20 Years

20 years ago today at about this time, I was probably nervously going through a mental list of things to be done!  At 22 years old, I was probably not really understanding how big the decision to get married is.  But 20 years later - wow!  Looking back now I am very glad that I have Rod as my teammate going through life.  I wouldn't trade it for anything.  Our biggest accomplishment in this marriage is raising Tori and Tina.  I couldn't be prouder of the daughters we have raised.  We have always taken life head on.   When we were ready to do something, we held onto each other and we just jumped right in. (like living in the campers!)

Here is to a  long, long life together.  Rod, I love you and couldn't imagine spending my life with anyone else!!

A few of the pictures from that hot day - July 2, 1994

Molly

Tomorrow we are going to have to say goodbye to a four legged family member.  It is finally time to do the humane thing and let Molly go.  I have known this day was coming for a while now, but I still sit here crying thinking about it.  She has so much personality and we have so many fond memories of her.  (and a few not so fond).

Molly came into our life as a very young 13 pound piglet.  I came home from a work trip and Rod and the girls had went to Kentucky to get her!  It was 100%  surprise to me!!! I had NO clue that I was coming home to a new pet pig.  Little did I know that she would grow the most attached to me.

She was potty trained very quickly!  Easier than any dog I have ever housebroke.  She lived in the house for a little over the first year of her life until she just got too big.  She has done everything from car rides, eating at Fido's, gone fishing with us, and many more things.   She went through a stage where she was aggressive and My Mom... wasn't her best fan in those days because she chose her to chase the most.  After getting Dolly, that all went away.

Another funny story - one day we couldn't find her.  We looked and looked and looked!  Then I walked into my bedroom and who was on my bed and under all the covers?  It was MOLLY.  She had jumped on the bed and snuggled in and all that was visible was about an inch of her nose!

Once when she had been too aggressive, we took her to a farm and gave her to them... I spent a couple of months worrying about her. You should have seen the look on the farmers face when we pulled in with her blankie and toys.  After a few months, we went back to a Halloween festival that they had and she recognized me.  I told the farmer, Mr. Owen, that I wanted her back.  So we loaded her back in the car and brought her back home!  What was I thinking that I could let her live there with his other pot bellied pigs?

After buying the land and moving to our new "mini farm", we got her a friend in Dolly.  Once shortly after we moved over to the new land, we were going on a long weekend trip to Gatlinburg.  We had Zac house sitting.  (ok this was when we lived in the campers, so he was technically camper sitting).  The morning we were to leave, she had some type of cyst rupture (at the time we didn't know what had happened).  It was a Sunday and a holiday weekend.  I could not find a single vet that was open to do farm calls to come look at her. So we were stuck not knowing what to do.  We couldn't get her to come out of her house and she was pitiful.  I thought she was dying and I was sitting in her house (Rod had to take the top off so I could climb in), crying over a pig,  and hand feeding her Chicken Noodle Soup.  Holding the bowl up to her because she couldn't stand up.  We left for our trip, but not until after I showed Zac how to hold the bowl for her.  The plan was that if she made it past the holiday that I would try to get a vet out.  She had chased Zac during her aggressive years and he wasn't real keen on doing the feeding!  But a couple of days later she had bounced back!

Over the last year she has gotten worse with arthritis and probably something like Crones Disease.  She passes a lot of blood and is pain.  We have been giving her daily pain medicine as well as an arthritis medicine.  I knew this day would come... but it is still hard.

Here is the link for the youtube video of her playing her keyboard
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23TF7BDK-54

And her giving a piggy back ride to the barbie
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ES14P_tyFo4

Some of the more memorable pictures of Molly:  I narrowed it down to just 8 pics

Tina and Molly napping in my bed

The father's day present for Rod that hangs in my house right now!  The photographer had a "pet" special.  He was surprised when we showed up with a Pet Pig!

Rolling up the carpet to get under it.

Always rolling up in blankets

she was worried during the swine flu outbreak!

Rod giving her a spa treatment.

Loved getting in the pool on a hot day

Bath time!

Notice the blue nose?  This is what happens when you leave markers on the floor when you have a pig!!! 

Chicken Whisperer

We had some decent storms overnight with more predicted later this afternoon.  So this morning I went to check on the baby chicks.  These chickens were born on March 10th and were moved out from under the heat light and put in a blocked off section of the coop about two weeks ago.  They had a round plastic tub turned on its side as their shelter.  So I get over there and they are all wet and huddled together in the plastic tub.  Looking into the tub, I noticed that there were two that had been trampled.  I get all the ones out and the two that are there I leave on the floor of the coop for a few minutes while I go look for a larger container to put in there.  I want a larger one so that hopefully this won't happen again this afternoon when more storms come.

After setting up the larger container, I get the two chickens out and they are mostly dead.  They had very shallow breathing, they were mostly flat (picture pancake here), caked in chicken poop, their wings, legs, and neck in odd positions and the worst - their eyes were already glassed over.  One of them even had another chicken standing on his head!  But since they were still breathing I couldn't just leave them out there.  I got another bucket and brought them in the house with a heat lamp.  I told my co-workers that they probably had a 5% chance of survival if I was going to place a bet.  An hour later I took a work break and went to check on them.  They were still alive but had not moved.  Another hour later.... not much improvement, but they did open one eye each and look at me.  Two hours later... They were sitting up!  Now about 5 hours since I brought them in the house, I went down there and they were eating some food.  I think their chances now are closer to 80%....

I didn't take a picture at their worst... because honestly, I thought their chances were just so slim!  But here they are now.

Beehives

Today was the day Rod has been so excited about.  For his birthday, his Dad gave him two beehives.  He has spent a lot of time doing all the work that is needed to get them ready.  Today was the day where he got to actually go pick up two hives with a total of approximately 12,000 bees.  ($200 worth - which is $100 per nuc) 

The sugar water feeder.  For right now he will feed them 8 pounds of sugar mixed with 1 gallon of water

The empty hive.  When he picks up the bees he will have 5 of the frames each

How do you transport bees?  This is what the box looked like that he brought home

There were quite a few buzzing around their heads

Looking for the queen

The queen is the one with the green dot.  They use a different color for the dot each year.  This is how they know how old the queen is.  For 2014, the dot is green

Egg Hunt and Rod's ER visit in the same Day

Beautiful Spring Day!!! That is how today started out.

Rick, Laine, and Christopher came to visit.  Chris loves to watch the chickens.  He isn't too sure of the goats or pigs, and he loves all the dogs.  We started out playing in the house some, then we went to see the baby chicks and finally to see the big chicks.  Rod and Laine went to get us some BBQ and Rick and I took pictures of Chris.

So after they came back, we ate and Rod got some food stuck in his esophagus.  This happens to him fairly regularly and normally it eventually go on down.  But this is a "new" spot that it get stuck in so it wasn't going down.  He didn't want to go to the doctor, so we did an egg hunt with Chris instead.

An hour later, it is obvious that this bite of BBQ isn't going to go down.  We are going to have to go to the ER.  So Rod takes a shower... he is stalling hoping it is going to move... and Laine, Rick, and Chris leave... and 1 1/2 hours after it got stuck, we are on our way to Skyline.

We waited about 45 minutes until they get him into room.  The nurse comes in, checks blood pressure, tells us she is doing an IV and leaves.  Then the lab guy comes in... This is funny because Rod says "you must have the wrong room".  The lab guy says "are you Rodney Cagle".  Rod says "yes, but I don't need any blood drawn, I just have a piece of food stuck in my throat".  The lab guy (as he is getting the needle ready) says "no one leaves here without a Lab Bill"....  It was a funny exchange.  Most people that know Rod knows he hates needles.

The nurse comes back and says that they are going to give him some medicine that only works about 10 - 15% of the time.  And it takes 1 1/2 hours to work and the on call doctor will be there at 6:00.  So we wait and wait.  He keeps hoping it is going to finally move on down..... and we wait.... 6:00 comes and they come get him to go to the OR.  The on call doctor is here, talks to him about the procedure, the anesthesiologist explains everything, etc.  Now the nurse is back with the medicine to put him under.  She is going to give it to him and she said you will start counting backwards.  She has the medicine in the shot and Rod says "Wait".. I think I was able to swallow (all this time he couldn't even swallow his own saliva).  He was 30 seconds from being put under.  She goes to tell the doctor and the doctor says to make sure he can drink a full glass of water... and sure enough, it has moved!  So they come get me and everyone is laughing about it....

4 hours and probably a pretty good hospital ER bill and we are back home!

I took a picture of Rod at the hospital and he really, really didn't want me to post it... So I won't.

So here are some sweeter pictures of Chris from the day!!!!!!

Track Mom Virgin

This week was a new first for me... being a track Mom virgin.  Tina started running track this year and her first track meet was on Thursday.  Track is like the step-step child at her school.  They don't even have a track and all of the freshman on the team have never even stepped foot on a real track!

The day started off with me working through my lunch so that I could leave work a little early.  The kids all have to get a ride to the meet, which was about 40 minutes from the school.  They are also not given the privilege of leaving early.  So the meet started at 4:00 and we had to wait until school was out, have the kids hurry to the car, and try to get through all the dismissal process (which is a huge mess at her school!).  Finally we were on our way.  I had Tina and her best friend Haley with me.

When we arrive at the school it seems to be some level of organized chaos.  I seem to ask about 100 questions of the seasoned Mom's in the stands.  The sun is shining it is about 60 degrees and this isn't too bad....THREE hours later at about 7:00, Tina is running in her first meet - the 1600 meter.  Now at this point, I'm a little hungry, my back is feeling the bleachers, and my butt hurts... the sun is getting lower in the sky meaning the sun isn't hurting our eyes but also isn't providing the warmth too much either.

Tina runs the 1600 and comes in 15th out of 23.  Not too bad for this being her first ever event and the first time ever on a track.  After the race is over I'm sitting in the stands and the coach comes hurrying over saying "Who is with Christina?  She is having an asthma attack".  So I go hurrying down there with her inhaler.  The cooler weather, nervousness, excitement, and mile run were too much even for the fact that she pretreated.

Another hour later.... she has her 2nd event for the day - the 1/2 mile.  She does really good on this one and comes in 7th out of 13.

And then there were still about 1 1/2 hours until the meet was over and we were able to leave.  At this point, my feet, hands, nose, legs, arms, ears, nose, and every other body part are freezing! At about 9:10 I finally went out to my car and got in to warm up.  The temp was 40 at this point!

The meet wasn't over until about 9:45 and then there was the drive back to Ashland City, I had starving kids with me that I had to stop to get something to eat, and then take Haley home.  We pulled into the drive at 11:20 p.m. at my house!

I am no longer a track Mom virgin... I will be better prepared next time.  I will have snacks (since the concession stand ran out of any real food and the kids were starved after they were finished with their meet), I will have more blankets, and I will prepare myself mentally that it is a VERY LONG PROCESS!

The only thing I was prepared for is my camera :-)  So her are some pics from this first track meet for Tina!

More Fence Building

Making decisions when you don't have all the variables is never a good idea.  Last week Rod asked me if we wanted to do the privacy fence portion of the fence all the way to the corner or just to the edge of where the tree line is.  We walked around and I thought about it and thought it would look a lot nicer to go all the way to the corner.  That was an additional 40 feet or so.  Today Rod is almost to the corner (only 1 more section to go) and he tells me that he priced the boards and it is going to be a little more than $7 a foot.... just for the west side of the fence that is 100 feet long (this doesn't count about 80 feet of fence that will be privacy on the east side).... I'm thinking now if we had only done privacy fence to where the tree line is, I could have gotten used to the look.  So now my fence that I hoped originally was only going to cost about $1,500 is going to go a good bit over budget.

Busy Weekend

Did you have a busy weekend?  I don't know anyone that works as hard as Rod... He has had at least three weeks in a row at work that have been 50+ hour weeks.  So now I just want to tell you about the work at the house this weekend...

I had almost finished this post -starting with Friday night.  Then I recalled Friday morning was eventful and I had to come back to the top and add this paragraph.  About 5:30 AM Friday morning, Rod is up (after working hours on Thursday night and another hour or so during the middle of the night).  We are listening to the news and they say it is going to rain.  He didn't realize it was supposed to rain and had unloaded 8 bags of 80lb concrete in the yard where he was going to use it this weekend.  So he had to throw on old clothes and head out to move all that concrete.  Then there were problems at work and he had to call the person he car pools with to tell him he would be late and was sitting back at his laptop again.

Rod had to work late on Friday night.  Tina and I were home waiting on him for our fondue feast (see post below).  After that he was back sitting at his laptop working again.

Saturday morning he was a plumber (at a strangers house).  We have bought a claw foot tub for my bathroom.  Part of the deal was he had to uninstall it and put cutoff valves in so that they could still have water after he removed the tub.  What he thought was going to be an easy job just never is... The pipes that he spotted when we first went to see the tub were easy to get to.  But they ended up not being the correct pipes and when we got back there on Saturday it was not going to be fun.  He had to crawl through a hole that was about 12 X 12 and to turn on his back he had to get up into a rafter area to give him space to flip from his stomach to his back! 

This was on his way out.. can you see his boots?

Very glad to be out from under there!

Of course next was loading into the car that included help from Matt and the home owner.

We get home, get the tub into the house and it is now about 1:00 pm. Is he done for the weekend?  No Way, he isn't even done for the day.

Next Rod, Matt, and Tina start on the fence I want built outside in the back yard.  This was another 4 hours of building the supports that will be the privacy fence section.

Was he done for the weekend or day?  Nope, not yet.  After dark, he does sit with us to eat (fondue again because it was so yummy and Tori and Matt were her this time!)  Then it is a little more work for him.  The kids went to spend the night with Mom and Dad.  Rod finally around 8:30 or so came and sat down with me to watch a little TV.

Sunday morning - back to being a computer nerd around 7:00... working, calling IBM for a support ticket, etc.  While waiting on a call back from IBM, he decide he hasn't had enough time being a plumber and started on the girl's bathroom.  When the house was built there was one 12" copper pipe in their plumbing.  With the sulfur water it has turned some parts of their tub black.  He cut out the copper pipe and installed the new plumbing.

Still waiting on IBM, and not able to sit still.... he built 3 more supports for the fence, blew off all the decks, and a few minutes ago when I went looking for him to get his phone... he was cleaning out the shed.

I now hope he is done for the day..... but since IBM still hasn't call back, I am afraid his night will end like it started... being a computer nerd.

I think I have many, many posts that demonstrates how hard he works.. just add this one to the list.

Valentines Day

We knew that Tori would be doing something with Matt for Valentine's Day, so we decided that we were going to go out to dinner with Tina.  When we asked her were she wanted to go, she said the Melting Pot.  I think I failed to mention this was THIS MORNING.  Obviously, there was no way were were getting into the Melting Pot on Valentine's Day without reservations.  So we decided we would do fondue on our own.

I went to the store and bought some fillet mignon, chicken, pork, fresh strawberries, fresh pineapple, pound cake, some veggies, cheese, and beef broth.  After work Tina and I chopped and diced for about 2 hours.  Then Tina cleaned the dining room, set the table, and we were ready.

Of course ... then Rod had to work late.  So we were waiting, and waiting. 
Here was the table Tina sat while waiting - we had plenty of time to wash the china and crystal

After Rod got home we were ready.

Our first course was a cheddar beer cheese with bread, chips, and brocolli.  I mixed about 12 ounces of cheddar cheese (white cheddar, sharp cheddar, and medium cheddar), 2 - 3 ounces of swiss with 1/2 a can of beer, and a little bit of garlic. 

After the cheese was the main course with fillet mignon, pork, chicken, potatoes, and red pepper.  We made the broth with 4 cups of beef stock, 3 cloves of garlic sauteed, 1/2 cup red wine, and some herb seasoning.  It was every bit as good as the melting pots!

And last but certainly not least... came the chocolate.  We did a simple 1/2 milk, 1/2 dark chocolate with the strawberries, pineapple, and pound cake

Since I went and spent $60 on the electric fondue pot for the meat course, and all the food that I bought... it might have saved us a few dollars than going to the Melting Pot.. but it was just as good, we are just as full, we didn't have to go out in the rain, and best yet... it was great company in the comfort of our own home.

A perfect Valentine's Day

FFA Creed

FFA chapters have been competing in reciting the creed for many years.  However, Sycamore has not had anyone compete in a couple of years.  This year Mr. Silvy, Tina's FFA teacher, asked her if she would be up to the task of learning the creed and going to compete.

Competition day comes and Tina can't find her black skirt.  There is a strict dress policy for the girls that includes a black skirt, black hose/stocking, black shoes, white button up shirt, and the FFA jacket.  So we are scrambling at 6:00 in the morning and there is no skirt to be found....  So she takes one of Tori's that doesn't fit and heads to school.  The competition was at 3:00 that afternoon.  All morning I just couldn't stop worrying about her not having a skirt that fit and how that would shake her confidence... So lunch time comes and I send a message to my co-worker and tell him I will be about 15 minutes late coming back for lunch.  I jump in the car and head to Kohl's in Clarksville.  They had a skirt and I bought it.  It was full price... who pays $40 for a full price skirt at Kohl's?  This mom that was trying so hard to help out her daughter.  If you have ever shopped at Kohls you know that they always circle what you save and tell you.  The cashier had already started talking saying "you saved" and then she realized I saved NOTHING.  It was funny when I told her "yep, I paid full price".

So I drop off the skirt at school and I just felt so much better.  2:00 pm comes and Mr. Silvy and Tina leave school to head to TSU.  I worked until about 2:45 and headed down to the competition.  I had been there maybe 2 or 3 minutes when Mr. Silvy gets a call that the competition was cancelled because of the impending weather and postponed to the following week....

So now that we had a skirt, the next week was much less drama.  She didn't win, she took 3rd place behind the two power house teams - Waverly and McEwen.  We were all very proud at how well she did.  There were a lot of kids competing and she should be proud of that 3rd place finish.

In case you wonder what the FFA creed is...

I believe in the future of agriculture, with a faith born not of words but of deeds – achievements won by the present and past generations of agriculturists; in the promise of better days through better ways, even as the better things we now enjoy have come to us from the struggles of former years.
 
I believe that to live and work on a good farm or to be engaged in other agricultural pursuits, is pleasant as well as challenging; for I know the joys and discomforts of agricultural life and hold an inborn fondness for those associations which, even in hours of discouragement I cannot deny.

I believe in leadership from ourselves and respect from others. I believe in my own ability to work efficiently and think clearly, with such knowledge and skill as I can secure, and in the ability of progressive agriculturalists to serve our own and the public interest in producing and marketing the product of our toil.

I believe in less dependence on begging and more power in bargaining; in the life abundant and enough honest wealth to help make it so-for others as well as myself; in less need for charity and more of it when needed; in being happy myself and playing square with those whose happiness depends upon me.

I believe that American agriculture can and will hold true to the best traditions of our national life and that I can exert an influence in my home and community which will stand solid for my part in that inspiring task.

Union Bound again...

Well I just hugged Tori and sent her out the door headed back for her second semester at college.  We are fortunate that she comes home almost every weekend and this break from mid December until the end of January has been great.  But just like a drug addict, I will probably be in a little bit of withdraw with her heading back. The biggest thing I miss is knowing the simple day to day things about her life.  I am very proud that she has adjusted so well and loves school.  I didn't blog in August about when she headed off to school because I wasn't doing a very good job keeping up with it...  She was really sick, we didn't know what it was, and it was very upsetting.  It ended up just being mono and some minor complications with it.  She is all better now and no doubt sending off a well Tori is much better than a sick one!!!!

So here is to a great Second Semester!

Since I didn't post pictures back when I moved her in - here they are now :-)

Moving into her room.  She has her own bedroom!

The kitchen and bathroom.  She shares the bathroom with one other girl, and the kitchen will all her suite mates

The quads

Her suite mates.  They all get along great!

Happy Birthday Rod!

Happy Birthday to Rod!

So I went a little overboard on Christmas this year for Rod and told him "All these presents are for your birthday as well"... Thinking three pair of new Timberland boots and a Northface Technical Pack was plenty for both rolled into one.

He started this week off saying work was going to be really busy and he didn't think he would be able to take off on Friday for his birthday.  Then as the week went on he realized his upgrade was going better than he hoped and it looked like he could take off.  Thursday night it was official he was going to be off on Friday.  Like typical fashion, Rod can't just rest.  So he planned to work all day at the house on his birthday.  Yes, I know the weather forecast was that Friday AM it was going to be about 5 degrees here!

We lined up for Matt, Tori's boyfriend, to come help at 9:00 AM Friday morning. So this means Thursday afternoon Rod is getting everything ready.  He comes in and says "my chainsaw will not run"... Can you guess where this is leading?

About $470 later (tax, the oil package- that buying doubled the warranty, and the saw).. Here is Rod's birthday present:

And now I have been sitting in here working all morning and all I hear is him playing with his new "toy"!  And look he is wearing eye protection!!!!

And this last shot, I just love.  Not only is his butt in the picture, you can see that they were skeet shooting a couple of nights ago and a unshot skeet landed in the tree.  (I didn't get a picture of the arrow that he also found down by this tree that must have been lost weeks ago - when he practices shooting his bow from the deck)

The last thing that I want to say here is Happy Birthday to the hardest working man that I know.  I love you and I am so thankful that I picked you to spend my life with.  I can't imagine how it could be any better than what we have!

After posting this I had to come back to edit it to put a picture of the great cake Tori just got finished making for him.  It has his backhoe toy on the top with stuff in the bucket and the front loader!