Sitten here at Discovery Beach Resort in the exersize room, it's 90 outside, much better in here. Timmy has swim trunks on and begging to go to the pool. Problem is, I have to go out there with him and just sit and bake. I've already baked my feet so now I can't get them in the sun, bummer.We need someone his age for him to hang out with, he wants to go, go, go, to the pool or the beach, all the time. A man was fishing on the beach and gave Tim a smallish fish he caught. Kenny brought it up to our place on the 7th fl. and cleaned it. Now Tim has 4 little finger size strips to try out. Talk later.

Saturday

Shooooeeeee, puff puff, pant, pant! Just made 5 trips up and down the hill without stopping. Gotta sit a spell. Picked blueberries today. Arrived at the 10 acre patch around 8:00 this morning and didn't leave till 4:00. Picked nonstop except for one much needed pit stop. The picking wasn't as easy today. A couple weeks ago I could pick by the hands full. Today went much slower, had to hunt and pick one or two at a time, much smaller too. I picked 31 lbs @ 2.oo a lb. Picked on other days, 47 lbs one day, 22, 31, and 22 lbs on different days. Of those I froze, we ate some and shared some. Good eating. This last bunch are to eat on and share. I'll be sorry to see them go. I've picked every year since Timmy was a toddler. He didn't like to pick then and don't like to pick now, but does like to eat them. I saw a little hand full in the store for $3.00 for either 1 or 2 cups. Can't imagine paying that much for so little. It's late again, good night.

Hi Y'all, just a line to let ya know I'm still kicken. Been busy putting a new roof on the house. Finally put the last shingle on today, glory be! Now wouldn't ya know, he wants to paint it, NOW! Oh my stars! No rest for the weary. Yes, I was weary. After bending over for hours this morning, trying to beat the sunshine, hurrying like crazy, I could hardly stand or walk. We then had to hurry to recycle to empty the load of old shingles. That wasn't fun either, picking them all up by hand and slinging them up over the top of the BIG dumpster, in the hot sunshine. Any way, Honey bought me a real, bonafide banana split at the Curbette afterwards so that was a nice reward and treat. Now it's close to 1:30 am and I need reviving again so I'd best lay my head to rest. Nighty night.

These branches don't look very big here but they're bigger than they look. They were big enough to knock plaster off of the ceiling and off of the nail heads.

Ice

Ice..

And more ice.
Looking towards the Overlook Restaurant in Leavenworth. Look close and you'll see it. Looking down on the Ohio River.

Near our driveway.

Walking up the driveway to his truck. He's halfway up here.

A lone doe seen often hanging around near the house, bedding down at times.

Too crowded!

The hungry birds ate most of a 50 lb. bag of sunflower seeds during the week of the ice storm. Counted 30 birds in one picture like this.


A slick path up the hill.

Another view towards the Overlook.

Timmy walking up the driveway.
A cool, cool, seat. See the pine tree that fell over in the background.

Cool, cool, cheeks! Standing beside the pine that fell over from the snow and ice.

I finally got these on, thanks Ruth for your help.

I guess we all have our own story about the ice storm and power outage. It was freezing and drizzling on Monday evening, Hubby took his truck up to the top of the hill before bedtime. The cold wet stuff just kept falling and freezing, falling and freezing. We all went to bed as usual, I went last and reported to Kenny about midnight that sleet was a big factor in the mix. It wasn't long and the phone rang requesting his presence at work. I went back to bed after seeing him off, walking up the iced over driveway in the dark. Was shortly awakened by a scary, eerie sound, wind and popping, snapping trees, too close for comfort. I jumped up, ran to Timmy's room, routed him up and we made haste for the basement. Now living in the big woods, with big, TALLLLL trees just feet from the house is no fun at 2:00 am. with the power already out and no hubby around, no cell phone service, electric line, laden with ice and broke in two, the temperature falling inside and out, the wind chimes going crazy outside the window and the amplified sound of great timbers, heavy with ice, crashing to the ground around you. You feel so small and helpless, like an ant must feel on a busy New York sidewalk during rush hour, it must find shelter fast but where? No spot is safe amid the thundering, pounding feet of the masses. Poor little ant, I now know how he must feel, like we did, huddled under the covers in the spare bed in the basement. All of a sudden the house shook and a sickening sound met my ears.Timmy was fast asleep by this time, thank goodness. My heart was in my mouth and I could just picture a big hole in the roof as I lay there, as if I could see in the dark, too scared to go look, but also to unsafe to go look. I wasn't about to go upstairs. My little flashlight would only make eerie shadows anyway and at any moment another could come crashing down.That gives the heart a workout, it pounds pretty good, not good good, but you know what I mean, fast and loud. But wait, there is a Place to go, into the Sheltering arms of Jesus. Another big thud was heard somewhere upstairs and this time it woke Timmy. So, together we went to the Lord in prayer, ask for His sheltering arms around us, His pavilion over us and His guardian angels to camp around about us. We talked to those tall, tall trees and told them to stay put in their place, in no uncertain terms, that we were off limits to their reach. We quoted and claimed the verse,...There shall no evil befall us, neither shall any plague come nigh our dwelling. For He has given His Angels charge over us to keep us in all our ways.... You bet we did, and He did too. We presently settled down and went sleep, I slept off and on. The freezing drizzle and sleet kept up it's relentless siege, all night long. Before daylight, the temperature dropped low enough to turn the drizzle to snow, after EVERYTHING was solidly and heavily encased in a THICK coat of ice. About 5:00 I was awakened by the sound of a loud rushing wind accompanied by trees snapping right and left, one right after another. It sounded like a war zone outside. I guess that movement of the wind in the trees was the last straw and the heaviest ones just couldn't take any more strain. Dawn soon arrived, not soon enough for me, but it did arrive.You've heard the song, 'The darkest hour is just before the dawn.' The daylight was a welcome sight after a long night. We bundled up in layers of cloths after crawling from under warm covers. We ate bread and peanut butter, cookies, chips, whatever we didn't have to heat up, couldn't open the frig. I kept hoping Kenny would stop in and dig the generator out. Meanwhile he was having troubled of his own. Trees down everywhere he turned, couldn't get around, roads blocked, lines down, quite a mess. Finally after about 18 hours with no power, I had to figure out a way to get to the generator and get it over to a plug in. I managed that much but just couldn't pull the starter rope hard enough to get it going. Kenny called home for an update, said he couldn't make it by so he called Jimmy and had him come from Corydon to start it. I spent the next three days alternating the refrigerators and freezers, trying to keep them cold. Thank God for generators. We bought ours at a yard sale not far from home two summers ago and put it to good use several times since. The third day, a State Police walked down the hill to ask if we were OK or needed anything. Saw Kenny a very short time the whole week. He said while out on the job, several people stopped along the road where they were working and thanked them for restoring their phone service. The second night, Tim and I were sitting at the table about 9:00, had candles and 2 oil lamps lit, reading his book when another big crash hit the roof over the living room. I let out a scream and Timmy let out a yell and flew towards the basement door. That one was practically over our heads. We put out the candles and headed down stairs to bed. It's over a week later now, and just last night it was 50 degrees, the last of the ice melted off enough for Kenny to get on the roof today to inspect it. Wouldn't you know, there was no damage he could see, Praise the Lord! Well, it's after 1:00am so I'm saying good-night and I'll post pictures later.

LETS TRY THIS AGAIN

Walking In A Winter Wonderland

Welcome Libby [Granny Riggs]

This picture is just an update for Libby.

Wow, Sweet 16 T'was the year of 1948

Thought you might like to see this picture. Found it at Mom's. Even Grandpa and Grandma were young once. Is that Daddy's first car? The caption reads, At uncle Alberts, 1948

And a few years later there were three little girls.

Watching for the returning Orbiter

Sat with Bea today for mom. Poor lady, she is so bored. She begged for me to let her wash dishes. Saw 14 deer out her big picture window, running through the park. Stepped out to leave after dark and SURPRISE, everything was white. It took about an hour to get home instead of the usual 30 minutes. I started to drive down the hill in first gear, very, very slowly, but started sliding. I put it in reverse, hoping to back up, it would only go a few inches at a time but I got it back on the level and parked it.

Now I can take the Christmas tree down, the last two grand kids came over for their gifts. The 5 year old was tickled pink with his second gift, a box of popcorn, all his own. His face lit up like the Christmas tree and his smile went from ear to ear and then some.

Bask in the warmth of Florida.

There's no place like home on a day like this. Only ventured outside to fill the bird feeders, empty the trash and set the tea and scalloped potatoes out on the rail to cool. The sunshine streaming in the windows was nice.
Timmy got up early and went with Jenny on her bus route while I kept Quigley. Quig sat on the counter and helped me make up a concoction for the birds. We mixed peanut butter, raisins, black oil sunflowers seeds, old expired cornbread mix, millet, oats and a little strawberry jam to sweeten it up. Mixed it good then put it in a plastic mold to shape and set it out for the birds. Didn't get to check and see if they liked it.
Jenny came back after Quig and said that the school superintendent radioed her on the bus and told her to check and see if there was a kid that didn't get off the bus at school. She stopped at T-Mart to check every seat, thought maybe one was hiding. She radioed back, said all she found was a hat and a glove. He said it was reported to him that a child didn't get off the bus. It had to have been Timmy they saw. He told her to call him back on the phone later. Tim has ridden half a dozen times with her. She said the rules say that any school age child can ride the bus so that's what she was going by. She picks up some Amish kids and transports them to their school area. We'll see what becomes of it.
Well I have four kids to put up for the night, guess I'll put them all 'in Grandma's feather bed.' I hear one crying, and the others all wound up tight, running and hollering, having a big time. One says he's starving, he can't go to bed, one just crawled up in my lap crying, said she don't want to go to bed, she's hiding from Papaw. Now another says she's thirsty and they are arguing about who is sleeping in the middle and who gets the edge. Guess I better go be Grandma. Good Night.

Thanks Ruth for the 'new' old pictures. Here's a few I found packed away. Taken with my old Brownie camera I'm holding. My dress was canary yellow.

.

Hi Y'all,
Spent a couple days with Bea, Timmy opted to spend his time at Sarah Beth's, can't imagine why. Bea had good days, slept all night and part of the day while I was there, thank God.
We cut a few trees in the side yard and Kenny spent yesterday cutting and loading them into the pickup. He and Timmy are delivering it to Gary's tonight for firewood. That leaves me a little down time. I need to be taking down Christmas decorations, writing a couple letters, wrapping a box to be mailed........so here I sit, and with a blank mind at that. Oh, the doctor called Mom and gave her the good news that her shoulder wasn't broken after all. He thought it was but the X-ray tech said no, that what they thought was a break was the scar from the last break. She's so sore but that will work it's way out in time. She spent last night with Bea after we put her to bed, I need to call and see how she faired.
Well, I'm still drawing a blank so I'll just post a few pictures Sarah ask for and call it a night.

Home Again

Took the last 11 days off and went to Florida. Have no pictures to share as of yet. When we got home last night, my new camera was sitting on the trunk of the car, along with Timmy's last set of 60 lessons. No, we didn't forget them, UPS brought them while we were gone. Wish the camera had been just a few days earlier and I could have taken it with me. Hubby put in the last 35 years of his life, working for Verizon Phone Co. and the digitalCanon PowerShot camera is my Christmas gift from him. He let me pick any gift I wanted from his anniversary catalog so, now I'm up to speed with the rest of you. I dropped in it's batteries late last night but that's as far as I had time to look at it. Help, Ruth, I need you!
It was cold the whole time we were there, folks said it was 10 degrees below normal.. It was 45 some mornings, windy, warmed to maybe 60 or 65 but the wind made it feel colder. Kenny and Timmy got in the pool while I reclined in a pool chair, under shirt, knit shirt, flannel shirt, and 2 big long pool towels layed over me, trying to get out of the wind. Didn't work, I stood it for a little while then retreated back to our warmer room on the second floor. That was another bummer, too low to have a good view. Couldn't see the beach this time but could see the water farther out. The bushes, grass and greenery was too high to see over but we could still hear the waves crashing. Out in the distance we saw a couple submarines, fishing boats and cruise ships coming and going. someone told Kenny that you can see 300 miles out over the water at the point where it starts going down where you can't see it any more. 300 miles? Go figure. Gotta run Hubby will be home soon and I don't have a thing fixed for supper.

Just a Quick note.

Yes, I'm still here. It's after midnite and hubby is asleep on the couch. He got Gracie to sleep watching HI HO [Disney sing a long]. She's on the big bed and Timmy is upstairs in his bed.
I've been busy putting up applesauce, some with redhots in it for Timmy. I'll post my canning list when I get all done with everything this fall, still have pears coming up then maybe I can breath easier. Last week I had maybe 3 bushel or more sitting on the livingroom floor, all in boxes and bags. I'd put them outside at night to keep them cool then haul them back in in the morning and cover them up with blankets to retain the cold. That was a job, they were heavy. It made me weary just to look at them. The big wind storm we had blew them off of the neighbor's trees and there were so many on the ground I couldn't walk without stepping on them. It was a loss for them but a God send for me. They said I could pick up all I wanted, so I did, nice big beautiful, worm free apples, BEAUTIFUL. There were maybe 6 or 7 different kinds so I mixed them all up for applesauce. He grafts his own trees, has 3 different kinds growing on one tree. They also gave me a good amount of red plums and 2 flats of good purple plums. Made some jam and canned some after sharing with mom.
Had a break today from cutting apples. Cleaned house, Jenny made supper and brought it over for Kenny's birthday, big 57. Made two fresh apple cakes this week, one for Kenny and one for the freezor. Gotta get off this chair, my back is screamingggggggggggg! Nitie nite.

Had a nice visit tonight with Rachel. Parked her truck at the truck stop and Tim and I took her home for supper. We then walked up the hill to check out our new blacktop, visited some then took her back to the truck for a treck on home to E-Town. Sent her home with some frozen corn, blueberries and ripe plums.

Been Busy.

Hope I can get through this before I fall of the chair. Canned Mom 20 quarts of tomatoes last night till 3:15 AM then slept till 7:15. Got up and fixed breakfast for hubby and wanting so much to go back to bed, even told Hubby not to get Tim up yet 'cause I's goin back to bed for a bit. He left and I started looking through cookbooks for a recipe to put in the crock pot 'cause I didn't want to spend 3 hours cooking supper. Remembered I had a half bushel of fresh green beans in the frig that needed worked up, also a half bushel of apples and 2 pecks of plums. Also Tim's lesson takes all day of hard pushing, so I told myself to just suck it up and wake up, didn't have time for the bed. Fixed oats with maple syrup, brown sugar and cinnamon for breakfast then started in on lesson #19's paper work. Worked awhile and mom called, said the apples were screaming for attention, the deer, bees and birds were helping themselves and we needed to get some worked up. Loaded up Tim and his lesson and headed for Shady Creek Farm, East of English. Saw daddy in the barn, digging? Walked in the house expecting Mom to be busy, busy. She's sitting at the table, relaxed, with a book? I ask what was up? She says they had a disaster just after she talked to me. Said daddy was backing the tractor in the barn with a load of water in the trailer and clipped the water hydrant with the bucket. Busted the pipe off under ground and had a major water leak. Had to shut off the water at the pump house, had no water in the house to do apples so Mom was taking it easy. I took over the digging in the heavy sticky mud till we found the problem. It was broke in a good spot, thank the Lord. Daddy went to the hardware and got a piece to fix it, so I did. A person don't know how blessed they are with running water, till they don't have it anymore. Screwed the new end cap on the pipe and WOW! We had water again! Just capped it off and left the hole open for now, can fix it back later. Covered it over with plywood and set an old wash tub on it for decoration, how's that for 'Getten'er Done?' We tied in to the apples and cut like crazy. Washed and peeled them and the applesauce was white and pretty. We finally left around dark and headed home. Dear ol Hubby had a Blizzard from Dairy Queen waiting for us. Yum, Yum good.
Also froze 6 1/2 five gal. buckets of corn, which translates to 70 bags for the freezer.
Gotta get up and fix orange juice for breakfast. So Long.

Good Time, Girls?

Well, did anyone of you ladies have a good time on Mom's birthday? Glad you put it all together girls, it was a wonderful idea, and we actually pulled it off without a hitch. For cousin Jeanie, this is what we did. Had someone fill in for mom at Bea's, girls met at Mom and Dads then drove on over to my house. We all piled in our chiriot [Dad and Tim also] and we drove to Jeffersonville to Derby Dinner Playhouse for Moms birthday surprise. Rachel met us there also. We had a nice buffet, all we cared to eat, and all the coffee we could drink. Desert was extra, way extra. The Hummingbird cake looked devine, [looks are deceiving though] so we ordered two generous slices to share amoung us. We were stuffed so didn't want a whole piece. It wasen't what it looked like. I'm a sweet eater and I didn't like it either. Daddy had mounds of strawberry shortcake, or more like mounds of whipped topping, and Sharon ordered a Brownie Supreme, a moist chocolate brownie, piled high with creamy vanilla icecream, pour on gobs of ooey-gooey hot fudge and a mountain of whipped cream and there you have it. Anyway, tables were cleared and a cast of seven very good actors performed the play "Smoke On The Mountain Homecoming." It was very nice and we all enjoyed it emencly. It was nice that we could all manage to get together again, especially for moms birthday. Here's a little something I wrote afterwards to send to Rachel on her birthday the following week.

SO GLAD YOU CAME TO VISIT,
TO GRACE OUR FAMILY TIES.
HOW NICE TO SAY HELLO,
HOW HARD TO SAY GOODBYES.

WE'LL HAVE TO MEET AGAIN,
SOMEHOW, REAL SOON
TO SHARE AND LAUGH AND TALK AND EAT,
BEFORE THE NEXT 'BLUE MOON'

TILL THEN WE'LL HAVE TO KEEP IN TOUCH,
BY PHONE, OR NOTE OR LETTER,
BUT MEETING FACE TO FACE AGAIN,
WOULD BE EVEN BETTER.

That goes out to all of you who drove the distance to 'Keep in Touch.' LOVE TO ALL

Yes, believe it or not, I'm still here. Think I've messed my page up, somehow, I have to go through a setup that I've not had to go through before today. I installed 'Realplayer' to go to a kids program, didn't like what I saw so I've sat here a couple hours trying to get it out. Finally uninstalled it and also lost my direct way to the bloggs. Just hope I didn't mess up hubby's page. He don't like me installing things and messin up the computer. Any way, took Little Britches to the last day of CARES program at the school, stopped at 2 yardsales, visited a neighbor, made orange goatmilk icecream [with orange Koolaid and orange Jello] and waisted the rest of my day trying to outsmart this computer. I had plans for 'My Day' but they didn't pan out.
Little Britches has completed 5 lessons in his second grade program. We started a little early on purpose. Would have been three weeks ahead but had a couple little boys staying the last two weeks to go to Bible school with him. It was their first time inside a church and they really likes it. They are 7 and 8 years old and Tim had a blast with them here. I was ready to run away.
I thank God for the rain we had, a tad less then 1 inch, but still a much needed rain. Hubby planted soybeans over at the farm, about 15 acers, and the rain was a Godsend. He planted 'no till' on a hilly old cow pasture so now we are waiting for a guy to go spray to kill all the pasture grass. I ask the Lord to send rain, bless the crop abundently and make it prosper. So, that rain was just what I ask for and I'm believing for a good harvest. PTL!
Oh how I need to get up and dust, sweep, gussy up my hair, fix supper, go pick up Tim, prepare the papers for the rest of his lesson tonight, stir the icecream in the making, .............. there's no end to it...............................So Long.