Wow, another very busy and strenuous week………………………

As always, first the chronology:

7/18/21 – Sunday – Up at the usual time.  Cleaned up, chores around the house and out for church.  Home and lunch.  Did the blog.  Took a 1/2 hour nap then over to Gary’s for the afternoon get together.  Home and Kathy took me to Bob Evan’s for dinner.  Some shopping at Meijer, stop at Dairy Queen for dessert and home.  Usual Sunday evening routine.

7/19/21 – Monday – Up a little late this morning.  Cleaned up and out on the motorcycle a little after 10AM.  Rode most of the day.  Stopped for lunch at Denny’s in Shepardsville.  Got home a little after 3PM.  Usual evening routine.

7/20/21 – Tuesday – Up a little early.  Cleaned up and out to the dentist.  Kathy was out to take Chloe to an appointment.  Came home from dentist’s office and made some calls to get the ice maker fixed on the refrigerator. Kathy got home and out around 11AM to start yard work.  Finished up around 4PM.  Inside, cool down and cleaned up.  Dinner and usual evening routine.

7/21/21 – Wednesday – Up early today.  Kathy was out to watch the grand children for a half day.  I took Bella to the groomers.  Came home and got the pickup.  Went to Twin-M for 2 bails of straw for Kathy’s garden.  Then some ice to fill the ice maker on the refrigerator while it’s broke.  Made some phone calls than out to dig a pit for a fire.  Split wood to burn in the fire pit.  Inside to cool down.  Kathy came home and we had lunch.  Back out to help Kathy with the garden and split more fire wood.  Inside and cleaned up.  In to J-town and dinner at Chubby Ray’s.  Stopped at the pool store.  Otherwise usual evening routine.

7/22/21 – Thursday – Up a little early today.  Kathy was already out to watch the grand children.  I got cleaned up and out for hair cut.  Home and did some computer work.  Went to Subway to pick up a sandwich for lunch.  Kathy and the grand kids came over after lunch.  Went swimming, put up the badminton net.  Had dinner then out for a fire and S’mores and mountain pies.  Threw some packets in the fire for some color.   Put things out around 10PM and inside.  Kids are staying the night.

7/23/21  – Friday – Up at the usual time.  Big breakfast with the kids.  Carter and I went to Shelbyville to pick up more firewood at Tractor Supply.  Home and lunch.  Spent the afternoon with Carter and Shelby in the swimming pool.  Mike and Julie came over and we had a great steak dinner.  A fire in the evening.  Inside to bed.

7/24/21 – Saturday – Up at the usual time.  Kathy was off to take Rusty to the Vet for shots.  I did chores and got cleaned up.  Gathered my tools and when Kathy came home we went up to Julie’s for me to do some chores for her.  Finished around 1PM so headed up to Bob Evan’s for lunch.  Stopped for shopping at Academy, Feeder Supply and Korger on the way home.  Got home and unloaded things.  I took a nap.  Up for dinner.  Usual evening routine plus went out to take down the badminton set and cover the pool.  Some computer work and bed.

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Now the specifics:

The week started on a sour note. I took Carter’s Tesla Coil project over to Gary’s to show the guys during the afternoon get together. As soon as I pulled it out, Mike started his mouth telling us all about it. The situation really pissed me off so I just put things away and shut my mouth. I know Mike has some issues and feels he needs to tell everyone how much he knows but it really does get to me at times. That was one of the times.

Monday was a great day so I decided to take off on the motorcycle. I started out a little after 10AM and rode rout 55 down south to the Blue Grass Parkway. Then headed west toward Elizabethtown. Got in 65 and headed north. Got off in Simpsonville and stopped at my usual Denny’s for lunch. Then west on 44 to the Dixie Highway. Up to the Gene Snyder and around to Shelbyville Road. Went East on Shelbyville road to Shelbyville. Then back down route 55 to Taylorsville Road. Stopped for gas and took the back way home. Got home a little after 3PM and put 165 mile on the motorcycle. A great day.

Tuesday I went to the dentist for routine exam and cleaning. Found some decay under a crown so I have to go back and get that taken care of. Same bullshit there, just a different day.

Got home and made some phone calls till Kathy got home then finished the day with yard work. It was warm and a little more humidity than we’ve had to deal with. Sorta kicked our butts this time around.

Shortly after we got here I bought a couple fire rings to make a bigger fire ring for my son-in-law. That didn’t work and I destroyed one in the process so I wanted to put the other one out in the yard so we could have camp fires occasionally. I was never allowed to till it was decided that the grand kids might like it. So Wednesday morning I dug a hole for the fire ring. Got that all ready then started splitting some wood to burn. Kathy came home and decided it wasn’t enough wood so I split more in the afternoon. I thought it would be fun and good exercise but I was wrong. I don’t recall it being that much work to split fire wood. Anyway, we had enough for Thursday night and Carter and I decided to go get some more rather than split it for Friday night. Went to Tractor Supply and it wasn’t aged very long. Did not burn well and made a lot of smoke. So I guess I’ll be splitting the rest of what I have.

Here is what it looked like. I let the pile of dirt I dug out close to that hole just in case the war department wanted it gone after the kids were gone. But I think she liked having the camp fire as much as the kids so I’ll get some brick to put around it and dress it up a little nicer.

Thursday morning I went to get my hair cut. Came home and finished getting things ready. Ran down to Subway for a sandwich for lunch. Kathy brought the kids over early afternoon. The rest of the time I did nothing but run. Thursday afternoon I took Carter and Shelby swimming. Chloe had some personal issues that prevented her from enjoying the pool. We got dried off and cleaned up then dinner.

For some reason Shelby wanted to escape things so she crawled in the cage with Rusty. Not sure what that was all about but it made for a good picture.

After dinner I lit off the campfire. All the kids came down and we had toasted marshmallows and mountain pies.

Here is one of the better mountain pies. I was enjoying my Heineken 0.0 beers and finished one bottle and laid it beside my camp chair. At one point I looked down and I believe Rusty might be an alcoholic.

Anyway, Chloe enjoyed the fire and she and I had some nice talks.

After it got a little darker I let Carter throw in some of the packets of stuff to make the flames pretty. Everyone enjoyed that.

Then everyone went inside. Kids went to bed and Kathy and I tried to recover from the days events. Friday we got up at the usual time and Kathy made a big breakfast for the kids. Eggs, Bacon, Sausage and Pancakes. That was enjoyed by everyone. Julie and Mike came over Friday evening and Kathy did steaks on the fire. Everything was delicious. Mike, Julie and all the kids enjoyed another campfire Friday evening. Then they took off. Kathy and I spent the rest of Friday night, Saturday and part of Sunday cleaning things up. It was a lot of work but I think everyone enjoyed it.

A little history behind all this. Many weeks ago Kathy had decided she wanted to have the kids stay over somewhere for the night before they went back to school. She was thinking of renting a cabin somewhere so they could have a fire, go swimming, hiking, etc. So I took her down the road to a KOA campground and they had everything she wanted. But the cabins were like $200 a night. Julie and I convinced her that the kids would have the same experience if we just had them come over to the house. So that’s how it all started.

Just one last picture of the two day experience with Carter and Shelby playing badminton.

Well that’s about it for this week. Hope you enjoy all the pictures. As always, hope this finds everyone safe and healthy. Will blog at you again next week.