Posted on Thursday, May 15, 2008
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.
Posted on Friday, May 09, 2008
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.
Posted on Wednesday, May 07, 2008
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.
Posted on Monday, May 05, 2008
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.
Posted on Saturday, May 03, 2008
New Steering Wheel and Tonneau Cover
The rain was coming down this morning, so after breakfast, I went to the
garage and began taking the old steering wheel off of the 1956 Chevy. I
had ordered a new
steering wheel from Billet
Specialties and it arrived Thursday. I included a leather half wrap,
horn button, and adapter in my order. Getting the old wheel off ended up
being easier than I had anticipated. After removing the horn button I
just removed the nut and washer, then sort of slapped the back of the
steering wheel with the heel of my hand and it popped off. Now the fun
part, putting the new one on the right way, getting it centered so it
looked straight when the car was going down the road and then assembly
of the horn button. After sliding the adapter on three times I figured
out I was going to have to use a Dremel like tool to alter one of the
pieces for the canceling of the turn signals. It took about 5 minutes to
grind the piece to where the horn contact would work, then I assembled
the adapter with 3 allen bolts in the wheel for alignment purposes. I
tightened the nut and washer and the rest was simply screwing in allen
screws to attach the wheel and the leather half wrap to the wheel. The
entire process took over an hour, but the results were great IMO.
I
had also ordered a tonneau cover for the Triumph TR-3. I had taken it
out of the box and noticed it needed the attachment clips put on before
we could use it. After eating lunch in town, Linda and I began working
on the cover and I do mean working. We had to test fit the cover, then
determine where to punch holes in the cover. We started along the
windshield area and punched out about 12 holes, then took the cover off
and began attaching the clips that hold it on the car. This was a major
pain. We had to center the clips, then hammer them lightly against the
cover, then use a small hobby knife to make the holes for the clips,
then place the clip on the cover, then place the retaining clip on the
other side of the cover, then hold both pieces together while hammering
down the small flaps of metal that holds the pieces together. Then we
attached the cover back to the car, stretched it to fit as best we
could, mark more holes and continued like that until we had the entire
cover attached. Our fingers and hands were sore from all the pulling and
tucking to get the best fit we could. Linda test drove the car with the
cover on and half unzipped. It held on and she made it back. Our work
was a success.
Posted on Wednesday, April 30, 2008
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.
Posted on Saturday, April 26, 2008
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.
Posted on Friday, April 25, 2008
Julie Walking
Linda brought Julie home with her this morning and said that Julie had been walking for a few days. She said Pauline and Brent called it a 'Frankenstein' walk because of her arms being out in front of her, but I think she's doing excellent. Of course, I would, I'm her grandparent. You can see for yourself in the video below...
Posted on Sunday, April 20, 2008
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.
