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.