April 30th - Back in Tennessee

I drove back to TN today. The trip was uneventful. Drove through some mist a couple of times but no real rain. Kathy decided to stay in Missouri. I plan on being here for about a week. Don't have anything that I have to get done but I do want to clear out some of the brush along the road. It rained a LOT here the past couple of days. I may try planting some more grass seed. Some of what I planted last trip has come up but we still have some big bare spots.

I haven't posted much for awhile so below are some recent photos.

This girl likes her soup. She doesn't want to waste any of it.

 

She was tickled to get a package from her Gpa's in Indy. She had left her Bass Pro ball cap in Anthony's car when they were out over Easter. He mailed it back to her.

Below are two old photos showing the bamboo along the dam and side of our yard.

The two photos below are the "after" photos, after cutting down most of the bamboo.

Next I need to start removing the scrub trees, anything less than 3" in diameter, to give the real trees some room to grow. It should also open up our view.

This is the first year that we have seen the dogwoods bloom on our Missouri property. We have quite a few of them.

Andy, Kelsey, Kathy & Lydia have been mushroom hunting several times. Andy found one during one outing and Kelsey found one during another outing.

Time for bed.

May God bless you and yours.

April 16th - Ben Carson Good

We enjoyed getting to hear Dr. Ben Carson's talk yesterday. One interesting point that he made was that we ALL must show more tolerance when listening to others points of view. The examples he gave are people being labeled as "anti-women's rights" because they happen to believe that unborn children should have a chance at life; or being labeled as racists because they oppose issues supported by liberal/progressive blacks; or being labeled a homophobe because they support the traditional definition of marriage. I bought one of his books and look forward to reading it. The examples he gave were of "labels" that conservatives get, if I thought about it I bet the same holds true for "labels" we conservatives use to on liberals/progressives.

Our flowering trees are beautiful again this year.

This morning I cut up some limbs that had fallen over the past few months and cut down a small (9" diameter trunk), dead tree. It made enough wood to stack one row across the back of my truck. Lydia came out and helped me put the wood in the building that houses the boiler. I had cut up some small stuff and when unloading I put it down on the tail gate for her to carry to the shed. Every time she would finish with what I had put on the tail gate I would put down a few more pieces and she would say, "Thank You".

After lunch her and I laid down for a nap. It is kind of funny because it always takes at least a half hour before she calms down enough to go to sleep. I'm laying there pretending to be asleep and she is talked to her doll, talking to herself, etc. Then she will start poking her fingers in my nose or my ears or trying to lift my eye lids, until she finally gets me to tell her to quit. Finally, all of a sudden, she will be sound asleep.

After my "nap" I went back out and dropped a big tree. Well I tried to drop a big tree. it hung up in another tree and it took quite a while before I managed to get it on the ground. During the morning I had done some clearing in the area so that I could get my tractor close to the tree. Between jerking it around with a chain and pushing on it with the bucket I was finally able to get it down. It was pretty tall. A chunk of it is floating in the pond.

I got this much cut up and loaded on the trailer before I, not the chain saw, ran out of gas. The pieces across the front are far to heavy for me to lift. I rolled them into the bucket on the tractor and used it to get them on the trailer.

I still have this much to cut up. I'm guessing, but I think the trunk is still about 18" in diameter at this point.

I'm going to have to quit procrastinating and get the pump off my splitter so that I can take it in for repairs. I need to start splitting this big stuff and get it in wood shed. I'm still far short of what we will need for next winters heating.

Kathy and Lydia came out after Lydia got up. Lydia doesn't like the noise from the chain saw but she sure likes being out to watch what is happening.

I hope you all enjoyed your day as much as I enjoyed mine. Life is good, thank you Lord. May God bless you and yours.

April 14th - Back in Missouri

I left TN a little after 6 this morning. I arrived home around 3:30. Traffic was good except in Nashville. I hit Nashville during the morning rush hour and was in stop and go traffic a couple of times. I drove through a lot of light rain/mist and then snow. It was in the mid 60's when I left TN. It was warm enough that I ran the AC for part of the trip. By the time I hit MO the temp was in the 30's. By the time I got home it was 33. None of the snow "stuck" on the ground, the ground was to warm, but it did snow pretty hard some of the time.

I had a great time while in TN and look forward to going back in a few weeks. The "other side of the coin" is that the homecoming reception I received from Lydia filled my heart with joy.

Tomorrow Kathy and I have tickets to attend a luncheon where Dr. Ben Carson is supposed to speak. I can't wait to hear him. If you haven't heard about him check him out online at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Carson

May God bless you and yours.

April 12th - Took the Day Off

Today, and the past three days, have been beautiful. I took today off, and may do the same tomorrow. I did pressure wash the exterior of the "cabin" to get rid of the mold/green stuff on the vinyl siding. This morning Tom & I went to the Men's Breakfast at the Lutheran church.

The previous three days Mary Lou & I cut, split and stacked wood. While we were doing this Tom was trying to not get further behind with his lawn mower repair/sales business.

The refrigerator, that I brought from Missouri, is in the cabin and seems to be running OK.

Tomorrow/Sunday is supposed to be another beautiful day. We are supposed to get thunderstorms on Monday and possibly more rain on Tuesday. Still looks like I will head back to Missouri on Monday.

April 9th - Nice morning in TN

I arrived at our place in TN a little after 6 last evening. The drive is long, almost 600 miles, but it didn't seem to bad. I stopped a couple of times for short breaks and did some grocery shopping in Crossville.

No rain in the forecast until next Monday & Tuesday. After today highs are forecast to be in the low 70's with lows in the high 40's or low 50's. Today's high is only supposed to be 60 with a low tonight in the high 30's.

Time to get out and get some stuff unloaded off my truck and then go down to Tom & Mary Lou's to catch up.

Hope you all have/had a great day. May God bless you and yours.

April 7th - Nothing Exciting Here

Saturday I spent several hours grading the driveway to get rid of the ruts left after the recent heavy rains. The total rainfall at our house was over 7". Both the gage on the deck and another one out in the yard showed over 7". I also split a tractor bucket full of wood, by hand, and moved it next to the boiler.

Sunday was a lazy day. We basically took the day off. The Sunday School lesson was about the Sabbath being a required day of rest and we decided to do just that.

Monday
Lydia, Kathy & I went to Jefferson City in the morning. I bought oil and a filter for my truck and Kathy & Lydia picked up a few groceries. Then it was back home. We didn't even stay in town long enough to have lunch.

I changed the oil in my truck and loaded it for my trip to TN. The largest item is a refrigerator that Andy helped me set up in the bed last night. I also burned 4 small brush piles that were the trash left from some trees I had cut down. Kathy watched Lydia today. Kelsey worked 10 AM - 10 PM. Andy came home for supper but went over to help Jack install some leather seats in a car. He got back home a few minutes after 10.

Tomorrow morning I head for TN. I'm not looking forward to the drive but I am looking forward to spending some time in TN.

Time for me to get to bed. May God bless you and yours.

April 3rd - RAIN!!!

Since Tuesday night we have had nearly 5" of rain. We really needed rain, but we didn't need to come so fast. The water level in our pond went up over 30", to the point where it overflows, in just hours. The 8" overflow pipe can't carry all the water trying to get out of the pond. Water is flowing over the dam "spillway" that is above the overflow pipe, and starting to wash out the pipe.

Thunderstorms are still popping up. We just got another burst of rain. High today is supposed to be 78. It will be STEAMY.

Lydia has enjoyed the puddles. Kathy took this photo while they were out yesterday.

Yesterday morning I went to the YMCA for the first time since Feb 20th. I was stunned as how quickly I lost a lot of the conditioning gains I had made. I reduced the amount of weight on all the machines and I'm still sore this morning. After using the weight machines I was so wore out that I only did 30 minutes on the treadmill.

Yesterday afternoon I tried out my weedeater/brush cutter with a chisel blade. I LOVE IT! Last summer I bought a Stihl FS90 with a double shoulder harness. It is a great tool!

This week I bought a chisel tooth circular saw blade for it. Yesterday afternoon I cut the brush and small trees along 300' of our north property line and 200' of our east line. It cuts 2" trees with ease. I had complained that the only "problem" with it was that the gas tank was to small, but I managed all this on less than a tankful. Only 1,200' more property line to clear.

Some of the property line that I cleared is to steep for my tractor, and probably to steep to use something like a DR mower on it. If I ever get all of it cleared it may not be to difficult to keep clear just using the FS90.

Time to get out and about. May God bless you and yours.

April 1st - Not Much Happening, But...

Nothing special happened today but I had to post a photo. Kathy met with the Centertown Ladies group for lunch today, while Lydia and I stayed home. Lydia finished eating lunch before Kathy left and we just played around for awhile before nap time. I laid down with her at noon, no complaints from her, and by 12:20 she was asleep (it routinely takes at least a half hour for her to go to sleep).

As far as activities go, Kathy spent her morning cleaning, and watching Lydia, while I cut down another small dead tree. In the afternoon I ran maybe half a tank of gas through the weed eater doing some cleanup.

One interesting event occurred. Someone had told Kelsey that she needed to call Century Link, the local phone/internet supplier, and tell them she wanted a cheaper rate. She doesn't have phone/internet service since they are living with us, but she has mentioned it to me a couple of times. Our bill had crept up dramatically while we have lived here. I called them this morning to complain and with hardly any conversation the lady dropped our bill by $30/month. After I then did some whining she dropped it another $5/month. She made sure that I understood that this was a "promotional discount" and that it would end in 12 months if I didn't call back in then and ask for the cheaper rate.

We did get a little rain late this afternoon, and a small amount of BB size hail. This evening we have had a couple of good, but short, showers. We can certainly use it. Thunderstorms are in the forecast for the next 2 days. We certainly need more rain.

PS: Part of my daily Scripture reading today was the 73rd Psalm. God used that reading to remind me that my often negative Letters to the Editor, the ones about people whose irresponsible behavior has created hardships for them, do hurt some people. The people I would like to "hear" the message probably either never read the Letters, or they could care less about their irresponsibility. The very people who I think worthy of a helping hand (if only we could make a connection), the ones who have some understanding of the concept of personal accountability, are the ones who are hurt by my comments.

PPS: As I wrote the above God reminded me that we are all sinners who fall FAR short of "measuring up" to the standard of Jesus Christ. (The Good News is that Christ died for our sins and offers us a place in Heaven if we only accept His free gift. Romans 3:23 & 6:23) God loves those who my "worldly self" considers unworthy. He loves them just as much as he loves me. While, as Scripture tells us, they may be blind and deaf when it comes to hearing the truth of the Word, they are still worthy of being loved. This is a task that I find totally impossible to do on my own. Without the help of Jesus I don't have a chance of loving all people, as He commands.

May God bless you and yours.