Propane Tanks and Old Trees

Breaking 140 Year Old Temperatures

Unbelievable! 79 degrees on December 27 in southern middle TN at our farm! breaking records like crazy!

No Future Restoration Projects, but Went to Peru

At Machu Piccu

Down the Urabamba River with our Traveling Companions

The Marketplace in Cusco

Veggies in the Market in Cusco

Incan King Monument in Cusco

Our "taxi" driver (a Retrofitted Motorcycle, taking our lives into our own hands)

Baby Alpaca

Andy serving Guinea Pig

The Urabama River

Andy Ready to Paddle

Clarice Celebrating Her 59th Birthday in Peru

Children of Cusco and Our Guide, Walter Torres

Children of Peru

Fountain Park in Lima

This has nothing to do with restoration or living in rural America, but we did go to Peru in August, It was truly a trip of a lifetime! The culture, the people, who were so polite, the food (lots of potatoes), the Andes, altitude sickness, yuck!, the beauty and wonderful traveling companions from all over the USA. Everyone should visit Peru!

Belle of the Ball

Welcome, Belle of the Ball, my new fox hunter! This is a photo of our very first hunt in Lexington, KY with the Iroquois Hunt, and first ride together in March. I bought Belle that day and hunted her with Hillsboro the following Wednesday. She is a very dark bay, 11 year old, spayed mare, 15hh, 3/4 Percheron, 1/4 Morgan.  She is lovely and loving. I have been riding her all summer and she has been a star. I have a new trainer, Roman Kaul and he makes her look like a dressage star when he rides her in the indoor.  I am boarding her at Karen Gray's in hunt country. I am so excited to have her!!! love you, Belle!!!

Spring Flowers at Laughing Fox

Spring Flowers at Laughing Fox Farm. The irises and Nellie Stevens holly have been here since before we owned the farm. I planted the tulips and pansies. What I have learned is that irises loved to be thinned out, pansies are annuals, tulips have to be fed to produce flowers, and the holly tree just thrives on its own.  I had to feed one of the three hollies one year. I sprinkled about 10 lbs. of bone meal around it one spring and again in the fall.  I fed it because the leaves were turning yellow. Hollies go through a molting period when some of the leaves turn yellow. But that time the yellow leaves were about to outnumber the green ones. The tree is doing great.

Gone since 2013

For whatever reason I have not been able to access my blog until now. good to be back!

Out With the Old, In With the New - a Propane Odessy

It is ever amazing to me how long some things last. But, as with everything, eventually malfunction will happen. Such was the case with our buried propane tank. It must have been buried in the 40's or 50's (there is a plate on the cap that may give the date, but it isn't readable, do I hear "onion skin" paper?) and finally a leak started about a year ago. I was assured by the gas company that the leak wasn't dangerous, but it smelled terribly!  We ran out of gas a couple of weeks ago, a perfect time of the year for that to happen as we do use the gas for our logs in the fireplaces. In the meanwhile I had contacted a number of propane companies to determine prices to buy a new tank, get gas and have it buried. It is astounding how the prices vary. It pays to shop around!


I had to hire a person to dig out the tank with the gas representative present. The tank was dug out; it took about a hour. What was pulled out of the ground was something that looked like a submarine. It was gigantic!!!! The 1000 gallon tank itself was intact, but the leak had occurred near the tank's top. The photo is on this post.


I decided to relocate the tank as it was in our yard and I wanted it farther away. So a longer trench had to be dug, additional line was laid, a hole for the new tank was dug. May I interject something here? MEN: We women understand that it is fun to drive those machines to get work done. But really is it necessary to drive all over the place to do it? Our yard looks like a war zone. If I had not been there they would have used the Bobcat to fill in the dirt over the gas line. I insisted that part be done by hand, and I helped with that.   The new tank was placed, covered, connected, tested for leaks and we are now the proud owners of a new propane tank...to the tune of $3,400, not including the gas. The gas will be delivered Tuesday.


For documentation purposes: the gas line goes from the northwest corner of the house, straight back to the tank that is now buried beside the tractor garage, a distance of about 80'. There are no turns or curves in the line.


All in all it went well and it took seven hours to compete.