Even if I’m a day late.
Annual Pumpkin Pickin’
This past Saturday we embarked upon our annual pumpkin gathering journey, a tradition handed down to us by our parents and one we’ve continued with for the last fifteen years. In today’s helter-skelter rat race, acquiring a Halloween pumpkin from Wal-mart is probably the norm for the majority of people. For us, choosing a pumpkin from a cider mill goes hand-in-hand with the season and easily trumps the sterile atmosphere of modern retail.
While numerous in the northern reaches of the country, cider mills aren’t as plentiful here in Kentucky. Boyd Orchards in Versailles has by far the best Kentucky cider we’ve tasted, though it can’t hold a candle to Spicer’s – our old haunt in Michigan. On a side-note for those non-Kentuckians who visit our blog, locals pronounce Versailles not like the city in France, but like ver-SALES. Weird, I know, but not unusual. The small berg of Athens south of Lexington is pronounced with a long A, unlike the short A of the Greek city. But I digress….
Boyd Orchards, Versailles
So after buying a couple of sets of scrubs for Cheryl and finishing up some mundane errands, we took the scenic drive to Boyd’s for some cider drinkin’ and pumpkin pickin’. It was a beautiful, cloudless day but a little bit of the seasonal experience was lost thanks to the 81-degree temperature. I know, why am I complaining about warm weather in mid-October? I’m not really complaining, I’m just sayin’…
The Pumpkin Patch
Besides having the best Kentucky cider we’ve had (so far), Boyd’s has a massive selection of fresh apples as well as the usual hay rides, caramel apples, and other harvest-time goodies one expects from a cider mill. They really do have a first-class operation and their prices are very reasonable for farm fresh products. Since we’re obviously not the only ones who know about the place, people were there in droves. The more the merrier, right?
Cheryl and her pick
Brendan grabbed a wagon and we set off down the hill toward the “u pick” pumpkin patch. Unlike the patches at Spicer’s, where you do actually pick the pumpkins from the fields they’re grown in, these patches contain strategically placed specimens picked from other parts of the property. Yeah, it takes away some of the glamor but it’s as close as we can get until we perfect our own crop. Even still, we managed to come away with some nice choices that will make fine jack-o-lanterns.
The Great Pumpkin?
Stay tuned for the finished products….
Mammoth Cave 2010
You can’t live in Kentucky and not visit Mammoth Cave at least once. It took us almost two years to finally make the 2.5-hour drive to the park since there always seemed to be something else that took our time away from sightseeing. Besides, the oppressive heat and humidity that descended upon Kentucky this summer made outdoor activities rather unappealing. Taking advantage of an early September cool snap, we jumped in the truck and headed west for the kids’ first-ever visit to this natural wonder.
The entrance to Mammoth Cave
Years and years ago I had visited the cave as a kid with my parents, but I was at such a young age that very little about that trip remains with me today. I again spent a day exploring there when Cheryl and I spent a night in Cave City on our honeymoon drive from Michigan to Texas. As you can imagine, much has changed from our visit 20 years ago. Besides many of the “tourist trap” attractions being shuttered and abandoned, (check out a great blog post on this topic at The Decorologist) the way the cave system is presented has undergone a considerable revision. When Cheryl and I were there before, the park offered two basic tours – a full day tour and a half day tour. Being young and adventurous, we opted for the full day tour and after a very exciting day below ground we returned to our hotel worn and weary. These days, however, the Park Service has chopped those basic tours into a series of varying-length excursions which, unfortunately, make it impossible to see “everything” like we’d been able to before. Not only that, but some very cool areas of the cave system are now off-limits. The nifty Echo River boat tour is one example. Weighing our options, it was clear that multiple visits to Mammoth Cave are required to get the full experience, so we chose to begin with the basic 2-hour Historic Tour. Some of the key attractions, such as Fat Man’s Misery and the Historic Entrance are seen so the tour gives a pretty good bang for the buck.
Butterscotch Falls. There are no stalactites/gmites in the cave, but this mineral deposit comes close.
The first thing you notice when preparing to descend into the cave, especially on hot and muggy days, is the chilling blast of natural air conditioning that greats you from the natural cave entrance. The air temperature in the cave is a steady 58 degrees, and the various fissures which lead into the system create a sort of wind tunnel which is often shrouded in mist where the cool, dry air meats the warm, moist air of the surface.
Once inside the cave, one of the reasons behind its name is immediately evident. These initial chambers are truly mammoth. My camera doesn’t perform very well in near-zero lighting, so I have no photographic evidence to present of the truly grand spaces that make up the first several hundred feet of the system. As you can see below, however, I was able to get some shots of the remnants of the saltpeter operations that pre-date the War of 1812. Yes, those planks are over 200 years old and are perfectly preserved!
Well-preserved saltpeter mining operation.
Our next stop was the Giant’s Coffin, the reasons for it name obvious once you see it. Tourists have been coming to the caves since the mid-1800′s and, before strict rules were in place, left their graffiti on nearly every exposed and reachable surface. You can see one of the names in the picture below, but there’s no way to get a good look at the thousands of overlapping names and dates without experiencing it in person. Yes, it takes away from the natural beauty of the caves but it’s pretty interesting to read an intricately carved name with a 19th-century date next to it.
Giant's Coffin
A neat highlight of the tour is Fat Man’s Misery, probably one of the best-known areas of the cave. The name isn’t entirely accurate, however, because skinny people over 4′ tall have a bit of a rough time as well. I navigated most of it using a truly embarrassing duck/crab hybrid style of walking.
Navigating Fat Man's Misery
Very narrow path
All-in-all there was plenty to see during our short tour, including a candle-lit story of revenge (but I’ll let you experience the details of that story on your own visit). The only complaint I have is about the size of the tour groups and the pace. When we last visited, groups were of no more than 40 people and were somewhat intimate, providing a lot of interaction with the tour guides. These days, groups of 150 people are the norm and the guides only stop at a handful of spots for brief, and often too quiet, tidbits of cave history and information. Not all tour routes host that large of a group, so maybe some of the other tours will be more informative.
What I look like when I see a ghost, or when a camera flashes in the utter blackness of a cave
After leaving the park and a stop at Big Mike’s Rock Shop (the self-proclaimed largest gift shop in Kentucky), we headed in to Cave City to do some antiquing. Even though the temperature only made it into the mid-80′s, after spending a couple of hours in the cave’s cool, dry air had us really hating the heavy humidity. Most of the shops in Cave City had no air conditioning, so it was kind of a miserable trek through the stores and we didn’t browse as closely as we usually do. There were some interesting things that will have us going back for in cooler weather, though.
The bustling downtown of Cave City.
If you’ve never been to Mammoth Cave, you don’t know what you’re missing. Sure, it’s “a big hole in the ground”, but the history of it - and your own imagination – makes it a really spectacular place to visit.
What We’ve Been Up To
So another 45+ days have gone by without a blog post. Unforgivable, really. But sometimes life just gets in the way of the recording of it. Between staycations to Mammoth Cave, attending the World Equestrian Games, cheering on the Scott County Cardinals, shuttling the kids back and forth to their work and volunteer commitments, and repeated trips back to Michigan while my dad recovers from open heart surgery, I’ve found the time (and energy) to blog to be lacking. The desire hasn’t fully abandoned me, so hopefully I’ll get things in gear and share more often than I have been.
First off, Dad is doing well. There were some tense times right after the surgery, but he’s at home now and his recovery is progressing nicely. I wasn’t prepared for how the procedure has affected him mentally, though. He’s still struggling with concentration and short-term memory issues, which frustrates him to no end, but every day seems to bring an improvement. The whole experience has been a drain on Mom, which is not good, but she too seems to be improving along with Dad. The operation was necessary and once all is said and done, they’ll both be happy they went through it all.
Autumn is in full swing here in Kentucky, with fewer and fewer days in the 80′s. Some nights have even dipped down into the low 40′s already, if you can believe it. The drought has really made a mess of the fall colors, though. Most leaves had faded to a dingy brown long ago, but our trips back to Michigan provided the splash of color we look forward to this time of year. More important than the lack of color is the long-term impact of this extended dry spell, which could affect next year’s yield if the winter rains (and snow) can’t make up the difference. Time will tell…
The Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games (WEG for short) finally arrived after years of anticipation. The hype was justified, for among equestrian enthusiasts the WEG eclipse the Olympics in importance and prestige and this was the first time they’d ever been held outside of Europe. Visitors from around the globe descended upon our little corner of Kentucky, including the sheik of Dubai and his wife, the Princess of Jordan. The big question on our minds was how much much of a disruption the events would be on the carrying on of our normal lives. Turns out, not much. The potential was there for monumental traffic snarls and crowds of people overrunning Lexington, but the WEG organizers did a fantastic job of pricing out the majority of the population. With tickets for most events starting at $200 – each – the target audience was a very narrow one. Even so, we still managed a visit and enjoyed seminars from horsemen like Clinton Anderson. Was it really worth it, though? Probably not. The fact that no organization is interested in studying the economic impact the WEG had on our local economy pretty much proves that overall the event was a huge disappointment for most. Still, it’s nice to be able to say that we were there.
I apologize for not providing any pictures in this post, but as the week goes by I will add a few from over the last couple of weeks.
This ‘n’ That
The end of August is upon us and Autumn is fast approaching, so I guess it’s time I posted another update before the leaves start to change.
School has been going good for the kids thus far. Shannon’s class load is pretty intense this year, with 5 out of her six hours consisting of AP and Honors courses. She tried running some of her endothermic equations by me last night and I can honestly say that there was little I could do but shrug my shoulders…lol.
As for Brendan, he’s doing equally good with his classes. For the first time in his educational career, he breaks out the books as soon as he gets home and finishes up his homework without being prodded. Ninth grade has definitely been a turn-around year for him so far. In addition to his academic classes, he’s a member of Junior ROTC and really eating that up. So much so, in fact, that he’s now a member of the Civil Air Patrol in Lexington. It’s amazing how enthusiastically he’s taken to all of the marching and drilling. Since Brendan is so fully embracing the CAP, I’ve also been volunteering my time to the organization. Not much in the way of excitement has been going on with that as of yet, but it’s a small squadron and going through some growing pains.
This past weekend brought a breakthrough for Cheryl and Star, and that’s probably the most noteworthy event we’ve had over the past couple of weeks. Some friends from Howell came down for the weekend and one of the girls – Dani – is a trainer that Cheryl really respects. On Saturday, Dani and Cheryl worked with Star to gauge his interest in being ridden. It wasn’t long at all before Dani gave Cheryl the green light and, for the first time, she hopped up on Star and walked him around the pasture for a bit. Star was absolutely perfect and amazingly well-behaved. For the longest time we thought that Star was just going to be a pasture ornament, too hot to be ridden by anyone but a trainer or a jockey. Cheryl’s patient work with him over the last year has really brought him around and made this moment possible. With more work, and a dose of professional training, I’m confident that Star will be the trail horse that Cheryl has hoped that he could be.
Cheryl and Star embarking on their firts ride together
The high school football season got underway on Friday, though it was with an embarrassing loss to Clay County. Unfortunately I was not able to attend the game, though the kids went with Dani and her brother – introducing them to how we do football down here in Kentucky. Instead of accompanying the kids to the game, Cheryl and I ventured into Lexington with Dani’s mom for a delicious dinner at the Mongolian BBQ. We really enjoyed catching up and the visit was a really nice treat, especially for Cheryl.
So that’s really been all the excitement here on the farm. We’ve been in a drought, so the foliage is nice and droopy and the grass has taken on a distinctly brownish appearance. Despite the garden being done for the year, a marauding groundhog met the business end of my rifle the other day. Gotta keep those varmints in check…lol.
We have some big plans for the coming weekends, so don’t be surprised if I post more than twice a month!
Summer’s End
It’s not officially the end of summer, of course, but I consider the season to be over when the kids head back to school. So from that perspective, summer ends tomorrow. Tonight we headed on over to the high school so the kids can scurry about and find their various classrooms. Shannon already knew, pretty much, where her classrooms are but this will be Brendan’s first year in the high school. This past Friday he spent the morning there for the JROTC meet-and-greet, at which he seems to have had a pretty good time. Besides that class, the rest of his schedule is made up of the typical reading, writing, ‘rithmatic sort of stuff. Most of Shannon’s schedule is made up of AP and Honors classes, but she somehow ended up with one hour of Floral Design. I guess she was trying to get onto the yearbook staff and that didn’t work out, so she had this particular class listed as sort of a “joke” alternate. Looks like the joke’s on her…lol.
As for the garden…meh. The raccoons completely devastated our corn. Nary an ear remains. The vast majority of the peppers succumbed to pests, as did a lot of the tomatoes. We tried applying an organic pesticidal soap, but it appears to have been too little too late. The plants produced plenty, but very little actually made it to a ripened state. Cheryl and I have been discussing strategies for next year, and I think we’re going to go in a radically different direction than the two previous seasons. I’ll post more about that once we solidify those plans. On the bright side, we’ve been overwhelmed by a large variety of squash…lol. Some are unbelievably huge, so we must be doing something right!
The various squash retrieved from the garden
Overall the summer of 2010 has been unremarkable. No vacations, little success in the garden…it should come as no surprise why there hasn’t been a lot of blog activity lately – nothing to blog about!
Some of our tomato yield. The Lumpy Reds are lumpy, but not so red.
Independence Day Weekend
The long holiday weekend is over and it’s taken me a couple of days to get caught up with life’s mundane trivialities, but the pace of things has settled sufficiently and life is motoring on as normal. Like most people, we celebrated the birth of our nation with fireworks, burgers on the grill, and exploring unfamiliar locations of our new home state. I also spent a good bit of time reflecting on the meaning of the holiday and the events that led up to the act, 234 years ago, of declaring independence from the world’s wealthiest and mightiest nation. How bad had life become for not just a minority of intellectuals, merchants and political rakes, but for the majority of the common citizenry to shout “No more!” and shirk the chains of a tyrannical and unsympathetic government? Outgunned, outmanned, and outfinanced, farmers and laborers and tradesmen banded together as Americans to forge a new nation that exalted individual freedom and condemned heavy-handed rule. Such a lofty ideal didn’t come to fruition overnight, taking eight years of war and costing approximately 50,000 American lives. Yet, more than 200 years later, it seems as if the values of individual freedom, fair representation, and a benevolent government have been tossed by the wayside in favor of political and religious posturing, suppressed civil liberties, and a government infested by corruption and greed. We remember that the 4th of July is about parades, waving flags, grilling burgers, and fireworks, but do we remember that it’s really about the freedom from excessive taxation, out-of-touch political representation, and government-sanctioned tyranny? I’m not so sure that we do….
I suppose that’s a heavy enough preamble…lol. Idealism aside, we did have a very nice weekend. Though the heat was sweltering and the humidity was downright oppressive, we crawled out from our air-conditioned hideaway and spent a bit of time checking out some horses that have recently caught Cheryl’s eye. The first, Kenobi, was just up the road in Frankfort. A Friesian-Gypsy cross, he’s quite a majestic animal and a vision straight out of Cheryl’s dreams. She put him through his paces for a couple of hours on Saturday, enjoying every minute of it I’m sure, but his age and some nagging concerns about his health kept Cheryl from pursuing the idea of purchasing him. If nothing else, she was able to finally ride her “dream horse”.
Cheryl riding Kenobi
On Sunday, after a Saturday night spent in Georgetown watching the county’s decent fireworks display, we headed west to Bowling Green to have a look at a Friesian-QH yearling named Striker. He was very much the character and exhibited a lot of the playfulness and curiosity we saw in Kole. I’m sure he’d become an excellent horse for someone, but Cheryl’s looking for a horse that she can take out on the trails right away, not several years from now. So the search continues…
Inspecting Striker
While out west I thought I’d take the opportunity to visit Fort Knox. The Bullion Depository was a treat to see, though it lies behind very formidable barriers and fencing. The real draw for me was the Patton Museum. The Army Armor School is being relocated to Fort Benning, GA, and while the Army has stated that the museum will remain in Kentucky I wanted to be sure to see it before it quietly disappears. The number of tanks and armored vehicles the museum holds, as well as some obscure artifacts from all of America’s conflicts from WWI to Afghanistan and Iraq, was really impressive. I’ve never seen a WWII German Tiger tank before, other than in pictures, and to stand next to a fully restored one – well, those suckers were monstrous! If you’re ever in western Kentucky, be sure to include the Patton Museum on your itinerary.
German Tiger tank
Monday, the last day of our long weekend, was spent catching up on all of the chores we neglected to do on Saturday and Sunday…lol. We still have some odds and ends needing attention, but the temperatures hovering near 100 degrees likely means that those stragglers will have to wait until this weekend to be crossed off the list.
Me and the kids in front of a Dester Storm-era M1
Saturday Night at the Ballpark
This past Saturday night we made our annual sojourn to Applebee’s Park to watch our local minor league baseball team, the Lexington Legends, do their best to crush the visiting opposition. This year the outing was subsidized by Daniel as a late Father’s Day gift, since we spent most of Father’s Day weekend in Michigan, and included a pre-game dinner at Qdoba on UK’s campus. After a nice meal we headed to the ballpark to join the rest of the record-setting crowd in settling down for a nice evening of baseball. Nice and sweltering, that is. At game time the temperature was 93 degrees and the humidity was around 60%. Thankfully our seats were immediately behind the visitor’s dugout (in this case the Rome Braves) and out of the direct sunlight. Darkness brought little relief, though, with the temperature still at 87 degrees when the game ended around 10:30.
The happy fam at the ballpark
Nevertheless, all of us had a great time watching the Legends and Braves exchange the lead several times over the course of the game, with the Legends ultimately opening things up with a 4-run 8th inning. Plenty of foul balls sailed in our direction, but we were just low enough in the stands to avoid being able to snag a souvenir. Daniel did manage to snag a squishy ball that one of the gyrating event staff threw his way, though, so at least that’s something. The fireworks that capped off the night were pretty good for the minor leagues.
SS Jonathan Meyer at bat while Braves manager Randy Ingle looks on
Just like last year, we had a great evening. It’s my hope that we’ll be able to catch a couple of more games before the season ends.
Dugout shenanigans
We win!
Father’s Day Weekend
For us, Father’s Day weekend was a bit hectic this year. Our niece Jessica, who lives in Michigan, graduated from high school and was having her party on Saturday. She’d begged us to come up and celebrate with her, and at first just Shannon and Brendan were going to make the trip. But then a combination of events, both good and bad, made it important for Cheryl and I to make the trip back as well.
We left Friday morning with the intention of arriving up north around dinner time. The drive wasn’t bad at all, despite the new ruling in Ohio that cops can ticket you just because they think you look like you’re driving too fast – no radar evidence required. I suppose we’ll soon be able to be convicted of various crimes because, to a “trained” officer, we look like we could have committed robbery, assault, or worse. But I digress…
After gawking at the Terminator-like remains of Touchdown Jesus, a nice little picnic lunch at a rest stop north of Cincinnati, and wrestling with multiple lane closures on I-75 in Michigan – as usual – we made it to the hotel. Staying with family wasn’t an option this time since we brought Maeve with us. In my opinion, the loss of Boomer was still to recent for the rest of us to disappear on her. Daniel certainly could have looked after her while we were gone, and he did a great job with the horses and cats, but I didn’t want to risk it. So she got her first hotel experience this weekend and did a fantastic job! We left Maeve unattended in the hotel room while we ate dinner with my parents at the Merriman Street Grill and she did fantastic.
A quick word about the restaurant – it has been in business for as long as I can remember but, for one reason or another, we’ve never eaten there. For most of its existence it could rightfully have been considered a dive bar, but with the explosion of hotels by the airport it has undergone quite a transformation. The manager was knowledgeable of gluten intolerance and provided some tasty suggestions. I had a Cajun burger, which was one of the best burgers I’ve eaten in quite a long time. Cheryl and the kids also had burgers, with hand-cut sweet potato fries, and were pleased with the quality of their meals.
After dinner we headed over to Cheryl’s brother’s house and stayed till early Saturday morning catching up. It was remarkable seeing how much everyone had changed in only two years. We were back over bright and early Saturday, helping prepare for the party and visiting with Cheryl’s parents. They made the trip down from their store in northern Michigan to spend a few hours at the party, but hit the road late in the afternoon. We stayed at the part a bit longer, but by evening we were over at my parents’ place getting ready for dinner at Qdoba. Since we had already checked out of the hotel, and couldn’t leave Maeve to roam around my parents’ place, we took her with us and ate outside on the patio. Once again, Maeve was incredible! She politely laid at the foot of Cheryl’s chair and waited patiently. She certainly made an impression on everyone who met her this weekend.
By the time we got home, around 2:00 Sunday morning, we were beat but really enjoyed our visit with family. It was unfortunate that so much time had passed between visits, but with how well everything worked out this weekend I think we can definitely make the trip more often.
