Korn

I haven't been ignoring this blog since Sunday. I've actually been having performance issues with my scanner. But after several reboots of both PC and scanner, I seem to have resolved the problem.

My mother sent me some pictures recently of our farm and this one really made me feel good, particularly since corn prices are so high and we have not been plagued with the flooding they've had in the midwest.

That area at the back with the trees is what we called the "break." I'm not sure where that term originates, but it was formerly a bayou which changed course and is now just a swampy muck of stanky water. I would find quite a few lovely blackberries back there in the season, around this time of year.

I used to go out in that area of the field after a rain and pick up Injun artifacts... pieces of pottery, arrowheads, etc. It used to amaze me that families lived on "our" farm before we did.

I'd be happy if they were still there.

More scenes from Arkansas

It was a little too wet and muddy for me to risk driving to the back side of the farm so I had to stop here and get a couple of shots. Not much going on this time of year.

Looking west:

From the same spot looking north:

Another part of the farm about 1/2 mile east has some nice winter wheat growing.

On my way back into town to my mother's house I stopped for a picture of the Jewish temple. Back in the heyday of this little town when we actually had a lot of locally owned businesses there was a nice sized Jewish community. Many people in the town have died off and most of the younger people have moved away. Not much remains in my little town.

There are lots of birds though.

And they had no issues with shitting all over my car.

I guess I should have known better than to park under a tree. This is my mother's tiny back yard. It looks better in the spring and summer although she can't really take care of it after she broke her hip.

I'm glad her hip doesn't interfere with her cooking too much since she enjoys it, and I certainly enjoyed eating her cooking. I never leave the table hungry. That pie crust would later become a tasty chocolate pie. She used an old wood rolling pin she's had since she was 4 years old.

She doesn't look 84 does she? (She would KILL me if she knew I published a picture of her on a blog! I caught hell just for taking the picture!)

This okra dish was quite tasty.

Her house is quite small and I really don't know how she functions in such a tiny kitchen, and with no dishwasher. The rest of the house is equally crowded (some would use the word "cluttered" which is equally applicable. She really didn't get rid of very much from the roomier farm house when she moved into town. I have to walk sideways to squeeze by furniture.

The Farm

I love surfing Google Earth. The yellow arrow points to the 5-acres where I grew up on the family farm, which extends north and west of the plot with the house (which unfortunately has since burned down).

I think this image is quite abstract and beautiful. The green serpentine band to the left was actually a swampy, jungle-like area with cypress trees.

My Hometown

When I was a teen, I actually wrote letters to the CEOs of major corporations asking them to consider putting a factory in my town. I wanted to see it grow. I was proud of it.

Fast-forward 30 something years and you see this.

A shuttered gas station is definitely a problem.

This was a Kentucky Fried Chicken joint back in the 70s. Not any longer.

At least the farms are still beautiful. If only they'd quit spraying all that toxic cancer-causing shit on the land.