New Kid (yeah right!!!!) on the Blog

New Kid (yeah right!!!!) on the Blog

Friday, April 22, 2011

Saturday, April 16, 2011

9/10/00 Kentucky Backroads (First One)






Here is the first of my Ky Backroads stories from way back in 2000.

9/10/00 Backroads of Ky by Cavey (Stupid) Davey

Greetings to all of my faithful readers, I thought that I would send out a "form type letter" that one usually only gets at Christmas time in with your X-mas cards. To update those that I have not written in awhile, the following events have taken place with me over the last month or so:

A About a month ago, I was at O'Charley's in the bar portion doing some "walk around magic" for the patrons. (I get free beer and food and have real people to practice my magic on.) A couple evidently liked my work and hired me to do some "magic" at a party they were giving for the Doctors of Frankfort. As it turned out, Kim (wife) worked the same party with one of her caterer friends. She slaved for 7 hours, and I walked around drinking, eating, bullshitting, and performed close up magic for about 3 hours. I still made more money on the gig than she did.

B Business is still going good. Now having a rertired lady work with us each Thur and Friday night so we can get done at a decent time, and have the weekends free.

C A few months ago, I kind of got back into an old hobby from years ago: Photography. I was coresponding on the net with a lady from Florida that was searching for waterfalls in Ky. So, I went out and hunted down a couple and shot pictures of them for her. I enjoyed it so much, that I got " The Varmit" (Marisa) envolved in it. She took to it like a duck to water, and is constantly bugging me to "Go waterfall hunting".

D A few weeks ago, I organized a "Get Together" with some old friends, and we went down to Torrent Falls in Wolfe County and rented a cabin for the weekend. We got to sit around a campfire and swap lies, tell ghost stories, drink booze, sing along, and even got to sample some "local moonshine" (that was surprizingly pretty good). After everyone else left on Sunday at noon, I went up to Morgan County and visited with an old friend that I hadn't seen in about 20 years. He was not familiar with magic and could not catch me at my sleights, so he was certain that I was somehow in league with the devil. He said several times that he'd pray for me.

On Saturday of that weekend, we went out to photograph and try to find some new waterfalls. While enroute, I went up a highway in Lee County that I had never been on before. As we were driving along, I spotted some very large and beautiful flowers in someones yard. We all were curious as to what they were, so I pulled up in the driveway (much to the dismay and panic of my fellow travelers) I think that they watched the movie "Deliverence" too many times. I then proceeded to announce my presence by yelling the old country method, before stepping up to the porch, " HAllo in the House". A couple came out and I introduced myself and queried the lady about the beautiful flowers. She proceeded to go out and make some "cuttings" for us to take home to start our own plants. While she was doing that, I stayed on the porch and shot the bull with the man, and found out that his uncle was a second cousin of mine from up in Owen County. So, out in the middle of nowhere, I meet a long lost cousin! The "Get Together was a real blast! If anyone else wants to try this some weekend, please contact me and we'll work it out!

E. My old buddy from college named Darryl Tedder was supposed to come down for the long "Labor Day Weekend". I had planned on Friday night, Saturday and Saturday night to spend time down at the farm and staying at the "hunting lodge", then Sunday to go spelunking down at a big cave in Rockcastle County that we used to frequent while at EKU, then Monday to go canoeing down beautiful Elkhorn Creek. Alas, he was unable to come down due to his wife having some pretty serious surgery the week before.

However, Marisa decided we needed to go on alone, which we did. We spent Sat night at the "lodge", then proceeded on Sunday to go caveing. It was her first "wid cave" and she loved it! It was the first wild cave that I had been to in almost 18 years, and I had forgotten just how grueling that this damned cave was. We had a blast, and even got some pictures from the event. We were in the cave for 4 1/2 hours and didn't even see 1/10th of it. I was sore as hell for three days!

F Marisa took the pictures of the caving trip to school along with a description of how much fun she had. So, on Saturday, we took off again to go caving: Me, Marisa, and 4 other 13 year olds (2 boys and 3 girls) We proceeded to go back to Sinks Cave (1 1/2 hour drive from Frankfort). Some of the photos that I tried the week before didn't turn out, so I was determined to try again...only from a higher vantage point. While in the "Big Room" they were appox 100 yards across the room, and I was perched about 60 feet up on some rocks near the ceiling trying to photograph them. Then "ole Cavey Davey" did one of his typical dumbass moves. He stepped back to lean against the wall while awaiting the time lapse photo to do it's thing. He stepped back into thin air, bounced off the wall and plunged head first down into a small crevace. His short fall was interupted by a nice limestone boulder and side wall only about 4 feet from where he was standing. However, there he was, upside down, wedged, light knocked off, and slightly dazed and feeling a little pain.

I first checked that I had not broken any bones, then checked to see if my cigarettes and lighter had stayed in my shirt pocket (they had). Then I groped around and was able to get the light back on, then started squirming around to get my head up and ass down, so I could climb back up on the rock. Brandon, one of the boys came back to help me out, but I was back up before he could get back to me. I then shot a couple more pictures and muttered to myself, " If these damned pictures don't turn out, I'm gonna be one pissed off hombre!" Due to the soreness in my lower back and neck, I sent the kids up in a couple of "safe side passages" to explore, while I layed down and "rested". That wasn't real smart because the floor was cold and damp which didn't help with the stiffening of my muscles. I called the kids back after about 1/2 hour and told them we needed to go back the way we came in. Marisa wasn't too happy with that, because she wanted her friends to have to go through the torturous climbing and crawling route out the back entrance that she had to go through the week before. However, I knew that I'd never make it out that way. So, with the two boys on either side of me, I managed to limp my way out and back to the car. I am ok with the help of a bunch of tylenol. My lower back is still a little sore and the neck is sort of stiff, but I'll be ok. Marisa wants to go back again next week...I told her that I need awhile to get over this trip.

G I thought that I might add to the end of this that not one of those damned pictures that almost got me killed turned out!

Friday, April 15, 2011

28th Anniversary...April16


Yep.... been married just once... 28 years on the 16th.
Been racking my brain for a "special idea" for her.
Thought I'd take her on a big trip over to Shelby County (whole 15 miles away) for the day.
Start off with breakfast at my sister's house, then run down to Shelbyville to check out the New Kroger Market ( their idea of a Super Wal-Mart), then maybe go over to the Simpsonville Flea Market to check out the bargains, then end up over at the new Denny's at the Waddy Truckstop for a late lunch. Then, if she was up to it....maybe I'd take her to Sportsman's World in Lexington (In case she wanted to do any real shopping).
Was going to buy her a brand new vaccum cleaner, but, she already went yesterday and got one herself!
Well, I know she appreciated my thoughtfulness, but, she decided she'd just as soon stay home and sleep in late.
Darn....women sure can be hard to figure out sometimes!

Thursday, April 14, 2011

The Cavehouse




A few years ago, I wrote a "journal" (before blogging came about) to leave a record of some of my life. I would then e-mail these out to my friends telling them about my "travels along the Kentucky Backroads" Here is a sample of one from 2002.

1/12/02 Backroads of Kentucky

Greetings from the "mostely thawed state of Kentucky",

Yep, we've had some pretty chilly weather these past couple of weeks, even got some of that white stuff on the ground! However, it got up over 40 degrees F today so it was looking like too nice of a day to stay burrowed up like an old groundhog.

Kim and Marisa pulled out at 6:30 a.m. this ( Saturday) morning to go to Lexington so Marisa could participate in a " Dance Team Exhibition" at school. Then Sat night she planned on going out to dinner then to a " Sadie Hawkins Dance " with her boyfriend. Of course Mom volunteered to do all of the driving today.... provided that I pick her up Sunday after she spends the night at her friend's house. Kim likes to try to stay in her nice warm bed on Sundays for as long as she can.

So, when I finally aroused from blissful peaceful slumber around 9:00 a.m., I had to do some serious thinking as to how to best schedule my day, so to be most productive. The # 1 chore that had to be done today was a good cleaning and staightening up of the basement. So, after finally shaking the cobwebs out of my foggy brain with the assistance of 2 cups of coffee, and a nice hot shower, I was ready to tackle the chores at hand. I said " to hell with the basement", grabbed my new digital camera, and hit the road towards the the hills of Eastern Kentucky.

Ah, what a delight it was to get out " on the road again" on a beautiful sunny day with a balmy 40 degree temperature! I cruised down I-64 grooving to the music of CD's by Waylon Jennings and the Beach Boys, and in just a little over an hour, I was pulling into the Minit Mart in the quaint little village of Pine Ridge in Wolfe County. There, I was able to partake in a royal feast mostly only enjoyed by bachelors. That exquisit meal consisted of " pizza and a pepsi"!

Then so not to waste any of the wonderful day, I hastened on to the "quaint little metropolis" of High Falls ( also in Wolfe County) There, I stopped in to meet with one of the " pillars of the community", who serves as the Mayor, Ombudsman, and dog warden. That stirling individual being none other than Glenn Duff.

Mr Duff's wonderful wife ( Marie) shooed us out of the house so she could get back to her chores at hand. ( She was down scrubbing stains out of the carpet) and we were very happy to "get out of her way"!

We first headed up to two waterfalls near the intersection of Hwy 15 and Quillens Chapel Road. These are known as " High Falls ", hence the name of the community... though they really are located more out in the suburbs than actually in town! I was able to only get good photos of only one ( see attachment) of the falls. The second one was pretty much blocked by trees and it would have been very difficult to get a good angle for a shot at it.

Next, we traveled up the road only about 1/2 mile before turning off to go down to Mayor Duff's cousins house, where we parked the car. We then headed on foot down an old road approx 1/4 mile the nthrough the woods until we came to Gold Mine Falls.

This waterfall was actually two waterfalls which spilled over the same cliff only approx 10 feet apart. Each waterfall is supplied with water from two seperate creeks which almost come together just above the falls. The waterfalls drop approx 80 feet into a beautiful nearly unaccessable valley. Directly below the waterfall under the large ledge can still be seen the remains of an old Gold Mine Shaft which was worked back in the 1920's. In the attached picture, look below the big icicle and you can see part of the shaft.

Then after our little hike in the woods, we returned to the Dog Warden's house, where Marie fed us some great potato soup and homemade skillet cornbread. She ate her soup in a way that I had never seen before. She crumblrd her cornbread into the soup. I tried it too, and , I'll be damned if it wasn't pretty good that way. Of course, Glenn , being a sissy, had to eat his the " Yankee Way" of crumbling crackers into his soup!

After retiring to the living room for a short spell to let our meal settle, we hit the backroads once more to head down to the Southeastern part of Wolfe County to an area called Bethany. It was here that Glenn took me to a house that was constructed back into a cave. The owner had actually sealed off the entrance to a " cave" or " rock shelter " and built rooms under ground. We were unable to catch the owner at home today, but hope to return in a few weeks to try again. From what Glenn told me about the fellow, he is a very resourceful and mechanically inclined iindividual, who comes up with some " different ideas", and works with them!

See the picture of the Cave House Attached. The picture is not a good one, because it was getting dark, and I was shooting through the windshield because I didn't relish the idea of getting my ass chewed off by the " cute little puppies" in the picture.

As dark finally caught up with us, it was time for me to return the " Mayor to his home " and bid a fond farewell and many thanks to my most gracious hosts.

Then, it was just a matter of " cranking of the stereo " and " grooved" my way home to the tunes of the Beach Boys.

I later returned to the "Cave House and became friends with the owners...and even got to spend a night there!

I'll attach the Cave House Pics which will show the outside, the back wall of the living room, and one of the bedrooms.

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Old Sea Story

Old Sea Story Parable



There's an old sea story about a ship's Captain who inspected his sailors, and afterward told the first mate that his men smelled bad.

The Captain suggested perhaps

it would help if the sailors would change underwear occasionally.

The first mate responded,

"Aye, aye sir, I'll see to it immediately!"

The first mate went straight

to the sailors berth deck and announced, "The Captain thinks you

guys smell bad and wants you to change your underwear."

He continued, " Leo you change with

Jerry. Tony you change with Bert and Bob you

change with Ed."

THE MORAL OF THE
STORY:


Someone may come along and

promise "Change", but don't count on things smelling

any better.


The Power of Words

Saturday, April 9, 2011

Gold Mine Falls



Here is a story that I did back in 2002 which was published in the Kentucky Explorer Magazine.
At that time, I was spending a lot of time up in Eastern Kentucky chasing down waterfalls and "local legends".
You will have to "click on " the attached photos, then magnify on your screen in order to read it.

Saturday, April 2, 2011

N.C.A.A. Defintion:

Well after Kentucky's loss to U. Conn in the Final four Basketball Tourney....NCAA stands for Nobody Cares Anymore Anyway!
Here I sit at my keyboard...drunk as a skuunk...feelimg no pain except for the knees.
Went down to the "local Pub" to watch the games with Marisa and Justin (daughter and boyfriend)...Kim showed up later to act as D. A. (Designated Adult ...and driver).
It has been about 5 years since I sipped on enough booze even to get a buzz. Tonight around 6:00.....I decided to start off with a tall bourbon and coke....followed by 2 more as the night progressed.
Yep...you got it....I got smashed!
Do I feel guilty for setting a poor example for my almost 24 year old daughter?
Hell no....she was laughing her ass off at my stupid comments and actions!
Do I feel embarassed my my drunken behavior? HELL NO! Damn it, I have been an angel of sorts for a long time....it's about time I cut loose for a change.
Momma dropped me off at the house before taking those two "young' ens" off to another bar....only to have to go pick them up later.
As I told Marisa early in the evening, it has been about 5 or 6 years since I "got on a buzz from drinking'. That was up in Eastern Kentucky when one of my buddy's got his date to be the D.A....so, I felt free to mix up a stiff Bourbon and Coke and guzzle it quickly. Hell, I was blitzed before we got to the local Honkey Tonk. I was telling old Politically Incorrect jokes and funny limerics with wrecking abandum. However, sadly, I switched to beer (which I drink slowly) and drank myself sober before the bar closed.
Got interupted from my previous part of the "blog"by Kim. Am sober now after stern discussion. She has left to "pick up the kids" from the other bar. Glad that they are responcible enough to not drink and drive.
Kim reads my posts on here, and was upset a few weeks ago about something I posted in jest about her "bitching about cleaning the basement".
I guess that it may be best that I discontinue my random thoughts on a personal nature in the fuure on here.
I will continue checking in on other's posts and "adding my two cents worth" as in the past.
To all you folks out there, I wish you the very best.

Dave