Dec 26th - Post Christmas

I am pretty bah, humbug during Christmas time. I enjoy family getting together, and of course the eating <GRIN>, but the commercialization of Christmas has gotten totally out of hand. I am grateful that Lydia was able to receive all the gifts, and more importantly the love, but I feel sad for all the children who received neither. There has to be a better way for us to do more "sharing the wealth" than government forced income redistribution. (There is a lot more to "sharing the wealth" than just handing over money or presents. Teaching the parents the value of work and to be self-supporting would go a long way to solving our nations problems.) Okay, now I'm off my soapbox.

Doug and Anthony came Tuesday afternoon and left this morning. It was good to be able to spend some time with them. They stayed in our motor home. Doug called it the "chateau on the hill". The first night they didn't have any water because I had "winterized" it and didn't want to put water back in it since the low Tuesday night was supposed to be zero, or below. I added water Wednesday so that they had all the conveniences of home. Doug said it was warm enough Tuesday night even though it did get down to at least 2 degrees. Only one bedroom slide was out and I've posted previous photos of the straw bale skirting.

We had ice on the trees until this morning. Doug and I were out back around 9 AM. The the dripping from the melting ice sounded like it was raining. The photo below doesn't even come close to showing how beautiful it has been when the sun was shining with all the ice on the trees.

This was Christmas evening after Lydia was in bed and after Santa had arrived.

Christmas morning.

Lydia is "sweeping" with her new vacuum.

Today after a hearty lunch of vegetable soup Lydia was enjoying a piece of candy that Aunt Cindy & Uncle Ed sent.

I am so blessed to be able to enjoy my family. Drew wasn't here but we did email back and forth to update one another. He recently hosted an open house for his 2nd anniversary in his home. 80-90 people attended, about a fourth of whom lived within a few blocks of him. He has spent some money on his home, and put a LOT of sweat equity into improvements, and it appears that it has paid off handsomely. Last December the house on south side of him sold for $450,000. It was remodeled and had an addition put on after we were out there. The house on the north side of him, which is in terrible condition, is now on the market for $290,000. Both houses are larger than his but the improvements in the neighborhood bode well for the value of his property. While I don't put a lot of stock in their estimates it is comforting to see that the Zillow real estate web site values his home at over twice what he paid for it.

Nothing much planned for the next couple of days. We are tentatively planning on spending 2-4 weeks somewhere along the Texas Gulf coast, maybe near Corpus Christi, starting in late January. We will see how things work out.

I hope you had an enjoyable holiday. May God bless you and yours.

Dec 22nd - Sunday & Icy

We have had some much needed rain over the past couple of days, not nearly as much as we need. It has been cold enough so that the rain caused ice to form on everything above ground. We didn't get much ice on roadways, in fact, this morning there was no evidence of any ice on the roads nor on the church parking lot & sidewalks. There was evidence of it on the trees.

Saturday the ladies baked cookies and painted them.

Kathy is still fighting being sick. The past week she had the flu and a cold. The flu lasted several days and she is still fighting the cold.

The daytime temperatures have hovered around freezing the past several days. It is 29 now and isn't supposed to get back above freezing until midday Wednesday. Monday nights low is forecast to be 4, some forecasts are for as low as minus 3. If it really gets that low it will be our coldest night of the year. Average temps for this time of year are highs of 40 and lows of 22. Where the heck is that global warming?

I hope you have a Merry Christmas, make sure to take some time to remember the Reason for the Season. May God bless you and yours.

Dec 17th - Interesting Day

It was beautiful here today. Sunny with a high in the mid 40's. It is even supposed to be nicer the next two days.

Yesterday and today I cut some wood and moved it near the splitter. I already had enough wood for this winter so this if for next winter.

 The wood in the above photos came from one dead tree that I cut down and from other stuff that was lying around the property.

This afternoon we went to St. Mary's and visited Kelsey. The photos below show why you don't let kids, or careless old farts, handle chain saws.

The leg of my bibs.

The top of my boot.

My ankle after some stitches.

The interesting thing is that it hardly bled at all and it has not been the least painful. (I'm sure the cleaning and stitches would have been painful without the local.)

I was cutting off a 27" diameter stump flush with the ground, with my 20" bar. It kicked back and whacked me in the ankle. One of the nurses said that I should tell people that my "cat like" reflexes <grin> saved me from further injury. If anything I will give thanks to angels protecting fools.

After I did it I finished cutting off the stump. Loaded up a bucketful of wood in the bucket on the tractor, hauled it up to the house, went back and loaded up the stump and hauled it to the splitter. My sock was hardly bloody. It really isn't that bad a cut but it did need a good cleaning.

Hopefully it was a good learning experience.

May God bless you and yours.

Dec 16th - Nice Day in Central Missouri

We are supposed to get a couple of nice days here. Sunday Kelsey couldn't get up the driveway in her front wheel drive car, because of the ice/snow on the asphalt section. Andy had went to church early and seemed to make it out OK in their 4WD truck. Kelsey & Lydia ended up going to church with us. We got out fine in our AWD CRV.

Nothing exciting going on here. Kelsey and Lydia painted Christmas decorations one night last week.

 OOPS! Bending over the table to reach for more paint has some drawbacks.

 

Kelsey made the ornaments earlier. She mixed up something that looked like cookie dough and baked it. Lydia was sitting on the counter "helping" her. Several times Kelsey told her that it was not cookie dough and that it tasted bad. The temptation was to great, Lydia finally slipped a finger into the dough and stuck it in her mouth. I would give a lot for a picture of her face. The only thing that comes to mind is when Tom Hanks, in the movie Big, tasted caviar. He spit it out and then took a napkin and used it to wipe off his tongue. Her antics were similar.

She had a routine checkup last week. Everything was fine. The Doctor thinks that she is going to be very "petite", since she is so small for her age.

Up until the last week I had been burning a lot of trash wood, stuff I had cleaned out of the woods, in the wood burner. I ran out, been to lazy to cut more, and have been burning some good stuff. The difference in the amount of heat from a load of wood is amazing. A full load of the trash wood would last overnight if the temps were in the 20's. A full load of the good stuff lasted over 16 hours with an overnight low of 9 degrees. With the good stuff I only need to add wood once a day, although it takes a LOT of wood, a good wheelbarrow load, most days. It the overnight lows are going to be below 10 I have to throw in a few pieces during the day and then fill it in the evening.

Wednesday we go back to St. Louis for Kathy's final(?) checkup with the surgeon. She is still not 100%, maybe not even 75%, but she is improving.

I just received a call from Mel Calahan, he works with the Baptist Builders group. I helped him with a job over in High Point and we are working on one if Jefferson City. He was asked if he has time to do some work on trailer that is home to a working mother with three kids, on the outskirts of Jefferson City. He is going to look at it today and see what is needed.

I need to get out and cut some wood. May God bless you and yours.  

Dec 9th - Brrrrrr

Still cold here. It is supposed to get down to 9 degrees tonight. Todays high was in the 20's. Tomorrows high is supposed to be 33.

Saturday I spent over 5 hours raking, leaf blowing and leaf burning. My timing was excellent as we got a dusting of snow Saturday night. It has not gotten above freezing since then so the snow is still here. We didn't do much Sunday, although Kathy did go to church the first time since before her surgery.

We had Lydia most of the day today. Kelsey had to leave for work at 8 this morning. Things were slow for Andy so he was home around 5.

I cut a little wood today, only enough for maybe a day and a half, at these temps. Last week I found out that the propane distributor in California would come over and fill the propane tank in our motorhome. It has been my experience that very few will do that. He stopped by today and filled the tank. It saved me having to remove all the straw bales around the motorhome and then drive to Jefferson City to get the tank filled.

Hope you all had a good day. May God bless you and yours.

Dec 5th - Getting Cold

No walk-abouts today. This morning was banana bread/cake baking.

 Lydia went to Grandma Elaines again today, so she was only around before nap time.

Kathy and I went to Jeff today. We signed up for a YMCA membership, had lunch at the Mexican restaurant and I picked up a few things at Aldi's prior to coming home.

After getting home I went over to the Ott's and picked up another 6 bales of straw. I wanted a few more to go around the base of the motorhome.

It is 24 degrees now, and on its way down. It is not supposed to get back up to 24 again until noon Sunday. No snow, rain or ice here yet. It looks like all the significant precipitation has moved south of us.

I messgaged with Doug a little while ago. We were going to replace his porch roof next week. With 6-8" of snow in the forecast for Indy, and low temps in the single digits some of the nights, he decided to postpone the work.

Time to go out and fill the boiler with wood before dark. May God bless you and yours.

Dec 4th - Tractor Driver

During yesterdays "walk about" Lydia had to get on the tractor and "drive" it.

We may be taking fewer "walk abouts" during the next couple of weeks, temps are going to drop dramatically. Yesterdays high was in the low 60's, tonights low is forecast to be 25. The 10 day forecast has 5 nights with lows 15 or below. Other than tonight the highest overnight in the 10 day forecast is 22. Today we are supposed to have a high of 61, with drizzle that will turn to snow by tomorrow morning. After today we don't have any highs forecast above freezing until next Wednesday. The drizzle/snow is OK, we will take any moisture we can get. It has been months since we had enough rain to have any run-off go into ponds. I bet it would take 3-4" of slow, steady rain to fill our pond.

Kathy, Kelsey, Lydia & I went to California for lunch at the "Chinese" restaurant yesterday (Tuesday). The restaurant is across the street from the hardware store. Lydia and I went into the hardware store to drop off my leaf blower for repairs and pick up a couple of chainsaw chains they had sharpened for me. It was our first trip to the hardware store, I will have to take her over again when we have more time to browse. I'm sure she wouldn't have any problems looking at stuff for an hour or so.

Kathy had a good day yesterday, and I think she overdid it again. She is having a rough night and I bet today won't be much better. Don't anyone tell her you read that on my blog or I'll catch hell for it. Last night while she was on the phone I heard her tell either her Dad or Lillian that her surgery was not as bad as she thought it was going to be. During a couple of her "bad" days she has told me that if she had know that she was going to be in so much pain during her recovery she might not have had the surgery. We watched Lydia yesterday, which is not a problem but it does cause Kathy to push her limits. On top of that, and going out for lunch, she did several loads of laundry (which I could easily have done) made supper, and who knows what else.

I cleaned up another small area of mostly trash wood. It yielded enough to provide for a couple of days heat. I also salvaged 12-15 cedar fence post for Doug. He wants a lot more than that, but it was a start.

I hope you all have/had a good day. May God bless you and yours.

Dec 2nd - A Walk in the Woods

It was a nice day here today. The high was in the 50's.

Lydia and I took a walk. She spent time investigating something along one of the out buildings.

Found a walking stick.

 Breaktime.

There is a lot of debris on the ground in the woods. She wanted to walk on her own. After the debris caused her to fall down several times she got a little upset. She finally allowed me to carry her until we were out of the woods.

 She always looks for stones while walking around the driveway. For some reason, rather than sitting down like she normally does, she flopped down on her belly.

 After getting up and moving further down the driveway she laid back down and acted like she was making a snow angel. I have no idea why she did it.

Kathy and I went to Jeff to buy some groceries. We had a hamburgers, at Freddie's, for lunch. She is feeling better today than she did over the weekend.

I hope you had a great day. May the Lord bless you and yours.

Nov 28th - We Are So Blessed

Doug & Anthony arrived around midnight Tuesday night. They had an uneventful drive from Indy (Doug slept most of the way).

Thanksgiving dinner was an overload, as always. Doug and Kelsey did most of the cooking. Andy's folks came over to eat and spend the afternoon. They are good people and we enjoy them.

Check out Anthony's "glow".

The photos below are from last week. Lydia and Kelsey had a good time playing in the leaf pile. Doug and Lydia played it the same pile yesterday but I don't have any photos of it.

Having popsicles.

 Late this morning I came back in the house to put a new set of batteries in my hearing aids. I just barged into the bedroom. I didn't realize that Lydia had been put down for a nap, in our bedroom. I got here out of her playpen and we took a nap on the bed. well one of us took a nap. I got up after she went to sleep. I went in and got her when she woke up. She was "snuggly" , which is normal. After letting me rock her for awhile she crawled down and went over and crawled up on Kathy's lap for a few minutes. (All the "kids" were shopping.)

In the afternoon we went outside and "worked". She is getting real good and raising the bucket up and down, so good that I'm concerned that she is going to drive it into the ground while we are moving and bring us to a screeching halt.

There was a large brush pile out in the "meadow" when we moved here. I've added to it. It was large enough that I didn't want to set in on fire where it was, to much on one side of it that might catch fire. Andy helped me and we moved the entire pile over to another area, close by, and burned it as we moved it.

Kathy was feeling pretty good last weekend and then she just went downhill. She was in a lot of pain Tuesday and Wednesday. Her follow-up with the surgeon, in St. Louis, was Wednesday at noon. I think the trip was worse for her than her trip home after surgery. The surgeon told us that everything appeared to be OK. He told us that fluid was building up around the mesh and he thought that was the cause of her pain. Before we left the hospital he had told us to expect the fluid build up. He had not told us that it might cause severe pain. He told us that if she did not feel better by Monday he would have her scheduled for a scan in the Jefferson City area and then, based on the result of the scan, he might have us come back to St. Louis where he would use a needle to draw off the fluid. He did not want to do it, didn't want to mess with her belly again unless it was absolutely necessary. Fortunately she felt better Thursday. She did manage to do a good job of staying out of the kitchen but she was far more active than she had been. I thought she would really pay for it today (Friday) but she is in the kitchen working on supper right now. She is tired but I think she is feeling much better.

This was the first time in many years that Ed & Cindy and at least one of their boys was not with us for Thanksgiving. We kidded about it a little. Even though Ed & Cindy weren't here this year we had Ott's, Andy's Mom & Dad. Of course Andy, Kelsey and Lydia are also Ott's.

We are so blessed to be have friends, family, a warm place to live, all the food we want to eat, etc. GOD IS GOOD! Thank you Lord!

I hope your Thanksgiving was as good as ours. May God bless you and yours.

Nov 24th - Overnight Low 13

It only made it down to 13 degrees last night, which still was pretty cold. It did not get above freezing during the day.

We have a 500 gallon propane tank. Kathy had it filled last summer. Our furnace, ranges, fireplaces and dryer use propane. Other than checking the furnace we haven't used the propane furnace. I checked the tank this afternoon and it is still 45% full. We have to keep the upstairs pretty warm (72/73) to make the downstairs reasonably warm for Kelsey, Andy & Lydia. We have almost all the upstairs registers shut but it still stays warmer up here. Our wood boiler has sure saved us a lot of money.

Kathy still didn't feel up to sitting in the chair/pew at Sunday School/church so she stayed home again. I went and was pleasantly surprised by the attendance. I think there were the most people I've seen while we have been there.

I wasn't sure that my "skirting" around the motor home would keep things from freezing last night, but everything seemed to be fine this afternoon when I checked.

We aren't supposed to have any lows below the mid 20's between now and through the Thanksgiving weekend so Doug and Anthony should be able to stay in the "apartment" over the weekend.

I hope you all had a great day. May God bless you and yours.

Nov 23rd - Its Cold Here in Missouri

Last nights low was 28, todays high is supposed to be 31. Tonights low is forecast at 10 while tomorrows high is only supposed to be 30. The forecast temps here are below those for Coldwater, MI, which is about 240 miles north of us. So much for living in the "south". Here in Missouri we get the luxury of hot in the summer and cold in the winter. Actually it is unseasonably cold. Average highs/lows for late November are 52/32.

Kathy is progressing, but not nearly as fast as she would like. Next Wednesday we go back to St. Louis for a follow up appointment with the surgeon. She made 3 pumpkin pies for me to take up to the church this morning. She hasn't been off the property since we came back from St. Louis. She does get out and walk laps around the circle driveway.

I beginning to think my quest for better hearing is a test to teach me patience. When I originally when in to pick up the first set, and have them programmed, the $2,500 hearing aid did not work, right out of the box (the $1200 "microphone/transmitter" for my deaf ear worked OK). They gave me a loaner to use while they sent mine off for repairs. I picked up my unit on the 14th and everything seemed OK, although I'm not convinced I can hear that much better. The things "eat" batteries. A set of batteries went dead Tuesday afternoon and when I replaced them with some that I had purchased from Walmart the hearing aids would not work. On my way home that night I bought more batteries, from a different store. After installing more batteries the hearing aids again quit working after less than an hour. Thursday afternoon I took them back in and was told that the $2500 unit had again quit working properly. I'm supposed to get them back next Wednesday. My $200 "trial period" runs until the end of the month. As it now stands I think I will just give them back at the end of the month.

I spent two and a half days this week help a guy from the Baptist Builders work on a house over near High Point, MO, about 20 miles from here. I don't know the whole story but I think the High Point church is buying the material to winterize the place a lady now calls home. Her 57 year old husband died rather unexpectedly last summer and she is living in a "factory built" building behind her daughters house. The building was built in Versailles and moved to the site. The actual building portion is 16'x28', not including the loft above the front porch. Tuesday, my first day, I dug a trench around the perimeter so that we could stuff insulation under the perimeter and install the white skirting you see in the photo. It was plenty enough pick and shovel work to make my muscles sore <grin>. Wednesday and again Thursday morning I worked on the interior. She currently has no running water, nor sewer. The toilet you see in the bottom of the photo is the one that is supposed to be installed in the bathroom. Most of the interior plumbing is done and I think all the wiring is done. I'm not sure how long the lady has been living it it. She walks to her daughters, less than 100 yards away, to take showers and get drinking water. She seems like a very nice lady who is very thankful for the help. She seems to have a very positive outlook on life.

 On a trip out back (to take a leak), this old cook stove is one of the many "jewels" I saw. Beside her daughters house, which doesn't look nearly as nice as the shed at our house, there are at least 6 trucks, around 1950's vintage. I didn't take the time to look closely at them but from the road they looked to be in pretty good shape for trucks that were over 50 years old. No idea how long they have set there.

Doug and Anthony are coming for Thanksgiving. With Kelsey, Andy and Lydia staying in the downstairs there really isn't much place for them, and their dogs, to stay in the house. I've held off winterizing the motor home so that they could stay in it. I had set 20 degrees as the lower limit on thing freezing when it was not winterized. Tonight will be far colder than that. I'm going to go over and get 20-25 bales of straw this afternoon to use as skirting. In the morning I will know if it can stand 10 degree temps without freezing.

I've been cutting a little wood, mostly more of the junk stuff lying around. I still haven't cut up the 20' plus log from the dead tree I cut down earlier this year. I think it is still a little green so I'm cutting up other junk to burn. Some of it is really junky stuff but it burns and is fine for daytime use. In the late afternoon I add some good wood to make sure we have a fire throughout the night.

May God bless you and yours.

Nov 18th - Long Time No Post

Not much exciting happening here in central MO. Kathy is mending. She is now walking several "laps" around the driveway in front of the house, several times a day. She has not wanted to go anywhere yet, that gives you an indication that she still has a ways to go. We go back to St. Louis on Nov 27th for her follow-up appointment with the surgeon.

Weather here has been variable. Several nights ago we had a low down in the high teens and yesterday I think the high was in the 70's. We have had a few very light showers but could still use several inches of rain, at least our pond could.

I haven't been doing much. I had a routine check-up with my "family doctor". I routinely see my "family doctor" once every 6 months and my Endocrinologist once every 6 months. They are part of the same doctor's group and seem to work well together. Because the appointments are staggered I see one or the other of them every 3 months. I'm starting to think that is a little overkill and my have them start stretching out the time between appointments in the future. My cholesterol is good but my triglycerides are still high. Triglycerides have come down some but I still need more improvement. Dr. Johnson said he will give me another 6 months on the triglycerides. I can get them down with a combination of a better diet and more exercise or he will give me another pill to take. He strongly prefers that I do it on my own, he is definitely not a pill pusher.

I still haven't gotten heavy into wood cutting/splitting. I've been cutting/splitting more a little more than have needed but haven't really started building a supply to last over the winter. I have enough wood left over from last year to last us through the winter. I'd just like to get the rest of the wood still laying around the property cleaned up. Also, I have several more dead trees that should be cut down, the wood split, and put under roof while the wood is still solid.

With Tom's help, he told me how to reconnect some wires on my splitter, I've got the splitter running. Yesterday I did some work on it  (it was the first time I had used my acetylene torch since I left Lebanon) and now have it set up next to the out building where I store wood. I still have not taken the hydraulic pump off to have a the seal replaced. I can use it with the leaky seal but I need to get it fixed.

I did some raking and leaf burning a few days ago but it is almost a loosing battle with all the trees. We had some fairly strong winds that past couple of days and they did more to clear away leaves than I did with my raking and burning.

Lydia hasn't been spending as much time with us while Kathy is recuperating. We did baby sit a couple of afternoons and evenings. She loves the baby carriage her Aunt Cindy got her. She occasionally crawls in it and just sets for a few minutes (she NEVER stays anywhere very long)

She crawled up in the chair next to Kathy and set there "reading" a sale ad. I was surprised at how long she was there.

Later that evening she finally wore out. The sale ad pages looked like a "rats nest" all around her.

It is a beautiful, sunny fall day here so far this morning. I need to get out and at least pretend to be doing something.

May God bless you and yours.

Nov 8th - Happy Birthday Doug

Today is our oldest son's birthday. He is 46 today.

We are still in St. Louis. They are talking about the possibility of Kathy being released tomorrow, but I hope they wait until Sunday. Actually I thought it wouldn't be until Monday. She is doing well. I'm not sure how many laps she made around the floor today. I was with her for 3 of them and I wasn't here when the physical therapist had her walking and stepping up and down on a step this morning.

Yesterday was the first they allowed her to have even water/tea by mouth. This evening she is to "feast" on cream of chicken soup and sherbet. If all goes well she will get some solid food tomorrow.

Later this evening her IV's come out and she will take pain meds orally. (She hasn't been taking a lot of them. She controls the morphine and I don't think she has hit it for some time. They have given her some type of Acetaminophen/Ibuprofen through the IV, she likes it. It must be some type of time delay stuff because they dump the entire little bottle of it into the IV stream in just a few minutes and then she doesn't get the next bottle for at least 6 hours.

Kelsey & Lydia came for a visit Wednesday afternoon and stayed overnight. We waited until the cafeteria in this unit closed so we had to walk the half mile over to the main cafeteria. The walk consists of going through many enclosed walkways between buildings. Lydia thought they were just great.

One of the buildings that we went through has glass walls that slope outward. We were on the 2nd or 3rd floor level when we passed through it. Lydia is looking down at a lighted courtyard with people walking through it.

The device hanging off the end of the bed is a small pump that inflates and deflates "wraps" on Kathy's lower legs. They had it off during the day and Lydia was fascinated by the hoses. She just knew they had to connect somewhere and was going to work with them until she got them plugged into something. Kelsey is helping her attach the hoses to the wraps.

Thanks for your prayers, and thank you Lord for answering them.

May God bless you and yours.

Nov 3rd - Been Awhile

All is well here in Missouri, we have not dropped of the face of the earth.

The weather remains beautiful. We received 2.4" of much needed rain over a couple of days last week. It came down slow and there was no run-off. Our pond is 3' from being full. I doubt that another 2-3" (far more than is being forecast) would come close to filling it up.

The leaves are turning and they are absolutely beautiful. I had not expected to see nearly as much red as we have. Last year was much dryer than this year and I don't remember there being much color. This morning in our Sunday School all the old geezers were commenting that this was one of the most colorful falls that any could remember. (Maybe because we are old geezers we just can't remember <grin>. There might be three other people in the class who are younger than Kathy and I.)

I received my hearing aids last week. Kathy tells me I can hear better, but so far I'm not sure I can hear $3,700 better ($2,500 for the hearing aid in my "good" ear and $1,200 for the microphone/sending unit in my deaf ear.) Actually the hearing aid that I am wearing is the $3,300 model. My new $2,500 unit did not work right out of the box, so they loaned me their demo unit to use until mine came back. I will wear it for 2 weeks and then go in and get the one I ordered and try it for 2 weeks. At the end of that time I can give them back and it will only cost $200 for a re-stocking charge. I could also decide to upgrade to the more expensive unit if I can tell a difference. Wind noise cancellation is supposed to be one of the advantages of the more expensive unit. So far I haven't noticed any wind noise. Either it works well, or I just am not bothered by the noise. They are unbelievably comfortable. I can't tell I am wearing them unless I touch them. That is kind of scary because I'm not sure I would know if I somehow lost one.

The Pastor has been sick for the past 2 weeks. He is expected to be back next Sunday. We missed getting to hear the man who leads our Sunday School class preach last Sunday. We left early because Kathy wasn't feeling well. Today one of the other guys in our class had the message. He did a really good job.

Tomorrow we will stay overnight in St Louis. Kathy is supposed to be at Barnes hospital at 6 AM for her hernia surgery. They have told us that the surgery will take a long time and that we should expect her to be in the hospital for a week. I've reserved a room at a hotel near the hospital and plan on staying there until she comes home.

I've been whittling away at a big old dead oak tree that I cut down last week. The trunk would make a 22' long, 21" diameter log. After that it branches into 2 - 18" diameter branches. I've gotten the small branches mostly cleaned up (still have to drag a few over to a burn pile) and have the 18" limbs cut up. I've split everything I've cut so far, by hand. It splits pretty good. Tom got me straightened out with the wiring on my log splitter and I've had it started but it still isn't running right. I've ordered a new, badly needed, air filter. It is supposed to arrive this week. After I get it on I will see if I can get the engine running more smooth.

Yesterday I mowed the lawn for what I hope is the last time this season. I may need to run over the lawn again just to chop up all the leaves. We have a LOT of leaves.


Lydia loves to come out and help me, no matter what I am doing. Below is a photo of her trying out a cupcake Kelsey made.

I hope you all had a great week. I/we would appreciate your prayers for Kathy, and her Doctors, over the next week. May God bless you and yours.

Oct 20th - Sunday

Not a lot happening here today. Kathy is still trying to get over her cough. She didn't even go to church today. Now I think maybe I'm getting it. No coughing, just a stuffed up head.

The weather is still beautiful. I've been cutting a little wood, nothing major. I still haven't fired up my log splitter. I've been splitting some wood by hand, need the exercise.

I replaced the fuel line and the fuel filter on the splitter. I also removed the battery and have it in the shed charging. I still need to buy some oil so that I can change the oil.

Dean takes his car to a VW place in Columbia tomorrow morning. Hopefully they can find the problem and get it fixed. It has been fun having him around for a few days (maybe not that fun for him since I'm sure he would like to get home)

We had pizza for supper tonight. After supper an angel apparently slipped into the bathroom and experimented.

It probably was a good thing that the TP was near the end of the roll. I think when it hit the end of the roll the end she was pulling on broke off, so she went on to other things that were more interesting. In the photo she had just been telling me she wanted in the refrigerator. I had said no so she was on her way somewhere else.

She is such a joy to have around.

I hope you all had a good day. May God bless you and yours.

Oct 15th - Got Some Rain Last Night

It rained on and off during most of the night. We got a little over four tenths of an inch. It came slow enough so that none of it ran off. We still need a lot more.

Kathy has been singing with a "senior" choir at one of the large Baptist churches in Jefferson City. They mostly go to nursing homes. Yesterday they came to our church in Centertown. There are a LOT of them. The also have a quite a few members who play a variety of instruments. I was able to watch part of their performance and they are good. I had to leave early for a Doctor's appointment to follow up on getting some type of hearing aids.

My Doctor's appointment was part of my decision making to determine if I want to get either a Bi-Cross system or possibly a BAHA system. With the Bi-Cross system you wear a transmitter in your bad ear and a receiver/hearing aid in your good ear. The transmitter picks up sound on your bad side and transmits it, via Bluetooth, to the receiver/hearing aid in your good ear. It is supposed to dramatically improve your ability to hear in crowded places like restaurants.

The BAHA system is a "bone anchored hearing aid". They screw a stud into your skull, behind your bad ear. You clip a small receiver on the stud and it converts sound to a vibration that your skull transmits to your good ear. It is a remarkable system! The Doctor had me wear one of the receivers while I was in her office. She used an elastic band to hold it against the side of my head. Almost our entire appointment was conducted while I kept my good ear plugged so that I could only "hear" the "sound" transmitted through my skull. I could hear her with no problems. With this system I would still wear a conventional hearing aid in my "good" ear, since it isn't all that great.

Insurance won't cover any of the cost of hearing aids but will supposedly cover most of the cost ($10,000) of having the stud installed. (Isn't the cost ridiculous. As I understand it they only use a local anesthetic and don't even admit you to a hospital. The little stud looks like a stud/snap on a western shirt.) I'm still investigating.

Lydia came up this morning, after Andy left for work, so that Kelsey could get some extra sleep. We had a good morning and then took a nice nap. We went in and both of us laid down on our bed until she went to sleep. A little angel.

While she was taking a nap I split some wood by hand, I needed the exercise. In the afternoon my helper came out. We took a bucket full of wood from out back and stacked it by the wood boiler. Then we drove the tractor up to the road and got the trash can, newspaper and mail. After that we did some swinging and then had a nice afternoon nap, well one of us did.

The weather was cool today. I don't think it got much above 60. It is supposed to get down into the 40's tonight.

I hope all of you had as good a day as I did. May God bless you and yours.

Oct 14th - Back Home Again

We left Friday morning and headed east. Over 1,300 miles in 3 days and we arrived back home yesterday evening. Lydia went along with us. She is a really good traveler.

We stayed overnight with Doug & Anthony on Friday and Saturday. Saturday we drove to Ohio, had lunch with family members at Ed & Cindy's and then attended Mallory's (Nancy's granddaughter) wedding and reception.

Doing some exploring at Aunt Cindy's. Now where did that pesky cat get to?

Found it with Aunt Cindy's help.

Stretching legs and doing a little mountain climbing after having lunch on our way back home.

I managed to pull a really stupid stunt early last week. I was going to cut some more wood but when I started my chain saw it only ran a few seconds and then quit. I thought I flooded it and after pulling the spark plug and drying it out I still couldn't start the saw, even though the plug did have spark. Finally after a couple of more days of occasionally trying to start it I took it over to the local hardware start (where I bought my magnum weed eater). The called me about an hour later and told me that the saw doesn't run well with chain oil in the gas tank and gas in the chain oiler. How embarrassing! I really like the guys at the hardware store, and there prices are very reasonable. I had them sharpen two chains when the saw was there and they installed new spark plug. Total cost was $44.

The weather here has been great, but dry. It is now harvest time and I suspect farmers would rather not have any rain for the next month, but we sure could use some. It isn't nearly as dry as it was last year, so that is a blessing.

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend. May God bless you and yours.

PS. I hope the government stays "shut down" until We the People get a federal budget passed by both Houses Congress and signed by the President. The President and Congress have MISERABLY FAILED  to provide us with a budget for years. Probably they afraid that we might have a better understanding of how badly we are being screwed by the massive increases in federal spending. Sequestration did NOT cut overall federal spending, it only cut the growth of overall federal spending. If per capita spending was the same as it was when Clinton was spending we would have a budget surplus this year.

Oct 8th - Another Beautiful Day

Today was another awesome fall day.

Lydia and I had a hard day <grin>. First thing in the morning we went varoom varoom (drove the car up to the road, got the newspaper and hooked the empty trash can on the car to bring it back to the house. (It is pretty cool the way the trash can hooks to a hitch ball so that it can be towed up to the road and back.)

After that I did a great job of flooding the chain saw and couldn't get it started, even after pulling the plug, drying it off and reinstalling it. Hopefully it will start in the morning.

We got the tractor (more of Lydia's varoom varoom) and hooked up the log splitter so that I could tow it out back. I've had in in front of the shed to do some work on it. I'm waiting for some Permatex material that is supposed to be good for making an exhaust flange gasket. I still need to pick up some gas line hose and replace a section of it.

I'm sure we did some other things in the morning, just can't remember what.
Below we are coming back to the house after our hard mornings work.

After lunch we vacuumed the motor home. I got on the roof and swept off the slides before pulling them in. I also water in the house batteries. Kathy and Lydia drove the motor home (Lydia was strapped into the passenger seat) and I directed, so that we could back it away from the shed. We put it out back and dumped the tanks (almost all gray water) through a 100' hose I have running out into the woods. We also ran the generator to "exercise" it.

I needed the motor home moved so that I can cut down a dead tree next to the shed. The tree might fall where the motor home was parked, or it might fall partially on the shed. (It is not all that large a tree) I have a big rope (safe working load 1,200#) tied in the tree, up about 12' off the ground. I'm going to put a come-along on it and attach the other end to another tree, in hopes of getting it to fall where I want it to.

Kathy had a dental appointment in California in the morning. She learned that she has an infected tooth. Mid-afternoon she went to Jefferson City to get a prescription filled for an antibiotic. While she went to Jeff Lydia and I had snacks out on the deck. It took a little persuading but she sat on my lap until she went to sleep for an afternoon nap.

Tonights low is supposed to be 47 and then it warms up a little. The good news is that for the next 10 days there is only one day with a high forecast in the 80's, while there are four with forecast highs in the 60's. I like the cooler weather.

I hope you all had as good a day as I did. I am so blessed! May God bless you and yours.

Oct 7th - Cool

It got down into the high 40's last night and is supposed to do the same tonight. The weather yesterday and today was absolutely beautiful.

The church voted unanimously to have our interim Pastor become our full time Pastor, a move Kathy & I are happy about. He and his wife will be a great asset.

I split a little wood by hand this morning. I am getting a little better at it. I sure had lost most of whatever skills I had.

After lunch Lydia and I took a lawn mower ride around the property. We got to watch a turtle high tail it away from the noise of the mower. Turtles can move surprisingly fast when they want to. After that we fed the fish. It was early but today she was going to stay at David and Elaines.

Kathy had choir practice, in Jefferson City, this morning. In the afternoon she had a physical therapy session.

This afternoon I sprayer for bugs and took a long nap. I was good at taking a nap, but I will continue practicing.

Lydia loves watching Wheel of Fortune.

I hope you all had a wonderful day. May God bless you and yours.

Oct 3rd - Happy Birthday Mom

Today is my Mom's birthday, Happy Birthday Mom.

Warm but a nice day here today. High in the mid-80's. Tomorrow's high is supposed to be in the high 80's and then its supposed to cool down dramatically Friday night and Saturday. Hallelujah!

Lydia loves to get into the motorhome. Every time she walks by it she wants to go in.

If I don't let her in she will sit on the "porch" for awhile.

 She isn't afraid to walk anywhere. This is her headed up to the shed and the tractor, mostly the tractor.

 What an angel. Kelsey worked a double shift last night (I think from 3 PM yesterday until around 6 AM this morning). We had Lydia after Andy left for work. Kathy had a checkup appointment with her rheumatologist and then a physical therapy session this morning. All was well with her checkup. I watched Lydia. This is her napping while on my lap. She slept for about an hour and a half.

 I spent an hour pulling out some more "extra" electrical wires in the shed. Lydia is up there more and I'm trying to make sure there are no "live" wires that she could get ahold of.

This afternoon I split a little wood, by hand. I haven't bothered to fire up the log splitter yet this fall. I did this while Lydia was taking her afternoon nap.  Tomorrow, when she is up and around, I will have her "help" me and we will use the tractor to move this into the shed.

I hope you all had a good day. May God bless you and yours.