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Thursday, November 10, 2011
Car Club Dinner
The Cruisers held their annual CRC Club Dinner at Jone's Restaurant
Thursday evening at 6 PM.
Twenty
five members and guests attended the event. The waitress took our drink
orders and brought those, then took the food orders and turned those in
to the cook. While the food was being prepared, CRC President Dave Neff
made a few remarks, then the normal conversations took over again. A
little bit later the servers began setting the plates in front of the
people and dinner was served.
After
everyone had just about finished eating, Michael Samm announced that
they were giving everyone FREE PIE! We all enjoyed the free piece of
pie, then CRC Secretary Linda Norris paid the bill for everything. She
included a tip for the waitress that had done an excellent job. We
thanked Michael as we were leaving.
Saturday, October 08, 2011
Heritage Days: Parade & Car Show
After french toast for breakfast, we went to the pole barn and readied
the cars to go to the car show in Burkesville. Brent was taking the 58
Triumph, Linda the 65 Mustang and I was taking the 56 Chevy. We loaded
the stuff for the car show in the trunks of the Mustange and the Chevy.
Pauline took the Traverse with some things in it too. After the short
drive to town, we setup the tables and all the stuff for the car show.
Brent and I went to get ice for the drinks we were going to sell, then
we returned and iced down the coolers. Pauline and Brent took Julie and
Kyle uptown to watch the parade. I drove the 56 Chevy to the high school
parking lot to be in the parade. The parade moved slowly through town
and wound up at the park where the car show was going to take place.
Carol,
Stacey and Linda were registering cars when I parked the 56 Chevy. We
took turns walking to the park and looking at the booths and checking
out the food vendors. There were music acts on the stage too. Julie
walked with me on one of my trips and I let her play on the playground
equipment. The girls counted the votes and we began drawing for the door
prizes at 2 PM. The trophy winners were announced and presented with
their trophies. Stacey was presented a trophy for the 56 Chevy. A guy
with a 64 Corvette won the Best of Show trophy.
We
packed all the stuff in the cars and went back to the farm. After a
quick round of restroom breaks, all of us loaded into the 56 Chevy and
went up the hill to Jone's Ridge and the Garmon's cabin. They had
invited us to a hog roast and Pauline had made a large plate of brownies
for our contribution to the dinner. We were a little late, but it worked
out great as the line for the food was just about gone. We said hello to
people and then joined the end of the short line and filled our plates.
We talked with others as we ate. Betty Garmon asked me to take a picture
of everyone that was there, so Steve Garmon got their attention and we
lined the people up for a group photo.
We
stayed until 5:30, then went back to the farm, changed clothes since it
was getting dark and cooler, then took the Traverse back to town to
watch the River Boat Revue. The revue was a musical performed by the
Cumberland County High School students.
It
lasted about an hour and when we returned to the farm, we were all tired
and ready for bed.
Friday, October 07, 2011
Heritage Days: Cruise-In & Sock Hop
A couple of the things the Events Committee had been planning were a
Sock Hop & Cruise-In. I had lined up a DJ and several of the Cruisers to
bring their cars to the Hop. Linda, Stacey and I took the 56 Chevy and
the 65 Mustang and parked them on the Courthouse Square with several
other old cars and trucks. The DJ was about ready to begin playing 50's
& 60's music and I helped him setup his speaker system. A little bit
later, Pauline and Brent arrived with Julie and Kyle, Julie was dressed
in her "poodle" skirt outfit.
There
were hoola hoop, bubble gum bubble blowing and limbo contests and also
several dance contests and best costume contests with the winners
decided by the crowd making noise. There were probaby 300 people
gathered around listening to the music and watching the contests.
Sunday, October 02, 2011
Meeting, Meeting, Campaign, Car Show
Wednesday Stacey and I attended the Events Committee meeting.
Thursday,
Linda and Stacey went to a Home Makers event while I went to the
Cumberland River Cruisers club meeting.
Friday, Stacey, Linda and I
attended a Democratic Campaign event at the Agriculture Building in
town. They had a band playing and gave away hot dogs, drinks and dessert
to everyone in attendance. Linda is on the Democratic Executive Board
and was one of the planners of the meeting. They raffled off a big
screen TV to make money and also took donations.
Saturday
morning we went to Alex Montgomery Chevy Dealership to run a car show
with some of the members of the Cruisers' car club. The weather was in
the mid 60s, windy and partly sunny when the car show began at 10 AM.
The people that entered their vehicles voted on paper ballots for their
three favorites. We counted the votes and started giving away the
trophies at 2 PM. Terry Riley gave his Dealer's Choice Trophy to a guy
with a 1930 Model A.
We
presented the Top Ten Trophies and the Long Distance Trophy and a blue
1957 Chevy BelAir won Best of Show. We took a picture of all of the
trophy winners together and the Best of Show winner and his family
beside their car. You can see all the car show pictures by clicking HERE.
Sunday,
we rested for a while. We went to Hot Rod BBQ for lunch. I watched some
NFL football for a while, then went outside and took the tractor to the
top of the hill and mowed the trails.
Sunday, September 25, 2011
Sunday Drive
Saturday was really nice weather, around 75 degrees and a gentle breeze
blowing. Linda and I mowed most of the day as the predictions were for
rain on Sunday.
Sunday was nice too. So nice that since we had the
mowing done, we decided to take the 97 Mustang for a ride with the top
down. We drove to Columbia and ate lunch at Sonic, then made a short
stop at TSC. I bought a set of lights to put on a wagon. We left TSC and
went south down SR 55. It is a nice road that doesn't have much traffic
and is fairly curvy as it winds through southern Adair County towards
Lake Cumberland. We drove about 50 mph through the country looking at
the homes and farms. We crossed Wolf Creek Dam that impounds Lake
Cumberland. As we crossed the dam, we could see that the section of
highway where the dirt meets the concrete section of the dam has sunk a
foot or more. I don't know if they're going to be able to fix that
problem. We continued south through Clinton County towards Albany. A
section of the highway was closed because the state is building a bypass
around Albany, so we took a short detour, then passed through town and
turned back towards Burkesville. The ride back to the farm took about 20
minutes longer, then I parked the car in the garage and we went inside.
Stacey and I watched the NASCAR race we had recorded as daytime turned
to dark.
Thursday, August 25, 2011
Catching Up
Let's see, where to begin? Last Sunday, when we returned from Somerset
the air conditioner for the house had quit running. We slept that night
without AC, then left for IN to visit with Mom. This morning, I went to
Albany to purchase a new capacitor to replace the one that had blown out
in the AC unit. The service tech at Albany Plumbing & Heating said they
had a unusually large amount of service calls over the weekend. I told
them that I thought it might have been because of an unusual solar flare
that hit the Earth. Linda's cell phone had also stopped working and the
battery in the 1965 Mustang had literally died as I was ready to fill
the gas tank at the service station. I purchased the capacitor and
headed back to Burkesville. On the way home, I made a deposit at the
bank, then stopped at DC Auto Service to find out if Dave had the new
battery installed. He was charging it and said he would bring the car to
the Cruisers' meeting later in the evening. OK, I went home and
installed the capacitor and put the breaker back in the electrical box.
I went inside and turned on the AC. Everything worked and cool air was
circulating throughout the house. Great! After putting the tools away
and cooling off a little, Stacey and I took Daisy for a run. She had not
been out to run for about 4 days. Nancy Riddle had taken care of feeding
Daisy while we were in IN (thanks again to Nancy). Daisy was ready to go
running!
Daisy
checked out around the fields as Stacey and I rode. She romped in the
creek water and then returned to hop in the back of the Mule. We rode
back to the barn, put Daisy back in the stall and fed her. An hour or
two after returning to the house, I talked to an aide from Woodlands
Nursing Home, she said Mom was doing good, had been up most of the day,
went outside to smoke and was in good spirits. That was good to hear,
because I couldn't tell how much the procedure had wore her down. I
thought she was just tired from being at the hospital, but I didn't know
for sure. Stacey, Linda and I went to the car club meeting at 6 PM and
after the meeting I paid Dave for the new battery he had installed.
Linda drove the 65 Mustang back to the farm a little after 7 PM.
Sleeping Wednesday night with a fan in the window that was blowing
outside air on me has caused me to have chest congestion, boy I'm glad
the air conditioning is working again.
Saturday, August 20, 2011
All Day Cruisin
Linda and I had agreed to go to a cruise-in with the car club on
Saturday, so we fixed a cooler, took the camera, and along with Stacey
drove the 65 Mustang to town. I stopped at the filling station and
turned the car off to fill up with gas. I was a little too far away from
the pumps, so got back in to move the car closer. It would not start,
not even wind over. Hmm, I pushed the Mustang away from the pumps into a
parking space and tried messing with the battery cables, still nothing.
A few minutes later, Randy stopped and we tried jumping the Mustang, it
wouldn't do anything while hooked to his Blazer with jumper cables.
Alvin stopped to help and we tried jumping the Mustang off a truck with
a bigger battery. The headlights would come on and the radio would play,
but the car would not start. I asked Kent to take me to the farm, where
I got our pickup truck and drove back to the station. We towed the
Mustang over to DC Auto Service and left it with Dave Neff, the owner.
He will look at it next week. We went back to the station to tell
everyone we weren't going on the cruise, but they said for us to go get
our 56 Chevy and come along with them, they would wait. OK, that's what
we did. After putting the chairs and canopy in the 56, we drove back to
the station and followed the club members the 50 miles to Dry Fork, KY.
The Rolling Rods car club was having a cruise-in at Thomerson Park and
there were lots of people and vehicles already there when we arrived. We
were pointed to a nice parking spot and once parked, we setup the canopy
and our chairs, then went and registered.
You
can see all the car pictures that I took by clicking HERE.
Later in the day, each of us went into the shelter house and ate FREE
hot dogs or shoulder sandwiches. They had FREE drinks too!
With
over 240 vehicles registered, that was a lot of FREE FOOD. They never
ran out. At 1 PM, they stopped the music and began drawing numbers for
door prizes. I was the second number drawn and Linda got two 'shadow'
characters. We left a little bit later and drove the 56 Chevy back to
Burkesville, filled up the gas tank and went back to the farm. It was 3
PM, so we had an hour before we were supposed to be in Albany for their
Cruiz'In On The Square event. We cooled off, drank some iced tea and
relaxed for a few minutes, then loaded back into the Chevy and drove to
Albany. We registered after parking and then walked around the square
looking at the vehicles and taking pictures.
You
can see the pictures by clicking HERE.
They were giving away T-shirts and drawing for door prizes for the 104
vehicle owners they had registered. We talked to several people that was
sitting around the Court House and about 7 PM, I went and started the 56
Chevy, drove around the square and stopped, Stacey and Linda climbed
into the car and we went back to the farm. We put the car in the pole
barn and drove the Mule to the house. Our day was over and we were
toasted! LoL
Saturday, July 30, 2011
Car Show In Columbia
The Cumberland River Cruisers had went by earlier on their way to the
show in Columbia, and Stacey and Linda were going to Campbellsville to
shop, so I decided to go to Columbia for the car show too.
I
fixed a cooler with some drinks and headed on up the road, pulled in the
lot and parked besides the rest of the Cruisers.
The
temperature was above 90 degrees and they were sitting under a canopy. A
little later, we all were huddled together under the canopy to stay out
of the rain.
It
rained for about 30 minutes, then the club running the car show began
handing out trophies. I received a trophy for our 1956 Chevy. Several
other Cruisers received trophies too.
The
show was over and I drove home through several rain showers, pulled the
56 into the pole barn and dried it off as the rain continued outside.
Linda and Stacey returned from Campbellsville and then Stacey went with
Jason to Bowling Green.
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Car Club Meeting
Stacey, Linda and I took the 65 Mustang to the Cruisers' monthly meeting
for July at the Hot Rod BBQ..
President
Dave Neff called the meeting to order as the waitress was taking our
food orders. A little bit of club business was done before she returned
with the food.
After
the meal had been finished and the club picked up the tab, we conducted
the rest of the meeting. Several members are meeting on the Square in
Burkesville on Saturday at 8 AM to cruise to Columbia. The meeting was
adjourned at 7 PM. We talked a little while outside the building, then
hopped in the Mustang and rode back to the farm.
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Cruising To Country Cafe
We left home a little after 5 PM and drove our 56 Chevy towards Columbia, then turned
right on the Cumberland Parkway and exited at the 49 mile marker. We
went North on SR 55 and turned East on SR 80. After passing through
Russell Springs and going a few more miles East on SR 80, we turned
South on SR 76 and headed towards Alligator Boat Dock. A few miles down
SR 76 on the left was the Country Cafe. They are having a cruise-in
every Tuesday evening. It begins at 5 PM and is over at 8 PM ( I think
it is EST). There are no door prizes, but they are playing music and
enjoying each other's company. I parked the 56 Chevy, then Stacey, Linda
and I went inside the restaurant for supper. Linda and I had cat fish suppers with Cajun fries and cole slaw. Stacey had
the Tuesday Night Special of spaghetti, cottage cheese and Texas Toast. Everything we ate was excellent.
When
we finished eating, I went outside and took pictures of the cars that
were parked in the lot.
We
rolled out of the parking lot and headed back towards Burkesville. It
was a nice ride as the sun was vanishing below the horizon and the air
temperature was cooling down.
Saturday, July 09, 2011
NASCAR @ KY Speedway
Linda left for IN at 5 AM, so Stacey and I were by ourselves. We ate egg
sandwiches for breakfast and then dressed. We gathered up our things we
were taking to the NASCAR race at Kentucky Speedway in Sparta KY and put
them in the pickup truck. Just before 10 AM we left the farm and picked
up Jason at 10:15 AM. After talking with Stephannie for a few minutes I
drove us to Smith's Grove and stopped at Brent's house. We moved our
things to his Traverse and headed to Louisville. Our next stop was at
KingFish Restaurant on the banks of the Ohio River for lunch. We ordered
and ate, then stepped out by the river and took a picture. It was 1 PM
when we left the restaurant and headed towards Sparta, which was 59
miles away. We were driving along at 70 mph when traffic came to a
complete stop on I-71. After about 20 minutes of just barely moving, I
opened up my PC and started my GPS software. I found an alternative
route to Sparta, we just had to creep along for a mile or so until we
reached the next exit. We took the state road and cut out 16 miles of
traffic that was barely moving. As we entered Sparta, we ran into more
stopped traffic on SR 35. This was the highway that should have taken us
to the race track. We turned towards the track and again, traffic was
barely moving.
At
5 PM and having only moved about a half mile, we decided to park along
the side of the road like hundreds of others had done and walk the mile
and a half to the race track because we didn't want to be setting in the
traffic when the race started. The walk was grueling and I had our crew
stop 4 or 5 times and take breaks. I didn't know about Jason's physical
conditioning, but mine wasn't that good anyway. I needed to stop even if
Jason didn't. Finally we made it to the race track's grounds, took a
tram around to our entrance and stood outside a moment to get our
bearings and figure out which gate was going to be the easiest to pass
through. The lines were thousands of people long at the main gate. We
went to a side gate and walked right through. We asked about how to get
to our seats and were pointed to an elevator to take to the top.
We
rode up, then walked down to the 37th row in the Ohio section. We found
our seats as Governor Steve Beshear said, "Start your engines!" As far
as I was concerned, that was perfect timing.
The
cars made a couple warm up laps, then a pace lap as we took pictures and
everyone yelled and hollered. The Pace Car pulled off the track and the
green flag waved. At lap 30, NASCAR had a competition Yellow Flag to let
the teams evaluate the condition of the tires and all the cars pulled
into the pits, changed tires, filled their tanks and went back to racing
a couple of laps later. Brent and I watched and at 51 laps, the traffic
was still blocked on the highway where we had parked.
Movie
of Last 3 Laps
Traffic was still backed up at 100 laps, and
also halfway through the race at lap 134. Actually, thousands of people
never made it into the track. Several KY State Police cars headed down
the road and cleared the road about 50 laps before the end of the race
so that people leaving the track would be able to get to I-71 and get
out of town. The race was a clean race with only 5-6 cautions and Kyle
Busch beating Jimmy Johnson in the last 2 laps. They shot off a bunch of
fireworks after the finish and then we walked down the steps to the
exit. We walked off the race track grounds and back to the highway,
where I asked a pickup truck driver if we could hitch hike in the bed of
their truck back to the interstate. They allowed us to ride with them up
the hill to the overpass, then we hopped out and walked about a mile
back to the Traverse. We didn't have to take any breaks this time as it
was dark and all down hill. We loaded into the Traverse and took the
back roads out of town and then entered I-71 about 14 miles closer to
Louisville. Brent drove us back to his house where we then took the
pickup truck back towards Burkesville. I dropped off Jason at exactly 3
AM and after he went inside, we drove on back to the farm. Stacey and I
carried our stuff inside and went directly to bed.
The race track
was a nice facility, the parking and traffic was the worst I've ever
encountered at any event in my life. The articles on the internet seem
to agree with me, something MUST be done before another NASCAR race is
attempted at Kentucky Speedway!
Monday, July 04, 2011
4th of July Car Show
At 5:30 AM, I went outside and hooked the trailer to the pickup truck,
then loaded the Mule on the trailer. I went back inside and gathered up
several things I needed to take to the car show. When Brent woke up, he
followed me as I drove the truck to town and unloaded the Mule. I rode
back to the farm with Brent in his Traverse. After a few minutes at the
farm putting things in the trunk of the 1956 Chevy, I drove it to town
and parked the car inside the walking track where the Independence
Celebration Car Show was going to be held. Club members had already
assembled the tent and tables were setup. We began placing our
registration paperwork on the tables and putting out various other items
such as door prizes and 50/50 tickets. As I was circulating around the
early arrivals I was hearing talk of rain coming our way.
Linda
arrived in the 1965 Mustang Convertible with the top down. I told her to
put the top up. About a half hour later it was beginning to sprinkle
rain. Ten minutes later, Linda and I were sitting in the Mustang and it
was pouring down rain with thunder crashing and lightening flashes and
the wind was about to blow the tents down. The wind let up, but the rain
continued for around 45 minutes, then slowly stopped.
All
the paperwork and door prizes were soaked. We dried the stuff and began
registering cars for the show. I was really surprised that people were
still driving in to the car show and I'm sure it held down the
attendance. About a half hour after the rain stopped the sun popped
through and it was a nice day at the park. We set the trophies out and
the band began playing music. Linda and Carol took the votes of the
vehicle owners and tabulated the results.
When
the band was done, we had a kid draw the numbered tickets as I announced
the door prize winners and club members gave them the stuff. Our 56
Chevy was awarded a "Top Twenty" trophy, so I announced Stacey Norris as
the owner of the car and she received the trophy.
The
group that called themselves “M&M” from Monticello was awarded the Club
Participation Trophy that was donated by DC Auto Service. M&M brought 7
vehicles to the car show. The Best of Show Trophy, donated by First
Place Trophies of Albany, was then presented to Mike Burton for his
yellow Chevy Nova.
We
drew the winning ticket for the 50/50 drawing and presented the winner
the money, then the car show was over and everyone began leaving. The
Cruisers cleaned up a little and took the tents down as we were loading
the Mule and preparing to leave too. At 4 PM the car show was over and
we were on the way back to the farm. I cooked skinless chicken breasts
covered with BBQ sauce and sliced potatoes wrapped in tin foil on the
grill for supper. Pauline, Brent and their kids went home about 7 PM.
Sunday, June 12, 2011
Boating & Pauline's Birthday
Julie, Kyle, Pauline and Brent came to the farm Friday afternoon. Brent
had two new ski ropes and a "Stingray Tail" to mount on the boat to
enhance the ride attitude by using the trim setting. We drilled the
holes and bolted it to the lower unit, then returned to the house. We
ordered pizza and just dinked around with the kids during the rest of
the evening.
Saturday morning we were on a mission. Going to Dale
Hollow Lake. Linda fixed breakfast and everyone ate fairly early.
Pauline and Linda began working on sandwiches for lunch on the boat and
Brent readied a cooler. I gathered up various items we needed to take
and kept the kids busy putting on their shoes, shirts and swim suits.
Linda and Pauline covered them in sun screen before we left the house.
We drove the Mule to the pole barn, opened the doors and pulled the
truck and boat outside. We transferred all our things into the back of
the truck, loaded into the HHR and the pickup truck and headed towards
town. We stopped for gas and ice at the filling station, then drove to
Dale Hollow State Park. Once we were on the ramp, we uncovered the boat
and transferred everything into the boat, including all the people. I
backed the trailer into the lake and Brent started the boat. I unhooked
the chain and winch strap and Brent backed the boat off the trailer, I
parked the truck and trailer in the lower lot and walked back to the
courtesy dock. They were waiting for me to step in the boat and then we
idled out of the dock area. Brent took off and just went a short way,
then stopped the boat in a small cove and we jumped in the water. Wow,
it was at a perfect temperature. Julie and Kyle already had their life
jackets on, so it didn't take long to have them ready to get in the
water. They were both scared at first, but soon were having fun in the
water. Pauline and Linda thought the water temperature was nice too. We
played in the water for a long time, then boarded the boat and took a
ride. Around noon, we stopped out in the middle of the lake and let the
boat drift in the wind as we ate lunch on board. We power boated over to
another large fingerlet and picked a secluded spot to swim. The kids
really had a good time at this spot after being used to getting in and
out a few more times. A while later, we decided they had enough sun and
we should be going, we loaded into the boat and began to leave. The boat
died and was a little hard to restart, but it eventually fired up and
ran good all the way back to the dock. Brent took the wheel as I stepped
out on the dock and I walked up the ramp to the truck. I backed the
trailer into the water and Brent drove the boat on. I secured the boat
to the trailer and pulled it to the top of the ramp and into the tie
down area. We unloaded the stuff back into the truck and put the cover
on the boat. Everyone picked up a cold drink and loaded into the HHR and
pickup truck for the ride back to the farm. I backed the boat into the
pole barn and we rode the Mule to the house. We had a little over an
hour until time to drive the old cars to Columbia for a cruise-in. After
letting the little dogs out, we chose the car we wanted to drive and got
ready to go. Linda, Stacey, Julie and Kyle were in the 65 Mustang, I was
driving the 56 Chevy and Pauline and Brent were in the 58 Triumph. We
pulled down by the road and waited for the Cumberland River Cruisers to
come by. We had agreed to take our cars and follow along with them to
the cruise-in at Columbia. We ended up with 11 or 12 vehicles following
one another North on SR 61 to the Cumberland Parkway and then to the TSC
parking lot. We pulled in and parked, then registered and talked with
other club members about the day. Our group picked the fast food place
they wanted to eat, went and bought the food, then met at one location
to set together while we ate. We were fried from the day on the lake and
the temperature was over 90 degrees, so we didin't last long at the
cruise-in. Brent won a door prize before we left though. We pulled our
cars out of the lot and headed back to the farm, put them away and went
inside to cool off. The AC felt great! We had one more job before the
day was over. We had to remove our couch and love seat and replace them
with the new pieces we had bought on Thursday. We hooked the red trailer
to the truck and pulled it to the garage, then unloaded the furniture
and carried the pieces in and out of the house while Linda and Pauline
carried the cushions and held the door.
Sunday
morning, it was Pauline's Birthday. We fixed omelets for her for her
birthday. After breakfast, we sat and decided whether to go to the lake
again or not. It was a close call, but too much sun was the main reason
we decided not to go again. Julie, Brent and I had baked a cake for
Pauline, so we sang "Happy Birthday" to her and she cut the cake. I
dipped ice cream for everyone to eat with their piece of cake.
Pauline
and Brent left for their house about 4 PM.
Monday, May 30, 2011
Memorial Day Weekend
Brent and his family came over Saturday morning to stay the weekend with
us. We caught up on what had been going on with them and how the kids
had been. Julie wanted to go to the 'pop sickle barn' and Kyle wanted to
ride in the Mule so that is what we did. We took our dog along for a run
so Kyle could ride in the Mule, then returned her to the barn while
everyone was at the pole barn eating fudge bars and pop sickles. While
we were there, I drove the 56 Chevy into town to pick up lunch at
Hamilton's BBQ and then returned to the house with stuff for everyone to
eat. Julie and Pauline rode with Brent in the Triumph to town and bought
a watermelon and a few other items. Brent put the watermelon in the
refrigerator at the pole barn to get cold for Sunday. Brent drove the 65
Mustang and took Pauline, Julie and Stacey along for the ride.
Sunday
morning, Pauline cooked sausage and I fixed pancakes for breakfast. Then
Kyle and I used the tractor to dig up a small flower that Linda wanted
moved and made a hole for a bush that Nancy had gave to Linda. We also
graded the driveway to smooth out a few places the recent hard rains had
caused to rut out. After finishing with the tractor, we went to the pole
barn, took the watermelon out of the fridge and over to the picnic
table. Brent cut it into pieces and passed it out. After enjoying the
melon, we took the kids to the creek to 'hose them off'.
The
creek turned into a training tool for Brent to teach Julie and Kyle some
things about riding a knee board. I brought an old ski rope handle and
the knee board from the pole barn and he used it to first let Julie
practice setting up and holding the handle while he pulled her through
the water. After a few minutes, it was Kyle's turn. The practice in the
creek will hopefully make the kids a little calmer when it's time to go
boating. We didn't go to the lake because of the Memorial Day holiday
and there being so many out of town boaters on the lake.
After
the knee board training, the kids were ready for naps. Julie took a long
one, but Kyle wouldn't go to sleep. I finally took Kyle a ride in the
Mule and he slumped over. I parked the Mule in the barn and carried him
to bed in the house. He stayed asleep, and was still sleeping when we
all went to bed.
Monday was a scorcher, it was 94 degrees. We did get
outside some, we replaced the United States Flag that hangs from the
front of our barn. I pulled the tractor into the barn hallway and lifted
Julie and Brent up in the scoop. Brent used the power driver to remove
the screws holding the small boards. The boards hold the flag against
the barn.
He
put the new flag under the boards and screwed them back against the barn
siding. I lowered the scoop and they stepped out, the job was done.
After returning the tractor to the barn, we went to the pole barn and
ate pop sickles with Julie and Kyle. Later in the day, Steve Riddle
called and said he was down at the pole barn with a flat tire on his
truck. I went out, hopped in the Mule with Linda, Julie and Kyle and
drove down to the pole barn. Linda and Nancy talked and watched the kids
while Steve and I plugged his tire and filled it with air. We joined
them inside and talked a little bit while waiting to make sure the plug
was holding. Pauline and Brent drove down to the pole barn, picked up
Julie and Kyle, everyone said good bye and they went home. Nancy and
Steve left a few minutes later.
Saturday, May 21, 2011
Cruising To Fountain Run
Stacey, Linda and I had the 56 Chevy ready to go and we headed to
Burkesville after having breakfast. The CRC Car Club left the Courthouse
Square in Burkesville at 8:30 AM and headed to Fountain Run. We followed
each other west on KY 90 and turned south on KY 163 through
Tompkinsville, then we went west on KY 1366 to Fountain Run. After about
an hour an a half, we pulled into the field where the Rolling Rods were
holding their car show. We were directed where to park and pointed to
the tent where they were registering vehicles. We setup our canopy,
drank a cold drink and after registering and receiving a 'goodie bag',
we came together for a group picture and then set out walking around the
grounds checking out the other vehicles that were at the show.
Members
of the Rolling Rods told me they had 87 vehicles that had registered at
the end of the time period.
The
judges made their rounds and the points were added up and then the
Rolling Rods began giving away door prizes and awards. Kendra Coe was a
door prize winner.
Carol
& Dave Neff received a Top 35 award as did Kent Cooper and Red Thrasher.
Bob
Rudig won a Trophy for Best Unrestored as our group looked on. Then Mike
Shoopman won for Best Older Mustang.
The
Best of Show went to Mike (last name goes here) from Albany for his
Yellow Chevy Deuce
It
was great weather and the Rolling Rods conducted a nicely done car show
and they gave away a lot of nice trophies and awards. The Cruisers had a
good time at the car show, there was plenty of food available and a
friendly atmosphere. The Cruisers had a few trophies and awards to haul
home too.
Readers
can view all the car pictures at this LINK.
After
you look at the pictures, you can come back and leave us a comment. We
packed up our tent, cooler and chairs and headed back towards
Burkesville. We made a wrong turn and ended up having to take a detour,
but we finally made it back to the main highway, then drove on towards
home. We stopped in Burkesville and filled up the Chevy with gas, less
than 10 gallons for over a hundred miles, so I was happy about that. We
pulled the Chevy into the barn and emptied the trunk, we loaded some
things into the Mule and went to the house. Everyone was wore out from
the heat, so we took it easy the rest of the eveining. A thunderstorm
rolled through about an hour later, so we had left the car show just in
time to get things put away.
Sunday, May 08, 2011
Mother's Day Trip
Stacey, Linda and I left Friday morning and headed to IN to visit our
Moms. We drove the red truck with the cargo trailer loaded with two
pieces of carpet and pad for my Mom's house in Daleville. There was also
laminate flooring and a few other items. We made a stop in Anderson to
give a lawyer some papers and then went to Daleville. We left Coco in a
dog cage at Mom's house and drove on to Muncie. We ate lunch at Pizza
King restaurant, which serves our favorite pizza.
We
asked for a takeout box and took about one fourth of the pizza to
Woodlands Nursing Home for my mother. She was glad to see us and ate the
pizza after sharing a few pieces with other residents. We had a pretty
nice visit with her. After leaving the nursing home we drove to Wal-Mart
and bought a flat screen TV and stand for Mom to use at the nursing
home. On the way towards Daleville, we passed an A&W Root Beer stand
that was having a small cruise-in. We stopped a few minutes and looked
at the cars.
We
went to Chesterfield and stopped at Lana & Frank Dial's house for a hour
long visit. We then picked up Coco in Daleville and drove to Pendleton
to stay the night with Linda's Mom.
Saturday
morning, after having a cup of coffee with Reba, we drove to Daleville.
We needed to meet Mike Baker for him to lay the carpet in the two
bedrooms. Mike showed up, laid the carpet and was done in a little over
two hours. We continued working at the house until lunch time, then went
to Anderson and ate at Fazoli's, then over to Lowe's for some more home
improvement items. We also stopped at Wal-Mart for a couple new window
blinds, then back to Daleville to install the things we had bought.
We
were nearly done with the plans we had made for the house, when Linda
received a call and we were off to see the house Shelly and Jeff Huck
bought. They had taken possession a couple of days earlier and were
moving some of their things to the new location. Their house was about a
mile off of Highway 236 between Anderson and Middletown and was a large
brick home on several acres. Imon and Linda K were there and Jeff's Mom
and Dad were there too. Shelly and Jeff pointed the way and told us what
they planned on doing with the rooms as we walked through the house.
After checking out the house, we looked through the barn where Jeff
plans to have his wood working shop, then we walked on towards the back
of the property where there is a pond and small stream. The lot is
gently rolling and with large trees randomly spaced to provide nicely
shaded areas at the pond and around the front of the house. There is a
swimming pool in a sunny spot near the back of the house. I think Shelly
and Jeff can be happy there for years to come, they have a very nice
home with enough space inside and out to be able to do what they want.
After telling Shelly and Jeff congratulations on their purchase, we
headed back to Daleville and spent the night at Mom's house.
Sunday
morning, I went to Chesterfield and bought a package of cinnamon rolls,
a quart of chocolate milk and a can of coffee, then took those back to
the house for breakfast. We worked a while, then went to see my Mom at
the nursing home after they had served her dinner. We gave her a blouse
and put the TV and mount in the office. The staff said a maintenance man
would install the TV. For some reason, Mom was upset and in an arguing
mood, so the visit wasn't very pleasant. We left and went to Anderson
and ate lunch at Gene's Root Beer. It's a spring tradition for a lot of
people in Anderson and one we usually enjoyed when we still lived in IN.
After
lunch, we returned to Daleville, hooked up the red trailer to the truck
and finished loading it. Gery Scott came by to talk about the work we
had asked him to do. We showed him the bathroom and talked for a half
hour about him refinishing the entire bathroom. Then we locked up the
house and headed to Pendleton to see Linda's Mom. We gave her a flat of
strawberry plants and talked with her for a hour before leaving for the
trip back to KY.
Saturday, April 30, 2011
CRC Car Show
The Cumberland River Cruisers Spring 2011 Car Show and Swap Meet went
great. Linda and I had worked for several days to get things ready that
we were assigned to do. I also hooked the black trailer to the pickup
truck and chained the Mule to the trailer to take to town for the show.
I drove it to town about 7 AM and Linda and Stacey came a few minutes
later in the HHR with a load of stuff. We unloaded and then drove the
HHR back to the farm and took the 65 Mustang and 56 Chevy to the car
show. Carol, Stacey and Linda began registering cars and selling cold
drinks so the car show was officially started. There was also a group
selling food for breakfast and another group selling hot dogs, chips and
drinks later in the day.
I
didn't have time to take many pictures, but that job was passed on and I
should have access to them in a day or two.
The
number of cars was a nice surprise, 121 vehicles had registered with
about another 25-30 that didn't want to be judged and never registered.
We really hit it lucky, the weather was 'picture perfect', and it was
the 5th Saturday of the month, so there were no other shows scheduled
around the area. The Generations band played for about an hour and when
they took a break at 4 PM, we used their system to announce the door
prize winners and then the trophy winners. We gave trophies for the Top
20 cars, a Long Distance Trophy for a vehicle that was drove from
Evansville, IN and a Best of Show Trophy.
After
we finished with the trophies, we drew a number for the $155 that was
half of the 50/50 Drawing. Generations resumed playing as the cars filed
out and we packed up our stuff. I was amazed at how clean the park was
left by the crowd. We hardly had to do any cleanup. We took the 65
Mustang and truck back to the farm, then returned in the HHR for the 56
Chevy. We spent another hour putting most of the stuff away back at the
farm, then we loaded into the HHR and went to Sonic in Columbia for
supper.
Sunday, April 17, 2011
Albany Relay For Life Car Show
About 11 AM, Linda, Stacey and I went to the pole barn, uncovered the
1965 Mustang and I backed it out. We rode to Albany with the top down.
After driving through at Burger King, we went to the Clinton County High
School parking lot and parked with the other cars at the car show. The
rainy weather had caused the Relay For Life Car Show to not be held on
Saturday and the turnout was lower because of the show being on Sunday.
There were several late arrivals that came after they had attended
church. The show organizers made the best of a bad situation and still
had a fairly good show.
After
the show was over and the trophies had been passed out, we drove back to
the farm and put the Mustang back in the pole barn, then covered it with
the car cover. It had been a great day for a car show and a ride though
the country with the top down. As the daylight turned to dark, Linda
fixed us a homemade pizza and we watched the NASCAR race that had been
recorded earlier.
Friday, March 25, 2011
56 Chevy Front End Finished
Dave Neff began the front end project on the 56 Chevy January 25th. The
deal was he would work on the car in his spare time when he wasn't busy
with other jobs. The new tubular 'A' frames were installed and fit
perfectly. The other new parts went on with only a few minor problems
along the way. I had to order a new harmonic balancer and pulley set and
a new mounting bracket for the alternator as Dave neared completion. The
driver side header's front tube had to be rerouted to avoid the steering
linkage for the new power rack and pinion steering assembly. Dave also
installed new disc brakes with slotted rotors and a power brake booster
and master cylinder feeding fluid through new brake lines and hoses.
The
car drives great, doesn't have any play in the steering and turns
quickly and with fingertip control even when setting still. The new set
of lowering springs makes the front end set two inches lower than it did
before the installation. I'm supposed to drive the car for a while, then
return it to the shop for Dave to make sure everything is staying
together and tight.
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Chevy Front End
Dave at DC Auto Service called me the other day and told me he was
nearly ready to work on the 1956 Chevy. Stacey and I took the parts down
to his work shop so he could look through them and see if there was
anything missing. On Wednesday, Dave said he was ready to begin the
actual work on Thursday, so Stacey and I rode into town in the pickup
truck and then brought Randy Stone back to the farm with us. Randy
followed me as I drove the 56 Chevy in to DC Auto. Everything went as
planned and Stacey and I returned to the farm in the pickup after
leaving the 56 Chevy. Thursday, I went to the shop to talk to Dave about
our car club meeting later in the day, Dave is the club president and
sometimes we go over things before the meetings. Dave had worked on the
Chevy and had the front suspension completely off the frame, had cleaned
the frame and painted it.
Today,
Stacey, Linda and I went to Albany and checked out a swap meet at the
Clinton County Fairgrounds. It was a big waste of time as there weren't
very many people there wanting to sell parts.
Oh,
well, it was a great day to just ride around, it was nearly 60 degrees
and sunny. I spent several hours on the tractor cleaning out some of the
ditches after Linda and I took Daisy and let her run a long time. The
shirt sleeve weather was a welcome relief to the cold weather we have
had. Dave Neff called and told me he was working on the Chevy and had
run into trouble with the assembly process. He asked me to come and take
a look, so I drove to town and checked out the problem. The connecting
shaft from the old steering shaft to the new power rack & pinion unit
wouldn't connect because a header tube was in the way. Drat!
We
decided to cut the header, leaving as much as we could for later when it
would need to be patched together by the muffler shop. Dave marked the
header, then cut it in two with a cut off wheel and a small air powered
reciprocating saw. Then the shaft fit perfectly and the steering worked
great. No play in the steering wheel and it feels like it will be really
nice to drive. When Dave let the car down, I could tell how it was going
to set with the lowering springs installed. It dropped the front end
about 2 inches.
