Doing The Job Right...

Where to begin with this post...hmmm...

When we moved to Kentucky, the man who built our home, Herb Archer, was a City Commissioner in Sadieville. He was responsible for public works. He was at a point where he didn't feel he could serve on the City Commission and, knowing Claude came to their meetings as a citizen and seemed interested, approached Claude to see if he might be interested in possibly finished his term. Claude said he would be interested.

The end result was that Herb resigned and the commission voted Claude in to complete Herb's term. Claude took over Herb's area of responsiblity which included the sewer project.

Sadieville had an old 'package plant' for their sewer plant. The project was to put new sewer lines in Sadieville, get rid of all the old septic tank systems at homes and connect them to the new sewer lines, and have all this connect to Georgetown's water treatment system. The end result is Sadieville would no longer be in the sewer business.

The target completion date was several years ago. These things hit snags with people, property, money needs, weather, legal issues, etc., etc., etc. The plan to accomplish all of this was divided into three phases with Eagle Bend (the subdivision we live in) being the third phase and, if funds didn't last, it would not be done. Amazingly we are at phase three and, through careful management, we will compete all the project including Phase 3 in Eagle Bend.

Eagle Bend is the newest homes and they each have a septic system that had lines connecting to a main line to the pumping station near the entry to Eagle Bend. In the course of planning they found this main line to the pumping station was not large enough to carry what it needed to. What they had to do in Phase 3 is to replace the smaller main line pipe with a larger one and also connect the piping from the house to the main sewer line and eliminate the septic tanks.

Thursday, April 12th they came and located the septic tank and dug a hole in the yard around the pipe that comes to the surface. They did this in all 15 homes in Eagle Bend.

Monday, April 23rd they came and drained the septic tank. That is what the picture is at the beginning of this blog. This truck with the logo "Doing the Job Right" parked in front of our home and ran a hose to the back yard to inhale all that septic gunk. Yuck!!

Tuesday, April 24th they were back again to destroy the septic tank, connect the new pipe and fill in that hole. Fortunately I was home because I really wanted to watch this process and get some pictures of it. Claude was not home and I wanted him to be able to watch it. I positioned myself on the deck outside the living room for the morning shooting of still pictures and taking video. The guys just chuckle at me but they don't seem to mind being in my pictures.

I was reminded as I watched these guys work of the work done on the sycamore tree last year when they topped it and cut off branches that might rest on the power lines in an ice storm. I noted then it was like watching a ballet that was perfectly choreographed. This process was much the same in my view. There were three men and they each knew the part they were to play and exactly what to do to assist the others. Very few words transpired, a few hand movements and a few words, but for the most part it was just smoothly accomplished.

They first thing was to completely remove the dirt and grass from the entire surface area of the septic tank. It turned out that tank was a lot larger than I had imagined.

Once the top was exposed, they used the claw on the backhoe to pound and break up the concrete top. The broken pieces of concrete were pushed into the bottom of the septic tank. The piping was replaced with a new piece to extend to the surface upon completion of our link to the sewer. Then a bulldozer came several times with its shovel full of gravel to fill in the septic tank and the hole before placing the dirt back on top.

Then, when the hole was as full of gravel as needed, the dirt was carefully shoved into place and pounded down with the backhoe. 

I was amazed at the number of bull dozer loads of gravel it took to fill that hole. The day before they did my next door neighbors and they brought all the gravel to fill their septic tank and hole in a wheel barrow down their hill in multiple trips. I remembered distinctly looking out my dining room window and watching the youngest of the group resting before lifting a wheel barrow load of gravel to push it down the hill. I asked the guys how many wheel barrow loads it took to fill one of those septic tanks and the hole they made. They gave me a number between 40 and 50. Goodness. That made the 5 or 6 bulldozer loads they used on my home a lot easier for them.

The surface was raked so that it was smooth and even and as much grass as possible was left in place.

I have so much video of this process. I'm hoping Hayden gets a kick out of watching this heavy equipment come off our empty lot into the back yard and then work their magic.

I made an observation as I watched these guys working so well together. There were two middle aged guys and they drove and ran the heavy equipment. Then there was a younger fella, probably in his early 20's, working with these guys. Clearly he was the grunt laborer of the group. Even though that was his job it was clear his role was not looked down on by the older two guys. And, just as clearly he understood he needed to work with the guys to learn this trade. I felt a great deal of admiration and respect for this working arrangement. Everyone's role was needed and appreciated. I was happy to see a young person knowing that they needed to learn from the ground up (no pun intended) and happy to do that with men he respected and seemed to enjoy working with. It was just a good lesson in how life should operate.

Now the guys have started the trench from the pumping station along the back of our yards on the creek side. When that pipe is laid and in working position, the project will be finished. 

The next step is to turn our system over to Georgetown and Sadieville will be out of the sewer business completely. And...most importantly...my hubby will be a very happy man.

A Really Good Day...

The title of this Blog entry about says it all. Once and in a while you just have one of those days that you enjoy and you feel satisfied and good about at the end. The amazing thing it that it is not really full of overwhelmingly outstanding events. It just feels good all day long. Last Wednesday was one of those days for me.

The morning was filled with getting my exercise for my arm done, some computer stuff completed and my ironing done.

In the middle Claude and I put on our Sadieville T-shirts and headed into Georgetown in separate cars to participate in the Start Walk event. It is an annual thing. They block off the courthouse square and booths are set up that have to do with good health. Then you may participate in one or more of the walks that are set to start from the courthouse. We choose the green walk. We signed in and picked up our T-shirt. Then we were off at a leisurely pace to walk down Main Street, then up around Georgetown College and back to Main Street. We ended our walk with lunch at Subway. After a nice walk those sandwiches tasted great.

Claude and I parted ways then. I had some gift shopping to complete and some ladies to visit.

I ended my afternoon at the nursing home with my parents. I put some new clothes in my mom's closet that I purchased for her the day before.  Then Papa and I entertained the residents with that pickin' and grinnin' we do every Wednesday afternoon..

Afterward I headed back to Sadieville where Claude eventually met me. We changed into nicer clothing, hopped in the Jeep and were off to a Bluegrass ADD quarterly dinner meeting.

They had two speakers on their program that night. One was particularly outstanding. She had been a captain on a UK women's basketball team (I think I have that sport right). She had a college education and at some point made that tragic decision to try drugs. This led to more bad decisions and eventually felony charges and a 10 year prison sentence. Quite a downward spiral for this lady.

She is African-American and began her address by rising from her round table, where she had eaten dinner, and walking to the podium while singing a beautiful spiritual kind of song. I didn't know the name of it. I'm a lover and appreciator of this kind of music and she had my attention immediately. It is just such fun music to harmonize with even if you don't know the piece of music. I found myself humming a bit of harmony quietly with her.

Then she told her story and what she had been hired by Bluegrass ADD to do. The program takes about 12 prisoners that are being released from prison and helps them find housing and then trains them to work. They have many classes they can be trained in. Then they help them find a job. Their success rate is 100% of the prisoners NOT returning to prison. What a great program!! What a great use of money and time and energy!! They work with faith-based community programs which is a huge help. We gave this speaker a standing ovation and tears were flowing freely.

As we drove home, I said to Claude, "This has just been a good day."  He whole-heartedly agreed.

I guess there are many days that have ups and downs. These truly help me appreciate a day that is just full of good things. For I will hold that day in memory as I deal with the up and down days. This is a blessing and one of Heavenly Father's tender mercies in my life.

Feeling Nostalgic...

While checking Facebook the other day, I noted a post from my oldest grandmonster. She posted a picture and we were to 'like' it if we knew what it was. Here is the picture.

I knew immediately what this picture was and it brought back lots of memories that began to roll into other memories.

First...What is it?  It is a pair of speakers on a post. They have cords on them that connect to the post. There is also a hook on the back of each speaker. You would go to a drive-in movie and pull your car up next to a speaker. You roll your window part way down, take the speaker out of its holder, hang the speaker on your partially rolled down window and set the volume. Then you watched the movie and heard the sound right in your car.

Drive-in movies were the best. They all seemed to have a play ground at the base of that huge white screen. While everyone was arriving and picking their parking spots between rows of these speakers, your parents would take you up to the play ground to play on all that lovely (but probably unsafe by today's standards) playground equipment. Then, when the cartoon before the movie came on, you knew it was time to head back to your car to watch the cartoons and then the movie.

If there was money in your pockets, you might go to the concession stand located in the center of all those cars. You could get everything you do at the theater concession stand today from food to eat to candy and popcorn and drinks.

I don't remember what movies we watched at the drive-in when I was a kid but I clearly remember the fun of being all bunched together in our car watching the movie.

The thing I commented to Katelyn about on her Facebook post was that these speakers should also have the mosquito repellant it was mandatory to purchase. These were little coil shaped things that you lit with a match. Then they very, very, very slowly burned down and as they burned the mosquitos would stay away. Very important feature for being outdoors on a summer evening with the windows down in your car.

I then thought back to our own little family unit. Claude had a big Ford truck at one point. He bought it used. It was a pale yellow color with brown on it too. The previous owner had taken a sheet of metal the size of a full bed and placed it in the back of the truck on the top of the sides near the cab. Then they put a camper shell on top. They also put a full boot in the window on the back of the cab of the truck through the camper shell window. This allowed our little children to climb easily from the front to the back of the truck. There was a full size mattress on that metal allowing the kids to stretch out on their tummies and watch the movie through the boot. Claude and I could each sit on one side of the front seat. Then when the kids fell asleep, they were already on a bed. Claude purchased plywood and carpet scraps. He made a floor for the portion of the bed of the truck between the full bed on the metal frame and the door out the back of the camper shell. This gave a carpeted floor space for the kids to play on. When we went camping all our camping gear went under the full bed, the kids played on the carpeted floor or the bed and through the boot to the cab of the truck. It was such a fun vehicle for our family. No...there were NO carseats for kids. There were not even seat belts. Once again, unsafe by today's standards but we never felt unsafe. We just had tons of fun and built lots of memories in the truck. It was perfect for going to the drive-in.

Our habit was to drive-thru Burger King or McDonald's and get a bag of 15 little hamburgers and a bunch of french fries. This was much less expensive than the concession stand. We would get to the drive-in, the kids would play, the cartoons would start and we would hurry back to our truck for burgers and fries for dinner and cartoons and a movie for entertainment. So much fun and the price was just right.

Thank you for the memories with your Facebook post Miss Katelyn. I highly recommend taking your family to a drive-in movie if you can find one close to you. I know there is still at least one about an hour from us. If you can't do that, just enjoy those new inventions like watching what you DVR'd while eating those frozen buffalo wings you can pop in the microwave today. The important part is to build the good memories to last a lifetime.

Racing...

We are fortunate to have Keeneland in Lexington. We are also fortunate to have Toyota. They sponsor the Bluegrass Stakes in April of each year at Keeneland. Since Claude is Mayor we are invited. Last Saturday was the day.

However, our Stake Relief Society planned a wonderful 'Time Out for Sisters' that morning. Claude loaded some Indexing files on his computer and took me to this event first. He found a room at the church and worked on his Indexing while I attended my meeting. It was a perfectly wonderful cup-filling kind of morning. There were three speakers. The first was from Indianapolis and spoke about depression. She is a therapist. The second assists birth mothers who might be giving their babies up for adoption. She was from Evansville, Indiana. She spoke about teaching your children about sex and a bit about adoption. The last was a wonderful young mother who spoke about healing from addictions. These ladies were amazing speakers. Then our stake president spoke and tied all their talks together. A beautiful soloist ended the program with a slide show in the background as she sang. Great beginning to a day.

I hurried out at the completion of my meeting and Claude drove us to Keeneland on the opposite side of Lexington as fast as he could. We had preferred parking in a lot close to the stadium but we had to be there before 1:30. I think we got in our spot about 1:25pm. Yike!! Then we hurried upstairs to the Lexington room for our lunch and to watch the races for the afternoon.

This was such a pleasant afternoon. Just love watching those horses run. We also get to meet new people. Vinnie was at our table. He is in charge of quality control for production at the Toyota plant in Georgetown. And the other person was the manage of the Kentucky Horse Park.

As we sat at our table by this huge wall that is all window, Claude and I reflected on Papa's stating he wanted to go to Keeneland sometime. They only run races for a few weeks in the spring and again in the fall. We pulled out our Blackberries and coordinated a time on Thursday that we could take him. I talked with Papa Sunday and he was all eager to go.

Today we took Papa to Keeneland. Claude had a meeting in Georgetown. He dropped me off at the nursing home to visit with Mimi and Papa while Papa fed her. Then Papa took me back to his apartment and we waited for Claude. Claude got us about 2:30pm and we were off to the races.

Papa's previous experience with this was with a man he knew in Louisiana who had horses that raced at Louisiana Downs. Papa and Mimi had gone with this man to see his horses and watch some races. Papa was blown away by the size of Keeneland and the number of people in attendance.

Claude got us seats in the reserved seat area which is under the cover. This kept us in the shade. We had to hike a good distance to get into the stadium. Papa was grateful for the seat and loved being in the shade. Once we were all settled, we left Papa with my purse and Claude and headed to get lunch for us. Barbeque sandwiches were sooooo good. We watched the last four races of the day. One was even on turf. Papa totally enjoyed himself. It was great to get him out and about and check something off his bucket list.

I must say, when we dropped him off at his apartment, I said, "Papa, enjoy your nap."  He said he was going to do just that. I bet he is still asleep!! 

On The Hill...Not Over It...

Several years ago my dear hubby made me a very large flower bed on our hill. It has a stone step path down the middle to his altar. Last fall I went down and weeded both sides of this flower bed in the hopes that when spring came I wouldn't have so much weeding to do. Alas, that was not the case.

Claude came up this year after mowing the yard for the first time and said something like, "I don't know where it all came from but your flower beds are full of grass." That would be considered an understatement. Me thinks I just made the hill angry and it spoke back to me in grass, clover, dandelions, and many other obnoxious weeds.

Well, with my torn rotator cuff I couldn't just run down there and work on them.

However, my Andie brought me a plethora of flora and fauna to plant in these beds. These were all items from her yard that she wanted to thin down. What can I say, Andie inherited the Mimi gene for gardening. Me...not so much. But I do love a nice flower bed and yard. These plants were just what I needed to fill some more in my flower beds.

This meant that Thursday morning, April 12th, I spent my morning with Claude visiting a friend. Claude took me to lunch at Wendy's after our visit. Then I suited up in work clothes and headed down my hill to my flower beds with tools and two bags of plants from Andie. I think I started my weeding at 1pm and I came back up the hill for the last time at 7:15pm. I only got one bed weeded and the plants I took down on four bags of plants planted. It was a wonderfully cool day and perfect for working on a very tough spot of ground.

I still had many bags and containers of plants to plant. It would be Tuesday, April 17th before I could make my way down that hill again to clean the weeds out of the other side. I dressed for mess, stopped on the back porch to gather my tools and some more of the containers of things to plant and headed down the hill. The ground was still wet with dew and about half-way down I slide. Oh My Goodness!!! My first thought was my torn rotator cuff that is healing slowly but surely.  I did not want to ruin that shoulder. I slide leaning to my right and was cushioned by the plants I was carrying. My left knee took the brunt of the fall this time. I sat until I was sure I was okay. Then slowly got up and carried my stuff down leaving one bag on the hill for later. Geez!!  I worked on that plot and finished carrying plantings down the hill until about 4:30pm. Then I headed to one other large bed I needed to weed. I finished it about 5:30pm and headed inside to get ready for Claude and me to take friends to dinner that night.

I did put one of the plants Andie gave me in the front flower bed. As I was walking around to the back porch on the outside of the house, I found a HUGE bag full of grass to be planted. Claude was home and trying to cut the lawn at that point. He looked up from the tractor and saw me looking in dismay at this enormous bag. It was way to heavy for me to lift and it needed planting. I just started to laugh that ridiculous laugh one does when one does not want to cry. Claude could tell what was going through this brain O'mine. He simply stopped the tractor and pointed to one of his water breaks. The fountain grass in it didn't make it through the frost this spring. He wanted to put this big bag of grass in that spot. Hallelujah!!! I was one happy lady.

Yesterday after my physical therapy I went to Walmart to see if they had weights that were 4 or 5 pounders. I wandered into the garden section to look for little flag holders. This led to a stroll through the flowering plants. I came home with a deep red petunia to go in the front flower bed, 3 spearmint plants, and 3 marigold plants to put in the flower bed under my sewing room window in the back yard. I thought I would get them in the ground today. Alas, that was not to happen. So tomorrow morning I get that planting done.

It feels so good to have as much done as I have been able to do. I have enjoyed being outdoors. This hill is a killer but the view is heavenly and the birds are quite a bit of entertainment.

Tuesday while weeding the last bed I heard what I thought was the train quite a distance away. Then the sound seemed different and getting closer. I looked up in the sky and saw 5 military helicopters flying in a 'V' formation in the direction of Georgetown. Hmmm...I must admit my thoughts ran to what it must feel like in war torn countries when you are out doing life's little chores and suddenly there is war around you. It was not a pleasant feeling.

In a few minutes another sound caught my attention and I again looked heavenward to see a huge helicopter, the kind with propellers on both ends heading the same direction as the 5 other little helicopters.

After a few minutes I again heard a sound that strikes terror to my heart. After 9/11 we would hear, frequently throughout the day, fighter pilots soaring overhead to be sure everything in the Washington, DC area was safe. Living in DC during 9/11 evoked strong feelings and they resurfaced as I again heard these fighter planes. There was cloud cover and they were high above the clouds so I did not see them but their sound was headed in the same direction as the previous aircraft.

So my flower beds are ready to be maintained throughout the summer, I have more planting to do and I'm pleased with what I've been able to do so far. Yeah me!!!