Ooooh, Baby, It's Cold Outside

Well, not really all that cold for January here in “the dark and bloody ground”. That’s “Kentucky” to us interlopers who pushed out the original inhabitants. I was casting about in my mind, trawling for a subject to write a post about, when I snagged this. I love this old thing.



You can’t tell scale from the pic, so here are the measurements—it is 5 ft. wide by 4 ft. tall. I’ve never put it on a scale, but I would guesstimate 10 pounds or so. Any guesses? Think “dashing through the snow, in a one-horse open sleigh”. Yep, you got it. It’s a lap robe. I acquired this at an auction on a cold and rainy day in an unheated building about 15 years or so ago. It was the end of a long day, and most of the buyers were leaving after the high dollar furniture stuff was gone. It was a good day for those with stamina and nowhere better to be. It is in remarkable shape for its age. The material it is woven out of feels like burlap, scratchy and strong. But since you weren’t supposed to be nekkid under it, I guess the scratchy doesn’t really matter. The backing is solid black and it is stuffed with what appears to be horse hair for insulation. I don’t know anything about the process used to color it.



If you look closely at the pony’s neck you can see a couple of small spots of red that are out of place, so maybe some hand dyeing on the picture in the center. I guess the roses blooming in the background were to make you feel warmer, or remind you that warmer weather would eventually return. Another indication that it was owned by “gentlefolk” is that the pony still has his original glass eye. The faithful hound’s has been lost to the ages. If I had lived back when this was new, and had been picking out a lap robe to keep me warm, this would have been my choice of design. It features my two favorite members of the animal kingdom, horses and dogs. I don’t believe I could improve on the color scheme either. It amazes me that the colors are still so rich after all this time. It makes me wish I was psychic or sensitive, if there is such a thing. I would love to be able to drape this over my lap, and be transported back to a simpler time, living in a family that had the expendable income for such niceties. By it’s very existence, it implies that the household had it’s own stable, complete with conveyances and the horse power to convey them. They also had the luxury of free time to spend traveling to visit neighbors or family, or to town for shopping or church services, even in the winter. Maybe school programs, Christmas parties, and dances where the young folk could begin the courting ritual to find a suitable mate. I would imagine a young couple could get to know each other fairly well snuggled together under this heavy robe. If they were so inclined; I mean, folks were still folks, even back then. Necking was not invented by Henry Ford. And if you were lucky enough to acquire a snappy, flashy, high-stepping piece of horseflesh to pull your buggy or sleigh, you wouldn’t want just any dull, serviceable lap robe to ruin the eye-catching, head-turning picture you would present. I imagine the brisk air and the reds and maroons in this robe would accent the blush of health on the cheek of any young lady that availed herself of it’s comfort and warmth. It is an article that has no real counterpart here in the 21st century. Whenever I handle it, though, I can’t help but feel like it held good memories for someone. Surely, it wasn’t just luck that it has survived the passage of so many years in this good shape. It must have been stored away in a trunk somewhere, when it outlived it’s usefulness. It definitely was not left in the stable or barn or carriage house for the mice to find and nibble on, so it meant something to someone. They needn’t worry about it’s fate. As long as I am the custodian of this gorgeous piece of the past, it is still special to someone.

January Thaw

Not much goin on here today. According to my pws the high today so far is 66.9 and the high wind gust is 17 mph. I do love the January thaw. It's supposed to continue into tomorrow, but of course it will end with thunderstorms most likely. I did do something productive this mornin. I made a dreamcatcher. Just my first practice one, but it turned out well. Now i will have to make a trip to the craft store and get another spool of leather lace to make a good one. That's about it for now. Gonna head outside and enjoy this unnaturally warm weather. Oh yeah, I am actually gonna be watchin for those predicted thunderstorms. I am curious to see just how high the winds will get when that damn cold air chases out this delicious warm spell. T-shirt weather in January, ya gotta love it!

Tonight's Forecast....Dark

If spoken with the correct inflection, those 3 words send time spinning backwards, and bring an immediate smile to my face. They are the words of Al Sleet (aka George Carlin), The Hippie Dippie Weather Man. Sadly, Al is no longer a weather man. He retired from the field after he gave the ultimate forecast. “The weather will continue to change for a long, long time.” I searched high (no pun intended, well, ok, maybe a little pun intended) and low but could not find a clip of Al that I could embed here, so I will have to settle for a link to a YouTube video. It is not Al in his prime, but a revisit by his creator, a comedic genius, elevated to god status, by those of us belonging to a certain generation. The trigger for this most enjoyable trip (another pun??) down memory lane, is my after-Christmas present. My companion offered to let me choose my own gift, and I promptly accepted. “He who hesitates, is lost” applies here, I have learned over the years. My weakness, or preference, depending on how you look at it, is electronics. I admit it, I am a technology junkie. I had thought, for some time, that a PWS—that’s personal weather station for the tech challenged—would be a cool thing to own. I must admit I had done a bit of research on them through the Weather Underground site. I checked out the hardware and software, but it seemed they had to be ordered online, and possessing no credit card is a definite minus when it comes to that. So I placed it in the “one of these days” category, and decided to get a larger monitor. I am currently running 2 flat screen displays, but I figured I could put one of them up as a spare, and totally fill my available desk space with a new 22” wide screen and one of the current flat panels beside it. A new monitor that size would’ve been a good thing, just not real exciting. I mean, a monitor is a monitor is a monitor, right? I had settled on a model, but decided to walk around the rest of the store just for the hell of it. Really, I just love the fragrance of new circuit boards and plastic wiring, so I was topping off the experience. I was heading for the back of the store, to work my way to the front, when I caught something out of the corner of my eye, that made me stop mid-stride, and do an about-face. Yep, weather stations. At first glance, they all seemed to be the small, for your information only type; but then, on the bottom shelf, slid to the back was a large box. My companion retrieved it, and I tipped it toward me, and lo and behold, it was the model I had decided to shoot for in my internet research for “one of these days.” Cue “Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus.” This one does not only do temperature, but has a wind gauge and rain gauge. Now, at a glance, I can see temperature and wind chill or heat index, relative humidity, wind speed and direction and high gust, barometric pressure, rainfall, and by pressing a button, see the indoor conditions as well. But the kicker for me was that this one comes with software and a usb cable to enable me to share with the world just how friggin cold and miserable it is here on Sand Ridge at any given moment this winter. Kudos to Weather Underground for letting me share this for free. They also archive the data from your pws, just in case you got nothing better to do while cruising the web. When I got it set up and began sending data, they even created a page for my station. I shall try to place a sticker for my station in the sidebar for the curious, or just plain bored. But I fear this new hobby will have a domino effect. WUnderground also encourages you to hook up a weather cam to add to your site. Recommendations for an inexpensive, wireless web cam, anybody?

Happy New Year

Been a while since i posted. Now that the holidays are over, I think I can see the black fog of holiday depression beginning to dissipate. Hopefully, the cold northwest wind will hasten it's departure. Happy New Year to all, although as I get older, they all seem to blur together. I was pleasantly surprised when I read the local area morning paper, for a change. This story is from the little town that shares a zip code with us out here in the river bottoms. I will copy and paste it here, just to show that sometimes, good things do make the news; and that living in a small southern town just may have some advantages at times. Here's hoping that the rest of the year will take a cue from this story.

Four times the love
Community pitches in as Ballard County couple awaits birth of quadruplets
By Angie Kinsey akinsey@paducahsun.com--270.575.8657



Tuesday, January 01, 2008

LA CENTER, Ky. — Amber and Jeremy Parker have converted their garage into a family room and traded in their sport utility vehicle for a minivan in the past few months.

“I swore I would never drive a minivan,” Amber said.

That was before they found out they were expecting quadruplets — three girls and a boy to be named Bailey Grace, Miley Jo, Kallie Kathleen and William Crice.

“We had to do something,” she said. “We didn’t have enough room (in the vehicle) to even bring them home from the hospital.”

The Parker quads are due March 13, but, at 29 weeks, they could come at any time. “All babies seem to be healthy and they’re all over 3 pounds,” said Amber, 32.

The Parkers, who have been married for four years, decided to start a family a year after they married. Jeremy Parker, 34, already has a 10-year-old daughter, Mallory, who lives in Providence.

“We tried a year and nothing was happening,” Amber said. “We did fertility work in Paducah with Dr. (Susan) Mueller and nothing showed up. Ten percent of people have unexplained infertility.”

Amber Parker became pregnant after undergoing in vitro fertilization in Nashville, Tenn., but miscarried in September 2006. They decided to try another in vitro clinic in St. Louis.

“The main reason we chose the clinic in St. Louis was because they offered a discount for teachers and teachers never get discounts,” said Amber, a health and physical education teacher at Ballard County Middle School. “I thought these people have got to be good if they’re giving teachers a break.”

Four embryos were transferred in the process, but doctors said it was unlikely the couple would have anything more than twins.

“We were kind of wanting twins anyway,” Jeremy said. “I wasn’t with her when she found out. I was at work.”

When four babies showed up on the ultrasound, “it was a good thing I was lying down,” Amber said. “I was definitely in shock. The doctor just kept rubbing his head, saying, ‘This never happens. You must have a higher power on your side.’ Then I had to call Jeremy.”

Jeremy was at a gas station on his way to work at Ballard Telephone Cooperative when he got the call.

“He said, ‘No, Amber, really how many? Quit messing around.’ I had to get the nurse to tell him it was four,” she said. “At first, I was shocked, nervous and scared, but then it kind of sunk in.”

“Then we had to figure out what we’re going to do with them,” Jeremy added. That’s when Jeremy and his friends converted the two-car garage into the family room.

Doctors insisted on a weekly ultrasound and told Amber to quit work in September. Besides Mueller, Amber sees a fertility specialist in Evansville, Ind., and the babies will most likely be born at St. Mary’s Hospital in Evansville.

“I was very panicked because I didn’t have very many sick days left,” she said. The school system “sent out a districtwide e-mail asking if teachers would donate their sick time. The e-mail went out on Thursday and by Monday morning I had enough days. I am very grateful to teach with people who are willing to give and help out.”

The teachers also gave the couple a baby shower. They have also been given showers by Ballard Telephone, First Baptist Church of Barlow, Amber’s high school and college friends, and family and friends in Jeremy’s hometown of Clay in Webster County. A community yard sale also netted $600, which is in the quads’ savings account.

Two Ballard Memorial High School clubs have chosen the Parkers as their community service projects. FBLA members gave them another baby shower in December, and HOSA (Health Occupations Students of America) members have volunteered to run errands, clean and stay overnight once the babies are born.

“It’s unreal the amount of support people have given us,” Amber said. “I always knew Ballard County was an amazing place to live. I wouldn’t live anywhere else. I think every church in this county and McCracken County have us on their prayer list. Seriously, that’s why I think we’re doing so well. It’s from the prayers. I’ve felt a peace about it from the beginning.”

Amber plans to return to work in August. Baby sitters are already lined up, including her mother, Diane Crice, who lives next door.

“People come up to us and say, ‘Your life, as you know it, is over,’” Amber said. “It may be over, but we’re getting a new life. It’s going to be crazy, but it’s going to be our life. We’ll work together to get it done.”