I Know It's Not October...However...

Woke up one morning to this view from our deck.

Felt more like a Halloween morning that August 29th. It cleared off quickly but it was a interesting view for a bit.

Riding the Roads with Papa...

Still trying to get Papa out as often as I can for a drive. 

August 26th we made a loop from Georgetown through Mt. Sterling to Frenchburg then north to Owingsville and out to Carlisle, then back to Paris and home on scenic Hwy 460. Nice ride on a beautiful clear day. This picture was taken from the side of the road on Hwy 36 near Carlisle. The yellow is tobacco getting ripe enough to harvest with the sun shining on it. Very Kentucky view. The barn would be a burly barn to hang the tobacco in to dry. 

September 1st we drove south from Georgetown through Harrodsburg and on to Lake Cumberland. From there we turned north through Somerset, Danville, back to Harrodsburg and then to Papa's home in Georgetown. This was also a lovely drive. 

We got caught at an interesting construction stop on the road over the top of the dam at Lake Cumberland. They had one of the automatic portable stop lights on either end of the dam. We were the only traffic on the dam but the light was red so we stopped as they only had one lane going over the top of the dam. There was a sign that stated the stop light would only remain red for 5 minutes. A few cars finally came across while our light was red and just after it turned green. Of course, they had to drive slowly...so...by the time they made it all the way across our light turned red again. Geez!! Being the obedient soul my parents taught me to be, we waited. There were no cars on the other side but clearly if any came there would be a green light for them and I didn't really want to back up across that big dam. I drive forward very well. Backing up...not so much. So we waited and took pictures and a short video.

Another guy pulled up behind us and he also pulled out his cellphone to take pictures. I posted my little video clip on Facebook with the caption, "If one must be stopped for construction, this is as good as it gets!" 

While we waited this time, we observed where the road came down from the hill on the other side of the dam. A huge truck was coming and it looked like it might have stopped. After a couple of minutes we could tell it was still coming, very, very slowly with another car behind it. Of course, by the time it made it across the light was green and then red again for us. There was no one on the other side. As soon as our light turned green one more time, we made out for the other side. Whew!!

When we got to the other side, I pulled to the side of the road and took this picture of the lake. I took one of the dam but, alas, it was very fuzzy.

Yesterday was Labor Day. I picked Papa up at Georgetown and we left his home at 2pm. We drove through Stamping Ground and found Hwy 32 which runs by our home. We followed it all the way to Sadieville. This was a very lovely drive in very rural Kentucky. The road changes from a line down the middle to a line on either side so you don't wander off the road. When this happens to a back road, Papa constantly tells me, "They must have taken a dirt trail and paved it!" No kidding! Fortunately these roads are not heavily traveled. We only passed 3 cars in the 30-45 minutes we were driving it. But Papa loves these roads and so we just go very slowly and enjoy the drive.

Papa has taken to pointing out the dead trees. He has gotten progressively more attune to them as the summer wears on. He just can't understand why some are so alive and right next to it a dead one. I tried to point out the trees have a life span and maybe, just maybe, theirs was up. Maybe a bug got into it and killed it. Maybe lightening or animals. None of these reasons seem to answer his dilemma. So I just listen to him wonder as that seems to be what he needs.

Time Away...

When one receives a coupon in one's eMail from Boone Tavern and Inn for a greatly reduced stay that also includes a huge portion of the cost of two meals in their lovely restaurant, one goes upstairs to one's hubby and says, "I think this is something we might try and use." One's husband looks at the deal and quickly checks calendars with one and finds an evening and the next day they can clear on their calendars to take a quick getaway. Yep, that is what one would do and it is exactly what one did.

We did our usual Monday activities in the morning of August 29th and left for Berea, Kentucky about 2pm. We couldn't check in to Boone Tavern until 4pm. So we found the crafter's street and walked around there to get a start to our Christmas shopping. We managed to find several items for gifts and a couple of things for us. One thing we purchased was a cute metal hanging thing to keep a rolling pin in. I have my mother's rolling pin and it is simply resting on the counter, until now...Now it hangs in the rolling pin holder on the wall in the kitchen. We also purchased some fudge for that evening in our room. The picture is Shifflet's Cabin by the Welcome Center. Claude is sitting in the chair on the porch.

We next checked into our room. The desk made us dinner reservations for 5:30pm. It was 4:30 when we got to the room so we enjoyed a few moments of rest before going to dinner. 

The food in the restaurant is always amazing. these are photos of my salad course (crab meat Rangoon over a rice and edamame salad), main course (salmon tempura and a noodle dish) and a shared dessert with Claude (black raspberry upside down cake).  Oh my heavens it was delicious. We were full and walked around the block after dinner to work some of it off. 

We determined we would find a place and sit on the veranda for the evening. The hibiscus was along one wall of the Inn. Claude found us two chairs while I took this picture. We sat there for a bit and then this 'flock' (more like a herd) of turkey buzzards flew in.  

I sat once at one of Kentucky's many State Resort Parks for an afternoon while Claude attended classes and watched up to 10 turkey buzzards flying around. Loved watching them catch the air currents and soar overhead. They are big, not the most attractive bird, but they can soar beautifully. We had a rain storm in Berea that evening and the clouds were gathering for another possible rain shower. There was another couple on the veranda with us. We all heard a noise and then they started coming. They just kept coming. There could have easily been hundreds of them. They circled over the Inn and around the Inn and then gradually flew away. I have three video clips that depict this much better than this still shot. We all felt like we were in the movie 'Birds' and wondered if we should hurry inside the Inn for protection. It was amazing. Eventually the no-see-'ums got the best of Claude and me and we went inside for the evening. 

Claude pressed the elevator button to get us to the third floor. We entered the elevator only to find this ladder resting against the back wall. Other's would probably not have had an epiphany with this, but Claude and I both remembered at the same time and looked at each other. At the same time we both said, "Jerusalem!" and then we chuckled. In 2005 we visited Israel for 10 days. While there, we visited the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. Resting against a second story window is an old wooden ladder. That particular church is managed by several different churches. They each have a niche that represents part of the Savior's Crucifixion and burial. They believe this is the spot where it all happened. A Muslim man keeps the key to the building and opens and closes it everyday. Due to the tension between all these religions, the agreement is that nothing will be moved. That includes the ladder that was put up by this window many years ago. It has never been moved. Claude and I find ourselves looking for it in any documentary we see that features the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. It is always there. This ladder brought that memory to both of us at the same time. Nice.

Tuesday we had a whole day to play. What to do, what to do? Let's go to Ft. Boonesboro. We had never been there and that was north of Berea. I found back roads and we had a ride in the countryside to Boonesboro. 

We first visited the original site for Ft. Boonesboro. It is located in Ft. Boonesboro State Park. The first picture is Sycamore Hollow behind Claude. Daniel Boone first had cabins built here. Just below this is the creek. Someone else came and suggested he move the cabins to higher ground. They did and the next picture is Claude standing by the rock wall where the original site of Ft. Boonesboro stood. 

This picture has that rock wall around the monument to the original site in the background. to the right of the picture is an old elm tree. It is called the 'Divine Elm'. This is the site of the first church service held at the settlement. 

We drove out of the park and around to the replica of the original fort. There is usually the ability to go in and tour the fort with re-enactors in period costumes showing you what life was like. Guess what? It is not open on Tuesday! Well, on to Plan B. 

Claude has some nice pants he purchased at Cabela's. One of them now has a small hole in it and he wanted to replace them. We also could not find our folding chairs in their cases. So a trip to Cabela's would satisfy that. There is now one in Lexington so away we went to Cabela's. 

Now, an explanation about our folding chairs. We had our 4th Saturday MusicFest in Sadieville August 27th. Claude went to load the Jeep with the things we needed to take and the first thing he looked for was our folding chairs. They hang in their cases on the wall in the garage. They were not there. Hmmmm...Claude searched my trunk and every place in the house that might have them. Nope, they were not there. He came and explained the situation to me. I got up and looked in all the places he had looked just to give a second set of eyes on this problem. We had no idea where they could be. I pulled out my calendar and we determined we would have taken them in June to the previous MusicFest. We also took them to Paris, Kentucky for a Pioneer Day Picnic in July but did not use them. We had no other times that we would have needed them. But they were not to be found. We went to MusicFest without them but took two of the chairs that go around the table on the deck instead. 

A few days later, Claude said to me, "Think with me for a minute. When we went to Paris, what car did we drive?" Then the light came on for me. Claude was in one of those rental cars and we drove it. It was the one from Enterprise. We must not have taken them out of the car and gave them away with the car when Claude returned it to Enterprise. As sad as it was to lose the chairs, at least we weren't losing our aging minds!

I took this picture for our Nissa. She loves bears. I told her we were thinking of her while we were out and about.

We still had plenty of afternoon left so we drove through Lexington to Henry Clay's Estate, Ashland. We had also never toured this property. We first visited the formal gardens. We had them to ourselves. 

Then we walked toward the actual home. We passed this building which used to be the privy on one side and the laundry on the other. They have displays in it now of objects found while working on the property.

We purchased our tour tickets and went to the front steps to wait for our tour. Claude is standing in front. No pictures were allowed inside. Sorry. 

As we left we looked at these two interesting structures. They are ice houses. Ice was stored in them and they stayed cool enough in the summer that ice was available most of the summer. The one closest to the camera would drain ice cold water down a channel to the one below. The lower one furthest from the camera was used like a refrigerator to keep milk and cream in.  

We learned another new term here. There was paved parking and 'grass-crete' parking. We neither had heard of 'grass-crete' parking. There are paving stones with grass growing between them. That is 'grass-crete' parking.

This was a lovely tour. We followed it with dinner at Schlotzky's in Lexington. Yum. Then we headed home feeling rejuvenated and ready to hit reality face on.

Odds & Ends

There are so many little things that I come across that tickle my fancy. Tiny moments of fun. You find yourself smiling, often alone when you noticed it, but you are smiling or sometimes just laughing out loud. Here are a few of them from my life.

First, Bailey always leaves me a grin. I have two shelves over the two closet doors in my sewing room. The shelves are strictly to hold my Beanie Babies and little stuffed animals. I'm not a huge Beanie Baby collector. But, when I have seen one that fit with something we were visiting or something I love in my life, I purchase the little stuffed animal and it is stored with its friends on one of these shelves. These toys are not just for viewing. The grandmonsters are free to play with them.

When Bailey had her sleepover, she asked for three. She loves 'groups' of things and it was no surprise the three she chose this time where birds: the eagle and my two puffins. She played with them and carried them off somewhere in the house...I thought. Several weeks later I went to get the case I carry my laptop in when I need to take it out of the house. Look what I found tucked into the straps and holders on my laptop carrier. Love that girl and her antics.

This next one is vintage Claude. I believe this is the wet-dry vacuum that is stored in the garage, but it might be something else. At any rate, when Claude was finished working his gloves were wet and needed to dry. So, maybe this is the power washer for the outside of the house. I went into the garage to get in my car and this it what I found. I was sure ET had come to visit!! Felt like, after taking this picture, I should have phoned home for ET!!

I came home last week late at night. Claude was out of town. I noticed a blob of something by the garage door. As I got closer, I realized it was a frog. I opened the garage door. It didn't move. I pulled my car in beside it. It didn't move. I rummaged through my purse to get my cell phone to take a picture. It never moved. I walked over and said hi. It never moved. I took the picture. It never moved. I needed to close the garage door. I figured that would be when it would jump into the garage or the door would come down as it moved and squash it. Didn't need either of those things to happen. I put my cell phone down and used it to shoo this little fella out into the yard. I grinned at this little guy. 

During all our 'car antics', we took the time to walk around Frank Shoop's car lot to see what he had for sale. Claude came across this lovely lime green Jeep. I took his picture in front of it and texted it to Katelyn. This is her very, very favorite color. I asked her if Grampa should buy this Jeep. Her response. "Duh!!" We did not purchase the Jeep. 

While walking across the Kroger parking lot to purchase groceries for Papa, I happened to notice the rear window of this car. It was lined with bobble head animals and figures. They were bobbling on a piece of white cotton so they would not slip around when the car was moving. This amused me greatly.  

Randomness in life gives me a smile. Hope it gave you one too.

Cars...Ours...Not the Movie - Part II

July 15th, I posted about our cars and the 'joy' they were bringing to us.  At that time my left front tire was setting off a warning light regarding air pressure when there really was no problem with the air pressure. I took my car to Frank Shoop and they fixed the computer attachment that was making that problem. When they rotated the tires the connection was done incorrectly and, once that was fixed, no more warning light. 

As of the July 15th post Claude's car was not holding a charge and even when the Jeep was off the meters were flipping from a fast speed to a slow speed rapidly. Claude took the Jeep into Frank Shoop and left it as he had no appointment. He rented a car from Enterprise for about 5 days. During this time Frank Shoop thought it was a battery issue so they replaced a very old battery. That was fine. Claude still felt like there was something in the switch and that this switch needed to be replaced. Frank Shoop was sure he was brushing it when he got out of the car thus leaving the car lights on and the battery running down. Claude disagreed and told them he wanted a new switch. Since the Jeep is aging the parts had to be special ordered. Claude ended up with the Enterprise rental for 1 1/2 weeks. Not good. When he got the Jeep, he drove it out to Frank Shoop's parking lot, got out and made sure the lights were not on. Then drove the rental to Enterprise to return it. They charged him an exorbitant amount of money. They took him back to Frank Shoop and Claude when to get in the Jeep only to find the battery down and the lights on. Hmmmm.... He went back into Frank Shoop and everyone was at lunch. He ended up leaving the Jeep again and renting a car at a greatly reduced rate from Frank Shoop. It would be almost a week before the Jeep was fixed. Make that 2 1/2 weeks of rentals plus the repairs. Yike!!

In the meantime my right front headlight went out. Back to Frank Shoop and they put a new head light in my car. Goodness...

The Jeep needed it's regular service so Claude took it in for that. 

Now my car has a slow leak in the left front tire. We refilled it twice and it seemed to hold for several weeks. I kept the portable charger in my car truck just in case I was out and needed it. But this weekend I had to again fill it with air. Time to call our dear friends at Frank Shoop and have them check that tire. There is a lot of construction on I-75 as they build the new interchange so I may have picked up something there that is causing a very slow leak in that tire. 

Yes, cars are a necessary evil. And, they do wear out as they age.