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Posted on Friday, December 04, 2009
Hog Killing At Garmon's
Steve Garmon stopped by Wednesday and asked if I would use my back hoe
and dig them a small pit to scald hogs. He said they were planning on
killing more this year. I went down and dug the pit where they wanted it
and piled the dirt on the sides. It only took about 30 minutes and I was
parking the tractor back in the shed.
Steve had told me they were
going to kill 15 hogs, 5 each on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. This
morning, I waited until the sun was up and had warmed the air
temperature, then I drove the Mule up the road to see how the hog
killing was going. Everyone was busy working when I arrived but said
they were nearly done for the day.
I
stood around about a half hour talking and watching the procedure as
they finished up the last hog. Shaved it, gutted it, and cut it into the
various pieces for the women working at the wagons. Soon the hog was cut
into the size that would fit in the freezer and the scraps were ready to
be ground for sausage. As they were about done, I said I was headed home
and drove on back to the farm.
Posted on Sunday, December 06, 2009
Dusting Of Snow
Saturday morning we woke to a very light dusting of snow. It was the
first of the year and probably not the last. A little before lunch, we
decided to go to Columbia for a look around at the things for sale
during the Christmas in Columbia celebration. Evidently, the dusting of
snow had kept a lot of the people at home, the crowd was small. It was a
good chance to check out some of the stores around the Court House
Square that we had never been inside. After going all the way around the
square, we decided to eat lunch before returning to the farm. The rest
of the day we stayed inside and kept the wood stove burning.
Sunday
morning, after omelets for breakfast, I took Daisy for a run around the
fields. Linda and I moved some stuff around in the pole barn and put her
1997 Mustang inside. That left room for the Mule to be inside the
garage. That way the brakes won't freeze and lock up after the creek
crossings when Daisy runs. It should also make it easier to start all
winter.
Posted on Wednesday, December 09, 2009
Storm Causes Mild Flooding
Overnight we received a lot of rain from the storm that is crossing the
USA. This morning, I dressed and started the Mule that was parked in the
garage and drove down to the creek to see what had happened. The water
had been out of the creek banks during the night and had left debris
fairly far away on both sides of the stream.
The
wind was moving the clouds quickly and the temperature was in the mid
50s while I was outside. It is supposed to drop during the day and be
colder tomorrow. I guess we were lucky it wasn't cold enough to snow, as
much rain as fell, if it had been snow it would probably have been close
to a foot deep. I will go ahead and use the tractor to push the downed
trees and limbs out of the fields in a few days when the ground has
dried and the weather is warmer, but I'll wait before pushing all the
small debris back into the creek as there will probably be more flooding
before spring arrives and the hay begins to grow.
Posted on Thursday, December 10, 2009
Dr Zhu Appointment
We left home about 8 AM and drove to Bowling Green to the Graves-Gilbert Clinic for Stacey's doctor appointment. On the third floor, Stacey and Linda sat in the waiting area while I registered at the desk in the third floor lobby, then I went to Dr Zhu's office and turned in the registration paper. The receptionist told me to go right in to the examination room, so I called Stacey and Linda into the room also. We waited about ten minutes and Dr Zhu came in and asked how Stacey had been. We said there had been no problems and he was glad to hear that. He talked with Stacey a little, scheduled a blood test, then started talking about the Pacers and Stacey still being a Pacer fan. Dr Zhu told Stacey it was time to move on to another team. He then told us about G.G.Clinic and BCBS Anthem Insurance maybe not working together any longer. He said BCBS might want us to find a new neurologist, but Stacey would probably not have to since she was enrolled in Medicaid. He seemed to think that the disagreements would be worked out in the end. Dr Zhu sat and talked with all of us probably twenty minutes after he had transferred the prescriptions and blood test requests electronically with his laptop. He seemed to be spending extra time with us and he wasn't in any hurry. After the appointment, we went to eat, then to Sam's Club and bought groceries. We also stopped at the Vette City Antique Mall on the way to pick up Julie at her baby sitters. Stacey went to the door and Julie came outside giggling and running to the car. They climbed inside the HHR and I drove to PB&J's house. Brent came home about a half hour later and Pauline about an hour after that. We talked, played with Julie and the dogs, then left for home about 6:30 PM.
Posted on Saturday, December 12, 2009
Craft Show & Christmas Parade
Stacey, Linda and I went to town around 11 AM and stopped at a craft
show being held in the middle school gym. Several local people were
selling things they had made, including candy, jelly, jewelry and wooden
boxes. There were people from outside of Burkesville selling items too.
After
stopping at the craft show, we ate lunch and went back to the farm.
Around 5 PM, we loaded in the car and went to town again for the
Christmas Parade. Stacey had made plans to meet Jason on the Court House
Square to watch the parade. I let them out on the square and I went to
park the car. I returned to find Stephanie, Tommy, Jason, Stacey and
Linda standing together. We all talked a few minutes and then the police
cars came through with the lights flashing and sirens bellowing to start
the parade. A few pictures are below and they're not my best work. It
was dark and there wasn't much light, so I tried using a slower shutter
speed so more things would show, but the pictures are a little blurry or
have 'ghost' images.
One
of the nice parts of living in Burkesville is that I was able to get two
of the Christmas characters to stand with Stacey and Jason for pictures.
Oh, and another is, it wasn't very cold!
Posted on Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Basket Ball Games
Sunny
and sixty would best describe Monday. It was nice enough for shirt
sleeves outside. Today was a different story. It was cloudy and cooler
all day. We met Jason in town at 8 AM for breakfast, then returned to
the farm. UPS made a delivery of some items we had ordered for
Christmas, then when Linda returned from the day care, we went back to
town to the high school to watch the basketball games. We found seats
and then Jason came up and we all sat together to watch Clinton County
play Cumberland County. The girls' game wasn't much to watch. Clinton
girls beat Cumberland's team badly. The boys' game was a whole lot
better. The Clinton and Cumberland rivalry has been going on a long time
and it was a hotly contested game from the tip off. Both teams built
leads and then lost them. Near the end of the fourth quarter, Clinton
pulled away to a six point lead with about a minute and a half to go.
Cumberland fought back and ended up shooting two free throws with only
three tenths of a second left in the game. Both the free throws were
made and the game went into overtime. During the overtime, Clinton
jumped out to a lead and never fell behind. They ended the game building
their lead shooting free throws.
Posted on Saturday, December 19, 2009
Passing Out Presents
Pauline, Brent and Julie came to the farm Friday night. We ate vegetable
soup that Linda had fixed in a crock pot and talked until bedtime.
Saturday
after breakfast, we dressed and I took a picture of Julie checking out
the Christmas presents while the rest of the girls were dressing.
When
everyone was ready, we climbed in their Traverse and Brent drove us to
the middle school in town. We went inside and began helping pass out the
hundreds of Christmas presents for the needy children and adults in
Cumberland County. The presents are donated by a Catholic Church in
Louisville each year. The arrangements for the presents and the names
are all taken care of by various organizations in the county. Some of
the people receiving gifts are living in the nursing homes, some in the
government housing projects and some are underprivileged kids. We worked
until 2 PM and then called it a day. Several of the presents had not
been picked up, but the recipients will be called next week. When we
left the school, we took Jason with us and Brent drove to Albany for
pizza, then Brent dropped Jason off at his grandparents' house on our
way back to the farm.
Posted on Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Stacey and Jason Exchange Gifts
Stephanie brought Jason by to pick up Stacey and they exchanged
Christmas presents while they were here.
We
all talked as they looked at their presents before Stephanie took Stacey
and Jason home with her. Then they went to see the baby goats that
Stephanie had helped being born the day before. Stephanie had been asked
to help with the goats while her brother, Tim was busy.
While
they were there, Tim was taking care of things and helping deliver the
baby goats. Stacey saw two baby goats delivered.
After
seeing the goats and their babies, they went back to Jason's house. They
ate pizza and played bowling and the fitness game on the Wii game system
while they were there.
(Pictures in this entry
courtesy of Stephanie)
Posted on Friday, December 25, 2009
Merry Christmas Day
PB&J came over a little after 6 PM on Christmas Eve. A few minutes
later, Nancy and Steve stopped in to drop off a present for Linda and I.
We all enjoyed watching Julie and talking until they needed to go
deliver more of their presents. Brent showed us their movie he recorded
of Julie opening her presents at home on Christmas Eve with Pauline's
parents, Dorothy and Larry there watching. Then we went to bed in case
Santa was going to drop by.
I was really surprised at how late
everyone slept this morning, I guess I was expecting Julie to be like
Stacey and Brent. When they were little, they woke up way before sunrise
and would come in to get us up after we had a late night wrapping
presents. This morning, we had coffee and waited just a few minutes
while Linda read Julie a short story from one of her books. I took a
couple of pictures of the dogs to make sure my camera was working. Then
Stacey read the name tags on the packages and told Julie who should
receive those presents.
After
Julie had passed all the presents out, Stacey and her began opening
their presents along with the rest of us.
After
all the presents were opened, we all began playing with our new stuff.
Everyone
seemed happy with their presents. The best Christmas present for Linda
and I was having PB&J at the farm during the holiday.
Merry
Christmas to everyone that reads the blog!
We hope your Christmas was
as nice as ours.
Posted on Saturday, December 26, 2009
The Day After
This morning was a slow starter for about everyone. Julie slept in and
even the dogs stayed quiet until well after 8 AM. I guess that a few
votes for breakfast omelets put me to work. I'm not sure, because I
wasn't present for the vote count, but I made breakfast anyway.
Stacey
and Brent were playing with the Wii game console that came for
Christmas. Julie was playing her "Super Why" learn to read game. Pico
was just relaxing on the couch pillow and at one time was laying upside
down with his feet in the air. Stacey lined up her music CDs in the new
CD storage cabinet that Brent and I put together for her. A little
later, Brent and I took Julie outside and rode the ATVs to let Daisy
run. I used a leash to lead Daisy beside me on the 4-wheeler as we
crossed the rode and creek, then I turned her loose and let her run
while we rode around the fields. It was a short trip since the weather
was cooler. We returned to the house and Brent drove us to town in the
Traverse so I could pick up Stacey's medicine at the pharmacy. Julie
rode along, chattering the entire trip. Pauline and Brent left for their
house about 2 PM without Julie. Julie is staying an extra night and we
are taking her home tomorrow.
Posted on Thursday, December 31, 2009
Gone For A While
PB&J came over to the farm last evening around 6 PM. We sat around
talking and munching on a sandwich and some Christmas candy. Everyone
went to bed early except Julie, she wasn't ready to go to sleep. So,
about 10 PM, she came into the bedroom and watched TV with me while
South Park was on, then went back to bed.
This morning, Brent and
Linda were up early, anxious to get started on their way to IN. Brent
has made an annual trip to swim with the Highland Swim Team on New
Year's Day each year since he graduated from high school in 1997. Stacey
was next to arise, then Pauline and finally Julie was last. Linda fixed
a quick sausage biscuit for everyone while showers were being taken.
They ate, loaded the Traverse, then Julie gave Stacey and I a hug, then
waved good bye and they left.
