Rush hour in Blount county

Cute little guy, but he wouldn't let us anywhere near him. A little girl was making friends by throwing something edible at him, so we left them to it.

That is a belt around his neck, which I did think was a little strange.

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Updated: After a few emails, I can see that it is not obvious for people with those nifty little lightweight, but tiny-screened, laptops. That is a GOAT in the road!

By the way, you can always click on any of the pictures to make them larger.

Re-emergence

I almost spoke too soon... after another marathon DSL fix-it session (two guys for 6 hours this time, and they didn't show up until Thursday), we thought all was well. Oh, the relief! The zippy page loading!

But that comfy, fluffy feeling was missing again the next morning, along with the DSL.

Yesterday it only took two fix-it hours (times two guys) to restore sanity. And so far, so good. Keep your fingers crossed for me.

Update

Young whippersnapper: It's your router that's the problem.

Me: No, it isn't.

(He argues. I prove that it's not the router.)

Young whippersnapper: It's your computer that's the problem.

Me: No, it isn't.

(I contend that it is statistically impossible for all three computers to fail in the exact same manner at the same time.)

Young whippersnapper: I don't know how to fix this, so I will call in someone smarter, on the pretext that he has a laptop and I don't. And since you have argued with me, I will erase the dial-up program from your computer.

He didn't really say either of those last two sentences, but that's what he did.

Various Otelco DSL repair guys were here for five hours yesterday. It's only partially fixed. What that means is, if we want high-speed internet, we have to go sit in the junk room and hook directly into their cable. Guy #2 said our router was fried, but then he couldn't get the new router (that he was trying to sell us) to work either.

He said they'll be back "probably Tuesday or Wednesday".

Acoustic Cafe

Some friends and I were treated to a tour of the Acoustic Cafe Amphitheater, which is situated on an rocky mountain near Hayden.


You know Steve Masterson must be a nice guy, when you learn that he puts on a music festival that's located, more or less, in his yard. I haven't been to the festival yet, but it sounds like good music and a lot of fun. (Check it out at the link above - it's string music that draws people from across the country on Memorial Day weekend.)


Buster, who loves to walk.


Wild Four-O-Clocks, Mirabilis nyctaginea.


I kept thinking that some of the rocks looked like bald heads covered with green toupées. This one even had a nose and ears.


Indian Pink, Spigelia marilandica.


Skull tree.


Alabama Larkspur, (Delphinium alabamicum), and a cat whose name should probably be Groucho.


The other very beautiful, but very shy, dog.


Left, Purple Cliff-brake, (Pellaea atropurpurea).
Right, Yellow Passionflower, (Passiflora lutea).


Recycling!


Ragwort, aka Butterweed, (Packera sp., aka Senecio).


Four-leaved Milkweed, (Asclepias quadrifolia).


Solomon's Seal, (Polygonatum commutatum).


Heavy metal cricket.


Carolina Spiny-pod, Matelea carolinensis. Aka Carolina Anglepod or Carolina Milkvine.


More good rocks.


Nettleleaf Sage, Salvia urticifolia.


Whiteflower leafcup, Polymnia canadensis. Grows right on top of the rocks.

Bird tunnels

I'm not sure how these curious little tunnels form. I don't know if birds actually make them. But they sure know how to put them to good use.

We've seen wrens hopping along the paths, jumping up every now and then to grab a bug from the underside of the lip.



These are along the edge of an old logging road on our property. I've only seen them at the higher altitudes, where the ground is rockier.

If you know any more about how they're made, I'd love to hear it.

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I'd planned that this post would describe a local political rally from the weekend, when we had not one, but two, presidential contenders in Birmingham. I'd have shown you lots of pictures, and related every little thrill. But I got sick, and can only relate how thrilling it was to watch it all on tv.

I have to say thanks to WBRC6, our local Fox channel, for showing both live. You can see the raw video of either appearance (Huckabee or Obama) by clicking on that link.

Too bad they don't show that huge honking anchor desk that they dragged all the way down to Bartow Arena for the reporters to sit behind.

More mad postal props

The postmaster of a small local town called to let me know that I'd transposed two of the digits in the address of one of my customers. They wanted to let me know so that I could correct it in my records.

I'm not kidding!

Can't beat that with a stick.

I'm thinking of starting a movement that would allow the Blount County, Alabama postal employees to run the entire US mail system.

Why I love Oneonta

When you're really busy, running around like a chicken with its head cut off, trying to get ready for your upcoming craft show, and you jokingly suggest to the passing postal worker that she should help you put all those stamps on your mailing list postcards... she does!

Oneonta storm damage

Things got a little intense last night. We were narrowly missed by a tornado! A waning storm suddenly intensified. We ran to our safe place with no time to grab the camera... the dark clouds were beginning to rotate.

When we went into town this morning I took the camera. (Click any of the pictures for a much larger view.)


Near the high school there was a lot of debris.


The fieldhouse is not what it used to be...


News crews were on hand.


Television reported that two infants were injured and trapped inside that SUV the previous night.


Power crews were everywhere. So were sightseers. This is a huge amount of traffic for Oneonta!


This was the strangest damage. Only the flagpoles in the middle were toppled.


Another view of the former flagpoles.


Was that scratch on the courthouse wall there before?


Two huge limbs are missing from this old courthouse tree. I wonder if it will survive. The column supporting the bell was apparently damaged when the limbs fell.


The Co-op roof had a problem.


So did their sign. (Note the snapped tree also.)


More roof damage.


I'm not sure if this building was still in use or not.


Lot of this kind of thing in the area.


This was atypical tree damage.


Most were like this -- as if they'd been twisted off. I believe this is characteristic of tornadic winds.
Updated: I've been told that strong straight-line winds can have the same effect.


This one looked like had a problem already.

We didn't make it down the side streets, which were alledged to have the most damage... We didn't want to get in the way of the cleanup.

Update: Preliminary reports from the National Weather Service indicate F2 tornado damage (113 to 157 mph winds) in Oneonta.

Solar Homes Tour

The first weekend in October, we went on a Solar Homes Tour in Blount county. There are tours all over the country that weekend, but this was the only one in Alabama.

The the tour has been getting more and more popular each year. They had to split our group into two since it was so large. Our half started at the modified yurt.


Outside of the yurt, with solar panel.


Inside the yurt. (There was a lot of glare and contrast in this picture and the next. I tried to correct for it, but as a result, ended up with a few dark blotches where they shouldn't be.)


It's open on the top. The theory is that the warm air rises and can escape. I imagine it's closed in winter. It's not difficult to heat in Alabama... cooling is the main problem.


Where the walls meet the roof.


They stressed that incorporating passive solar principles is the most important thing to do. Basically that means you design the house to take the most advantage of the sun, before you ever spend a dime on technology like solar panels. One of the ideas was to grow grapes (or something similar) over the windows for shade in the summer.


The same idea, at a different house. I think I'd prefer blinds though, so you could still look out the window if you needed to.


Some interesting space-saving stairs at the same house.


Most of the houses were heated with wood-burning stoves.


This was a ridgetop underground house. It's open on two sides and underground on the others. I think this one was my favorite of the ones we saw. We missed seeing the last house on the tour though, which was supposedly the best. (It was running late and I had to be somewhere else.)


Colorful bumper of one of the tour guides. I so wanted a Prius when I bought my car 5 years ago but hubby was vehemently against it. (He worried about repair issues.) Click for a larger image.


A stray dog came along with our group.


Zorak wanted to come too!

County Fair, part 2

I wish our county fair had 4H animal exhibits - I have no idea why not. But there are contests for several foodstuffs, agricultural products, and handicrafts.

A row of prize-winning jellies.


A spotted watermelon.


Apples. The judges seem to like the stems left on.


Apple gourds.


Little white pumpkins.


The best honey with comb.


Lots of beautiful quilts.


This one won 3rd place, but was actually my favorite.


That looks like a lot of work.


I loved this little container in the plants section.


Friday night entertainment.


If aliens really turn out to look like this, we're going to be so embarrassed.

County Fair

We had barely gotten over all the excitement from our only-four-days-apart birthdays, when it was time for the county fair.



Several years ago I discovered - all of the sudden - while I was actually on one - that I didn't really like rides anymore.

But I thought it would be fun to try nighttime photography.



This one is called Wipeout. It also does this:



No, thanks.

Hey, is that Cyclops from the X-Men?



People seemed excited to get aboard "The Tornado".



There was a lot of high-pitched squealing and loud whooping. But the line was very long, so the ride was very short. I think the people were too dizzy to complain about being short-changed.



More my speed nowdays:



We're having several of the real version of this throughout Alabama this afternoon, thanks to storm bands from Hurricane Rita.

Fired!

The Birmingham Post-Herald this evening has a sad story about Linda Reynolds. She was Guntersville State Park's most excellent naturalist for many years, and has continued to volunteer there after her retirement, leading the park's popular winter Eagle-watching tours, among other things.

Until now. Until she spoke out against tree cutting in the park. (In prime wildlife nesting season, no less.) Then she was dismissed from her volunteer job.

According to the article, the State Parks Director says the "forest management system" will make the forest "healthier". That the logging is not for financial reasons.

I have serious doubts. I don't know Linda Reynolds very well - just enough to know that she is extremely knowledgeable. If she and Paul Franklin (a well-known Birmingham area naturalist) say that the cutting is unnecessary and destructive - I believe them.

I wonder if they'll add that to the Volunteers In Parks (VIP) program handbook: "Real naturalists need not apply."

Plug week continues

After recently recommending some Canadian "e" friends, I thought I'd better plug some real-life Alabama friends, before they beat me up.


Ron Dometrovich is a local musician and co-founder of the "soap for CDs" program. I'm a big fan of his music, which is sort of folk, sort of country, sort of singer-songwritery. Two of his earlier CDs, A Good Mechanic (is Hard to Find) and A Place With No Name, are available at CDBaby. He has three others that you'll have to buy at one of his shows, or email him for. Of them all, I think The Grander Scheme of Things is my favorite. It should be on CDBaby as well, hint hint Ron.

Ron's lovely wife Kim has just started Sewing By Kim. The site is still under construction - I think she only has her About Me page up at this point, so check back soon. She's done costume work for the Alabama Ballet and several local theater groups, and is a real sweetie who also knows a lot about plants. I think Kim was one of the first people we met when we started doing craft shows. Of course we like her because she always praises our soap to potential customers when she's in our booth. But she was also nice enough not to get mad when I let slip about something that she had bought Ron for Christmas. (Oops.)


Marcus Lusk is the artist and creator of the comic book Tales from the Bog. You may notice that his web site is woefully out of date... yes I'm hoping to shame him into updating it. To buy back issues of Tales (and other comic book and art things), visit his EBay store.

"Every penny you spend will help bring the Bog back sooner," says Marcus, "And it helps feed my two kids, too!" (I'm sure I hear violin music playing somewhere in the background.) But really, they are astonishingly cute kids.


If you need a decorative mailbox, Debbie at All for Katie is who you need to see. She has lots of other pretty painted things too, but I'm partial to the mailboxes. (We have one with pansies.)

She's very talented and in person, is what you'd call a hoot and a half. That's her daughter Katie pictured on the website. She's even more of a stunner nowdays; I'm sure her mother is having to beat the boys off with a stick. Order a lot, because as Debbie says, "Teenage girls are very expensive."