Inevitable

INEVITABLE

The large limb lounges along the west side of the house
leaving wires dangling close to the ground and a wound
open to the pathogens of rain, insects and nest-seeking birds.
Of course one deluge after the next fell in succession
with western winds driving water into the attic
saturating insulation, coating anything electrical.
I harvest fallen siding.

The Evacuation of Sulphur, KY

The rain doesn't seem inclined to cease. NWS tells us it's just not "normal" for the Kentuck, Ohio and Mississippi Rivers ALL to be at flood stage at the same time. Well, no kidding. It's also not normal to get 24 inches of rain in two weeks time. Thank heavens it's not snow.

Now we hear that the dam that creates Lake Jericho (northeast of Louisville) is crumbling, and when it lets go, the community of Sulphur, KY will be sloshed away in a Kentucky tsunami. This will be worse than the Licking River disaster of 1997.

Along the Ohio River, the tiny berg of West Point, KY has already been evacuated. They've been through this before; Sulphur has not.

Is it needless to say, this is all putting a very wet blanket on the Kentucky Derby Festival. While the weather is to clear by Friday giving us "partly cloudy" predictions for Friday for the running of The Oaks for fillies and then for the Kentucky Derby itself on Saturday, I do have grim predictions for the conditions of the infamous "Infield" area of Churchill Downs. The party crowd that inhabits the Infield for The Oaks and the Derby is known for dealing with soggy bottoms in the past, I'm not sure kayaks and skiffs will be allowed past gate security despite the obvious need this year.

I hate cars. Oh, it's personal, most definitely. But in the U.S., if you don't live in a metropolitan area, then you don't have "public transportation." I love being out in the country, so having wheels is an absolute necessity. But cars need maintenance and the occasional costly repair. So right now I'm staring at a BIG repair bill because someone who did a repair right before I acquired the car didn't do it correctly. Not only does the repair have to be re-done, but the problem caused by the poorly done repair caused further damage. Oh, this hits the budget hard. Fancy vehicles aren't my thing. I'm into PRACTICAL. Just something reliable to get me where I absolutely need to go. And with the current gasoline prices, I sometimes go for a week or more without leaving the property. I walk up to a neighbor's to visit, so it's not like I'm isolated. I'm busy writing, working, caring for the dogs (my own and my rescues). Sometimes the biggest trip is a run to the feed store 4 miles away. But when the wheels fail, and when a repair is expensive, . . . it sure does put me out of sorts. How often I think of a horse and buggy. Yes, horses too have their expenses, and I'd be constantly worried about something that would cause a whopper veterinary bill. It's just costly to get from Point A to Point B, no matter how one looks at it. And with the way people drive their cars and trucks on these back roads, being in a horse-drawn conveiance isn't necessarily safe! I think of Miss Eliza Bennett walking 3 miles to visit her sister who was ill. My problem is, if I walked 3 miles, I wouldn't have gotten to any place to do errands! No store, no library, no post office. Yes, just getting where one MUST go occasionally costs money. A sad state of affairs.

Learnng to Pace Oneself

Those of us with chronic pain issues have to LEARN to pace ourselves, and for many of us, it's not a quick study. You feel good at the moment, so you get on a roll. In the back of your mind, you're thinking, "I really ought to quit now," but you get into the "just one more thing" mode, and finally, you KNOW you're going to be paying for it. Yesterday I decided to deal with the broadleaf weed thingies that produce cockle burrs. Ugly weeds they are, and I don't like the burrs either. They get caught in the dogs' coats, in my clothes, etc. Well, I just got going, and kept going, and I'd see one more thing that needed to be done. By bedtime, I knew I was in trouble. Slapped on a pain patch at lower neck/upper back when I went to bed, and took all my meds like a good girl. Woke at 1 a.m. in abject misery. Dosed again and zoned off and on until I had to get up at 6 a.m., but oh boy, am I paying for being so all fired productive yesterday! When will I learn to be happy with having accomplished a little? When will I learn to say, "That's enough for today. There's always tomorrow?" You'd think pain would be a very powerful negative reinforcer from a behavioral standpoint. What would old B. F. Skinner have to say about this? He'd probably accuse those of us who are slow to catch on of actually having masochistic tendencies, but he'd be wrong. We don't like pain, we just dislike being unproductive even more!

Sinus Valley Blues

"Spring has sprung,
the pollen's great.
I now have got
a big headsche."

Much as I love spring and all the blooming things, the Ohio River Valley has the well-earned moniker of "Sinus Valley." It's a college fund for the kids of ENT docs. My FACE hurts -- those sinuses above and below the eyes. I want to just go hide in the dark with a hot pack on my face.

And I MUST be getting old. Growing up, I never understood why Aunt Ces and Uncle Mike went to AZ every winter and Aunt Dude and Uncle Luke headed for FL. NOW I understand. I'm sick of 7 mos. of cold weather every year, and I'm from New England originally! The growing season in KY is short enough with our last "frost free" date as May 9. We have been known to have sleet on Derby Day here in KY. I remember 1985 in particular. You just don't set your tomato plants until after May 9 unless you're into gambling.

Maybe the next time I move, I should just head farther south. I wonder if the growing season is 2 weeks longer down in Somerset, KY? I know folks down that way. Every now and then, New England calls to me, especially the ocean of my heritage, but yeeesh! Not after the winter those folks just experienced. Things were bad enough just south of the Ohio River.

And I was stuck in that crazy house with the furnace that didn't heat but did eat 200 KWH of power A DAY. The landlady said she'd rather pay the electric bills for me than pay to repair the furnace, so she got the huge bills, and I froze my tail feathers off! Some days it didn't even get to 50 degrees in that cave. Now I'm in a house with a functional furnace, replacement windows and good insulation! What a concept!

When life throws you curve balls . . .

. . . you duck and run, and for 2 years that's what I've been doing -- ducking and running from some really nasty and unexpected curve balls.

But now, I am definitely NOT on the road anymore, and am settling in on a remote country road in northeat Henry County, KY. Wendell Berry lives about a mile from me, so I think I've moved into a fine neighborhood. I have also landed in the midst of some splendid neighbors, absolutely wonderful people!

The dogs are happy, though this morning was a little stressful for Possum, one of my Setters. There was an entire flock of wild turkeys in Ronnie and Nancy's cow pasture across the road. I put Possum out to go potty, and the poor dear didn't know if she should poop or point. Wally and Marley ended up being rescue because they (in the vernacular) "won't huhhhhnt," so the turkeys were not an issue for them.

We had around 4 inches of rain on Tuesday, so the ground is still too soggy for me to resume gardening, but I have a stack of alterations to do for a friend, and that will keep me busy today, along with continuing the work of a mejor editing job on Keith's Keep, the young adult historical novel I completed writing some years ago. And this evening I'll hammer out another chapter in Petros, a novel I'm writing about a family in north central Kentucky during the early 1930s. (The historian in me has loved the research.)

I've been remiss . . .

What's the point of a blog if you don't post to it, right? I wish I had the discipline of Jon Katz (see www.bedlamfarm.com and go to Farm Journal)

As of tomorrow, I will have been here at the goat farm for 3 weeks. I'm gradually settling in. There is never a dull moment, and there's absolutely no time to get bored. I drop into bed every night.

Heath, an English Setter I've been fostering since January, 2008, leaves for his new home tomorrow. It's an awesome home, so I feel good about him leaving.

Meanwhile, Hyacinth has now had two close encounters of the chicken kind. In both instances, the hen was merely subjected to a very bad plucking job, but was otherwise unscathed. I keep telling her that birddogs are supposed to POINT the live birds, and then when someone yells, "Dead bird!" she's to retrieve a DEAD bird, but she still thinks she's supposed to chase down the live bird and pull its feathers out. I'm thinking of getting her a subscription to Gun Dog Magazine.