Bluegrass on a Saturday night

You can find a nice article about Meadowgreen Bluegrass Park in our December edition of All Things Country Magazine. For those who haven't seen it,  you can find it in our archives at www.allthingscountryky.com. You can even find their upcoming schedule. We really had fun when we went back in November, before their Christmas break.

Well, the Saturday night shows started again last night and talk about fun. I think I'm pretty well hooked on bluegrass music. Not that I haven't always liked bluegrass, I like most any form of music. I can even find a few rap songs that I like. But, I didn't really know much about bluegrass music. I can actually say now that I recognize some of the songs. And ... I'm getting a favorite or two!

Last night's show featured the Glen Ritchie band out of Eastern Kentucky, who warmed up the show before the main act - The Grascals - took the stage. We've seen the Glen Ritchie band before and really enjoy them. What a diverse group of musicians, one of them being from here in Estill County and all of them ranging in age. That's what we've noticed about bluegrass bands. Age doesn't matter. How many rock bands have a father and son playing together? Glen Ritchie's son plays the stand-up bass and he's so good, especially for 19 years old. You can see how proud dad is of son.

The Grascals took the stage soon after the Glen Ritchie band finished. What a blast they are! And such world class performers. The mandolin player was mandolin player of the year several times, and their banjo player is this year's banjo player of the year - for the fourth time. She is very good, obviously.

I find it incredibly cool that we can drive 15 miles from our house and see such great music on a Saturday night. Sure, we had great music in Idaho on a Saturday night. But it always involved going to a bar to see it, which meant a cover charge to get in. It also meant having to get a babysitter, which of course meant even more money. The admission to Meadowgreen last night was $15.00 a piece. And children under 12 are free. So, for very little money, you can have a great time on a Saturday night - within a few minutes from home - and you can bring the kids! And for those with hunger pangs, the tenderloin sandwich there is one of the best I have ever eaten.

So, the next time you are looking for something to do on a Saturday night, head over to Clay City and listen to some good music. Chances are you'll see Dave and I there!

Have a blessed day everyone.
Pam

Going Blue

I live in a world of blue. Almost daily you hear at least one Big Blue comment. You know, we bleed blue, big blue madness. This is life in Kentucky. After all, we've got the best basketball program in history at the University of Kentucky. I was always a Kentucky fan, of sorts, no matter where I lived. But I wasn't always a UK fan.

When I lived in Kentucky in the early 1970's, we lived in Carter County. Close to Morehead State University. That is where I always wanted to go to college - had I been a good enough student to go to college. My mom worked in Morehead and I just always loved that town. Don't have a clue why, just did. So, when we moved away and I was far from where I wanted to live, I watched Kentucky sports. And always rooted for MSU, not UK so much.

How on earth I got off on Kentucky sports, I'll never know. I guess because UK plays today. Everyone in Kentucky knows that!

No, I started off writing this about my fingernails. Currently blue fingernails. I've gone blue for a couple of months, which is bad in a way. If UK has a winning season, then I'll be scared to take the blue off until they win the championship. And who am I kidding, UK will have a winning season; so I'll be blue for a while.

My fingernails are my weakness, something I attribute to my late grandmother. She had this thing about painted nails. If mine weren't painted, she would fuss at me. If they weren't painted 'perfectly' she would fuss even more. She was, after all, an Avon lady. But, she didn't do that until later in life and she always seemed to fuss about my fingernails. I'm cursed with long nails. I had to file them off daily when I was younger, just to keep them shorter.

But, long they still are. And always have been strong too. Which is good since I'm a typist. But I learned to type with long nails, so it's no big deal. What was a big deal ... when I turned to gardening. Pulling weeds with long nails turned into a problem. Between going through gardening gloves like crazy, and breaking them once in a while, I thought my days of having nice nails were over. Not so.

One of my friends in town showed me how to fix a badly broken nail with acrylic and I've been hooked ever since. It has turned into my one extravagance in life. Instead of doing my nails every few days like I did for some 30 years, I now have them done about once a month. A good 3 hours of relaxing and enjoying a break during my hectic month. And hey, Dave loves it too. He hasn't had to smell nail polish remover in several years. He hated it when I did my nails at home.

Yes, it's an addiction. But, of all the addictions I've had in my life, I consider this a healthy addiction! And my dear grandmother is smiling down knowing my nails ALWAYS look good now. She is really smiling down now, because blue was her favorite color.

Have a great day everyone. And go Big Blue!
Pam

Trying to breath before we pick up the magazine

The newest All Things Country Magazine is on the press as I type this. It heads to the bindery department tomorrow and we will pick it up Monday morning in Winchester. The days leading up to sending the magazine off to the printers get to be pretty hectic. Everything else seems to take a back seat during these few days. Once it's been 'fetched' to Dayton, I can breathe a little bit. I usually sleep the first few hours, because I work about 24 hours straight leading up to the finished product.

Thankfully, I have these few days to get caught up on laundry, housework and farm work before the rush of delivery begins. Otherwise I would always need one of those door mats that says "The house was clean last week, sorry you missed it." Sometimes I think that would be a pretty handy doormat to have!

Once the magazine is gone though, it's hard for me to breathe until I see the finished product. And that's usually a scary event too. What if I've made a mistake? Hate it. Hate the thought of it. But I know that errors are inevitable. It's hard with a monthly publication to correct an error, like with a newspaper that prints more often. I can correct it with the online version, but can't do much about the printed version. And, trust me, we've had to stuff the entire 12,000 papers with a correction before! It's not fun. But, I hate it if an advertiser is unhappy too.

I've got my list going for tomorrow, and the weekend. It's not like we can relax much, it's just that we aren't doing much with the magazine during these three days. So, I try to catch up, at least what I can do depending on the weather. We are supposed to have a pretty nice weekend, so remodeling work in the barn might be on the agenda. We've got several mommy goats that are due in the next few weeks, so birthing stalls are in order. Dave had been in and out of the barn all day checking on our Barbie girl. She's so big, she can hardly move! Are triplets in there? We'll see soon.

I've been wanting to try a new recipe too, maybe I'll be able to get that in the schedule too. I'm a big fan of chocolate covered cherries - and found a recipe that sounds pretty easy - so I think I'm up for the challenge. They can't be eaten for at least 10 days, so it will be a treat once deadline week hits again.

Whoa, I don't even want to think about deadline week already! Guess it's time to end this and try some relaxing for the evening.

Blessings to you all. Thanks for reading along.....
Pam

Kentucky lost a friend today

Gatewood Galbraith, a recent (and often) candidate for Governor of Kentucky passed away sometime during the night. I saw the news posted from his running mate Dea Riley this morning on Facebook and the news hit me like a brick.

I had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Galbraith - known simply at Gatewood to many - at a picnic out at the Glass Garden in Ravenna several years ago. What an interesting gentleman he was. I was very skeptical about going to the function, but a friend was catering the event and we wanted to show our support to her. I had seen the stories about Gatewood since arriving in this state. And saw the pictures of him fighting his causes by disrupting events at times. So, as I said, I was skeptical.

When I worked at my very first newspaper in Idaho, a weekly called The Clearwater Tribune, one of my co-workers was a great influence on me, both personally and professionally. I have often reflected how Cheeta Brown shaped my early newspaper career. She was just so knowledgeable - about everything. She took me to the woods and showed me vegetation that I could eat to survive, she showed me how to paste up a newspaper, she taught me to cook and showed me a thing or two about sewing. She was a poet too! I've still got a poem she wrote for me back in 1984 that was about a true-a-thing written about me as anything ever has been. (Goodness knows that sentence doesn't make perfect sense ... oh well!)

Anyway, one of the things I remember Cheeta telling me? Never indulge in politics publicly. Not if I intended to remain in the publishing business. Never put a bumper sticker on my car, nor a yard sign in my yard. Quickest way to ruin your career, she told me. Now, I'm not entirely sure that it's true in today's world, but I have held that close in my mind my entire career. So, publicly going to a political event was scary ground for me.

But, like I said, I was going to encourage Kim and show my support. Who knew that I would be so intrigued with the speaker that day - Mr. Gatewood Galbreath. A very fascinating man. He had some good ideas too. Yes, he had a few quirky ideas too, but don't all politicians? Do we really support every platform that a person runs on? Well, I don't at least. But I won't talk politics with you. Not ever.

Back to Kentucky's loss. It is a loss, in my opinion at least. He surely cared about this state. Who can't say that? He ran for governor FIVE times. He stuck around. Between campaigns, he still voiced his opinion. He still tried his best in everything he did to improve the state that he loved so much. He was truly a "Kentuckian" through and through. He held to his convictions, with a true passion. It dawned on me today that had he won the last election, he wouldn't even have served a day. It's a sad day for many Kentuckians, myself included.

Until next time......
Pam

Explosion lights up the night

Goodness, another gas line explosion! This is the closest one we've seen, but about the fourth or fifth we've had in the area since arriving here. I'm sure thankful that we don't live close to one of those lines, or at least I don't think we do.

Estimates put the flame on last night's explosion at about 400 feet into the air. You could actually see the flame from Harris Ferry Road and the entire horizon was orange. Dave and I almost saw the explosion. We were out on the back deck watching a little mini blizzard and heard the 'jet engine' noise that is associated with these explosions. Dave kept insisting it was just a jet flying low and it was louder due to the weather. So we headed back inside. We were frozen from watching the snow anyway.

About the time we got our coats off and settled in, the news flashed of an explosion. We looked outside and the entire skyline was orange. We instantly knew it was a gas line explosion. There have been too many of them recently. Scary stuff, knowing these gas lines go through our area. Thankfully they don't service any of the homes in the area, just piping it to some other east coast location.

Of course, being in the news industry for so long, we naturally wanted pictures. Maybe not a good idea, but the Dave person and I have been known to do some silly things. Once we got to the corner of Fox Road and Highway 89 we knew we shouldn't be there. Everyone else was there too. It just made for a mess and I apologize to the police for being in their way.

We took a quick picture and got out of there. As quick as the snowy roads would allow anyway. That surely didn't help, having snow covered roads. A few cars and trucks were going sideways trying to get up Fox Road, and I felt really bad that we were just contributing to the mess. Needless to say, Dad wasn't too happy we were there either .... as he called to see if we got pictures.

Thankfully, as of this morning, reports indicate there were no injuries and no damage to homes. I'm sure they'll be there all day trying to determine the cause. I'm guessing that the lines are just getting too old. For there to be so many of these, there is a problem somewhere. And thankfully no one has been injured, but that might not be the case next time. And I imagine there will be a 'next time' until they get something done about these aging lines. Just my opinion tho .....

Here are a couple of the pictures we got, it was quite spectacular. (You can tell it was still snowing in some of the pictures too).....

This was taken from Harris Ferry Road, about 5 miles away.

This was taken at Ivory Hill Baptist Church on Highway 89.

Have a good day everyone!
Pam

First snowfall of the year

As we gaze out the front window today, we are watching the first snowflakes of the season. Hard to believe we haven't seen snow yet this winter, but it's been pretty warm actually. In terms of winter at least. The first year Dave and I lived in Kentucky it was an unseasonably warm beginning to winter. We were amazed that on Christmas Day that year we were outside with no coats on.

We arrived in Kentucky on Halloween Day of 2002 and drove just ahead of a snowstorm most of the way across the states. Driving over Lolo Pass in lots of snow in a Ryder truck isn't a whole lot of fun, But we were headed off of a new adventure, so the drive over the pass was kind of bittersweet in knowing we wouldn't see it again for a while. We actually stopped at the top, on the Idaho/Montana state line and slept a few hours, before heading off across the very wide state of Montana.

We arrived in Kentucky and it started raining. It actually rained for several days after we arrived. We unloaded that Ryder truck into a storage shed in the pouring down rain. We left Oregon because it rained so much ... never thinking that it rains just as much in Kentucky. When the northern states are getting snow, we are usually getting rain.

We learned that Kentucky doesn't always have such nice winters though. We've been through two ice storms since moving here. Whoa! When we have an ice storm, we really have an ice storm. We lost power for three days when one of them hit and that surely wasn't much fun. In the west, most everyone uses some form of wood heat, but not here. We couldn't have survived without a couple of kerosene heaters ... and they worked pretty good for heating up water for coffee in the mornings too!

One thing we do miss from the west though is snow skiing. Yeah, there are several ski hills in the area, but nothing like we are used to. We had several favorites, but I'm telling ya I'd be happy to ski at any of them, right down to Bald Mountain in Pierce! One of our favorites was Mount Bachelor in Central Oregon. 10,000 feet up and you could look 365 degrees around from the top. The longest runs back there are measured in miles, not feet. Most of the big mountains are actually volcanoes. From the top of Mt. Bachelor I think you see the tops of seven volcanoes. Kind of scary to think about it, but they aren't active. Not too active at least :-)

Another favorite was Big Mountain in Northwestern Montana. It was fun to go there because you can actually stay right on the mountain if you want to. Of course it's pretty expensive to do that, but we did it once and it was alot of fun. Most ski hills involve kind of a scary drive in, so staying right on the mountain is pretty nice. - one drive in and one drive out! The thing about the big mountains, they get their snow in hundreds of inches. When you ski past a tree on one of those mountains, it's actually the top of a huge tree! You only really realize that when you go to the mountain in the summer and see it for yourself.

Yes, we are used to lots of snow. Not exactly what we see in Kentucky. Or at least we haven't since we moved here. Maybe this year will bring it! Let's just hope we don't see an ice storm!

Have a great day everyone. And be safe out on the roads! It is still snowing after all.......
Pam

A new year ... a new start for all!

One year has rolled over to another. We have reached the year 2012. My how time flies. It seems like just yesterday that we worried about the year 2000 arriving and that was 12 years ago. Gosh, why does time go so fast when you get older?

It's always a cleansing time, when one year ends. A time to reflect on the years that have passed, and then you add in hopes for the new year. For some, we are just happy to have survived the past year. So much tragedy and sadness in the world. I have to rely on the fact that our Lord has told us that he is taking care of things. All we have to do is believe. And I'm a believer. I can't help but have hope for the new year. For I know the Lord is watching over me.

Last year was a pretty good year for me. My husband pulled off the surprise of my life when he surprised me for my 50th birthday. I was able to travel to Idaho this past month to watch my daughter graduate with her Master's Degree. I am blessed to have many friends around the world - and those right next door too.

And our advertisers and readers, I can't say enough about the support we receive at All Things Country. Times are tough all over, but we have such a great circle of support that I know 2012 will be even better than 2011. Things are going to turn around, one way another. If the government isn't going to do anything, then the people will.

So I can't complain, not really. There are many more people in the world with a whole heck of a lot of problems and trials than me. I've gained a whole new family through my church and that is the most encouraging thing I can hope for in the new year. And for each and every one of you, thanks for reading along.

So, Happy New Year to all of you. Here's hoping that you are as blessed as I am.

Pam