Signs of Fall in Christian County

Harvest of gold

One of the neighbors was harvesting a cornfield yesterday. Two massive combines were stopped in the field with their hoppers full when I paused on the road to photograph them.

After I took the picture, I decided to extend my pause for a few more moments. Two huge tractors towing grain wagons were returning to the field after emptying their loads of corn. They needed about 2/3 of the roadway, so I waited for them to pull into the field before I motored onward.

It was nice to see the corn kernels glistening in the sunshine like heaps of gold. In this part of the county, we had enough summer rain that our corn did well. Now, we've had a couple of months with no rain at all, and the corn should be drying out nicely on the stalk. The farmer will get a better price for low-moisture corn if he's selling it now. Or, if he's holding the corn in his own bins for a while, he won't have to run his grain dryers as long.

Autumn is manifesting itself in other ways as well. I noticed this week that a few leaves are falling from the trees when the wind blows. The Christian Way Farm has opened for the season.

And a big tobacco barn on the Pembroke Road (Highway 41) burned down today. Even though it appears to have been a metal barn, the report on the Kentucky New Era website says it was a total loss. A season's work and income went up in smoke for some farmer, and he lost his barn as well. Sadly enough, a few barns burn every fall. That's one of the hazards of fire-curing tobacco.

Peeling Boiled Eggs

Helpful hint for adventurous cooks

Oh, the amazing stuff that arrives via e-mail.

Tonight, Cynthia sent a tip about peeling boiled eggs. The way to do it,  according to time-management expert Tim Ferris, is:

- Add a teaspoon of baking soda to the cooking water.
- Cool the eggs in ice water.
- Crack and remove a bit of the eggshell at each end of an egg.
- Blow through the hole in the small end and the egg will pop through the hole in the large end.

You say you doubt it?  This website shows Tim Ferris demonstrating his egg-blowing technique and gives step by step instructions.

It reminds me of that experiment in grade-school science class where the hard-boiled egg was sucked into the soda bottle.  In both cases, air pressure moves the egg.  The amazing part is the malleability of a boiled egg.

(Updated this after I thought a little about why the egg decides to move out of its shell.)

Helen's Place at Kirkmansville, KY

A visit to a unique country store and restaurant

A few weeks ago, I was invited to lunch at Helen's Place, to help celebrate the 82nd birthday of my neighbor. Miss Margie.

I was a little surprised when I learned that this restaurant is located in Kirkmansville, KY. Kirkmansville is a tiny village in the extreme northwestern corner of Todd County. It sets at the intersection of Highways 171 and 107, which are not major highways. (Nor are they wide or straight highways!)

Miss Ardell, Margie's friend since childhood and the inspiration behind this expedition, drove us over to Kirkmansville in her Buick. Margie's daughter Sandra and I rode in the back seat.

We took Pilot Rock Road (Highway 507) to Allegre and turned north on 171. The roads wound around the hills, through the trees, and over the creeks. Usually, I would have enjoyed the scenery, but I felt a little carsick. I'm not used to the back seat.

We pulled into the parking lot at Helen's Place a few minutes before noon, entered the little building, and looked for a place to sit. The main room was full of tables and chairs, but Helen invited us to sit in the back room.

A waitress brought our iced tea, and we went through the line to get our food. The meal was served as a buffet, and the food was very good. I can honestly say it was home-style cooking. I don't remember the entire menu, but I filled my plate with:

BBQ ribs
Chicken and dumplings
Creamed potatoes
White beans
Macaroni salad
Homemade rolls
Johnnycake

My companions decided to have dessert. While they were getting their pie, I took some pictures of the back room and enjoyed the exhibit of old-time photos from Kirkmansville's past. (The white bands across the photos below are the unavoidable reflections of the overhead florescent lights.)

The back room has tables on one side of the aisle and chairs on the other side. On Friday nights, local musicians meet here to jam and to entertain. At the front of the room, a microphone and speakers stand ready. Plaques over the mantle honor two beloved musicians who performed regularly in the past: Frank Phipps and Donnie McGehee.

(To place this music-making in its proper perspective, one must know that thumbpicking originated in this precise area of Kentucky. Merle Travis is from Muhlenberg County, just a few miles north, as is Eddie Pennington. Odell Martin, also a thumbpicker, was from the little town of Allegre, six miles south of Helen's Place. The Everly Brothers learned thumbpicking from their father, a Muhlenberg County native and an accomplished musician.)

But back to Helen's Place and our visit there. While we were enjoying our meal and conversation, the tables in the other room had filled with diners. Many of the customers were men who had come in from the fields. I suppose they find it easier (and more fun!) to come to Helen's for a hot meal than to pack a lunch.

Helen came back to talk to us again before we left. She said that she was honored that we'd come there for a birthday celebration. We complimented her on the delicious meal, and she insisted that it was "just plain country cookin'."

Miss Ardell asked how many people were employed there. Helen explained that she has a staff of five, counting herself. They work together preparing the food, without any firm rules about who's going to make what. Usually, they fix two main dishes as well as a variety of side dishes.

When we went to the front room of the store to pay, I spotted a box of college-rule spiral-bound notebooks on the shelves. I bought a few for Isaac; I had tried unsuccessfully to find them at WalMart the night before. My meal was surprisingly inexpensive. As I recall, it was less than $7.00, including the tea.

Someone at Kirkmansville paints rocks and sells them at Helen's Place. Sandra bought one for Margie that had a fawn painted on it. When we started home a few minutes later, we saw a doe and a little spotted fawn along the road, just outside of Kirkmansville.

After we went around the first few curves, Sandra suggested that we stay on Highway 171 at Allegre and go home by Butler Road, instead of turning onto Pilot Rock Road. It was still a winding road back to Allegre, but after that, the road was somewhat less crooked. I was glad.

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Related:
"Seen at Kirkmansville, KY" -- Prairie Bluestem
"Great Road Name Lost" -- Prairie Bluestem
History of Kirkmansville -- Todd County, KY, Family History

J. K. Frick, Architect

Architect and builder of the Christian County (KY) courthouse

J. K. Frick, architect and builder of the Christian County courthouse in Hopkinsville, KY, had chutzpah. His name and title are displayed center front -- at the top of the arch above the main entrance.

A more typical placement of the architect's name would have been a stone set into the wall of the building, perhaps on a corner or at the side of the entrance. A motto about government or good citizenship might have been placed over the front door.

The book Hopkinsville & Christian County Historical Sites, published by the Kentucky Heritage Commission in 1982, says that the architect, J. K. Frick, was from Evansville, Indiana. He was surely Joseph K. Frick of Evansville, whose biography appears in the 1873 reference book, Evansville and Its Men of Mark.

Joseph K. Frick was born in Switzerland in 1823. His father was an architect and builder, and he wanted to his son to carry on the art. Young Joseph was sent to Munich, Bavaria, to study. He showed an aptitude for mechanical drawing at his two year apprenticeship in a drawing school.

Frick's father then placed Joseph in a Jesuit convent as an apprentice, but Joseph ran away after a year when he was expected to shave a portion of his head in the tradition of the order. Thereafter, he studied for eight years in the Alia Brarra Neli Belli Arti d' Architectura in Milan, Italy.

After a narrow escape from being shot in the streets as an insurgent in the Italian Revolution of 1847, Frick returned to Switzerland. In 1853, Joseph Frick, his brother Peter Frick, and nephews Kilian Frick and John Frick came to America. They lived in Chicago before moving to Evansville, Indiana, in 1857. Soon after the move, Joseph Frick was elected County Surveyor.

By 1860, the Fricks were drawn into the turmoil of America's Civil War. Killian Frick became a civil engineer for General Sherman and came home to die in 1864. John Frick became a captain in the 11th Indiana Volunteers and died from complications of a leg injury and amputation. Jacob Frick (another nephew?) died in the battle of Vicksburg as a soldier in the 11th Indiana Volunteers.

Joseph K. Frick's story concludes with the following description of his character and statement of his accomplishments:

[Joseph K. Frick] cared for his relatives from the time of their leaving Switzerland until they were dead. It took all his means for years to get them a practical education ; and, as he was not married, he gave up much of his time in attending to their wants while in the army. He often visited them, providing them with money, clothing, and other things, which showed the noble generosity of his nature.

Mr. Frick is recognized as one of the most scientific architects in this section; and many large and elegant public and private structures attest the force of his mechanical genius.

Source: Evansville and Its Men of Mark, by Edward White and Robert Dale Owen. Published by Historical Publishing Company, 1873, and digitized by Google in 2008.

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More posts about the Christian County Courthouse and downtown Hopkinsville:
Christian County Courthouse
Alhambra Theater in Hopkinsville, KY
Morning in Downtown Hopkinsville
Seen on Main Street
Prejudice and Segregation
Poll Worker's Day

Wise Words about the Banking Crisis

Wisdom from an Irish poet and patriot

Capitalism is not the free world.
Capitalism is a term devised by Marxists to describe what they thought were the worst aspects of our freedom.
We should never let any corporation or bank or computer company pose as the embodiment of our freedom.
Crises for large corporations are not crises for the free world.
Our freedom will endure and grow as long as we continue to elect our governments, to uphold Christian values, to promote small businesses, to permit citizens to own their own property and their own lives, to raise our children with dignity, to be polite to each other in the streets, to contribute directly to each other with charitable hearts, and to care about each other as a community.
As long as these fundamentals are a part of our culture, the fate of soulless corporatist entities is not going to matter...

   -- From "what me worry?" by James Healy, The Heelers Diaries, Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2008.