How Will I Ever Get My Housework Done?

I am totally addicted to audio books. Seems I can't do anything without my mp3 playing an audiobook. So, this morning, I finished cleaning 2 floors and was getting ready to start on the 3rd floor, and my audiobook finished. No problem, just download another and continue with my tasks. But, it was not to be. I found the book I wanted, hit the download button and it said YOU HAVE REACHED YOUR LIMIT! Oh no, i can only check out 10 books in 21 days. So, I have to wait until one of my checked-out books expires and then I can download another....only 19hrs 23 minutes.......needless to say the 3rd floor didn't get cleaned. I really am enjoying the Beverly Lewis Amish series.....can't wait until tomorrow!

Never a Fun Trip

The trip from Benham to Manchester is a bad one. Small, winding, narrow road with coal trucks (coal keeps the lights on), gravel trucks, log truck and cement trucks. I have to cross Pine Mountain, second gear all the way, in a parade behind all of these trucks. Todays trip was even more fun.....here's why..

And, as promised, here is the excellent art work the grandchildren made for us for Grandparents Day!

The ones on the left are from Aaron and the right are from Sarah

My Mystical, Magical fish pond!

I have had a little pond in my yard for about 10 years. I had the same fish in there that Drew had put in when he was in high school. Well, the same fish or their offspring. Until this spring when a raccoon decided to eat them. Well, my old pond leaked so I took the fish out and put in a new pond. I was down to just 2 fish, and I put them in the new pond...well, the raccoon struck again and ate the 2 remaining fish about a month ago. Well, when I came home from Benham this week, i was just out looking at the pond and wondering if I should get some more fish. Lo and behold, as I was looking into the pond, I saw a fish swim by...then another...then some very, very small, just hatched out babies! I couldn't believe it! So, I apparently still have offspring of my original fish in my pond.

Notice that I have put the netting over the pond again, so hopefully my well fed racoon won't eat these fish.

We got some very sweet art work from the grandchildren for Grandparents day. I think they are very talented....I think that Sarah particularly has a flair for the arts! I took some pictures of them, but I left my memory stick at home!

I guess you can tell that I am in Benham, with another headache and twitching eye. Mother is pouting, says that I don't like her anymore at all and my dad just shock my hand and asked my name....gotta love it.

Bye Bye Summer

Well, the pool man put the winter cover on the pool today, so I guess that means summer is officially over. It was a pretty rough summer, so I can't say that I am sorry to see it go.

I trimmed more of the evergreens that are in the courtyard. DH got so tickled when he saw them, said they looked like a poodle's tail. So, that's what we call them now. The Poodle Trees!

While I was in Benham, I dug my old Cosmic Flyer bike out of the dirt under the floor of the house. It is in pretty rough shape, but I brought it home. We put air in the tires and they held it just fine...amazing. It is in pretty bad shape and the headlight switch is broken...too funny a bike with headlights. It is 44 years old.

I don't have much luck with growing plants. But, I have a beautiful vine that just started growing up the bird feeder holder. It must have started from some of the seeds that fell from the feeder. It has a really pretty red flower on it. I have no idea what it is, but with my luck it is probably poisonous :)

He is one tough old bird!

Thank goodness, daddy has no serious complications from his latest fall. I can't believe that he didn't break something. If I had fallen backwards like he did, I would have been broken to pieces. I dreaded the day after this fall, because I feared he would wake up unable to move and dazed and more confused. But, thank God, he was just a little sore.

We decided to go on a picnic at Kingdom Come State Park. So, I went to the fast food restaurant and got us some lunch and we drove to the park and found a great picnic table that I could park really close to and we got out and ate. Daddy had the best time and was in no hurry to leave. He just sat there taking in all of the beautiful scenery..he almost looked at it like he was looking at it for the last time...gave me funny feeling. Mother actually got out of the car and enjoyed herself. Anyone that knows her, knows how terrified she is of the black bears in the area. But she got right out of the car and enjoyed herself. It was a great day.

I am back home now. It takes me a while to sort of wind down when I get home from staying there; especially when I stay as long as I had to this time.

Just when you think things are getting better.....

Daddy fell out on the porch. He fell backwards and hit his rear and his head bounced off the concrete. This time, I called the ambulance to come and get him. The fall knocked him out for a few seconds. I called the ambulance and then the neighbor to come and stay with mother

They took him to the hospital with me trying to follow in my car. They did a CT scan and everything looked good so they let him go home. I was so thrilled when he woke up this morning and just said his back was hurting, but was able to get up and move around . He acted awful in the ER, cussing everybody out, threatening to sue...not a fun experience. He hated the neck brace......

And then the lady that was supposed to come and stay with them sat and sun got sick and is in the hospital...so instead of 3 days i am staying 5 this week.

I want my tombstone to read......

NO MORE HEADACHES!!!!


Till tomorrow.....if I am still alive.

Getting My Walk On

Well, I decided to take my walk early this morning. It was nice and cool, so I put on my audio book on my mp3 player and off I go. I got in almost 3 miles today, so I enjoyed it. We have a really nice walking park here, it has a rubber surface on part of the track and a gravel walk by the river. I don't usually walk the river walk by myself because it is isolated.After Gene got home he decided that he wanted to walk with me today, so I walked again. We got in about 2 miles and stopped and talked to friends that we hadn't seen in a while; we enjoyed it. So, I got about 5 miles in today. Not bad. I need to be spending my time cleaning and painting around the house, but I really have to be in the mood to paint...so maybe someday.

I just love this door. It is so beautiful. It is on a new house of a family member. Just wanted to share it with you. Trust me, the inside is as beautiful as the outside!Till tomorrow....

Happy Grandparents Day

Happy Grandparents Day to all of you grandparents out there. I hope that you had a special day with your grandchildren. I still miss Big Hugs...

I went to Church for the first time in months today. It was good to be there. I really miss going to Church. After Church we went to Long John's to eat. We haven't eaten in there in years. When my children were young we went there every Sunday after Church. Every Sunday we would see the same people there. Wow, that was a long time ago, but seems like yesterday.

I also went to the park and walked this afternoon. It felt good to exercise and the weather was great! I listened to my audio book. I wish that I could have walked longer, but after 3 miles my back starts to hurt.

Till tomorrow...........

Home again, home again, ....

Well, I am home from Benham for a few days. Things are still going pretty good over there. Dadddy is improving and seldom mentions his back at all. He is getting around really good. A few months ago I felt sure that he would be bedfast until he died, but thankfully, he is almost totally recovered. Mentally he is much better too!

DH went to the lake to cut the grass yesterday and I was supposed to meet him over there today, but the rain was just not stopping, so he came on home.

I timed my trip home so that I would hopefully miss the rain storms today. And, I sure did. Right after I got home we got a gully washer!

Now, I can relax and watch football! Go Vols!!!

Fall is on the way! Football is here!

I love fall. I love football. Time for both. I am in Benham right now for a few days. The night air is really cooling down. I spent yesterday cleaning things around the pool getting ready for the pool man to come close it. I dread the cold weather for my parents, because they don't do as well when the weather turns cold and the days get shorter. They are practicing for fall right now..They are always cold.



Daddy has not complained about his back since I got here. He actually wanted to go out for lunch. So we load in the car and went to Hardees and actually went inside to eat.

Slowly but surely he is walking stronger. He has been wanting to go home for the last 3 hours (he is home) and worries that his mother will be worried about him not being home. Strange how the mind works...his mother died on his 16th birthday, but he talks about her everyday. In his mind she is still alive. I don't try to tell him otherwise. All of the books I have read on Alzheimers says not to tell them when someone is dead. So, I just say they are visiting relatives, or up the road when he asks where someone is that died years ago. No point in him grieving for all of his dead relatives over and over, so I just tell him a little white "love lie"

Well, just hoping for an calm night!

My Old Kentucky Home State Park

We spent the weekend at the oldest state park in Kentucky, My Old Kentucky Home. It is a really small campground. The sites are adequate, but very unlevel. We have a BAL leveler on our camper, so unlevel sites are no problem for us, but many of the other campers had to be really creative to level their campers. Some campers just gave up and left the camper very unlevel. I don't know how some of the campers slept in the RV's without strapping into the beds, because they were so unlevel side to side. Also, the water and electric connections are shared, so they can be pretty far away, so if you are going to this campground, be sure to bring extra cords and hoses and leveling blocks. For anyone with a large camper it could be a little tricky getting into the sites because of the trees. But it is a really nice wooded campground. There is only one bathhouse, but it was kept very clean. If you like to camp and golf, this is the park for you! The campground is next to a really nice course.

Notice that we didn't have to put out our awning on this trip, because we had nature's awning..see below

I am embarrassed to say that I have lived all my life in Kentucky and had never been to My Old Kentucky Home. We took the tour on friday and we were the only ones in our tour group, so we had a really nice tour. It is a beautiful old Federal style home and i enjoyed the tour and the grounds. The weather was absolutely perfect for touring around.

My Old Kentucky Home, Goodnight.....................................................

I'm Back!

Things are looking up. Daddy appears to be on the mend. He isn't in a lot of pain now and is getting around pretty good. He is eating again so I am sure that will help with his recovery. Mother is still going down pretty fast mentally, but that is to be expected. I have been staying over there a lot lately.

After I was laid off we thought that we would have more time to travel. While tent camping this spring was fun, I think that we are just getting too old to sleep on the ground. So, we went out this summer and shopped around and found a popup camper that we really liked. A few weekends ago we took our new camper out for his first trip. We decided to go to Big Bone Lick State Park in Union, KY....just because we had never been there. Here we are...all set up and loving it!

Site #10
The park was immaculate. The bathrooms were spotless. There are lots of places to hike in the park. There is a small museum, a herd of bison, and this display which depicts how the animals were trapped in the salt licks that brought them to the area.
We had a great time and a much needed few days away. We have decided that over the next several years that we would like to be able to say that we have camped in all of the Kentucky State Parks that have campgrounds. This was our 9th Kentucky State Park out of the 52. This weekend we are headed to My Old Kentucky Home State Park....number 10! I'll post pics when we get back.