PORCH DRESSED FOR FALL

PUMPKINS AND MUMS CLIMB UP AND AROUND A HOME'S FRONT PORCH

A BOY AND HIS HORSE

Last week, I was in a store when I noticed a woman lifting up a small boy onto one of those mechanical horses. You know,  the ones that are sometimes found in the front of retail places but usually in grocery stores. They have been around a long time -- my kids loved to ride them when they were small.

I quickly asked the woman, who turned out to be the boy's grandmother,  if I could take some photos of the cute guy while he rode his horse.  "Sure," she replied.

HOLDING TIGHT

So she waited while I pulled the camera out of my case and took aim. Then she told her grandson to hold tight as the horsey was going to take him for a ride. She dropped the quarter in the affixed metal  slot -- the horse lurched a little, then the little buckaroo took off galloping over his imaginary hills.

WHOA!

HEY, THIS IS FUN

A joyous ride for a mere quarter

HAPPY HALLOWEEN TO ALL THE BIG AND LITTLE KIDS

HOUSE WORK

PRESERVATION WORK ON AN OLD HOUSE FROM THE MID-1800s

APPALACHIAN SMOKE SHOP

This store is located along a well traveled route. It appears that they offer every type of cigarette or cigar that one could desire. They even have a sign that says, "make your own and save." Below are sad statistics on smoking  for Kentucky folks:

Smoking Attributable Adult (35+ Years) Mortality
National Average = 248.5 per 100,000
The average annual smoking-attributable mortality rate in Kentucky for 2000 to 2004 was 370.6 per 100,000.

Statistics provided by the 

Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

RIDING A ONE LANE ROAD IN KENTUCKY

ONE LANE ROAD

Sometimes I find myself riding along a beautiful one lane road when I am out and about finding neat places to record for a possible post. I found the above one especially nice but a bit precarious to drive. There certainly was no shoulder to pull over on or a drive to pull into if a car or truck came from the opposite direction. On the one side of the road was a solid rise of mountain rock and the other edge of the road was a steep downward incline falling to a creek. "Stay on the road and hope that no other cars come at me," I whispered to myself. What are the rules of the road if one does? Who backs-up? It would be a long back-up! Is it like at a stop sign, whoever arrives first goes first. That wouldn't work in this situation. Oh well, there is a first for everything so maybe by having another car meet me on this road I'll find out the rules. All in a day's outing -- sometimes learning some unwritten rules.

OLD CLEAR CREEK BARN

In the autumn of its life - still standing proud

Rockcastle  County, Kentucky

COY CARRIAGE HOUSE TRAGEDY - PART THREE

So on a 2011 sunny day I grabbed my camera and jumped in my Tacoma  and rode off - my destination the carriage house to take photos. 

The ghost stories were not going to scare me away.

As I neared the place I noticed lights flashing, emergency vehicles of all types and uniformed folks walking around. The vehicles were straddled all along the road on both sides. There were ambulances and firetrucks pulled up on the bluff in front of the carriage house.

Oh no, I thought, a serious accident has occurred.  I slowed down as I got nearer and wove through the chaos.   I rode down the road a bit and decided to turn around. I felt a strange chill over my whole body for some reason. Not from thinking of  ghosts but of something more serious. I had to know what happened.

When I drove back through the tangle of vehicles I stopped and asked a man what happened. He told me that two men had been shot and killed in front of the carriage house. 

The word timing instantly entered my mind.  Is this what life is about - timing? 

Carriage house crosses -- 2012

COY CARRIAGE HOUSE - PART TWO

All the photos that are on the Coy Farm posts - one, two ,and three - were taken in October 2012. 

It was the first time I had felt comfortable going near the place since 2011.

The Coy farm has a unique building called a carriage house. Within this building one would place carriages -- this was undoubtedly built before the advent of the automobile. Its use was similar to the not yet invented garage-- only one parked their carriages in this type of building - carriages that were pulled by horses.

This carriage house was located near the main road. It had an early masonry rock wall beside it that served as part of the entrance to the main property.  I mentioned in my first post that the residential house was no longer on the farm. Only two barns and this carriage house remained. 

The rock wall was well constructed and indicated to me that the Coy family obviously had some wealth in the early 1900s.  

The wall had two  posts that held a large metal gate that was shut and locked when I was there recently in October 2012.  This was the main entrance to the farm land. 

Attached to the two limestone posts is this large metal gate barring the entrance to the property. Only the carriage house sat outside the fenced land. I noted from the road that one could walk up to the carriage house and admire its construction and take close-up photos.

So in my eagerness in 2011, to take photos of the carriage house, close-up, I planned a day to ride out to do just that.

Even though I had heard ghost stories about the place  . . . . .

(Last Coy Farm post will be posted tomorrow.)

OLD COY BARN WITH QUILT SQUARE

SERENE SETTING OF THE OLD COY BARN WITH  QUILT SQUARE

For several years now, I have been intrigued with this large section of agricultural land that  sits just off Route 25 between Richmond and Berea in central Kentucky. This land stretches back from the road for quite a distance. I always figured there was  possibly some story tidbits connected with this property. 

Above is one of the natural timber barns with some decor  making it appealing to drivers on Route 25. The main focus is the huge quilt square hanging on the barn's gable. Don't know the name of the quilt pattern but it sure dresses up the barn. Also, the white barn door and the metal ventilator atop its roof are nice antidotes to its charm. It is known that the Coy family owned the farm in the early 1900s. So the story goes they were cattle people headed by a male figure that was extremely frugal. 

If there was a house with this property it has since disappeared. At least from my view from Route 25.  As with so many of the older farms the house is usually the first to disappear leaving outbuildings only. Sometimes there is only mature tree configurations and a dirt drive to indicate human life lived on the land. 

I will be writing and displaying some photos of this farm in my next two posts. As I stated in the beginning this farm has always intrigued me. In my third post you will find out how I became a semi-witness to a scary story that happened on the farm in 2011. 

A SPIDER - WAITING IN ITS WEB

Sometimes we need to wait. Wait to have the car fixed, wait for the dentist to finish working on your teeth, for the storm to pass, for the stop-light to change. 

I had a friend that would sit at a stop-light and complain until it turned green. Instead of just enjoying the moment, she wasted away this time in her life that she would never get back. Or there was my sweet great-grandmother that, when I was young, would tap on the lunch counter with a coin, persistently, to get attention from the server. Her waiting  impatience caused  other customers to feel uncomfortable and embarrassed me. 

This large black and yellow garden spider reminds me, when waiting, to enjoy the sunlight knowing that things will all happen in due time. 

DANVILLE KENTUCKY -- ROCK WALLS

Backyard lot-line of stacked limestone 

With the Biden/Ryan vice-presidential debate this Thursday, I bet you are thinking Danville, Kentucky is a highly political town? Well in my eyes it appears as a lovely quiet  historic town that seldom has bouts with politicians. Now this post is about rocks -  not about politics or the rocks that politicians love to metaphorically throw at each other. It's about rock walls.

There is an old section of Danville that has beautiful residential rock walls that were built probably in the early 1900s. Each wall has a dash of their own artistry. As to who were the masons, I cannot answer this. I only can stand and marvel at the workmanship.

Have a look below at a few of them. 

Rock boulders implanted in a low cement wall

-- front yard lot line. 

Rough limestone vertical rocks standing on large squares of stacked  limestone rock 

 Low cement front lot-line wall implanted with rough vertical limestone rocks

Rough chunks of vertically stacked limestone on limestone squares 

forming a wall on the side-lot line

KENTUCKY RURAL PORCHES

MADISON COUNTY 

GARRARD COUNTY

GARRARD COUNTY

SIMPLE PLEASURES

My dog Sal and I have taken the day off from the busyness of life today. My schedule today has been simple meals, lots of coffee and tea, reading and watching nature from my small private back porch.

Nature parades down my hill in back, almost to my back door. Early this morning as I sat inside reading I heard the cries of a Red-tail hawk close by. I crept up to my back screen door, looked outside, and saw two Red-tails in my Grandmother Oak tree. Within minutes they sensed me, one took off majestically in one direction and the other in the opposite direction. 

Grandmother Oak's Arms

Right then and there I decided this was going to be my day off from the busyness of life - errands, shopping, talking on the phone, paying bills, etc. I sensed that my spirit needed to be with nature. So, I have spent the better part of my day relaxing in a chair on my back porch watching nature in action. I have drank coffee and tea -- more than I should. I have read parts of a Zen book, and read some of Animal Farm. Now at 5 pm I am on my computer writing this blog. I feel fortunate that I could spend this lovely fall day in this way. With all that goes on around the globe our country is fortunate - although, I feel there is a lot of room, on many levels, for civility. 

My surrounding woods

MAKING HAY WHILE THE SUN SHINES

A farmer runs the the New Holland 634 baler turning the cut field grass into large round bales of hay that one sees stored in barns or drying out in farmer's fields.

"Making hay while the sun shines," is an old traditional phrase that grew out of our agricultural past. In these two photos, above and below, are two farmers busy at work mechanically making  large round bales of hay.

It is a sunny day and the two men are very busy taking the opportunity to do the work while conditions are dry. 

Working as a team of two farmers - while one is baling the second farmer is spiking each produced round bale on the back of his tractor then heading toward the barn to place it in storage.

Some round bales can weigh up to one thousand pounds. They are used mostly for winter feed for domestic farm animals. 

Round bales have become inviting for photographers. Even I cannot resist stopping to photograph them.