It rained !

I'm glad it rained.  Not so much for me as for the grandsons.  They should know what rain feels like.

OK, old joke and not true. But it has been a while since we got a general soaking rain.  We got one last night. In the area of 3 inches, depending on where you are.

Last night started out kind of routine.  Sue and I had been doing some yard work (OK, THAT wasn't routine either) and after we cleaned up were going to get a sandwich when they paged out WU EMT's for a single car rollover accident.  We have gotten to the place we have a firetruck respond to calls like that, so Sue and I went to the scene while a couple firefighters brought a truck.  We were doing better than the EMT's who had a Paramedic but the rest of the crew wee a few minutes away.   No problem, get the ambulance to the scene and I can drive it if need be.

Short story, the rest of the crew responded to the scene, they had a crew and I was relieved (in more ways than one).  While that was going on the Deputy got a call about a woman wondering around in some trees and a corn field north of town.    A couple of us responded there as well to help.

Did I mention it was just starting to rain as the ambulance pulled out?

By the time we made the second scene it was raining like 2 cows and one rock. (if you don't understand that we'll have to explain it privately).  The Deputy and I found her, Deb (the Deputy) got her in the car and took care of her,  and we went home, got a dry shirt, and ate supper.  Then we started shutting down irrigators.

We're setting along the road waiting for a break in the rain when Becky calls Sue.  Mom called her with water running in the basement.  It seems water was coming in  places it doesn't normally leak.  One was the main breaker panel.

We didn't know about that until Mom had some strange happenings in the kitchen.  Aman went to check the breakers and got bit.  Then he noticed the water  dripping out of the box.  So we spent our evening vacuuming water and unloading the refrigerator and fun stuff like that.

I needed to find a photo for this post and couldn't find any.  But in the process I realized that 2 months ago we were helping an older couple from church with storm damage

and that limb is still on their garage roof.  I think it may be time for a friend to go shake their insurance guy's tree.

Not the greatest way to start your week

I went to a funeral this morning. Not the greatest way to start your week. Dad's sister lost her battle with cancer. The funeral was in a little country church a little over an hour drive from here. It was also in a different time zone, so it was an hour earlier for us than it was there. I was kind of impressed with the number of family friends who had to leave home by 7:00 AM to get there.  And some got up a lot earlier.

But something that really impressed me, and I thought spoke highly of my aunt's friends, was something I bet a lot didn't see or realize. Like I said, it was a small country church. It was a standing room only crowd. Repeatedly I saw men get up and offer their seat to a lady standing along the wall. You don't see such chivalry too much any more.

I was also impressed with the number of vehicles that were pulled to the side of the road and stopped until the procession passed.

This has to be particularly trying on her family as a week ago her mother in law was buried.

Having been on the receiving end when dad died I tried not to use the same old expression everyone uses. I didn't ask "How are you?" or "How you doing?" How would you expect them to be? Then there is "I know how you feel..." If you did you would know better than to say something like that. Sometimes all you can say is "We'll miss her, too."

Oh well, tomorrow is a new day.

Back after a long abscence

OK, maybe it wasn't THAT long.   Frontier DSL was a very bad thing to say for a couple weeks around here unless you wanted to be scowled at.  I was a bit hard to get along with.  Sue was so tired of hearing about it you REALLY didn't want to mention it around her.  But they have it fixed and working like it should and life is wonderful and the grass is green and the sky is blue.

So after being unable to post for two weeks what do I start with?

On the farm page I mentioned some tractors.  Let' start with a few photos. I have over 60 photos on my cell phone since I last posted 

I really wished I had a real camera with me when I saw this.  It was  back lighted cloud late in the evening.  The cloud had a glow around it. It doesn't show very good in a cell phone photo, but we'll try it.

 Here is a car I tried to convince Sue she needed

It's basically big blue street legal golf cart.

She wasn't impressed.

Speaking of golf carts, we found this for sale near Effingham.

 She wasn't  impressed with it either.

It looks like someone took either a Geo Tracker or a Suzuki or such and put and EZGo body on top of it.  The radiator as been moved to the back to protect it.  I bet it could fling mud!

How about a few July 4 photos?  My perspective of the parade is usually from the back.  So I get folks as they are pulling out.

LOOK OUT! Noble is driving!

And I am told it may not have been the best day to be walking in costume over your regular clothes

And we of course need a few horses

But things always end well with a few fireworks

Well that was interesting ....

Something went POP just outside the house during a storm last night.  I'm looking things over before calling the insurance agent and an electrician Monday morning.  I've not ventured out to get a meter yet, so I've just observing what is obvious.

Right now the back porch original outlets, back bathroom lights and original outlets, front bathroom lights and outlets, east kitchen outlets, basement lights, and furnace do not work.  I unplugged the water heater.

We have one circuit on breaker #11 that doesn't do anything.   Our draft induced gas water heater is on breaker #17.  If I turn off #11 with #17 on something buzzes in the water heater.  I disconnected it and turned off both breakers.  I discovered this morning the furnace/air conditioner (#26) is not working either, and the breaker is turned on.  I observed an LED night light in the back bathroom is flickering when plugged into one outlet, but not when plugged into a different one on a different breaker.

Let's see, did I get the fire insurance paid ?

edit:  It appears the  problem is the main disconnect switch.  It has 120 volts coming in both lines, but only one line coming out has 120.  The other is dead.  Our noises were from backfeeding through some 240 volt appliances.  Once I disconnected them the noise quit.

Hutsonville High School multi-year reunion

I'm not sure that was the official title, but that was the net effect Saturday evening.  They blocked of part of Main Street and had food and music and a silent auction ... actually kind of impressive for a small town like Hutsonville.

There were people from as far away as Washington (state and DC) and New Hampshire and Florida ... and I think I failed to get a photo of any of those folks!  Did get folks from Texas and St Louis

A good time was had by all

Maybe more some than others

I'm just sure he used to be younger than her ...

Not sure what I am allowed to say ...

Not sure what I am allowed to say, so I'll just post a photo and let you wonder

An email I sent this weekend

I don't like tooting my own horn very much.  I stopped to help a couple guys with a flat tire and one of them asked me to drop him an email.  I said I would, but what do I write? "Here it is, hope your spare didn't go flat."?  They had stopped part way up the hill north of Walnut Prairie with most of the car still on the road with a flat.  Awkward, but manageable ... until they didn't set the parking brake on their front wheel drive car and it rolled off the jack shortly after removing the wheel.  Here's what I wrote:

David,

Hope you guys made it to Marshall OK.  Your request I drop you an email caused me to ponder on why I do things like that.  I don't do things like that looking for recognition.  If I hadn't told you I would send you an email I would have just driven off into the sunset. OK, so what do I say in this email?  Let me tell you why I showed up, and a bit about my town.

We were setting at home when we heard the ambulance called to a neighbor's home.  West Union is a small community. (http://westunion.blogspot.com) My wife and I know the patient, we know the Paramedic and the EMT driving.  So when Bill called in a 10-46 (disabled vehicle) as they were in route to the hospital we knew there was something special about the situation.   My wife turned to me and said "You're going to go check on that, aren't you?"  It really was more of a statement than a question.   That's why I showed up. Jamie and Avery Booth stopped because they saw a car with a problem a half mile from their house and my truck setting there.

As it says on the West Union Facebook page (www.facebook.com/pages/West-Union-Illinois/118405071514792) "There is a special attitude in West Union. The park, library, community center, the Fire Department, the Christian Church Mission fund, all these things testify to that 'We can do it' attitude." It is an interesting little town. Population around 300, it has 3 restaurants and a carry out pizza place, plus it's the first town east of Moonshine (www.themoonshinestore.com/).  West Union has a fantastic Library for the size the town is.  Its operating budget is about twice what its tax revenue is. It has the largest t-shirt shop on ebay (www.honeville.com) plus a few other businesses.There are 3 churches in West Union  (The Christian Church has a web site at www.wucc.us) And how many towns have their own guided missile?

I mentioned the ambulance.  West Union has an ambulance based there.  We had 4 Paramedics staffing it on a volunteer basis.  After an accident last fall cost us the life of one we are down in numbers but still going. (http://westunion.blogspot.com/2010/10/west-union-paused-this-week.htmll)

So stop by again some time on your way through.  We can do most anything but fix a tire.

Mike Bumpus

www.BumpusFarms.US
http://walnutprairie.blogspot.com