Giving Thanks

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving Holiday. The highlight was the feast, Debby did a fantastic job! We had the Van Horn family join us, all had a nice time.

Seizure Dog Fundraiser

Earlier this year some friends of ours who live in Rockwood learned that their four year old daughter Bonnie had epilepsy. Bonnie began having seizures, and they started to happen more frequently. Bonnie was injuring herself when the seizures occurred, so our friends got a helmet for her to wear, although she did not like it.

Debby helped by embroidering a pretty cover for Bonnie's helmet with a pony on it and her name.

At one point Bonnie was having more than 50 seizures per hour. I don't know how the family has managed to remain functional with everything they have been going through. The family has been spending a lot of time at Vanderbilt, and they have been working to get the right medication for Bonnie.

Apparently there are certain dogs (poodles, schnauzers) who can sense when a seizure is about to occur. In addition to this ability having one of these dogs also seems to reduce the number of seizures. The family would like to get one of these dogs for Bonnie, but they cost several thousand dollars.

So, on Saturday night we took part in a fundraiser dinner at a local church. Debby prepared some vegetable beef stew for the dinner, other families brought chili, soups, desserts, etc. Everyone had a very enjoyable time and we raised $1000 to help get a seizure dog for Bonnie.

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Chip's Christmas list ....

Last year I asked for a racing pigeon named "Dream Boy", he was available at auction with a starting bid of only $30,000. Mamaw and Papa told me to "keep on dreaming boy". I was so crushed.

So, I thought I'd put my Christmas list up here, where it will get wider exposure. I'm not expecting to actually receive any of this, but since this blog is on the net, you never know. Perhaps Warren Buffet reads this blog.

So here goes.
1) sawmill. Woodmizer LT50 hydraulic diesel sawmill and twin blade edger. Someone to operate the mill and funds to purchase logs would also be helpful.
2) Kubota tractors, I need a few.
a) Big tractors: M96S, M108S, M108X.
b) Large tractors. M9540, M8540
c) Medium tractors: M5040, M6040, M7040
d) Small tractors: L3400, L3940, L4240, L4740
e) Backhoe: M59
f) mowers: ZD331 zero turn
g) utility vehicles: I need a few Kubota RTV's or similar to get around in.
3) staff: I'm too busy, have too many things going on, I need funds so that I can hire some staff. And some funds so that the staff can do useful things.
4) well drilling, trenching equipment: I want to install a geothermal system and run some water lines.
5) truck(s): I need a serious truck (or two), something like a Dodge Ram Big Horn, crew cab, 4wd, dually, diesel, 6 speed auto, 15,000 lb tow package, loaded.
6) cattle trailer.
7) horse trailer.
8) computers
9) swimming pool
10) night vision, thermal imager, binoculars, high intensity spotlight, spotting scopes
11) beef cattle and some good milk cows such as swiss brown so we can make gruyere cheese (will also need subterranean cave for aging and storage)
12) lime, about 100 tons
13) timberframe barn, haybarn, storage building, super uber pigeon palace
14) horses
15) ski lift and snowmaking equipment
16) canoe, raft, kayak
17) corvette
...
...
...
Actually we are very fortunate and very blessed and don't need a thing. Want perhaps, not need:) Ho Ho Ho, happiness, health, and good tidings to all!

Yet more fun!

We had a couple of the kids friends over for a spend the night party. This morning Mary made and distributed party invitations and the kids had a nice little party with sweets and hot chocolate. Mary decided to decorate her Dad. And puppy too.

Got Pup?

We have way too much fun with Pup-pup.

Pigeon update

Pigeons are doing fine. How do I know, well one way is to look at their perches in the morning. The picture taken this morning shows a perch with a nice little pile of fresh perfectly formed droppings with a down feather or two.

Brrrr!

Fourteen (14) degrees here this morning! What happened to the global warming? Our heat pump is running in emergency heat mode (heat pumps are not very efficient when the air temp is below 25 degrees F).

Spirit has some frost on his back, and some ice on his whiskers, but he's actually doing just fine.

Gas price update

Gas prices continue to drop, here's a picture I took in Kingston, TN. I joked with a friend at work the other day, I said the gas prices have dropped so much that I don't even bother to shut off the Suburban anymore, I just leave it idling (not!). Actually, it's quite a relief, we can fill up our old Taurus for less than $30, and the old Suburban with it's 40 gallon tank for less than $100!

Waffle Operation

John loves Papa Waffles so recently Debby found the perfect waffle iron. Here is Papa's (my Dad, Maurice Piller Sr.) famous waffle recipe:

WAFFLES
FROM PAPA’S KITCHEN

Start with a good waffle iron (mine is a round electric Betty Crocker).

This recipe makes 6-7 golden waffles.

Stir the following ingredients in a large bowl:

1 & ¾ cup all purpose flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

Beat with a fork in a separate bowl:

2 egg yokes

1 & ¾ cup of milk

½ cup oil or shortening

Then pour the liquid part all at once into the flower mixture.

Stir it until blended, but still slightly lumpy.

Gently fold in the (two) beaten egg whites (peaked).

Do not over mix.

Princess and Pup-pup

A picture of Mary and her puppy, just hanging out.

Where's John?

I came home the other day and was not able to find my son. It's hard to believe with us living on a farm in East TN that we don't have any camo in our wardrobe, until now. Debby got some hand me down clothes from a friend and what you see is John's new favorite outfit.

On the subject of camo, or camoflage, earlier this year I got quite a chuckle when I saw camo Easter eggs for sale. Ha!

Christmas Spirit

We had fun making some Christmas decorations.

Flurries today

A few snow flurries outside this morning, some local school systems are closed for the day. It was 19 degrees F at home a couple of days ago. Ski resorts in North Carolina are already open.

Veterans Day, SNS talk

Happy Veterans day to all! The freedoms and liberties we enjoy today are the result of the sacrifices made by the present and past veterans of this nation.

I gave a talk today at lunch about the Spallation Neutron Source to the Knoxville Sertoma Club, a longstanding service organization in the area. The group meets at Regas Restaurant on Tuesdays. I had a little trouble getting there due to the Veterans Day parade, but all was fine. I gave a talk earlier this year to the same group on the subject of pigeon racing.

More Mamaw Birthday pics

Greg and Janet sent us a CD with pictures from Mamaw's 75th birthday, thanks guys! Here are a couple more pictures.

Jaguar, computing

Yesterday came the announcement that the world's fastest open science computer is called Jaguar, and we've got it at ORNL where I work, click this link for more info.

This speed machine is running Linux, of course :)

Not to be outdone, I have a home computing device named "John" with a speed of about 1 flop. That was meant to be a joke, however I just asked John what 1.2 plus 1.2 equals and he replied 2.4 in about 1 second, so I'll call that 1 flop.

Jerkey Time!

A while back we bought a food dehydrator/jerkey maker unit. Debby surprised me this weekend by making some beef jerkey. Good stuff!

Chip's Right Wing Blog

Seeing that I've been blogging for a while now, and that apparently election season is upon us, I felt it appropriate to weigh in on things political. From the picture you will see me and a right wing. Ha!

Yes, I'm a right wing conservative. I'm pro life. I believe in God. I believe in family. I believe in personal responsibility.

I'm supporting the McCain/Palin ticket. McCain/Palin will win Tennessee, we are a red state. As for the rest of the country I don't know.

My wife and I homeschool our children, previously we enrolled them in private school. Just like the founding fathers of our country were educated. The democrats however don't support school choice. As I frequently observe with liberals this is just one more example of "do as I say, not as I do". Barack Obama sends his children to private school. So did Al Gore.

I believe charity begins at home. Government social programs work against family and faith. Liberals are generous with other people's money, not their own. Obama has a brother living in a hut in Kenya and an aunt living illegally in a slum in Boston. Barack wrote a book from which he earned big bucks. In his book he described his family, his responsibility, and he claimed to be his brothers keeper. Barack earned millions and gave zilch to charity until he began running for president. Barack's running mate Biden earned millions and also gave virtually nothing to charity.

Obama joined a church and supported that church and it's pastor for 20 years. When it became public knowledge that Obama's pastor was preaching a lot of hateful things Obama claimed that he did not know. I don't believe him for a second on this. I've been to a lot of churches. While living in Yorktown, VA we briefly attended a church that was close to our home. We went there for a few weeks and were surprised and offended by the pastor. We had never before nor since experienced a pastor like this man. We quickly registered with and began attending a different church which was farther away.

Obama pledged to take public financing back in 2007, citing at the time John McCains pledge to do the same. John McCain stuck by his pledge, Obama did not. Obama now has a huge spending advantage in the election. Obama should be way ahead and easily win the election due to his huge spending advantage. Obama also has a big advantage by having the liberal mainstream media in the tank for him.

Obama wrote in his book that he used illegal drugs. Until recently he was a smoker, it's possible that he still smokes. Obama has a pattern of associating with some questionable people, for example his relationship with domestic terrorist William Ayers. Obama wants to be president but would likely not pass a background check for a job at the FBI.

Obama politics are the typical democrat tactics of class warfare, division, and dependence. Obama has compiled the most liberal record of any sitting US senator.

McCain voted with the Republicans less than Obama voted with the Democrats. I like McCains preference for market based solutions more than Obama's big government solutions. I trust McCain as commander in chief. Obama has waved the white flag of surrender and voted to cut off funding for our troops

It'll be interesting.

PS: just a comment on voting. I prefer the old fashioned paper ballot. Tried and true. Add optical scan if you want, but stick with the paper ballot. Electronic voting is not secure. Electronic voting makes it possible to hack an election. Another thing, I don't like early voting. I think that early voting opens up more possibility for fraud.

Scary Halloween

On Friday afternoon Debby called me at work and told me that she felt sick and needed me to come home right away. She was complaining about a vision problem in her left eye, a headache, dizziness, and numbness in her left hand. I talked to her on the phone as I rushed home. I called our doctor and Debby spoke to the nurse. The nurse said we should go to the emergency room and that's what we did.

At the hospital they put Debby in a room and connected her to a blood pressure monitor, heart monitor, etc. They did a CT scan and bloodwork. After a couple of hours the results were back: Debby is in perfect health but was showing classic symptoms for a migraine headache, something she has never before experienced.

The doctor said that with migraines one needs to be careful with salt, caffeine, and stress.

This medical event put a serious crimp in our Halloween plans, we missed a party at a friend's house but I was able to take the kids to a planned Trunk or Treat event at a baptist church in Kingston. Mary dressed as a princess, John as a scary ghoul. Both had a wonderful time. Unfortunately no pictures :(

At the end of the day we counted our blessings. Debby got a thorough medical check and is in perfect health. The children enjoyed Halloween with their friends.

Spirit, napping in the sun

Snapped a picture of Spirit taking a little nap in the sun. The weather was just gorgeous here yesterday and Puppy and I went hiking and exploring and were headed back to the house when the kids spotted us and came out to join us in the field. I decided to lay down in the grass and the kids just piled on. Debby came out and joined us. We all laid down in the grass, enjoyed the sunshine, and took a little rest. Delightful.

In the picture is a little feeder rack I built. It's a frame built from 2x4's that fits over a pair of T posts. A feeder bucket can be hung over the 2x4 cross rail. Previously we used a round rubber feed pan to give sweet feed/grain to the horses but they always step on them and turn them over. This arrangement works much better.

Pup Pup Birthday!

We had a birthday party on Saturday for Pup Pup who is now two years old! We don't really know his exact birthday, he is a stray dog that we rescued. At the end of August last year the vet told us that PupPup was about 10 months old, so we think his birthday is on Halloween. We were unable to celebrate on Halloween so we celebrated the next day. Debby baked homemade chocolate cupcakes and icing for the event. Puppy got a bone, we had cupcakes! Don't be afraid of the big spider, it's just a Halloween decoration.

Swingset, friends

Here's a picture of a swingset I built a while back. It was sort of a quick and inexpensive prototype swingset, but the kids love it. We had a nice wooden swingset at out last house but a tree fell on it during a storm and snapped it in half.
This swingset is made from all 2x4's. The legs are 10 feet long. The top pieces are 8 feet long. I made some gusset plates out of 7/16 OSB. I built two frames and they are connected together by a pair of hinges. So, you can pull the legs apart or make them closer, the whole thing will fold up if you want to move it. I built this for about $20, and am surprised at how stable it is and how much the kids enjoy it. We'll see what comes next.

As for this picture, I took it a week ago, it shows Mary and her fried Sarah who spent the night here. We often have fog in the morning and it was just starting to burn off.