State of the Frog

In one of my earlier posts, I lamented about the fact that the snowdome had been so firmly in place over the central Kentucky area that we had not had a significant snowfall in several years. Well, I can officially report that the snowdome has a crack in it as it just let in about 5-8 inches of snow over the first part of the weekend. Reports have come in that Lexington received about 5 inches and Georgetown about 7. That's pretty accurate, although, some blowing made it hard to measure through the drifts. One of my best measurements has to be Mr. Frog in the rose garden since he sits low and among so many rose branches that snow has a hard time blowing away from his area. As you can see here, only his small face is peeking through the accumulation. Despite this significant crack in the snowdome, it was only a crack since we were predicted to get the storm of the decade with a foot or more. Around the Ohio River from Louisville to Cincinnati and points north, the accumulations were over a foot which is not really uncommon for them. For me, I am enjoying our 7 inches and am glad for the bands of dry air that swept into the area during the storm to lighten our ultimate total!

By Saturday morning, the storm was still in full swing and the birds were fairly sparse as you can see from this early gathering around the bird feeder. We decided to head outside and let the dogs romp around a bit while we filled up the feeder. Our black lab Pookie was really enjoying herself, even though I kept telling her NOT to drop her toy in the snow or we wouldn't find it for a week. She is the baby at about 7 years so she really enjoyed the snow. Brewster on the other hand at 13 ran around for a few minutes then decided to crouch and give me the most pitiful looks imaginable. I got the feeling that he blamed me personally for the cold white stuff clinging to his nether regions!

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I couldn't even catch Little Girl since she came out, leaked to make some yellow snow and then slinked right back in. She is Brewster's sister so the age thing also prevented her from enjoying the fluffy white.

Once the feeder was filled we decided to add a few more trays of open feed since we figure the birds in the area would be looking for any food source around. We started with just a planter bottom full of black oiler sunflower seed strategically placed next to a very small sapling that had been a favorite perch of local cardinals. After adding a few more open plastic trays of regular mix, we backed away and perched in a strategic locale to await the new arrivals.

The first takers were four poppy cardinals followed by one or two females. They didn't exactly gravitate towards the oiler seeds as we expected but rather sampled all of the trays.

Here is a nice couple trying out the oiler while the others feasted around the main feeder. Here is another one perched in the northwest quadrant of the rose garden, watching the feasters. While they consumed and ruled the area, it wouldn't be long before the Starlings invaded the bird buffet.

After the hoard of "welfare birds" had their fill, we were left with the same cardinals that had started the action along with a new black-eyed Junco seen here who was so skittish or polite that he spent most of the time circling the main offerings to clean up the remnants left in the snow. As you can see from this angle, the terracotta saucer is no longer hovering on the snow in a picturesque manner, but now slants awkwardly on top of the trampled pack.

Since we haven't noticed any Juncos since our days in Cincinnati, we looked this lone hunter up in a book readily available: Birds of the Smokies by Alsop. I know we are 2.5 hours from the Tennessee border, but this bird is so widespread across the country that he is represented in this source. What I found to be interesting is the local vernacular regarding this little bird: "Juncos are called 'snow birds' by locals because their appearance in the low elevations in the fall is a signal that winter is coming. Their scientific name hyemalis is New Latin for 'wintry'." Well, it was nice to see this little bird, but if he is the snow bird, I've had enough for the year, he should feel free to retire back to the higher elevations and let our Spring come forth!

Konichiwa from Georgetown!

Through the comment of a fellow blogger I ran across this geography project from Bloomingwriter (thanks Vonlafin). What a great way to get distracted from the cold and ice outside...and no...we still haven't had any real snow...I'm sitting at home waiting for another evil ice storm to wrap up its machinations.

So - on to my locale - Georgetown, Kentucky! Even though we have lived in the central Kentucky region for about 14 years, we have only been in Georgetown for about 4 years and grow to love it more everyday!

As a point of reference, Georgetown is located about 10 miles north of Lexington and about 75 miles south of Cincinnati Ohio. This means we are south of the Mason-Dixon, but as a border state, we suffer from a slight identity crisis. The central Kentucky region is very southern in so many ways: horses, southern hospitality, sweet tea, slight to extreme southern twang, the occasional rebel flag on a pick-up truck, good ole-boy politics, and cowboy hats. But in recent years, this area has had a large influx of Ohio transplants (our family included). No place demonstrates this mixed culture more than Georgetown. As the home of Toyota's largest U.S. manufacturing plant (people here joke that the plant is actually much larger than the city proper), and training camp of the Cincinnati Bengals, the north and south seems to have morphed into a truly unique place.

Georgetown is a very old city, founded in 1783 with settlements as early as 1774. History is all around and the downtown area is perfectly charming with very well preserved row buildings full of shops right next to a series of southern style historic homes. These homes seem to gravitate around Georgetown College. Originally formed as a Baptist college, they have waxed more into a well known venue for education majors.

Besides the annual horse festival and harboring half of the Kentucky Horse Park, Georgetown is also known for another horse related event: the annual reenactment of Morgan's Raid. For those of you not familiar with American Civil War History, this event celebrates the Confederate raid of the city by General John Hunt Morgan - a very southern and celebrated local historical celebrity. Despite my B.A. being in history, I'm not really a big reenactment fan. I've only attended this event once, but I have to say, it is a fun time! The camp set up and battle that ensues is very impressive and fairly large! To appease the mixed culture I mentioned above, the reenactors play nice and allow the Rebs to win on Saturday and the Yankees to win on Sunday.

What is very unique about this reenactment is the fact that it starts as an early morning raid through the down town area. The photo above shows General Morgan arriving to perform his raid - visiting what used to be the bank but has now been transformed into a wonderful coffee and pastry cafe! Despite the distraction of modern day life (complete with cars along the street), nothing quite prepares you for the opening moments when the gunfire erupts and the galloping horses can be heard coming down the paved street - complete with rebel yell!
If you've never been to a Civil War reenactment, this would be a nice one for the beginner: lots of horses and action. The location of the event is also a nice place with lots of room: the Cardome center which used to be a nun's monastery... complete with old trees and beautiful architecture.

Just inside the entrance to the Cardome Center is a lovely gift from the local community, Toyota and our sister city Taharacho, Japan - one of the largest Japanese gardens in the U.S. and the first in Kentucky: Yuko-En on the Elkhorn. The pictures on their site are not very good, so as soon as Spring arrives, I'll take a trip down there to give you an idea of its layout and attributes.

I also hope to visit other nearby attractions such as Midway in the next county and tour the wine country that has developed in this central Kentucky area. If you're looking for a beautiful and relaxing area to visit, or a great place to garden permanently, look no further than Georgetown!