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Posted on Sunday, December 02, 2012
IN Visit
Friday, I felt good enough for a trip to IN, so we decided to go. Linda
left work at the school at 11 AM and we met her in town for lunch. We
returned to the farm and packed our stuff in the Malibu and left at
12:30 PM. We were almost to Louisville when I noticed the back of my
shirt was wet. I asked Linda and she said it was soaked. I drove on
through Louisville and to the next rest area. When we stopped, my shirt
was soaked with liquid and when I removed it was dripping. The place on
my back that had been filled with liquid had ruptured and the shirt and
seat back were wet. It was like a blister had burst, only one huge
blister. My back felt better. Linda managed to tape together a bandage
to absorb the remaining stuff the rest of the way Daleville. We called
in a Pizza King order and stopped at the grocery store in Chesterfield.
After buying the groceries, we picked up the pizza and went to Mom's
house in Daleville where we stayed the night.
Saturday
morning we went to the Lion's Club pancake breakfast and ate. After
finishing breakfast, we drove to Muncie and to the Woodlands. We found
Mom out back on the patio with several others enjoying a smoke break. We
joined them on the patio and talked with them until their break was
over. Mom was using a walker, but getting about fairly well with it. She
walked back to her room and we sat and talked for a good bit. Linda gave
Mom some white candy she made and a new sweat shirt. We moved down to
the dinning area and sat with her while she complained about her food.
There wasn't a single thing she wanted to eat on the plate they brought
her, so she ordered a bowl of tomato soup and two packs of crackers. A
few minutes later, the worker brought her soup and crackers. I teased
her about the food not being that bad because she wasn't losing weight.
She said that I should try eating it for a while. I said I probably will
have to some day. That was about as confrontational as it got this trip.
Around 1 PM, we gave Mom hugs and said our good byes, then we went back
to Daleville. Linda and Stacey went to visit Kim and Kenny while I
remained in Daleville. They returned a little after dark and we went to
the interstate area and ate fast food for supper.
Sunday morning
after breakfast, we cleaned up the house a little, shut off the water
and turned down the furnace. Linda called Nana and told her we were
going to come down to Pendleton in a little bit. We packed the car for
the ride home and headed to Pendleton. Reba had the door open and met us
with Reese. Reese and Coco did fine as we walked into the house. No
problems at all with the dogs during our entire visit. We talked for a
couple of hours before saying we needed to go. Nana walked us out to the
curb for hugs and good byes when we finally left.
It
was misting rain as we drove back towards KY, so Stacey had a plan of
going inside to eat at King Fish. That's what we did. OMGosh! The food
was great. Stacey had fish 'n' chips. Linda and I both "built our own"
platters. She had whitefish and stuffed crabs. I had whitefish and
butterfly jumbo shrimp. My sides were onion rings and a baked potato.
Two long neck Buds kept my thirst quinched. All of us had too much food,
but we loved it! We ended the trip at 6:20 PM when I pulled the Malibu
into the garage.
Posted on Saturday, December 08, 2012
Cruiser Dinner
Stacey, Linda and I left the farm and drove to Smith's Grove on the
Cumberland Parkway. We exited at the 38 mile marker on I-65 and drove
north on 101 to KyRock Elementary School to watch Julie Norris play
basketball. Pauline and Brent had enrolled her in a developmental league
and we wanted to see her play. The kids were mostly 5 or 6 years old and
the ball goals were lower so they could get the ball high enough to make
some shots. We were a little early and were able to talk with Julie
before the game, then we watched her play and also had a short
conversation after the game was over. We sat with Pauline, Brent and
Kyle while the game was being played and talked with them too. As soon
as the game was finished, we left the school and drove back to the farm
in a dreary rain. When we made it home, we had about an hour and a half
before we needed to leave for the Cumberland River Cruisers dinner. We
drove to Dale Hollow State Park and went inside the Mary Oaken Lodge
where we met the other club members. At 5:30 PM, we began the dinner
with a short prayer and then the members went to the buffet. We filled
our plates and returned to the table to eat.
Once
everyone had ate, we had a very short meeting to nominate new officers
and give away a few gift certificates to the lucky members that had
their numbers drawn. We then moved to the fireplace area for a few group
pictures.
The
officers gathered together for a picture. Dave Neff (right) will
continue his duties as President and Linda Norris will still be
Secretary/Treasurer for the next two years. Kent Cooper (left) will be
the new Vice President replacing Phillip Davidson.
We
stayed a little while talking and laughing with other members, then left
and drove back to the farm in the rain.
Posted on Saturday, December 15, 2012
Christmas Presents For Kids
Stacey, Linda and I ate a quick breakfast and headed into Burkesville to
help with passing out presents to underprivileged kids. A lot of the
work had already been done before we arrived. Various organizations in
Cumberland County turned in names of kids they believed needed help. A
church group in Louisville, KY had been contacted and their members had
purchased presents for the list of kids that had been sent to them. Each
child's age and sizes had been passed along and the church members then
purchased what ever they thought was appropriate, wrapped each package
with Christmas paper and ribbons, packed them in trailers and vehicles
and brought them to the school in Burkesville. This was the 29th year
the group had conducted the Christmas present program.
The
presents in the picture are just a small part of what they brought. I'm
guessing there were nearly a thousand presents. We helped by carrying
the presents to the door and helping pack them into people's vehicles.
We also passed out donated coats and sacks of food to the people that
were in need. We worked until most of the presents had been passed out,
around 2 PM, and then told everyone Merry Christmas and we went back to
the farm.
Posted on Tuesday, December 18, 2012
Trading Trucks
About a week ago, Linda gave me an advertisement from GM stating that we
could get quite a bit of money off if we bought a new Silverado truck. A
couple of days later, I had to take the HHR into the Don
Franklin Chevy/GMC dealership for a minor repair, so while I was
there, I asked them about the deal. They kind of didn't believe what I
told them, but they did a computer search for me and found a few trucks
like we were interested in purchasing. The next day I took the ad back
to the dealership when I went to check on the HHR. Terry Riley took the
ad and figured a trade in price for me. I refused to trade without
talking with Linda about the deal. I thought one of the trucks they had
found on the computer search was located near us in Russell Springs, KY
so we took a ride over there that evening. We stopped at the GM dealer
and the truck wasn't there, but they had a nice GMC pickup. We returned
to the farm. The next day, Lloyd, from Don Franklin Chevy, called and
told me they had one of the trucks that we liked there at the dealership
in Burkesville. They had brought the truck from Campbellsville instead
of Russell Springs. After Linda came home from working at the school, we
went to the dealership and we made a deal to trade our 2002 pickup truck
for the new 2012 truck. Back at the farm, we cleaned our stuff out of
the old pickup truck. Monday, I went to the bank, picked up the title
from our safe deposit box and a check to cover the trade-in difference.
I went to the dealership and took care of the paper work and turned in
our truck. I picked up the HHR while I was there. Linda liked the
chrome nerf bar steps she had seen on the GMC truck at the other dealer,
so we asked Terry to have the nerf bars added to the truck we were
buying. They ordered the steps and put them on the next day and then
called us and said the truck was ready. We went to get the truck as soon
as Linda got off work. Terry had the truck washed and then parked it in
front of the dealership. Terry thanked us for doing business with them
and we told him we appreciated the friendly service they had provided us
during the trade.
Stacey
rode with Linda in the new truck back to the farm. We took a ride to
Columbia and ate, then drove back to the farm. The truck drives and
rides great.
Posted on Saturday, December 22, 2012
Crazy Christmas Shopping
We left the farm after breakfast and I drove to Pauline and Brent's
house. Linda and I had planned to pick up Julie and Kyle and take them
with us Christmas shopping, but our plans were changed. Pauline and
Brent were going to go and Brent did the driving. OK, not a big change.
He headed to the Bowling Green Mall and parked as far as he could from
the door and still be in the mall's parking lot. That was the closest
parking place he could find. The place was packed. We figured as much
when we left home. Pauline was ready to eat lunch by the time we walked
into the mall, so our first stop was the food court. After finishing the
different meals everyone had picked, we began our walk around the mall.
I took Julie and Kyle by the hand and we went directly to the candy
shop. Kyle scooped up some candy he liked and poured it into the plastic
bag, then picked several more types and did the same with those. When it
was Julie's turn, she knew what kinds of candy she wanted to put in her
bag, so we scooped those up and took the bags to the women at the
counter with the scales. They weighed our bags of candy and I paid. Then
we stepped away from the counter, opened the bags and began eating.
We
said hello to a few people from Burkesville as we walked around the
mall. Julie, Kyle and I hung around while the others went in and out of
the stores looking and buying. It was easy to keep the kids busy and we
all had a good time. The adults were able to do the shopping they wanted
to do without worrying about the kids and I had fun with the kids. 
Brent
drove us back to their house and we sat around for a little while until
Kyle woke up from a nap. He said good bye to his Mommy and Daddy and
then Julie, Kyle, Stacey, Linda and I loaded into the Malibu and headed
back towards Burkesville. Linda picked up some sandwiches at the parkway
exit near Columbia before driving back to the farm. Once we were home,
we ate our burgers, then started a fire in the wood stove.
Posted on Tuesday, December 25, 2012
Opening Christmas Presents
Beth, Pauline's sister came to the farm and after we ate the big dinner
Linda fixed, we took a break and played with the kids awhile. Then Julie
changed into her Christmas outfit and Kyle put on a red sweatshirt so I
could take a few pictures in front of the tree and the presents.
Julie
is learning to read and all of the names had been printed on the
packages so that she could take over the job of handing out presents
that Stacey had done.
Then
the Christmas paper began flying. Everyone was opening presents at once
it seemed.
After
the presents were opened, we talked about what everyone had received. We
then gave Pauline three pouches of frozen raspberries and a package of
pectin. She put her new jelly and jam maker together and with a little
help from Linda, used it to make raspberry jam in about a half hour.
OMGosh, did it taste good! A little later, Nancy and Steve dropped by
for a short visit and gift exchange. The next morning, we ate the
homemade bread Nancy had gave us with the raspberry jam Pauline had made
along with cinnamon rolls shaped like a tree with green icing and
sprinkles for decorations that Julie and Kyle added.
Posted on Thursday, December 27, 2012
Gift Exchange
Stacey called Jason to see if he wanted to get together to exchange
gifts. Jason was on his way to get a new watch band sized to fit him, so
he wanted to wait about an hour. Stacey agreed and setup a time to pick
Jason up at 12:20 PM. Stacey, Linda and I drove the truck to Jason's
house and he was ready at the planned time. We rode to Albany and ate
lunch, then returned to Burkesville and to the farm. Stacey and Jason
giggled and teased each other about the presents the whole time we were
on the road. As soon as everyone was in the living room I took a couple
pictures before they began opening the gifts.
Then
they began tearing into the paper and checking out what was inside.
No
two snowflakes are identical, but these two are pretty close!
Jason
and Stacey watched TV together for a while, then we took Jason back home
a little after 4 PM.
