Farming Days

My farming days are over as of today. Ken will be back home tomorrow and will get to feed his animals himself.

I took Frank into town today. We had to go by the courthouse annex too quality for the homestead exemption and he wanted to vote absentee. There were a lot of people with the same idea and we had to wait in line until it was his turn to vote. I'll be voting by myself November 6th. Next year we won't wait until the last day to absentee vote and it will be better. We didn't know anything about it until we read about it in the paper.

I take the birds to the vet tomorrow and Friday, I'll see Dr. Alexander about my right hip.

I received a package I ordered from Land's End and it was a red coat but it was a size too small. It would have been an excellent addition to my wardrobe if it fit. Maybe I'll keep it to see if Mary Kate can wear it. If not, I can return it to Sear's.

Last Day Tomorrow

Tomorrow will be the last day that I help feed the animals. Ken is coming home Thursday and will take care of them himself. I got the last bowl out of the dog food bag today. It looked like it was just opened when I started helping with the animals. Karen had to lift 50 lb sacks of feed and put them into the steel garbage cans when they would run out. The weather wasn't much colder today than yesterday but the wind was blowing and make if feel like it was colder.

I ordered two pair of blue jeans from Khol's today. I don't have any jeans from last year and I need some jeans. I don't need any more pants now. Hopefully they will fit. They are Lee jeans.

I ordered a cross body purse from Goody's that was 50% off. It should be larger than the black cross body purse I'm carrying now. It's nice not to have to carry a purse and have one of your hands occupied when you're shopping.

I didn't go to the political meeting tonight. I was tired from shopping and decided I knew who I was going to vote for. I would have gone if I had had someone to go with me.

Sis. Harris fell down the stairs and broke her ankle and one of the bones in her lower leg. It was a compound fracture. She'll be in a cast for 3 months and can't put any weight on her leg for that long. I sent her a get well card and she sent a sweet note back to me.

Monday Things

Went to the senior center and over to feed the animals. Ken is coming home Thursday and he will be feeding them then. I bet he will be glad to get back to feeding and taking care of his "buddies".

The leaves are falling and are filling up the ditch out beside the road. After they all fall off, we will have to have Steve rake them up and get them out of the pipe so it won't be clogged up. The burn pile needs to be taken care of, but I don't think it will. We really have to because the fire will be too big if we let it get larger. It has a large tree stump in it now and that will take a long time to burn. I guess we will have to get Bobby to burn the pile for us. I will get them two steaks for helping us do it.

Tomorrow night at Athens State is  a political discussion about the up coming election and I think I will go. I'll have to go by myself because Karen doesn't care for political things. I don't either, but I want to be informed at election time because there are local people on the ballet and at least three amendments and I want to know how to vote on them.

Thursday, I have to take the birds in for a trim and Friday I go see Dr. Alexander about my right hip. It's a busy week.

I don't think I will see Janet this week until after I see the Dr. I really need to start exercising at home again. It's fun after I get started. Going to Curves was helping keep my muscles in shape and I don't do that anymore. I'll get started again after I see the Dr. 

Two Days

Saturday, we cleaned house and I fed the animals, or I helped feed the animals.

Sunday, the choir sang, "Sweet Hour of Prayer". Sophrona played the flute and I played the piano for the choir. The song's accompaniment had large stretches for the left hand and I missed some of the notes. I don't think it was noticeable sing the choir was singing and the flute was playing. I just have to give up the thought of playing without any mistakes. I can play the pieces at home without any mistakes but that's not the case when I perform. I do have more self-confidence and don't get so nervous when I have to play.

We had a bit of cold weather these past two days. It was 46 degrees when I got up Saturday and it was cool this morning. Surely, warmer weather will still be with us. It usually doesn't get really cold until after Christmas.

Travel

Trudy, Sadie and I went to Sheffield and Tuscumbia and Florence today and I narrated as we went along.
 I got your nice gift today! I love the bag. It is too small to be my Sunday music bag...not really, if I don't try to put the pillow in it. I love it. It looks so good. I can use it when I go to Trudy's to spend the night for black Friday. Thank you so much. You can't get it back now. You'll have to pry it out of my cold, dead hands-hahahaha!  It must have cost a lot because it looks so good.

Trudy, Sadie and I went to Sheffield today. We stopped at Hardies in Rogersville and ate lunch. We had some soft taco wraps. I don't really like to eat something that when I take a bite out of one end, food falls out of the other...but I ate it anyway. It cost me $17.00 plus. I wasn't expecting that much from a burger joint.

We drove over Wheeler dam and on to Sheffield that way. We drove through downtown Sheffield and it is almost a ghost town. We went up to the stand pipe-water tank- and looked at the Tennessee river. I told Sadie that my brother and I would look for arrowheads along the banks of the river when we were younger. We stopped by Granddaddy's old house and Trudy took some pictures of it. It's a wonder that it is still standing. She had Grampie's camera. I had my camera too, but I only took one picture.

We drove over to Tuscumbia and I showed them Deshler High School where Granddaddy went to high school and the house he was born in. Then we drove by the court house and on to the old soda shop that's been renewed. Have we been there? I can't think of the name right now. The bathroom walls are papered in old pink receipts. I got a Pepsi with two scoops of Blue Bell ice cream in it with whip cream and a cherry on top. Trudy and Sadie got waffle cones and ice cream.

Then we drove down into Spring Park. Everything was closed but you could see the merry-go-round and the other rides. We went to the cemetery next. I was amazed at how much I have forgotten about the family that's out there. I guess you loose what you don't loose and I'm not into genealogy anymore.

Next, we drove over the old bridge over the Tenn. river and into Florence. We went to UNA and I showed them the old building where the music dept. was when I went there. Sadie recognized that it was the place where they had youth conference last year. She remembered the lions (real beasts) they have in a cage somewhere on campus. After UNA, we drove on home. Sadie had a trunk-or-treat party to go to tonight. She and Maurine made a round, circular skirt out of red satin-like fabric and had a net slip that hung down from the hem. I told Sadie how in the old days, I would wear a net slip that was supposed to poof your skirt out and that it was like sitting on barbed wire or sand paper.

I've worn myself out writing all of this and reliving the memories. Thanks again for the lovely bag. I will have to re-cover my piano bench pillow in a nice wine color like the color of the scarf you had tied onto the handle and I will have a nice ensemble.

Love,

Grannymom

From an email I sent to Mary Kate telling her about our trip and thanking her for a gift.

Travel

I led the exercises and then came back home and we left at 10:00 AM to go to H'ville for a Dr. appointment. On the way home, we stopped at the Wendy's drive through and got two bowls of chili and some spoons. Last time I ate at Wendy's, they had soup spoons for the chili. Frank broke his favorite plastic soup spoon and we thought we would be able to replace it at Wendy's but no. The chili was excellent and we will be eating there more after trips to the Dr.

I practiced the piano. Sophrona and Carrielee are coming over tomorrow morning. Sophrona is learning the flute part on a song we are singing in choir Sunday morning and she wants to practice with the piano. Then Carrielee will have her piano lesson, and I will go over to feed the animals. We're going to the temple tomorrow afternoon.

Friday, Trudy, Sadie and I are going on a field trip to Sheffield, Tuscumbia and Florence and I will show Sadie where I lived and grew up. It will be a fun day and hopefully it won't turn colder.

Bro. Decker sent me a basket made be the natives from where he is staying. It's made of Palm leaves and other grasses and has little shells lining the edges of the basket. Karen had put some chocolate chip cookies in it. It was because I'm helping feed the animals. The animals will really be spoiled by the time he gets back.

O.K. Today

My hip was okay today. I still can feel a bit of pain in it but not like yesterday. It's strange for I have missed my PM meds several times before and never had any pain. Maybe my hip has just gotten worse. I'll see Dr. Alexander in two weeks and get x-rays. I thought of not taking my pain meds before I see the Dr. but I'm afraid that the pain might be too bad for me to drive over to Madison, so I don't think I'll skip the medicine.

Slept in and then went to feed the animals. Karen was out with the chickens. She decided to fix some stones that were next to the chicken coop that the birds pooped on and she had to clean up.
She removed the stones so the chickens will poop on the ground. All was well with the other animals. She was to get some hay delivered today sometime. Ken sent me a beautiful hand woven basket and Karen had filled it with chocolate chip cookies. I ate three on the way home.

What's This?

Did the exercises today and learned that two of the ladies that used to come to the class had died. Erma and Virginia. We didn't know that Virginia was that sick.

While I was home getting ready to go feed the animals, I noticed that my right hip was sending pains down to my knee. I was able to do the work at Karen's but it was getting worse. When I got home, I saw that I had not taken my AM meds so took them then at 12:00 PM. The pain got so bad that I had to uses a cane to walk with. I called Dr. Alexander's office and got an appointment in two weeks. I lay down for an hour and when I got up, I could walk okay. My hip is still a bit sore but I don't have the pain I had. I think the pain medicine that's always in my system ran out and then I felt what I would feel if I weren't taking the medicine. It's time I found out what is going on with my hip.

Work Day

Got up again at 10:00 AM and went to feed the animals at 10:45 AM. Got home at 12:00 PM and fixed lunch. Afterwards, I cooked a pot of goulash. Frank vacuumed and I damp mopped the floors. There was a lot of dust on everything. Frank does a better job of vacuuming than I do. He's more thorough. Watched some football this afternoon. BYU vs. Notre Dame. BYU lost. Alabama is playing Tennessee now. Think I will read instead of watching the game.

Mary Kate has a 31 or 61 party tonight. She emailed me the catalog but they'd have to see it in person to decide if it were large enough for everything to fit. The one I'm using now is rather garish-it has purple and white stripes on it. I'd like something in black.

They're having a indexing party at the church tonight where people who are indexers are bringing their laptops and are working on indexing.   Since I didn't like indexing and am not doing it, I wasn't interested in going. I hope everyone has lots of fun.

Our Primary Program is coming up soon. Hopefully, Bro. Newell is aware of it and will start practicing the songs again. The kids know the songs but we still need to run through them. We'll have one practice in the chapel before the program.       





 

Not Much Today

I had exercise and a piano lesson and feeding the animals but after lunch, I've not done much. I need to go down and practice the piano but I don't want to. Maybe because it's cool in the basement, who knows...(the Shadow knows...).


I have a lot of non-gluten flour and cook books that I'm going to try to sell to Mary Kate. We're back to eating wheat and it doesn't bother us. It was fun while it lasted.

Open House

The open house was very nice. The Primary Choir sang enthusiastically and the choir sang well. Dr. Holzapfel gave a good talk and the church was decorated very nicely. I left after the meeting was over. I brought some refreshments home to Frank. Tomorrow I have exercises, then Carrielee comes for her lesson and then I go to help feed the animals and by 12:00 PM, I'll be through, whew!

I wrote Amazon about 4 books I had ordered and hadn't gotten and they wrote back that they sent me a John Grishom book and another one of his books hadn't come out yet. The other two books they couldn't find on my account. So I found out what happened to the ones that I hadn't gotten. I won't have time to read tonight.

Usual

Did the usual Wednesday things. Exercise class and feeding the animals. Practiced the piano. Tomorrow night is the open house. It starts at 6:30 PM and goes to 8:30 PM. I have to play the piano for the Primary choir and the adult choir. They are singing one song apiece.  We're still enjoying cool Fall weather but I heard that a cold front is coming and we will probably get some rain with it. The trees turn pretty colors and then the wind and rain come and strip the leaves from the trees.

I was letting a Privet plant grow into a tree in the front yard, but realized that if it got as big as the one in the lower orchard that it would grow too large and might block the road, so I'm having Mr. Sims cut it down. He trimmed it last time and it looks better but it will still grow to a large size and I think it's better that it be cut down.

Complete

Frank got my computer all fixed and now everything works.

I went to Karen's to help feed the animals. The goats and ducks had gotten out sometime and she woke up to the animals wandering around the property. She had to coral everyone and get them back inside the fence. The young chickens are growing fast. They are of various colors and there is one black chicken. She got a duck egg today. Bro. Decker sent me an email and said she really appreciated my help. I love doing it. I like to interact with the animals. We get the work done in an hour and then I come home.

Tonight is homemaking meeting at church. Everyone is bringing a book to share and I am bringing several Walmart bags full of books. I have a good selection of church books and National Geographic books. I read on my Kindle now so I don't need any books. I used to love books, but since I can't read them anymore, I don't need to keep them.

I've practiced the piano a couple of times today. The open house is two days away and the choir is singing one song and the Primary is singing one song. Hopefully enough children will show up to have a choir.

My friend Wanda fell and broke her back. She called the other day and told me about it. I called her today but she was asleep. She has to wear a back brace and take pills for the pain. Sometime this week I will try to go and see her.

At Last

My last entry was after the Fiddler's Convention and then the hard drive on my computer died. I had to take the computer to the Apple store in H'ville and they told me the hard drive was bad. It's 5 years old and time for a new hard drive. Frank ordered one online and got it the next day and he installed it and spent the next 2 days formatting the new hard drive. It's working now and I hope it will continue to work right.

When I was over at Karen's helping feed the animals, she found a dead goat. The goat had tried to eat some hay that was high up and somehow hung herself. She had a baby that refused to leave the body of the mother. The baby is old enough to be without the mother. I wanted to stay with Karen until the man came too bury the goat, but I had to get back home to help Frank and couldn't stay. I really enjoy helping feed the various animals. Ken will still be gone about 3 weeks. They haven't launched the rocket yet and it will be a while after that that he will be able to come home.

Talked to Mary Kate tonight. They had been in Atlanta today with Sophia trying out for a state choir. There were only 55 slots and kids from all over Georgia were trying out. It was good for her to try out whether she gets it or not. I'm proud of her. Trudy and Sadie are coming over Tuesday morning after Seminary to look at some books I'm getting rid of. I have lots of books I'm deleting. I can't read fine print anymore and Frank won't read them, so why keep them?

Fiddler's Convention

I had done the exercises at the senior center and had stopped by the bank and Walmart and was checking out at Goody's when Ruth called me. They were at the same shopping center as I was. I saw them but I had to come home and but the groceries in the house and tell Frank I was going. We ate lunch at Hardy's and then got into their 2011 Toyota van. Boy, is it nice.

We parked over by the Baptist church and walked over to the Athens State campus. Bubba sat and read a book while Ruth and I walked around the different booths. I bought an owl necklace and two pair of earrings. We got some Kettle Korn and ate some of it while we listened to the Riders in the Sky sing. We were sitting several feet from two big speakers and it was very loud. We left at 4:45 PM. It was a fun day. It was good to see family. At one booth where I got my necklace, the lady told us of a place to go in H'ville to a craft fair. Ruth and I will go sometime next month.

My new florescent light I ordered from Amazon came today. I have the Prime Advantage and things ship within two days and there's not shipping cost. Of course, I pay $79.00 and year for this good service. We order from Amazon a lot.

Lesson

Carrielee came for her piano lesson today. She hadn't practiced, but we worked on some music anyway. They will be moving into another house in a week or two and after they get settled maybe she'll be able to practice more. I enjoy having her as a student.

There was a new feeding arrangement with the goats today. They were eating with the horses and were eating the horses food too, so Karen put up a goat feeder rack on the fence. It is about 6' long and has little places where the goats can fit their mouths and get the food which has been placed in the bottom of the feeder. It keeps the horses from eating the goats food and keeps the goats out of the horse food. The horses eat slower than the goats. The little chickens that we moved to a larger pen discovered that they could go outside in the run. Soon, they will be spending most of their time outside.

I'll not be able to help with the animals tomorrow. Bubba and Ruth are coming up to the Fiddler's Convention and we are going to have lunch together. I have the senior center tomorrow and then need to run by the bank and maybe to Walmart for some groceries. It should be a fun day.

Wednesday

Led the exercises, went home, then to Karen's to help feed the animals. We moved the small chickens to an adjacent pen which was larger and they have an access to the outside. They weren't sure of going outside but maybe by tomorrow they will be used to it. I had to leave at 12:00 PM because Frank had had a bad morning and I wanted to be home to get him lunch.

My legs felt like they were feeling the weight I've gained. I lay down to read for a little while but my florescent light over the bed went out. I ordered a new light and fixture from Amazon and it will be here in 2 days. I had had the light for several years and wasn't surprised that it went out. I looked on Lowes and Mews sights on the computer, but they didn't have anything and Amazon did. In fact, after I typed in what I wanted, it went right to the light I wanted. I love Amazon. 

Practice

I practiced the piano this morning for about an hour. We sang last week and will have to sing in another two week for the open house. I'm practicing on the number we will so at Thanksgiving and I have two Christmas pieces that I'm working on. I hope the choir director chooses easier music the next time she gets music!

The sky was overcast all day, but we didn't get any more rain. We fed the animals and all was well with them. Ken will be an extra 5 days from coming home. They don't even have return flight tickets. He thought it would only be 6 weeks but I was thinking 2 months. I have no idea about how long he will be gone. Karen seems to be taking it in stride. I know she must be getting a little lonely by now.

It's getting pretty closes to the national election. About a month away. Mitt Romney must beat Obama or we are really in for a terrible time with our country. He's really just a figurehead and not a good one at that. Hopefully, people will see a clear choice between the two candidates.

Rain

The car was looking a little dusty so I wanted it to rain. It rained over night and rained today while we were feeding the animals. I had taken my raincoat with me and Karen had given me a visor to wear to keep any rain out and I surely needed it. I had to empty the feed containers before I could put the feed into them. It started raining while we were out in the open. We finished up and went inside the building to do the chickens and dogs. The goats get into the pens in the building when it rains and make a mess to be cleaned up. The horses get under the trees and the loose chickens cuddle up to the building where the roof over-hang protects them from the rain.

Frank woke up with a fever this morning. I wasn't sure if I was going to get to go to exercise, but I got his breakfast and Rx in him and got him back to bed. Afterwards, I had some feelings of anxiety that I couldn't place until I remembered he was sick.

I've got beans cooking and chicken legs in the crock pot. The chicken has been sitting in the refrigerator for a while and I was afraid it night be bad but it wasn't. I got all 6 legs in the crock pot and put it on "high" and hopefully it will be ready for supper.

The Fiddler's Convention is coming up this Friday and week-end. My brother and sister-in-law will be coming up and we will eat lunch together and then go walking around the Fiddler's Convention. They have craft booths and it is a lot of fun to walk around and possibly find things to buy. The music starts Friday evening at 4:00 PM. We usually stay for an hour and then leave. It makes for a good visit and choice afternoon.