May 10, 2014

raincrow

Yesterday afternoon a raincrow (aka Yellow-billed cuckoo) began making its predictive call down behind the big pond and about ten minutes later it began to rain. Raincrow predictions, like weather men, are not always spot on. Yesterday, both were correct and the rain gauge shows an accumulation of almost and inch and a half this morning. There was also an armadillo at the bottom of the pool this morning. I assume death was due to poor eyesight and not mental depression.  I fished the thing out and unceremoniously dumped the corpse in a ditch a ways off from the cabin.

After my constitutional at the gym in town this morning I stopped by the hardware to visit with the owner and his wife. The conversation turned to men's penchant to drive non-stop until reaching the destination of the trip.  We exchanged several stories and I remembered what my mother said about my father's driving:  "If some business man had caught the Devil and had him in a cage on the side of the road, Jack would not stop and buy a ticket to look at the thing." I could always picture that.

 

JUST AHEAD SEE THE 8th WONDER OF THE WORLD!

                          SEE THE DEVIL IN A CAGE!

                                                                     500 FT AHEAD
DON'T MISS IT!

ADMISSION AT THE DOOR ONLY 25 cents

                                                                                                         

 

devil in a cage
Featured in Ripley's Believe It or Not

May 11, 2014

All over the south country churches slowly vanish from the landscape. This morning services will be held at the Sardis Methodist church.  Mother' Day is the only day of the year that serves are held there.  Last year wasps interrupted the service and I noticed the north east foundation was giving away. I attend to lend support to D_______, who is determined to keep the church going as best he can.

Well, the church service can only be described as sad. The one room rectangular shaped church is in poor shape. Four neon fixtures hang down from the ceiling and three ceiling fans. The fans work but only one light is operational.  D_______  stood before the forty or so attendees and said they need to collect enough money to level, paint, and install a new roof or, in his words, "Its gonna lay over."  When I passed the collection plate, one guy put in a single dollar bill and another waved me away. My guess is that one day its gonna lay over.

 

church Once the focal point of rural communities.
Many such churches are abandoned and deteriorating. Some are victims of vandals and get torched. abandoned

When people leave the country and move to cities something more than churches is lost. I can not help but think the human spirit is also diminished.

france Abandoned churches are, of course, not limited to the American South. Here is one in Oppède-le-Vieux-France
And another in Russia. russia
Cornish fish sale
                                   A Cornish Fish Sale -Stanhope Forbes (Can't end the page with derelict churches, so here is a cheerful image.)

Next