Friday, February 03, 2012
Julie & Kyle
We began the day with Julie and Kyle eating pancakes and sausage for
breakfast and then playing with toys for a while. Around 10:30 we put
their jackets on them and we all went outside. I drove the Mule and we
let Daisy run around the hay fields while we rode along.
After
the Mule ride, we needed to go to the grocery store, so we loaded into
the HHR and drove to Albany. Linda called in our pizza order at Major's
Pizza and they had it ready when we arrived. We all ate pizza and the
kids played with the pinball and video games until everyone was
finished. We then walked next door to the grocery store. Julie and Kyle
really liked going to that store because they have miniature carts that
we let both of them push through the store. It was like a shopping
train, Linda and Stacey walking with Julie and her cart behind them,
then Kyle pushing his cart, then me pushing the big cart. We checked out
and came back to the farm, put the groceries away and then it was nap
time. Julie, Kyle, Stacey, and Linda laid down for naps. I went to town
and stopped at a new garage they're calling American Street Rod Garage.
When I returned to the farm, Julie and Linda were awake. A little later,
Kyle and Stacey woke up. We ended up the day with another Mule ride
around the farm, stopping to let Julie and Kyle throw rocks into the
creek water. Stacey, Julie and Kyle went into the bedroom to watch a
Disney movie and about 7:30 PM, Stacey came out to the living room and
said that both Julie and Kyle were asleep. Linda moved them to their
beds and they didn't wake up.
Thursday, February 02, 2012
Kidney Stone
Linda went to work at the school and Stacey and I ate breakfast, then
dressed and headed to Bowling Green. Brent was having a kidney stone
removed and we were going for support. We arrived at the Medical Center
a little before 11 AM. We parked and then walked through the building,
asked where we should go to find Pauline and Brent in the Ambulatory
Surgery Unit and they pointed us in the right direction. We found the
unit and Brent's room.
We
had a little over a half hour to nervously chat with Brent before the
hospital employees took him to the operating room. Pauline, Stacey and I
went downstairs and across the street for lunch at the Subway inside the
hospital, then returned to the surgery reception room. The lady there
notified us that Brent was out of surgery and in the recovery room about
12:45 PM. That was just a little over an hour. The doctor talked to
Pauline and told her that he removed the kidney stone and left a stint
to drain Brent's kidney. Brent stayed in the recovery room for what
seemed like a long time, it was a few minutes after 3 PM when they let
us go in and see how he was doing. He was awake and eating ice to help
the sore throat from the tubes they put down there during the surgery.
They gave Brent a little more pain medication before he ate a few
crackers and drank some clear pop, then the nurse said he could go home.
Pauline was going to pick up the prescriptions and their kids on the way
home, so Brent was going to ride with me. I pulled the HHR around to the
door and they wheeled Brent out and he climbed in the car. We talked a
little on the way back to his house, then went inside. He sat in the
recliner for a while with the TV on. Pauline arrived with the medicine
and the kids. I gave the kids time to love on their Dad while Pauline
packed their clothes and stuff for them to go to the farm with us. Linda
was taking off Friday to take care of the kids. After loading their
things and putting them in the car seats we headed out. I stopped in
Smith's Grove at McDonalds for burgers and we all ate them on the ride
back to the farm.
Sunday, January 29, 2012
Kyle's Party
Stacey, Linda and I showered a little before 10 AM, dressed and then
drove to Smith's Grove and on to Pauline and Brent's house. Julie and
Kyle met us outside on the sidewalk with big hugs. We spent a little
time talking while the dogs did their thing before we went inside. While
we were wrestling with Julie and Kyle, the kids' Grandma Dorothy and
Grandpa Larry came in with Buddy, their dog. A little bit later, Pauline
called us to the table for sandwiches and chips. Kyle missed the lunch
while taking his nap, but Brent woke him when they thought it was time
for the party. Kyle's birthday is February 2nd. Brent had made a
basketball themed cake with the players made of cookies. Kyle used his
finger for his first taste of the cake icing.
Everyone
sang "Happy Birthday" to Kyle, then Pauline lit the candles and Kyle
blew them out.
Pauline
served Kyle the first piece and he took a bite, then decided he could do
better without using a fork and proceeded to stuff the cake in his
mouth. We agreed that he must like the cake.
After
the cake and ice cream, Kyle opened his birthday presents while Julie
watched from close by.
Around
an hour later, Dorothy and Larry left to take care of some other things.
We stayed until about 4:30 PM, then drove back to the farm, arriving
just after dark.
Friday, January 27, 2012
Lacy Visits
Linda brought Lacy King home with her from the after school day care.
Lacy talked to us and then began playing with the various toys we have.
She really liked the Legos and was building things with those before her
Grandpa Jimmy came to pick her up.
Lacy
has learned to accept Coco's barking and doesn't scream, "He's going to
kill me!" like she did when she first started coming to our house. We
heard her talking to Coco when they were both in one of the bedrooms.
Lacy was wearing her "Super Reader" t-shirt that was gave to her for
achieving her 50 point AR Goals. When Jimmy arrived, he talked with us
about the school's lack of handling of her aide's absenteeism for a
while. They then put their coats on, said good bye and left for home.
Monday, January 23, 2012
NASCAR Die Cast
Early Saturday morning there were severe thunderstorms that rolled
through Cumberland County. The warmer temperatures had brought radical
weather to our area and Sunday night and Monday morning there were more
storms with downpours of rain. When I went outside about 10 AM, the
temperature was nearly 60 degrees and the driveway had big ruts from the
rain water running down it. I used the tractor with the scoop tipped
down like a grader blade to smooth the gravel and fill in the ruts. I
cleaned out a few of the ditches that had filled partially up with mud
and debris. Stacey and I took her new NASCAR Paul Menard die cast car to
the pole barn and placed it in the cabinet. Paul won the Brickyard 400
in 2011 and we needed to place the replica car in our "Winners' Row".
Chuck
Anderson had began the tradition of buying the winning Brickyard car
each year when he owned the collection and we've been continuing it
after he passed the collection to Stacey. Last year we
added Jamie McMurray.
Friday, January 20, 2012
John Anderson Concert
I had ordered tickets to a John Anderson Concert at the Plaza
Theatre several months ago. Stacey had invited Jason to go with us,
so we picked him up at 4:30 PM and drove to Glasgow. We stopped and ate
at Zaxby's since Stacey and Jason both like that type of food. Our
service was quick and the food was good. We ate quickly and were on our
way to the concert.
We
parked on the Courthouse Square in Glasgow and walked a half block to
the Plaza. Our seats were in the second row and right on the middle
aisle. We were all pleased with the location. The theatre filled up the
bottom seating area and people were being seated in the balcony. I'm not
sure, but if it wasn't a sellout, it was really close to being one.
After
a few announcements, John Anderson began playing. He only had one other
musician with him that played a guitar and the fiddle. John sounded just
like his CDs and put on a great show. He played some of his old stuff,
some new songs, some gospel music, then he played a few of his big hits
and finished with "Seminole Wind".
He
left the stage, then came back to the loud applause from the crowd and
played three more songs. His last song was "Money In The Bank", which
everyone enjoyed and gave him a standing ovation when he left the stage
for the final time. John played about an hour and thirty five minutes.
The
crowd seemed satisfied as we all slowly walked out of the theatre and
crossed the street to our car. We talked about the concert as we rode
back towards Burkesville. We dropped Jason off as Stephannie and Tommy
pulled into their driveway. We stepped outside our car and talked with
them a few minutes while Stacey and Jason exchanged CDs. We said good
bye and returned to the farm about 10 PM.
Saturday, January 14, 2012
Brush Pile
Pauline and Brent and their kids came over Friday evening. Saturday we
couldn't come up with a plan of anything to do, so we sat around the
living room watching old movies and burning wood in the stove. The kids
were playing and getting rowdy, so I decided it would be a good day to
try to burn some brush I had bulldozed into a pile over a year ago.
There was enough snow to cover the grass and keep the fire from
spreading. I gathered up some cardboard boxes and a gallon of diesel
fuel and put those in the Mule. Brent and I headed down the road in the
Mule and crossed the creek to the pile of brush. Linda followed in the
pickup truck with Stacey, Julie and Kyle. Pauline stayed at the house
and was keeping the fire going in the wood stove. Brent and I placed the
cardboard boxes in the pile of brush and then poured some fuel over them
to get the fire started. We started the fire and stood back. The fire
started, but didn't spread as fast as we had thought it would. We tossed
smaller sticks on and kept it burning for a while, but it never really
burnt like we wanted. We decided to return to the house and go to town
for lunch.
After
lunch, we went back to the brush pile with a new plan. We took several
pieces of wood for the fire pit and several pieces for the wood stove
that we knew would burn and made a sort of campfire on top of some of
the brush. We lit that and it burnt like it should. The brush seemed
like it was going to finally start burning faster, so I went back to the
equipment shed and returned to the brush pile with the tractor. We
worked with the tractor and by hand to try to keep the fire burning and
get it to spread to the rest of the pile. Not much luck with that. 
When
the sun had went down and the temperature was beginning to drop, we quit
and went to the house.
Thursday, January 12, 2012
Snow
On Wednesday the high temperature had been 61 degrees, but this morning
the weather changed and it started getting colder throughout the day. By
3 PM the wind was gusting and there were snow flakes flying. Stacey and
I had stayed home all day and kept the fire in the wood stove burning.
When I went out to the back porch for a stick of wood, I brought in an
arm load and piled it in the small wood rack by the stove. Linda came
home and said that everyone had picked up their kids quickly from
school. An hour later, we had snow falling fast and the ground was being
covered.
The
wood that was on the back porch was being slowly covered with snow, but
by bringing in extra pieces, the snow was being melted before time to
put each piece on the fire. Linda took over keeping the fire in the
stove burning. About 8 PM, there was a notice on the internet that
school had been canceled for Friday. After Linda went to sleep, I kept
the stove burning most of the night. The temperature bottomed out at 19
degrees early Friday morning.
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Supply Trip
After Linda went to work at the school, Stacey and I dressed and watched
TV for a while, then we took the HHR to Bowling Green. We had lunch at
Mancino's and then went to Aldi's. Stacey used a quarter to obtain a
cart and we went inside. We bought several half cases of canned goods
and loaded them in the car. Stacey returned the cart and retrieved her
quarter for doing so.
The
next stop was Sam's Club, where we bought several more items we needed,
then checked out. Stacey drove the cart to the car and I opened the
hatchback. I lifted the 50 lb bag of dog food off the bottom of the cart
and the end of the bag came open and the entire contents dumped onto the
parking lot. Stacey remained with the car while I went inside and Sam's
gave me another bag. They told me to leave the bag and dog food where is
was and they would send someone out to clean it up. I returned to the
car and we finished loading our items into the HHR. I drove back to
Burkesville while Stacey took a nap. We went to the US Post Office and
bought stamps, then returned to the farm and unloaded our things. I
refilled our container for dog food and we put it in the Mule and picked
up Daisy to let her run. After her run, we gave her food and put her
back in the stall. We parked the Mule in the garage and went inside to
start a fire in the wood stove. Linda came home just before dark.
Saturday, January 07, 2012
New Trail
During the daytime, lately, the temperatures have been near 60, a day or
two above and a day or two just below. Linda has used the nicer weather
to take down the Christmas lights and take them to the storage building.
Stacey and I split a load of firewood and stacked it in the wood shed.
The loggers have moved over to Regina's farm to cut some of her timber.
She wanted enough cut to get a 4 wheeler trail to the top of the hill.
They
had worked a week and told me to bring Regina over there and we could
ride in the Mule up the hill to the top. They had opened up the trail
with their skidder, but there were still plenty of small limbs to smack
us in the face as we rode along. We can trim those with loppers, but
most of the trail was open to the top of the hill that is directly
across from our house.
Linda
and I cut another trailer load of firewood and left it sitting on the
trailer by the log splitter. Stacey and I will get around to splitting
it in a day or two. Linda helped me put the disc on the tractor and I
used it to smooth out some of the area where the loggers had worked in
our hay field.
It
was too wet to do the entire area.
Sunday, January 01, 2012
New Years In Indiana
We left the farm and headed for IN about 10 AM Thursday. We stopped for
lunch before getting on I-65. We drove to Daleville and went to the bank
to transfer some money into Mom's checking account. Then we dropped off
Coco at her house and went to the Woodlands Nursing home in Muncie. I
paid the bill and we went to see Mom. Virginia was laying down in her
room when we arrived. I could tell her health was worse and she was
having trouble setting up. We showed her the things we had brought for
her, but she didn't pay much attention. I helped her get into the wheel
chair, then we went to the cafeteria for her to have lunch. When the
lunch came, we said we were leaving but would be back in two days. On
the way back to Daleville, Linda called her Mom and asked what she was
doing. We made plans to pick up Reba and take her to lunch.
We
went to Fazoli's to eat with Reba, then returned to Pendleton. Pauline
and Brent arrived at Nana's house a little bit later with Julie and
Kyle. Everyone stayed and talked, then Stacey, Linda and I left. We went
to Daleville and stayed at my Mom's house.
New Year's Eve, during the
day, we had a few things to do. P&B came to meet us and we went to
Bird's Smokehouse Restaurant for lunch, then over to Kim and Kenny
Bourke's house. They needed Brent to straighten out their wireless setup
and give the new iPad she received for Christmas access to the wireless
too. It took him about 5 minutes to do that and he also updated several
programs for them. P&B left after finishing the computer work, but
Stacey, Linda and I stayed and talked a while longer. We took a look at
the 68 Camaro convertible that Kim had bought from her Dad. When we
left, we went to Daleville and stayed at the house a while. About 6:30
PM, we drove to Shelly and Jeff's house near Middletown. Shelly and Jeff
had invited us to their New Year's Eve Party. We were able to meet
people we hadn't seen for a few years at the party. We didn't drink and
took Julie and Kyle with us when we left at 10 PM. Pauline and Brent
were staying all night with Shelly and Jeff since they were all drinking.
Julie
and Kyle watched PBS on TV the next morning until Linda had breakfast
ready. After breakfast we all dressed and headed to Muncie to visit with
Virginia. Pauline and Brent drove from Shelly's house and met us at
Woodlands. We sat and talked with Mom a while, but she wasn't staying
awake very long. After a couple of hours, we told Mom good bye, then
loaded into the cars and left. P&B drove on home, we stopped in
Daleville and closed up the house before we left. The next stop was at
KingFish in Jeffersonville. We decided to go inside and enjoy our meals
instead of eating in the car.
Stacey
ordered a White Fish Basket, Linda had a Wharf Boat and I had a Shrimp
Feast. The food was EXCELLENT!
We
took our time and enjoyed the food, then left and drove home. We arrived
at the farm a few minutes after 6 PM.
Sunday, December 25, 2011
Christmas At The Farm
Frinday morning, Brent's family arrived. Linda began things by getting
the kids to decorate an edible tree. It is an ice cream cone with green
cake icing and candy for ornaments.
We
kept the kids busy during the day, playing and riding in the Mule. Maxx
Lobo arrived around 4 PM. Maxx had flown from California to Nashville a
few days earlier and then drove to the farm to visit.
Linda fixed a
quick breakfast of cinnamon rolls and then everyone began opening the
presents.
After
the presents had been opened, everyone began playing with one of their
gifts. Maxx and Brent built some 'experimental' vehicles while Kyle and
Julie painted with water colors. Linda and Pauline then started making a
banana pudding and other stuff for dinner later.
Maxx,
Kyle, Brent and I took a short trip down the road with the tractor and
Mule. We used the new chainsaw to cut a downed tree into pieces for
firewood. Then we sat a large box up for a target. We began shooting
Brent's 22 rifle and adjusting the scope until we had it hitting the
target. Then we switched to shooting the 30/30 carbine. It made a lot
louder noise and kicked harder. Kyle would walk back and forth with us
to the target to see how close we were hitting to the center. Dinner was
almost ready when we returned to the house. Pauline and Linda had done a
nice job and all the food was great. We enjoyed the rest of the day
playing with the kids.
Maxx was flying back to CA on Christmas Day,
so we had breakfast early, then we all said 'good bye' and he left about
9:30 AM.
We
went outside in the afternoon and finished cutting the wood and loading
it on the black trailer. We used the Mule to pull the load to the shed
where the firewood is stored and unhooked the trailer from the Mule.
Back inside, we ate leftovers for lunch, then Pauline and Brent took
their kids and dogs and headed home just before dark.
Thursday, December 22, 2011
Gift Exchange
Stacey called Jason and asked if he wanted to go eat with all of us. He
did, so we planned on picking him up at 5:30 PM. We drove the HHR and
Jason was ready when we pulled into the driveway. He came out with
Stacey's Christmas gift and hopped into the car. I didn't say where we
were going, just drove towards Albany as everyone chatted. We crossed
into TN and then stopped at the Farmhouse Restaurant We went inside and
Jason and Stacey took their presents in with them. The waitress told
them that they shouldn't have bought anything for her and we all laughed
She took our orders and headed to the kitchen to turn the orders in to
the cook. Jason gave Stacey the present he had for her and watched while
she opened it. Stacey then gave Jason his presents.
After
a few minutes talking about each others' gifts, the waitress brought
Jason's and Stacey's dinners. They began eating and teasing Linda and I
about, "Did you order anything?" Our orders came about 5 minutes later
for some reason. We all enjoyed the food and it worked out fairly well
because it gave Stacey and Jason more time to eat and talk.
After
paying and tipping the waitress, we loaded into the HHR and rode back to
Burkesville in a misting rain. We dropped Jason off at his house, then
we went home.
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Basket Ball Games
Stacey and Jason were talking on the phone, then Stacey asked about us
going to a Cumberland County basket ball game. We decided to go, so
around noon, Stacey and I went to town and stopped at the school. Stacey
went inside and purchased three tickets for the game that night. We also
went to the drive up window at the bank. We returned to the farm and
kept the fire burning in the wood stove. It hasn't been real cold, but a
wood fire feels good and saves us money on the electric bill. Linda came
home from working, we loaded in the HHR and rode into town and to the
school. We said hello to a few people, then chose our seats in the
bleachers. It was about 10 minutes to game time when we saw Jason coming
up the stairs. Stephannie stopped to talk a few minutes later. The girls
game was played first and Cumberland County's girls didn't do too bad.
Both teams had spurts of good and bad play with the Clinton County Girls
Team winning by 5 points.
The
boys' game began 20 minutes after the end of the girls' game. The
Cumberland boys played terrible. Clinton's boys looked great. By half
time, the Clinton team had a 39 point lead. Stephannie and Tommy came
past and asked Jason if he was ready to leave. They all left, then we
checked with Stacey and decided to leave too.
Saturday, December 10, 2011
Christmas Shopping
We chucked another log on the fire in the wood stove and loaded into the
HHR. I drove to Columbia and entered the Cumberland Parkway for the 45
mile ride to Somerset. Nearly an hour later we exited the parkway and
began our Christmas shopping. We made it through several stores and then
I lost interest and remained in the car while Stacey and Linda shopped
till they dropped. Not really, but Linda did finally get tired and
wanted to eat, so she picked Frischs' Big Boy Restuarant. We went inside
and ordered our usual sandwiches. After finishing those, our waitress
asked if we were ready for desserts. I saw a table with a big piece of
pie and asked if those were coconut creme pie, the waitress said they
were coconut creme, so I ordered Linda a piece of pie (her favorite is
coconut creme) and I ordered myself a piece of hot fudge cake.
After
the dessert, we paid, left a tip and then I drove home. We unloaded our
purchases and took them inside. The stove needed more wood, so we threw
on a couple more pieces and the fire restarted.
Thursday, December 08, 2011
Christmas Decorations
Linda started bringing the Christmas decorations from the storage
building to the house Sunday while the temperature was still in the 60s.
Stacey and Linda put the Christmas Tree together and decorated it with
hundreds of lights and ornaments.
As
the week went on, Linda brought out more and more decorations.
Saturday, December 03, 2011
Burkesville Christmas Parade
I went up the road to Garmon's farm to check out how the hog killing was
progressing. They had finished the slaughtering and were rendering the
lard outside in three kettles over open fires. The liquid was then
poured through a cloth to strain out the impurities and into a bucket to
cool. Inside Jone's
Ridge Meats, Stevie and some of the ladies helping, were grinding
sausage and packaging it into 2 lb rolls, then putting those in the
freezers.
After
returning to the farm, Stacey, Linda and I moved firewood from the wood
shed to the back porch and stacked it for use in the racks. We also took
the Christmas Tree from the storage building to the house before
unhooking the trailer from the Mule. We took Daisy a run before leaving
to go to Burkesville for the Christmas Parade. The parade began at 5 PM
with Mrs Nancy Buchanan serving as the Grand Marshall for the "Story
Book Christmas" themed parade. Mrs Buchanan had been a librarian and
volunteered for numerous functions in Cumberland County.
The
parade had lasted just over an hour, the temperature was near 60 degrees
this year and there was a large turnout of spectators watching. People
on the floats threw candy and we were given free cookies and there was
free hot chocolate being offered around the Courthouse Square as we
watched.
Thursday, December 01, 2011
Garmon Hog Killing
When Brent's family was here over the Thanksgiving weekend, Kyle had
just gotten over being sick with the 'croup'. A couple days after they
went home, I became sick. A dry, hacking cough without a fever were my
symptoms. Wednesday, I was staying inside and mostly laying on the couch
when the door bell rang. It was Stevie Garmon and he wanted me to dig a
small hole for them to use as a firepit to scald hogs. I dressed and
drove the tractor to their farm, dug the hole they needed and watched
them set up the tub for the water and the platforms to stand on by the
tub. I went home after that and took more medicine, then took some
NyQuil at bedtime.
This morning, I felt better. Linda fixed us toast
for breakfast before she left for work at the school. We were watching
TV again and the news said there had been a 50 car wreck in Nashville
because of freezing fog. I looked outside and it was real foggy in our
area too. About 9 AM, I drove the Mule up the highway to Garmon's farm
and checked out how the hog killing was going. Stevie would shoot the
hog in the head and when it went down, Tony would stick it in the neck
with a knife and cut the juglar vein. They would let the hog bleed out a
few minutes, then hoist it up with a tractor front loader and haul it
over to the scalding pit.
Four
guys use a home made sling to pick up the hog and place it in the
scalding pit, then turn it over a few times as it remains in the pit for
about 10 minutes. Then they lift the hog out and pull the hair off by
hand. What hair that remains is then shaved off with sharp knives. The
hog carcass is then hauled over to their new butcher shop Jones
Ridge Meats.
Inside
the butcher shop, the carcass is lifted up with an electric hoist and
split open, cleaned out and the head removed.
After
a few more procedures, the two sides of the hog are ready to hang in the
cooler where it is left overnight to cool. The meat is easier to cut and
trim when it has cooled to around 55 degrees.
They
planned on killing 6 hogs today and more on Friday and Saturday.
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Steady Rain
After everyone had left to go home Sunday, the rain began to fall. The
rain wasn't coming terribly hard, just steady. All Sunday night, all day
Monday, Monday night and Tuesday. I went to the pole barn to look up the
serial numbers on the Sea Ray for Brent to give to the Lake Cumberland
Sea Ray dealer to schedule a bit of service work. I guess it will be
scheduled in January since the dealer said they close for most of the
month of December. While I was outside, I took a couple pictures of the
water running through the ditch and the creek.
I
won't have debris to clean up because the water never did get out of the
creek banks, so I was glad about that.
Saturday, November 26, 2011
Another Nice Saturday
When the temperature was in the upper 50s we went outside to do a little
work. We sawed up another tree that had been cut by the loggers. They
had left the tree top for firewood, so we cut up the bigger limbs and
tossed those pieces on the trailer. Then I used the tractor to shove the
small limbs and debris into the edge of the woods. We hauled the wood to
the shed and split and stacked the pieces. The temperatue was near 70 by
late in the afternoon when Brent and I repaired the walkway lights. Some
of the wires had become loose, so we used the soldering gun to hook
those together. We also had to replace a couple bulbs. Brent crawled
under the house to place an extension cord for a new set of lights we're
going to install along the walkway to the back porch. We finished that
right before dark and went inside. Kyle and I played with the small
tractors in the floor.
Pico
watched and played with the dog toys while we were in the floor.
Pauline
worked on braiding Julie's hair while she watched a cartoon movie. Linda
was busy straightening up and Stacey and Brent were watching the movie
too.
