Gutted Pumpkin

We bought a pumpkin at WalMart ... 2 for $5 ... when we got it home, we noticed a soft spot on the backside, near the bottom.  I cut in and found this dark gray mold.  So I chopped it out ... well beyond the moldy area.  This one will NOT be a jack-o-lantern.  We'll scrape out the seeds and cook them this evening ... then cut up and cook the pumpkin tomorrow ... and eat some slathered in butter and sprinkled with salt or lemon pepper.

Brrrr !!

I rode my recumbent down to Lowe's ... Dothan ... On some stretches the headwind was so bad that I had to pedal assist on downhill slopes just to make headway. I bought a 10-24 tap, some lubricating oil, and a tap handle. Then I rode it back home. Ran out of gasoline about a mile from the house ... had to pedal the rest of the way. The wind was blowing and would sometimes rock me from side-to-side ... that's real scary on a bicycle at 25 mph. Even with lined leather gloves on ... my fingers were freezing! Darned if the tap didn't break ... yes, it broke ... just as I had the hole about threaded. I managed to get the broken piece out and touch up the thread with what remained of the tap. Then later in the afternoon ... after Garrett threw-up on the walls and floor while sitting on the pot with the squirts ... and I had a short nap ... we took the boys back home and went to ACE Hardware to buy another tap. My wife says I rushed her out of there too quickly ... or she would have gotten some plants (kale, broccoli, collards, etc.) for a winter garden. Anyway, I tapped & threaded the other piece and have the bracket ready to weld onto the trike. Would have done it tonight, but Daniel was in the shop and wanted to talk ... just talk ... tv's, trucks, KC Transport, his mom, bicycles, brakes, piano tuning, etc.
K's husband, Ben was rushed to the hospital with appendicitis on Monday evening. I think he made it home late this afternoon.
They say it is going to freeze tonight ...

Peanut Butter Jamboree

Today we attended the Peanut Butter Jamboree in Brundidge. There was a blacksmith, gospel groups, cloggers, children searching for something in a haystack, an old-time 60's band (we sang along with a few of their songs), lots of food booths (we had to have pork BBQ sandwiches), some booths selling crafts & stuff, a cane mill (they squeeze sugar cane to get the juice out -- and give you a sample to drink), and some representatives of the Alabama Creek Indian Tribe. We spent several hours there ... bought a few things ... and then headed to Enterprise. Turns out there was some kind of festival going on in downtown Enterprise (we had to detour around). Heading to Meadowlawn Cemetary. We checked on Cosette's grave ... and changed the flowers on Grandma & Grandpa Taylor's grave. Arriving home, we found that V.A. had sent me a gallon jug with some white powder in it ... I'm supposed to fill it with water ... and drink the entire thing a day or two before going in for a colonoscopy ... the fancy name on the bottle says "wash out the colon." Self induced "squirts!" Joy. Really looking forward to that (NOT).

In Memory ...

We visited Cosette's grave.

We put some new flowers on Grandpa & Grandma Taylor's grave.

Headshots

The only foto of me with my maternal grandfather

This is called "comb-over" ... and runs in my maternal family

My mother's brothers mostly lost all but the fringe ...

This foto is for my darling children to count the missing hairs on my head ... it is getting very sparse up there ... if I shaved a few hairs ... and didn't drag the others across ... you could gasp! and go, "Oh my gosh, he's bald on top." with a fringe around the sides ... and even the fringe has a blank spot in the back (which has nothing to do with my barber making an "oops.")
And you wonder why I am so fond of wearing hats ...
(something to do with sunburn ... or cold on top)

Rain stopped, sun shining

The rain finally stopped towards yesterday evening ... this morning the sun is shining thru the leaves ... casting shadows on the walls ... and the birds are making piercing noises (some are nice, but some are repetitively obnoxious).

Perhaps I should get dressed, eat breakfast, and go do something constructive ... whatever that might be ...  ... ... ... later!

Steady Rain

It started raining this afternoon ... and has rained steadily ever since.  Not a heavy downpour ... but a good steady rain ... more likely to soak in.  That means I don't have to water the garden.  There's still basil, peppermint, rosemary, marigolds, the remnants of tomatoes, and sweet potatoes out there.

Fairly flying!

A couple of grandsons rode the DeltaWolf Trike I've been building for them. OOOHH! I like the way that thing flies around the yard and down the road. They like the way it rides too! I'll have to shoot a short video for you to see ...

Summer Garden

This is the end of the Summer Garden ... 

mid-way up on the left are the bedraggled potato vines

(in background behind pole).

Lots of marigolds ... a very boisterous Basil plant ...

the skeletons of eggplant, tomato, and peppers ...

the rosemary is about defunct ... the mint is making a come-back.

Power Outages

The power has gone out twice today for extended periods.
We're glad that it came back on again before sunset.
Guess it's time to run down to WalMart and buy some oil lamps ... they seem to get given away every time we move ... so it's time to get new ones ...

Functional DeltaWolf Trike

There it is ... a functional DW Trike.
I mounted two caliper brakes over the rear tires.
The gear train is in place and functional.
or at least it should be ...
I'll have to get a smaller person to test ride it ...
A few more tweaks and it will get a paint job.

Longhorn Steak House

My wife referred a decking contractor to a home owner ... after completing the job, he gave my wife a $50 gift card to Longhorn Steak House. My wife had a nice salad with grilled chicken on it and balsamic vinegarette dressing. I had a small fillet of beef ... medium rare ... and a lobster tail with melted butter and lemon ... rice pilaf was the side dish. We had one serving of Chocolate Stampede for dessert ... one serving is two wedges of chocolate mouse on chocolatecake/brownie ... with two globs of ice cream. That was sufficient for the two of us.

It was very lovely ... but we would have preferred a gift card for the Golden Corral !!! For those who don't know ... Golden Corral is like Ryan's ... a wonderful buffet place ... where we eat way too much food when we go there ...

Weaseled out of Lunch

Monday John was out of town.  Tuesday he showed up but said he had to leave at 10:00 to go to his other job.  I spent the rest of the day there working by myself.  NO LUNCH.

It was "brisk" this morning ... so I wore a windbreaker jacket for my ride to work.  The really cold areas were down by the rivers.  Today John showed up at 0800 ... said some company would be delivering some stuff in the early afternoon ... made sure I had a list of things that need working on ... and disappeared for the day.  He called me and changed plans:  get everything out of the kitchen ... and work on it.  NO LUNCH.

When he hired me, he told me he'd pay me and feed me ... Hmmm ... the feed thing is falling thru ... hmmm

Stop Motion Foto

My fotographer has a hard time taking moving shots ...
So, I had to park it for this foto ...
No speeding past with the motor running ...
There is a rearview mirror attached to my glasses, and
I'm wearing a bicycle helmet ... kind of mandatory with a motorbike.

Driving Blind

I went to the eye clinic yesterday ... before going to work ... and in their desire to utilize all their fancy equipment, they decided put in drops to dilate my eyes so they could get better fotos of busted blood veins, or whatever. The Doc said I have the early beginnings of cataracts ... which he says shouldn't be a concern to me for a long time yet ... and other than that ... a prescription for bi-focals.
Then I had to ride/drive 12 miles to work ... with light-sensitive, fuzzy vision ... yeah, that was special.
I'm sure that what you really wanted to know is what we had for lunch ... particularly since John is buying ... it was Taco Bell and I chose menu item #2 ... some kind of lightly grilled, soft-shell, stuffed burrito ... with nachos. John had menu item #1 ... and Allison chose menu item #6. (You'll have to run down to Taco Bell and read the menu to see what those were.)
It's a good thing I took the one gallon fuel container with me ... for sure would have run out before I got to work ... much less made the ride back home ... topped up the fuel tank twice. I stuffed the fuel container into a large cloth hand bag ... and hung the handles over my left shoulder ... then put my bike helmet on top of it when I went into the clinic ...

Covered in Paint

Today I put a 2nd coat of paint on the apartment kitchen ... it's kind of a dark yellow. Then I masked, prepped, and put 2 coats of paint on the bathroom. Kind of an off-white with a faint brown tone. And we sprayed another coat of paint on the two bedrooms and the living room. John brought lunch from Captain D's ... fried chicken fingers! What ever happened to fish?? Along with fried okra and coleslaw. He and Allison went to lunch while I painted ... because the Power Company was there trying to figure out why when a work light is plugged into the wall outlet in the living room ... the bathroom lights all go dim. OR John turned on the entry light and the lights in the bedrooms and living room all dimmed. OR you turn on the kitchen light and the fan blowing in the kitchen window suddenly increases rpm. So somebody had to be there so the power company guys could have access ... that was me. The motorbike made it all the way there and back home again on one tank ... with about 3/4" of fuel left. I've already fueled the tank 3 times and there is still probably enough fuel left to fill it again ... all from a one gallon container.
John says that I paint better than he does. He thought maybe it was because I'm more patient. I told him that when I was a much, much, younger man ... I spent a couple of months working for a professional painter, Ron Lindsay, and he taught me about "wagon tracks" and some other things to do or not do when painting ...

Emergency Alert Sirens!!!

It was a dark foreboding day ... the rain started this morning ... by noon the "flash-bangs" were almost right on top of each other ... 3 times this afternoon the emergency alert sirens wailed out the news that a tornado had been spotted ... a huge pine tree was snapped off and dropped down on hwy 123 ... a tornado went thru Enterprise as well. We ate lunch at Rodeo Mexican Restaurant ... beef burrito, enchilada. and a taco ... along with the usual chips and salsa.

Then from 4-6 p.m. it was bright and sunny ...

Survived the Ride!

I rode all the way in past downtown Ozark ... worked 8 hours patching holes, sanding walls, washing walls, taking down light fixtures (and a ceiling fan) ... and other such labor. Had a Big Buford burger from Checkers for lunch (with medium fries). Pedaled a couple of miles without the engine on (gentle up-n-down and a downhill slope). Then fired it back up for the hills ... Did pedal assist on the 2 major steep hills on the way home. I did get a workout. Now I'll have to take a shower today ... and I just had one yesterday! And there was still some fuel left in my one pint tank. 75 cents ... not bad for 25 miles. I'll try it again tomorrow ...

My New Steed

The engine is mounted ... there was a conflict between the disk brake mechanism and the engine frame ... I have to ride my bike 12 miles into Ozark tomorrow and 12 miles back ... My wife will be working in the Realty office 20 miles the other direction ... there are a couple of hills steep enough that the thought of going down them with only a single front brake ... was too scary. So, it became an urgent matter to attach a "V"-brake on the rear. I now have a functional transport that will make it easier to pedal up hills using the assist motor.

More of Fieldtrip

close-up of the milking cow

Kids at the farm ...

"hayride" wagons in background

So many choices!

In the pumpkin patch ...

Farm Fieldtrip

It was a school fieldtrip to the farm today ...

They got to go on a hayride ...
pick a pumpkin to take home ...
pick a sunflower to take home ...
And try to milk a plywood cow ...
(the teats were calf feeder bottles)

She says, "Hey!"

(That's southern for "Hi")
And don't forget getting lost in the corn maze!!

More Later ...

Saw these the other day when out riding my bicycle ...
they are now a bit past prime ...
but still very pretty ...
whatever they are ...