The Lost World

2350 CDT Tues 5-21-02

Yesterday, Jimmy took me on a trail outback down into a nearby gorge.  It was beautiful.  The canyon walls must have been about 200’.  The rill in the bottom raced over boulders the size of cars— the drop must have been 10′ in a hundred.  A canopy of tall trees gave the place a lost world feel.  Over hangs and caves showed signs of many fires and recent habitations.

We hiked down to the creek and up the other side along the rock bluffs.  When I mentioned that it looked like a perfect place for finding Ginseng, Jimmy told me that he has a cousin that has made hundreds of dollars back there finding it.

Turns out that Jimmy’s father is a musician.  Last night we sat around drinking homemade wine and corn squeezin’s and playing harmonicas.  His father and I have hit it off pretty good as friends and Bill is also fond of Bucky.  Bill insists that when I come back and park in the shade of his yard.  He is 75 and retired, but still likes to work.  Bill is also a thoughtful man, bright, and completely illiterate.  He likes to cook breakfast a couple times a week for everybody.  Tomorrow he’s making venison steaks, biscuits, and tomato gravy.

Cleaned the RV today.  Spent portions of the past couple days cleaning the Escort— it was about time, I don’t think I’ve ever cleaned it on the inside.  So not only vacuuming, I cleaned dog grime off the doors and dash.

Pretty much been ready to go for a while.  The past few nights have been record cold— down into the mid and lower 40s with the wind from the north.  Just waiting for the wind to shift to the south so I can drive north.  Having driven both with the wind and against it, I can say that there is quite a difference in both cost and comfort.  Wind is supposed to be from the east tomorrow shifting around to the south by evening.  Since I like driving at night, that should work out well.  I’ll try to sleep late tomorrow.

Share
May 21, 2002 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , | No Comments »

Water Damage

0129CDT Sat 5/18/02

Am up early, though I slept great last night; had a long dream about meeting Greg and Wanda at St. John’s Church in Ypsi.  In the dream I drove to the church in a 1958 Chevy Impala station wagon— dark green & white two tone— that I had just bought in the old Ypsi High School parking lot after having breakfast in Depot Town.  I bought the car so I could drive it to FL for the winter months.  Greg & Wnnda came out of the church early and went over to Mom’s house (305 Hamilton, in Ypsilanti).  I stayed and talked to a young Priest that I met named Bill.  For some reason he didn’t want to introduce himself as a priest.  When I came out, my car wasn’t in the church parking lot.  As I looked for it, it turned into a dark green & white Shwinn bicycle.  As I looked for the bicycle, I found the Chevy station wagon (now Greg’s car) parked beside Mom’s house under a tarp.  Greg & Wanda were inside with Mom.

Vivid dream.  Should I speculate on what it means?  My mom died in 97.  I bought my first car from Greg— a little 1959 English Vauxhall Victor station wagon that looked like a miniature 1955 Chevy.  On the day he married his first wife (I was 14, so it must have been 1968), I borrowed his bicycle without asking and accidentally crashed going full speed into a parked car.  Greg was off on his honeymoon already.  He found out when he got back, but the beating he gave me wasn’t nearly as painful as the wreck.

A few days ago, while trying to get a stuck tool box out from under my bed, I discovered that the particle woodwork had swollen— it was wet, but the floor (carpet) was dry.  Upon closer inspection, I discovered that the small check valve in the side of the hull where the city H2O comes in had a small leak— not enough to drip down onto the ground.  The leak is in the port side aft corner— under my bunk and not easy to get to.  Anywhere else I might have noticed sooner.  For now I’ve turned off the city water and try and leave the pump off when I’m not using it.

Meanwhile, the entire floor under my bunk (but not the carpet) and the insulation under it are saturated.  I have not idea how to dry it out without tearing my whole bunk apart.  I suppose it will dry out eventually and the damage is already done.  In order to fix it, I need to tear my whole bunk out and replace the flooring and a lot of the supporting woodwork for my bed.  That will take a few days, a lot of plywood and fresh insulation, and I’ll need somewhere else to sleep as working in an RV and living in it is bad!

During heavy rains, I noted that a couple drips had developed in the ceiling.  A couple days ago, I climbed up on the roof and put cool seal on all of the seams and around skylights and vents.  Last night we had a hard rain and no seepage was detected.

The lights on my car have been dim when towing it.  I took a jumper cable and connected from the ground on the battery to the hitch ball and the lights worked right, but they still weren’t bright enough.  Next I ran a line to the battery and the lights were bright.  So yesterday, I ran a 12ga circuit and a 10ga ground from the tail lights of the car all the way up the ground on the battery and a splice by the switch in the front of the RV.  Lights are working good now.

Like an old boat, an old RV needs lots of caulk and there is always something to fix.

Share
May 18, 2002 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , | No Comments »

Cooperative Society

1256 CDT Thurs 5/16/02

Yesterday, I helped Jimmy fix a diesel tractor for a neighbor.  He’d been working on a Massey Ferguson 175 since before I got here.  I found a leak in the canister for the power steering pump filter— had been set in wrong— then over tightened.  Plus the filter was trash.  One of the compression fittings for the diesel fuel lines was leaking and had caused a fire in the alternator (a retro fitted GM) and it had burned up.  Sealed that by adding some Teflon tape.  Went around tightening other things like loose injector lines.  It’s a nice tractor and the engine sounds great.  I think the 175 stands for cubic inches— which looks about the right size.

I like fixing things; sort of a way to contribute something to what’s going on.  Last week I fixed Jimmy’s dad’s refridgerator— which had plugged up, then iced up, then leaked all over the place ruining some adjacent wood work.  The hardest part of fixing it was figuring out how to take it apart.  Some of the things I’ve fixed are projects that Jimmy is doing for someone else that has given him something, though no one really seems to keep score.  Today, we are working on a go-cart for the fellow that let us come over and go catfishing.

Though everyone around here seems to have their bills paid, there also seems to be a lack of cash.  So when someone needs or wants something, people just give it to each other— but not in trade— they just give it.  It’s like the whole local economy is illiterate in the sense that material things, like useful information, are shared in a social to make life better and lessen one’s burdens— instead of reading fro knowledge or buying things from each other in a paid for economy.  Much more than city people, these country folk are a very cooperative society.  People do charge and get paid for things, but it’s like there are 2 classes—  and if you are among those who *helps out*, money is a taboo.

I really dig it.  Not much money is spent in the grocery store.  These folks cook, catch, shoot, grow, build, modify, repair just about everything they need.  And a big part of their connection to each other is freely sharing  the skills they need to get things done.

So, though I’m a Yankee, and I’ve got book learned (high school drop out is a meaningless notion), I am now accepted among those who “help out” others.  I suppose helping is a key to assimilating into any society, but here, it is also a foundation of local the community— unlike anywhere I’ve been except perhaps the U.P. of MI.  So while the rest of the world seems to be in a mad heat to quest for the almighty buck, here the rejection of education is coupled with a rejection of money— both are measured as an outside evil.

Share
May 16, 2002 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , | No Comments »

Catfishing!

2332 CDT Tue 5/14/02

Did some fishing in a catfish pond today in a pond in the next town over called Sipsy.  Sipsy is also in Walker Co. and is where my friend, Gary McGough is from—  from Sipsy to Ypsi! Small world.

The pond is man made and in the back of  Jimmy’s brother in laws place.  We used these fat ugly worms for bait— nasty looking things with horns on them—  they’re a common local tree pest.  Catfish love ‘em!

The catfish were big.  One I could hardly get out of the water because the weight of it overpowered the drag on my pole.  We caught 35 monsters in less than 2 hours!  I caught most of them—  which was especially fun since I hadn’t fished with a pole in over 20 years.  Something that surprised me was that catfish *talk*; they sound like talking bullfrogs!  The owners, a 75 year old fellow and his wife, encouraged us to take all we could as his pond has gotten over crowded.  Sure hasn’t seemed to cause any dwarfism.  The fish were stored on/in ice for a couple hours until they quit wiggling, then cleaned.

The pond was also used for several varieties of geese.  I kept asking about them and wondering what they would taste like cooked in a deep fryer pot— like we did the turkeys last Thanksgiving at Kim Hoskin’s dinner party.  I suggested that next time we should bring the propane and deep frying pot and do one up while we were fishing and found out that they were all pets.  What a waste… (Dang Yankee anyways…)

Cleaning them was easy. An electric knife is used to cut fillets: start just past the bones behind the head and cut the side down to the tail (without severing the skin), then flip the fillet and continue cutting from the attached tail between the skin and the fillet until it is separated.  The fillets are soaked in salt water over night.  Fillets that aren’t eaten immediately are sealed in plastic bags with water and the air drawn out; the bags are wrapped in freezer paper, then frozen.  Properly done, the fish will last over a year in the freezer and still taste fresh.

Last night, we deep fried some fish.  A batter was made from 1 part flour to 2 parts of corn meal seasoned with salt and pepper.  After the oil is preheated to about 350°, we flopped croppy fillets into the dry batter and dropped them into the pot for 3 minutes.  Catfish we dipped in buttermilk first and then dipped in the batter mix— the buttermilk made for a little thicker breading.  The catfish fillets were also thicker so I gave them 4 minutes in the fryer.

We did hush puppies too, but I didn’t pay any attention to what they were made out of.  They are good hot, but not so good eaten as left overs.  The fish on the other hand were excellent the second day.  Took a hamburger bun, mayo on both sides, some dill pickle slices and lettuce— then nuked some of yesterday’s fillets for a few seconds— it made for the best tasting fish sandwich I ever had!!

PS   Bucky loves day old hush puppies.

Share
May 14, 2002 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , | No Comments »

He’pin’ Out?

1400 CDT Sunday 5/12/02

Got up this morning and knocked an old leaky chimney off Jimmy’s house.  Framed the hole, covered it with some #/4 plywood to match the roof board thickness. Wanted to get it done before it gets hot.

Took a break for breakfast:  Fried Venison backstraps, homemade biscuits, & gravy.

After breakfast, covered the missing tar paper with some leftover roll roofing.  Pieced in the missing shingles with some left over scraps stacked in the yard—  did it just like they show how to do it on Hometime.

While I was up on the roof working, and man drove up and got out of his car.  It was one of Jimmy’s in-laws. He began talking with Jimmy, but in a voice loud enough for me to hear.

“Jimmy!  What’s that damn Yankee doin’ up on your roof?”

“That’s Bob.  Bob’s fixin’ the roof because I can’t get up there.”

“How much that damn Yankee chargin’ ya fer that?”

“Bob’s not chargin’ not’in’.  He’s just helpin’ out?”

“He’pin’ out?  That damn Yankee jus’ he’pin’ out?”

Jimmy nodded and his friend approached the house.  “Hey Yankee!”

I stopped working and looked down.

“I got me a pond full of catfish!” he said. “How ’bout commin’ over and he’pin’ me git some outta there?”

Sounded like a great idea to me.

Got hot up there before I was finished, but it was all before noon.  Time then for a long cold shower.

Share
May 12, 2002 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , | No Comments »

Strong Sense of Community

1400 Fri 5/10/02

70 Pinedale Pl., Jasper, AL

Am in the Jasper community of Walker County, AL visiting my good friends from Ypsi: Jim and Carolyn Burton.  Jimmy retired from GM and moved back to his home town in northern AL.  Jim’s father and other kin live close by.

Many of the folks that I’ve met here don’t read. I witnessed a group of men laughing at a person who works on small engines because he always uses a manual.  There is a surprising pride and independence in being unschooled; and there is a disdain, perhaps just a defensive gesture, toward people that are deemed  overly book learned.  Lack of formalized learning doesn’t mean that folks are unlearned.  Most individuals I’ve met here are multi skilled.  For instance, their cars run well— even newer ones with complicated sensors— all repaired and kept running well without reading the books.

We are all aware of how functional illiteracy contributes to ignorance and prejudice, but among these folks it fosters something else:  The learning that takes place among illiterate folks is of an oral tradition; and the time and knowledge shared builds comeradre and a strong sense of community.  Learning in an oral tradition involves an unexpected sincerity and sharing; communicated experience from one person to another is a great gift as it can help avoid trial and error.

I haven’t experienced urban illiteracy, but in a rural life it seems to add to a fierce sense of self-reliance and independence.  Still, watching the frustration of someone unable to read trying to cope television settings using a remote control is something to witness!

Share
May 10, 2002 | Tags: , , , , , , , , | No Comments »