Karma?

I have 3 neighbors who don't know the etiquette of keeping dogs. In short, they just let them run loose to do as they please because they have "rahts". I've really come to hate that word since moving to Appalachia. Today 2 sets of them descended on my trash when I put it out for pickup and started to scatter it all over my yard and in the street. Needless to say, I stopped them. Then I went to work. It's one of those things people expect me to do. One of the dogs, being more intelligent than his owner,  apparently decided that since I didn't want the trash in my yard, he'd take it to his, which he proceeded to do. I guess it's karma. The owner will figure it out when he comes over Friday (yes, I said Friday, today being Monday) to feed his dog (maybe) and mow his grass. Until then, I guess it's just an amusing sight.

The Gift of Car Mats

The other night, I was woken up around 1 in the morning by car doors slamming and general banging. Nothing unusual with that. I usually get woken up every night by slamming car doors, yelling, pimp mobiles, four wheelers, and what have you. Hill folk are noisy. After listening for awhile and determining that the sounds didn't seem to indicate danger, I went back to sleep. Imagine, being woken up at night, and thinking, is this sound dangerous enough to grab a 12 gauge or can I go back to sleep. Well, I do call this place "The Ghetto with Trees", but I digress...

The next morning, I found the reason for the car doors. Four car floor mats were sitting on the road in front of my driveway. Did someone stop in front of my driveway, throw all their floor mats in the street and drive off at 1 in the morning? What the Hell people?

Peaceful Southern Nights

Once more, the hills of Kentucky reverberated with the sound of gunfire in the middle of the night. Well, 11pm to be precise. It leaves one wondering whether or not they should be concerned or not. Is it someone shooting nuisance dogs, coon hunters, or someone taking care of their ex. One never knows. Last night wasn't too bad, just 2 shots in quick succession, it's the nights where someone empties the magazine from a high capacity firearm as quickly as they can work the trigger that make you think.

Of course calling the cops is kind of useless in this case. You can't really tell where the gunfire is from. When you're in your house, with the windows shut and the air conditioning on, the best you can do is say something like; "this many shots, about a quarter to half a mile, that general direction, sounded like this type of weapon". That's really not going to help anyone.

No Healthcare for Rural Kentuckians

I went to visit my doctor awhile ago and was expecting the usual copay. I got the usual copay, but also another bill for over $500 from the local hospital. Surprise.

I live in an area with very few services. If I want to see a specialist, I need to drive 1 1/2 to 3 hours each way. Knowing this, many doctors elect to have clinics at the local hospitals so they can reach a larger client base. Apparently, now I get charged for seeing my doctor and also as an outpatient at the hospital, even though my doctor brings his own technicians with him. If I drive to my doctor's clinic, the insurance covers the bill, except for the copay. If I go to the clinic he runs at the local hospital, I pay his copay, plus outpatient fees at the hospital. If my insurance company had told me about the change beforehand, I would have made the drive, but to surprise me like that? The only words that come to mind are, "Fuck Humana".

Since Humana is the insurance company you have if you work for the state of Kentucky in any capacity, I can only wonder who in Frankfort received a kickback from that one. For a state that keeps whining about the need to develop the rural areas,  to allow double billing of medical services for people who don't elect to drive to one of the state's population centers just seems stupid. Now, what used to be a doctor's visit I would fit into a lunch hour, will now be a paid sick day. Way to boost productivity and worker contentment Bluegrass State.

The Sweet Smell of Summer in Appalachia

Yes, with the warm weather comes the common smell of summer in Appalachia. I'm not talking about flowers, or farms, I mean burning garbage. A large proportion of the people in Appalachian Kentucky have not advanced beyond burning all their household trash. Of course they are advanced enough to know that the Commonwealth has passed laws against such practices (unfortunately, they have forgotten to tell their law enforcement officers, such is Kentucky). The result is that as night falls, and darkness settles over the hills, so to does the pleasant aroma of burning milk bottles, trash bags, diapers, used furniture, and whatever else the people here no longer have a use for. So much for peaceful Appalachian nights.

Redneck pet owners, part 2

My other neighbor has apparently found a more effective way to deal with dogs that he doesn't want anymore. A couple of gunshots and problem solved. Well, at least I have one less problem animal to worry about. Now, if I can get the law to do anything about him discharging firearms within 100 feet of my house I'd be all set. But, since he is the law, and this is Appalachian Kentucky, it's a moot point.

Redneck pet owners

After 2 weeks, I finally got my neighbors dog to take food from me. It probably helped that he hadn't been fed in 3 days.

About 3 years ago the white trash next door got a dog. Of course a large one, who stayed on a 10 foot chain his entire life. I suspect the reason he was kept around had to do with the fact that this particular neighbor only lived there 1 or 2 nights a week, but would show up half a dozen times per day for 30 minutes at a time. That and the fact that there were extension cords running to the crawl space under his trailer made me kind of suspicious. About 3 months ago the cords disappeared, and the dog was turned loose. The owner now shows up every couple of days. Of course he's a problem animal. Spending his nights taking everything from my property onto his owners. Potted plants, tools, basically everything that's not nailed down, ripping stuff up. He looks like he'd have been a good dog, but 3 years on a leash with no attention have turned his brain to mush. When you finally get a dog close enough to touch and his first reaction is to get the shakes, you know there's an owner who should be doing time for animal cruelty.

In a civilized country, I could call animal control. But animal control here won't talk to me, I don't have any kin. Quoting Kentucky law on stray animals only gets me transferred to the judge executive, who will quote Jesus, and protect the good ole boy network (at least the bastard got voted out, so the good ole boys might be losing a bit of their grip on the county). Talking to the neighbor will just get my tires slashed in the middle of the night. Rednecks are nothing if not consistent. So, I need to deal with this myself. The question is, now that I have a new friend, what do I do with him? Since he has no tags and the owner only shows up at his place every couple of days for a 30 minute visit, I feel morally justified in treating him as a stray, but if I take him to animal control, they'll just shoot him, probably the same night. Rednecks don't like anything that causes work. It is an interesting problem.