Working the polls

I mentioned that I worked the polls in the primary races this July. The district in which I worked, only 4 miles from my place, has a whopping 199 registered voters in it. We rent the old fellowship hall of an even older church as the polling place. New Hope Presbyterian Church, established in 1788, is Georgia's third oldest church and the area around it is still likely as rural (almost) as the day it was established in 1788. I arrived at the polling station at 6 am to crowing roosters and dewy mist.

And because it was a fellowship hall, the picture of Jesus dominates the view, even over the polling station :)

Figs are in!

The figs are ripe! I wrote before about finding a fig tree on my property. I love figs, and since they are such a delicate fruit and therefore so little shipped, I am thrilled to be able to go out and pluck to my heart's content. Many of the figs are ripe enough to eat now, so after hanging laundry (the line is next to the fig tree) I started picking.

I heard an angry bird squawking on the wires above the street and knew that a baby was about, somewhere. Ha ha, I have thoroughly learned that lesson! None were visible at that moment however. So I made my way around the interior of the tree, picking and dropping gently into my shirt held away from my body and gathered like a handkerchief. Then I saw him. The nest was just above, and he was stock still on a branch, huddling and shaking. Poor baby! I said that I would be out of there tout sweet, but snapped this photo first. His mom swooped in a moment later and I shot a pic of her too.




Tonight's dinner will be light since I ate with friends and had salmon and potatoes and fresh tomato salad for lunch. Dinner: sliced, chilled figs atop grilled slices of very thin smoked ham (not prosciutto, but I wish!). Grilled hunks of crusty whole wheat specialty bread drizzled with olive oil. Accompanied by iced green tea and a compote of blackberries and blueberries. Yum!! Living off the land. Almost.

Speaking of that, the apples and pears are coming in. I'm picking pears tomorrow for my friend, the one who has picked and given so many blueberries to me. I mean, huge quantities of blueberries, she picked 45 quarts worth. I was on the receiving end of 10 quarts. We are in a barter economy now. I have a lot of pears to pick to make an even barter!

Sigh. Next week is the last week of summer. August 3 I start school, and since I am a long-term sub in a pre-K, the principal wants me at the pre-planning meetings as staff. That's Monday, Aug. 3 and the kids come in August 6.

To Sir with Love!

tornado report & trend graph

The tornado graph thanks to NOAA and George Ure is updated to reflect yesterday's tornadoes. It shows the undeniable picture: an abnormally active start to this year's tornado season. The news reported last night that 6 counties are in a state of emergency, and than a woman was killed in high winds afte rthe tornadoes went through when a tree fell on her.

This report is from the Weather Service. All seems ok here in my neck of the woods but please pray for those who lost all...and reports are that Kite, GA is no longer even on the map. Kite is about 100 miles from here. The following report is for GA only, many more tornadoes in many other states have occurred.

"... Preliminary report on severe weather event which occurred during the early morning hours of may 11 2008..."

"Several damage survey teams from the National Weather Service office in Peachtree City have now confirmed that at least five tornadoes affected west central... north central... and central Georgia early this morning. Here is the information we have so far."
"Tornadoes no. 1 and 2 (rated ef2):
Carroll and Douglas counties/410 am EDT..."

"Widespread 25-mile long path of damage... up to three miles wide at some spots... beginning in western Carroll County at approximately 410 am... starting along west Jonesville Road off Georgia Highway 166... just north of Bowden... continuing eastward roughly along Georgia Highway 166 through Carrollton and eastward into western Douglas County near Fairplay. There were two brief EF2 tornado spinups along this path of damage... which was up to three miles wide at points. The path length and width of each of these tornadoes was 100 yards or less. Maximum wind speeds within these tornadoes were estimated at 110 mph. The first EF2 tornado spinup occurred within the the community of Jonesville approximately two miles east of where the wind damage commenced. The roofs were completely blown off two homes and numerous trees were down in the area. The second EF2 tornado spinup occurred near Diamond court subdivision... off Cross Plains Hulett Road. Damage here consisted of two homes with significant damage... one completely destroyed... and a number of homes with minor to moderate roof damage."

"Outside the two EF2 tornadoes... widespread tree and roof damage from straight-line winds was noted all along Georgia Highway 166 from west of Carrollton... near Bowden... eastward to western Douglas County near Fairplay. The Carrollton County emergency services facility sustained moderate damage. Damage continued eastward along Georgia Highway 166 toward the Douglas County line... mainly in the form of downed trees and minor roof damage all along the path. At various locations along this path... damage extended up to three miles to the south... but this was determined to be straight-line wind damage."

"The damage from this straight-line wind event... and possible additional spinup tornadoes..may well have continued into South Fulton County. In addition... this parent thunderstorm appears to be the same one that spawned the EF2 tornado in Clayton County. This will be determined with additional surveys early this week."

"Tornado no. 3 (rated ef2):
Clayton... Henry... Rockdale and Newton counties/510 am EDT..."

"Initial touchdown was in extreme northeast Clayton County near the Henry County line just east of Interstate 675 around 510 am. On initial touch down... it took the second floor off a house and did significant damage to other homes in that area. This tornado lifted shortly after moving east into Henry County and did sporadic tree damage. As it moved into Rockdale County... it moved southeast toward Union Springs and then into Newton County near Highway 20 where it lifted. The approximate strength was EF2 (120 to 130 mph) at touchdown... then diminished to an EF0 for the remainder of the track. The approximate width was around 100 yards wide and total path length was about 13 miles long."

"Tornado no. 4 (rated ef2):
Bibb and Twiggs counties/550 am EDT..."

"Initial touchdown was near Lizella. The tornado tracked east and lifted near Dry Branch in Twiggs County. This was not a continuous path... but it did produce sporadic damage from Lizella to Dry Branch. The most significant damage was in the city of Macon with the hardest hit areas along eisenhower parkway an poinono Avenue where 2 businesses were destroyed and several others sustaining heavy damage. Macon State College was also hit by the tornado putting down nearly 50 percent of the trees and doing significant damage to several buildings on Campus with the gymnasium sustaining the worst damage. This tornado varied from an EF0 to EF2 with the EF2 (130 mph) along eisenhower parkway."

"Tornado no. 5 (ef scale unknown):
Laurens County/636 am EDT..."

"Survey for this tornado still pending. Preliminary information is that a tornado touched down near U.S. Highway 441 and Evergreen street about seven miles northwest of Dublin. One fatality and three injuries have been confirmed with this event." "Tornado no. 6 (ef scale unknown):
Toombs County/725 am EDT..."

"this tornado has not yet been rated. The damage path was limited to about 1/4 of a mile in the Normantown area about four miles north of Vidalia. Damage included four Mobile homes damaged... one Mobile home destroyed... one house destroyed... and one church destroyed. It also turned over a tractor-trailer and put down approximately 200 to 300 Pine trees. There were three minor injuries and seven families have been displaced from their homes."

"Additional tornadoes may have occurred in Laurens... Treutlen... Fulton... and Troup counties. Damage survey teams will continue to investigate these areas this evening and Monday. This reports will be updated as soon as the information from these surveys becomes available."

Spring has sprung

I realized that I haven't taken photos lately. I was out in Royston and the air had been freshened by a thunderstorm the day before, and it was cool and pretty and breezy. Royston is a cute town and the air is just so clear with budding leaves...and I had not taken my camera! With gas prices like they are, I've left off driving for no reason, and that includes driving on Saturdays to pretty areas to explore walking and photo-ing.

But I am renewed with fervor for capturing our gorgeous slice of life! Forget the North Pacific Gyre! Never mind about space junk! Suppress the knowledge that we are crapping up our planet! It's still nice...HERE.


The landlord's doggie, Grace. A big, gangly thing that's sweet as pie, but in her youthful enthusiasm, when you get out of your car, she jumps on your white pants.


Orange flowers framed by spring greenery at the neighborhood cemetery.


Horses irritated, kick the tub!

Blue bell flowers means it's spring!


Oops. I'm not so good about the keeping things alive deal. Probably a good thing I never had kids.


back pasture fence.



Flag at grave, the view from my deck.



Oops again!

Hauntings Exhibition, Blue Bell Gallery

hauntings
artists exhibition

October 4-27
RECEPTION OCTOBER 20TH @ 7pm

exhibition * book signing * readings * ghost stories * refreshments

Featuring Over 36 New Local Artists

On Madison County's coonrod competition

Madison County historian Charlotte Bond explains the origin of the "Coonrod" area of Madison County GA.

"Coonrod, Norcross and Shiloh. These are the names that identified the same little community at the crossroads of Jones Chapel-Shiloh road, Hwy. 174 and the Fort Lamar Road..."

"Coonrod was the more popular name back in the 1920s and ‘30s and old timers still love to call it that. The name always invokes questions about the origin of the name by new comers. They seldom, if ever, get an answer. It took nearly 50 years for me to get the answer. I don’t know the exact year the name originated, but I do know how it came about."

"There was a rather large country store on the corner of present day Hwy 174 and Jones Chapel-Shiloh road, where our Fire Department now stands. It was owned by John Chapel Tyner and Thomas W. Dean. It operated prior to the Civil War. They had order forms bearing the name Dean & Tyner. One of these was carried by a young soldier, probably as writing paper, into battle and afterwards he wrote a poem on the paper about his fallen comrade and friend."

"The store became a gathering place for the whole community, but especially the men. They sat around, chewed their tobacco, played checkers, a game of cards and discussed world affairs, i.e., the local gossip. Most of the men were hunters; fox, rabbit, squirrel, dove, opossum and raccoons. They were competitive when it came to their dogs. "My dog can tree a coon quicker than yourn!" The competition spilled over into story telling and the size of their last catch. The competition ran its gamut though, when they started keeping a chart at the store for the one who brought in the longest rod a raccoon."

"Now if you’re shy or easily embarrassed, don’t read the rest of this story. OK, I warned you!"

"The "rod’’ of the raccoon was his male appendage. It had a small bone that ranged from 2 and a half to 3 inches long with a curved hook on the end. These were measured and the results posted on the chart. I imagine the prize for such a feat was the prestige it brought."

"Now, if you think these men were a little strange, just hang on! They had a specific use for these little "Coon-rods". They used them for toothpicks. You can let go now and catch your breath! They were called Arkansas tooth-picks. Why the name? I don’t know. I’m told they made a great tooth-pick because of the curved end that would reach to the back of the tooth."

"Well, all I can say is, truth is stranger than fiction."
By Charlotte Bond