Back in the Saddle

I spent the past few days in those Elysian Fields of Southeast Ohio, where unfortunately the excessive rain has severely retarded planting of corn.  Corn crops were poor and many fields were unplanted. Obviously many farmers switched some fields to soybeans.  A modern hybrid corn should be at least waist high, preferably chest high by the 4th of July, but many fields that I drove by the corn was ankle high. Yields will be very low, if the corn pollinates at all.

On the brighter side, I enjoyed several fine meals with friends and relatives at the local wineries, and a couple of the World's Finest Pizzas. And ... I was treated to a Plow Boy by Big Al.  He, Big John and I planned this year's wilderness canoe trip on a picnic table as we chowed down on those Plow Boys.  Mmmmmmmmmm.

Prices were low, the pace of life was easy and the sites were pleasurable.  Small towns can have fine tourist attractions with enthusiastic local "living history" actors.  A weekend or 3-day "stay-cation" at a nearby tourist site is very pleasurable.  Try it!

I also learned that Abraham Lincoln gave a speech in 1861 at my hometown from the back of a train on the way to his inauguration ... cool.

Word of the Day

"Hesperian" - adjective [$10] Poetic
Hesperian means 1. western; 2. (in Greek mythology) of or concerning the Hesperides (nymphs who guarded the garden of the golden apples at the western extremity of the earth).
Sentence:  Before and during the early days of the American republic, Ohio was the Hesperian wilderness.  Looking western from Fort Pitt, the virgin forest stretched for a thousand miles, and yes, the buffalo roamed in it: they were seen in my hometown area circa 1800.