56 Chevy Parts Order

Brent and I had discussed several times the possibility of putting a disc brake setup on the 56 Chevy, we finally decided to do it when Brent told me he had a coupon for 15% off. He ordered the parts from Eckler's Classic Chevy. He ordered the kit to replace the front suspension, add power rack and pinion steering and add power disc brakes. He also ordered another kit to add a power booster master cylinder and new brake lines. FedEx began delivering the parts yesterday and made a return trip today. I'm not sure if they have brought everything yet, so this afternoon I went to the pole barn and began opening the packages. There were about a dozen various sized cardboard boxes, some had several smaller packages inside and some just held one item. The red primer piece is the mounting bracket for the rack and pinion steering unit.
   
The upper and lower a-frames are nice tubular pieces with the ball joints already mounted. The coils springs should lower the car two inches when installed.
   
The disc brake rotors are drilled and slotted and have the bearing races already pressed in place. The power brake booster is a 7 inch type and there was a large box of smaller items to put the things together.
   
I'm still driving the Chevy a little bit as Dave at DC Auto Service isn't ready for me to bring the car and all the parts to his garage yet. Our plans are for him to start the work after the Christmas/New Years holidays.

Garmons Killing Hogs

Phillip Garmon and his family have been killing hogs since Tuesday and have killed several hogs each day. They purchased partially grown hogs earlier in the year and fed them till they were ready to kill. Some of their friends have also been helping and have their own hogs that were killed and processed. The process starts with a 22 caliber shot to the head, sticking the hog and then the hog is hung from scoop of a tractor and let bleed out. The tractor then carries the hog around to the scalding pit, where it is gently lowered into the scalding tank. After a few minutes in the tank, the hog is removed and the hair pulled and shaved from the carcass. The hog is hung from a hoist on the back of a tractor and hosed off with clean water. The tractor is used to carry the hog into the pole barn and the butchering begins. A final shaving takes place, then the head is removed. The front feet are next to go, then the abdomen is opened and the guts are removed and dumped into a large plastic container. The liver is then retained from the gut pile. A battery powered reciprocating saw is used to remove the backbone and split the carcass in half. From there, the tractor hauls the two halves to the wagon, where they are unhooked and laid on the wagon. The individual pieces are cut with knives and placed in various piles and buckets. Some pieces are for sausage, some pieces are ribs, some are tenderloins. They use a meat saw to cut the pork chops apart and a meat grinder to grind up the sausage after adding seasoning. The meat is wrapped in butcher paper and labeled with a marker, placed in a box and it is ready to take home. The work is done a hog at a time to keep each person's meat separate from the other person's meat.

There are pictures of the entire process I've placed in a slideshow.
Be aware, the slideshow contains graphic images of butchering of animals.
Click HERE to see the slideshow.

CC Basketball Games

We stayed home most of the day, then went to Columbia for supper. On the way home, I asked if anyone wanted to go to the Cumberland County High School basketball game. Linda didn't want to go, but Stacey said she would go. We were almost ready to leave for the game when I asked Stacey if Jason was going. She didn't know, so she called and told him we were going and if he didn't go she wouldn't be home for their nightly phone conversation. We headed to town and parked outside the gym, then went inside and picked out where we would sit. There wasn't much of a crowd, both boys and girls teams are supposedly going to be weak this year. The girls game started and after about thirty seconds of action, Jason arrived. Stacey was happy to see him and they started arguing about something immediately. The girls game was a squeaker with both teams opening up a five point lead at times.

At the end of regulation it was tied after two free throws by Cumberland. The overtime began and the teams traded a couple of baskets, a few touch fouls were called on Cumberland and three of the players exited the game due to fouling out. Boyle County's team was deeper and more of their team had played during the game, so their players were not in foul trouble. It didn't look good for Cumberland as they were down four points with less than a minute to go. One of the players that came in from being on the bench, Christy Nation hit a basket to draw within two points. The teams played on, both having turn overs with the clock winding down. Cumberland had the ball out of bounds, down two, with only four seconds left. They threw it in, made a long pass down court and Christy Nation hit a three point shot from the corner with only a half second left on the clock. The Cumberland side of the crowd erupted in celebration!
 
The boys game was dismal. Cumberland County boys lost. They barely scored more than 20 points in the entire game. We left at the start of the fourth quarter, took Jason home and then returned to the farm.

Christmas Shopping

Brent had contacted us about coming over and going Christmas shopping, so we left the farm early and drove to Pauline and Brent's house. We setup the cage and put Coco in it, Brent told Pico and Poco to go to their laundry room and he put the baby gate across the doorway. We all loaded into their Traverse and headed to Bowling Green. Our first stop, Pauline picked Ryan's for lunch. After lunch, we headed straight to Toys "R" Us.
  
After a few minutes of looking, Julie and I were teamed up and Stacey was driving the cart with Kyle so that Pauline and Brent could do some shopping. I just let Julie look at whatever she wanted, play with it a little, then asked her to move on to look at something else. It went really smooth that way, as I wasn't in any hurry and Julie was getting to check out the stuff she liked. Right now she is interested in things with Dora The Explorer and learning her letters so she can read. A bike was high on her "I want that!" list too.
  
I handed off Julie for a few minutes, made a purchase for Linda and I, then took the item to the car and then returned to keep Julie busy. Brent let me know they were ready to leave, so Stacey and I took Julie and Kyle to the car, and buckled them in. Linda joined us and read a book to Julie and Kyle while Pauline and Brent packed their items in the back of the Traverse. The next stop was the Bowling Green Mall. Stacey pushed Kyle in the stroller as Julie held hands with others in our group as we walked through the mall. Pauline and Brent picked up Pauline's bracelet at Kay's Jewelry and we made several other stops at various stores in the mall.
  
Linda bought a bag of candy and it was gave to me to pass out. Julie and I were once again walking together, me passing out candy and Julie eating it. As we were almost all the way around the mall, we started sitting on the benches while the others shopped and let Kyle walk back in forth while holding on to the front of the bench. He would start to drop down to crawl, but Brent wasn't allowing that to happen. When the people traffic would thin out, we let Julie run several feet across the aisle to the front of a store, go inside slightly and come back, only when there weren't any people walking. We made a game of it and she was having fun. The next thing we knew, Julie was inside the store and stepped up in to the window display with the mannequin. At that point, Pauline caught us. Game over! No penalty or punishment, just on to the next store. Julie had been promised a ride on the Merry-Go-Round and as we finished shopping, Brent let her take a ride right before we left the mall.
  
Brent drove us back towards their house and stopped at Sonic for drinks and one sandwich for the dogs. Back at their house, we let Stacey feed the dogs while we played with Julie and Kyle until time to leave for home. We left and Stacey talked to Jason on the cell phone as I drove the parkway most of the way to the farm. We made it home at 8 PM.

Special Delivery

When daylight arrived, so had a light snow. It was mostly snow flurries as I started the Mule and loaded Daisy in the back. I drove down the road and noticed there was a little ice forming on the creek as I crossed. I let Daisy out on the other side so she wouldn't get wet. She stayed out of the water and just ran around the edges of the fields.
  
After returning Daisy to her stall, I drove the Mule to the wood shed and loaded the back with firewood. Since the ground was snow covered it was firm enough to drive the Mule to the back porch. Linda and Stacey came out and help unload the wood and stack it on the porch. I put the Mule back in the garage and we all went inside. As I mentioned in an earlier post, FedEx has been making several stops at our house. This time the package was for Stacey and it was from Chuck Anderson. Stacey was just getting out of the shower, so I called her into the living room and showed her the box. I grabbed the camera and took a few pictures as she opened the box.
   
Stacey pulled out a jacket. It was a special edition Brickyard leather jacket. It was easy to tell from the expression on Stacey's face that she was pleasantly surprised. After checking out the jacket, Stacey opened the envelope and found two tickets to a San Antonio Spurs verses the Indiana Pacers game in January. Those are Stacey's two favorite teams that she keeps track of during the season. We asked her who she was going to root for with both her favorite teams playing. Stacey read the letter to us and it said that the jacket was one of only 50 that had been made and that Chuck had sent it because he wasn't able to get a parking pass for her. It was easy to see the jacket meant a bunch more to Stacey than a parking pass. I asked Stacey to try the jacket on, that was no problem.
 
The jacket fit her perfectly and the two tickets to the Pacer game also will work great. Linda is already planning the trip and will see her Mom while they're in IN to see the game.

Thank You Chuck, for taking the time and the effort to send Stacey the very nice jacket and tickets. Linda and I appreciate it greatly and I know Stacey does too!

Ice & Decorations

The cold weather that produced the light snow a few days ago also froze water in some of the small streams. I even had to change Daisy's water each day as it was freezing in the bucket. I was just swapping out one bucket for another and setting the one with the frozen water in the garage to thaw. While I was watching Daisy run, I noticed that there was still ice back in the hollers where the shadows had kept the sun from melting it.
  
The ice won't last much longer as the temperatures are in the mid 50s and hardly a cloud in the sky. Linda has been decorating the house with Christmas lights and other types of decorations. Stacey and Linda put the Christmas tree in the corner of the living room and have it looking nice.
 
She uses a lot of lights on the tree and around the house too.

Snow Day

It rained most of the night and just after daybreak it turned to snow. The snow came down hard for a couple of hours, then lightened up and quit around 10 AM. Linda and I went to the garage and drove the Mule outside. We parked in front of the barn and let Daisy out of her stall. She was eager to run, so she jumped into the back of the Mule without being told.
   
I drove across the creek and let Daisy out of the Mule and she took off. We went back in the 'holler' to avoid the wind. The hills block the direct path of the wind and it doesn't feel near as cold. Once Daisy had made her rounds, we took her back to the barn and gave her some pieces of scrap meat that Linda had cooked a little bit earlier. The Mule ride was over, so we parked in the garage and went inside, laid another stick of wood in the stove and enjoyed the warmth for a while. We are supposed to be getting more snow later in the day, so Linda is preparing for no school tomorrow. That means she won't have to work.

Snow Day II

Before I went outside, I took a picture of Coco on the little red bed in the front bed room while he was laying with two stuffed animals.

The snow kept falling yesterday and all night too. The temperature dropped to about 9 degrees and this morning the snow was covering the grass. I went out early, just before sunrise to take a picture. I snapped a few shots, then Steve Riddle drove by and honked. I followed his truck down to his house and we talked a few minutes before I headed back to the house.
   
The weather reports sound like the weather in other parts of the US are worse than here. What's it like in your area?

Holiday Happenings

Pauline and Brent arrived around 6 PM Friday with Julie and Kyle. Brent and Pauline were complaining of stomach problems and didn't feel like eating. Julie and Kyle seemed fine.
Saturday morning, Brent said he had a tough night and Pauline still was feeling rough too. Linda and I were supposed to help with passing out presents to the various groups and underprivileged kids of Cumberland County, so we showered and decided to take Julie and Stacey with us. I figured it would be better if we left Kyle with Pauline and Brent at the farm because he would require more attention. When we arrived at the grade school, there were hundreds of presents that had been wrapped and donated from a large church group from Louisville. Some of the church members had come along to deliver the presents to the school, but then left before time to hand the presents out. We began by separating the presents for the various agencies and checking the lists.
  
The first picture only shows about one fourth of the presents that had been donated. After the gifts had been checked against the lists, the presents were carried outside to the awaiting vehicles of the various agencies. This part of the procedure took a couple of hours due to waiting on the various agencies to arrive and then be loaded. A little before noon, we began passing out presents to the kids of individual families. Stacey and Jason worked as a team during this part of the operation, carrying presents from the back hallway to the table where they were presented to the kids after their adult supervisor had signed for their packages. Julie was a big help too, she enjoyed doing the work and never asked once to be able to open a package.
  
In between the times when there weren't any people arriving, Julie played in the cafeteria and some of those times, Stacey read her books. Priscilla and Rodney Schwartz bought pizzas for everyone that was working that we ate in the down times too.
  

Around 2 PM, Priscilla said that we should call it a day and that the rest of the presents would have to be picked up on Monday, so we took Jason to his grandparents' house and returned to the farm to see how Pauline and Brent were doing. Pauline and Brent were still feeling sick to their stomachs, so near 5 PM we bundled up Kyle and Julie and headed to town for the Burkesville Christmas Parade. As we were riding to town and listening to the radio, they were letting kids talk on the radio and tell what they wanted for Christmas. They had Girl Scouts singing Christmas Carols and were announcing who were sponsors of the floats in the parade. Once I had parked the car, I told Linda to call the house and tell Pauline and Brent that Julie was about to talk on the radio. We walked over to the Courthouse Square and Pam, the radio announcer, let Julie speak on the radio. Pam asked Julie her name, how old she was and what she wanted for Christmas. After Julie answered all the questions, I whispered to her to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year and Julie did. We then went to our spot to watch the parade.
  
A few minutes later, Kyle had woke up as the sirens were blaring and the parade was getting closer. We took Julie's gloves off so she would be ready to pick up the candy the people were tossing out.
  
The Cumberland County High School Band came marching through playing Christmas songs as they passed. Frosty The Snowman stopped to give Julie a pat on the head during the parade.
  
Then several decorated vehicles and floats passed by, including the Shriners.
   
Then, the last thing in the parade was Santa riding on the fire truck.

We quickly loaded in the HHR and went back to the farm to warm up. Pauline and Brent told Julie they had heard her talking on the radio and asked how the parade had been. Julie told them everything about the parade and how she had told the announcer that she wanted a Teddy Bear for Christmas.

Christmas 2010

Brent's Family had Christmas with Pauline's Mom and Dad on Friday and after eating dinner with them, came to visit with us. We ate a late supper with them and played with the kids until their bed time. Around 9 PM it began snowing and we had at least an inch of accumulation before 10. We had a few things to put together before going to bed around 10:30 PM.
I heard Kyle rousing around 5:30 AM Christmas, so I went in and made coffee and waited for the others to hear him and get up. It wasn't but a few minutes and everyone was up and had noticed we had a "white Christmas". Kyle wasn't that loud, but they were just anxious to get Christmas started. Stacey and Julie began passing out presents after a few pictures in front of the tree.
   
   
   
   
   
We let the kids play with their new stuff for a while, then dressed everyone warmly and went outside to play in the snow. I took a picture of Kyle on his new 4 wheeler and Linda and I watched as they all took turns riding down the front hill on the sleds.
  
We helped build a snow man down by the pole barn and tried out the new salamander inside the Club House at the pole barn. We worked for a while, then went inside and warmed up in the Club House. The salamander raised the temperature from around 30 degrees to about 55 degrees in about 20 minutes.
  

After the family photo shot, we went up to the house and had Christmas Dinner.

It began snowing again, later in the day, so we piled into the Mule, turned on the Christmas lights that Linda and I had strung around the top of the Mule and took Daisy for a run. We sang Christmas Carols as we rode through the fields that were covered in snow. Julie, Pauline, Brent, and Linda sounded fairly good while singing, Stacey and I, not so much. LOL

Merry Christmas to all!

Between Holidays

After Brent's family went home, we began the cleanup and putting away the Christmas decorations. Linda does most of the packing with a little help from Stacey. Then we put the stuff in the back of the Mule and haul it down to the storage building. We've had several days of rain and the snow has completely melted. The snowman is gone too. The temperatures were near 60 degrees, so I began working on a load of firewood. I set the wood splitter up by the pile of wood that the guy dumped inside the equipment shed. I split the wood and threw it on the black trailer and used the Mule to pull it around the corner to the wood shed. Linda and Stacey helped unload the first trailer load, then Linda went back to work putting away the decorations while Stacey and I unloaded the second load. I'm not quite halfway done with the pile of wood, but tomorrow is supposed to be even warmer.
 
We hope everyone has a Happy New Year
and drive safely.