The Shepherdsville Times: Looking For Something To Do
...What do you suppose those old pioneer guys, who couldn’t read or write, did to pass the time when the weather was too bad to be out? They had to stay close enough to home to be back by milking time, and most didn’t have any money, decent clothes, and had never owned a pair of professional cobbler-made boots...
Jerry Selby muses on what to do when the weather is less than friendly.
Open Writing readers can pass the time most enjoyably by reading Jerry's neighbour-friendly columns. For more of them please click on The Shepherdsville Times in the menu on his page.
Now that I have proven to myself that I can do my own mowing, here comes this streak of weather when an old geezer like me, who has been laid up, has no business trying to do outside work.
So, what's a guy to do? I’m like the kids, I am getting bored out of my gourd, and I don’t even have SCHOOL STARTING to anticipate. I may have to resort to some serious thinking. Too hot for that.
I suppose I could go pester somebody until they do something interesting. That works sometimes.
What do you suppose those old pioneer guys, who couldn’t read or write, did to pass the time when the weather was too bad to be out? They had to stay close enough to home to be back by milking time, and most didn’t have any money, decent clothes, and had never owned a pair of professional cobbler-made boots.
From what I’ve read and heard, some of them were very good at carving, whittling, or any kind of woodworking. Toys, small tools, buttons or ornaments to please the kids and the ladies. A guy who was good with his hands and lucky enough to have a good teacher, might learn how to braid horsehair ropes, or intricately made bridles, bracelets, belts and such. And if a feller was both good and persistent, he might be able to whittle and peg out a fiddle, and teach himself how to play it.
Probably have to practice out in the barn.
Hello, stranger; Welcome, friend
I have mostly been staying inside in this weather, but getting more than I want of animal-watching time, both day and night. It was way last spring when we saw our last bluejay. A big, bossy guy showed up Monday morning, and has been around from then on. When he arrives at a feeder or perch, anyone else has two choices. Leave or get bullied. Glad to see him though.
It was last Saturday, I believe, when I saw a mostly black animal, almost as big as our small dog, Sox, run out from the far corner of the barn and hide in the tall viburnums back there. I just caught a quick glimpse, but it moved too fast and gracefully to be an opossum or raccoon.
Last night I saw it at one of the Coon Café feeders. A big housecat, shiny black except for a white patch on its throat and chest. I think it was around here once in a while last winter. Probably a neighbor’s cat. I haven’t seen Mr. Gray, our come-and-go barn cat, for several weeks now. Nor that Siamese who was living here for a while.
Reminds me of a city neighborhood. Most people have lived in the same house all their lives. But a few come and go. Who knows why? Midnight Movers who came back after their old landlord died. That guy who was messing with a married gal and her mean driver husband who made up and moved to Alaska. The old new guy who got out on probation earlier than expected. None of my business, but he’s back and looks like he aims to stick around. He’s welcome as long as he behaves.
Speaking of new folks
I made a list the other sleepless night of animals which we were told by Those In Authority were gone from Indiana forever, but are back, or maybe were never really gone:
Deer
Beaver
Otter
Wild turkey
Coyotes (not deliberately but as bonus with deer)
Bald eagle
Peregrine falcon
All are back now, reintroduced deliberately, most of them. With our changing patterns in farming and rural living it looks as if they will stay. Some others, Bobcat and Osprey for example, were never really gone. But those who knew that were not gossiping. Same with some of the big fish, for instance.
On the other hand, many formerly common critters are probably not found in the wild these days:
Buffalo
Timber wolf
Black bear
“Painter” or cougar
Carolina parakeet
Passenger pigeon
Elk
Timber rattler
Cottonmouth
Badger
Or maybe those who know ain’t talkin’.
Now you know
From Wikipedia
Non-standard units
Non-standard measurement units, sometimes found in books etc., include:
* A ton of TNT, and its multiples the kiloton and the megaton and the gigaton. Often used in stating the power of very energetic events such as explosions and volcanic events and earthquakes and asteroid impacts. A gram of TNT as a unit of energy has been defined as 1000 thermochemical calories, or roughly 4184 joules.
* The Hiroshima atom bomb. Its force is often used in the public media and popular books as a unit of energy. (Its yield was roughly 13 kilotons.)
* The weight of an elephant. It is often used as a unit of weight in popular books about very big animals such as dinosaurs. This unit needs to be defined, as the real weight of elephants varies much with age, sex and species.
* The (American) football field, which has a playing area 120 yards long by 53 1/3 yards wide. This is often used by the American public media for the sizes of large buildings or parks: Easily walkable but non-trivial distances. Note that it is used as a unit of length (120 yards) or area (6400 yards2).
I recommend you clip these out and tuck them in your billfold for ready reference. When you really need a conversation stopper, any one of them should work.
