed the dogs a sandwich while we talked and watched some old Muppet TV shows that Brent had found on the internet. We decided to take all the dogs with us to Burkesville, so we loaded them in the HHR and left for home. Our ducks and Cooter were waiting at the garage door when we pulled in the driveway.
Posted on Saturday, December 23, 2006
Krafty Kritters Deliver Christmas Basket
We started the day with coffee and pop tarts for breakfast, then watched
TV until about 10 AM. Linda, Stacey and I loaded in the HHR and drove to
the store that used to be called Traces on the Cumberland. Now it's
called Traces of the West and is more of a junk shop than a gift shop.
The guy started out dealing in Western wear, saddles and tack, but after
a divorce, he now trades in junk. We left there after about 20 minutes
and went to the grocery store, then back to the farm and put away the
stuff. Pauline and Brent arrived around 12:30 and we walked around
outside for a little while, letting the dogs run off some energy. We
went back inside and I fixed cheese burgers for lunch. After lunch,
Linda called Regina and they went to take the Krafty Kritters Home
Makers' gift basket to a married couple in Burkesville.
Regina and Linda drove to their residence and talked with them for a
little while. Rita and Jack work around town mowing and doing odd jobs
to supplement their incomes and they work hard to have a little. Rita
and Jack were selected from several suggested beneficiaries and were
given the basket of presents donated by the club members. They thanked
Linda and Regina and the Krafty Kritters and also wished everyone a
Merry Christmas.
Posted on Monday, December 25, 2006
Santa Stops At Our Farm
Pauline and Brent had arrived Saturday, and it was a nice time to spend
together. Sunday, Linda fixed us a nice dinner with ham, sweet potato
fries, steamed corn, and some other sides and dinner rolls. There were
plenty of desserts too, including a cake Pauline had brought and banana
pudding Linda and Stacey made. On Santa's way from the North Pole to the
South Pole we are fairly early on the route, so he made an early stop at
our house and we opened our presents on Christmas Eve so Pauline and
Brent could get up early and travel to her parents house to spend some
time with them. Pauline seems to be starting to feel the effects of
being pregnant and was a little sick, nothing bad, just an upset stomach
and sniffles. It maybe just a touch of the flu since Linda and Stacey
had passed it around to each other last week. This morning, I fixed
everyone a ham and egg omelet for breakfast and then, a little before 8
AM, they packed their goodies and headed towards Morgantown, which is
about a two hour drive from the farm.
Merry Christmas
Posted on Thursday, December 28, 2006
Picking Up Dogs
Pauline and Brent had asked us to dog sit for them while they made their annual trip to IN for Brent to swim, so we loaded into the HHR and headed towards Smith's Grove to pick them up. We parked in their driveway and went inside after their dogs had run out to meet Missy and us. They were running helter skelter for about 5 minutes, then settled down a little. Pauline was on the phone to her job, trying to tell them how to do something over the phone. We sat and talked while she finished her conversation, then dressed and we headed to Bowling Green. Linda and I were looking for lamp parts to rebuild a flloor lamp for our living room. We stopped at Home Depot and picked up some stuff for that, then dropped the girls off at Kohl's while Brent and I went to Best Buy to pick up a DVD writer for Jennifer and Mike Williams. We didn't like the price they had on their items, so we went over to Office Depot, next to Wal-Mart, then back to pick up the girls at Kohl's. Next, we went to Applebee's and had lunch, then down to Sam's Club and finally bought the DVD writer and I picked up 100 blank CDs while there. We drove back to the house and unloaded the stuff, then played with the dogs while Brent changed out the DVD writer in Jennifer and Mike's PC. Pauline and Brent told their dogs so long, we loaded all three dogs in the HHR and said goodbye, then drove back to Burkesville. We made it home earlier than usual, around 7 PM.
Posted on Saturday, December 30, 2006
Hoosier Visitors
I had received a PM on the
Norris Farm Forum the other day saying that a couple of our friends would
be down over the New Years Holiday. Today, the phone rang and Linda
answered and talked a few minutes, then called me to the phone and it
was Donnie Cox. We talked a little bit, then he said they would be over
in a little while and would try to call another couple from IN that was
also down in TN. About an hour later our doorbell rang. It was Bonnie
and Donnie Cox with Susie and Gary Mader. They came inside and all the
dogs went crazy barking. When you have our dog and the two we are taking
care of this weekend it sounds like a kennel. The dogs finally calmed
down and we started talking. We sat in the living room laughing and
having a good time for a while, then went outside to get a breath of
fresh air and look around. Everyone walked down and looked at the wood
shed I had built and talked about the amount of wood I had stacked. It
was fairly warm, a few degrees above 60, and pleasant to be outdoors. We
walked back to the house and then went back inside. Everyone went
upstairs and Donnie, Gary and I played pool while the girls talked and
watched a slide show on the big screen TV. After they had been here
about three hours, they said it was time for them to head back towards
Byrdstown. Time seems to go too fast when you're having fun. We went
downstairs and I took a picture before they left.
We usually see them on Dale Hollow Lake in the summer, but it was
nice to see them here at the farm and we were glad they took time to
come over and visit with us during their trip.
