MEMORIAL DAY 2010

Thanks to all those who have served in our armed forces so that we can live in a democatic society.

John 15:13 There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.

CONFUSED

I don't know about you but I am very much a creature of habit. Now that Handyman & I are splitting our time between the house and cabin I am so afraid that I'll head out from work in the afternoon and go to the wrong place. So far, it hasn't happened, but I still have that fear. When we're at the cabin during the week, I get up at my regular time so I have time to cook breakfast before I leave. I've cooked bacon & eggs almost every work day for the past 37 years, but it takes so much more thought when we're at the cabin. You wouldn't think it would be a problem, but I guess I run on autopilot so much of the time. Our life had become so repetitious. Maybe this will be good for me--making me put a little more thought into even the small daily things that I do.
We're also having to do a little more planning to make sure we have enough food and clothes both places. It's been a bit of a juggling act for me. But so far, no one has gone hungry or naked, and the dog has always been at the right place, so I guess we're doing okay. (Hopefully I haven't spoken too soon!)

SOCIAL SECURITY

Handyman turned 62 back in March and became eligible for Social Security. We had always heard about the checks being delivered on the 3rd of the month. He signed up back in December or January (we wanted to make sure he didn't miss the deadline to get his first check on time). As it turns out, they have changed the schedule for making direct deposits for new retires. If your birthday is the 1st-10th, your check arrives on the second Wednesday of the month. If your birthday is the 11-20th, your check arrives on the third Wednesday of the month. If your birthday is the 21st -31st, your check doesn't arrive until the fourth Wednesday of the month. Also, they pay a month behind.
So, yesterday was the day!!! I checked our balances through online banking and Handyman finally received his first Social Security payment! No, it won't make us rich, but it'll still be nice to be able to pay for some extras for us and our offspring.

GLAD TO BE BACK HOME

It's been a long 4 weeks for me. I've traveled to all 25 of my schools, from far western Kentucky (Hickman), east to Monticello and north to Brandenburg. Overall the traveling was good this year. I only had a couple of short lived, light rain showers. No heavy thunder showers. The traffic moved along smoothly and I didn't encounter very many speeders. I did see several Kentucky State Troopers (some had people pulled over) and other various "peace" officers. So I can't really complain about the travel other than it was very tiring. I never lost my way. I guess I've been traveling to these schools for enough years now that I can find them fairly easily. This year I didn't run into any major constructions zones and the flooding didn't get in my way.
Tomorrow it's back to the office and catch up time ----hopefully it won't take too long since I've been reading emails from home.

TRAVELING KENTUCKY ...AGAIN

This has been a crazy week for me. I've spent several days on the road for work traveling to far western Kentucky for a couple of days and then a shorter trip on Thursday up the Natcher Parkway to Ohio & Butler Counties. After work on Friday I drove straight to the cabin. We spent the night and had breakfast and lunch there then headed home for a day. We have obligations at church so we needed to be back for Sunday morning along with it being Mother's Day and needing to spend some time with Handyman's mother. I'm looking forward to getting back to the cabin tomorrow afternoon even though on Monday morning I have to take off for a trip eastward on the Louie B Nunn Parkway to Monticello - it's right around 100 milon I-65 to almost Louisville - that one will be about 100 miles each way also. On Tuesday, I'll head back home after my work trip. On Wednesday, it's back to Caldwell Co on the Natcher and Western KY Parkway-- another 100 mile one-way trip and on Thursday I'm off to Meade Co, back up I-65 then backroads to Breckinridge Co and home -- approximately 100 miles one way again. That'll be a total of about 800 miles for the week! I'll be glad to get these trips over with. I don't mind a few now and then, but 4 weeks in a row is just a bit too much to suit me. I'll be turning in my rental car next Friday after putting over 3,000 miles on it.

NEVER SAY NEVER!

What is it about the word "never." Once you've said it, it'll come back to bite you!!
Handyman husband had a small runabout boat when we married. I think I was only out in it once and got burnt to a crisp. Then when the girls were small we bought another used boat. I don't remember how long we kept it, but it wasn't too long. Then we bought a nicer used one when the girls were in high school. Our older daughter did some tubing. I don't think #2 daughter ever did. Handyman even got to do some water skiing with this boat. When that boat was gone I said --- no more boats!! The only way I ever wanted another one was to buy a new one and keep it docked at the lake. But that was way too much money so I never figured that would happen. No, we never bought a new one, but a boat was donated to the school where handyman taught automotive technology. The boat needed a lot of work so he and his students got it running again. After spending so much time and effort on it, I knew that he wanted to buy it, soooooo..boat #4. Well at that time it was just handyman and me. It was a lot of trouble to take to the lake since we had to pull it AND the trailer with the truck. So we sold that one after a few years.
Now we're the owners of a lakeside cabin ---guess you can tell where this is going. Handyman is looking forward to getting the cabin remodel done and having some R & R time. He decided that he wanted to go fishing!!! He has spent an enormous amount of time perusing the ads on Craig's List looking for a boat and he finally found what he wanted and could afford with the money he had made on a remodeling job for some friends. So today he drove to Clarksville, TN and came back with his 1st Fishing Boat!! Here it is----
Happy Fishing Handyman and Happy Retirement!! Can it get much better for you? Cabin on the lake, a boat, and lots of days to go fishing. Hope you enjoy it ----.

RAIN RAIN AND MORE RAIN

I am so tired of rain!! We knew that it was coming so on Friday night I decided to get out of the house for a while. I went to WalMart to pick up a few things that we needed. I'm glad that I did go out for a while because now I'm about to go stir crazy!!! It rained all day yesterday. I checked our rain gauge before going to bed last night and we had had 4" of rain yesterday. We did go to church this morning and I checked the rain gauge when we got home and it had an addition 4.5" of rain. The rain has continued most of the day today, although we are having a reprieve right now. The last time handman husband checked we had almost an additional 1.5" inches --- total - 10". There are a lot of reports on Facebook about a lot of roads that are impassable. Unfortunately our local television station has not had any local news on this afternoon. We've been watching Nashville and they've had a lot more rain than we have had.
Tomorrow I'm supposed to head out to western Kentucky for work. I found on a Lexington TV website where a couple of the roads I'll need to travel are covered with water. Sooo, I'm not sure right now if I'll be able to make the trip. I'll probably call the state police in the morning to check on road conditions. Fortunately the rain is supposed to be gone tomorrow and no more in the 7 day forcast.
On the upside -- Barren River Lake should be back to summer pool after all of this ---probably even over summer pool. Our cabin should now be on the lake not just on the creek!!