Wednesday, 24 Sep 2008 - Catching up

Catching up...

Today, we had the heating/AC guy come today to check out the system to be sure it's working at its peak before cold weather hits in another 2 months or so. Then it was off to Lowe's to price saws (circular and table), but in the end, the gal at the checkout said they'd be able to cut the beveled edges I'll need on the 2x4s for the back deck railing, so we saved at least $50 on THAT stop! Bought a new digital thermostat which I'll install shortly though. So maybe we didn't really SAVE $50 yet. Then it was up to Lawrenceburg -- more on this later.

Now for some past historical events...back in late August, we went over to Bardstown, overnight, because we went to see Stephen Foster-The Musical, and Annie, at My Old Kentucky Home State Park. The Foster production was a third-time visit, and this time it was much better than last year. They do change it a bit each year, and we noticed that. Annie was great, and when one of the characters said, "Oh my goodness, oh my goodness," I thought Barry would crack up. I've used the phrase many times, and finally, he got to see where it came from.

While in Bardstown, we did the usual tourist thing. We visited the Kentucky Railway Museum, especially since the Lebanon Branch of the Louisville and Nashville Railroad used to run through our front yard. We actually got a fantastic private tour of one of the steam engines by one of the guys who was working on its restoration, and got to climb up into the cab, look into the firebox, and play engineer. What a great extra added attraction that was NOT included in the admission price! This engine was the one which carried Al Capone to Sing-Sing (which is just off Interstate-84 in Newburgh/Beacon, NY -- seen it many times), and carried Franklin Delano Roosevelt as well. So it's quite an historic 100 ton piece of iron!

We also ate lunch at Hawk's Place II (great local down-home type of place) and toured the Heaven Hill distillery in Bardstown. Bardstown is the center of the Kentucky Bourbon Trail, and Heaven Hill is one of the largest distilleries in Kentucky. We learned a great deal about America's native hard liquor, bourbon, and how it is made. After that tour, and touring Maker's Mark in Loretto (near Bardstown), we can see why good Kentucky bourbon is so expensive!

Anyway, Barry's allergies were kicking up a storm in his nose, and the sneezing was beginning to worry me, but like a trooper, he went on anyway. We went into the "rick house" where the bourbon barrels are stored. The alcohol actually evaporates through the wood, or between the slats, and the rick houses are coated with black mold from all that alcohol, and need to be washed or painted on a regular basis. Anyway, to make a long story short, after a great tour, we noticed that Barry wasn't sneezing any more. Could it be that the smell of the alcohol desensitized his nose or something? Hmm, something to investigate, we thought.

A few weeks later, he was up through the night with allergies. So he took a tissue and soaked the tip of it in a bit of bourbon and went back to bed with the tissue on his upper lip. NO allergic reaction! So we have come to the conclusion that instead of taking Claritin or Allegra, nasal inhalation of Kentucky Bourbon has the same medicinal properties at a fraction of the cost with no (unpleasant) side effects; plus you can mix the remainder of the medicine with ginger ale and drink it!

Well, today, we drove up to Lawrenceburg, about 35 miles north of here. Barry wanted to take me to the Kentucky Burgoo Festival this coming Saturday. Now you have to understand that Kentucky has a festival for every imaginable thing under the sun. We're going to the Pleasant Hill (Shakertown) Alpaca Festival this weekend, and the Casey Count Apple Festival is happening all this week. Anyway, burgoo is sort of like a hot (as in chili) beef stew which I really don't like that much, but hey, a festival is a festival, ain't it? So up to Lawrenceburg today to scope out the site.

Wouldn't you know it, we saw signs for "Four Roses" distillery, and the "Wild Turkey" distillery on the way, so off the main road we went, through Lawrenceburg (about half the size of Waterville, but not very economically well-off, at least not the way Danville seems to do well). Took a right downtown, and off to Wild Turkey, for a tour -- we didn't get to see the whole operation because they don't start distilling until tomorrow -- can't do it in the summer because the "moonshine" has to be cooled at 66 degrees and they use Kentucky River water (which we found out first hand when we drove down to a boat landing in the settlement of Tyson is probably 80 degrees now) to do the cooling. But that's now three of the seven major bourbon distilleries we've visited in Kentucky. Four more to go.

Now, we're waiting for the First Monthly Kentucky Fried Clams and Scallops Festival, which we plan to start at Sutton's Restaurant (used to be Woody's, our favorite eating establishment) in Danville, because that's the ONLY place we can find so far in Kentucky to get fried clams or scallops! We hope to make it a monthly event, and to convert all these catfish-loving people into REAL seafood eaters! Then it's off to the Fifth Weekly Kentucky Waltham Buttercup Squash Cookoff Festival (really, just a day in the kitchen cooking some of the squash we grew -- there will be at least 2-3 more of these weekly events).

Other upcoming events over the next month:
1) Casey County Apple Festival, 21-27 Sep
2) Hollerwood, a play at W T Hill Community Theatre in Danville, 27 Sep
3) Alpaca Festival, Shaker Village, 28 Sep
4) Foreigner, also a play, not the 80s rock group, Ragged Edge Theatre, Harrodsburg, 5 Oct
5) Ragged Edge (Harrodsburg) Variety Show, 11 Oct, and finally,
6) Barry's Birthday Present from Rick -- tickets to football in Lexington, University of Kentucky vs University of Arkansas, UK's homecoming game, 18 Oct.

Of course, there's always politics on CNN and the weather on TWC which have both of us glued to the TV now.

There's ALWAYS SOMETHING to do here! Maybe that's why I don't write so much in my blog -- too busy DOING.