Heather and several of her children visited. Michael, Megan, and Callie. Joe hung around with Michael and Callie hung around the Chelsea it figures that these two problem children would stay together. At one point they were out until 4am in the morning! Felt sorry for Megan, she is 13 and didn't have anyone her age.  Oh, Katie is doing international studies in Fiji and she will be there until this winter sometime. Tim had some accounting work to do and was unable to come along.

Michael is certainly getting tall and muscular. He is doing cross country, basketball, and Lacrosse. I saw him shooting around and he certainly seems athletic. Megan was very quiet and I didn' t get very much from her. Callie is excited about college. Undecided about a major at this time. But I see her as a people person, she will do something where she interacts with others.  It was nice to see Heather however briefly.  

Joe hurt his ankle playing football. Had it X-rayed just to be sure, but it is just a bad sprain. We are hoping that he recovers enough that he can practice with the team soon. School seems to be going better for him so far this year.  I did lay down the law. No computer and no deer hunting if his grades are as dismal as last year. So far it seems to be working.

 Chelsea is enrolled and ready to go at Sinclair. Except that her car died on Thursday. Oh, how that child vexes me. So we are scrambling on this holiday weekend to find her a car. Classes start on Wednesday - if we don't find one soon, she may be hitchhiking. 

Speaking of cars, Vanessa is looking for a set of wheels. They are looking this weekend. I gave them advice, hopefully they will follow it. Otherwise they are doing fine in Louisville.

 Chad and Sarah and Cash are all doing fine. Cash seems to be well behaved and content for the most part. Chad is working some overtime to make up for the week of work he took off when Cash was born. Sarah's mother and brother are moving in. So there will be a built in baby sitter handy.  

Posted by christ77 at 8:14 PM EDT

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Mood:  sharp

Joe decided to play football after his friend, Joe Keaton, talked into playing.  Keaton quick after one practice. But Joe elected to stick it out.  Right now he is a defensive end on the JV squad. He had a good showing this last scrimmage and had several tackles, plus pressured the quarterback. Nice to have a football player in the family once again.

 Chelsea is learning about red tape. She put off her regristration to Sinclair until now.  She has been there 4 times and still does not have it all together. Recently she applied for a student loan.  But had to go to the library and access a computer there to take a quiz on how it looked. After walking all the way there and back, she learned that the computer system was malfunctioninng and they could not see the score. So she has to go back and see if they can recover her score. I hope that she has learned a lesson about waiting until the last minute.

 Young Cash seems to be doing fine. Becky helped out for like 3 days during his first week.  Chad and Sarah seem to be getting settled in with the new addition.  Vanessa will be up this weekend to see the Grace's who are visiting.  So young Elaina and Cash will meet for the first time. 

Posted by christ77 at 5:20 PM EDT

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Mood:  celebratory

Well young Johnathon Cash Tilton arrived on what better day than a Friday. Who doesn't like getting Cash on Friday - the traditional payday?  He was born August 10, 2007 at 12:47pm weighing 8 pounds and 5 ounces; 21 inches in length. 

The day before they admitted Sarah citing that they felt that the baby was starting to stress and so they wanted to induce labor.  So Thursday night they tried to induce the easy way.  That did not take hold so they gave her an injection to bring on hard labor that morning.  It did not take long and the baby was born early afternoon.

 We visited the first night. We passed up one room where there was a bit of a situation going on.  One young man was stating that "he was the father and he had every right to be here." Meanwhile a woman, apparently the Mother of the mom to be, "Was stating that I have more of right to be here than you."  There was some other statements and then I heard something about "I have my own camera you can stuff yours up your ...."  That baby will have an interesting childhood. 

 At Chad and Sarah's room it was not quite as dramatic. Although the nurse was a bit patronizing.  Sarah had wanted to have the baby at her house. But with the stress on the baby she was now in the hospital and not happy about it. The nurse must have said about a dozen times that "We are sorry that you aren't having the baby at home, but for the safety of the baby we are doing it here."   After hearing it for the umpteenth time, it got old.  Sarah finally got another nurse who did a better job of explaining what they were doing and why - with out the condescending comments.

I arrived the next day over lunch to see what was up. Sarah was dilated 8 centimeters and so I decided to stick around for the fireworks.  The baby was delivered in short order. Later I thanked Chad and Sarah for making it so easy for me. The hospital was 5 minutes away from work,  the delivery was over my lunch so I was able to just extend lunch hour, snap a few pictures, and head back to work.  One of the folks here at work stated that it must the German in him that made him so punctual. 

He does have the Tilton nose. Becky thinks he looks a lot like Chad when he was a newborn.  It is hard for me to say, to me all babies look alike.  Anyway the new family is at home now. Chad is taking a week off to help care for Sarah and the baby.

Posted by christ77 at 12:19 PM EDT

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Mood:  crushed out

Took a contractor from India and one from China to the fair last night. They had the tractor pulls.  We got to peek thru the fence at a few runs and saw one with 3 engines and one with a jet engine.  They were amazed. Nothing like some good old American horsepower.  Joe’s tool box got 5^th place – he was gypped.  The other tool boxes didn’t all fit together smoothly etc. Several of them had gaps where the ends joined together. Joe's seams were snug and tight, with no gaps. I told Joe that the judges must have closed their eyes and selected the places.

We are trying to get Chelsea's financial aid squared away for college, what a hassle. You fill out the federal grant, and go thru all that hassle only to find out that you don't qualify - what a waste of time and effort. Now we are working with Sinclair to see what we can get from the state and school. 

Sarah is getting closer to having the baby.  We are thinking the new arrival will occur within the next week or so.  Poor Chad is having sinus problems. The doctors want to do a procedure, but he wants to wait until after the baby arrives.

Posted by christ77 at 11:38 AM EDT

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Mood:  a-ok

Joe had a great time camping. he had Joe Keaton and cousin Asa were there. They seemed to be magnets for girls.  I dropped them off at the beach and left to run an errand. When I came back, I scanned the beach for a blue cooler, I saw one with a family, one with a group of 7 teenagers and another family.  I was up on the hill and walked uncertainly to the one with 7 teenagers. As I got closer sure enough it was the three boys - surrounded by 4 girls. Same deal at the campground - the boys are at that stage I guess.  Asa said it was really fun weekend for him. So I am glad that we had him along.

 One kid at a neighboring campsight hit his head against a dumpster trying to catch a frisbee. Becky asked if he damaged the dumpster...  We had some homemade ice cream that boys really enjoyed. We gave some away to some nearby campsites and so they invited over some more girls who sat at our campfire for awhile.  Joe is off to Massachusetts where he will visit for a week before coming back for football.  At least that is what I told him before I left.

Chad made a visit with Sarah and had some burgers.  She is getting close, a week or two to go before she has young Cash.  He drove the Mary Kay and it got some looks at the campsite. 

Posted by christ77 at 4:46 PM EDT

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Mood:  celebratory

Chelsea's graduation party went just fine.  It was a little slow in the begining, but more and more people trickled in and by the end of the night we had a decent crowd.  We all had a good time. Vanessa and Eric were up.  Little Elaina has two teeth now, crawls, and will stand if you hold her hands. She likes to throw things - that could be problems if she gets much stronger.  Eric's job has been stressful, lots of things percolating. So he has been putting in long hours to keep things running smoothly.  Vanessa's job is going fine though, they may give her a new position in Louisville and get a pay raise out of it too. 

 Joe has been working on the Dodge Dart.  he has sanded a good bit of the roof.  I told him that if he worked on it just an hour a day that by the end of the summer he would have the car looking nice. he has had various friends stay over. Cody Clark, Cody Fultz, and Joe Keaton.  He is signed up for band, and they have an aggressive schedule. I was surprised at what all he is expected to do.

 Chad purchased an old David Bradley. Supposedly the motor is worth several hundred dollars.  It's an old Continental.  I am skeptical, but what do I know. he borrowed my truck to pick it and fixed several problems with it. He can't stand to drive something that is not working right.  I will have to let him borrow my vehicles more often at this rate.  Since my seats lean back, it was an easy ride for her.  Chad asked if they can drive my truck to SC, I told them that would work fine. His truck is a 4 cylinder and it likes to think about going up the hills in TN.  My truck is a v-6 so it should have more power for the mountains.  And it has cruise control which will make the highway drive easier.  We are all looking forward to vacation!

Posted by christ77 at 11:13 AM EDT

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Mood:  a-ok

Well Chelsea is graduating tomorrow night. Becky got a scare when the school called and said that Chelsea was one point away from passing a class and had failed, therefore she could not graduate!  So Becky called the school to see what was going on since her midterms were all A's and B's. Seems that a 94 was entered as a 64 or some such and due to clerical error it was entered as a failing grade for that class.  It really upset Becky, but she got it figured out and all is well. 

 Chelsea did have a ceremony at the Nutter Center for MVCTC. She had some friends come stay overnight for a little party afterwards.  She is going to Florida with her dabate team, so she is excited about that.

 Joe and his friend Joe Keaton stayed over at Chad's this past weekend. I believe that the other Joe is coming with us to South Carolina for vacation. Chad has liked his other job OK so far. He is doing general maintenance right now.  Eric survived the Kentucky Derby. It was a hectic weekend, but all worked out in the end.

Posted by christ77 at 11:57 AM EDT

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Mood:  celebratory

Well the school year is winding down now.  Chelsea definitely has senioritis - can't wait for the school year to end.  She is state treasurer for HOSA - Health Occupational Students of America.  This is the first year for the state chapter and they had a convention at the school.  Students came in from Toledo, Kent, Columbus, Dayton and elsewhere.

 I was asked to fill in as one of the judges for Medical photography.  I was glad that I did it. Although I am very much an amateur, I have picked up enough to recognize what makes a good picture.  The girl that won it had the best picture - it captured a moment.  A fellow had had a stroke and had asked to have solid food for the first time instead of a feeding tube. The nurse was helping him eat a cracker and had a hand on his throat to help him swallow. She had a look of concern on her face and the patient had a look of determination. A fellow judge said that it was Norman Rockwell scene.  At the awards ceremony she was beaming when she walked back to her seat with a first place medal.  So it was rewarding to be a part of that.

Chelsea was on a biomedical debate team arguing whether the US is prepared for a biological attack or not. Her team won, saying that the US is not ready - hard to argue that assumption.  She gets to go to the national convention in Florida. Should be a good time for her.

Joe's grades are finally inching up. Still is struggling with algebra, but the remainder of his grades are actually pretty good, A's B's and a C.   I think he got behind in math early and just couldn't catch up.  Also Chad has 'helped' Joe by giving him his old Dodge Dart.  It has a V8 engine, so the gas and insurance will be expensive, not exactly the kind of first car I envisioned for Joe, but I don't want to temper his enthusiasm.  He has been doing some work on it - installed a new carbeurator(sp) and so forth.

Chad has been having Joe stay over the past couple of weekends to help do some work around his place. I like to see the two sons getting along, but miss having the extra labor on the homestead. Oh, Joe got to compete in the last track meet.  He did better than his last meet where he missed the call for the 200m dash! He was 7th in his heat this go round and didn't place in the long jump. We are hoping that they do the triple jump again at Madison on Thursday, hopefully he can repeat his performance from the first track meet.

Speaking about the homestead, we are expanding our livestock operation - adding some chickens and pigs. I was talking with farmers and with corn going higher because of ethanol, the price of meat will have to go up to compensate.  So we will be growing more to keep our costs down. Plus we are raising extra so that we can share it with the Deeters and with Chad and Sarah. 

 Chad and Sarah are having regular meetings with the midwife. I joked to Sarah that her belly has almost caught up to mine! His place is looking nice - lawn well taken of, and he had Joe tear down an old shed at the back of the property. The garden is planted. They have it all looking nice. The garage as one can imagine is crammed full - but well organized.  Once they get ahead, I can see them putting up a pole barn with a good portion devoted to a shop and the remainder for storage.

Little Elaina had tubes put in her ears - just had bout after bout with ear infections, which seems to be a family trait.  Vanessa reports that she is doing well after the procedure. All is going well South of the Ohio River. Vanessa did make a casual inquiry on a property and now they are deluged with real estate proposals. But they are not ready to take the plunge yet. 

Posted by christ77 at 11:37 AM EDT

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