2009-04-23 The Damage is Undone

Dateline, Mt. Sterling, KY
Longitude: -83.94502
Latitude: 38.06882

While the blog has gone without updates for long enough to have a number of people ask why, I have not been completely idle.

I have come to the decision that weather should be either ignored or celebrated, but not discussed. So one thing we have done during this quiet time is to celebrate the exciting array of weather choices provided locally. Everything from gorgeous sunny days to snow; light misty rain to epic thunderstorms; and my personal favorite, tornado's. We have not actually seen any up close, but neighboring counties have been paid visits. Given that my current abode is a tornado's favorite food source, knowing when and where these windy predators are hunting has become a more than passing interest.

Earlier in the blog I mentioned a little mishap that took place on the first real day of driving, where I tagged one of those pylons they put around gas pumps. Even with my careful planning my egress before choosing a pump, I did not account enough for the turn radius, plus you may recall I was slightly distracted by an increasingly aggressive wanderer who was looking for a ride to Knoxville.

In any case, I clipped this unusually large pylon, catching the left rear corner of the rig and bumper, as shown in the top photo.

Mostly out of embarrassment for my rookie mistake, I dragged my feet on posting a picture of it until now. Since I took the time to at least partially mitigate the damage as shown in the next photo I am now willing to lay this out for digital perpetuity. A little time with a scrubber and some white duct tape removed the most obvious part of the booboo, leaving the tweaked bumper as the main reminder of my inexperience. I will get this fixed upon my return to my home base.

At the encouragement of my artist cousin Terri, I also pulled down the cheesy header wallpaper that lined the top portion of the living room area. I spent the next couple days laying down a few coats of white primer, then topped it with the same paint she has on her walls in the Sun room where I write this post.

For all the pictures I have taken of the boat, I only found this last photo that showed the original wallpaper header. It was also used as a wall treatment around the stove but is now gone.

I want to thank all of you followers for taking the time out of your busy lives to read this little blog and hope to pick up the pace of my posts as the journey recommences in the coming days. It's time to go mobile again, rested and ready.

2009-04-12 Pickin' n' Grinnin'

Dateline, Winchester, KY
Longitude: -84.212693
Latitude: 38.005814

If you ever find yourself in the Winchester, Kentucky area on a Sunday, Monday or Thursday afternoon, you can experience an amazing slice of Americana in the back corner of Peddler's Mall.

Helen Martin set up the area for local musicians to gather and play eight years ago and operates the snack bar in the adjacent booth. Local tip: a "dressed" (and pronounced "drayussed") hamburger means "the works".

Initially, Helen told me, the music was headed up by an old guy that couldn't hear so good, who eventually left over what I gathered were philosophical differences.

In the fullness of time the group came to be known as "Peddler's Pickers", yet on the two occasions I heard them play, it was an entirely different group of pickers.

And yet the music was the same: the real-deal, down-home Kentucky Blue Grass, played with stoic enthusiasm right from the heart. Beautiful, plaintive, old-time style stuff like you might have heard in the movie "Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?"

More photos and a few short video clips are on my Peddler's Pickers Album.

2009-04-10 Up the Creek

Dateline, Mt. Sterling, KY
Longitude: -83.94502
Latitude: 38.06882

For those of you playing at home, here's a very quick update and Mea Culpa for a lack of updates in the past week.

It's been an array of weather here, from gorgeous sunny days to snow to biblical thunderstorms and not one but two days with tornado warnings necessitating a retreat to the basement of my cousin's place.

It was kind of reminiscent of the great Laguna fire in Southern California in 1994, where we'd watch it on the TV, then go outside and watch the line approaching.

Only this type involved torrential rain, then progressively larger hail, then beating feet to the basement where we peeked out the windows watching for the twister.

This last shot, although kind of fuzzy, shows the hail and was shot through a saturated screen at eye level to the ground looking out a basement window.

After the worst of today's storm, the emergency responders shown in the top photo stopped on the other side of the decrepit bridge and cogitated for quite a while before deciding to ultimately cross it. You can see in the lower shot how swollen the creek was in the background.



We have no idea what they were doing, as they both turned around after a couple minutes and went back across the bridge. If you're really bored, you can see the whole sequence on my Mt. Sterling gallery on Picasa.

In between epic storms, I have been very busy between work, working out, chores, exploring the area, and interacting with some amazing Americana.

I need to figure out how to encapsulate some of these experiences into words, as a camera was not always at hand, a situation I am trying to rectify.

2009-04-02 A Puppy's Tale

Dateline, Mt. Sterling, KY
Longitude: -83.94502
Latitude: 38.06882

Sorry for the delay in sharing the good news, but it's been a busy week between my new clients and working with Terri and Kevin on the farm.

I am happy to report that all three dogs featured in previous posts: Hobo, Ginger and Dusty have found homes. Hobo was adopted by a loving family. Ginger was reunited with her lost owners and it turns out that Dusty is a permanent fixture at the Gym & Doggy Rescue Center.

And two more puppies were brought in. That pretty young lady pictured here was one of three pups left at a local house. One found a home there and these two lovely ladies were given to Michael to help find a home.

They are probably only about seven weeks old and have not been given names yet.

Update April 3, 2009

Both of these puppies have already found a home!