Surprise, surprise. Yet another offer on my house, preceded by 3 days of telemarketer calls and immediately followed by a higher offer, contingent of course on when their house sells and of necessity all done without either party ever seeing the other.
If they are who I think they are, their family has millions packed away. I'm just looking for a few tens of thousands to pay off my mortgage at this point. Stop being jerks. Although, I guess Good Fella types can't help themselves, and it's all about the big win with them.
Sunday, May 31, 2020
Tuesday, May 26, 2020
Political Protest
The other day, armed protesters, dressed in camouflage hung the governor in effigy. They were protesting the lockdowns in Kentucky.
What's still closed in Kentucky? Dine-in restaurants, hair salons and barber shops, and day care centers. Really? You're protesting because you want to drop your kid off with strangers and go out for a night on the town? Right after a pandemic? The state motto should change to Kentucky - Stupid and Self-Centered.
Now, I'm all for political dissent and hanging governors in effigy. I believe that it's part of a healthy political debate. I have to ask though, why the guns? I'm not anti-gun, I think the firearms act of 1934 and the gun control act of 1968 are unconstitutional and that people should be able to buy machine guns through the mail. The question is, why wear them to these events? If you look at the people wearing them, they are the type to have the thin blue line flag in their truck. This means if a law officer confronts them, they will instantly obey. So, the guns are just a fashion statement and to intimidate those who disagree with them, not for actual use. That's just bad taste and shows the low level that these people are operating at.
The timing is also interesting. Kentucky locked down in mid-March and not a peep out of these people, except to say how great the governor was handling the issue. Now, two months later, when they don't feel as afraid, and strangely enough, when Alex Jones tells them to, they start with the protests as the state is reopening? Seriously, most things are already open, the timetable for full reopening is already out there and they choose this moment to protest? Cowards, idiots, and bullies have always gone together.
I always thought Antifa was the best gift the right could ever receive, as it showed everyone how stupid the left could get. The lockdown protesters seem to be the right wings version.
What's still closed in Kentucky? Dine-in restaurants, hair salons and barber shops, and day care centers. Really? You're protesting because you want to drop your kid off with strangers and go out for a night on the town? Right after a pandemic? The state motto should change to Kentucky - Stupid and Self-Centered.
Now, I'm all for political dissent and hanging governors in effigy. I believe that it's part of a healthy political debate. I have to ask though, why the guns? I'm not anti-gun, I think the firearms act of 1934 and the gun control act of 1968 are unconstitutional and that people should be able to buy machine guns through the mail. The question is, why wear them to these events? If you look at the people wearing them, they are the type to have the thin blue line flag in their truck. This means if a law officer confronts them, they will instantly obey. So, the guns are just a fashion statement and to intimidate those who disagree with them, not for actual use. That's just bad taste and shows the low level that these people are operating at.
The timing is also interesting. Kentucky locked down in mid-March and not a peep out of these people, except to say how great the governor was handling the issue. Now, two months later, when they don't feel as afraid, and strangely enough, when Alex Jones tells them to, they start with the protests as the state is reopening? Seriously, most things are already open, the timetable for full reopening is already out there and they choose this moment to protest? Cowards, idiots, and bullies have always gone together.
I always thought Antifa was the best gift the right could ever receive, as it showed everyone how stupid the left could get. The lockdown protesters seem to be the right wings version.
Sunday, May 24, 2020
Curiouser and Curiouser
Things are getting more curious with my abandoned house lately.
One of the big names I was talking about previously made an offer of $15,000. It doesn't matter that house is assessed at $77,000. When your relatives run the banks, you can do things like that.
The curious part is that this is the second time this month he's made this offer. Both times, a mysterious party from Arizona also expresses an interest in the house.
This time, when he made his offer, the party from Arizona offered to rent the house at half of the going rental rate and said they would pay the full asking price when their house in Arizona sold. Ordinarily, nothing suspicious, except that 2 times now, the timing has been identical, and the people from Arizona cancelled their appointment with the realtor, and so made this offer sight unseen.
I begin to suspect made up people and my problems entering a new phase of stupid and corrupt.
One of the big names I was talking about previously made an offer of $15,000. It doesn't matter that house is assessed at $77,000. When your relatives run the banks, you can do things like that.
The curious part is that this is the second time this month he's made this offer. Both times, a mysterious party from Arizona also expresses an interest in the house.
This time, when he made his offer, the party from Arizona offered to rent the house at half of the going rental rate and said they would pay the full asking price when their house in Arizona sold. Ordinarily, nothing suspicious, except that 2 times now, the timing has been identical, and the people from Arizona cancelled their appointment with the realtor, and so made this offer sight unseen.
I begin to suspect made up people and my problems entering a new phase of stupid and corrupt.
Friday, May 22, 2020
The Panic Is Spreading
I think I've managed to scare my real estate agent. He seemed a bit shaken the last time I talked to him. I believe he's finally figured out what's going on.
You see, he seems confused that people keep looking at my house, expressing an interest, even entering into contracts, and then mysteriously disappearing. Last week though, two people with important names approached him.
One of the names has connections all the way to state government. They also run one of the local banks.
Now for those of you who aren't used to corrupt, third world, pest holes, let me explain.
1) All my financial transactions are instantly known. Not, my transactions at the bank run by the family member, but anything done locally. It sounds illegal, but try proving anything.
2) Every time someone looks at the house, I get inundated with telemarketer calls. Okay, so this one is just middle school idiot level.
3) This is the worrisome one. Every time an offer is made, my phone usually gets hacked. It works intermittently and makes all sorts of calls on its own. This is the one that brings visions of state level interference to mind, but again, try proving anything. It might just be some hackers out to get me and several years of coincidental timing.
4) Of course, an offer has to be made first, which usually entails a second visit. Except that most times, the second visit returns to a broken into house with dog droppings on the floor. The droppings are always new. How do they know how to time it? Obviously, myself, the realtor, and probably others are being watched that closely. Who has the kind of time to do that?
Let's look at the second name.
Just read my blog on the doctor and church deacon who get sent to jail for drug dealing. Name number two was one of the people who stood to benefit from the situation. Again, it might just be coincidence.
Honestly, it feels like I'm being driven into bankruptcy by the Sopranos, while the police from the state on down are all bought off. Of course, I might just be imagining things. That's the worst thing about this. Every single coincidence might point in the same direction, but at the end of the day, they are just that. Low level coincidences with no proof.
I suspect my realtor just felt it too.
You see, he seems confused that people keep looking at my house, expressing an interest, even entering into contracts, and then mysteriously disappearing. Last week though, two people with important names approached him.
One of the names has connections all the way to state government. They also run one of the local banks.
Now for those of you who aren't used to corrupt, third world, pest holes, let me explain.
1) All my financial transactions are instantly known. Not, my transactions at the bank run by the family member, but anything done locally. It sounds illegal, but try proving anything.
2) Every time someone looks at the house, I get inundated with telemarketer calls. Okay, so this one is just middle school idiot level.
3) This is the worrisome one. Every time an offer is made, my phone usually gets hacked. It works intermittently and makes all sorts of calls on its own. This is the one that brings visions of state level interference to mind, but again, try proving anything. It might just be some hackers out to get me and several years of coincidental timing.
4) Of course, an offer has to be made first, which usually entails a second visit. Except that most times, the second visit returns to a broken into house with dog droppings on the floor. The droppings are always new. How do they know how to time it? Obviously, myself, the realtor, and probably others are being watched that closely. Who has the kind of time to do that?
Let's look at the second name.
Just read my blog on the doctor and church deacon who get sent to jail for drug dealing. Name number two was one of the people who stood to benefit from the situation. Again, it might just be coincidence.
Honestly, it feels like I'm being driven into bankruptcy by the Sopranos, while the police from the state on down are all bought off. Of course, I might just be imagining things. That's the worst thing about this. Every single coincidence might point in the same direction, but at the end of the day, they are just that. Low level coincidences with no proof.
I suspect my realtor just felt it too.
Tuesday, May 19, 2020
Not Essential
In one of my last posts, I made the claim that if there were any cuts to higher education because of lessons learned from the pandemic, it would be among faculty and not among diversity officers, or marketing specialists.
You see, in America, faculty are considered non-essential. Only administrative staff and the maintenance people who support them are essential. This isn't only the opinion of my institution, but that of the United States government.
Let me give an example. My institution is spread over 250000 square miles. That means a lot of sites to cover. If an administrator or maintenance person needs a school vehicle to travel from place to place, no problem. The government considers that they are traveling for business purposes. If an instructor does the same thing, the government taxes them for the privilege. It's not much, depending on how much other income someone has, but the government is still charging these rural teachers, who it claims they need, about 15 cents a mile if they use school transportation. The rationale is that they are not conducting the essential business of the institution. They are considered non-essential. If the government feels that way about instructors, why should the institution treat them any differently?
You see, in America, faculty are considered non-essential. Only administrative staff and the maintenance people who support them are essential. This isn't only the opinion of my institution, but that of the United States government.
Let me give an example. My institution is spread over 250000 square miles. That means a lot of sites to cover. If an administrator or maintenance person needs a school vehicle to travel from place to place, no problem. The government considers that they are traveling for business purposes. If an instructor does the same thing, the government taxes them for the privilege. It's not much, depending on how much other income someone has, but the government is still charging these rural teachers, who it claims they need, about 15 cents a mile if they use school transportation. The rationale is that they are not conducting the essential business of the institution. They are considered non-essential. If the government feels that way about instructors, why should the institution treat them any differently?
Sunday, May 17, 2020
Useless Idiots
One of the amazing things about the pandemic, is how panic stricken and confused my colleagues have become. I've come to the conclusion that one of us doesn't know what they are supposed to be doing.
I work in higher education. Once the pandemic hit, we moved all instruction to online. That made me very happy. I had a lot more free time and everything I did could be focused on presenting material to the students. I thought that was my job. Of course, the students went in two directions. Those who were doing alright continued to do so. Those who were borderline, just disappeared. They refused to answer emails or do any work. That was expected. It was the reaction of my colleagues that was confusing.
Some of the things that confused me were:
- Daily briefings by the college president, even if there was nothing to say. Seriously, a 500 word daily briefing every day. It was amusing, but why?
- The school safety officer started sending out home and yard safety tips and ended up by asking for photos of our gardens or yards so we could show people what we had been up to during quarantine. Sorry, I thought we were supposed to be working from home, not gardening.
- Many of my colleagues started calling the students to make sure they were doing their homework. Seriously, they got the phone numbers of the students and started calling them. Should college instructors call their students to make sure they are doing their homework? Yes, American education is doing fine.
- I started receiving emails from colleagues telling me how much they were looking forward to coming back to work so that they could see me. I couldn't help but think that these people would run the other way if they saw me in the hallway, and they send me emails like this? Why?
- The president of the faculty sent out an email the other day with the closing line, "See, I'm still working".
-Basically, a lot of my colleagues showed that they couldn't function outside of a group telling them what to do 24/7. Of course, that's probably why they got hired in the first place.
The inescapable conclusion is that my colleagues don't know what they are doing. They think that hanging out with people and chatting and transmitting knowledge to students are the same things. It would explain a lot of things. I think that transmitting knowledge to the students is my job and chatting is only to be done in furtherance of that goal. I seem to be alone in that attitude. There were others the thought like me at one point, but they all quit as soon as they could draw retirement. That should have been my first clue.
Of course, the pandemic has also shown that the school can run with about half of the current staffing and budget. Of course others have noticed this, and you can be sure that when the cuts come, they will be among the faculty, and not among those posting pictures of their yards.
I work in higher education. Once the pandemic hit, we moved all instruction to online. That made me very happy. I had a lot more free time and everything I did could be focused on presenting material to the students. I thought that was my job. Of course, the students went in two directions. Those who were doing alright continued to do so. Those who were borderline, just disappeared. They refused to answer emails or do any work. That was expected. It was the reaction of my colleagues that was confusing.
Some of the things that confused me were:
- Daily briefings by the college president, even if there was nothing to say. Seriously, a 500 word daily briefing every day. It was amusing, but why?
- The school safety officer started sending out home and yard safety tips and ended up by asking for photos of our gardens or yards so we could show people what we had been up to during quarantine. Sorry, I thought we were supposed to be working from home, not gardening.
- Many of my colleagues started calling the students to make sure they were doing their homework. Seriously, they got the phone numbers of the students and started calling them. Should college instructors call their students to make sure they are doing their homework? Yes, American education is doing fine.
- I started receiving emails from colleagues telling me how much they were looking forward to coming back to work so that they could see me. I couldn't help but think that these people would run the other way if they saw me in the hallway, and they send me emails like this? Why?
- The president of the faculty sent out an email the other day with the closing line, "See, I'm still working".
-Basically, a lot of my colleagues showed that they couldn't function outside of a group telling them what to do 24/7. Of course, that's probably why they got hired in the first place.
The inescapable conclusion is that my colleagues don't know what they are doing. They think that hanging out with people and chatting and transmitting knowledge to students are the same things. It would explain a lot of things. I think that transmitting knowledge to the students is my job and chatting is only to be done in furtherance of that goal. I seem to be alone in that attitude. There were others the thought like me at one point, but they all quit as soon as they could draw retirement. That should have been my first clue.
Of course, the pandemic has also shown that the school can run with about half of the current staffing and budget. Of course others have noticed this, and you can be sure that when the cuts come, they will be among the faculty, and not among those posting pictures of their yards.
Tuesday, May 12, 2020
Hacked
It looks like the contract fell through on that house I've been trying to get rid of for the past 3 years. How do I know? I still have a phone.
You see, every time a contract is placed on the house, my phone gets hacked. Phone calls and texts get lost. My phone calls people at random. Often emergency services. My icons get placed everywhere. My phone starts providing a wireless hotspot for everyone. It's very annoying. Worse, it really doesn't do much good to fix the problems, because they reappear as fast as I can fix them.
It seems someone with a degree of technical ability and the ability to gain more information on my activities than is good for me or even legal, really doesn't want me to sell the house.
You see, every time a contract is placed on the house, my phone gets hacked. Phone calls and texts get lost. My phone calls people at random. Often emergency services. My icons get placed everywhere. My phone starts providing a wireless hotspot for everyone. It's very annoying. Worse, it really doesn't do much good to fix the problems, because they reappear as fast as I can fix them.
It seems someone with a degree of technical ability and the ability to gain more information on my activities than is good for me or even legal, really doesn't want me to sell the house.
Sunday, May 10, 2020
Shots Fired
The gunfire is back with a vengeance in my little semi-rural suburb. I understand the half hour of sustained gunfire during daylight hours. That's just people practicing. I understand the 5 or 6 shots rapid fire, also during daylight hours. That's just the tourists who want to show off their gun and prove they're real life country folk by shooting something. My problem with them is that they usually just throw a can or something out into their yard and blaze away without considering the school behind it. That in itself is a reason to bring firearms safety classes back into the public schools. I don't see how firearms safety is any different than motor vehicle safety, but I digress.
What confuses me is the all day gunfire. Always a single shot. Never in the same place. A single shot here. A few hours later another shot there. Another shot at midnight. What are they shooting at? Are they hunting? In a subdivision? Possibly. After all, it is semi-rural and there are areas of 5 acres or so free here and there. The people here would have no problem hunting on 5 acres. Intelligent, no, but that never stops people around here. You have to wonder what they are hunting at midnight though.
What confuses me is the all day gunfire. Always a single shot. Never in the same place. A single shot here. A few hours later another shot there. Another shot at midnight. What are they shooting at? Are they hunting? In a subdivision? Possibly. After all, it is semi-rural and there are areas of 5 acres or so free here and there. The people here would have no problem hunting on 5 acres. Intelligent, no, but that never stops people around here. You have to wonder what they are hunting at midnight though.
Friday, May 8, 2020
Return To Roots
One of the good things to come out of the pandemic, has been a chance to return to my roots.
I've been spoiled since the 80's with fancy foods and coffees, but during grade school, I was a 70's, latch-key kid, living off of canned meats, iga brand cheeses, cheap white sandwich bread, and non-designer coffee. Okay, the coffee came later.
Since the pandemic has started, trips to the large town stores have stopped and been replaced by trips to the local, rural IGA, and Dollar General Market. The gas savings have been high. The foods, while not what I am used to now are what I survived on during grade school, and I haven't been "deprived" in the least, unless you count having to drink non-Starbuck's coffee as a major life challenge, and if you do, I suggest professional help. It's been fun revisiting 1970's cuisine.
I've been spoiled since the 80's with fancy foods and coffees, but during grade school, I was a 70's, latch-key kid, living off of canned meats, iga brand cheeses, cheap white sandwich bread, and non-designer coffee. Okay, the coffee came later.
Since the pandemic has started, trips to the large town stores have stopped and been replaced by trips to the local, rural IGA, and Dollar General Market. The gas savings have been high. The foods, while not what I am used to now are what I survived on during grade school, and I haven't been "deprived" in the least, unless you count having to drink non-Starbuck's coffee as a major life challenge, and if you do, I suggest professional help. It's been fun revisiting 1970's cuisine.
Monday, May 4, 2020
The New Normal (part 2)
The one thing you can say about Americans in general and Kentuckians in particular, is that they are always ready to jump on the next bandwagon.
Now, it's the everything is normal, don't tread on me bandwagon.
In the lake country of Kentucky, this means everyone get on the lake. The tourists have arrived. The locals are bringing in all of their relatives. It's party time at the lake. Silly me, I thought there were still restrictions in place.
The sound of cigarette boats running full bore a half mile away reverberates through the hills all day. Of course, I've also seen kayaks and inflatables. The locals generally can't afford anything better. I'm surprised there haven't been fatal interactions on the lake. It's not that big.
While the stay at home was being obeyed, I heard the Life Flite chopper once or twice, now it's back to once or twice a day, so maybe there are more interactions than I know of.
Random gunfire at midnight has started up and you have to wonder what they are shooting at. Is it city folk who don't like the thought of raccoons, even though the tourist crowd killed them off a couple of years ago? Maybe they don't like their neighbors dogs? Gunfire in a subdivision is always worrisome.
Worst of all, are the fires, every night at sundown. The temperature has finally reached the 80's, the humidity is bad, the air is stagnant, the pollen count is causing problems, and every night at sundown, a pall of smoke hovers over the area all night. It's like living next to a charcoal plant.
At times like this, I have to wonder why I didn't buy a place outside of a Mexican tourist trap. I'd get the same lifestyle.
Now, it's the everything is normal, don't tread on me bandwagon.
In the lake country of Kentucky, this means everyone get on the lake. The tourists have arrived. The locals are bringing in all of their relatives. It's party time at the lake. Silly me, I thought there were still restrictions in place.
The sound of cigarette boats running full bore a half mile away reverberates through the hills all day. Of course, I've also seen kayaks and inflatables. The locals generally can't afford anything better. I'm surprised there haven't been fatal interactions on the lake. It's not that big.
While the stay at home was being obeyed, I heard the Life Flite chopper once or twice, now it's back to once or twice a day, so maybe there are more interactions than I know of.
Random gunfire at midnight has started up and you have to wonder what they are shooting at. Is it city folk who don't like the thought of raccoons, even though the tourist crowd killed them off a couple of years ago? Maybe they don't like their neighbors dogs? Gunfire in a subdivision is always worrisome.
Worst of all, are the fires, every night at sundown. The temperature has finally reached the 80's, the humidity is bad, the air is stagnant, the pollen count is causing problems, and every night at sundown, a pall of smoke hovers over the area all night. It's like living next to a charcoal plant.
At times like this, I have to wonder why I didn't buy a place outside of a Mexican tourist trap. I'd get the same lifestyle.
Saturday, May 2, 2020
The New Normal
Well, he new normal is here. You see, Andy has destroyed all the good will that he built up, and it's all about good will.
A month ago, people were saying that the governor of Kentucky was presidential material. People were making up songs about him. Why did this happen? Because he showed that he was putting the people of the Commonwealth first. Then he decided to put politics first. In the middle of an epidemic, when he was closing businesses and telling people to stay at home, he vetoed a "born alive" bill.
Let me explain what a "born alive" bill entails, to those who aren't familiar with them. Basically, it means that if a baby is born alive, it is treated as a person, and given medical care. If the mother doesn't want it, it goes to an orphanage.
That apparently is too much for the governor of Kentucky's political masters. With the veto, if a baby is born alive, and is unwanted, it can be put in a corner and denied care until it dies. Now bear in mind, if I walked past a baby in the street and ignored it and it died, I would be charged with manslaughter. Seems a bit hypocritical.
Needless to say, the people of Kentucky are pissed. Instead of songs in his honor, he now gets threats and insults.
The strange part is, all his closures and stay at home orders, which are likely responsible for keeping Kentucky one of the lower ranking states for COVID-19 infection are now being ignored. The people of Kentucky don't like him anymore, so they are going to do their best to ignore everything that he says. Sounds like cutting off your nose to spite your face, but that's Kentucky.
A month ago, people were saying that the governor of Kentucky was presidential material. People were making up songs about him. Why did this happen? Because he showed that he was putting the people of the Commonwealth first. Then he decided to put politics first. In the middle of an epidemic, when he was closing businesses and telling people to stay at home, he vetoed a "born alive" bill.
Let me explain what a "born alive" bill entails, to those who aren't familiar with them. Basically, it means that if a baby is born alive, it is treated as a person, and given medical care. If the mother doesn't want it, it goes to an orphanage.
That apparently is too much for the governor of Kentucky's political masters. With the veto, if a baby is born alive, and is unwanted, it can be put in a corner and denied care until it dies. Now bear in mind, if I walked past a baby in the street and ignored it and it died, I would be charged with manslaughter. Seems a bit hypocritical.
Needless to say, the people of Kentucky are pissed. Instead of songs in his honor, he now gets threats and insults.
The strange part is, all his closures and stay at home orders, which are likely responsible for keeping Kentucky one of the lower ranking states for COVID-19 infection are now being ignored. The people of Kentucky don't like him anymore, so they are going to do their best to ignore everything that he says. Sounds like cutting off your nose to spite your face, but that's Kentucky.
Thursday, April 30, 2020
Don't Guns Make It More Dangerous Out There?
This one's for all the weenie-tots and ferners (Ferner is a word the people of Kentucky frequently apply to anyone who was born outside of the county. The actual word should be foreigner, and I am one since I wasn't born in the Commonwealth. The 27 years I've been in this part of the country are irrelevant). In this particular case, I'm using the word ferner to refer to people from urban areas, and people from outside the United States, both of whom often have trouble understanding the gun culture of much of the United States, especially in the rural areas.
The first statement such people usually make is that if the bad guys don't have guns either, then no one would have guns, and things would be safer. When I stop laughing, I try to enlighten them. Most are not interested. Here's the reality:
1) I've never had a problem with felons with guns. If they display it in a manner that's obvious, that's a long stretch in jail. That's not about to happen. Also, they are mainly drug dealers who only want to protect themselves and 2-bit thugs who only pick on the weak. The fact that I am still alive speaks to the fact they they are not that violent. I know, this is contrary to what the city folk in the United States know, but in flyover country, it is generally accurate.
2) Law enforcement is an hour away, sorry, I can't wait that long.
3) My main problem is self-centered narcissists, both the locally grown druggie type, the local nobility and those that come down to vacation. For some reason, you find these people running around in packs or a half dozen or so. They also usually have a like number of large dogs running with them who occasionally run off to attack someone's pet, much to the amusement of these sub-human life forms. In other words, typical inner city wanna be thugs with dogs added. And, let's not forget the coyote attack of a few months ago that cost a child it's life. Carrying a sidearm seems like a logical decision in such circumstances. Amazingly, groups of wannabes tend to avoid people who might be armed, and thus able to cause them problems. Of course a better one would be for the police to act. But, that would cut down on the profits of the local nobility, so that's not about to happen.
The first statement such people usually make is that if the bad guys don't have guns either, then no one would have guns, and things would be safer. When I stop laughing, I try to enlighten them. Most are not interested. Here's the reality:
1) I've never had a problem with felons with guns. If they display it in a manner that's obvious, that's a long stretch in jail. That's not about to happen. Also, they are mainly drug dealers who only want to protect themselves and 2-bit thugs who only pick on the weak. The fact that I am still alive speaks to the fact they they are not that violent. I know, this is contrary to what the city folk in the United States know, but in flyover country, it is generally accurate.
2) Law enforcement is an hour away, sorry, I can't wait that long.
3) My main problem is self-centered narcissists, both the locally grown druggie type, the local nobility and those that come down to vacation. For some reason, you find these people running around in packs or a half dozen or so. They also usually have a like number of large dogs running with them who occasionally run off to attack someone's pet, much to the amusement of these sub-human life forms. In other words, typical inner city wanna be thugs with dogs added. And, let's not forget the coyote attack of a few months ago that cost a child it's life. Carrying a sidearm seems like a logical decision in such circumstances. Amazingly, groups of wannabes tend to avoid people who might be armed, and thus able to cause them problems. Of course a better one would be for the police to act. But, that would cut down on the profits of the local nobility, so that's not about to happen.
Monday, April 27, 2020
Hillbilly Politeness
For some reason, the people here pride themselves on being polite. Unfortunately, they don't have a clue what that means.
An example might be in order. The other day, I was out working on my house. The quarantine has given me a lot of time to catch up on things. I was using power tools, cutting wood for my porch, when a power company truck drove by. They said hello and waved. I waved back. Seemingly, just a friendly gesture. That is, until they stopped 50 feet down the road to cut off the power for a half hour.
I understand the need to cut off the power, I really do, but what mental midget would insist on saying hello to someone actively engaged in using power tools, and then not tell them they were going to cut off the power? The type of mental midget that has a psychotic need to be seen, but really doesn't give a crap about anyone else, and even takes pleasure in causing problems, as long as they can remain the "polite" one. That's the kind of mental midget.
An example might be in order. The other day, I was out working on my house. The quarantine has given me a lot of time to catch up on things. I was using power tools, cutting wood for my porch, when a power company truck drove by. They said hello and waved. I waved back. Seemingly, just a friendly gesture. That is, until they stopped 50 feet down the road to cut off the power for a half hour.
I understand the need to cut off the power, I really do, but what mental midget would insist on saying hello to someone actively engaged in using power tools, and then not tell them they were going to cut off the power? The type of mental midget that has a psychotic need to be seen, but really doesn't give a crap about anyone else, and even takes pleasure in causing problems, as long as they can remain the "polite" one. That's the kind of mental midget.
Saturday, April 25, 2020
When Ohio Returns to East Kentucky
Well, the Ohio people that were hiding across the street have reached the end of their quarantine period. How can you tell? Easy, when they were under quarantine, they stayed quietly in their house, except when they went travelling by lawnmower to visit neighbors. They parked their truck alongside of their house. Maybe because trucks become invisible if they are more than 5 feet from the road.
Anyway, now that the quarantine period has lifted, they have moved their truck right next to the road and they have taken to going outside and screaming at each other.
I guess the only thing that makes people from Ohio act like human beings is the threat of arrest.
Anyway, now that the quarantine period has lifted, they have moved their truck right next to the road and they have taken to going outside and screaming at each other.
I guess the only thing that makes people from Ohio act like human beings is the threat of arrest.
Wednesday, April 22, 2020
The New Normal
Things are quieting down in the Eastern part of the Commonwealth. There are rumors that the lockdowns and store closures will end soon. The hillbillies have responded in their normal fashion. With utter stupidity.
The 4 wheelers and golf carts have been out and about non-stop, and people are now visiting relatives they haven't seen in a couple of weeks. In the stores and about town, social distancing has become a thing of the past. Basically, everything has turned back to normal.
It will be interesting to see if there is a spike in illnesses in the next couple of weeks.
Whatever happened to don't panic but exercise common sense? The people of the hills went from buying all the toilet paper, water, and milk, to ignoring everything in the course of 3 weeks. That in itself I would understand. They're stupid. But, they are still buying all the toilet paper, water, and milk while ignoring the problem. They seem to be perfectly happy to keep both contradictory ideas in their heads simultaneously.
Of course, there is always the possibility that they want another round of the disease to spread. After all, unless you're in a nursing home, most people survive. Quiet a few more than survive the average, drunken, Friday night. Unemployment has been massively expanded, so they get a free paid vacation, and if Grandma dies, they hit the lottery when they get to sell her house. Life among the hill people makes one cynical.
The 4 wheelers and golf carts have been out and about non-stop, and people are now visiting relatives they haven't seen in a couple of weeks. In the stores and about town, social distancing has become a thing of the past. Basically, everything has turned back to normal.
It will be interesting to see if there is a spike in illnesses in the next couple of weeks.
Whatever happened to don't panic but exercise common sense? The people of the hills went from buying all the toilet paper, water, and milk, to ignoring everything in the course of 3 weeks. That in itself I would understand. They're stupid. But, they are still buying all the toilet paper, water, and milk while ignoring the problem. They seem to be perfectly happy to keep both contradictory ideas in their heads simultaneously.
Of course, there is always the possibility that they want another round of the disease to spread. After all, unless you're in a nursing home, most people survive. Quiet a few more than survive the average, drunken, Friday night. Unemployment has been massively expanded, so they get a free paid vacation, and if Grandma dies, they hit the lottery when they get to sell her house. Life among the hill people makes one cynical.
Monday, April 20, 2020
Police Don't Social Distance
What to do when those who are supposed to enforce social distancing refuse to social distance themselves?
The other night a police officer in Albany, Kentucky decided to explore the local talent in his squad car. No one would have been the wiser, except that this individual was a hillbilly as well as a law officer. Something was bound to go wrong. In this case it involved the radio mike being keyed during his amorous interlude. Now, bear in mind, that it a rare hillbilly home that doesn't have a police scanner. So, the other night, a large portion of Albany, Kentucky was treated to cop radio porn. From all reports, they were rather loud.
The other night a police officer in Albany, Kentucky decided to explore the local talent in his squad car. No one would have been the wiser, except that this individual was a hillbilly as well as a law officer. Something was bound to go wrong. In this case it involved the radio mike being keyed during his amorous interlude. Now, bear in mind, that it a rare hillbilly home that doesn't have a police scanner. So, the other night, a large portion of Albany, Kentucky was treated to cop radio porn. From all reports, they were rather loud.
Thursday, April 16, 2020
More Ohio Hatred
Well, some of the Ohio people came back. They were supposed to stay in quarantine for 14 days, but they managed 5. Yup, Ohio people need constant stimulation or they die apparently, or that might be just wishful thinking on my part.
But Ohio people know that they are hated, so they don't want to just flaunt quarantine. After all, Andy might go Louisville on them, and they might end up with ankle bracelets. What to do?
Well, the law is not totally strictly enforced. People in Kentucky try to be nice. So, if people are doing things, like working on their houses, they generally aren't going to be bothered. So, yesterday saw the sight of Ohio people visiting in the neighborhood across the way on lawn mowers. You got it. Let's not just walk and be quiet about it, let's drive the neighborhood on lawnmowers. And people wonder why I hate Ohio.
Of course, it's the neighborhood across the way, so, I'm not going to bother about it. Maybe the Ohio folk will get what they deserve. I would mention that the neighborhood they are wandering around is the neighborhood that Somerset's finest lives in, but that should be expected.
But Ohio people know that they are hated, so they don't want to just flaunt quarantine. After all, Andy might go Louisville on them, and they might end up with ankle bracelets. What to do?
Well, the law is not totally strictly enforced. People in Kentucky try to be nice. So, if people are doing things, like working on their houses, they generally aren't going to be bothered. So, yesterday saw the sight of Ohio people visiting in the neighborhood across the way on lawn mowers. You got it. Let's not just walk and be quiet about it, let's drive the neighborhood on lawnmowers. And people wonder why I hate Ohio.
Of course, it's the neighborhood across the way, so, I'm not going to bother about it. Maybe the Ohio folk will get what they deserve. I would mention that the neighborhood they are wandering around is the neighborhood that Somerset's finest lives in, but that should be expected.
Wednesday, April 8, 2020
The Things You Find Out
It's amazing the things that occur during a time like this.
My little subdivision has a strange character. It started life as a small collection of family farms, started turning into a subdivision, stopped that growth, then all the spaces that weren't filled with farmers or residents, filled up with tourists.
In any event, like most places like this, there is always that strange house. The one that has lots of visitors who only stay for a short period of time. It makes you wonder.
Times like this tend to eliminate the wonder.
Now, the traffic is no more. The first week, no one went to the house. The second week, there was some 4-wheeler traffic, but they didn't stay long, and didn't repeat their trips. By week three, people would walk down to the house, usually surrounded by a flock of large dogs. They too didn't repeat the visit. I guess the house is out of whatever they were going there for.
I wonder what that is.
I would make a comment about the police officer who lives in the neighborhood, but if you've read my blog, you know about the cops of Appalachia by now.
My little subdivision has a strange character. It started life as a small collection of family farms, started turning into a subdivision, stopped that growth, then all the spaces that weren't filled with farmers or residents, filled up with tourists.
In any event, like most places like this, there is always that strange house. The one that has lots of visitors who only stay for a short period of time. It makes you wonder.
Times like this tend to eliminate the wonder.
Now, the traffic is no more. The first week, no one went to the house. The second week, there was some 4-wheeler traffic, but they didn't stay long, and didn't repeat their trips. By week three, people would walk down to the house, usually surrounded by a flock of large dogs. They too didn't repeat the visit. I guess the house is out of whatever they were going there for.
I wonder what that is.
I would make a comment about the police officer who lives in the neighborhood, but if you've read my blog, you know about the cops of Appalachia by now.
Sunday, April 5, 2020
Ankle Bracelets
Apparently in Louisville, if you break COVID - 19 quarantine, you get fitted with an ankle bracelet, and made to stay home. It sounds like a logical response.
Those screaming about the loss of liberty obviously have no sense of history. Compared with what America has done in the past to those with smallpox or the Spanish flu, people are being quite tame now. And honestly, if you test positive for a contagious disease and then put others at risk, you should be charged and tossed in jail.
100 years ago, people with contagious diseases obeyed quarantine orders, often in a place of the state's choosing. If not, they were lucky if the police got to them first.Now we are much kinder and more sympathetic. The result, instead of thinking about their families and community, everyone is running around licking groceries in order to get some hits on Facebook, and because no one can tell them what to do.
When the Founding Fathers stated that our system of government was only fit for a moral people, they didn't mean that only a moral people could keep the government in check. They meant that a moral people could have a relatively free form of government. An immoral people need constant draconian laws if they aren't going to destroy everyone and everything around them.
When you look at the fact that Louisville has 10% of the Commonwealth's population and almost 50% of the cases, you can see why the government there thinks that ankle bracelets are a good idea.
Those screaming about the loss of liberty obviously have no sense of history. Compared with what America has done in the past to those with smallpox or the Spanish flu, people are being quite tame now. And honestly, if you test positive for a contagious disease and then put others at risk, you should be charged and tossed in jail.
100 years ago, people with contagious diseases obeyed quarantine orders, often in a place of the state's choosing. If not, they were lucky if the police got to them first.Now we are much kinder and more sympathetic. The result, instead of thinking about their families and community, everyone is running around licking groceries in order to get some hits on Facebook, and because no one can tell them what to do.
When the Founding Fathers stated that our system of government was only fit for a moral people, they didn't mean that only a moral people could keep the government in check. They meant that a moral people could have a relatively free form of government. An immoral people need constant draconian laws if they aren't going to destroy everyone and everything around them.
When you look at the fact that Louisville has 10% of the Commonwealth's population and almost 50% of the cases, you can see why the government there thinks that ankle bracelets are a good idea.
Friday, April 3, 2020
Quarantine Selfishness
Of course, Kentucky is not the only state that is having problems with out of state types. It seems a lot of tourist areas are getting slammed.
Again, I would understand if people ran to a rural area to get away from the disease and then sheltered in place, but to run to a tourist area? It doesn't do anything to help and puts others in danger. Which is just what is to be expected from most of these people.
Rhode Island is officially going after New Yorkers and forcing them into a 14 day quarantine.
https://townhall.com/tipsheet/mattvespa/2020/03/28/rhode-island-hunts-new-yorkers-to-curb-wuhan-coronavirus-outbreak-n2565901
Maine not having gone so far, is seeing its citizens doing the same. Some residents cutting down a tree to keep some people from New Jersey quarantined after their government wouldn't do anything.
https://www.businessinsider.com/vigilante-maine-residents-try-to-covid-quarantine-neighbor-with-tree-2020-3?op=1
It seems that the tourists who have been annoying the people of the places they visit forever, and yes, the average American tourist is just as annoying when they are travelling domestically, are now trying to shelter in those places while maintaining their partying lifestyle. Let's face it. If they just hid in place, no one would even have noticed them. Their selfishness knows no bounds.
Again, I would understand if people ran to a rural area to get away from the disease and then sheltered in place, but to run to a tourist area? It doesn't do anything to help and puts others in danger. Which is just what is to be expected from most of these people.
Rhode Island is officially going after New Yorkers and forcing them into a 14 day quarantine.
https://townhall.com/tipsheet/mattvespa/2020/03/28/rhode-island-hunts-new-yorkers-to-curb-wuhan-coronavirus-outbreak-n2565901
Maine not having gone so far, is seeing its citizens doing the same. Some residents cutting down a tree to keep some people from New Jersey quarantined after their government wouldn't do anything.
https://www.businessinsider.com/vigilante-maine-residents-try-to-covid-quarantine-neighbor-with-tree-2020-3?op=1
It seems that the tourists who have been annoying the people of the places they visit forever, and yes, the average American tourist is just as annoying when they are travelling domestically, are now trying to shelter in those places while maintaining their partying lifestyle. Let's face it. If they just hid in place, no one would even have noticed them. Their selfishness knows no bounds.
Tuesday, March 31, 2020
Gotta Love Andy, part 2
Things are relatively quiet.
After a week of people complaining on Facebook that they couldn't get into gas stations because all the pumps were full of boats from Ohio (I hear it was worse on the Tennessee side), the governor finally ordered that all the people coming from neighboring states had to quarantine for 14 days.
Not being able to continue partying, they left.
Are they too stupid to realize that the areas that are having severe problems are generally having them because the people refused to stop their partying lifestyle and put some distance between themselves, or are they just too selfish?
Regardless, there is a special level of Hell reserved for those who break lock downs in their states and go to areas that don't have a lock down, just so they can have a good time. The level of selfishness is appalling, but not unexpected.
Monday, March 30, 2020
Gotta Love Andy
The governor of Kentucky, Andy Beshear, has proven himself one of the few competent leaders during this crises. The are numerous Facebook memes about his actions.
You can even find him on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vyqFc8m5lE
Like I've said before, sometimes this state gets it right.
Sunday, March 29, 2020
Yet More Reasons to Hate Ohio.
The latest crises has caused nothing if not more hatred of the State of Ohio. When their state went into lockdown due to the high number of COVID - 19 cases, many ran south to the Commonwealth.
Have they come down to shelter in place? If they had, there would be no problem. What these people have done is to fill the state parks and move several families at once into their vacation homes. Again, if they did this to avoid the pandemic, no problem. However, there is a reason why the disease took off in their state. They have a psychotic need to form large social gatherings and move from group to group. Your average Ohio person seems to think that the fact that Kentucky has a lower rate of the disease than Ohio is solely due to an act of God, or magic, or something, and has nothing to do with behavior.
Kentucky has already started kicking people out of state parks. News flash Ohio, when a state has to kick you out en-mass because of your behavior, you might want to consider that you are the problem. Of course the Ohio people will never believe that. They seem to think they are God's gift to the planet, and that others, especially the hicks of Kentucky, owe them.
Have they come down to shelter in place? If they had, there would be no problem. What these people have done is to fill the state parks and move several families at once into their vacation homes. Again, if they did this to avoid the pandemic, no problem. However, there is a reason why the disease took off in their state. They have a psychotic need to form large social gatherings and move from group to group. Your average Ohio person seems to think that the fact that Kentucky has a lower rate of the disease than Ohio is solely due to an act of God, or magic, or something, and has nothing to do with behavior.
Kentucky has already started kicking people out of state parks. News flash Ohio, when a state has to kick you out en-mass because of your behavior, you might want to consider that you are the problem. Of course the Ohio people will never believe that. They seem to think they are God's gift to the planet, and that others, especially the hicks of Kentucky, owe them.
Thursday, March 26, 2020
It's Not All Bad, part 3
During these times of crisis, a lot of things are closing. The state governments are mandating the closings of various businesses in order to slow the spread of the Corona virus. Prisoners are being let out of prison. I've even heard of a sheriff in North Carolina who refuses to recognize firearms carry permits because of, you know, the crisis.
Then there is Kentucky. Kentucky has closed their schools and non-essential businesses. The key part is what Kentucky considers essential. Liquor and gun stores are considered essential in the Commonwealth. So, during these times of crisis, I can go buy an AR-15 and a case of beer. Sometimes the state just gets it right.
Then there is Kentucky. Kentucky has closed their schools and non-essential businesses. The key part is what Kentucky considers essential. Liquor and gun stores are considered essential in the Commonwealth. So, during these times of crisis, I can go buy an AR-15 and a case of beer. Sometimes the state just gets it right.
Wednesday, March 25, 2020
It's Not All Bad, part 2
I'm seeing looting taking place in other parts of the United States, like those places where the government has stated they won't prosecute minor crimes, like theft, during the crisis. Meanwhile, the people of Kentucky are posting items like this on Face Book:
One of the comments was even more explicit. It said, "I'm armed. If you break into my house, I will put you down". The comment was, of course, removed before I had a chance to snip it. Needless to say, I'm not too concerned about looting in Kentucky. The COVID - 19 pandemic has shown the dark side of a lot of people. It has also let some rays of light shine into an otherwise dark world. Finally, some people are realizing why America has a 2nd Amendment.
One of the comments was even more explicit. It said, "I'm armed. If you break into my house, I will put you down". The comment was, of course, removed before I had a chance to snip it. Needless to say, I'm not too concerned about looting in Kentucky. The COVID - 19 pandemic has shown the dark side of a lot of people. It has also let some rays of light shine into an otherwise dark world. Finally, some people are realizing why America has a 2nd Amendment.
Monday, March 23, 2020
It's Not All Bad
Of course there are some days when life in Kentucky isn't all that bad. You know you've done something right when you can get your sofa and AK-47 in the same store.
Thursday, March 19, 2020
They Are That Stupid, part 4
I know the K-12 system has had problems reacting to the COVID - 19 outbreak. Think higher education is any better?
Last Sunday, I was told that the school was closed on Monday and Tuesday, but that I needed to report to work all day Monday and Tuesday in order to prepare top get my classes ready to go online and my labs to operate remotely. It didn't matter that my classes and labs had been operating remotely for some years. It didn't matter that the K-12 system was shut. It didn't matter that the governor had closed all the bars and restaurants and told people to stay home if they could. We needed to come in to be prepared to face the daunting task ahead of us. We were also told that if we wanted to remote in from home, we needed permission. Otherwise we were expected to maintain all office hours and to be on campus. The best part was when I was emailed that the faculty meeting on Friday was going on as planned. We would be given a SKYPE number for it, but we needed to come to campus, so we could SKYPE from our offices. Things were seriously amusing by this time.
On Monday night I got permission to telecommute, so I spent Tuesday setting up cameras, prepping my workspace, and checking my bandwidth to be sure I was prepared for Wednesday. I might have experience in remote teaching, but I've never run anything more advanced than one on one tutoring from home before and I wanted to appear somewhat professional. Of course, if "leadership" had decided this before the weekend, I wouldn't have had to do a rush job at the last minute. But, I digress....
On Wednesday, I woke up ready to start my remote teaching from home to find that all classes had been moved to a totally online format, including the labs. An hours notice to change the class modality for all courses and labs was a challenge. It was even fun.
By Wednesday night, I was told that all labs were closed, the school was shut for the next week and a half, and no one would be allowed on campus. Of course, not all labs were closed. The remote and online ones are going on as planned, but "leadership" used the word all. It was up to the faculty to resolve any confusion, and our students are easily confused.
To make matters worse, we've also been told to make sure students know that the school's Facebook page does not contain official information and that only official announcements are to be followed. Who's posting the announcements on the school's Facebook page then, and why? Does leadership actually have no control as to what goes on their official Facebook page? WTF?
I might enjoy such confusion, but we have students who are dealing with child care (day cares have been ordered closed as well), and lack of essentials in the stores (there is plenty of food, but no toilet paper, and baby supplies are running low). They really need an answer to what is happening long term so that they don't have to choose between school and family.
Last Sunday, I was told that the school was closed on Monday and Tuesday, but that I needed to report to work all day Monday and Tuesday in order to prepare top get my classes ready to go online and my labs to operate remotely. It didn't matter that my classes and labs had been operating remotely for some years. It didn't matter that the K-12 system was shut. It didn't matter that the governor had closed all the bars and restaurants and told people to stay home if they could. We needed to come in to be prepared to face the daunting task ahead of us. We were also told that if we wanted to remote in from home, we needed permission. Otherwise we were expected to maintain all office hours and to be on campus. The best part was when I was emailed that the faculty meeting on Friday was going on as planned. We would be given a SKYPE number for it, but we needed to come to campus, so we could SKYPE from our offices. Things were seriously amusing by this time.
On Monday night I got permission to telecommute, so I spent Tuesday setting up cameras, prepping my workspace, and checking my bandwidth to be sure I was prepared for Wednesday. I might have experience in remote teaching, but I've never run anything more advanced than one on one tutoring from home before and I wanted to appear somewhat professional. Of course, if "leadership" had decided this before the weekend, I wouldn't have had to do a rush job at the last minute. But, I digress....
On Wednesday, I woke up ready to start my remote teaching from home to find that all classes had been moved to a totally online format, including the labs. An hours notice to change the class modality for all courses and labs was a challenge. It was even fun.
By Wednesday night, I was told that all labs were closed, the school was shut for the next week and a half, and no one would be allowed on campus. Of course, not all labs were closed. The remote and online ones are going on as planned, but "leadership" used the word all. It was up to the faculty to resolve any confusion, and our students are easily confused.
To make matters worse, we've also been told to make sure students know that the school's Facebook page does not contain official information and that only official announcements are to be followed. Who's posting the announcements on the school's Facebook page then, and why? Does leadership actually have no control as to what goes on their official Facebook page? WTF?
I might enjoy such confusion, but we have students who are dealing with child care (day cares have been ordered closed as well), and lack of essentials in the stores (there is plenty of food, but no toilet paper, and baby supplies are running low). They really need an answer to what is happening long term so that they don't have to choose between school and family.
Wednesday, March 18, 2020
They Are That Stupid, part 3
The governor of Kentucky has closed all the schools K-12 to prevent the spread of COVID - 19. That means everything below college and university level for the non-Americans. He has recently sent another message to the schools to let their teachers work from home. That's right. The schools have been forcing the teachers to come in and sit in empty classrooms. After all, you can't have them getting paid without them being there and they surely can't be trusted to answer emails at home.
Saturday, March 14, 2020
They Are That Stupid COVID - 19 part 2
I went to a local store the other day. Bear in mind that the governor of Kentucky has told people to avoid large crowds. So, what do the people do? Congregate in large groups in stores.
Why were they all congregated there? Toilet paper and had sanitizer. The store was full of food. It was full of medicine. It was full of baby food and diapers. What it did not have was hand sanitizer and cheap toilet paper. 1/3 of the toilet paper was still there, but they were the more expensive brands. By more expensive, I mean $3 more per 16 roll pack.
So why were all of these people there? They were waiting on the delivery truck to bring in new toilet paper. I understand if you have no toilet paper. I understand if the item in question is a necessity, like food of medicine. But to congregate in the store to save $3 a pack on toilet paper? It just seems stupid.
Why were they all congregated there? Toilet paper and had sanitizer. The store was full of food. It was full of medicine. It was full of baby food and diapers. What it did not have was hand sanitizer and cheap toilet paper. 1/3 of the toilet paper was still there, but they were the more expensive brands. By more expensive, I mean $3 more per 16 roll pack.
So why were all of these people there? They were waiting on the delivery truck to bring in new toilet paper. I understand if you have no toilet paper. I understand if the item in question is a necessity, like food of medicine. But to congregate in the store to save $3 a pack on toilet paper? It just seems stupid.
Friday, March 13, 2020
Yes. They Are That Stupid - COVID 19
The governor of Kentucky has closed the primary and secondary schools for 2 weeks due to the Corona virus. A laudable effort to avoid the spread of this disease. Kentucky may only have 11 cases to date, but we are taking speedy action to do what the governor calls, "social distancing". It basically means, let's stop the large crowds until we sort this thing out.
The schools have responded by claiming that school is the only time that many of their children get meals. If you ask what happened to the food stamps their parents get for them, the schools will quickly respond that the parents sold those for drugs long ago and the schools are the children's only hope to eat, but that is a topic for another post.
Bearing in mind that the schools now consider themselves to be combination food pantry/day care/education establishments, and education came last for a reason, the schools have responded by finding ways to keep the children fed.
The Mason county school district is opening their schools for breakfast and lunch. No classes of course, that would risk spreading the disease, but breakfast and lunch are, for some reason, not a time that someone can get infected with COVID -19. Of course, there is also the fact that if the school thinks the parents are going to pick up the children between breakfast and lunch, then they have been smoking something.
The Clinton county schools have decided to avoid this by having the teachers come in and go door to door delivering food to the students. This avoids the problems of large crowds, because everyone knows that viruses do not spread person to person, but wait until a certain number of people are present in order to strike.
I haven't seen what other school districts are doing, but I'm sure it is equally intelligent.
The schools have responded by claiming that school is the only time that many of their children get meals. If you ask what happened to the food stamps their parents get for them, the schools will quickly respond that the parents sold those for drugs long ago and the schools are the children's only hope to eat, but that is a topic for another post.
Bearing in mind that the schools now consider themselves to be combination food pantry/day care/education establishments, and education came last for a reason, the schools have responded by finding ways to keep the children fed.
The Mason county school district is opening their schools for breakfast and lunch. No classes of course, that would risk spreading the disease, but breakfast and lunch are, for some reason, not a time that someone can get infected with COVID -19. Of course, there is also the fact that if the school thinks the parents are going to pick up the children between breakfast and lunch, then they have been smoking something.
The Clinton county schools have decided to avoid this by having the teachers come in and go door to door delivering food to the students. This avoids the problems of large crowds, because everyone knows that viruses do not spread person to person, but wait until a certain number of people are present in order to strike.
I haven't seen what other school districts are doing, but I'm sure it is equally intelligent.
Thursday, March 12, 2020
Yet Another Reason To Hate The Wild Meat Crowd
I have previously mentioned my dislike for the "wild meat" crowd in an earlier post about Ohio. If you are not up on current American fads, the wild meat crowd consists of people who don't like factory farming and insist that their meat is hunted in the wild so that they can get "back to nature". They usually live in a city and have enough spare cash to have a second home in flyover country. The cool kids just don't seem to have any sense of cause and effect. In this case, what happens when you take away all the small patch farmers and replace them with vacationers and hunters.
In this case the story involves coyotes. You wouldn't know it from reading the news. The news ended with the below.
http://www.k105.com/2020/02/20/13-year-old-eastern-ky-boy-killed-in-animal-attack/
For the rest of the story, you had to have local sources. The real story is that a 13 year old boy was killed by a pack of coyotes, injuring his grandfather in the process.
What does this have to do with the wild meat and vacation house crowd?
Well, back in the day of the small patch farmers, coyotes were killed on sight. They were a nuisance animal. They killed livestock. Add to this the fact that there were fewer people, fewer hunters, and a lot of deer. A small number of coyotes and a large amount of food. This leads to a fairly peaceful situation.
Now, consider the current situation. The small patch farmers have decreased in number. There's just not that many people shooting coyotes anymore. A lot of the land has gone from agricultural to vacation and hunting land. This gives the coyotes more land to roam on. Then comes the wild meat crowd. They only hunt game animals, after all, they have morals. So, the deer population decreases. Suddenly, we have a large coyote population, without a lot of fear of humans, not having been hunted recently, without food. The outcome is fairly obvious.
I would say that the local Kentuckians would soon fix the imbalance, but the local I got the coyote story from didn't know that coyotes could be hunted at all, let alone all year long.
In this case the story involves coyotes. You wouldn't know it from reading the news. The news ended with the below.
http://www.k105.com/2020/02/20/13-year-old-eastern-ky-boy-killed-in-animal-attack/
For the rest of the story, you had to have local sources. The real story is that a 13 year old boy was killed by a pack of coyotes, injuring his grandfather in the process.
What does this have to do with the wild meat and vacation house crowd?
Well, back in the day of the small patch farmers, coyotes were killed on sight. They were a nuisance animal. They killed livestock. Add to this the fact that there were fewer people, fewer hunters, and a lot of deer. A small number of coyotes and a large amount of food. This leads to a fairly peaceful situation.
Now, consider the current situation. The small patch farmers have decreased in number. There's just not that many people shooting coyotes anymore. A lot of the land has gone from agricultural to vacation and hunting land. This gives the coyotes more land to roam on. Then comes the wild meat crowd. They only hunt game animals, after all, they have morals. So, the deer population decreases. Suddenly, we have a large coyote population, without a lot of fear of humans, not having been hunted recently, without food. The outcome is fairly obvious.
I would say that the local Kentuckians would soon fix the imbalance, but the local I got the coyote story from didn't know that coyotes could be hunted at all, let alone all year long.
Tuesday, March 10, 2020
Nothing to See Here or a Tangled Web
In my previous posts, I have raised questions about law and rural Kentucky. In this post, I revisit the issue.
People tend to think that drug dealing is the provenance of the trailer park crowd. Often, but not always. In the following diatribe, you can read about the high and mighty falling to the temptation of quick money.
You can read the official version by clicking on the link below.
https://www.justice.gov/usao-wdky/pr/clinton-county-doctor-sentenced-30-months-prison-illegally-prescribing-opioids
Let's see what the news isn't talking about. The doctor in question came from an old and respected family. He was also the deacon at a local church. He had a prosperous practice. He was a local landowner and church bigwig. Why would he become a drug dealer? It's pretty obvious that he did, but look at the numbers of drug sales involved. Why would someone in his position, with his income, risk everything for what amounted to penny ante, street dealer levels of profit? Greed? Maybe. He has lost his practice and his farm over this. Either way, it was a stupid move on his part.
The government also put the owner of the pharmacy who filled the prescriptions away. He was also from an old and wealthy family. There are two main drug stores in town and he owned and ran one of them.
As you can see, wealth and position are no guarantee.
You might be saying, don't deal drugs and you won't have a problem. Again, maybe.
Let's look at how this bust went down. The good doctor was reported by the county coroner for a suspicious number of opioid deaths among his patients. On the surface fair enough, but this coroner let's a lot of suspicious deaths occur without question. Are they just stupid? Can they not really notice anything unless it's on the government checklist, like opioids are now? Well, these are the hills, so that's a definite possibility.
After the report, the feds came in and cracked down. Again, fair enough. Except, that you would have expected them to extend the net a bit and see what else they could find. After all, they were already in the neighborhood. There are plenty of drugs around. Almost anyone they stopped on the street could have given them a good lead. Did they even ask or did they just arrest the people who were complained about? That's just curious.
Did the amount of drug trafficking decrease? No, it appears to have gone up. Did the feds not notice this?
Sorry, but this does not appear to have been an operation to clean up the hills. It appears to be the feds operating on behalf of the locals taking out unwanted competition. I could be wrong, but that would imply that the good doctor was the main problem in the county, which I find hard to believe.
People tend to think that drug dealing is the provenance of the trailer park crowd. Often, but not always. In the following diatribe, you can read about the high and mighty falling to the temptation of quick money.
You can read the official version by clicking on the link below.
https://www.justice.gov/usao-wdky/pr/clinton-county-doctor-sentenced-30-months-prison-illegally-prescribing-opioids
Let's see what the news isn't talking about. The doctor in question came from an old and respected family. He was also the deacon at a local church. He had a prosperous practice. He was a local landowner and church bigwig. Why would he become a drug dealer? It's pretty obvious that he did, but look at the numbers of drug sales involved. Why would someone in his position, with his income, risk everything for what amounted to penny ante, street dealer levels of profit? Greed? Maybe. He has lost his practice and his farm over this. Either way, it was a stupid move on his part.
The government also put the owner of the pharmacy who filled the prescriptions away. He was also from an old and wealthy family. There are two main drug stores in town and he owned and ran one of them.
As you can see, wealth and position are no guarantee.
You might be saying, don't deal drugs and you won't have a problem. Again, maybe.
Let's look at how this bust went down. The good doctor was reported by the county coroner for a suspicious number of opioid deaths among his patients. On the surface fair enough, but this coroner let's a lot of suspicious deaths occur without question. Are they just stupid? Can they not really notice anything unless it's on the government checklist, like opioids are now? Well, these are the hills, so that's a definite possibility.
After the report, the feds came in and cracked down. Again, fair enough. Except, that you would have expected them to extend the net a bit and see what else they could find. After all, they were already in the neighborhood. There are plenty of drugs around. Almost anyone they stopped on the street could have given them a good lead. Did they even ask or did they just arrest the people who were complained about? That's just curious.
Did the amount of drug trafficking decrease? No, it appears to have gone up. Did the feds not notice this?
Sorry, but this does not appear to have been an operation to clean up the hills. It appears to be the feds operating on behalf of the locals taking out unwanted competition. I could be wrong, but that would imply that the good doctor was the main problem in the county, which I find hard to believe.
Saturday, March 7, 2020
I Told You So
Apparently, I am not the only one to think that law enforcement around here is problematic. The Federal government seems to have reached a similar conclusion and tried to arrest a Pulaski county constable for corruption.
https://www.policeone.com/officer-shootings/articles/fbi-agent-shot-ky-constable-arrested-in-ongoing-corruption-probe-8SM7rRL6rwNi2EmT/
In true hillbilly fashion, the arrest did not go peacefully, with a minion of Pulaski county trading shots with an FBI agent. The fact that there were shots fired brings the question of what was the Pulaski county constable thinking? After all, one of his neighbors has already stated that the FBI identified themselves before the shooting started. Of course pre-dawn FBI raids aren't really appreciated in the hills, but still, what did he hope to gain? Being the hills, if he had managed to break contact with the FBI, he could easily have gone to ground. After all, the local law enforcers would probably have ignored his presence, just like they ignore all the drug manufacturers and smugglers. Was this his plan? After all, most sane people wouldn't shoot first after being told that the people outside were with the FBI. Did he not hear them and just respond to armed men outside? This implies that he was worried about more than being arrested, which makes you wonder just what he was into that made him so paranoid. Did he think he was being arrested on more serious charges and shooting was the best option? I can see someone letting something like that slip. The people here love nothing more than creating drama.
Of course, we will never know the truth. The only thing we will know is that the FBI tried to arrest a Pulaski county constable and he responded with gunfire, only stopping when he was hit. Such are the law enforcers in the hills.
https://www.policeone.com/officer-shootings/articles/fbi-agent-shot-ky-constable-arrested-in-ongoing-corruption-probe-8SM7rRL6rwNi2EmT/
In true hillbilly fashion, the arrest did not go peacefully, with a minion of Pulaski county trading shots with an FBI agent. The fact that there were shots fired brings the question of what was the Pulaski county constable thinking? After all, one of his neighbors has already stated that the FBI identified themselves before the shooting started. Of course pre-dawn FBI raids aren't really appreciated in the hills, but still, what did he hope to gain? Being the hills, if he had managed to break contact with the FBI, he could easily have gone to ground. After all, the local law enforcers would probably have ignored his presence, just like they ignore all the drug manufacturers and smugglers. Was this his plan? After all, most sane people wouldn't shoot first after being told that the people outside were with the FBI. Did he not hear them and just respond to armed men outside? This implies that he was worried about more than being arrested, which makes you wonder just what he was into that made him so paranoid. Did he think he was being arrested on more serious charges and shooting was the best option? I can see someone letting something like that slip. The people here love nothing more than creating drama.
Of course, we will never know the truth. The only thing we will know is that the FBI tried to arrest a Pulaski county constable and he responded with gunfire, only stopping when he was hit. Such are the law enforcers in the hills.
Friday, February 28, 2020
Why?
The other day I was nearly bit broadside by a county road truck. The main reason for this was because said state employee was doing 70 mph on a country road. For those of you who don't like English measurements that's 112 kph.
Why was the road truck out there in the first place? Well, the county I live in is divided into 2 parts by the Cumberland river. Half of the county on the south side and half on the north. All, and I mean all or the services are in the south. To get to the north side, you need to spend 1 hour driving through the surrounding counties to get to a bridge. I understand why he was speeding. He was trying to single handedly cover an entire county that was an hours drive from his base. That doesn't justify his reckless driving, but it does explain why it happened.
There must have been a good reason for him to be there. There was. He needed to clear the roads after the snowstorm the night before.
Why was the road truck out there in the first place? Well, the county I live in is divided into 2 parts by the Cumberland river. Half of the county on the south side and half on the north. All, and I mean all or the services are in the south. To get to the north side, you need to spend 1 hour driving through the surrounding counties to get to a bridge. I understand why he was speeding. He was trying to single handedly cover an entire county that was an hours drive from his base. That doesn't justify his reckless driving, but it does explain why it happened.
There must have been a good reason for him to be there. There was. He needed to clear the roads after the snowstorm the night before.
The ice you see is on my windshield. As you can see by all the snow, they needed to get the snow plows out and running or no one would have been able to get anywhere. And yes, this is the road that the truck driver though 70 mph was justified on.
Saturday, February 22, 2020
Can't Even Give It Away
I've been contacting local churches to see if they know of any homeless people who would want to live in my house in Albany for free in exchange for maintenance. At least then I wouldn't have the squatters and I might be eligible for a tax write off. Both good things. I got responses, but as soon as they found out the address, they disappeared. I guess being a car bum is preferable to living in that neighborhood.
Friday, February 21, 2020
Strange Rituals
The people of the hills have some strange rituals. Kentucky is one of the only states where people still stop for funerals. If you are driving in Kentucky and see a funeral procession on the other side of the road, you generally pull over and wait for the procession the pass. On a side street or a 2 lane road, this is a quaint custom, however, the people from the hills of Kentucky tend to carry most things to the level of stupid.
The other day, I was driving in to work. My route takes me on a typical interstate. You know the type. 2 lanes separated by a median strip and then another 2 lanes. The average speed is 70mph. Let's make this more interesting and also say it was raining heavily.
That's the set up. Now imagine a funeral procession coming down the opposite side of the freeway. A vehicle in front of me, seeing that the procession was close and knowing not to stop would be rude, hits his brakes and starts to pull off the highway. The truck behind him, seeing the person in front of him stopping and not wanting to be left out of the herd, locks up his brakes. Then they realize where they are, hit the gas, and try to drive around the other vehicle. Meanwhile, I get to experience the hydroplaning lifestyle and wonder what the idiots in front of me are going to do to further block the roadway.
Fortunately. it all worked out well, but seriously, you don't stop for funerals on an interstate. That's just stupid.
The other day, I was driving in to work. My route takes me on a typical interstate. You know the type. 2 lanes separated by a median strip and then another 2 lanes. The average speed is 70mph. Let's make this more interesting and also say it was raining heavily.
That's the set up. Now imagine a funeral procession coming down the opposite side of the freeway. A vehicle in front of me, seeing that the procession was close and knowing not to stop would be rude, hits his brakes and starts to pull off the highway. The truck behind him, seeing the person in front of him stopping and not wanting to be left out of the herd, locks up his brakes. Then they realize where they are, hit the gas, and try to drive around the other vehicle. Meanwhile, I get to experience the hydroplaning lifestyle and wonder what the idiots in front of me are going to do to further block the roadway.
Fortunately. it all worked out well, but seriously, you don't stop for funerals on an interstate. That's just stupid.
Sunday, February 16, 2020
Return to Stupid
I went back to my house in Albany the other day to clear some junk out. I had meant to bring a truck load of garbage to the dump, but that was not to be.
Since I don't have a pickup truck, the plan was to rent a U-Haul van to move the old furniture and construction debris, but that was not to be.
I've rented U-Haul vans before. The procedure isn't too complex. That is until you get to the hills. You see the local nobility thinks they should just sit back while everyone else does the work and then gives them money for the privilege. Consequently, I arrived at a deserted group of storage buildings to pick up the truck. The rental company told me to call when I arrived there. Silly me. I thought that meant they lived next door, and when I arrived, they'd come over in 5 or 10 minutes to hand over the vehicle. No such thing. When I called, they told me the key was in the back of the truck. Well, there was only one U-Haul truck so it wasn't too hard to find. Of course it was backed against the wall of a storage unit and the freezing rain the previous night had frozen the door shut. It soon became obvious that the door wasn't going to budge without some serious work. Added to the fact that I would have had to do said work with about 1 foot of free space, it did not seem like a good idea. After a few minutes of telling the rental agent that the door was stuck and receiving the same response of "the keys in the back", I told them to forget it. They then told me that they could come out in 3 days to fix the problem and I could get the truck then. Yeah, right.
So far, typical hillbilly efficiency.
Of course by this time I has attracted the attention of a neighbor's dog, who decided that I didn't belong there. Now I got to deal with a snapping, frothing at the mouth dog. Fortunately, I've dealt with such types before, so I managed to convince the dog that I was in charge, and we parted amicably with the dog wanting to play. Of course, I wasn't feeling too happy about hillbillies by this time.
Since I was in the area anyway and I had help coming, I figured that I should go to my house and at least put all the garbage in the barn.
As I approached my house, the neighbor from hell pulled into the left hand lane of the road to check his mail. Did he do it because he saw me coming, or was he just clueless? Who knows? Anyway, I came to a stop and waited for him to get his mail and drive on, but he refused to budge, so I had to drive around him. No big deal, but I was batting 1000 with the hillbillies this day. It was really annoying.
The spooky part came after I pulled into my driveway and was taking some tools out of my car. There was a lot of barking and when I looked up, there was the neighbor from hell driving slowly by and checking me out with another neighbor's dogs snapping at his tires.
Here's a picture of said neighbor watching me through binoculars. This happens to be a good day, but I've seen him stand outside and watch like this in the pouring rain for 45 minutes. Why 45 minutes? Because that was when I was done doing what I was doing, and staying there to see how long he'd stand there seemed pointless.
Why not call the law? You're looking at the law. Yes, Clinton County Kentucky made someone with a criminal record a deputy jailer. Not quite the same as a deputy sheriff to be sure, but still spooky in a small town when you have one behaving like this.
I was just lucky that I had someone over to help me move stuff or who knows what stories he would have made up. That's the lesson for today. Never go anywhere in Appalachia without a witness.
Those of you who get to move stuff out of your old house and take it to the dump. Can rent a truck to do so, and have a neighbor who is nice enough to help, count yourselves lucky. In other parts of the country, even throwing out old mattresses can get complicated.
Since I don't have a pickup truck, the plan was to rent a U-Haul van to move the old furniture and construction debris, but that was not to be.
I've rented U-Haul vans before. The procedure isn't too complex. That is until you get to the hills. You see the local nobility thinks they should just sit back while everyone else does the work and then gives them money for the privilege. Consequently, I arrived at a deserted group of storage buildings to pick up the truck. The rental company told me to call when I arrived there. Silly me. I thought that meant they lived next door, and when I arrived, they'd come over in 5 or 10 minutes to hand over the vehicle. No such thing. When I called, they told me the key was in the back of the truck. Well, there was only one U-Haul truck so it wasn't too hard to find. Of course it was backed against the wall of a storage unit and the freezing rain the previous night had frozen the door shut. It soon became obvious that the door wasn't going to budge without some serious work. Added to the fact that I would have had to do said work with about 1 foot of free space, it did not seem like a good idea. After a few minutes of telling the rental agent that the door was stuck and receiving the same response of "the keys in the back", I told them to forget it. They then told me that they could come out in 3 days to fix the problem and I could get the truck then. Yeah, right.
So far, typical hillbilly efficiency.
Of course by this time I has attracted the attention of a neighbor's dog, who decided that I didn't belong there. Now I got to deal with a snapping, frothing at the mouth dog. Fortunately, I've dealt with such types before, so I managed to convince the dog that I was in charge, and we parted amicably with the dog wanting to play. Of course, I wasn't feeling too happy about hillbillies by this time.
Since I was in the area anyway and I had help coming, I figured that I should go to my house and at least put all the garbage in the barn.
As I approached my house, the neighbor from hell pulled into the left hand lane of the road to check his mail. Did he do it because he saw me coming, or was he just clueless? Who knows? Anyway, I came to a stop and waited for him to get his mail and drive on, but he refused to budge, so I had to drive around him. No big deal, but I was batting 1000 with the hillbillies this day. It was really annoying.
The spooky part came after I pulled into my driveway and was taking some tools out of my car. There was a lot of barking and when I looked up, there was the neighbor from hell driving slowly by and checking me out with another neighbor's dogs snapping at his tires.
Here's a picture of said neighbor watching me through binoculars. This happens to be a good day, but I've seen him stand outside and watch like this in the pouring rain for 45 minutes. Why 45 minutes? Because that was when I was done doing what I was doing, and staying there to see how long he'd stand there seemed pointless.
Why not call the law? You're looking at the law. Yes, Clinton County Kentucky made someone with a criminal record a deputy jailer. Not quite the same as a deputy sheriff to be sure, but still spooky in a small town when you have one behaving like this.
I was just lucky that I had someone over to help me move stuff or who knows what stories he would have made up. That's the lesson for today. Never go anywhere in Appalachia without a witness.
Those of you who get to move stuff out of your old house and take it to the dump. Can rent a truck to do so, and have a neighbor who is nice enough to help, count yourselves lucky. In other parts of the country, even throwing out old mattresses can get complicated.
Wednesday, February 12, 2020
Stupid Republicans
This blog takes us to the entire Commonwealth, not just the hills and hollers.
Recently, Kentucky voted out its Republican governor. Of course, the democrats saw this as a victory for themselves. In actuality, it just proved that the Republicans are so stupid that they can snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. It's kind of like watching Joe Biden's clone.
Let's explore what Matt Bevin did to lose.
1) He tried to reform the teacher's pension plan. Granted, it needed reforming, but, in the Appalachian part of the state, teaching is one of the main get out of poverty cards. The pay is poor, but against this was a great pension plan and vacation time. At least the teachers can still count on the vacation time.
2) He insulted the rural folk, claiming their schools took too many snow days and they were weak. Sorry Matt. You live in a flat part of Kentucky with road crews. A large part of the state has 20 degree grades leading to hairpin curves where the county road department thinks waiting for spring is the appropriate response to snow. Show some consideration.
3) He went to the counties bordering Ohio and told them he was going to put tolls on the bridges.
4) He put a 6% tax on services. Now Kentuckians have to pay an extra 6% for haircuts and car repairs. Thanks a lot. That really helped the economy.
As you can see, not really a conservative platform.
Why bring this up? Because now another Republican is trying to get a 25% tax passed on vaping products in order to protect the children. Kentucky has an very high smoking rate, so the Republican response is to put a 25% tax on vaping?
There are a lot of stupid Republicans out there.
Recently, Kentucky voted out its Republican governor. Of course, the democrats saw this as a victory for themselves. In actuality, it just proved that the Republicans are so stupid that they can snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. It's kind of like watching Joe Biden's clone.
Let's explore what Matt Bevin did to lose.
1) He tried to reform the teacher's pension plan. Granted, it needed reforming, but, in the Appalachian part of the state, teaching is one of the main get out of poverty cards. The pay is poor, but against this was a great pension plan and vacation time. At least the teachers can still count on the vacation time.
2) He insulted the rural folk, claiming their schools took too many snow days and they were weak. Sorry Matt. You live in a flat part of Kentucky with road crews. A large part of the state has 20 degree grades leading to hairpin curves where the county road department thinks waiting for spring is the appropriate response to snow. Show some consideration.
3) He went to the counties bordering Ohio and told them he was going to put tolls on the bridges.
4) He put a 6% tax on services. Now Kentuckians have to pay an extra 6% for haircuts and car repairs. Thanks a lot. That really helped the economy.
As you can see, not really a conservative platform.
Why bring this up? Because now another Republican is trying to get a 25% tax passed on vaping products in order to protect the children. Kentucky has an very high smoking rate, so the Republican response is to put a 25% tax on vaping?
There are a lot of stupid Republicans out there.
Wednesday, February 5, 2020
Thank You Wal Mart
Just when you think you have seen it all and can cope with Appalachia, you get a new surprise.
I went to remove the tire on my car the other day, but it was a bit more difficult than expected. I eventually removed the lug nuts on my tire, but what you see above is the amount of force required to do so. The last people to touch the tires were Wal Mart about 6 months ago when they changed the tires. That would be the Wal Mart in Monticello, Kentucky. It's sad. I had this tire wrench for over 30 years. It survived MG's, SUV's, and compact cars. It's been all over the country. It survived the Yukon territory. It survived Alaska. It didn't stand a chance against the hillbillies of Eastern Kentucky.
Saturday, February 1, 2020
How Did It Get This Bad?
How did the hills get this bad? Well, they have a history of corrupt government. They have a history of feudalism. But, so do a lot of other places. Since I arrived in Appalachia, I have seen glimpses of a time that did work. It doesn't now, but I have seen glimpses. So, what went wrong?
I blame the gummint, or government as most people know it. If you look at the average, American, middle-class family, you will see that their birthrate is basically at replacement levels. If you look at the lower classes, you will see a different story. Lower class families in the United States are allowed to have 6 children, and they get more money for each child up to the magic number of 6. The money is not a small amount either. These lower class types get free housing, free utilities, and if you want to get annoyed, go to Wal Mart on the first of the month and watch the middle class people buying hamburger, while the welfare types have their shopping carts filled with steaks and lobster. Of course, having nothing to do, they just hang around all day and engage in petty theft, vandalism, and other acts to annoy the neighbors. Nature or nurture doesn't matter either. These people generally don't go to school and grow up wanting to collect a gummint check like mommy and daddy. This idiocy has been going on for over 3 generations now. Let's take a look at the numbers.
Every group of people will have idiots. People who are unfit to live in society and are just a major drain on it. Kind of like cancer. Usually this number is small, say 10%. Not an ideal condition, but one which can be lived with. Now, let's see what happens when the government gets involved. Since the cancer class is having 6 kids, in generation 1 they go from 10% of the population to 25% of the population. You are going to start seeing problems at this level. By generation 2, they will be 50% of the population. At this point, you are getting a ghetto. In generation 3, where we are now, they make up 75% of the population. No society can survive this. Of course if you own 1000 acres of land, it gives you lots of minions. If you're a politician, you get lots of votes. If you are a government worker or store owner, it lets you launder lots of federal money. If you are middle class, you might as well not even try. You don't have a chance with numbers like this. Fifty years ago, the local nobility needed to reach some agreement with the middle class. The middle class was needed for their survival. Now, they can just count on the federal monies funneled through the welfare crowd. They don't get as much money of course, but they do get total control. The middle class does not stand a chance.
Of course, it will be even worse when generation 4 comes along, when they will by 90% of the population.
I blame the gummint, or government as most people know it. If you look at the average, American, middle-class family, you will see that their birthrate is basically at replacement levels. If you look at the lower classes, you will see a different story. Lower class families in the United States are allowed to have 6 children, and they get more money for each child up to the magic number of 6. The money is not a small amount either. These lower class types get free housing, free utilities, and if you want to get annoyed, go to Wal Mart on the first of the month and watch the middle class people buying hamburger, while the welfare types have their shopping carts filled with steaks and lobster. Of course, having nothing to do, they just hang around all day and engage in petty theft, vandalism, and other acts to annoy the neighbors. Nature or nurture doesn't matter either. These people generally don't go to school and grow up wanting to collect a gummint check like mommy and daddy. This idiocy has been going on for over 3 generations now. Let's take a look at the numbers.
Every group of people will have idiots. People who are unfit to live in society and are just a major drain on it. Kind of like cancer. Usually this number is small, say 10%. Not an ideal condition, but one which can be lived with. Now, let's see what happens when the government gets involved. Since the cancer class is having 6 kids, in generation 1 they go from 10% of the population to 25% of the population. You are going to start seeing problems at this level. By generation 2, they will be 50% of the population. At this point, you are getting a ghetto. In generation 3, where we are now, they make up 75% of the population. No society can survive this. Of course if you own 1000 acres of land, it gives you lots of minions. If you're a politician, you get lots of votes. If you are a government worker or store owner, it lets you launder lots of federal money. If you are middle class, you might as well not even try. You don't have a chance with numbers like this. Fifty years ago, the local nobility needed to reach some agreement with the middle class. The middle class was needed for their survival. Now, they can just count on the federal monies funneled through the welfare crowd. They don't get as much money of course, but they do get total control. The middle class does not stand a chance.
Of course, it will be even worse when generation 4 comes along, when they will by 90% of the population.
Thursday, January 30, 2020
It's Not All Bad
No, life in Appalachia isn't all bad. Sometimes, as you head into work, you get the cold and foggy morning with cows wandering in the middle of road. That's why I love the country. I like such things. It's what country life is all about.
Of course, on my way home from work, I got to deal with the reason that I hate Appalachia. An old woman in front of me decided that they needed to use their cell phone. Now, everyone knows that using a cell phone and driving is dangerous. The hillbilly solution: Just stop driving. It doesn't matter whether or not you are in the middle of the road, or that there are people driving behind you. All that matters is that you aren't texting and driving.
Consider, if you will, the road you see in the photo. Ignore the cow for the moment. Imagine several population clusters using this road for their daily commute. See how far down this road you can see. Now, imagine the effect of someone stopped in the middle of the road using their phone.
To be fair, the woman was old, and in 1970, there were probably only 2 or 3 cars per day down this road, and if you did meet up with one, it was probably driven by one of your relatives. So, in 1970, it really wouldn't have been that dangerous. Of course, if you did meet up with one of your relatives, it was also a common practice to stop both of your cars in the middle of the road and have a chat. It didn't matter if you were blocking traffic. Anyone else coming along would have been a relative who wanted to join in the chat. If they weren't a relative, they didn't belong there, and deserved to be inconvenienced. Maybe she couldn't tell the difference between the chats she had from her car in 1970 and a cell phone.
Monday, January 27, 2020
I Hate Squirrels
Yes, I now hate those hyperactive balls of fur. I didn't always. I used to like them. They're cute. They love to frolic. They are a connection with nature. So, what's the problem.
The problem is that I moved to Eastern Kentucky. I blogged before about how Appalachia makes everything good turn bad. It appears that this rule applies to squirrels as well.
When I first moved to Appalachia, I had squirrels move into my house. Old Appalachian style houses have a lot of empty wall space. How much, I soon found out. A dray of squirrels living in your walls is no fun and causes lots of damage.
Then I moved to my current house. I was okay with the squirrels when I first moved here. They were fun and my house was new, without all of the empty wall space. What could go wrong? Squirrels tearing out window screens and taking out 3 vehicles over the course of a year could go wrong. I've never seen a vehicle downed by a squirrel before. I've had 3 in my yard in the past year. No, Appalachian squirrels are no fun.
As a brief aside, when mad cow was a thing, the government was worried about an outbreak in Eastern Kentucky because of all the cases here. It turned out to be due to the practice of eating squirrel brains, so the government stopped worrying about a contaminated food source. Personally, I think a mammal carrying the disease is a big deal, but what do I know? Maybe they thought only the lower classes would be effected and that that would be a good thing.
The problem is that I moved to Eastern Kentucky. I blogged before about how Appalachia makes everything good turn bad. It appears that this rule applies to squirrels as well.
When I first moved to Appalachia, I had squirrels move into my house. Old Appalachian style houses have a lot of empty wall space. How much, I soon found out. A dray of squirrels living in your walls is no fun and causes lots of damage.
Then I moved to my current house. I was okay with the squirrels when I first moved here. They were fun and my house was new, without all of the empty wall space. What could go wrong? Squirrels tearing out window screens and taking out 3 vehicles over the course of a year could go wrong. I've never seen a vehicle downed by a squirrel before. I've had 3 in my yard in the past year. No, Appalachian squirrels are no fun.
As a brief aside, when mad cow was a thing, the government was worried about an outbreak in Eastern Kentucky because of all the cases here. It turned out to be due to the practice of eating squirrel brains, so the government stopped worrying about a contaminated food source. Personally, I think a mammal carrying the disease is a big deal, but what do I know? Maybe they thought only the lower classes would be effected and that that would be a good thing.
Saturday, January 25, 2020
Return to Clinton County Kentucky
My situation in Clinton county Kentucky seems to be getting worse. I'm simply not going to be allowed to sell the property. It all started when my real estate agent showed the property. I showed up the following weekend to find the house broken into and dog droppings all over the floor.
Of course there were no dogs. They'd been left in the house for a few days to mess it up right after the hillbillies saw someone look at the house, and then removed.
When I showed up to the house, the neighbors three dogs came over to visit and the trailer people all came to their doorways and glared at me. When I went into my house, I saw the droppings of said dogs. Now, if I did anything to the dogs, who were on my property, and obviously the perpetrators of the mess, I'd be in jail for animal cruelty. Of course, that's better than showing up when the dogs are in my house. Then I'd have half a dozen hillbillies calling the cops and claiming that I stole them. In case you hadn't guessed from my previous posts, there is no real law in Eastern Kentucky. The law just wants to keep their numbers up and protect their buddies, so I be in the wonderful position of proving the hillbillies wrong.
In any event, when the law showed up, they gave me their standard answer. You have bad neighbors, move everything with any worth off of the property, get some cameras and get us pictures of them breaking in, and then we can do something.
Can someone explain to me why I'm paying taxes? I'm obviously not getting any benefit for my money. And Eastern Kentucky wonders why they can't break the generational poverty cycle. News flash. When people aren't secure in their property unless they are actively guarding it, then you are going to end up with a poverty stricken area.
Of course there were no dogs. They'd been left in the house for a few days to mess it up right after the hillbillies saw someone look at the house, and then removed.
When I showed up to the house, the neighbors three dogs came over to visit and the trailer people all came to their doorways and glared at me. When I went into my house, I saw the droppings of said dogs. Now, if I did anything to the dogs, who were on my property, and obviously the perpetrators of the mess, I'd be in jail for animal cruelty. Of course, that's better than showing up when the dogs are in my house. Then I'd have half a dozen hillbillies calling the cops and claiming that I stole them. In case you hadn't guessed from my previous posts, there is no real law in Eastern Kentucky. The law just wants to keep their numbers up and protect their buddies, so I be in the wonderful position of proving the hillbillies wrong.
In any event, when the law showed up, they gave me their standard answer. You have bad neighbors, move everything with any worth off of the property, get some cameras and get us pictures of them breaking in, and then we can do something.
Can someone explain to me why I'm paying taxes? I'm obviously not getting any benefit for my money. And Eastern Kentucky wonders why they can't break the generational poverty cycle. News flash. When people aren't secure in their property unless they are actively guarding it, then you are going to end up with a poverty stricken area.
Monday, January 20, 2020
Neighbor in the Trees
A fairly appropriate title. In my last post I wrote about my neighbor who seemed intent on proving that hillbillies shouldn't be left to walk around loose. Now, I shall tell you the story of the neighbor in the trees.
This one has been totally quiet for the last couple of years. He lives in a trailer on the top of a little hill, right behind my property and the hillbilly. He has a walking path about 200 yards long leading from his trailer to the road where his car is parked. It took awhile to figure out the property lines and who owned what. Actually, it took a trip to the county property office. Amazingly, he does own the top of the hill and the walking trail. When I bought this house, I thought that he was attached to the hillbillies and accessing everything through their property. Nope, he has a hilltop trailer and a walking path to get to his vehicle.
The reason I'm writing about him is his extreme quietness. I have never spoken to him. I've never had the chance. He seems to be spooked by people he doesn't know. Now, I understand this. I'm a bit wary of strangers myself. This neighbor carries this to extremes however. I've seen him hide behind a tree when I come out of the house. Imagine this. Going outside and having your neighbor hide behind a tree until you go back inside. I've also seen him arrive back home at the same time as I did. He sat in his car until I went inside. Since I had groceries on this trip, it took awhile. But he wouldn't budge until I was gone. Occasionally, I'll see him flitting back and forth, but he's careful. Even if he catches sight of you in a window he goes into hide mode. It's easier to spot a wild turkey.
I'm not complaining. I like quiet neighbors. It's just a bit strange.
This one has been totally quiet for the last couple of years. He lives in a trailer on the top of a little hill, right behind my property and the hillbilly. He has a walking path about 200 yards long leading from his trailer to the road where his car is parked. It took awhile to figure out the property lines and who owned what. Actually, it took a trip to the county property office. Amazingly, he does own the top of the hill and the walking trail. When I bought this house, I thought that he was attached to the hillbillies and accessing everything through their property. Nope, he has a hilltop trailer and a walking path to get to his vehicle.
The reason I'm writing about him is his extreme quietness. I have never spoken to him. I've never had the chance. He seems to be spooked by people he doesn't know. Now, I understand this. I'm a bit wary of strangers myself. This neighbor carries this to extremes however. I've seen him hide behind a tree when I come out of the house. Imagine this. Going outside and having your neighbor hide behind a tree until you go back inside. I've also seen him arrive back home at the same time as I did. He sat in his car until I went inside. Since I had groceries on this trip, it took awhile. But he wouldn't budge until I was gone. Occasionally, I'll see him flitting back and forth, but he's careful. Even if he catches sight of you in a window he goes into hide mode. It's easier to spot a wild turkey.
I'm not complaining. I like quiet neighbors. It's just a bit strange.
Friday, January 17, 2020
You Just Can't Win
You just can't win, or at least I can't win in Kentucky. I moved a few years ago to avoid my old neighborhood. A wise choice, but I didn't gain much by it. I found a house in a subdivision that was undeveloped. It was a subdivision, so there were rules, or at least there were supposed to be. The place was undeveloped, so there were deer and turkey in abundance. The neighbors were quite. It seemed ideal. Okay, so it was a bit inconvenient, but a small consideration to get rid of the old neighbors.
Of course I forgot one of the first cardinal rules. Hillbilly idiots don't reveal themselves right away. They tend to hide and you don't see their stupidity until months latter.
One of my neighbors seemed nice. I didn't hear a peep out of them for months. They did keep a couple of annoying hound dogs who they let run loose to hunt things at night without supervision, but that was a small price to pay to avoid my previous problems.
I got my first indication of trouble when I had been here about six months. I needed to get my car towed and one of the first questions the driver asked me was whether I knew my neighbor. Then I got that enigmatic smile and no further information. Not a good sign.
I found out why about six months latter when my neighbor tried to start a trash service. Not what you think of when you hear the words trash service, but a service that consisted of said neighbor running around in his pickup truck and bringing everyone's trash back to the subdivision and then burning it in his yard. Of course, I soon found out that Wayne county Kentucky is as useless and corrupt as Clinton county Kentucky. Go figure. I got the state to come out, but that took a couple of days.
In typical hillbilly fashion, the neighbor stopped, but looked for new ways to piss everyone off. His latest project was to run a landscaping business and to bring all the tree limbs and brush home to burn. If he lived on a 100 acre farm, it wouldn't bother me, but in a subdivision? Of course, the county was just as useful as before and once again I had to get the state involved.
I seem to have a talent for buying houses next to problem neighbors.
Of course I forgot one of the first cardinal rules. Hillbilly idiots don't reveal themselves right away. They tend to hide and you don't see their stupidity until months latter.
One of my neighbors seemed nice. I didn't hear a peep out of them for months. They did keep a couple of annoying hound dogs who they let run loose to hunt things at night without supervision, but that was a small price to pay to avoid my previous problems.
I got my first indication of trouble when I had been here about six months. I needed to get my car towed and one of the first questions the driver asked me was whether I knew my neighbor. Then I got that enigmatic smile and no further information. Not a good sign.
I found out why about six months latter when my neighbor tried to start a trash service. Not what you think of when you hear the words trash service, but a service that consisted of said neighbor running around in his pickup truck and bringing everyone's trash back to the subdivision and then burning it in his yard. Of course, I soon found out that Wayne county Kentucky is as useless and corrupt as Clinton county Kentucky. Go figure. I got the state to come out, but that took a couple of days.
In typical hillbilly fashion, the neighbor stopped, but looked for new ways to piss everyone off. His latest project was to run a landscaping business and to bring all the tree limbs and brush home to burn. If he lived on a 100 acre farm, it wouldn't bother me, but in a subdivision? Of course, the county was just as useful as before and once again I had to get the state involved.
I seem to have a talent for buying houses next to problem neighbors.
Saturday, January 11, 2020
Bigfoot Sighting or Another Reason to Pack Heat
Okay, so this isn't about a real Bigfoot sighting, but it is amusing.
I was driving through the Danial Boone National Forest one night. I was in a remote part of the Forest so is was deserted and dark. There are no street lights there and the nearest house was probably a mile or so away. I was having a pleasant drive and pulled up to a stop sign at an intersection. Suddenly, someone jumped out of the woods in front of my stopped vehicle (luckily, I had come to a full stop), looked at me, and then ran off into the woods on the opposite side of the road.
It was one of those amusing incidents that occur in Appalachia. Nothing to see here.
But you have to wonder. With all the tourists travelling through the area, and all the impaired locals driving around on a Friday night, just how many Bigfoot sightings has this guy been responsible for.
I was driving through the Danial Boone National Forest one night. I was in a remote part of the Forest so is was deserted and dark. There are no street lights there and the nearest house was probably a mile or so away. I was having a pleasant drive and pulled up to a stop sign at an intersection. Suddenly, someone jumped out of the woods in front of my stopped vehicle (luckily, I had come to a full stop), looked at me, and then ran off into the woods on the opposite side of the road.
It was one of those amusing incidents that occur in Appalachia. Nothing to see here.
But you have to wonder. With all the tourists travelling through the area, and all the impaired locals driving around on a Friday night, just how many Bigfoot sightings has this guy been responsible for.
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