May 22, 2008

Carly and Dominick and The Zebra Strings went to Branson last week and played at The Pressleys, The Haygoods and The Dick Clark shows. Emily and I went with Drew, Rebecca and Caitlyn and enjoyed watching the kids and the shows. We left on Wednesday morning and came back on Sunday. Saturday night we went to The Shepherd Of The Hills outdoor drama. We had seats down front and really enjoyed the play.

April 25, 2008

On Wednesday night we had a bad storm come through our area. There was high wind and blinding rain with a small amount of hail. About 7:30 pm the electricity went out. Rebecca and Drew had gone to Burleson a little earlier and had a difficult time getting home because of the hard rain. Emily called Rachel to see how they were doing and Rachel said that they still had electricity. Since our power comes off the same line as Rachels down in the woods, I figured that our problem must be local. Sure enough, when I got a flashlight and went outside to survey the situation I found that the ceder tree west of our trailer had blown down and fallen across the power line to our houses. The line had been pulled loose from the transformer. Several other trees were also down and one had fallen across the line that runs to our trailer, the water well and the shop.

Rebecca and the girls made it okay getting ready for school and Emily and I had to go to Fort Worth for my follow up at my doctor's. Drew got out and cut the tree off of the power line. We used our neighbor's portable welder to provide power to three refrigerators and two freezers all day Thursday so we didn't lose any food. The electric people came late yesterday and replaced the transformer and re-attached the lines. Drew and I still had to re-connect the lines to the well and our trailer. Since all of the poles were broken down, we just left the line temporarily laying on the ground. We will have to put in new poles and hook up the shop later. We are thinking about going ahead and burying the wires.

My checkup was good. The doctor said that I was progressing normally but would have to continue doing nothing for nine more days and then I would be able to do whatever I wanted (just in case my doctor is reading this, I should point out that I just supervised Drew's work on the wires).

Here are a few more pictures of some of the damage.

April 14, 2008

As Sheryl reminded me this morning, it's been a month since I last posted. It's been a busy month. Emily is having a lot of dental work done and I had my prostrate surgery last Thursday. I spent three days at Huguley Hospital and came home on Saturday. The surgery went fine and they found an unexpected kidney stone in the bladder and removed that. I can't do anything for a couple of weeks which will be hard. I feel good however.

We got the tractor about 98% finished before I went to the hospital. We don't have any real good pictures yet but will post some soon. I will post a couple today. It is a little dirty since we had to mow the front pasture.

March 13, 2008

We decided on Tuesday to do the brakes. When we got the left axle off, the carrier bearings were badly pitted. I ordered the necessary parts and got them today. Got the brakes and new bearings finished on the left rear axle today. Drew and I drove to south of Waco to get a seat for the tractor. It was not perfect, but has some pieces that are better than our old one.

Carly came down to check on us with her cowboy outfit on.

March 8, 2008

Had a good day today to work on tractor. Recruited Emily, Rebecca, Drew and the dog to help.

March 7, 2008

Woke up to snow-covered ground this morning. North Dakota has nothing on us.

March 1, 2008

I recruited some more help today. Carly is a good parts washer and painter.

February 29, 2007

It was a really nice day today. Started putting the tractor back together (between naps).

February 28, 2007

Finished painting the chassis today.

February 27, 2007

Got only a little done today. Here's why:

Larry, you need one of these.








It looked this way about 20 years ago when I last painted it.

February 26, 2007

Tractor update: The chassis has been completely cleaned and sprayed with primer.

February 24, 2007

Well, it's been a month since I last posted. The tree that blew down is almost history having been burned in the shop stove. Our weather has been pretty nice with warm temperatures during most days. I spend most days in the shop working on the Massey Ferguson tractor. We started out just doing a few repairs and then decided to clean it up and paint it. It's been slow work since Drew has been working a lot of overtime at the fire station. I work a little and then sit in my recliner in the shop (thanks, Dawn) and rest and take short naps. I enjoy my time even though I don't get a lot done. Emily spends a lot of time at the kids sports events (soccer, tennis, basketball, track, jump-rope, etc).

I will post a few pictures as the tractor progresses.

Snow on the Prairie

Thought the snow would make you lonesome for the "Great North". I haven't read what National Geographic had published about North Dakota, but were there any pictures as pretty as this in the article? Probably will get 4 inches of snow today, according to the weather man, but I think we already have that and it is only 11 Am.

Sheri

January 29, 2008

It was warm today, but the wind was blowing hard and gusting up to 50 MPH. The big cedar tree next Rebecca's house blew down and fell just short of hitting our truck. Fortunately Drew and Rebecca were at work or else it would have crushed BOTH of their cars. Drew and I will have to cut it up tomorrow. Carly's biggest concern when she saw it was where her mother was going to park.

Go Bearcats!

January 18, 2008

Wow how time flies. We have been home for a month and a half. I've gotten lazy about posting on the Blog so I will try to catch up.

Today it is snowing a little even though it is only about 38 degrees (that's ABOVE zero for our ND friends). It does look like winter. Emily has been busy with the Grandkids and their ball games. Dominick and Carly play basketball on Saturdays while Miranda plays on Thursday night. Rachel is the coach of Dominick's team. Caitlyn is busy with soccer; practice on Tuesday and Thursday nights and a game once a week.

Emily and I have started our round of doctor visits and tests. We have completed several and have several (at least) more to go. Maybe by next month we will know how we are doing.