Eagle Scout Ceremony

Life in Christian County, Kentucky...

Yesterday, we went to the Eagle Scout ceremony of John H., Seth B. and Tom B. Unfortunately, I didn't get a photo of the three boys, because I was very busy serving punch at the reception after the ceremony. These photos were taken before the ceremony began.

The dining room decorated in Scout colors for the reception

The sanctuary of First Christian Church as people gathered. Natural light from the high windows helps to create a pleasant atmosphere in this worship place.

Gaskell's Compendium of Forms

History and Old Stuff...

I have a neat old book that I bought at an estate tag sale. Both of its covers are completely detached but all of the pages are still bound together, except three pages from the front. I don't think any pages are missing. To store it on the bookshelf, I stack the parts of the book in their correct order, tie them with ribbon like a package, and place the whole thing in a soft cloth envelope I made for it.

The book's poor condition makes it almost worthless, but I enjoy owning it. It is a 1903 edition of Gaskell's Compendium of Forms. On the frontispiece (above, click to enlarge), the book's contents are summarized, and on another page, the following dedication appears.

--- To ---
The Young Men And Young Women
Of The
United States
Who Wish To Master At Their Own Homes
The Most Necessary Forms and Laws
of Business and Society,
This Book Is Affectionately Inscribed By
The Author.

The book's pages are embellished with many finely decorated drop caps (big fancy capital letters) at the beginnings of the various sections, as well as many other pen-and-ink illustrations and designs. Mr. Gaskell was a famous calligrapher who had already published a best-selling book about the art, so I assume he was the primary artist of the book. I don't know that for sure, but no other artist is given credit on the title page at the front of the book.

One section is dedicated to the subject of handwriting. He talks about the importance of sitting properly, using the right muscles, mastering various sorts of curves and slanted lines, and correctly spacing letters and words. The types of practice he suggests in his "Twelve Lessons In Penmanship" were still in use when I was introduced to the Palmer Method of cursive writing in the late 1950's.

Another section of the book is devoted to letter writing. Mr. Gaskell gives examples of suitable letters for nearly every occasion. For example, here is a suggested text "From a Gentleman to a Lady, Making a Declaration."

My Dear Miss Hunter:- You cannot but have been aware for some time past that my feelings toward you have been stronger than those of mere friendship. Our long acquaintance has given me ample opportunity to learn the excellences of your character, and to prize them at their full value. It has also afforded you a like opportunity to judge whether I possess those characteristics which you would desire in a husband. Am I presumptious in hoping that you will consent to become my wife? Until I receive your answer I shall remain,

Your anxious but no less ardent admirer, Charles Carter

Notice that the gentleman does not actually ask the lady to be his wife. He asks if he may presume to hope that she will consent.

I can't begin to list everything of interest in Gaskell's Compendium of Forms, but you can browse through an online version of the book. It is not a complete replica, but it contains many interesting excerpts of the book's sections, as well as some of the illustrations. Or you can buy your own copy at AbeBooks.

A Few Christian County Road Names

A road by any other name would still lead to the same place.

"Froghop Road" (in northern Christian County) is one of my favorite local road names. "Monkey Norman Road" is another unusual name in our part of the county. It was named for a man whose nickname was "Monkey" because he loved to clown around.

The narrow rocky road that leads through the trees, over the ridge, and down into the valley south of Honey Grove, has a misnomer. When the county map makers came around, they named it "Jeff Adams Road" instead of "Ep Adams Road" as it had always been called. Apparently, they didn't listen carefully when they asked the road's name.

Hayes Road, which leads north out of Honey Grove, is named for Mr. Hayes who gave enough land that the wagon trail could be widened to a gravel road where two vehicles can safely meet. Before it was widened, it was as narrow as the Jeff Adams Road. Hayes Road follows a little creek through the "Honey Grove Holler" and many of the old-timers still call it the "Holler Road" which was its name before it was renamed "Hayes Road" by county bureaucrats.

Almost any names are more colorful than those recently given to rural roads in some Nebraska and Kansas counties. Ridiculous addresses for like "North 150th Boulevard" replaced the old names. This compulsary revamping of the rural address system was supposed to improve emergency response times for 911 calls, and I surely hope it did.

A deer in the distance. Jeff Adams Road, Fall of 2005

An attractive door

History and Old Stuff...

On Main Street in Hopkinsville

I can't imagine this door being painted in any other colors. It's perfect.

Aunt Mary's Antiques

New use for historic building in Hopkinsville, KY

Aunt Mary's Antiques at the corner of 7th and Virginia

This century-old building in downtown Hopkinsville was purchased by James and Mary Pennington a few years ago. They moved their antique business here from the north edge of Hopkinsville. They wanted a more prominent location; their previous store had been a bit hard to find.

It's an interesting store to visit. Besides the main floor, there are several rooms upstairs and a basement with more rooms. Mr. Pennington has retired from commercial carpentry and during his spare time at the store he makes furniture which is also offered for sale. I sometimes see him working in an area of the basement that has a door that opens to the sidewalk.

Mr. Pennington has done work on the inside and outside on the building, and it's looking good. I am sure that getting all those rooms repaired, painted, filled and arranged was a tremendous job.

When we first moved here in the early 1990's, we hired Mr. Pennington to build our well house, and a good little well house it has been.

Kentucky countryside

Life in Christian County, Kentucky... The Rural Life...

Just across the creek from David J.'s house

This is a typical view of the countryside in northern Christian County, Kentucky -- open fields, high ridges in the background, lots of trees, always a tobacco barn within view. This photo was taken on the Laytonville Road. A little creek runs through the valley, hidden from view by the trees at right.

In Kentucky's English, the word "field" means any open area of ground. To me, an area that is plowed would be a "field", but a flat expanse of grass would be a "meadow". (If it were hilly, it would probably be a "pasture".) During the process of cutting and baling the grass, the meadow would become a "hayfield", but when the harvest of the grass was finished, it would revert to being a "meadow". I would call the grassland in the photo a "meadow" except that I've gotten used to saying "field."

I once said something to a neighbor about his meadow, and he gave me a puzzled look and said, "Where are you from?"

Foggy morning

More About Trees and Plants... And What I Think About It...

I drove through dense fog to take Isaac to school this morning. One thing I enjoy about fog is that each feature of the landscape is seen in isolation. The fog blocks out all the usual background details that clutter one's vision. On the other hand, I hate getting on the roads in a thick fog because people drive too fast, and some don't even turn on their car lights!

In the morning fog, even this little pin oak in the WalMart parking lot had its center stage moment. It's kind of like the 15 minutes of fame that each of us is supposedly entitled to.

A Block of East 16th Street

Life in Christian County, Kentucky... History and Old Stuff...

Looking west on 16th Street

These big two-story houses on 16th Street, just east of First Baptist Church in Hopkinsville, have seen better days. When they were built, they were just as fine as their well preserved sisters on Main Street a block away, but lately they haven't received the care they need. It seems likely that they have been downgraded from owners' residences to rental houses. Still, it looks like someone is getting ready to work on one of them -- that's good!

Lone Oak, built in 1834-35 by Judge Joseph B. Crockett

Lone Oak, built in the 1830s for Judge Joseph B. Crockett, is usually considered Hopkinsville's oldest house. I have read speculation on a local internet forum that Hopkinsville might have old cabins enclosed within old houses that predate Lone Oak, at least in the cabin part. However, no specific examples were given to support the theory.

Lone Oak stands on the SW corner of East 16th and Clay. used to have a restaurant in it, but it is currently standing empty. As with many old houses, some people enjoy saying that it is haunted. Ivy has overgrown a tree on the front lawn.

At the NW corner of 16th and Clay

Across the street from Lone Oak, this yellow house faces south. It has received some upkeep in recent years and it's the best preserved house on the block. It was offered for sale by the owner several years ago, and some interesting details about the house were cited in newspaper advertisements. I remember that it has a pantry and built-in curio cabinets and bookcases. Different variations of the ad appeared over several months, and I was intrigued enough that I finally drove down East 16th Street just to see which house it was.

I took these photos this morning on my walk, and as you can see, the skies are gray today.

Watching for spring

Winter in the flowerbed

These little cherubs are waiting patiently for warmer weather and the return of the flowers. They don't know that it has snowed.

This is the Day We Wash the Clothes

View across the field

Our Mennonite neighbor lady has her wash hanging out on the line because it is Monday morning. Rain might stop her, but a little snow on the ground won't.

Tobacco barn

Dark barn with door props

This is a "dark barn", with the doors propped shut in the classic Kentucky way. I am not entirely sure why they do that, but I have a theory which I will advance shortly.

In this part of Kentucky, two types of tobacco are grown -- burley and dark. To generalize, burley tobacco has a yellowish-green leaf that is used for cigarettes, and dark tobacco has a dark green leaf that is used for cigars, snuff, and pipe and chewing tobacco.

At harvest, the mature plants are cut, stuck on a stick, and hung in a barn to cure. Burley is air-cured so it can be hung in any barn that keeps out rain. Dark tobacco is fired (smoke-cured), so it must be hung in a barn that is relatively air-tight. Hardwood slabs (at right in the photo) and sawdust are set afire in the barn, and the air flow is restricted so that a great deal of smoke results. This flavors and colors the leaf.

Now about the barn doors being propped. It's terribly important that the smouldering fire in the barn does not get out of control. I think the farmers prop the doors shut with boards to lessen the chance of the barn door somehow coming open accidentally and letting in a lot of air.

Every year, some tobacco barns do burn, usually when there are high winds. About ten years ago, we were driving to town when we saw one going up in flames and we stopped at a house to tell them to call the fire department. It burned to the ground. Last fall, two barns burned to the ground within five miles of here and within the same week.

November and December bring the necessary damp cold days to bring the leaf "in order" and the tobacco is taken down, stripped from its stalks, and hand baled. In the old days, it was taken to market sometime after January 1 at one of Hopkinsville's tobacco auctions. Nowadays, most of the tobacco is sold directly to a tobacco company. I don't think any of the tobacco auctions in Hopkinsville operate anymore.

Cold, but not much snow

White landscape

At the edge of Clarence's pasture

We got about 3 inches of snow, by my estimation. I walked down the hill and got the mail so I could see if any snowdrifts had formed across the lane. The snow is powdery and the wind is stiff, but there are no drifts big enough to worry about. The crust of ice under the snow is treacherous where the snow is light and the ice is exposed.

I wouldn't feel badly if we stayed home from church this once because of bad roads, but tomorrow afternoon is John H.'s Eagle Scout ceremony. We would hate to miss it after all these years of John and Isaac being in Scouts together. Isaac has a part in the ceremony, and I am supposed to help serve cake and punch. So we will go to church in the morning, eat out, and go to the Eagle ceremony. Then we'll see if we can drive the car back up the icy hill to our house -- or not.

Looking down the hill (that's ice.)

Waiting for the snow to start

Snow and more snow

We are supposed to get up to three inches of snow overnight. In southern Kentucky, that's a significant snowfall! It's going to get pretty darned cold too -- down to 10 degrees (F.) tomorrow night. Then there's a possibility of more snow on Monday. It looks like the snow may start melting on Tuesday.

We have a three-day weekend because of Presidents Day on Monday. Isaac is hoping it might turn into a four-day weekend if the snow sticks. He'd love to see school cancelled on Tuesday, and that certainly could happen. When we get ice or snow on the roads, school is usually cancelled. Bad weather is so limited here that we don't have to keep the schools open and send out the buses during it. We can cancel school and wait a day or two for the roads to improve.

It took me a while to understand that attitude toward the weather. I was from the north, and I expected school to carry on unless the roads were blocked by deep snow.

Anyway, we're waiting for the snow to start and looking forward to it in a way. I brought in a huge pile of firewood this evening. I'll put out some food for the birds in the morning, and then I plan to sew for the rest of the day.

UPDATE
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2006

Happy and Skittles, our two housecats, have been distressed by the weather this morning. Happy has asked several times to go outside, but when the door is opened, he changes his mind. Skittles went outside for approximately 30 seconds before she wanted to come back inside.

At 10 am CST this morning...many communities in far southeast Missouri...far southern Illinois and much of western Kentucky are still receiving light to moderate snow. Several areas had snow measuring 3 inches deep...and a Heavy Snow Warning continues until noon. Another problem over the area is the unseasonably cold temperatures and windy conditions. Wind chills are between 5 and 10 below zero. There have been numerous reports of traffic accidents across the quad state area...as roads are snow packed and drifting...as well as visibilities dropping to a quarter mile in the heavier snows. Traveling is not recommended this morning...but if you must go out...use extreme caution and allow extra travel time. Please take along blankets...Snacks...bottled water and a snow shovel.

Source: Winter Weather Statement, Weather Underground's Hopkinsvile forecast for February 18, 2006.

Fannie Bronston Postell

Organizer of Attucks High School, Hopkinsville, Kentucky

February is Black History Month, and the public library has a small exhibit about Crispus Attucks High School, the segregated school that served the "colored" community in Hopkinsville for many years. I photographed a photograph of Fannie Bronston Postell, the organizer of Attucks High.

I can't find anything about Mrs. Postell on the internet, except that she was a graduate of Berea College in 1890. It seems likely that her parents were born into slavery. They must have been very proud of their daughter.

In 1890 when Fannie graduated from college, the Victorian era was drawing to a close. Labor unions were organizing and flexing their muscle. Idaho and Wyoming became the 43rd and 44th of the United States. The massacre of over two hundred Native Americans at Wounded Knee took place. The telephone and the light bulb had already been invented, and automobiles and motion pictures were just around the corner. My great grandparents Sees were recent immigrants to America. In Hopkinsville, they were building many of the big stores and houses that are now called the "historic district."

I know quite a bit about what was happening in America at that time, but it doesn't satisfy my curiosity about Fannie Postell. The notation on her photo says that she was the organizer and principal of Attucks High School and a teacher of languages. It seems to me that she could be an inspiring role model for any girl. I wish I could find out more about her.

A Twisted Hackberry

Hackberries in Hopkinsville (and beyond)

This big hackberry tree grows on the grounds of St. Peter & Paul Catholic Church in Hopkinsville. It is actually two hackberries that sprang up side by side and finally grew into each other. The trunk and branches of both parts of the merged tree are distorted from the struggle they have endured and the tree is scarred from severe pruning to eliminate conflicting branches. It's too bad that someone didn't intervene when the trees were young. It is a big tree that makes plenty of shade, but it is not the beautiful tree it could have been if one seedling had been eliminated.

One of the largest trees I have ever seen in Hopkinsville was a hackberry. It grew on the east side of town, about a block from Highway 68/80 in a low place. I guessed its age at 150-200 years or even more, based on its impressive height, breadth, and girth. I was horrified one day to see that it was being cut down. It lay on the ground for a year; then finally they burned it and built a duplex where it had been. I wish I had taken its picture while it was still a beautiful giant.

I saw a hackberry tree yesterday somewhere along south Main Street when I was taking my walk. You can also see a few big hackberry trees in the Jefferson Davis State Park at Fairview.

Hackberries are easy to identify even in winter because of the texture of their bark. It is nearly as smooth as a beech, except for its warts. Some hackberries have more warts than others. Here's a closer look at the bark (and also the leaves) of the hackberry at the Catholic church last July.

Hackberry trees have little purple-brown berries in the fall that are enjoyed greatly by birds, squirrels, and other small mammals. They are fast growing trees and they don't usually suffer much wind or ice damage, but they are susceptible to some insects and certain tree diseases and disorders.

In southern Kentucky, we're at the southern end of the hackberry's natural range. It is a native as far north as North Dakota and Maine in the U.S., though not to all localities between those two states. The hackberry's range extends into southern Canada as well.

I don't think we had any hackberry trees on the ranch in Nebraska where I grew up, but I have seen old photographs of "hackberry pockets" in the Sandhills (see 5 and 6 here.) Under the semi-arid conditions of the Sandhills, the hackberry appears to be a much smaller tree. We get three times more rain per year in Kentucky than northern Nebraska does. That has surely been a factor in the growth of the big hackberry trees that we see around Hopkinsville and Christian County.

Flea Market Tin Men

Stuff that makes you say "Hmmm"

I saw these little tinmen at the Peddler's Mall in Hopkinsville today. The price tag surprised me a little: $26.99. That should fully cover the expense of going to the grocery store and buying the various cans full of food. But I suppose the chain, the funnel, whatever connectors are inside, and the spray paint all add up to more than you might think, and then the person who made them wants a little for his time, so when everything is added, it ends up costing ... $26.99.

Founders Square

Mural in historic downtown Hopkinsville, KY

Hopkinsville has several murals on the sides of buildings, but this one is my favorite. It honors some of our local history. Each block represents a name that was well-known in its day.

Hotel Latham (at right in mural) was built around 1900 and burned to the ground in 1940. (At the Nostalgiaville site for Hopkinsville, you can see a photo of the historic marker that marks the site of the hotel.) The phrase, "Do or Die for Attucks High," refers to the fine basketball teams that came out of Attucks High School, attended by black kids during segregation. Edgar Cayce (just right of flag) was a famous psychic and healer who made "Quality Photographs" at his Hopkinsville studio. The tobacco plant in bloom at the upper center of the mural symbolizes the importance of tobacco farming in the county's economy.

This little area is called Founder's Square. It's located at the heart of old Hopkinsille -- the corner of Main Street and Highway 68/80. A decrepit old store building was torn down several years ago, exposing the wall where the mural is now. The city's Christmas tree is erected here and various public events are held in this area. I worked in a booth at last year's Little River Days right at this spot.

Another event held here that comes to mind was a remembrance on September 11, 2002. I attended that ceremony during my lunch hour because my daughter's school choir sang several songs. The parking lot was filled with folding chairs, and the fire department was there with their extension ladder truck. (I don't know the correct name for it.) They solemnly raised the American flag to the maximum height in honor of the firemen who died in New York City's Twin Towers. The VFW (Veterans of Foreign Wars) guys marched in formation. An old fellow who frequently came into the office where I worked was carrying the flag. I thought of him in a different way after that.

Update: Over the winter of 2006-2007, an open-air Farmers Market was constructed on the southwest corner of Founders Square. It opened for business in early summer, 2007.

Related post: Signs of Days Goneby

Photography and Topography

Honeysuckle and oaks

I am going to adopt a new photo format which should make the pages here load a little faster, and also should please anyone who wishes for a larger photo. Henceforth, the photos on this page will be a smaller thumbnail size, but if you click them, they will open a larger photo.

I had been posting small photos because I misunderstood how Blogger creates thumbnails -- but I won't go into all that.

This grove of mostly oak trees grows near the intersection of Vaughn's Grove-Little River Road and Highway 68, east of Hopkinsville, KY.

At the right side of the photo, you can see the crown of a tree at ground level. It is growing in a sinkhole. This part of Kentucky has karst topography. Locally, we have sinkholes where water has trickled through the crevices in the underlying rock for countless years and washed away so much limestone that the ground caves in. A hundred miles east of here, the same geological forces have created Mammoth Cave.

The vine on the fence (at right) is honeysuckle, an invasive species that quickly chokes out natives when there's competition. It is nearly evergreen here, and it has yellow and white blossoms in the spring and sporadically through the summer. The blossoms have a delicious fragrance, and children of all ages pick them to suck out a bit of sweet nectar -- hence the name, honeysuckle.

A Treeful of Birds

More About Birds and Animals... Life in Christian County, Kentucky... Life in the Upper South...

This is what Keely's friend Taurus jokingly calls a "bird-fruit" tree -- a tree so full of birds that from a distance, the branches appear to be loaded with fruit.

The Upper South is an overwintering area for blackbirds, grackles, and starlings. They fly together in huge flocks. I enjoy seeing them in flight.

A couple of centuries ago, there were so many passenger pigeons in this area that a flock passing overhead would darken the sky. The black birds are much smaller than the passenger pigeons were, but when I see a big flock of blackbirds take wing, I imagine the awesome sight of thousands of passenger pigeons flying overhead.

The Littlest Snowman

The least of the group

I saw several snowmen today and they were all small because we just didn't get enough snow to make a big one. This little fellow was the smallest one of all. Someone had built him on the board between our neighbor's and our mailboxes.

Bill's House

An empty home

Some of the lifelong residents around here refer to this little house as "Bill's cabin." It wouldn't surprise me if it has a log room at the core of its structure.

The house is not in good shape, but until about a year ago, an eccentric, elderly man lived there. He had been there for many years, and indeed, he may have lived there for most of his life.

We moved here fifteen years ago. At that time, Bill and his mother were living in the little house together. After she passed away, Bill continued alone, with the assistance of his family and several neighbors.

About a year ago, Bill became so ill that he had to be taken to a home where he could receive the care he needed.

There is still a pile of coal in his front yard that he didn't get a chance to burn. I never drive by his house without thinking of him. I hope he's doing all right.

Water problems in Kansas

Problems with the Ogallala Aquifer

ULYSSES - The prairie spreads for miles here in stubby, ashen-colored patches. Irrigation pivots spray out in circles, each minute sucking up hundreds of gallons of cold water from beneath the oil fields...

The vast underground pool that fills Ulysses' faucets, called the Ogallala Aquifer, is running low, forcing towns and farmers to spend beyond their means to tap alternative sources.

Quoted from: "As aquifer dries, 'water is like gold'" by Garance Burke. Associated Press, February 6, 2006.

Map of Kansas courtesy of Wikipedia. The blue county is Grant County
where Ulysses is the county seat. The red county is Kingman
County, where my brother and sister-in-law live.

This article is based on Ulysses, Kansas, a few counties west of where my brother and sister-in-law live. I talked to Kathy a few days ago, and she said it was very dry there. They hadn't been threatened by prairie fires in their immediate area, but they had smelled the smoke from fires in Oklahoma.

For the past couple of decades, southwest Kansas has been going through a significant dry spell. The chronic lack of rain makes farmers depend on irrigation -- and irrigation is a big drain on the Ogallala Aquifer. "Massive irrigation in western Kansas is depleting the Ogallala Aquifer from 5 percent to 7 percent every 25 years, according to a new report by the Kansas Geological Survey," writes Scott Rothschild in an article in the February 7, 2006, Lawrence Journal-World.

These articles don't say much about big cities that depend upon the aquifer, but they should be required to practice strict water conservation right along with the farmers.

When I was a child in the Nebraska Sandhills, we learned in school that water was easily accessible in the Sandhills because we had the Ogallala Aquifer beneath us. Our teacher told us that the Sandhills were like a big sponge that held water. Even though the land might appear arid, even desert-like, we could be sure that water was just beneath the surface.

Willa Cather wrote that in the Sandhills, the coyotes knew how to dig down to water. We children could have gone outside and dug down to water ourselves. Artesian wells were common in low areas of the valley where I grew up.

We ranch kids saw everyday evidence of the abundance of water in the windmill-powered wells that supplied water to the cattle. Water was one thing we had plenty of in the Sandhills. Rain might or might not come, but there was always water, and usually plenty of wind to pump it.

I am remembering the days before center-pivot irrigation systems were invented -- the days before corn was planted on many pieces of marginally-farmable land.

The depletion of the Ogallala Aquifer will have a great impact on the farm and ranch folks of the Great Plains. I have great affection and respect for those who still make their living from the prairie land. I fear that desertification will drive more of them off the land, and that the land will continue to pass from the hands of individuals to the hands of corporations.

Two related thoughts occur to me.

1. Is there really any hope of bio-fuels becoming an oil substitute if we're in danger of running out of water in America's bread-basket?
2. Doesn't the prospect of running out of water make it extremely important to develop drought-tolerant crops? I think genetic modification may become a necessity, not a choice.

Wardrobe advice

Timeless clothing style

The little scrap of paper has been in my sewing files for years. I don't have the name of the publication or the author, but I think I clipped it in the late 1980's or early 1990's.

If, like most of us, you have limited clothing dollars and sewing time, consider investing both in more classic wardrobe pieces to fit your lifestyle. A simple black suit with a slim skirt, gray trousers, a neutral-colored blazer, black and white checked suit, white cotton shirt, white silky blouse and a simple black evening dress provide a workable foundation of timeless pieces.

I am a little dubious about the black and white checked suit, but I can see the logic of it. I think there should also be a pair of black slacks.

It would be very boring if every lady had the same "workable foundation of timeless pieces." The goal is admirable, but fortunately, there are many paths to achieving it.

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Minor Earthquake near Bassett, Nebraska

According to a story by KETV 7 of Omaha, a minor earthquake measuring 2.9 on the Richter Scale occurred between>Bassett and Newport, Nebraska. It is so odd to think that the earth has a crack in it deep under the hay meadows east of Bassett (my home town.)
A bit of research reveals that in 1972 there was another small earthquake in north central Nebraska, and it was felt in Bassett. I lived there at the time, but I don't remember feeling it. Thinking back, though, it seems to me that I have a faint memory of my dad talking about the dishes rattling.