Stormy Weather Tonight

Life in Christian County, Kentucky...

We're under a tornado watch tonight. About an hour ago, a bad storm passed over us. The air was ominously heavy and still as a continuously-rumbling cloud with a lot of lightning passed overhead. I wouldn't say it sounded like a freight train as one always hears about tornadoes, but it certainly was growling loudly. Our electricity went out for about ten minutes.

I read the following reports a few minutes ago on Weather Underground's report for Hopkinsville, and I know now why we heard sirens as the storm was passing over us. I hope that no lives have been lost.

04/02/2006 0923 PM
4 miles N of Hopkinsville, Christian County. Tornado, reported by law enforcement. Update... numerous homes destroyed along Princeton, Greenville and Billy Goat Roads. Power lines down and gas lines erupting. Law enforcement, Fire Dept and EM searching for victims at this time. Lsr reported by WFO Paducah Kentucky.

04/02/2006 0922 PM
4 miles N of Hopkinsville, Christian County. Tornado, reported by law enforcement. Update... State Police report lots of damage. Numerous homes destroyed and mobile homes overturned from Princeton Road to the Pennyrile Parkway. Lsr reported by WFO Paducah Kentucky.

04/02/2006 0909 PM
4 miles N of Hopkinsville, Christian County. Tornado, reported by law enforcement. 3 homes destroyed. No details. Lsr reported by WFO Paducah Kentucky.

04/02/2006 0902 PM Hopkinsville, Christian County. Tornado, reported by Emergency Mngr. Touchdown in Princeton Road area. Major damage reported. No details at this time. Lsr by WFO Paducah Kentucky.

UPDATE:
WHOP radio has brought in some reporters. They are interrupting regular programming with frequent reports on the storm damage and the response efforts. Three-fourths of Hopkinsville has no electrical power because of damage to TVA transmission lines. Eston Glover of Pennyrile Electric says that at least a couple dozen electric poles are broken. Electric lines are down in many areas, and residents are cautioned to avoid them! Much damage is reported in the area just north of Hopkinsville. There have been injuries, but no deaths are reported as of yet. Volunteer fire departments have been called in and a staging area has been set up at the high school football stadium. Crews are being sent out to check house-to-house but their progress has been hampered by trees and telephone poles that have fallen onto the roadways. People with chain saws are asked to volunteer. They should report to the stadium and they'll be sent out to clear the roadways of fallen trees. The Trigg County Rescue Squad is here as well.

House In Guthrie, Kentucky

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

This magnificent old house is in Guthrie, Kentucky, on Highway 41 less than a half-mile from the Kentucky-Tennessee state line. Guthrie is in Todd County, one county east of us, about 20 miles from our home. This little town was the birthplace of the noted Kentucky poet, Robert Penn Warren.

When Keely was home Saturday with her boyfriend, we drove over to Clarksville to do some shopping, and we stopped at Guthrie particularly so Keely could admire this house again. It's been one of her favorites for years and she hadn't seen it for a while. I think she likes the turret (the small tower); turrets are a recurring theme in her favorite houses.

When we first moved here, this house was showing signs of deterioration and disrepair, but about ten years ago, a carpenter purchased the house and began a loving restoration of it. It's now the jewel of the little town of Guthrie. I don't know if the same family still owns the house or not. I believe it was offered for sale several years ago.

Concrete statuary adds to the fairy-tale charm of the house. There are gargoyles on the rooftop obelisks, a cherub on the ledge of the attic window, urns on the porch pillars, and much more. This house has enough gravitas to carry off all that ornamentation, though I think much more would be too much.

The stonework and masonry are superbly done with exquisite details. It would be interesting to know something about the workmen who built the home. I wonder if they were local craftsmen or if they were recruited from somewhere else. Were they directed by the architect, the builder, or the homeowner, or was the master stonemason allowed to exercise his creativity and his own judgment?

The side entrance

Life of a Ranch Wife

All In The Family... Another Trip Down Memory Lane... Life in The Nebraska Sandhills...

I stumbled across a website featuring writings and photos by Yvonne Hollenbeck today. It's part of a larger cowboy poetry site.

I was interested right away because I know the name "Hollenbeck" from my childhood in the Nebraska Sandhills. The Hollenbecks were our neighbors in a general sense; they lived about 15 miles or so northwest of us, along the gravel road that leads from Rose to Long Pine. They were very involved in rodeos. They raised Brahma bulls (I guess they rented them out for bull-riding at local rodeos) and they competed in rodeos across the region.

I still don't know if Yvonne Hollenbeck's husband, Glen, is related to the Hollenbecks of Long Pine, but I did enjoy looking at Yvonne's page about her life on the prairie. She is a ranch wife as well as a cowboy poet, and many of the things she documents in her writing and photos remind me of the things my mom was doing when I was growing up on a ranch -- helping feed the cattle, helping with cows who were calving, feeding a big crowd of people who came to help with branding, and so on.

If ranch life is an interesting subject to you (as it is to me), I encourage you to visit "From My Home on the Prairie." It's an interesting and authentic glimpse into the life of a ranch wife.

What Is A Cowboy?

On the "Home on the Prairie" site, Yvonne Hollenbeck has posted an essay about what a real cowboy is (upon the request of the cowboy poetry people.) She remarks that her great-grandfather Ben Arnold's poem, "His Campfire Has Gone Out," was written about the end of the cowboy era. Arnold said of the cowboy, "He's the spirit of the West. " (Don Edwards has recorded a musical version of the poem.)

I agree with Yvonne that many people try to portray themselves as cowboys when in truth, they have no claim at all to the title. Some attributes of a modern-day cowboy (in my opinion!) are that he works on a ranch, has a great love for horses, is skillful in working cattle from the saddle, and does so frequently (daily or near-so). Being a cowboy entails more than wearing the costume or owning a horse.

My great-grandfather Charlie Hill, whom my father was named for, was a genuine cowboy. He earned his living on horseback. In the late 1890's and early 1900's, he rode in the great cattle drives from Texas up to the railroads of Kansas and Nebraska. On one of those cattle drives, he died from cholera or typhoid (I can't remember which, but it was probably from tainted water.)

Charlie left a wife (Lana Mapes Hill) and a big family (8 children, I believe). Lana and the children went to Johnstown, Nebraska, and homesteaded out in the Sandhills near Moon Lake, close to where her brother had a place... but I digress.

My father, who was a rancher all his life, would never have called himself a cowboy. He would have said he was a cattleman. His love was for the cattle and the land, not so much for the horses, even though he was a good horseman and rode when he needed to until he got too crippled up to do so anymore.

Growing Older

And What I Think About It...

I came across this in my files the other day. I have two versions of it, and neither have an author listed. They're only slightly different. I think my friend Sammie in Nebraska sent me one of them. Anyway, here it is, and may I remember it as I get older myself!

My Prayer

Lord, you know better than I realize myself that I am growing older and will soon be old.

Keep me from getting too talkative and particularly guard me from the fatal habit of thinking I must say something on every subject and on every occasion.

Release me from the craving to straighten out everybody's affairs.

Keep my mind free from the recital of endless details and give me wings to get to the point.

I ask for grace enough to listen to the tales of others' pains. Help me to endure them with patience.

But seal my lips on my own aches and pains and curb my pleasure in reciting them -- a practice that is becoming sweeter as the years go by.

Teach me the glorious lesson that occasionally it is possible that I may be mistaken.

Keep me reasonably sweet and even if I can't be a saint, keep me from becoming a sour old person whose attitude testifies for the Devil instead of the loving Savior.

Make me thoughtful but not moody, helpful but not bossy -- even though with my vast store of wisdom it seems a pity not to use it all.

Lord, most of all, You know how much I'm going to need friendship in my golden years. Help me to be a lovable and loving person.

I ask this in Your mercy and by Your grace.

Amen.

Old Tobacco Barn

Life in Christian County, Kentucky...

This old tobacco barn between Pembroke and Fairview, Kentucky, is falling into disrepair. The roof still appears to be in decent condition, but the board siding is coming loose and falling away. The openings allow the weather to reach the structural members, so the days of this old barn are numbered unless it receives repair soon. If repair isn't practical or possible, then I hope that someone will tear the barn down and re-use the lumber.

Preservation Kentucky wrote the following about tobacco barns across the Commonwealth of Kentucky when it placed them on the 2004 "Most Endangered" list:

Kentucky tobacco barns are perhaps the most widely recognized agricultural buildings in the state. They have been important to the national tobacco economy since the settlement period. Once burley tobacco was introduced to the central Bluegrass region in the 1860's, the now-familiar barn type was developed for air curing - an H-frame gabled structure with vertical side vents. The burley barn became synonymous with Kentucky tobacco and was dubbed the "Kentucky Tobacco Barn" sometime in the 1870's.

Today, tobacco barns are disappearing from our landscape statewide, caught in the cross-fire of development or abandoned. Some are disassembled, relocated and re-used in other capacities of agriculture. With changes in family farms that will accompany the tobacco buyout, coupled with the potential for reductions in tobacco production, these Kentucky landmarks will have to be adaptively reused in order to survive and continue to contribute to the Commonwealth.

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