Norris Family Blog

Stacey Has Trouble and Hay Baling

Friday morning, I went to the mum patch and tilled half of the patch, then went back to the house and Stacey began having trouble about 7:30 AM. We began with 15 mg Valium. Stacey's involuntary movements slowed down until 10:24 AM, when we gave another 10 mg Valium and I went to town and picked up lunch for us. A little after 11 AM Stacey, Linda and I ate lunch and watched TV in the living room. At 4:25 PM, we gave Stacey another 5 mg of Valium to stop the uncontrolled muscle movements in her arms. Linda went to the mum patch with Regina and they finished trimming the buds off the mums. I called Linda on the hand held radios and asked where she was about 7:15 PM. She was coming in the house when I called. I told her I was ready to take Stacey to the hospital as we had reached the 30 mg of Valium limit the doctors had given us. I helped Stacey to the car as Linda gathered up her medicine and we headed to the ER. Stacey's involuntary movements were increasing as I drove towards town, so I told Linda to give Stacey another 5 mg of Valium. We checked her into the ER about 7:30 PM and shortly afterwards the ER doctor had the nurse start an IV and give Stacey 5 mg Valium. The doctor admitted Stacey for a 24 hour observation and decided to place her in a room. About 9 PM, and after 40 mg of Valium that day, Stacey seemed to straighten up and was hungry again. Jason had called right when Stacey was having trouble, so Linda called Stephanie and told them Stacey was doing better, so Tommy and Stephanie brought Jason to the ER to see how Stacey was doing. They walked along with us as the hospital personel placed Stacey in her room. I stayed until about 10:30 PM and watched as Stacey ate some soup and I kept an eye on her. Linda stayed the night as I went home, slept and returned to the hospital at 4 AM. Linda went home at that time and slept until I called and said Dr Rice had released Stacey to "go to the house" about 10:30 AM. Linda came and picked us up and I drove us home. On the way home, I saw Steve Anderson and asked him if he wanted to help me bale some hay around 1 PM and he did. After getting Stacey settled in the living room, I went and hooked up the hay wagon to the FarmTrac tractor and the hay baler to the Ford tractor. Steve Riddle came up and he followed me to the hay field where I left the FarmTrac and hay wagon. I went to town in the pickup truck and Steve Anderson was ready to bale hay, so we headed back to the farm. Steve and Steve rode to the hay field in his Mule while I drove the tractor with the hay baler to the field. They hooked the wagon behind the baler and climbed on and we baled the hay. We had no problems at all and we were done fairly quick. I put the hay baler in travel mode and Steve Anderson drove the tractor pulling the hay wagon back to the farm behind me pulling the hay baler and Steve Riddle in his Mule. We backed the hay wagon in the barn loft and unloaded the hay, then had a few cold cans of pop. I took Steve Anderson back to his house and it had taken us a little less than 2 hours. I returned to the farm and put the equipment away, hooked the finish mower to the FarmTrac, backed the wagons in the barns and went inside. Stacey was doing OK and watching TV.

Hay Baling

Linda worked in the office for the FRYSC yesterday morning. While she worked, Stacey and I took Daisy for a run, then I mowed with the FarmTrac and finish mower as Stacey set in the Mule listening to her iPod and working a word search. Linda came home and we went to town for lunch, then back to the farm. Phil Garmon had raked the hay in the field across the highway and told me it was ready to bale, so Linda helped me hook the square baler to the tractor and I headed to the field. After some trouble with the baler needing a shot of WD-40 and Steve Garmon adjusting the pickup height I was off and baling. No more problems and I finished the field as Linda watched and moved a few bales out of the way for me. I checked the bale count and it read 82, then I set the baler to travel position and parked it in the shed. Linda and I went to the house to cool off a little, then Stacey and her picked up Regina and they went to the mum patch to trim the buds off the mums.
 
After a couple glasses of cold water, I went back out and hooked up the trailer to the pickup truck. Steve Riddle showed up and wanted to help pickup the hay, so we started picking it up and stacking it on the trailer. Shortly, Linda came driving up in the Mule, with Regina and Stacey. Linda took Stacey to the house and Regina began driving the pickup truck through the field while Steve and I picked up the hay. Linda returned and helped until the hay was stacked too high for her to throw it on the trailer. Then she took over driving while Regina rode along and we finished picking up the hay. Afterwards, I moved a wagon and parked the trailer full of hay in the barn hallway. Linda took Regina home and brought back a blackberry cobbler that Regina had made for us. We enjoyed that with ice cream right after taking showers. It was delicious!

Daisy Runs & Mum Patch

Stacey backed the Mule out of the barn and I let Daisy out of her stall. Daisy ran around the Mule then Stacey told her to jump in the back of the Mule and she did.
 
Stacey drove to the mum patch and I took a picture of the patch. Regina and Linda had worked two evenings to pull the weeds that were too close to the mum plants for me to use the tiller.
 
The mum plants have really jumped in size and it is time for them to be clipped. Linda will take care of that with battery powered grass clippers in the upcoming week she says. After that I will need to till the entire patch. There were some guys standing inside the fence looking at the mums, so I asked what they were doing. They said they were from the University of Louisville and were using their equipment to see if there were any prehistoric dwellings or burial sites underneath where the road was going to be built. After a few minutes of talking, Stacey and I went across the creek to let Daisy run around the hay fields.
  
Daisy seems to be enjoying taking a swim in the creek to cool off. Sometimes, I wish I could join her. We let her run the rest of the way around the field and then loaded her back in the Mule and headed across the creek. I stopped to take a picture of the guys working in the mum patch.
 
As I was stopped and talking to the woman, Steve Riddle pulled up and talked a while before going on his way to school near Albany.

Family Visit From IN

Friday afternoon, Anita drove in the driveway about 5:30 PM with Trevon and Nana riding along. We started the visit by talking a little while, then taking a ride around the farm after it cooled off. Nana hadn't been around the farm the last time she was here and with us having the Mule it made the ride easier. After taking a quick lap, we went back to the house and talked the rest of the evening until everyone was ready for bed.
Saturday morning Linda began fixing breakfast and Pauline, Brent and Julie came in with their dogs. They ate breakfast with us and everyone was playing with Julie, Trevon and talking. Brent and I delivered a wagon load of hay to Steve Riddle and had to pull it in his barn to keep it from getting rained on. The truck and wagon was a little too long to fit the entire wagon inside, so we had to unload the back half of the wagon quickly to keep the hay from getting wet. After the shower of rain passed, we backed the wagon outside and headed back to our house. Pauline picked blackberries while Julie ate them and then Julie and Trevon played in the water while Nana, Linda, Anita, Pauline, Regina, Brent and I watched.
  
   
 
Pauline, Brent and Julie left for home slightly before dark after a full day of playing and having fun.
Sunday morning, after breakfast, Anita loaded the car and after Nana, Trevon and Anita hugged us, they drove away, heading for IN.

Visiting Koala Ridge

Saturday morning began with Linda fixing pancakes for breakfast, then Brent and I began working on the plastic dryer venting hose under the house. The crawl space is high enough that I can set upright, so it wasn't too bad to get under there to see what was wrong with the plastic dryer hose. We found there was a section of the hose hanging down that had become clogged with lint and then the humidity in the air discharged by the dryer had condensed and there was water in the hose blocking the air flow. To remedy the problem, I decided to replace the plastic hose with aluminum duct. We purchased the duct and some hanger straps, then returned to the farm to replace the plastic hose. I snapped the pieces of aluminum duct together and Brent pushed those pieces together to form the 22 feet of duct we needed to run from the dryer to the outside wall. Brent added the 90 degree elbow and I went upstairs to cut the length of duct we needed to connect the back of the dryer. The hardest part was getting the piece attached to the dryer and then sliding the dryer back to hook that piece to the rest of the ducting. Overall, it was only a couple of hours and we were done. Pauline fixed everyone BLTs for lunch and later in the evening Pauline, Brent, Julie, Stacey, Linda and I loaded into the truck and I drove to Byrdstown to meet several of our friends from IN for dinner at the Bobcat's Den Restaurant. We ordered soft drinks and then Bonnie & Donnie and Lana & Frank came in and set down with us. We all ordered our food, ate and then went to Bonnie & Donnie's cabin on Koala Ridge near Dale Hollow Lake. Susie & Gary were there along with their son, his wife and their two kids. We sat outside on the deck and had a few drinks and talked for a couple of hours. It was fun and over too quickly as Susie and Gary had to leave to light fireworks with their grandkids. Julie had went to sleep on the floor also, so we decided to leave for the farm around 9:45 PM. On the way home we had to drive through a sobriety check point and have my license and insurance card checked. Not a problem, so we came on home a little after 10:30 PM.

Sunday morning I fixed everyone omelets for breakfast, then we rode around the farm and let Daisy run along with us. Stacey, Brent and I watched the NASCAR race on the DVR while Pauline and Linda watched Julie play in the water on the back porch. PB&J left for Smith's Grove slightly after noon and we relaxed the rest of the day.

Julie's 4th of July Parade

Pauline, Brent & Julie came over Thursday evening. Linda fixed breakfast for us this morning and after a while we went outside. Pauline was pulling Julie around the house in the little red wagon and resting by sitting in the swing on the back porch. Julie was also playing on the back porch in between rides in the wagon.
  
   
We were having a little bit of rain, but it was only a slight drizzle, so we decided to go to Burkesville for the 4th of July Bike Parade. We also decided to take the little red wagon and let Julie ride in the parade. We loaded into the pickup truck and headed to town. I picked a place to park on the Courthouse Square and let Pauline, Brent, Julie and Stacey walk a short distance to the bank parking lot to join the parade. Right about noon, Stevie Wheat drove the police car past the courthouse with lots of bikers behind the car. After the bikers came the smaller kids in the wagons and strollers.
   
   
   
After the kids made the trip to the park, our State Farm Insurance agent, Wade Flowers, drew names for free bikes. The kids that won the bikes are in the last picture. Julie's name wasn't drawn, so we left the park and went to eat before returning to the farm. We enjoyed the rest of the day riding the ATVs and Mule around the farm and playing with Julie.

A Friend Visits

I had received a call a few days earlier asking if we would be home on Thursday so an old friend could drop by. We were and he did. It was Chuck Anderson, a friend from high school in Daleville and later on work in Anderson, IN. Chuck stopped a little after noon on his way back to IN after staying a few days at Dale Hollow Lake. We picked up where we had left off 11 years ago when Linda and I moved out of IN. It was fun catching up on what each of us had been doing. Chuck had retired from GM in January of 2007 and was enjoying his retirement. We took a short trip around the farm in the Mule and then back to the house for some more conversation. It was great to see Chuck, but soon he had to be on his way. We exchanged email addresses and said, 'So long' and Chuck left around 3:30 PM.

Property Appraisal and Night At The Hospital

Linda had found out that Betty Garmon was selling some of her lilies flowers because the highway was taking their property and she was going to have to move them. So, Linda went down there in the Mule and bought enough to fill the rear of the Mule completely full. The next morning, Stacey began having trouble around 6:30 AM and we began giving her Valium. I had to set the flowers out of the Mule and behind the house so Linda could water them before transplanting to their permanent location. At 12:10 PM we gave Stacey more Valium for a total of 35 mg. An appraiser for the KY State Highway Department had made an appointment with me for 1 PM to look at our property. He arrived and showed us a few drawings of what their plans were going to be.

I immediately told him there were some new things on the plans that I didn't like. One was a temporary easement that would cause them to remove several trees near our fire pit where the old house used to stand. We talked about that a while, then a few other items I was unsure about. Next we walked from building to building while he took pictures and made notations of the measurements he took with a laser device. We eventually had all the building photographed and measured and he also took pictures of the hay fields, our picnic area and fire pit. My feelings about the road project are that we are going to get the shaft. After the guy left, my attention returned to Stacey. Linda had been keeping an eye on her during the appraisal. After a couple of hours, Stacey began having more involuntary movement in her arms and shoulders. Linda and I had reached the limit of the Valium the doctors had given us to administer, so I called Dr Rice's office and they talked to the doctor and he advised we take Stacey to the ER at the hospital. We loaded Stacey in the HHR and drove to the ER. The ER doctor had an IV started and was monitoring Stacey and was able to observe her involuntary movements. He was concerned about the amount of Valium she had been given, so he administered Adavan to stop the involuntary movements a little after 4 PM. They admitted Stacey for 24 hour evaluation and Stacey was visited by Dr Rice around 7:30 PM. He gave her 5 mg Valium through her IV at 8 PM and that stopped her involuntary movements. Stacey was wide awake and talking after taking 40 mg of Valium and 10 mg Adavan during the day. I stayed at the hospital and let Linda go home and change into some warmer clothes as the AC was cranking out the cold air. She returned about 10:30 PM and I went home to sleep. I woke and returned to the hospital around 4:30 AM and let Linda go home and sleep. Stacey slept without incident through the night and was very sleepy during the morning hours. Linda returned to relieve me around noon and I left for about 2 hours, then Linda called and said Stacey had been released to come home. I returned to pick them up and bring them home.

Evaluation Lap

After Linda and Stacey left this morning, I decided to take Daisy for a run around the farm and see what I needed to do. I let Daisy loose down by the creek and then drove the Mule around the hay fields and back in the 'holler'.
  
The hay has been rolled and I have used the scoop on the tractor and the bush hog behind to slide all of the big pieces of debris out of the hay fields and bush hogged the smaller pieces so that the fields are ready for the next round of hay. I need to use the bush hog around the edges of the fields and mow back in the 'holler'. Next, I rode down to the mum patch and checked out the work I did yesterday morning from 5 AM to 7 AM tilling the mums. We had lost a few due to the hard rains, but I believe we still have over a thousand alive. Regina and Linda had planted the pumpkins yesterday and also cleaned out the cabbage and tomato plants.
  
I finished my ride by going around the hay fields across the creek and watching a deer graze on the hay. I returned to the farm and put the Mule in the barn after taking the garbage cans to the edge of the road for pickup later today. As I walked towards the door, I snapped a picture of the flowers along our front walk.
 

Friendly Baling

Linda left early for the day care job and around 9:15 AM a vase of flowers and a teddy bear was delivered from Jason. At 10 AM I went down to fill up the tractor with diesel fuel. I drove it over to the tank and shut it off. Then I heard a hissing noise and noticed the left front tire was leaking fluid. I went back to the house and called a tire service, but they said it would be the next day before they could come and fix the tire. Since I was supposed to bale hay for Steve Riddle, I called to see what he wanted to do about the hay. He said there was a place in Columbia that would fix the tire, so I called them. They said it would be the next day before they could come down, but if I would bring the tire up there they could fix it right away. Stacey drove the Mule to the front of the garage and I put the jack in the back and the 3/4" socket set to remove the wheel. I removed the wheel and tire after jacking up the tractor. I pulled the truck into the ditch and used one of the small ramps to roll the wheel and tire into the back of the pickup truck. It must have weighed near 200 lbs. Stacey and I went to Columbia and dropped off the tire at Hancock Tire, then went to eat lunch at Wendy's. We returned to pick up the tire and paid $53 for the repair. Two guys and I lifted the tire into the back of the truck and Stacey and I headed back to the farm. On the way back, Stacey began having problems with involuntary movement of her arms. I pulled the truck to the front of the garage and helped Stacey inside. Linda was home, so Stacey set down with her and shortly Linda gave Stacey 10 mg of Valium to stop the movements. Stacey's involuntary movements stopped so I went to put the wheel and tire on the tractor. I slid the tire off the truck and rolled it over to the tractor. It was heavier than before. I let the jack down a little and positioned the wheel over one of the lugs, put on a nut and jacked the tractor back up and replaced the remaining lug nuts and tightened them once the tire was back on the ground. I went back to the house to cool down and check on how Stacey was doing. Linda said that she was OK, so I headed up on Jone's Ridge to bale the hay for Steve. After about a 25 minute ride, I was there and Steve met me and helped get the baler ready to bale. I baled a couple of places along the road and then we moved to the field. Steve Anderson was using the tractor and rake to make the wind rows for the baler. As I was baling, Steve needed to leave to take Steve Anderson home so he could plant some of his tobacco plants. I finished baling, set the baler for towing and headed back to the farm. Once I was back home, I had a lot of stuff to pick up from changing the tire on the tractor and I needed to put the hay baler in the shed and some other stuff away too. Linda said Stacey was still doing OK, so I did those things. We hooked the trailer to the pickup truck and drove back to help Nancy and Steve pick up the hay bales. They had been picking up the hay and had most of it already in their barn, but we helped with the last load. Nancy and Steve said they had over 90 bales of hay. We talked a little while, then it began thundering and we headed home. Stacey was OK the rest of the evening.

Hay Baling Across The Road

Pauline and Brent came over early on Saturday since we had Julie Thursday and Friday. After playing with Julie for a while Brent and I went to hook up the tractors to the hay baler and hay wagon. We finished that, then went back inside to cool off and have a sandwich before starting the actual hay baling. We left the house a few minutes after 11 AM and drove the tractors to the hay field across the road from the house. I started the hay baler and we made a few bales and adjusted the bale length, then Brent brought the hay wagon to the back of the baler and we hooked it to the baler.
 
I drove the tractor around the hay field baling hay and Brent was stacking the bales on the wagon as the baler pushed the bales out of the chute to him on the wagon. After about one round, Steve Riddle drove up with Steve Anderson and they climbed on the wagon and started helping with the bale stacking. We busted three or four bales but kept going. After another round or two, Steve and Phil Garmon stopped and helped me adjust the baler and told me to drive the tractor in the next faster gear. After that, we didn't have any more busted bales and the baling went smoothly. We filled the wagon, then unhooked and pulled it to the back of the barn and inside the barn loft. The four of us unloaded the hay and drank a cold can of pop, then headed back to the hay field for another load. The temperature was near 90 degrees and quite a bit of humidity. In other words, it was scalding us. Another wagon load and back to the barn again, this time with a longer break in the shade after unloading the hay. Once more we went back to the hay field and filled the wagon, but this time we simply pulled the wagon in the barn and left the hay on it. Brent went inside to shower, I thanked Steve R and Steve A and they left about 3 PM after making plans to bale Steve Riddle's hay on Monday. I finished baling about ten more bales to clean up and let the bales drop in the field. I parked the tractor and went inside to cool down, then took a shower. Pauline, Julie, Stacey and Linda had been watching us from the front porch for a while, then they got too hot and went back inside after taking a few pictures when we first started baling.
  
I rode a 4-wheeler up the road to Garmon's farm and thanked Phil for helping us get the baler setup and doing some extra raking. We talked a while and he said they had made 74 rolls in the fields across the creek. I said that was the best cutting they had ever done in those fields and told him we had hauled 183 bales out of the small field, then I went back to the house just in time for the hamburgers Linda fixed for supper. We ate, then Brent and I went outside and put up the tractors and baler, picked up the bales laying in the field, closed the hay shed door and started back to the house. We found Julie and Pauline feeding Daisy, so I walked to the house while Pauline, Brent and Julie took a ride in the Mule.
 
No one lasted very long after dark and I think we all went to bed around 9 PM.

Hay Is A Mess

Well the creek has went down and we were able to take Daisy for a run around the hay fields and see what had washed into the fields.
   
   
I guess Phil will mow what he can, then I'll shove the debris back into the creek and bush hog the remaining hay to clean the fields up for the next time. The left picture in the lower row is a Cicada. There are so many of the adult cicadas around it sounds like a space ship is landing outside or a bearing going out on a riding lawnmower. Right now we can hear them anywhere we go around the farm.

Rain Continued

The rain began early on Memorial Day, continued through the night and most of the day Tuesday. Wednesday morning it was still raining off and on. I checked the rain gage and it was over 4" in the tube.

I rode the ATV around the farm and noticed the creek had been out of it's banks and through the hay field for the fourth time this Spring. It was a mess and it will cause Phil to lose some of the hay in the upper field and along the creek.

Bonfire

Sunday was a little more laid back with everyone just doing what they wanted. I cleaned up a few places with the tractor and bush hog while Sabra, Jim, Pauline and Brent rode the ATVs. Linda enjoyed Julie, Clayton and Amber and took them to the creek again. Jim and Brent used the chainsaw to cut up the boards Linda and I had taken down out of the barn a week or so ago. We invited Regina, Nancy and Steve Riddle and had a bonfire in the evening. We roasted hot dog and marshmallows and set around the fire until after midnight.
Monday, Linda fixed french toast for everyone, they ate then messed around a little and Sabra and Jim left for IN with Amber and Clayton around 9:30 AM. Shortly after they left it began to sprinkle rain. The sprinkle turned into a nice gentle rain that seated in the new mum plants. Brent and I watched the NASCAR race the DVR had recorded while the girls took naps. Pauline, Brent and Julie left for Smith's Grove before 2 PM. It rained the rest of the day.

Mum Planting Day

Friday evening Pauline, Brent and Julie arrived about 7:30 PM and Sabra, Jim, Amber and Clayton arrived about 9:30 PM from IN. We talked a while and played with all the kids and went to bed around 11 PM.
Saturday morning, Linda fixed everyone breakfast and we began the day by heading to the patch to plant the mums at 7 AM. We had lots of help, so we took lots of stuff. Jim, Brent, and I were laying out the rows with Jim drilling the holes for the plants with a cordless power driver. I was filling a 100 gallon tank with creek water using the tractor scoop and then watering each hole with a hose from the tank. Pauline and Amber were dropping the plants in the holes and Regina, Sabra and Linda were filling the holes with dirt around the plants. Stacey was watching the two younger kids and pulling them around in the wooden wagon. It was going well with the sky being slightly cloudy and cool. The kids were having fun playing in the dirt and the planting was going fast.
   
   
   
We took a break for a cold drink and then the sun came out and the temperature started going up, but we were nearly done. We went back to work and finished the entire patch of 1,000 mums and I checked the clock. It was 10 AM. That was by far the quickest we had ever finished. Everyone helped load up the stuff and we went back to the house. We ate lunch and the next thing I knew we were headed to the creek to let the kids play in the creek. The kids saw the water and started playing with boats tied to cane poles, but the next thing we knew they were in the creek and practically swimming in it.
   
   
   
After a couple of hours in the creek everyone took the kids to the house, dried them off, gave them baths and dry clothes. A little later they made a trip to the barn to see a new litter of kittens. They took a container and fed the kittens milk to get them to come out where the kids could catch them and hold them.
  
After a busy day, the kids and the adults seemed to go to bed early.

Hay Baler

Linda has been using the weed trimmer a lot this week to rid the farm of weeds that we can't mow with the mowers. She even did between the trees that we planted back in the 'holler'.
 
We've been concentrating on getting the mowing done, because the mums were delivered earlier today and that will take up quite a bit of time to plant and water all 1,000 of those this coming weekend. We may have more help than usual if Sabra and Jim come down from IN as is supposed to happen. I had unhooked the bush hog from the Ford tractor and also took the finish mower off the FarmTrac tractor in preparation for baling hay later in the day. Leonard was raking the hay into wind rows and our New Holland 565 Hay Baler was delivered a little after lunch. The delivery guy told me a few things about the baler and then after about a half hour he headed back to Glasgow. With a little help I hooked the baler to the back of the tractor and pulled it over to the hay shed.
  
I asked Linda to drive to town to pick up two more rolls of baler twine and she went after those. I drove the FarmTrac pulling the hay wagon to the other hay field with Stacey following me in the Mule to bring me back to the house. I parked the tractor and wagon out of the way, then rode back and we waited on Linda to return. Once she was back, we headed to the hay field with me driving the Ford tractor pulling the hay baler and Stacey driving the Mule with Linda. I pulled the hay baler into position over a wind row of hay and engaged the PTO on the tractor. The baler started spinning and I moved the tractor forward until hay started coming out the bale chute. We had a problem, the bales were packed too tight and it was busting the strings. Linda and I were worried we had got in over our head as we looked through the manual and saw all the things listed that could be wrong. I remembered what the delivery guy had told me and started loosening the spring tension with the two hand cranks at the rear of the baler. We started getting a few bales that were tied. I stopped several more times and kept loosening the spring tension. Steve Riddle drove up with Steve Anderson riding along. They were ready to help with the hay baling. We hooked up the hay wagon to the back of the baler and started down another wind row of hay.

Steve R was catching the bales as they came out of the baler's chute and passing them to Steve A and he was stacking them on the wagon. We continued to have bales with broken strings and I kept loosening the tension until the baler was making bales better. Steve was kicking the broken bales off the wagon and Stacey and Linda would spread them out so I could pull the baler back over and feed them in again. After a couple of hours, we had the hay wagon filled and a few more bales on a trailer behind the pickup truck so we headed back to the farm with our loads of hay. I pulled the hay wagon with the FarmTrac and parked it in the loft of the upper barn. I backed the truck and trailer in the hallway of the barn and then we talked and rested a little while. Steve Anderson collects junk metal, so I gave him some heavy pieces and paid him for his work. Steve Riddle said I didn't owe him because I had helped him a lot, so I thanked them both, then Linda and I went back to the hay field and I drove the Ford tractor back to the farm and we put the hay baler in the hay shed.

Hay Baler On Order

Wednesday we drove to Glasgow and I went inside the Ford Tractor Dealership. I talked to a couple of salesmen and they gave me a price for a new square hay baler. They tried to locate one while I was inside using their computer network. They found several, but were unable to obtain one of them. I said I would take Linda and Stacey to eat lunch and stop back in afterwards. We ate at an A&W fish and root beer restaurant, then stopped again at Ben & Elmer's Tractors. They still hadn't located a baler that they could get the dealer to transfer to them, so we came on home. Later the salesman called and said they had a baler and they would be getting it for me. They said the earliest they would be able to bring it to the farm would be on Monday May 19th. I said OK.
Thursday, Stacey and Linda left for Smith's Grove around 6 AM. Shortly, they were back, with Linda leading Stacey inside. Linda said Stacey was having problems and she had given her 15 mg Valium about 6:15 AM, then turned the HHR around and headed back to the house. About 7:30 AM we gave another 10 mg Valium and Stacey didn't have any other problems the rest of the day with involuntary movements. Of course, she was drowsy and slept off and on most of the day. Steve Riddle stopped in and talked with Linda and I for a while. Around 4:30 PM, a lady came to the door and talked to us about the state taking part of our property for the relocation of the highway. She was nice and told us our property would be appraised in the next couple of months and then she would be back to talk to us about a payment around August or September. The state will take our barn, boat shed and the small shed where we store the TR3 along with a stretch of land on the opposite side of the existing highway from our house.

Kidney Stone and Kathy Mattea Concert

Wednesday started off a little crazy. Linda thought Stacey was going to have some problems but they never developed. She told me and I went in to the living room to keep an eye on Stacey while she watched TV. The next thing I knew I was having pains in my lower back and wallering around in the bed room trying to find some way to get relief from the pain. There was none for about 2 hours. Finally, I dozed off to sleep and when I woke up the pain was gone. Linda asked me to attend a meeting to check on getting a 'quilt block' made for the old barn. I went to the meeting and listened, then returned home and when I did the pain returned. Linda talked me into going to see Dr Rice in town, but when we arrived at his office it was closed for the day. We returned to the house and I had bouts with the pain the rest of the evening. Thursday morning, Linda and Stacey left for Smith's Grove to baby sit for Julie. I tossed and turned in the bed and on the couch most of the day as I went in and out of sleeping. The pain wasn't as bad as it had been but it was still there to worry me. Friday morning I ate a sandwich and drank part of a coke and the pain increased, so I decided if it became worse, I would go to the doctor. It did and I went to Dr Rice's office and again it was closed. I drove to the hospital and saw his truck so I went in and asked to see him. I was told, he wasn't on call, he was doing rounds and I would have to see the doctor in the emergency room. I said OK and they checked me in as soon as I showed them my insurance card. I had to answer all the routine questions and give a urine sample, then the lady doctor came and talked to me. I told her I thought I might have a kidney stone, but I wasn't a doctor and wasn't trying to do her job. I mentioned that I had kidney stones before and she said from the description, I might have one again. She said they would do a CAT scan and see what turned up. After putting on robes to cover my butt, I walked down to the room and laid down for the CAT scan. It took about 10 minutes and it was over. The girls sent me back to the ER and I asked if I could get dressed. They said no. This was the first time I thought that I might not get to go home. Don't know why that had not occurred to me before then. Finally, the little woman doctor came in and said it was a kidney stone and she was waiting on the urine test to see if I had any infection before letting me leave. After about 15 minutes she came back and said I could get dressed and prepare to go home. She told me it looked like the stone was moving towards coming out on it's own, to drink lots of liquids and if I had trouble to see Dr Rice. I thanked them and left the hospital and went home after filling a prescription she gave me. Linda and Stacey had just arrived before I made it home. They were ready to go to Glasgow to see Kathy Mattea in concert at the Plaza Theatre. Linda drove us over and we arrived in time to get our usual parking spot by the courthouse, then head in to the theater.
   
   
Of all the singers and bands we have seen at the Plaza, Kathy has the best voice of them all. The first half of her show, she sang her hits and old songs that had made her famous. Then she and the band took a 15 minute break and came back and sang the songs from her latest CD entitled "Coal". They were sad songs about the struggle of the men working in the coal mines of eastern KY and West Virginia. They left the stage and Kathy came back and did an encore song without any accompaniment then the band came back and they played 3 songs for the encore and the concert was over. Kathy had sang for right at 2 hours not including their break. It was acoustically the best sounding concert I've attended. The only bad thing I can say is the choice of material is depressing.

Norris Farm Aerial Photos

Steve Riddle told me he was having aerial photos made of his place and wanted to know if I wanted some of our farm. I said I did and he agreed to tell the photographer. Steve brought me a CD with about 10 images on it and I was to call the photographer. I called and told him which image I wanted printed and he promised to print one for me and give it to Steve's wife, Nancy for her to give to us. A smaller version is below and if you click it there is a screen size version.
 
I've reduced the size of the other images and put them into a gif file to give readers an idea of the flyover and how he took the pictures while flying.

Mowing and Flower Work

Linda fixed breakfast and after eating, I headed out to start mowing with the tractor and finish mower. After about an hour, I noticed Linda had started trim mowing with the little John Deere riding mower. I mowed until about 11:30 AM and went inside to check on Stacey and fix lunch. I tried out a new recipe for a BBQ pizza with ham and pepperoni. I liked it and it seemed like it went over well with Stacey and Linda too. Linda did mention that next time I should put some cheese on it too. I went back outside and continued mowing but Linda and Stacey were working on flowers. They had the little red wagon full of geraniums and were planting those in several of our pots that we set around the house and in the half barrels down by the old barn.
  
Linda caught me in the picture she took of Stacey pulling the wagon. They finished with the flowers and Linda went to work at the day care. Stacey and I took Daisy for a run around the hay fields. Then I finished mowing for the day while Stacey watched from the Mule. Steve stopped with his Mule and dog to let her get a drink from the creek and we set and talked down there for a while.

Flowers

We went to town Tuesday to meet Jason for breakfast and talked about what had been going on with him. Afterwards we rode over close to Glasgow and drove through a farm that sold used machinery and some new. The place was out in the country and they had quite a bit of newer equipment, but the old stuff looked like mostly trade in pieces. We continued to Glasgow and went shopping a while, then to Ben and Elmer's Tractor Sales. I picked up a couple of product handouts for hay balers and rakes and talked to a salesman about the prices, then we left and went to Mancino's for lunch. We returned to the farm and Linda went to work at the day care.
Wednesday morning, we headed to near Greensburg to buy flowers for decorating around the house. There is a small greenhouse there that has nice flowers and we've done our flower shopping there the last 3 years. Linda picked out the stuff she wanted and we loaded it in the HHR, but just barely. We stopped in Columbia and ate lunch before returning to the farm. Once home, I unloaded the flowers and then used the Mule with the trailer to haul the cement pots from inside the barn to the front sidewalk. Linda planted the flowers in the pots and a few other places.

   

Riding

Julie had came home with Linda Friday morning, so Pauline and Brent arrived early Saturday morning anxious to see Julie. They played with her inside while we had a light rain shower. When Julie laid down for a morning nap, Pauline and Linda began working on the tractor quilt blocks and Brent and I went to the garage to adjust the clutch in the 1956 Chevy. It took about 20 minutes and we were ready for a test ride. I drove to town and the clutch was working correctly, so Brent drove back to the farm, then back to town and we changed drivers again. When I began driving again, I did a short burn out and then said, the clutch was working the way it should, then continued back to the farm. Julie was up and the girls wanted to go to a shop in Albany for some quilting supplies, so we took the truck since it was the only vehicle that would carry all six of us. First we ate lunch at a Mexican place and the food was great. Then we stopped at a place that sells all sorts of stuff, from windows and doors, shoes, pedal cars, planting material, hardware, to nuts and bolts. After scrounging around in there for about a half hour, we stopped at the store for the quilting supplies. Linda and Pauline could have stayed in there for hours, but Brent and I were having trouble keeping Julie happy. After about 45 minutes the girls checked out and we headed back to the farm. The sky had cleared and it was a nice day outside, so we did some things outside. Brent and I cut a tree that was falling into the edge of the hay field. It was small and only took us about 15 minutes to pile the limbs on the black trailer and pull them to the edge of the creek. As we returned the trailer and chainsaws to the barn we noticed an old cat laying beside a group of birdhouses and bird feeders Linda and I had made. It looked like he was waiting on supper to come flying home.

Linda had bought a homemade wagon to use to pull Julie, so they loaded her and a Care Bear in the seat, strapped her down and pulled her up and down the walkway.
   
Pauline and Brent took a ride in the TR3 into town and picked them up a malt at the local ice cream shack.

Then returned to the farm and we added a quart of oil to the motor and we took a lap around Little Renoux Creek to make sure the oil pressure was OK. I also noticed that there were a few hummingbirds feeding at Linda's new bird feeder.

So, the hummingbirds are back and so are the purple martins. I guess, summer is here, oh, and it was in the 80s this week.

The Weekend

Stacey, Linda and I went to town to meet Jason and his Dad, David Strange at Jone's Restaurant on Saturday. We were a little earlier than Jason and his Dad, but they arrived shortly after we did. We set down and ordered and then talked while our food was being prepared and brought to the table. David was born and raised in Burkesville, but now lives a little south of Bowling Green in Plano, KY. He has a business that installs swiming pools and also does the upkeep on them. Jason has told us he helps his Dad sometimes when he stays with him on the weekends. We finished our lunch and continued to talk for a while about Jason and Stacey and how they liked a lot of the same things and how they were a little bit similar in their lives. It was good to meet David and get to know him since Jason talks about him a lot of the time. He bought our lunch and we said thanks and we headed back to the farm. Jason and his Dad were going to his house in Plano for the weekend.
Sunday, we just messed around at the farm. I took the 1956 Chevy for a ride in to town and back. Then Linda and I tried to start the Triumph TR3. The battery would wind it over but it still wouldn't start, so Linda used the Mule to pull it down the road with me driving and it started. I drove it back to the house, then north to the county line and back. It started several times, so Linda drove it down the road to Salem Park and back.
 

Stacey Celebrates With Jason

I had told Steve Riddle that I would ride along when he went to pick up the metal barn siding for the shed I had helped build on his farm. He called a little after 8 AM and then picked me up. We stopped to eat breakfast in town and Stacey's friend, Jason was eating also. I wished him Happy Birthday and then Steve and I ate and headed to TN. After the ride, we went inside the office and Steve told them what he wanted. I was standing there listening when Tony Boils came in and we started talking. Tony and his Dad had built our house. Tony was telling me that his son, Anthony was having some trouble. Anthony has autism and as he was maturing it was getting worse recently. Tony thought that they had it smoothed out now though, but said it had been rough. He asked how Stacey was doing and I told him a little about how Stacey had been. About then, Steve was ready to have his order loaded. We watched the guy and gal load the metal, then we strapped it down and headed back to Burkesville. Steve dropped me off at the farm and I went inside and let Missy out, ate a sandwich for lunch then went back outside. I started the tractor and plowed the patch for the pumpkins. It was still a little too wet, but I managed to finish the patch anyway. I took the plow off the back of the tractor and scooped up some of the gravel out of the creek to cover the area where we go in and out at the gate. I put the tractor in the hay shed and then drove out to Steve's farm on the ridge. They had finished painting the old building's roof and were working on putting up an outdoor security light. I helped with that for a while, then headed home. I went inside and set down with the ceiling fan on to cool off. Sat there about five minutes and then Linda and Stacey came home. Around 6 PM, Stephannie, Jason and Tommy stopped by to pick up Stacey. They were going to eat and wanted Stacey to go along to celebrate Jason's birthday. Stacey gave Jason a birthday present and card and he opened both before they left.
  
While they were gone, Linda and I went to Burkesville and ate, then went back home to wait on them to return. Tommy, Stephannie, Jason and Stacey returned and told us about where they went and we also talked a while longer. Stacey and Jason seemed to have had a good time.

Mum Beginnings

Linda was working with the string trimmer and I had been mowing with the tractor and the riding mower most of the morning. We took a break and along with Stacey went to Subway for lunch, then came home and went inside. Linda and I decided what kind and color of mums we were going to order, then I called and ordered 1,000 mums. After ordering, I went to the hay shed and took the Ford tractor across the road and removed the bush hog from the back, then drove to the barn down by the mum patch and hooked to the two bottom plow. I laid off a place for a small garden and then the patch for the mums. The ground was slightly wet but seemed to break up fairly well. After I finished the plowing, Stacey and I washed the 1956 Chevy because Brent and I had drove it in a little bit of rain last weekend. We had replaced a fuel filter and we wanted to see if the problem with the car stalling had been caused by the fuel filter being clogged. Evidently, that was the problem because we drove it to town twice and I've drove it into town once since replacing the filter and the car has made it everytime.
  

Julie Visits and More

Our granddaughter, Julie stayed with us Friday night and Saturday night too. Saturday during the day, Linda called and asked Stephanie if we could pick up Jason after he worked. She said that would be OK, so we picked him up in front of Houchens a little after 11 AM. Jason hopped in the back seat as he usually does, but Julie was in her car seat in the middle and she isn't used to very many strangers, so Linda and Jason had to trade seats. Julie was OK riding between Linda and Stacey. I drove to Columbia and we ate at Betty's Fine Dining Restaurant. Jason seemed to enjoy the place as it has a shelf near the ceiling almost all the way around the dinning room with NASCAR replica cars on it. There are at least 100 and probably more. After eating we took Jason home and so that Stephanie could see how Julie had grown. They were getting ready for their other son, Bryant, to go to the prom that evening. Pauline and Brent called later to see how things were going with Julie and their dogs. We told them all was OK and talked a little bit about the wedding they were attending in Nashville.
Sunday, Pauline and Brent arrived and we could tell they had missed Julie. They didn't have time to talk much because they were playing with her. They eventually slowed down and told us how the wedding had went and what else had been going on. Brent and I worked on the 56 Chevy a little, then took a test drive and made it down the road and back. Brent had replaced a fuel filter and now the car would continue running. We ate lunch of turkey breast that Linda's Mom had sent us. It was really the best turkey I've eaten. Brent and I drove the 56 to town and filled it up with gas to see if it would cause the car to quit running. Linda and Brent had found a exercise machine on a local sales web site and Brent called about it. He and I took the truck to Baxter TN to take a look at the machine. Brent bought it, so we loaded it in the back of the truck and headed back home. The entire trip took three hours. PB&J decided to stay Sunday night too. Pauline was going to have LASIK eye surgery on Monday, so they were going to be off work anyway. They left early Monday morning to get home in time to change clothes and get to Pauline's eye doctor appointment.
Click the following link to watch the flash movie of Julie Learning To Walk.

Severe Weather

It began raining early this morning before daylight. Linda and Stacey were over at Pauline and Brent's house taking care of Julie, so I drank some coffee and about 8:30 AM went to the hay shed. I started the old 8N tractor and pulled it out of the shed. I moved the Ford tractor into the spot where the 8N had been sitting and removed the back hoe attachment. I let it down on cement blocks and slowly pulled the tractor away from the back hoe. I shut the tractor off and tried to remove the pump from the PTO, but it was stuck. I headed to the house for a can of WD-40 as Linda pulled the HHR in the garage with Stacey, Julie, Pico and Poco inside. After talking a minute or two, I grabbed the spray can and headed back to the shed. After spraying the slip ring for the pump, it slid off the PTO shaft easily. I parked the tractor back in the other stall and started the 8N and pulled it back into the shed in front of the back hoe attachment. I went to the house as it was raining a little harder. Julie was playing in the living room and Linda was watching her. I set down and let her get used to me a little, then started playing with her too. Our weather radio alarm sounded and it was a warning for a severe thunderstorm. The satellite TV was going off and on as often happens when it rains hard. The Nashville TV stations were warning of radar indicated tornadoes in the area. I checked the radar on the NWS site and it looked like most of the extreme weather was going to the south of us. Our weather radio signaled a tornado watch for our area. We experienced very hard rain and some wind, but nothing severe. It wasn't long until the creek was nearing the top of it's banks and a little bit later it was flowing through our upper hay field.
   
   
Nashville reported there were over 30 homes destroyed in various areas in TN.

Stacey and New Grass Beds

Tuesday morning started with meeting Jason for breakfast with Stacey, Linda and me at Jone's Restaurant. We had fun talking about NASCAR and the NBA and things that Stacey and Jason liked. After breakfast, I drove home and parked the HHR in the garage and I noticed Stacey said something to Linda as she got out and went straight in the house. As I followed, I found Stacey laying in the bed with Linda beside her. I realized that Stacey was having some problems with involuntary movements in her arms. After watching a few minutes I laid down beside her while Linda did something else. The movements had increased in frequency and strength so I gave Stacey 15 mg of Valium per Dr Zhu's instructions. She reacted in about 7 to 10 minutes. Her movements stopped and her mind seemed to return to normal functioning. We watched her until late in the afternoon and nothing else happened. Linda and I decided to plant some ornamental grass I had ordered several months ago from Michigan Bulb. We gathered up the tools and then set Stacey in a lawn chair so we could work and watch her at the same time and began on the two beds. I ran the tiller through both patches first, then raked the ground smooth. Linda rolled out the weed block and cut it to length. I measured and cut the spots in the weed block for the plants and Linda planted them. Linda and I laid the pavers around the beds and then I used the scoop on the tractor to bring a half scoop of rocks to the new beds. Linda and I shoveled just enough of the rocks out of the scoop onto the weed block to hold it down. I put the tractor up while Linda put up the Mule and we quit for the night as it was getting close to dark.
   
Wednesday morning Linda fixed us a sausage biscuit for breakfast and about 7:45 AM Stacey began having problems again. I gave her 15 mg Valium, but this time the movements continued for a while. A half hour later Linda gave her another 10 mg Valium and it slowed the movements down some. After about an hour, they finally subsided and Stacey took a nap for a little bit. She woke up shortly and seemed to be better. Of course the Valium had her a little groggy, but it was better than her having a seizure and a trip to the hospital. We ate lunch at home and Linda and I took turns keeping an eye on Stacey while the other one did some odd jobs.

Debris and ATV Ride

The weather was nicer this morning so after Linda fixed breakfast, I took the Ford tractor and went across the creek to work on straightening up some of the mess that the rain water had done. The creek had been out of it's banks and flowing through the hay fields, so there were several places that had debris left by the high water.
  
I used the scoop on the tractor to scrape the debris into piles and shove it back to the creek banks. Then I worked on the ditch that runs along the edge of the hill and hay field. I took the back hoe and dug the gravel and pulled it over to the side of the ATV path between the hill and hay field. After finishing that, I put the tractor in the hay shed and Stacey and I drove the Mule to take Daisy for a run. We crossed the creek and Stacey unhooked Daisy and she hopped out of the back of the Mule.
 
 
Daisy was playing in the water and seemed to like it more than usual. I guess it was because the temperatures were in the lower 70s, so she was getting hot running up and down the hillsides. After letting her run for about a half hour we took Daisy back to the barn and went inside for a little bit. Linda came back inside and wanted to take an ATV ride so we went back outside and all took off on the 4-wheelers. We headed back across the creek and down the other side, picking our way along the creek bank until we made it to the other farm.
  
  
It was easy to notice the hay is starting to turn real green and to grow as we rode around the fields. And when we returned home and parked the ATVs in the barn, I noticed as I walked to the house that one of our trees has started to bloom.
 
It was about 2 weeks later last year that we had a hard freeze that damaged a lot of trees and killed plants. Maybe we will be lucky this year and avoid a killing freeze.

Batteries and Debris

During the previous two days rain had prevented us from going outside and we had done some shopping. I had purchased 3 new batteries for the ATVs, so after fixing breakfast for us, I went to the hay shed to install the batteries. Stacey went along to help me and brought her iPod, so I hooked it to the radio to play music while we worked. I filled the batteries with the acid and hooked them to each 4-wheeler, then started them and let Stacey and Linda ride them around a little as I continued to install the rest of the batteries. All but one of the ATVs started after the new batteries were in place. I hooked the snatch strap to the one that wouldn't start and Linda pulled me down the road to the mum patch to get it running. It popped and cracked a few times, then finally began running. We unhooked the strap and I drove it back to the hay shed. We filled them with gas and let them run a few minutes, then shut them off and restarted to make sure they were ready to use. Stacey was eager to take a ride around the farm, so we each started one of the ATVs and headed across the road and through the creek. The water was still a little high, but safe to cross. Stacey led us around the hay fields and I surveyed the debris the creek had dropped in the hay fields again. It wasn't really bad this time, but will require the tractor to shove the stuff out of the fields again. Water was flowing off the sides of the hills and there were piles of leaves where they had washed down to the bottom. There had been a slight blockage that had built up upstream from the culvert tiles I had placed in the ditch. The water had overflowed the ditch and the crossing I had built. The dirt will need replacing again. I'm glad I have the scoop and small backhoe that mounts on the tractor to do those jobs or it would cost me money to have it done.

Quilting Party

Pauline, Brent and Julie came over early Saturday morning to visit. Pauline and Linda were going to work on a quilt so Brent and I checked out a battery float charger he had picked up for me at Harbour Freight in Bowling Green. Then we started up the 1956 Chevy after putting a timing light on it. We set the timing with the vacuum unhooked and the car seemed to run better. We took the timing light off and decided to try driving it down the road. I told Brent I would follow in the truck because the car had been running out of gas for some reason. The tank has plenty, but it may be debris clogging the filter. He backed out of the garage and headed towards town with plans on turning around at Salem Park, but the car never made it that far. I had to pull in front with the pickup and Brent hooked up the snatch strap and then he pulled me home in the car. I started it a few times while he was pulling but the 56 wouldn't remain running. We pulled the car to the garage and pushed it in by hand. After a few minutes inside, Brent and I went to town for groceries while Linda, Stacey, Julie and Pauline were quilting. We picked up BBQ pork loin dinners from Hamilton's and took them back to the house for lunch. The girls were making progress on the quilt pieces.
  
They had all the blocks put together with the borders by about 9:30 PM.
I took a couple short movies with our camera of Julie pushing a riding toy as she is learning to walk. You can view the movies on Brent's Thoughts.

It's Official - It's Spring

Spring officially arrived this morning just a few minutes past midnight. The daffodils didn't wait on the official timing of Spring to burst through the ground and bloom. We let Daisy jump into the back of the Mule and we took her with Stacey and I as we took a few pictures of the daffodils.
   

1956 Chevy Pictures

Saturday Brent and I had installed a new distributor and coil in the 56 Chevy but were unable to drive it due to the rain. Sunday morning it wasn't raining, so we drank a cup of coffee and then started the car and backed it out of the garage. We made a short lap down the road and back to the house to make sure it was going to run. I went inside and grabbed the camera and came back out to take a few pictures of the car as it was nearly ready for the road.
  
Brent drove down the driveway and towards town to Salem Park where we stopped and I took several pictures of the car.
  
 
There are several things that still need to be done like setting the timing with a timing light and setting the point dwell. We need to buy a few more items such as a new steering wheel and a radio, but the main thing right now is to get the car to town and get the IN title changed to a KY title and get legal plates on it. We already have insurance.

1956 Chevy Is Running

Pauline and Brent came over late Friday evening. We had picked up Julie earlier and brought her home with us. Saturday morning Pauline fixed everyone breakfast of bacon and eggs and after playing with Julie a while, Brent and I stepped out to the garage to work on the 56 Chevy. I had ordered a new distributor and coil and we took out the old stuff and began replacing the parts with the new stuff. Things went slowly with dropping in the new distributor due to trouble lining up the oil pump shaft with the bottom of the distributor shaft. After about a half hour, we had it in and were working on running the new spark plug wires to the correct locations. We stopped for lunch of home made pizzas and then went back and mounted the coil to the firewall. We ran the new wires to the resistor, then to the coil and finally to the distributor. I opened the garage door and told Brent to try to start the car. The battery charge was low and the car wouldn't start. We put the battery charger on it and took a ride around the farm to let Daisy run. About 30 minutes later we returned to the garage and unplugged the battery charger. Brent tried to start the car again. No luck, but we thought we heard it fire. I turned the distributor slightly and told Brent to give it another try. This time it started and ran. That was great to hear it running again. We shut the car off and fixed the wires permanently and also hooked up the tachometer. I hooked up the electric choke also. We started the car several more times and moved the distributor slightly until the motor smoothed out. It was raining most of the day, so we decided to wait until tomorrow before taking the car out of the garage for a test ride. We went in the house and played with Julie and had some BBQ tenderloins for supper. We played some penny ante poker until almost time to go to bed.

Another Problem Day for Stacey

Linda came leading Stacey into the bedroom about 5:45 AM. She said Stacey was having some problems. She laid down beside me and I placed my arm across her arms so I could tell how often she was having involuntary movements. They were mild movements so I didn't give Stacey any Valium right them. After about an hour, Stacey was still having mild movements. Linda took over and I went into the kitchen to get a drink. Linda took Stacey to the bathroom and I heard a loud whack. Linda yelled for me and I went back to the bedroom to find Linda picking Stacey up off the bathroom's tile floor. Stacey had dropped like a rock and hit her head fairly hard on the floor. It popped up a knot on the back of her head. Linda wanted to give Stacey Valium, so we followed Dr Zhu's directions and gave her 15 mg. We took Stacey back to the bed after she had went to the bathroom. We both set in the bedroom and watched Stacey. She seemed to respond to the Valium and quit having any movements. She wasn't completely out of trouble though. In about an hour, Stacey seemed to get better. Later, I left the house around 11 AM to help Steve Riddle build a shed on the side of an old building at his place on Jone's Ridge. I gave Linda the cell phone number that Steve had and told her to call if Stacey became worse or she needed help. Up on the ridge, Steve Anderson, Steve Riddle and I cut the pressure treated posts and dug holes, then put the posts in the ground. We also screwed on several of the joist hangers and mounted the cross beams that hold the joists. We worked until about 5 PM and then I returned to find Linda and Stacey still in the bedroom. Linda had gave Stacey another 5 mg of Valium around 4:45 PM and Stacey was doing pretty good. I took a quick shower and then let Linda do something else for a little bit. She fed Daisy and then cooked some pork loins in BBQ sauce for our supper.

Snow From A Winter Storm

Overnight we had a winter storm blow through our area and leave a light blanket of snow. We awoke to find it still snowing and blowing.

Linda fixed us breakfast and after Stacey and I took our pills Linda and I dressed for going outdoors. I went on out and started the Mule and pulled around to load Daisy in the back. Linda came out as Daisy jumped in the bed of the Mule. I chained her in and Linda and I drove down the hill towards the hay shed, then across the road and through the creek. I stopped and let Daisy out of the Mule. She jumped from the Mule and started running around with her nose plowing the snow like she was sniffing a trail of an animal through the snow.
   
   
We continued around the field and back through the branch as Daisy ran along. It seemed like everything was new to her with the snow on it. I stopped and took a couple pictures of our house with the snow all around and Daisy was running back and forth like she couldn't wait to go ahead and smell more things.

We continued around the fields and finally loaded Daisy in the back to cross the creek. After driving to the barn, we gave her food and made sure her water wasn't froze, then parked the Mule and went inside.

Tracy Lawrence Concert

Friday, with Linda in Smith's Grove, Stacey and I went to eat breakfast with Jason. Stacey and I walked in and surprised Jason because Stacey had forgot to mention it during their telephone call the night before. We had breakfast and made plans for picking Jason up later in the day so he could go with us to the Tracy Lawrence concert. After we finished breakfast and returned to the farm, Linda came home. She said Emondson County Schools had closed and Brent was staying home to take care of Julie so she came on home early. We showered and left for the concert a little before 3:30 PM, picked up Jason and headed towards Glasgow. We had scheduled extra time due to the weather forecast of possibly a winter storm and to also eat before the concert at 7 PM. It was raining for the ride to Glasgow and when we stopped at Mancino's to eat, we were almost the only people in the restaurant. Stacey and Jason split a pepperoni pizza and Linda and I split a steak grinder. A grinder is a long sandwich that has been baked in the pizza oven and Mancino's is one of our favorite places to eat. We dinked around a little while, then drove to the Courthouse Square in Glasgow and parked. We walked about a half block to the Plaza Theatre.
 
We waited about 2 minutes for the doors to open, then we were let in the lobby and waited a few minutes longer while the band was eating they said. Soon, we were let into the seating area and shown to our seats. Jason remarked that the seats were good seats and then Stacey, Jason and I went back to the lobby and purchased a couple of shirts for them. A few minutes after 7 PM, the house lights went down and a few announcements were made, then they announced Tracy Lawrence and he came out and began his concert.
  
  
The music was loud and the crowd was loud too. The audience responded well to Tracy after each song. Tracy said they were filming for a live DVD to be released later. He played song after song without stopping to talk. He did stop a few times to say a few things, but his concert was music and more music. He sang almost all of his hits, which were more than I had thought he had. I'd forgot about some of them. He had the place roaring with applause and finally said good night.
 
Everyone stood and yelled loudly until he came back for a encore. I took Stacey and Jason down to the stage for the encore and let them be up real close for the final 3 songs. Then the concert was over as we left the building and it was snowing. Tracy had sang for over 2 hours almost non-stop. The truck windows were ice covered and the streets were really slick. I used the 4 wheel drive all the way home as we listened to the Cumberland County Girls team lose their game at Diddle Arena in Bowling Green. It took about a hour before we dropped Jason off at his Grandmother's house. She met him at the door and we went on home.

Stacey's Checkup

Linda left to baby sit for Julie around 6 AM. Stacey and I left for Bowling Green around 7:30 AM for her appointment with Dr Zhu. I drove directly to the Graves-Gilbert Clinic and parked in their lot. We went inside and the place was packed with people. We had to wait to use the elevator and also in line to register our visit. Once we were signed in, we went to Dr Zhu's office and were almost immediately called into the examination room. Dr Zhu came in and looked Stacey over and read her chart, then read the paper I had written with the problems Stacey had experienced since our last visit to his office. We talked about a few things to do when Stacey had her next problem and then he sent us to the lab downstairs for Stacey to have blood drawn. We made another appointment for a 6 months checkup, then took the elevator down and went to the lab. The lab was packed, no seats in the normal places, we had to move down to the x-ray section and listen carefully for Stacey to be called. After about a half hour, she was called, they drew her blood and we were ready to leave. We drove to PB&J's house to visit with Linda and Julie. Julie was just waking up as we arrived and we watched and played with her until it was time for her to eat. After we left there we drove to Edmonson and checked out where Brent works. Stacey and I walked in and Brent was in a conversation with Mr Waddell and Lamar. He introduced us and then we listened as they finished their conversation. Brent showed us around the server room and some stuff he was doing with Lamar. After a short discussion of which PC screen was larger, Stacey and I left for home. We stopped at Wendy's for some sandwiches to eat on the ride back to the farm. When we arrived at the farm, there was a message to call Dr Zhu's office. I did and they wanted to know the amount of medicine Stacey was taking. They said they would call back shortly after speaking to the doctor. A little bit later, they called and wanted us to reduce the medicine slightly. After picking up the mail and resting for a little while, Stacey and I drove up on the ridge to see what Steve was up to. We met Nancy about half way and she said he was working on the tractor. I pulled the truck in his barn lot and Stacey listened to the radio in the truck while I went inside. I helped Steve and Steve take the starter off his tractor so he could possibly have it rebuilt. It took about a half hour and then Stacey and I went back home.

Fuel Delivered

I guess I had been hearing for a while that as the oil refineries started switching over to summer blends the price of fuel would go up even higher, so this morning I called and asked them to fill up my gas tank and diesel fuel tank. They agreed, but didn't know how soon it would be done. That's fine, I told them and hung up the phone. Stacey, Linda and I went to lunch in Columbia in the Mustang and as we were driving into the driveway at home, I noticed the fuel truck was done delivering our fuel. I backed down the driveway and told him to hang on, I would get the check book and pay the bill. I parked the Mustang and grabbed the check book and went down to pay. The driver handed me a bill and it was four hundred and some odd dollars and I thought, that's not that bad. I started to write the check, but the driver said, "That's not the total." and handed me another bill. OH MY GOSH, did I pay! The total was $1,007.47 for filling both tanks and neither tank was all the way empty. One hundred and fifty gallons of gas @ $3.09 per gallon and one hundred and seventy nine gallons of diesel fuel @ $3.04 a gallon. The driver said, he didn't know what people were going to do with prices like they were, he was apologizing. I laughed and said that I would try to make this last longer this time. He laughed and said he guessed everyone would. We talked a little while about the gas prices and he seemed more upset than me. I guess he's been hearing it from everyone he delivered to about the price.

Extra Nice Weekend

Linda and Stacey came home late Friday night after two days at PB&Js doing who know's what. Saturday started out a little cloudy, but quickly cleared up and warmed up nicely. I put together a new set of tool boxes that I had picked up in Glasgow at Sears. Then Linda wanted to clean up a pile of wood that I had stacked down where the old house used to be. I left it there to burn in the fire pit but over the winter, several of the pieces had rotted. We started a fire with the cardboard boxes the tool boxes were packed in and used twigs and leaves that Linda and Stacey raked up to start the larger pieces of wood burning. There were a few pieces of fence that was around Regina's ostriches that needed burnt too. After most of those were burnt, I started the tractor a scraped the rotten wood up in a pile, then scooped it up and dumped it in the creek. It floated away. I used the scoop to dig up a stump from where an apple tree had broke off nearly a year ago. Lastly, I picked up a large log with the back hoe and Linda helped by dumping it in the creek. We took Daisy to the barn and Stacey went inside as Nancy and Steve Riddle stopped. Linda brought us out a can of pop each and we went back down to the fire pit and set around talking about what they had done out at their farm and what we had been doing. We were wishing we had marshmallows and hot dogs to roast on the fire, but we were out of luck on those. Nancy and Steve left around 8 PM and we went inside.
Sunday, Linda woke up with a sore throat and her sinus were draining and giving her a headache, so Stacey and I took Daisy for a run in the morning. The temperature was warm enough that I was working outside with just a t-shirt. I did a little bush hogging back in the holler while the weeds are dead and I can see what I'm cutting. I also helped Steve make a list of what he needs to build a shed on the side of an old building out at his place. Stacey and I watched the NASCAR race afterwards.

1/2" of Snow Flurries

We received about a half inch of snow overnight. I stepped out our front door and took the picture above. The weather men had forecast snow flurries for our part of KY. Oh, to have a job where I only had to be right less than half the time.
Na, I don't want a job, even one like that!

Helping A Neighbor and Cumberland Girls Basketball

After lunch in town, Linda went to work at the after school day care and Stacey and I were at home. Our neighbor, Steve called and was heading up on Jone's Ridge to his farm. He had trouble getting his tractor started the night before, so I told him Stacey and I would ride up there and see if he needed help. We drove the pickup truck and when we arrived, Steve couldn't start the tractor. I checked the battery charger and it wasn't charging the battery. We wiggled the battery terminal and it began charging but the tractor still wouldn't start. We used his Mule and our snatch strap to pull the tractor out of the pole barn. Steve pulled his truck up to the side of the tractor and I hooked up the jumper cables then he tried again to start the tractor. No luck with the jumper cables either. After some more examination in the brighter light of outside, we determined the cable connection to the battery terminal was bad. At that point we decided to pull start the tractor. I hooked the snatch strap to the back of his truck and then pulled Steve on the tractor to start it. When it started we unhooked the strap and he used the tractor to move a roll of hay for his cows to eat. Then he parked the tractor back inside the pole barn. We talked a little while about a shed he is wanting to build, then Stacey and I headed back home. After showering and Linda coming home, we all left for a trip to Russell Springs to watch the Cumberland County Girls Basketball team play. They won the game with Clinton County fairly easily. One thing that interested me was that Christen Rowe played. She had broke her finger during a ball game several weeks ago and her injury required pins to keep the bones in place. The pins were still in and it was on her right hand which is her shooting hand. She is such a good player, it was tough watching her play basically one handed and I bet a lot tougher on her doing it. Jason and his family were there, so Stacey was able to visit with him while the game was going on. I was glad to see Tommy feeling better after spending a day or two in the hospital taking IV fluids.

Tractor Work and Visiting Friends

Since the tornado warnings and severe weather about a week ago, there had been driftwood and debris strung across all the hay fields. Friday the fields had dried enough that I could drive the tractor through them without making ruts. I used the scoop on the tractor as a grader blade and pushed most of the debris back to the creek banks. The two fields across from the house took about 4 hours to clean up the mess. Saturday, I drove the Mule through the fields and hand picked the stuff I had missed with the tractor the day before. I let Daisy run around the fields as I was picking up the smaller pieces and putting them in the back of the Mule. Daisy has learned to stay near the Mule or where ever we are working. We don't let her loose near the highway though, she seems clueless when it comes to stopping in front of the Mule and I don't think she would do good with the highway either. Donnie Cox had left a message on our answering machine and told us they were at their place near Byrdstown, so I gave him a call and we told him we would stop and eat and then be over to their place a little after 7 PM. Stacey, Linda and I left in the HHR and after eating we drove to Bonnie and Donnie's cabin near Eagle's Cove. We talked and heard stories about the things going on in IN and we told them about what had been happening down here. We stayed till around 10 PM then said goodbye, and drove home.

Valentine's Day Trip

Stacey and Linda woke up early and began to dress for their trip to Pauline and Brent's house to baby sit for Julie. I showered and dressed for a trip to Louisville to see the National Farm Implement and Machinery Show. We all left the house around 6 AM. I drove down to our neighbor Steve Riddle's house and picked him up for the ride to Burkesville. We arrived at the Bank Of Cumberland and were told to go inside. We went inside and were offered sausage biscuits and something to drink. We waited a few minutes for everyone to arrive as we ate. Shortly, we loaded on the chartered bus and headed to Columbia to another branch bank to pick up more people. We made the short stop in Columbia and there was a second bus with others on board A few minutes later, both buses pulled out and we were headed towards Campbellsville and then on to Louisville. The bank's employees passed out drinks and a small bag of goodies during the trip.

We unloaded at the front of the Lousiville Exposition Center and walked into the building slightly before 10 AM. Since this was the second time Steve and I had went we had a better idea of the layout of all the buildings and we began our tour up and down almost all of the aisles.

The place was crowded but not enough to slow us down most of the time. Steve was interested in looking at cattle gates and I was mostly just looking at everything, but not that interested in buying anything this year. I had came back from the show last year and bought a new tractor from a dealer in Tompkinsville. Of course, there are things I would like to buy if I had an unlimited farm budget. One is pictured below.
  
The piece of equipment in the left picture above hooks to the back of a square hay baler and the bales come out of the baler and go right into the 'Bale Band-It'. The machine then stacks 21 square bales and puts two wire straps around those bales to create one large bale. The large bale is then dumped out into the field to be picked up by another tractor with a front loader or hay spike. It takes all the hand pickup and tossing the bales on a hay wagon out of square baling of hay. It also makes the stacking of the hay done in the barn capable of being done with a tractor similarly equipped. We each picked a long line to stand in to get our choices of lunch and met again to eat, then resumed our tour of some of the attached buildings with more displays. After touring almost every aisle, we returned to the eating area to just sit down slightly after 2 PM. It was the first time we had set down since we got off the bus. We waited until the bus pulled up in front of the entrance where we had been dropped off and then we boarded just before 3 PM. We had a few minutes to wait until everyone was on, then the driver pulled the bus away and we headed back to Columbia. The driver stopped in Columbia and unloaded several guests, then we continued on to Burkesville arriving right at dusk. Steve rode with me to his house and I made it home at 6:15 PM. A long day and a tiring one too. I enjoyed the trip though and appreciate being asked by the Bank of Cumberland to go as their guest.

Freezing Rain and Snow

We had rain yesterday with temperatures near 50 degrees, then after dark the temps dropped into the mid 20s. The rain kept falling and began freezing, then early this morning it changed to snow falling and we woke to about an inch of snow on the ground. The snow was still falling and I talked Linda into taking a ride in the Mule with me to take a few pictures and let Daisy out of her pen.
 
The sun was shining while it was snowing as I looked back at the house on my way to start the Mule. Linda went to the barn stall and let Daisy out. We loaded Daisy in the back and drove down by the creek and I took a few pictures while Daisy romped around in the snow.
 
She was as frisky as a puppy. It might have been the first time she had been in the snow since she was old enough to remember. She kept coming back to the Mule like she wanted to get back in because she didn't know what to think about the snow.
 
The rain water had the creek flowing too quickly for the water to freeze.
 
I loaded Daisy back in the Mule and headed back towards the barn to put her in her stall, but stopped by the edge of the road and took another picture of our house with the light snow on the ground.
 

Breakfast In Town

I'm planning on being out of town Thursday so Stacey will be going to Smith's Grove with Linda to baby sit Julie for Pauline and Brent. That caused Stacey to have to change her plans with Jason to have breakfast this morning instead of Friday morning like they usually do. Stacey had told Jason during their last phone call that we would be coming to eat breakfast so he was expecting us. We parked and went inside and Jason was already sitting at a table. We joined him and Stacey gave him some candy for Valentine's Day. Jason was surprised and even more surprised when we told him Stacey would be out of town till Friday evening. Jason whipped out his cell phone and made a call. We ordered our food and the waitress brought it and we began eating. A few minutes later, his mom pulled up outside. Jason stepped outside and took a Valentine's Bag from his mom and came back inside and gave it to Stacey. Jason and Stacey were both smiling as Stacey pulled out a Happy Valentine's Day Teddy Bear and a Jimmie Johnson heart shaped tin of chocolates.

They giggled about the stuff and immediately started arguing with me about who's my driver this year in the NASCAR series. It went on like that as we finished breakfast and then the waitress came by to check if we needed anything else. She patted Jason on the back and told him he did good. I picked up the tickets and paid while Jason, Stacey and Linda remained at the table giggling about what had happened and making plans to meet at the Cumberland County basketball game Friday evening. We gave Jason a ride to his job at Houchens and then went back home. Linda worked at the day care and Stacey and I took Daisy for a run while she was gone. We also took the log splitter down to Steve's house so he could split his wood. We stacked the rest of the split wood from the hickory tree into the wood shed.

Junk In Fields

Stacey had been feeling good for a week or so, but the weather has been strange. It has rained and Stacey put together another puzzle during the days.
 
The severe weather didn't do much damage to our farm, but the creek being out of the banks left debris all over the fields.
 
Linda and I went across the creek to see what had been dropped in the fields and took Daisy along since she had been in her pen for two days.
 
After the storms the sky was beautiful as the sun was going down.
 

Tornadoes In The Area

Early in the day I went to the wood shed and split some of the wood from the old hickory tree Brent and I cut up over the weekend. Stacey and Linda came down a little bit later and stacked the split wood into ricks inside the wood shed. We finished and went to town and ate lunch, then returned to the farm. Linda worked at the after school day care and when she came home, Stacey and I were ready to go to the basketball game. Cumberland County played Warren East. The CC boys team lost by a lot, but the CC girls team had a tough game. They ended up winning by about 12 points. We left the game and went back to the farm. The weather forecasters had been predicting severe storms would hit our area Tuesday night since Monday morning. I watched the Nashville channels and monitored the National Weather Service Radar as the storms began developing. A storm with a tornado was being tracked across TN and reports were coming in of a 'tornado on the ground'. After about an hour the storm was coming close to Cumberland County, a Tornado Warning was issued and looked like it might hit near our farm. We gathered up candles, a flashlight, and took the laptop and drove the Mule down to the smokehouse about 11 PM. I sat outside the smokehouse and continued to monitor the radar using the wireless laptop. Finally the rain began and we all went down in the cellar and set on our lawn chairs with the candles burning. The rain wasn't that bad, but the wind was fairly loud and seemed strong. I don't believe a tornado was near us though. We stayed in the cellar about 25 minutes and then the weather calmed down. I went back outside and restarted the laptop and could tell from the radar the worst had passed, so we went back to the house. We all stayed in one bedroom and Linda and Stacey slept in their clothes. I monitored the TV and radar until the last of the severe weather missed us about 2:30 AM. Then we all undressed and went to sleep. This morning I took a short ride around the farm and everything had held together. The only problems we had was the creek was out of it's banks and has dropped debris in the hay fields.

Julie Visits

Thursday morning, Linda went to Pauline and Brent's house to pick up Julie. Stacey and I went to Columbia in the 1997 Mustang to have the Ford dealership make a repair. We had ordered a new sway bar for the rear of the Mustang and they put it on in about a half hour and we were back home by a few minutes after 10 AM. Stacey and I went to town for lunch and when we returned to the farm Linda was back along with Julie. We spent the rest of the day and most of Friday playing with Julie and hanging around while Linda babysit her. We did go to town to eat and took Julie for lunch on Friday.
 
Saturday morning Pauline and Brent came over early. They missed Julie and arrived before 8 AM to our surprise. Linda fixed everyone breakfast and we watched them play with Julie. Brent had read about the tree being blown down so he was wanting to work on it. We went outside around 10 AM and hooked the trailer to the back of the Mule, then went and picked up the chainsaws at the hay shed. We pulled down to the edge of the creek and looked at the tree. We both said it was going to be a big job. The hickory tree had limbs that were as big as trees I had cut down for firewood and they were heavier wood. We cut up the pieces and loaded them on the trailer, then hauled them over to the back of the hay shed and dumped them in front of the wood shed. Linda came down with Daisy on a leash and said it was time to go eat lunch, so we unloaded the trailer and pulled the Mule and trailer in the barn. We went into town and ate, then back to the farm and played with Julie a while. Brent and I went to the wood shed and split some of the pieces with the log splitter until dark. We went inside, showered and watched Julie and TV the rest of the evening.
Sunday morning after breakfast, Brent and I worked on the tree until we had most of the limbs out of the way. Linda, Stacey, Pauline and Julie came down to help a little and watch. They brought the car and had Julie setting in the back of the HHR watching us work. The temperature was in the 60s and Brent and I were working in t-shirts The girls helped by picking up the smaller limbs and tossing those in the creek A few of the bigger limbs were in the creek, so I started the tractor and Brent hooked a chain to them and then cut them loose from the tree trunk with the chainsaw and I lifted them with the tractor and carried them to the bank and set them down there. After we had cut everything off of the trunk that was small enough my 20" chainsaw would cut, I used the tractor and pushed the trunk of the tree off the bank and into the middle of the creek. I scraped most of the remaining debris into the creek for it to wash away. We quit, put the tractor, trailer and Mule away and went inside as it was starting to become cloudy. Linda fixed a good dinner and we ate and played with Julie for a while. PB&J headed home around 4 PM. Stacey and I watched the Super Bowl while Linda went to Regina's house to visit.

Tornado Warning

There had been a light rain falling in the morning and several times during the day it had become heavier. The water was flowing off the hill and the creek had begun to get a little muddy, but not rising much by dark. The Nashville TV channels had been predicting thunderstorms for the evening hours, so we were aware there might be a few storms. About 6 PM the news broke into the normal broadcasts and stated there had been a tornado in far western KY and that our portion of the state was under a thunderstorm watch. Pretty soon the weather radio warning sounded and I checked the message. Thunderstorm warning for our area. About 7 PM, another alarm sounded from the weather radio and it was a tornado watch for Cumberland County. I used the laptop and checked the National Weather Service radar and it was showing a thin line of storms reaching from the middle of IN through KY and into TN. I messaged with Brent and told him to be ready for storms in the area. Julie and him were home alone and they weren't worried he said. The line passed them and his power went out for a few minutes, but he said the storms only lasted about 8-10 minutes and were mostly wind. A few minutes before 8 PM, the weather radio sounded a tornado warning for Cumberland County. I checked the radar again and the warning area was directly over the farm. Our neighbor, Steve Riddle, called and said the scanner was reporting it was heading right for our part of the county and he asked us to come down to their house and set in their basement with them. Linda and I decided to take him up on his offer, so we picked up Stacey's medication, a flashlight, Missy and all three of us went to their house to ride out the storm. We went inside and Nancy and Steve were listening to their scanner and weather radio. The police were saying it was coming close to our place, so we went to the basement and waited and watched out their basement door. The wind blew fairly hard with the rain going nearly sideways for about 20 minutes and then it was over. We talked a little while longer until the rain slowed down a little, then thanked Nancy and Steve and headed back to our house. The lights flickered a few more times during the evening, but that was about it. This morning I noticed we had a real old big tree blown down last night. It was a hickory nut tree that I can remember being there since I was a kid and I had played in the shade under it.
 
I also noticed that it had rained enough that the creek had been out of the banks and into the hay field. So, while it was only a 20 minute storm, it created several hours of work for me to clean up the hay fields and cut up the downed tree.
"If it ain't one thing, it's two!"

Basketball and More Basketball

This week we have be attending the Cumberland County (CC) basketball games in the District 4 All 'A' Tourney. Teams from several schools have all been playing in Burkesville at the high school. We've went Wednesday and watched the CC Lady Panthers win their semi-final game. Then Stacey and I went Thursday evening and watched the CC Panthers lose their semi-final game. Friday night there wasn't an empty seat in the building, with 4 different schools being involved in the championship games for both girls and boys. Jason and Stacey sat by each other for all the games. I made plans with Stacey and Jason for me to pick him up Saturday at 2 PM and take him to our house to watch a NBA game with Stacey.The girls' game was first on the schedule. We watched the CC Lady Panthers win the championship game by nearly 20 points. The home town crowd was going crazy during the game and immediately after the game the girls cut down the nets and had their pictures made with the trophy. We watched the first quarter and half of the second quarter of the boys game before we left. Russleville was defeated by Metcalf County in the boys final.
Saturday, Jason's favorite team is the Miami Heat and of course Stacey's is the Pacers. They played today at 2:30 PM. I picked Jason up and Stacey was at our house waiting with the TV on and ready to watch the game. They watched the first half of the game while Linda fixed a couple home made pizzas. Stacey was having a good time as the Pacers were beating the Heat. Jason wasn't as happy as Stacey.
  
We all ate pizza as the game was going on. After the first half and we were done eating, we went upstairs and watched the second half on the big screen TV. Miami started making a comeback and Jason started to show some excitement as they got closer to the Pacers. Stacey started getting quiet as the Heat took the lead. And at the end of the 3rd quarter, the game was tied. Both were pushing and lightly slapping each other on the arms and shoudlers. The Heat pulled away, but the Pacers caught back up. It was a close game with Miami winning in the final seconds by 2 points. Jason didn't rub it in and Stacey took it fairly well. Jason asked if we could shoot a game of pool after the ball game was over. We did, then it seemed like he was ready to go home, so Linda and Stacey took him home. I think they had fun watching their favorite teams play each other.

Cold Spell Breaks

It's been fairly cold the last few days in KY. The temperatures have been in the single digits at night. My neighbor told me his digital thermometer registered eight degrees Saturday night. Stacey has been having problems, but has straightened up the last couple of days. We have been staying inside burning wood in the stove and working puzzles.
 
Today the temperatures were in the lower 40s, so I went outside to take Daisy and let her run around a little while. On the way out to start the Mule, I noticed something moving in the fields across the creek. I went back inside and picked up the camera and then drove the Mule down closer to the highway and walked across the road until I was spotted by three deer eating winter wheat in my neighbors field.
  
They were romping and playing, running and jumping like kids on a playground while cars were driving by every few minutes. They appeared to be unaffected by the cars or me until I started moving in closer. It seemed like I crossed the line as to what they thought was safe and they ran across the field a little further from me and watched me as they ate. I moved to the side a little and the three deer didn't like the way I was going, so they high tailed it off in the opposite direction leaping over a small gully as they went. It looked like the first deer jumped eight feet in the air to get across the gully, but the last two just sort of stretched out their strides and then the white tail from where they get their names was shown to me.
 
They ended up running up by our house and into the woods behind. I returned to the Mule and drove to the barn, let Daisy out of her stall and drove down to the creek to let her run around a little while. She played around the creek bank but was a little scared of the ice on top of some of the creek water.

  
  
The creek really looks frozen solid in those last two pictures, but it's not. There is just a slight film of frozen water on top as shown by the last picture below.
 
It felt good to get out of the house a little and I know Daisy enjoyed the freedom too. We went to Columbia to eat lunch and picked up groceries while we were there.

Twitches Continue

Saturday morning began early with Linda saying that Stacey was having trouble again. I went in the bedroom at 4:45 AM and observed Stacey for a few minutes and asked her some questions. She could only respond with "What?". Her shoulders were moving involuntary, so we decided to give her 10mg Valium and wait a few minutes. She didn't respond much and about 25 minutes later we gave her another 5mg of Diazapham. Linda and I continued watching Stacey and she began to get back to a normal response to questions. She was tired and irritable from taking the medication. We moved from the bedroom to the living room and watched TV while also watching her condition. While Linda was fixing breakfast, I was keeping an eye on Stacey. She continued to improve and we ate breakfast. Stacey slept as she watched TV and Linda and I took turns watching. We ate lunch a little later than normal and Stacey was feeling better, so we decided to take a ride to Marrowbone and look around at the new consignment shop called the "Yellow Ribbon Trading Post". We walked around in there and were surprised by how nice the items were and clean the shop was being kept. The items looked more like new or lightly used than what we had expected. It is one of the nicest consignment shops I've been inside. The owner, Lisa, was originally from NY and is really nice to talk with about any subject. She said she has many people that bring items to her shop. Many of the items are crafts made around this area. I told her that Linda will be back and I might stop once in a while too.

The Last Two Days

Thursday morning Linda left for PB&J's house to babysit. Stacey fixed us pop tarts for breakfast and then she went to exercise in the study. I was in there surfing the net while she was on the elliptical exerciser. After she finished, she went to her room and I went into the bedroom to get dressed. I heard a light thud and yelled at Stacey to see if she was OK. No answer so I immediately went in to see what was going on. I found her sitting on the couch and beginning to have involuntary movements in her arms and facial muscles. I grabbed the bottle of Valium and gave her a 10mg at 10:05 AM and then set down to see how she did with that. I waited another 20 minutes and decided to give her another 5mg Valium Stacey began to show signs of being under control, so I called Linda at PB&J's house. She said she would be home as soon as Brent could leave work at school and get there to take care of Julie. Linda made the trip home and came in a little before noon. Stacey was laying in the bed with me beside her with my arm over her so I could tell if she had any more problems. Linda took over watching her for a little bit, while I took out the trash and fed Daisy. We continued watching Stacey the rest of the day. She was groggy from the Valium but no other seizure activity occurred
Friday morning Linda said Stacey was having problems again, so she laid down beside me and I once again placed my arm over her until I had noticed a couple of involuntary movements. We decided to give Stacey a 5mg Valium and see how she did. Her movements weren't as pronounced as they had been the day before. A few more occurred and then they stopped. She watched TV until time for lunch and wanted to go to Burger King for lunch, so we checked her out by seeing if she could dress herself. She did and was walking OK, so we went. She ate and seemed like she was back to normal after eating. After lunch, we decided to drive to the Dale Hollow Lake State Park and take a look at the new docks they are building in the cove. It is a monster set of boat docks, supposedly, enough room for 300 boats. It looks bigger. They are constructing a new dock store that is floating where the old docks were located, but I expect it to be moved out of that location and placed near the entrance to the cove for easy gas fill ups. There are docks being assembled in the parking lot and then carried by big fork lifts to the water, floated out and bolted together. If you've ever been to Jamestown dock on Lake Cumberland, the same company built and owns both. They resemble each other with maybe a different colored roof. It has been said, they are building a new ramp that will go straight out into the lake from the road. It is supposed to be only two lanes wide and this sucks IMO. The current ramp is about 5 lanes wide. This is the dock area we always used. It was free and excellent access to parking and the lake. I think parking will be a big problem now. We returned to the house and continued to keep an eye on Stacey. Jason sent her a bouquet of flowers and then called a little after 7 PM to see how she was doing. We missed having breakfast with him this morning and had called and told him Stacey was experiencing some problems. These problems occurred slightly off of Stacey's normal menstrual schedule and were not as bad as some have been. She's always surprising us. Just when we think we have a regular pattern figured out, she up and throws us a curve ball that we didn't expect. At least we are keeping her out of the hospital most of the time by giving the Valium as soon as we notice any signs of a problem. That in itself is a relief, because it is better on us to watch her at home than to set in the hospital all night.

Thursday Thunder

Linda left for PB&Js house early this morning. Stacey and I had breakfast after that and then I took the Mule for a ride. I let Daisy run along as it began raining. It was a light rain so I let her take her time without being in a hurry. With the leaves being off the trees Daisy can run around the hills and I can still keep track of her.
 
That light spot in the center of the picture is Daisy about half way up the side of the hill going back into the 'holler'. She can run along the side of the hills nearly as fast as I can drive the Mule on flat ground. We went on back and turned around. As we were coming back down a long stretch of solid rock, Daisy sniffed all over a few old logs lying by the bottom of the hill.
  
I watched her go all around it, get half way buried trying to find something down in the dead wood. Finally, I called Daisy off the pile of wood and we went on out of the 'holler' and started back across the hay fields. The rain had let up a little and I stopped and took a picture of the farm from the edge of the hillside.
 
I put Daisy back in the barn and fed her, then Stacey and I walked down and started the pickup truck. I drove out of the hay shed and over to the old smoke house. I loaded in a chipper shredder and took it to the ATV shop for them to get it running and maybe sell it. We bought it and used it a couple of times in 2003 and it has set covered up ever since. We ate while we were in town and then stopped for a few groceries on our way back to the farm. Around 3 PM the weather radio went off with a tornado watch for most of KY. About a hour later, there was a thunderstorm that hit our area. It was a downpour with thunder and lightning mixed in for good measure. The storm lasted about 45 minutes and then the sky cleared and we enjoyed a beautiful sunset.
  
There was only about 7-8 minutes time between those pictures. It's amazing how much the sky can change in that amount of time.

Wood Cutting and Splitting

Several days ago, I wrote about having trouble with the motor on my log splitter. Stacey went with me and I took the splitter in to the ATV shop. They looked at it and told me the motor needed work on it. I opted for a new Briggs and Stratton motor from Northern Tool. It was delivered and they installed the new engine. I went and picked it up and paid, then brought it home and unloaded the splitter. After splitting several pieces I decided it worked great and I was ready to split wood again. Steve Riddle and I had been talking about cutting some oak up on his place on Jone's Ridge, so we made plans for this morning. It was misting rain, but we decided to go ahead and meet at his farm at 10 AM. I loaded in my chainsaws and equipment to keep them running and headed up there in the pickup truck. Steve unlocked the gate and I followed him to the spot where he wanted to cut the trees. He pointed out the tree for me to cut and I started my saw and down it came, almost. Of course, the tree fell against another tree and didn't completely fall to the ground. We used a chain and my 4-wheel drive pickup to pull the tree the rest of the way to the ground. It took about 20 minutes to do that. Steve used his saw to trim the smaller limbs off the trunk and branches while I cut the larger part of the trunk. We worked, took a break, worked, tightened our chains, worked, sharpened my chain, and worked some more. We picked up the pieces and threw them in our truck beds. We divided the wood evenly without worrying about being exact. We took a break and drank a coke, then pulled over to another tree trunk Steve had already cut down. The pieces had been too big for him to use without splitting, so we cut those up and loaded them in our trucks. I headed to the hay shed while Steve fed his cattle and closed up the gates. I pulled the log splitter to the inside of the hay shed and had it ready to go when Steve pulled inside the sliding door. Nancy had finished working at the bank and came along to help. I started the splitter and showed Steve how to run it, then I rolled the bigger pieces off his truck and over to the splitter. Steve set in a chair and ran the splitter while Nancy picked up the split pieces and put them back in the truck. We finished the pieces Steve thought needed splitting and Nancy went on back home. Steve stayed a few minutes and helped me put the splitter back in the wood shed. It was 3 PM when we finished and I went inside.

Relaxing At The Farm

We've kept the wood stove going for two days and the dogs are liking it. They have both settled down and are getting used to being here. The first few days they were a little nervous about where Pauline and Brent were at, but once they figured out we were going to feed them and keep them warm, they were OK.
  
Linda will be taking Pico and Poco home tomorrow when she goes to babysit for Julie.

New Year's Day Snow Flurries

New Year's Day, the temperature started out around 39 degrees and dropped quickly as the wind began to blow out of the north and the skies clouded over. I ventured outside early to take Daisy for a short run across the hay fields, but I didn't let her run through the creek. I figured it would be too cold later in the day for her to get wet. About 3 PM the snow flurries began to fly.
 
There wasn't any accumulation because the ground wasn't frozen and there wasn't enough snow either. We stayed inside and burnt wood in the stove while watching football on TV. Linda watched the DVR and made a blackberry cobbler in her new toaster oven. It turned out fairly well. The flurries seemed to reach their peak a little later as caught by the web cam in the picture below.

We received a message from Brent saying that they had made it to IN and back without any problems.

Welcome To Winter (officially)

Winter arrived last night a little past midnight in the Central Time Zone. This morning it is 46 degrees and there is a little fog in the air. The forecast is for the temperature to go up to 60 degrees today. The average temperatures are 52 degrees for a high and 24 degrees for a low. Those are still a few days away for us. I'm glad this is the shortest day of the year and it will begin getting longer in the Northern Hemisphere. There are only 9 hours and 39 minutes of daylight today. It will be tough to get all that shopping done during the daylight hours.

Neighbors Killing Hogs

Last Tuesday Steve Garmon stopped and asked if I could use my tractor to dig a pit for him at his dad's farm. He had done me a favor by cutting off a well casing a few days back, so I said I would. I went down and dug the pit where they needed it. Phil and Steve said they were going to use it when they killed hogs.
This morning, I went out and put Daisy in the Mule and was headed down the driveway planning on crossing the creek and letting her run. I looked up the road to see if any cars were coming and noticed that they were working out where I had dug the pit. I headed up there and there were several guys working. I'll just describe the process in order and put in a few pictures so you can see how it works. They have a large tub of water over the pit I dug with wood burning under the tank to get the water boiling. The hogs are kept in a horse trailer close by and separated one at a time. Someone shoots the hog in the head, then while it's knocked down another person steps in and cuts the jugular vein in the hog's neck. It bleeds to death. The hog is picked up using a hoist on the back of the tractor, then the tractor is backed to the edge of the scalding tank and the hog lowered into the hot water. Guys use hoes and sticks to turn the hog over as it is scalded to aid in the removal of the hair.
  
A wire cradle made of fence wire is used to lift the hog out of the pit and it is laid on wood skids by the side. The guys use very sharp knives to shave the hair off of the entire hog. This seems to be the most tedious part of the process. After the hair has been removed, the hog is hung from the tractor again and one person cuts off the head with a bow saw and someone else splits it's belly and rib cage and lets the insides drop into a tub. The smaller boy is keeping a fire going under the kettle used to render the lard.
  
After the hair has been removed and the hog split open the carcass is cut into the various pieces of meat. Rear legs are hams, pork ribs, tenderloins, and the scrap pieces are placed in buckets for making pork sausage later on. The guys are planning on killing 7 hogs. I can remember a little bit of this process from when I was a kid living with my Grandma and Grandpa. Grandpa raised pigs and would sell most of them for what was called feeder pigs, but he always kept a few hogs to butcher, probably a lot like this was done. Linda and I both worked in meat packing plants and have seen this process automated to the point of killing 1,500 hogs and 300 cattle per day, so this wasn't a big deal for me to watch. After a while, I told them to be careful and not get cut and I took Daisy for a run down at the other farm.
 
She ran a squirrel up a tree and stood and barked at it for 5 minutes. I had to call her off of it and drive away in the Mule before she would leave it alone.

More Popcorn

I woke Linda and Stacey up early and fixed breakfast before we left for the Elementary School. We walked in a few minutes after 8 AM and began popping popcorn. Henry Holly was there and was helping also. We kept the popper running constantly until we had popped enough to fill about 450 bags. It was about 10:45, so we swept up and turned everything off and left the building. I drove the HHR to Albany and we stopped at McWhorter's Store so Linda could buy some items for embroidering. After that stop we went to a place we hadn't been before. It was a plant nursery that sold hardware and all sorts of odd items. Pedal cars, electric lights and appliances, furniture, and shoes to name a few. We looked through their shop and then went to lunch while we were in Albany. I drove us back to the farm and Linda and Stacey went inside. I went to the wood shed and messed with the log splitter. After a short time, I went back to the house and Linda went to work at the after school day care. Stacey and I went to the hay shed and I jump started the Ford tractor and let it run a little to charge the battery. We picked up Daisy and let her run through the hay fields down at the other place, then brought her back and put her in her stall and gave her food. We went inside and after a little while Linda came back home. She is getting ready to go to the Homemaker's Party tomorrow evening by making a dessert.

Passing Out Presents

Friday, Linda came home around 9:30 AM. She had Julie with her and said Pauline and Brent were going to come over on Saturday morning. Hmm, this was the first time that Julie had stayed all night with us with out Pauline and Brent being here. The day went fairly well. We took Julie with us when we went out for lunch and played with her the rest of the evening. Julie had fun playing in a thing called a "Jumperoo". She ate and took her bottle, then went to bed and got back up, then back to bed for the night.
Saturday morning, Julie had Linda and Stacey up early when I went in and made coffee. We fed Julie and were talking about that we should have her screaming when P&B showed up, but we didn't know when they would come. We didn't have long to wait, they walked in right about 8 AM and both of them began playing with Julie immediately. I think they seemed surprised she was OK. Not really, but it looked like they had missed her the way they were both playing with Julie at the same time. Linda and I laughed and joked with them about it. After the initial rush had subsided, we talked for a little while. Brent and I took a ride around the farms in the Mule while Linda made hamburgers for lunch. After we ate lunch and I had sat down for a minute, Linda said we were all going to the Elementary School to help pass out presents. The 5 adults and Julie loaded in our truck and I drove to the school. There were several people already there but they seemed glad to see backup arrive. Miss Margena, Miss Sherry, Miss Priscilla, Mr Rodney, Miss Lorrie, and Miss Jane had been working to separate the gifts and get them ready to pass out. The gifts had been bought by a Christian Church in Louisville for kids that had been selected by the local teachers. The 450 selected kids were ones that the teachers thought their families would need help at Christmas. Most kids had 3 presents each, all provided for free by the church and other groups. Family Resource Youth Services Center (FRYSC) was the school agency that was taking care of passing out the presents. Stacey sat at the table by the door and passed out candy canes and a couple other small items as the adults were required to sign papers stating they had received the gifts. Linda, Brent, Pauline and I were runners taking presents from the back hallways to the table. Three times a couple of the FRYSC workers left to deliver gifts to homes that couldn't pick the items up. We started at noon and quit around 3:30 PM. I backed my pickup truck to the door and we filled the bed with presents that hadn't been picked up. I pulled it about 100 yards to the FRYSC Office and we unloaded the packages and set them in the building. I was carrying a load of packages and missed a step and fell down, tearing my blue jeans and hurting my pride as well as my knee. No real damage, just skinned it up. After unloading all the presents we left for home and fixed home made pizzas for supper while playing with Julie and enjoying the evening setting around the fire in the wood stove.

Lumberjacking

Linda left for Pauline and Brent's house to babysit Julie, so Stacey and I had breakfast and went outside. We loaded the chainsaws in the back of the Mule and headed across the creek with the trailer hooked to the back. Daisy was in the back of the Mule too. We turned Daisy loose and let her run along as we drove to the tree I had cut down. I pulled the trailer as close as I could get to the trunk of the tree. I told Stacey to keep an eye on Daisy while I cut some more pieces off of the tree trunk. After cutting those, I took a break and called Daisy back to the area. She seemed a little bit afraid of the chainsaws even when they weren't running. I loaded the pieces onto the trailer and put Daisy in the back, but she freaked and jumped back out. Daisy would not get in the back with those chainsaws setting in the bed. I had to put the leash on her and put her in the cab between Stacey and me. We rode back to the barn, fed Daisy and put her in her stall. Then we drove to the wood shed and I backed the trailer up to the shed. I started the wood splitter and split one piece of the tree trunk and the splitter quit running. It was like it had locked up. I couldn't pull the cord and turn the motor over. I was HOT!. We left and went to town and ate, then stopped at the ATV shop and talked a while. When we returned to the farm, I went back and tried to start the log splitter again. It started and ran. I shut it off, added some oil, just a dab really and restarted the motor. It ran for at least an hour while I split all the pieces on the trailer and Stacey stacked it. We quit for the day as it was getting dark. We took Missy and went to Sonic for supper.

Big Game

Linda had been asked to work for FRYSC in town, so she left early for that job. Stacey went with me in the Mule across the creek. I had picked out a tree to cut down for firewood and we took the chainsaws along. I drove the Mule up close to the tree and unloaded the saw, then had Stacey back away far enough the tree could not hit her in the Mule. I notched the tree and knocked out the triangle shaped piece, then cut the tree from the opposite side just above the notch. It fell with a giant thud just about where I had wanted it to fall. I was lucky that time. I sawed off several pieces of the trunk and then needed a break. I restarted the saw and cut a few more pieces and then we quit. I drove the Mule back across the creek, to the hay shed and unloaded the saws. It was probably a record temperature for the day as it was nearly 76 degrees on the back porch thermometer when Stacey and I went inside. I took a shower and dressed to go to the ball game later on. We drove to the after school day care and found Linda working with the kids. She had been wrapping Christmas presents from the Angel Tree organization in town. Stacey and I went on and ate and drank a malt at the Tastee Freeze. We went to the school and went inside to watch the basket ball game. Cumberland County was playing Clinton County. I guess it's a big rivalry so the gym was packed on both sides. Jason came in right before the game started and Stacey had saved him a seat next to her. The Cumberland girls had a fairly easy first game and beat Clinton County's girls by about 20 points or more. I walked across the gym at a break in the action and talked to Guy and Tony Boils from Clinton County. They're the contractors that built our home. The boys game was hotly contested the entire game with Clinton taking a 9 point lead in the first half to be trimmed down to 2 points at half time. In the second half, Cumberland's boys fought back and took a lead, then lost it, then took another lead of about 6 points with about 2 minutes to go in the game. Clinton County's coach started taking the players in and out, using one group to foul and another group to try to score, but Cumberland's boys were able to hit enough free throws to win the game by about 8 points. Of course, there were different times during the game when each coach was jumping up and down and hollering at the referees. I guess it isn't a close game if that doesn't happen. With the home team winning both games, most of the crowd went away happy.

Chainsaws and Grease

We've started burning our wood stove and have hauled some wood from the wood shed to the back porch during the dry weather. Since it was raining most of the day, I went to the hay shed and worked on the chainsaws. I sharpened the chains, tightened them and then filled them with fuel and started all three chainsaws. I had run out of grease for the sprocket on the ends of the bars, so I decided to fill up the small grease gun for the chainsaws with grease from the air powered grease gun. After getting grease all over me, I had it filled and tried it out. Success, it worked. While I had the air powered grease gun hooked up, I greased the backhoe, front loader and tractor fittings that I could find easily. Linda and Stacey were getting Christmas decorations from the little house and hauling them to the back porch of the house. Then taking them inside and setting them in various places.

Tree, Pump and Well Casing Removed

It was warmer today and no wind so I decided to take the tractor back down to the other hay fields and dig out the tree I had left standing by the well casing and pump.

I had talked to Steve Garmon and he said he would bring his cutting torches and cut off the casing for me. I used the backhoe and dug out the tree and pushed it to the side, then dug around the well casing and piled up the dirt on both sides. I scooped out the dirt till I was about 4 feet deep on both sides of the casing. I used the hoe to push the dirt from the back side of the casing and scooped it out and finished cleaning out the hole. I drove the tractor back to the hay shed and drove the pickup to the house. Stacey, Linda and I went to town and ate, then I stopped at the ATV & Feed Store to see if Steve could go cut the well casing off. He said he could, so I pulled the truck around back and we loaded in the acetylene and oxygen tanks. Steve road with us out to the field, lit the torch and cut the well casing and the pipe inside apart. It probably took about 5 minutes using the cutting torch. We all loaded back in the truck and we took Steve back to the shop. I tried to pay him, but he didn't want any money. He asked if I would dig a small hole for him next week. I said I would. Stacey, Linda and I went back to the farm. Linda went to work at the day care. I took the tractor back down to the hay field and placed a flat rock over the cut off pipe. This should keep the dirt from falling into the well casing and causing a sink hole. Then I slowly drug the dirt into the hole with the back hoe and finally filled it the rest of the way with the scoop.

Jackson Stays the Day

Sunday evening one of our neighbors called and needed a baby sitter for Monday. It was Stephanie McClain and she was looking for someone to take care of her son Jackson. She had talked to Linda about being a backup sitter a while back, so Linda accepted the job. Monday, a few minutes after 7 AM, Stephanie dropped off Jackson and went to work. Jackson is around 2 years old and very well behaved. Linda set up the Brio Train in the living room floor and I played with him for a while.
 
We went outside and rode in the Mule while we let Daisy run around the hay fields. We didn't stay outside long as the wind was blowing and it was cold. Back inside, we played with his little cars that were characters from the Disney movie "Cars" on our coffee table. Later, we took Jackson and went to McDonald's in Columbia and he ate the McNuggets we bought for him. After a stop at Wal-Mart to let him look at toys, we returned to the farm and Linda took Jackson to his mom in Burkesville. His stay with us was over without any problems.

Nice Weather For Tractor Work

After the frost was gone Thursday morning it warmed up to around 60 degrees. The ground was a little damp from recent rains and it was easy to move dirt with the tractor. I went to the other farm and used the tractor to clean up a mess left when my Mom burnt down an old house where they used to live when she was a kid. It had been nearly 8 years since she burnt it and trees had grown up in the spot where it used to stand. I had waited this long to let the nails and roofing rust so I would not get a flat tractor tire. It took about 4 hours to push away all of the debris and uproot the trees and shove them to a spot near the creek bank.
 
I left a couple of trees standing until I can get someone with torches to cut the well casing off after I dig a hole beside it. Digging the hole will take about 5 minutes using the back hoe, but finding someone to come out and cut it off maybe a problem.
This morning, I loaded Daisy into the Mule and we went to see how the area looked and to let her run. I stopped down at the bend in the creek and took a few pictures as Daisy played. It seemed as if she hadn't ever experienced ice in water before. She pawed at it, jumped up and down and acted like a kid during their first snowfall.
 
 
 

Thanksgiving and Friday

Thanksgiving Day Pauline, Brent and Julie came over a little before 10 AM. It was nice to see Julie as it had been a while since I had seen her and she had changed a little bit. Julie seemed more alert to her surroundings and was watching each of us more intently. I also noticed that she knew when we were eating and it seemed she wanted to eat when we did. Linda fixed us a nice dinner and we ate too much as we usually do. The menu was slightly tilted towards what Pauline and Linda liked, so their plates looked the fullest to me. That was ok though, as it left more room for me to enjoy the desserts. After the meal, we acted like we were watching football while the fire in the stove seemed to put us all to sleep at one time or another. We snacked off and on the rest of the evening and went to bed around 10 PM.
   
Friday morning, Stacey had promised Brent that she would make 'french toast' for him, so Linda helped her crank it out for everyone along with sausage patties. A while after breakfast, Brent and I went to the hay shed and jump started the Ford tractor. We pushed the little Ford tractor out of the hay shed and backed the blue Ford tractor in and hooked it up to the back hoe attachment. That took about a half hour to mount the pump, line it up, and get the pins in place. I raised the stiff legs and locked the hoe's arm in place and pulled the tractor out of the shed. We drove over to the other barn and put the small hoe bucket in the front bucket, then returned to the shed. Brent pulled the old Ford tractor with the Mule to get it started and I drove it back inside the shed and parked it. We parked the blue tractor and started inside. Linda met me and we took Daisy for a run. After about 20 minutes we put her back in her pen and went inside. Bonnie and Donny Cox came over and we talked with them as we all ate pieces of pumpkin, chocolate or lemon pie. They stayed a couple of hours and we had some laughs and enjoyed their company. I think that was the first time they had seen Julie. Bonnie and Donny said their daughter Julie was planning on getting married next summer. Donny, Brent and I checked out the 56 Chevy. Donny was impressed with the job Imon had done on the paint and body work. Donny had a meter that we used to test the voltage of the battery and several other places including to the coil, but we were still unable to get the motor to fire up. They left a little before dark and headed back to their cabin near Byrdstown. No one did any shopping either day.

New Dog Pen

Friday I went to the ATV / Feed store and bought 2 sixteen foot long 'cow fence' sections. They are like farm fence but a heavier gauge of wire. They will just about stand on their own. We tied them in the back of the truck and I hauled them home, unloaded them and leaned them against the side of the barn. Saturday, I borrowed a post driver from our neighbor. Sunday after breakfast, Linda and I went out to build the dog pen. Linda located the small bolt cutters and I cut one of the fence sections in half to use a piece for each end of the pen. I drove a couple 't' posts in the ground and wired the end piece to the posts. Linda held the longer piece while I wired it to the corner post and drove another post in the ground to keep the longer section straight. We moved to the other end and drove in the posts and hooked the fence to the posts. Linda brought Daisy out of the barn and we turned her loose in the pen. We left her in there for several hours without her trying to get out. Eventually we moved her back to her stall in the barn. I never attached the longer section to the corner post. The reason was so we could open it up if we need to get inside to mow or do anything later. Today, we cleaned out the barn stall where Daisy will be moved. It is the farthest back in the barn for two reasons. One, I think it will be warmer this winter and two, Daisy can go in and out of a hole in the side of the barn. She will be able to get outside to the pen and then go back inside the barn stall on her own. We went to town for lunch and bought three clips to hold the fence sections together and put them on when we returned to the farm. Total cost for the pen was about $40.
   

It's Over

We had a killing frost, so we're done selling mums. We've received the check for the last 32 we sold, so pretty soon it will be time to divide up the money. I counted the mums left in the field and we had 114 left out of the 1,100 that we planted. That should figure out to a pretty good year considering how little rain we received in August and September. I've taken the bush hog off the tractor and put the grader box on, then leveled a couple loads of dirt in Regina's front yard. I don't think I will use the bush hog until I start trimming the fields next spring. Linda used the mower to mulch up the leaves a few days ago and we had a fire in the fire pit today. It had rained last night and things were still wet, so there wasn't any worry of the fire spreading. It took a while to get it burning though, then when it finally was burning quickly, we had to go inside because it started raining again. The fire burnt itself out after about two hours. Just before dark, a couple of guys from Georgia stopped. They were dressed in complete camouflage outfits and wanted information about hunting on the West Fork place. I told them I didn't know much, but we talked for about a half hour. So, to summarize no more mums, no more bush hogging, no more mowing, just a peaceful time on the farm. I took the picture below on the way to Columbia one morning.

Fall Colors Reaching Peak

We went for a Mule ride this morning with Daisy running along. I'll let the pictures tell the story that the leaves have just about reached their peak color.
  
  
 

Later I took the HHR to the Chevy dealer and setup an appointment to have some fuel injectors replaced under warranty. We went and ate lunch and bought groceries, then returned to the farm. Linda worked at the day care for a few hours and Stacey and I enjoyed the day on the farm. 

Stacey's Birthday

Friday, Stacey's friend, Jason had out patient surgery on his right foot. He had called late that evening, but was still under the influence of the pain medication.
Saturday morning, Linda gave Stacey some things for her birthday and we both spanked her playfully. Linda called Stephanie and asked if Stacey could visit Jason and that was ok, so we were going there after we ate lunch. We stopped in town and picked up a 'get better' card and a 'feel better' balloon for Jason, then ate and went to Tommy and Stephanie's house. Linda and Stacey went inside and I talked to Tommy and Hoy while they were draining the water out of their travel trailers. After they finished, we went inside and I talked to Jason a little while. He was doing fairly well, still taking some meds to ease the pain though. His medication was starting to make him groggy and he needed to take a nap, so we said good bye and left. Back at the farm, Stacey found a delivery from the florist. Jason had sent her flowers for her birthday, but hadn't mentioned it while we were over there. Stacey was excited to get those and called Jason later to thank him for the flowers. I used the tractor to spread out two dump truck loads of dirt in Regina's front yard. I picked up the dirt with the scoop and then spread it with the grader box. It took over an hour to get it leveled out. We took Stacey and went to Columbia and ate a late dinner. Stacey had received a few clothes, several birthday cards, flowers from Jason, went out to eat and her brother called to wish her happy birthday, so she seemed happy about the entire day.

November Begins

Wednesday morning began pretty well, Stacey came in the bedroom and was wrestling with Linda. A few minutes later she was in her room and I heard her say "ohh!". I immediately went in and asked her what was wrong and she was starting involuntary muscle movements. We headed for the pills and to the master bedroom. I gave Stacey her regular morning dose of pills and a 10 mg Valium too. It was 8 AM. Linda and I stayed in the bedroom and took turns laying with Stacey. At 12:30 I gave Stacey another 10 mg Valium as her spasms had returned. Linda sent me to the store right after Stacey calmed down. I came back and around 3:15 Linda gave Stacey another 10 mg valium. Stacey was fairly groggy after that. We moved her to the living room so Linda could answer the door and let the trick or treaters inside. Luckily, we only had a few. Stacey had a few more problems the rest of the evening, but we didn't give any more valium. They went to bed around 10 PM.
I was awake and Linda came in and said she was giving Stacey 10 mg of valium at 4 AM Thursday morning. They went back to sleep and when Stacey got out of bed a little after 7 AM she seemed nearly back to normal. She was still showing effects of all the valium, but no involuntary movements. Linda fixed us a couple sausage biscuits for breakfast and it seemed to get rid of some of the left over effects of the medicine. Slightly after noon, the door bell rang and it was an engineer from the company relocating the highway in front of the house. I let him inside and we talked about the plans for the road and how they would effect our property. He stayed for nearly 3 hours getting his questions answered and answering most of ours. We loaded in the truck and went to Columbia for lunch to get Stacey out of the house and moving around. After returning to the farm, we sold more mums just before dark.

Weekend With Visitors

Pauline, Brent, & Julie came over Friday night with Sabra and Jim following in their own car. Saturday Linda and Pauline fixed breakfast and then we went outside to work on a bunch of tree limbs that were hanging at the edge of one of the hay fields. They had been hanging since June, but Brent and Jim wanted to do some chain sawing, so we took the saws in the Mule and I drove the tractor across the creek. Stacey drove the Mule with Linda holding Julie and Sabra and Pauline rode with the guys on the 4 wheelers. I lifted Brent in the tractor bucket and he cut the vines that were holding up the broken limbs. Jim and Brent cut a few of the small trees that the limbs had knocked down and I pushed the debris to the edge of the creek with the tractor scoop. The job took about 30 minutes and everyone put the stuff back where it was stored and went to mess around. Linda took care of Julie for a while so Pauline could ride with Brent on the 4 wheeler along with Sabra and Jim on another 4 wheeler. Linda has been working on getting Julie to eat baby food from a spoon and I took a picture of them during a messy training session.

Later Linda and I dug several mums for Jim and Sabra to take home with them. We dug some for Pauline to give to her mom too. I mentioned that a couple of people had found Indian arrowheads in the mum patch, so they were all looking to find one.

I actually found a perfect one and Sabra found a slightly broken one. That is the first arrowhead I've ever found, I think it's because I'm usually looking for weeds when I'm in the mum patch.

They road 4 wheelers around the trails and we shot our 22 caliber rifles at cans back in the 'holler'. I had chose that place thinking that it would be safe because there was nothing but hills behind the targets. Boy was I wrong. It was a scary thing that happened next. We had just finished shooting 3 rifles until they were empty, when we heard a 4 wheeler motor and from the direction we had just been shooting came a stranger riding. He said he heard the bullets whistling around back there, but waited until we stopped to come out. He was lost and had rode down the side of the hill on our property and didn't think he could ride back up the hill to get back the way he came. We talked to him a while and found out where he had came from, then I told him how to get back so he rode off. We quit shooting for a while and went inside for a late lunch of chili and sandwiches. Stacey was picked up by Jason and his family to go to a birthday party and then to eat at the Farm House Restaurant. Pauline, Sabra, Jim and Brent went outside again and rode 4 wheelers, shot their guns, played in the creek and messed around until near dark. Stacey was brought home and we talked to Stephanie and Tommy when they dropped her off. They watched a movie Brent brought with them and then played cards until way after Linda and I had went to bed.

Last Big Mum Dig

Monday morning I woke and it was looking cloudy. I checked the radar and listened to the weather report. The radar showed rain on the way and the forecast was for 3 or 4 days of rain. I went and woke Linda and asked Stacey to get dressed. We hopped in the Mule and headed to the mum patch. We dug 30 mums for the Homemakers' party on Thursday. We dug a few extras and some yellow and a few white ones that Regina needed to take to buyers. It began misting rain as we were finishing the digging and potting. We pulled the hay wagon to the house and left it set so the rain would water the potted mums and went inside. After lunch, Linda went to the day care and Stacey and I went to the hay shed and moved things around to make room for the hay wagon. Later, once Linda was home, she and I pulled the hay wagon full of mums to the hay shed and backed it inside.
Tuesday morning I pulled the wagon back out and let the rain continue the watering of the potted mums. We pushed it back in the hay shed about noon. That should be enough water for the mums. We received over 4" of rain in the last two days. We needed it bad as the creek had been dried up. It's good to see the creek water flowing again.

Truck Repair

Saturday morning Linda fixed us breakfast, then we went outside and tried to determine what had happened to Imon's truck. I was sent to town to buy a can of brake fluid and when I returned we filled the brake reservoir. Imon and Brent laid under the truck and I pumped the brake pedal until fluid began squirting out of the rear brake line. The line had rusted where a clip held it in place on the rear end. Luckily, it was a line from the distribution block to the right rear brake cylinder. Imon and Brent removed the line and we went to NAPA and purchased another line. We returned and Imon installed the new line. We filled the reservoir again and pumped the pedal until the fluid had filled the new line. Then Imon bled the brake line at the wheel cylinder fitting and we were done. I started the 56 Chevy and told Brent to follow me to town to change the title from an IN title to a KY title. The car ran good and I pulled into the filling station for gas, put in about 1/2 of a tank and started to leave. The brakes were locked up and the car wouldn't move. We messed with it, then I went in the pickup and bought a brake adjustment tool, and we loosened the brakes with it. Brent had called Imon and he came in and helped. Finally the car would roll, so I drove to he courthouse, but the sheriff wasn't there to examine the VIN and authorize the license branch to issue a KY title. A little more trouble and I drove the car back to the farm. It made it back, but that was it. We pulled the car up the hill with the Mule and put it in the house's garage. We dinked with it a little, then had lunch and went riding on 4 wheelers and in the Mule with Daisy running along. Linda and I took Linda K to the mum patch and dug some mums for her to take to their house in IN. Later in the evening, after supper and dark had set in, the guys worked on the car some more, but we were unable to find the problem. About 8 PM, we called it a night and went in and relaxed. Linda K and Imon, Pauline and Brent, Stacey and Julie, and Linda and I spent the rest of the evening chatting and watching TV.
Sunday morning Linda fixed breakfast and then we went outside. Linda and Linda K stayed inside with Julie and Pauline. Brent, Imon and I went and test drove his pickup, loaded the mums in it and checked the trailer. We had loaded the old Ford 600 tractor that Imon had bought about a year ago. I also let him have a old junk bush hog that he thinks he can weld together enough to use. Linda and Linda K came outside and I dug some flowers for them to take with them to IN and they loaded the rest of their stuff and left a little after 1 PM. Brent, Pauling, Linda and I, took Julie to the hay shed and laid down some hay bales, set pumpkins on them and plopped Julie in the middle. I took a bunch of pictures while Pauline kept Julie's attention.

Julie is 4 months old and doing good. Imon called and said Linda K and he made it home slightly after 8 PM without any troubles.

Light Rain

Linda left home around 5:30 AM for Pauline and Brent's house to babysit for Julie. After breakfast, Stacey and I went to take Daisy on her morning run. I took a camera and Stacey drove the Mule. As she parked in front of the barn, I noticed where we lay pumpkins to sell, that a pumpkin seed from last year's pumpkins had started a vine.
 
I loaded Daisy in the back of the Mule and we went across the creek with a light rain coming down. It didn't bother Daisy, she seems to like the cooler weather. I saw the mist rising from the back of the 'holler' and then we headed along the creek bank with Daisy in the lead. Stacey stopped the Mule so I could take a picture of the many layers of color between us and hillside including the old barn across the creek on Garmon's Farm.
  
We turned at the upper corner of the farm and headed around the backside of the hay fields. I found a couple of spots that our house was visible and took two pictures showing the colors behind it.
  
We went on down the creek and let Daisy continue back in the 'holler' to the old barn. We stopped before we got all the way back there and called Daisy. She came running back to the Mule.

It was raining harder then, so I put Daisy in the back of the Mule and we went back to the barn. We fed her and locked her in the stall. We only received about 1/4" of rain during the entire day.

Tractor Customizing

The last few days I have been bush hogging around the edges of the hay fields and a few rough spots out in the fields. I put the tractor in 3rd gear in low range and it creeps along about 3-4 mph with the bush hog running and the scoop down. I kept the scoop low to push any fallen limbs or debris out of the way. I dropped the left wheels down in a drainage ditch and was cutting the weeds down along the edge of the ditch. I was watching to see the ditch didn't get too deep, that limbs where not going to tear the top off, the scoop wasn't going to hit a tree and the bush hog was high enough to not scalp the ground when I looked up and a vine had lassoed the exhaust stack and had bent it back at a 45 degree angle. I stopped immediately and backed up, but it was too late, the damage was done. It didn't break it off, just bent it back so it looked like the tractor had been streamlined and was ready to race. I finished making a lap around the hay field and put the tractor in the shed. Today we went to Columbia and ate lunch, then I stopped at the Ford Tractor dealer and bought a new exhaust stack. $65 dollars for the piece and we were on our way home. Back at the farm, I put the stack on the tractor and was shocked that it went on fairly easy. I cleaned up a little of the creek bank and then Stacey and I went for a ride on the 4 wheelers. We caught up with Linda in the Mule and Daisy running. It was a really nice day with several of the trees beginning to change colors and showing up brightly against the blue sky.
   
We rode around the hay field and when we usually get to this one little path that Stacey calls the Duke's Road, referring to the "Dukes Of Hazard" TV show, she starts singing the theme song. Daisy, Stacey and Linda were following as I stopped and took their pictures on that path.
  

Comparison Shopping

Stacey and I began the day by going to Grumpy's and eating breakfast with Jason. A quick stop at the bank and back to the farm where we took Daisy for a run around the hay fields and fed her. Daisy had thrown her collar off somewhere while running loose. About 10 AM we backed the HHR out of the garage and went to Wal-Mart in Columbia to buy a new choker chain dog collar. After picking out a collar, on the way out, we stopped and looked at the mums Wal-Mart was selling for $7 each.
 
The trip home was a nice ride as the leaves on the trees are just barely starting to change colors. The road was almost deserted as we drove the 20 miles back to the farm.
  
  
I parked the HHR in the garage and Stacey walked down and picked up the mail. A little later, we went to the mum patch in the Mule and took a few pictures to compare our mums to the ones at Wal-Mart. We are getting near time when we could be hit with the first frost of the season. Last year the first frost was on Oct 13th and in 2005 the first frost was on Oct 31st.
    
After taking the pictures of the mums we rode around the hay fields and drove down the almost dry creek bed to the end of our property. Usually there is water in the creek about 6 inches deep in that area. We rode to the back of the 'holler' behind Regina's house and checked out the job I had done the day before bush hogging. I had knocked down some of the bushes and vines growing on the old barn back.
  
At the end of the day, the hay wagon was empty of mums and will need to be refilled tomorrow morning as we have people wanting more mums.

Digging A Bunch of Mums

We started our day with bowls of cereal and milk. Next, Stacey, Linda, Missy and I drove the Mule to the mum patch and began digging mums about 8 AM. We dug about 10 and potted those to fill the black trailer. I had 12 mums on the trailer from the night before, so that made 22 potted mums. We headed back towards the house, but were stopped on the highway by a woman wanting to buy mums. I turned around and we went back to the patch. She pulled her truck inside the fence and we dug 12 mums and potted them and set them in the back of her truck. She followed us to the barn and Linda sold her a few small pumpkins, corn stalks and a bale of hay for $5. She said she would be back next year and left happy. We pulled the trailer to the house and watered the 22 mums. We took Daisy for a run while the water soaked into the dirt around the mums. After putting Daisy back in the barn, then we set the mums in the back of the pickup truck and hauled them to the elementary school. We unloaded the mums and a few pumpkins for their open house on Thursday. We ate lunch while we were in town and then went back to the farm. Linda wanted to rest a while so we waited till about 1:30 PM to dig more mums. We needed 16 yellow mums for Linda's friend, Brenda. We dug and potted those and took them to the house, watered them and set them in the back of the pickup truck. Then I put the cover on the truck bed so the wind wouldn't blow the blooms off when Linda drove to Smith's Grove Thursday morning. We dug a few more mums for the hay wagon and called it a day. Total dug = 65. We showered and went to Columbia and ate supper, then drove home just after dark. It had been a beautiful day to dig mums with a nice breeze and cooler temperatures in the mid 70s.

More Hot Weather

The last couple of days have set records here in KY. It was 91 degrees Sunday and 90 degrees today. We're still digging mums, today we dug them early to beat the heat. Then took Daisy for a run. After returning her to the barn, we went to Columbia for lunch and then did some grocery shopping. Once we were back at the farm, Linda went to work at the after school day care. Stacey and I went into town to the bank to cash several checks we had received for mums. As soon as we returned to the farm a guy came by and gave me a check for $90 to pay for the mums he had picked up on Friday. We're getting close to being out of the yellow mums, especially since we need to keep 30 for the Homemakers' Meeting in early November. Those are hard to keep because we usually have a killing frost before then. Linda came home and we let Daisy run again and put a flea collar on her as she has been scratching quite a bit.

Mum Patch Update

Wednesday morning Stacey, Linda and I rode in the Mule to the mum patch and I began digging mums with Linda potting them and Stacey carrying the potted mums to the trailer behind the Mule. We had dug one mum and Stacey put it on the trailer, then looked at us and said she was starting to twitch. I unhooked the trailer, we rode in the Mule back to the house and by then the twitching was getting worse. Linda gave Stacey and 10 mg Valium and about 15 minutes later, I gave Stacey another 10 mg Valium. It took a few minutes but her twitching subsided. A little after noon, Linda gave Stacey another 5 mg of Valium, then a half hour later another 5 mg for a total of 30 mg in less than 4 hours. I decided that we should take Stacey to see Dr Rice at his office, so we loaded in the truck and drove to town. I pulled to the back door, opened it and rolled a wheel chair outside and placed Stacey in it. As I rolled Stacey in the back door, the nurse directed us into an examination room and in about 10 minutes Dr Rice came in to see how Stacey was getting along. He explained what we should do for Stacey the remainder of the day if anything else occurred. After about 20 minutes of consultation, we returned to the farm. Linda stayed with Stacey and I went to the mum patch and dug the mums we absolutely had to dig for a customer. I returned to the house and Linda watered the mums while I cooled off and stayed with Stacey. We worked like that a couple more times during the remainder of the day. Stacey never required any more Valium and just had mild involuntary movements.
Thursday morning, I went to the mum patch about 6:30 AM and dug mums, then back to the house and watered them and set them in the hay shed. Linda, Stacey and I took the Mule and let Daisy run around the hay fields since she hadn't been out of the barn the day before. We were about half way around when I noticed Daisy had run right over the top of a snake laying in the trail. I ran over the snake with the Mule and stopped a little past it. I took the shovel out and chopped it's head off. Daisy came back and was a little scared of the dead snake.
 
We went back to the house and put Daisy in the barn, then Linda, Stacey and I went to the mum patch and dug a trailer load of mums. I'm guessing that the mums in the patch are about half gone.
   
Regina came down and helped us finish the trailer load and then we went back to the hay shed and watered the mums I had dug yesterday. They are supposed to be picked up on Friday.
  

Half Of Hay Cut & Rolled

Saturday, I dug mums most of the day and Regina and Casey sold them off of the hay wagon in their front yard. Larry cut the hay down the creek Friday evening and Saturday. Sunday, I dug a few mums and mowed the front yard with the tractor and finish mower, then took Daisy for a run to see how the hay fields looked. To my surprise, they had raked, then rolled the hay and hauled it away. The fields were completely mowed and looked great. Daisy didn't know where to run first. She had been staying on the mowed paths along the edges of the fields, but now the paths were gone.
   
Daisy could run as far as she wanted and then she came back towards the Mule. I whistled for her and she came running. She is getting better in that aspect of her behavior.
  
We rode a little ways to another field and I let Daisy out of the Mule again. This is to let her know that every time I call her back, she isn't going to have to be put in the barn. She's learning fairly quickly what I expect from her. With the dry leaves on the hill sides I can hear her run almost to the top trailing squirrels or turkeys, then come busting back down the hill and pop out in the fields.
  
The leaves are beginning to change a little bit. The picture on the right is a copy of the other one, but with a warming filter used on it. Linda and Stacey returned from IN just before dark.

They're Loaded

Linda is has been gone to Smith's Grove to babysit Julie since Thursday morning Stacey and I have been digging mums and setting them on the hay wagon. Regina has been taking mums to town and selling them too. Stacey and I went to Grumpy's for breakfast and we met Jason. We had a nice breakfast, then stopped at the bank, and then back to the farm. We dug another trailer full of mums and watered them before setting them on the hay wagon We went back to the house, cleaned up and went to Albany and picked up Stacey's new eyeglasses. She tried them out and had the technician fit them on her face. Stacey was happy with the way she could see and how the glasses changed tint when she went outside. We ate lunch before returning to the farm. We checked the hay wagon and needed to dig more mums, so we changed clothes and went and dug more. As we returned to water the latest batch, we noticed the truck was in the little house driveway with a car hauling trailer hooked behind. Brent, Julie and Linda were inside the house. I helped Brent load the 1965 Mustang on the trailer and chain it tightly so it wouldn't roll while being hauled. It took us a while to accomplish all that. Next, Linda wanted to load mums to take to her mom in IN, so we moved the boards and floor jack around to make room for those. Linda and Brent tried to put the cover on the back of the truck, but it wouldn't stretch enough to snap it down. We rolled it up and put it inside the Mustang. I guess they are going to try again in the daylight. Stacey cried trying to make up her mind whether to go or not go, but finally packed her stuff and went with them. They left the farm around 8:30 on their way back to Smith's Grove to stay the night and leave Saturday morning for IN to drop the Mustang off at Imon's house.

Daisy = Pond Scum

Yesterday, Linda let Daisy run loose around the farm while she was setting the mums and pumpkins around the front of the barn.
  
Daisy stayed with Linda until she heard something at the pond. Linda went to see where Daisy had gone and found a mess. She came inside and picked up a camera to document the mess. We have found that Daisy is a frog hunter. She sneaks around the pond until she scares a frog into jumping in the water. The drought has the water so low in the pond that it's mostly muddy water. No matter, Daisy follows the frog into the muddy water like she's going to be able to catch it. She hasn't caught one yet and if she does she will probably spit it right back out. I've saw other dogs catch frogs and the warts on them make the dogs froth at the mouth and sling their heads around like crazy.
  
Linda had to hose her off afterwards.
This morning we left the house at 7 AM and went to Regina's yard to move mums into the back of her truck for her to take to town and give to the people that had ordered them. After loading her truck, we headed to the mum patch to dig mums and we took Daisy to let her run inside the fenced in patch. The patch is beginning to show color on most of the mums now, so we can show people what color they are buying. We dug enough to fill the black trailer with yellow mums, then took them to the hay wagon in Regina's yard and set them on the wagon. We're keeping most of the mums on the wagon in the shade.
  
We went inside our house, took our medicine, ate a quick bite for breakfast and went back to the mum patch. We dug and potted another trailer full, then hauled it to Regina's and again unload the mums to fill the hay wagon. Linda watered all the mums we had dug while I put Daisy back in the barn and unhooked the trailer.
 
We went inside and I fixed lunch before Linda left for the day care. We are about out of mums on the wagon now and Regina came home with orders for 15 more she needs to take tomorrow. Looks like we will be digging mums until dark again tonight.

Digging Mums

Linda and Regina st arted digging mums Saturday and Sunday. They've put out the signs and set a few potted mums by the road and in front of the barn. Linda, Stacey and I went to Columbia and ate lunch today and stopped at the grocery store on the way back. After Linda worked at the day care and came home, Regina came over and said she had sold some of the mums off the wagon and had some orders to fill, so we went to the patch late Monday afternoon to dig more. We had about 20 plants dug and potted when someone stopped and bought 4 that we had dug. We dug until we couldn't see what to dig, then pulled the wagon back to Regina's front yard. The temperatures are still above 90 degrees during the daytime, so they have been leaving the wagon of mums in her front yard under the shade of the trees. Linda and Regina watered the mums while I talked to Steve Riddle, who pulled in the driveway.

Thursday & Friday

Linda left for Smith's Grove early Thursday morning, so Stacey and I were on our own. We went to the bank, picked up Stacey's medicine and ate at Hamilton's BBQ. We stopped at the grocery store before returning to the farm. We took Daisy for a run around the fields and then put her back in the barn stall with a full bowl of water and food. In the late afternoon, we loaded Daisy in the back of the Mule and drove to Steve Riddle's farm on Jones' Ridge. We let Daisy run a little up there and talked a while. Then, we returned to the farm just before sunset. I used the grill to fry hamburgers while Stacey cooked the remaining meat for sloppy joes. We ate the hamburgers and put the sloppy joes in the fridge for the next day.
Friday morning we went to Grumpy's and met Jason Strange and Steve Riddle for breakfast. There were several others there and we all talked about the gossip concerning a meth bust in town. Back at the farm Stacey drove the Mule around the hay fields while Daisy ran. Linda came home around 6 PM after staying a couple of days with Pauline, Brent and Julie.

Family Visit

Linda has started going to Pauline and Brent's house on Thursdays and Fridays to take care of Julie. She left Thursday morning around 5 AM. We didn't expect her back until late Friday night, but she surprised us around 10:30 Friday morning. P&B were planning on visiting us, so Linda came ahead with Julie. I took a few pictures of Julie during the day as we played with her and kept her fed, diapered and busy.
  
P&B came over after Pauline finished work. Brent has been having problems with his kidneys. He thinks it is kidney stones and has been to see a doctor once. It was bothering him when he arrived and continued through the night. We took it easy Saturday morning, with Brent doing couch time and Stacey reading Julie a book while Linda fixed breakfast.
  
Saturday afternoon, Brent began feeling a little better and he and I took a ride in the Triump around town. Later, everyone walked to the pond and Pauline and Linda worked on pulling plants out of the pond.

Sunday, Brent seem a bunch better and we took Daisy for a couple runs around the farm while we rode in the Mule. Linda fixed a nice chicken breast dinner for everyone before PB&J left for home around 5 PM on Sunday.

Eye Exams

Early Tuesday morning we finally had some rain at the farm. It was light rain and lasted till about 9:30 AM. I checked the rain gauge and there was a little under one half inch. Shortly before lunch, Linda and I rode down to the mum patch and checked them out. I dug one and didn't dig anymore as the ground was still too dry. The dirt was loose and fell from the roots when I lifted the plant off the shovel and placed it in the plastic pot. The little bit of rain will help them grow and bloom out, but more is still needed before I dig a lot of plants. I mowed the front yard and the barn lot since the rain had settled the dust.
Wednesday morning, Linda had scheduled eye exams for Stacey and her, so I drove them to Albany and we went inside the office. Linda sent me in with Stacey to see how she did because Linda was having an exam too. They checked Stacey and things went fairly well. It took about an hour and we were setting out in the waiting area until Linda finished. She came out, and they went and picked out frames, then we waited about 20 minutes and Stacey and Linda were called back inside to have their eyes dilated They put the drops in their eyes and we went back to the waiting room for about a half hour. They took them into the examination room and it took another half hour. Finally we paid, and left. It was after noon, that had taken over 3 hours. Linda and Stacey were wearing the dark glasses when we went into Burger King. They pulled those out of their regular glasses once inside. After eating, we returned to the farm and Linda's eyes were acting funny so she stayed inside. Later in the afternoon, I mowed while Linda was trimming and taking Daisy for a run.

Daisy With Pictures

Today, we had some sprinkles of rain and it was mostly cloudy. We might have received 1/10 of an inch of rain. Daisy dug out of the crib again, but this time I had cement blocks already sitting there, ready to place in her hole. I put Daisy back in the stall and Stacey and I went to Albany and ate, then we stopped at the grocery store. When Linda came home we were just about ready to eat. After eating we took Daisy out of the stall and headed to the hay fields in the Mule. After crossing the creek, I stopped and let Daisy run through the paths I had cut around the fields.
  
  
  
She was all over the place, never stopping, hardly ever slowing down.

Run Daisy Run

Early this morning, I was sitting in the bedroom and notice a blur run by the window. It was Daisy, she was out of the barn stall again. I went to the back door and she was waiting on me. We walked down to the barn and I took a look at the stall. Sure enough, another hole under the stall's wall. I hooked Daisy to the leash and we went to the back of the barn and got in the Mule. I drove down to the boat shed and picked up a few cement blocks. I returned to the barn and placed the blocks along the wall and put Daisy back inside. After a couple of hours, Linda, Stacey and I loaded in the Mule and let Daisy out of the stall. She rode in the front with me and Stacey and Linda rode in the back. We went back towards the holler and as we neared the mouth, I unhooked Daisy and let her out. She ran like a deer, literally. She would run and leap, stop and turn, sniff, run some more and we could tell she was just happy to be loose. I drove on back to where we had planted the trees with Daisy following for a while, then leading the way even though she didn't know where we were going. I stopped in the opening and shut the Mule off. We watched as Daisy ran around, then headed up the side of a hill. We could hear her rustling through the dried leaves. Then she went out of hearing range. I said to Linda, "That maybe the last we hear of her." After a minute or two, we heard her heading back down the hill. She was panting severely when she came to the Mule and jumped in the front seat. We rode back to the house, gave Daisy a cool drink from the outside spicket and filled her bowl with food. Linda gave her a hamburger and she went in the barn stall without any problems. Later, Linda went to the day care and painted the bathroom. I went in a little later and helped put up a wall paper border. After Linda came back home, we took Daisy to another field and did the same routine with her. She loves to run and jump in the hay fields. Starting the Mule brings her back to us as she wants to ride. As long as that works, we'll be OK.

Mums Getting Close

After Linda came home from working at the school, we went to Columbia and ate, then returned to the farm. Stacey went inside and I backed the Mule out of the barn and pulled it around to the front hallway. Linda hooked Daisy to her lease and she jumped in the Mule. We rode to the mum patch to let Daisy run. It's still been in the 90s nearly every day and almost no rain in the last month, so the mums are not as big as they have been in past years. In fact, these are the smallest mums we have ever grown. The early mums are starting to bloom, but if we don't get a decent rain, it's going to be tough to dig them.
   
I closed the gate behind the Mule and Linda unhooked Daisy's leash and we let her run.
  
Daisy ran around the patch and checked the fence for a way out. After finding nothing to chase, she came back and we tried to get her to play with a ball, but no luck with that. She will come to us after a few whistles and calls. Daisy has become accustomed to riding in the Mule and she will jump in and set in the seat when she is ready to go.
  
Daisy is still a little spastic as when we are going down the road, if a big grasshopper flies across the front of the Mule, Daisy will attempt to jump out as we are moving. So we have to hold her on a short leash as we head home.

Overnight Stay

Pauline, Brent & Julie came over with their dogs Friday afternoon. We checked out Daisy and walked her around the pond a little. Daisy was interested in Julie, but once I bent down and let her check out the baby, she was fine and went on sniffing for rabbits or other wild animals. When Linda came home from the school, we loaded everyone in the pickup truck, buckled Julie's car seat in the middle of the truck's back seat and headed out to eat. Pauline wanted fish, so I headed to the Farmhouse Restaurant. Everywhere we passed was full of cars and boats down here for the holiday weekend. We had a short wait at the Farmhouse while they cleaned off a table, then we were seated and enjoyed our dinners. After we finished, we came back to the farm and talked about their planned trip to IN. Julie went to bed about 9 PM and the rest of us followed around 10 PM.
This morning, PB&J were up before daylight and Linda was taking a shower. They took the time to let Pauline feed Julie and they left before 6 AM. Stacey and I went to town for breakfast after they left.

Hazy, Lazy Days of Summer

It's still hot and fairly quiet around the farm this week. The temperatures are still in the upper 90s. Linda has been working at the after school day care and Stacey and I have been staying inside mostly. A few of our mums are starting to bloom and Linda pulled most of the grass away from the plants. We've made a trip to Burkesville to see if anyone could align the TR3, but no one has the specifications for the settings, so no luck on that. Today, we went to Glasgow in the afternoon and made some shopping stops before eating at Mancino's. Stacey found two newer CDs and after buying those we listened to them on the way back to the farm. Linda is planning to go to IN this coming weekend.

A Little Bit Of Rain

Overnight, we had a few mild thunderstorms go over. They dropped about two thirds of an inch of rain and were gone by daylight. We ate a quick breakfast and I went outside to mow the front yard. I noticed Linda took the Mule and went to the mum patch. I finished the front yard and went inside about 10:30 AM as the temperature was nearing the 90s. Linda followed me inside a few minutes later and she told me she had been weed eating. Stacey and I fixed sloppy joes for lunch and we watched TV for a while. We had another period of rain, maybe 1/4 of an inch, then it cleared up again. Linda went back to the mum patch and was pulling grass out between the plants when I received a phone call from our neighbor. Steve was unable to get on the internet after Duo-County had made some changes to everyone's network IP settings. I made a quick trip to their house and, with the help of Brent over the phone, was able to get their PC back on line. Stacey and I watched the NASCAR race at Bristol the rest of the evening.

Testing Daisy

Stacey had an appointment with Dr Rice today and it went well. We were in and out of the office in about a half hour. No change in dosage of her medicines, so that is good. Afterwards we stopped and ate lunch then came on home. Linda worked at the after school day care and when she came home, she took Daisy for a walk around the hay fields. Stacey and I picked them up in the Mule while they were at the creek. I drove down the highway to the mum patch and we closed the gates after we drove inside. It has been a week since Daisy was brought to the farm and we wanted to see how she was doing about coming to us when we called her. We separated inside the fenced in area and turned Daisy loose. We left the 12 feet of leash dragging on the ground as she ran around the area. It seemed all she could think about was finding a way out of the fenced in area. That wasn't too pleasing, we were hoping she would be interested in staying with us, but that didn't happen. After about a half hour, we grabbed the leash and loaded everyone and Daisy in the Mule and headed back to the house. Linda put her in the barn for the night. She had Daisy in the house yesterday and Missy was hurt a little by Daisy either wanting to play or catching Missy like a rabbit, I'm not sure which it was, but Missy squealed

.

Bush Hogging

This morning I took my mp3 player and wore long pants when I went to the hay shed around 5:30 AM. The Ford tractor's battery was too weak to start the tractor, so I hooked the battery charger to the battery and plugged it in to the extension cord. I started the FarmTrac and went back in the 'holler' to mow some of the grass areas. The temperature was in the mid 60s and it was nice working on the tractor and not being fried. I mowed the hillside, along the branch and the area where we have several little trees planted. It took about an hour and twenty minutes and then I went back to the house. I told Stacey and Linda to dress and we would go eat in town. We did, then checked out a few hot rods that were having a rod run and had stopped for breakfast too. There were several nice cars and trucks. Back at the farm, I went back to the hay shed and started the Ford tractor, took the charger off and set it aside. I backed the tractor out of the hay shed and headed back across the creek. I bush hogged around a walnut tree at the corner of the hay field and the entrance to the other hay field.
 
I used the bush hog to trim both sides of a 4-wheeler trail along the hay field and then cut the weeds in the gully next to the hillside where I had mowed earlier.
  
Linda and Stacey went to Campbellsville to shop while I stayed at the farm. We had a break in the temperatures, it only made it to 98 degrees today. Around 6:30 PM, I went for a ride in the Mule to check on the mum patch. With no rain in the last couple of weeks, the mums have not had any attention from us because there's not much we could do. The ground was too dry and hard to pull the grass out, so we have watched to make sure they're not wilting from lack of water, which they aren't.
 
The pumpkin patch, on the other hand, is in trouble. The vines are showing signs of heat stress and some have died. There are pumpkins, not as many as we expected and they aren't that big.
 
After making a lap around the patches, I continued across the creek and drove around the hay field. It was mowed a few weeks ago and the 'Johnson Grass' is growing and looking OK.
 
I can't say the same for the creek. It has stopped flowing and the water is starting to completely dry up. There are some puddles left, but not many.
 
Maybe the next few weeks we will get some rain from the hurricanes headed towards the USA. It seems...

"One man's poison...
is another man's cake."
Rupert Hine

Walking The Dog

It rained about 20 minutes on August 6th and before that the last rain was July 28th. Since there hasn't been any rain in the last 10 days and the temperatures have been over 100 degrees the farm is starting to look a little brown. The grass is still growing slowly thanks to the dew, but the creek has quit flowing and is drying up.
 
We are spending most of the day inside in the air conditioned house. It is too hot to be outside very long at a time. The TV stations reported that it was a record temperature in Nashville yesterday. The temperature was 106 degrees and was a record for the day, but not the highest ever recorded in Nashville, 107 is the highest ever. Linda came home from working at the school and a little later, we went to town for supper. After eating, we picked up a new dog collar and a six foot leash. We returned to the farm and Linda and I went to the barn and played with Daisy in the barn stall. I put the collar around Daisy's neck and hooked the leash to it. She remained calm, so we opened the door and went for a walk. We walked down to the creek to where there is some water left and let Daisy drink from the creek and splash around a little.
  
We walked back to the barn and I coaxed Daisy into the barn stall with a piece of left over pizza. She walked in, I unhooked the leash and tossed the pizza into the food bowl and stepped out of the stall and closed the door and latched it. That went better than I had thought it would.

Thanks, But She's Not Lucky

First, I want to thank those that posted suggestions for the name of the female dog. Lucky was by far the most suggested name. Sorry, but we won't be naming the dog Lucky. I should have mentioned that fact before I asked for suggestions. The reason we won't be using Lucky is...
When I was about 8 years old I went to the lake with my Aunt Rose and Uncle Leo. We were boating and pulled the boat over to the bank to have a picnic lunch. While we were eating a little dog came in the area and it looked kind of bad. Like no one was feeding it or taking care of it. We fed the dog and my Uncle said we could take it home with us. I kept the dog at our house and named it Lucky. Lucky we had found it, lucky it had a home now, just Lucky. It wasn't very old and Mom, Dad and I worked with it to train it to go outside to potty. After about 3 weeks the dog was becoming house broke. One day, I let Lucky out and went back to my room for a couple of minutes, then went back to let the dog back inside. I saw Lucky had crossed the town street, so I went after him. I went across the street, spanked his butt once and told him to get home. He headed across the street and was immediately hit by a car. Dead, no questions about it. I had just sent the little dog to it's death. I spent the next month crying in the basement about the stupid thing I had done. I've never forgotten that mistake and ever since, I have never sent any animal across a street and I have cautioned everyone else to never do it. So, for that reason, this dog won't be named Lucky.
Stacey came up with the name we will use, if the dog stays around the farm. She mentioned that our last dog was Cooter, named after a character from the TV show, "The Dukes of Hazard" and that we should continue with those characters' names, so the dog's name should be Daisy. I liked that idea and so did Linda. That was Catherine Bach's character on the TV show. Now, we just hope that Daisy will stay around the farm. Stacey and I went to the barn around noon and checked on Daisy, she was drinking water and doing OK. We went to Columbia and ate at Wendy's and I picked up a couple burgers for Missy and Daisy. We went back to the farm and did a few odd jobs and as I went in and out of the house I checked the thermometer on the wall on the back porch. It read TOO HOT!
  
Yep, that's 101 degrees in the shade and on a sheltered porch wall. I walked down to the barn and checked on Daisy again. She was OK. When Linda came home, we took the hamburger down to the barn and Linda fed it to her. She ate it all, then drank the water from the bowl. It looks like she's going to eat and drink, so maybe she will gain a little weight.