The Wildlife Of Kentucky Route 1000

 

Kentucky Route 1000 begins about a mile and a half from my house and I have driven it regularly for over 31 years.  It is only about 7 miles long and intersects with US 460 at its eastern end and Kentucky Route 191 at its western end.  It runs up what is sometimes known as the Right Fork of White Oak Creek, over the hill, and down a small branch of Caney Creek where it connects with Kentucky Route 191 at the Caney Grocery, an old wooden building approaching a hundred years old which is filled with assorted antiques and sells good sandwiches and pizzas.  The Kentucky Department of Highways has four classifications of roads in the state and Route 1000 is in the last and lowest classification.  The classifications are number 1 through four and those classified as fours are what are described as "the set of highways not in the first three systems, including frontage roads, bypassed portions of other state highways, and rural roads that only serve their immediate area."  That is a great description of Kentucky Route 1000.  But that description leaves out the entire best part of driving Route 1000, the wildlife diversity it regularly produces to the attentive driver.  

 

Nearly every time I drive across Route 1000, I see some kind of wildlife.  There are always small animals, squirrels, rabbits, opossums, raccoons, and sometimes a ground hog.  And ground hogs are much more rare today than they were before coyotes spread all across the southeastern United States.  Sadly, coyotes have nearly obliterated ground hogs in many areas of the country because ground hogs dwell in earthen dens and are very easy for coyotes to dig out and kill.  But in one place in particular, actually in front of a house, I have seen a few ground hogs, probably multiple generations of the same line of descent, dwelling in the vicinity of a culvert which crosses the road at the edge of that yard.  The photo below is of a small buck eating birdseed in my driveway about a mile and  a half from Route 1000.

 

In some ways, it might be easier to list the animals I have not seen when I am driving on Route 1000.  I have never seen a bobcat, a bear, or an elk on Route 1000.  But bobcats are primarily nocturnal and with the many small farms and woodland on the road, I know there are bobcats all around.  I have never seen an elk on Route 1000 but one was seen a few years after elk were placed in Southeastern Kentucky not far from Route 1000.  This county is actually one of the buffer counties which the Department of Fish and Wildlife  added into the design of the entire elk program to prevent them from spreading into primarily agricultural areas and doing damage to crops such as corn, grains, etc.  I have never seen a bear on Route 1000 but a few years ago a man living a few miles from it, actually just across one of the ridges, killed a bear on his property and claimed it had attacked his dog.  The game warden at the time accepted but probably doubted the story of the attack on the dog but chose to not charge the man with killing the bear.  I have no doubt that we have bear in some of the deeper hollows on Route 1000.  The photo below is of a ground hog leaving its den.

 

But the real question becomes, what have I seen on Route 1000.  I see deer regularly, maybe not every time I drive the road, but on many occasions I see them.  I even see them at times in small herds of half a dozen or so.  I have, just in the last few days, seen four separate flocks of turkeys along the road grazing in the fields with gobblers strutting in front of the hens in spring mating rituals.  I have no idea how many species of birds I have seen on the road or how many species of birds regularly live in that part of the county.  But I have documented about fifty species of birds on my own property a couple of miles from Route 1000 so I know there must be in excess of that number along the road, in the fields and the woodlands in that 6 or 7 mile stretch.  So, let's talk about the somewhat unusual bird sightings I have seen on Route 1000.  Just a couple of days ago, I saw the first Canada Goose I have ever seen in this immediate area in a neighbor's field on Route 1000 and within sight of US 460.  About a year ago, my wife and I saw a Great Blue Heron feeding in the creek within a few feet of the road.  I slowed down almost to a stop to get a sight of it and it flew slowly up the creek in front of us as I drove behind it for a quarter mile or so.  It kept to the edge of a mowed hay field near the stream and the timber but flew slowly along until it found a spot it liked in the creek as far as possible from the road and disappeared behind a clump of willows to resume feeding.  The photo below is of a recently hatched but dead common snapping turtle I found in my yard. 

 

On two occasions in the last few years, I have encountered female common snapping turtles crossing Route 1000 either before or after laying their eggs. In both cases, these turtles were actually only a short distance from the ridge which is an odd place to see a snapping turtle even in spring egg laying season.  One of them was probably an eighth of a mile from the ridge in a spot where the little creek isn't three feet across and not at all deep.  This particular turtle was headed back to the creek after laying her eggs near a house which is actually not unusual since I have had common snapping turtles hatch on my own property of an acre or so.   The second snapping turtle was actually just exiting the highway literally at the top of the ridge when I saw it and I suspect it was headed to lay its eggs since there is a small farm pond on the far side of the ridge about a hundred or so yard from where I saw that turtle.  I suspect if she had already laid her eggs, she would have been headed back in the other direction toward the pond. 

On New Year's Eve 2016, I actually drove up on a Bald Eagle eating on a road killed opossum about a hundred yards from where I recently saw the Canada Goose.  The eagle flew up into a tree near the road and I drove past, turned around at the intersection of US 460, and returned to sit and watch the eagle in the tree for a few minutes as it waited for me to leave so it could return to its meal.  That is only the second eagle I have ever seen in this county.  A few years ago, in broad daylight, literally across the road from an occupied home, I saw a coyote standing at the edge of the road.  But as I approached, it quickly darted over the embankment and disappeared into a field where cattle are pastured.  As I recall it was spring calving season and the coyote was most likely looking for fresh afterbirths from cows.  But the owner of that house also owns guineas and the coyote might have been stalking a guinea which I did not see.  The photo below is not the actual eagle I saw but I figure this post deserves a photo of an eagle anyway.  

As I said at the beginning of this blog post, I am never surprised by what I see in terms of wildlife on Kentucky Route 1000.  If I ever see a bear, an elk, or some other highly unusual animal or bird on that road, I won't really be surprised.  If you are in the area with nothing to do, take a quiet, slow drive across Kentucky Route 1000 and you can probably be surprised by some bird or animal you haven't seen in quite a while. 

My Baseball Cap & I Took My Wife On A Birthday Trip

 

Yesterday, March 27, was my wife's birthday and I also had an appointment for an annual follow up with a dermatologist in Lexington so we got up early; drove to Lexington; stopped for breakfast at McDonald's in Stanton, Kentucky, as we often do; went to my medical appointment; and then went to Richmond, Kentucky, for lunch at one of our favorite restaurants, Masala; and, then came back home by about 6pm.  To say the least, it was a long and interesting day.  When we got to McDonald's in Stanton, Candice waited in the van while I went inside to order our food and use the restroom as she usually does when we are on the road to further away.  My order took longer than usual and I struck up a conversation with a man who it happened was passing through on his way to Virginia from Michigan.  He was a self-employed African American man driving a truck and trailer doing contract hauling after having had an injury which now prevents him from doing self-employed lawn and tree work as he had previously.  I would say he was about 30-40, neatly dressed, clearly intelligent, and highly verbal.  We talked at first about our travels around North America and happened to leave the restaurant in the same direction across the parking lot.  During our walk, the subject of the recent accident at the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore came up and I said it appeared to me that the ship captain had done literally everything he could to mitigate the effects of the disaster.  At this point, my new acquaintance went into a repetition of some conspiracy theory he must have heard on a right wing radical "news" source that the captain was from outside the USA and the accident was terrorism.  I reminded him that the police agencies involved in the investigation had stated they had no reason to believe it was anything other than an accident.  Then as he was walking to his truck away from me in an adjacent parking lot, he informed me that he intended to vote for TRAITOR Trump and I said "I think you ought to go home and look in the mirror and ask yourself why you want to do that".  He replied "because I'm a Christian and I don't like homosexuals".  I suggested to him, as I always do to such people, that he follow a little reading assignment for self-professed "Christians" which I have written about on this blog previously.  We were both getting in our vehicles to leave and I never got to carry the conversation on any further.  But I did manage to suggest that he take out his Bible and a "Strong's Exhaustive Concordance" and read Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, and Acts followed by the first 12-14 chapters of Revelation and every time he encountered one of the directives for Christians in those books to ask himself if TRAITOR Trump had ever done any of those things which is the gist of the reading assignment.   I never got his name and he never got mine but if he actually follows that reading assignment I believe he would realize he is dead wrong to support TRAITOR Trump. 

 

 

 

 

I always carry a book with me when I am headed into situations where I am likely to need to wait for any serious time length and I happened to be reading "Enough" by Cassidy Hutchinson and wearing the baseball cap in the photo at the top of this blog post which I have written about previously on this blog.  As I usually do in a medical exam room, I placed my book with the spine turned toward the area the doctor will occupy and, in this case, I also placed my baseball cap on top of the book.  On at least two other such occasions, I have gotten into some very positive conversations with a surgeon and a cardiologist whom I also see once a year.  In those two instances, I was reading "The Room Where It Happened" by John Bolton just prior to the 2020 presidential election.  Yesterday, when the doctor came into the room, she noticed the cap and book and said, "Making America Great Again reminds me of Trump.  Who is Jack Smith?"  I said, "Special Prosecutor" and she actually asked "Is he on Trump's side?" and I explained who Jack Smith is and went on to say, as I often do to supporters of TRAITOR Trump that "If he doesn't die in a federal prison cell, it will be the greatest miscarriage of justice in the history of the world."  She seemed a bit surprised by that statement and, in the interest of keeping the conversation brief in support of her busy schedule I just went on to say, "Trump's a TRAITOR.  When you step into public beside Putin and deny evidence from all 17 US intelligence agencies, you are a TRAITOR."  I don't think any of it did a thing to change her mind and I firmly believe she is a TRAITOR Trump supporter.  What is sad about that is that this woman is a doctor who spent her internship at the Mayo Clinic, owns a fairly large private practice, and was forced to relocate that practice to a less expensive setting during the Covid pandemic.  I did not attempt to take the time to ask her anything about her opinion of the unmitigated disaster which TRAITOR Trump created by denying the seriousness of Covid and doing nothing about it in early 2020 after he was told by the US intelligence and scientific communities that Covid was coming and could destroy the country.  I also have never told her that I have spent many days at the National Institutes of Health during the 1990's and am not naive about science or medicine.  I am not scheduled to see her again for two years but I suspect I will have that conversation with her the next time I see her no matter when it is and no matter what the further outcomes of TRAITOR Trump's TREASON prove to be.  I sincerely hope by the next time I see this woman that he is actually in federal prison on his well deserved life sentence and I can look at her and say "I told you so!"  

 

 

We left the medical appointment and drove to Masala in Richmond which is a fine Indian Restaurant and celebrated Candice's birthday.  She created her own version of an Indian buffet at our table by ordering several of her favorite items from their menu.  Then we left the restaurant and drove to Natural Bridge State Park where I hiked for an hour before coming the rest of the way home.  I have also written about several state parks on this blog in the past but somehow have neglected writing about Natural Bridge and one of my favorite hiking trails.  

 

 

 

My final thoughts about yesterdays trip are 1) that I will always continue to confront the ignorance in anyone which allows them to support TRAITOR Trump despite his obvious damage to this country; 2) I will always attempt to engage medical providers and other educated people in political conversations; 3) it is the most important election in American History this year and President Biden must be reelected if Democracy is to survive in America;  4) TRAITOR Trump must be convicted in his criminal trials and must be sentenced to life in federal prison for his TREASON.  

The Glorification Of Cold Blooded Murder At Western Kentucky University On March 27, 2024

 

 

Because of righteous outrage in the state of Kentucky and the larger surrounding area, law enforcement agencies serving the state of Kentucky, Warren County, Bowling Green, and Western Kentucky University are being called on to divert their resources on March 27, 2024, to monitor protests on the campus of the university and the city which are being held to protest the outrageous decision of the university administration to allow Kyle Rittenhouse to speak at the university in an event which is sponsored by the Right Wing Radical campus organization Turning Point USA which is described as "part of a national organization that advocates for right-wing causes on high school, college, and university campuses."  This is an organization which should never have been granted a charter on the campus of any university.  This is an event which should never have been scheduled and granted the use of campus property in any building owned by a legitimate university.  This is a speaker who should never be allowed to speak on any public property in any state in the union.  This entire event is a travesty and a manifest failure of the university management.  

Kyle Rittenhouse shot three men, two fatally, during public protests in Kenosha, Wisconsin in August 2020, when he was aged 17. Rittenhouse was acquitted at his trial in November 2021, after testifying that he had acted in self-defense.  But the facts of the matter are that he was transported across state lines from the Chicago area by his mother while they were transporting the fully automatic rifle he used to commit the murders. He was acquitted of all charges and his mother was never charged for any crimes related to contributing to the delinquency of a minor or federal firearms laws regarding the transportation of the weapon across state lines.  Since the trial, Rittenhouse has sought to make himself a public hero in the eyes of those who mistakenly believe the Second Amendment allows anyone to own any kind of weapon they choose in America and to use those weapons in such blatantly illegal and murderous ways.  

The university administration insists that this is a matter of free speech despite the fact that the United States Supreme Court has ruled a few categories of speech are not protected from government restrictions. The main such categories are incitement, defamation, fraud, obscenity, child pornography, fighting words, and threats. As the Supreme Court held in Brandenburg v. Ohio (1969), the government may forbid “incitement”—speech “directed at inciting or producing lawless action” and “likely to incite or produce such action”.  While I admit that it is unlikely that Rittenhouse or the organization sponsoring the event will directly call for lawless actions, the very fact that a person is speaking in a public forum who killed two men in cold blood with an automatic rifle and escaped any form of legal consequences is likely to incite illegal action.  The university administration and a few at other universities have been too spineless to stand up to these groups and Rittenhouse.  Their stated reason, protection of the right to free speech, does not hold water.  Their refusal to stand up to a student organization which promotes such events is detrimental to the university community and the greater community surrounding that university.  Several other student organizations, local groups, and even national groups have spoken out against this event to no avail.  Western Kentucky Public Radio has published an editorial piece by writer Jacob Martin which speaks strongly about the issues involved in this event.  But the administration holds strongly to the view that it is about free speech not the glorification of cold blooded murder.  The entire administration at this university needs to be removed.  Such irrational decision making on the part of a university administration can never be acceptable.  I am asking everyone of my readers to make a call to Western Kentucky University at this number (270-745-0111) and register your opposition to this event and the decision making process which has allowed it to take place.  

Right Wing Radical Repugnicans In Frankfort Declare War On The Working Class

On February 10, 2024, I wrote in a blog post about the current Kentucky state legislature and their active effort to become the worst legislature in America.  I had promised at that time to continue to write about their effort to destroy democracy and individual constitutional rights in the state.  I have to admit that I have been remiss in not having written about them on a daily basis since they have been working on a daily basis to pull off their plan.  This post in particular is about one pending piece of legislation which is as diabolical as anything passed in any state legislature in the nation.  It is literally a declaration of war on the entire working class in the state.  It is labeled House Bill 500 and the key elements of it are listed in the image below which is from the Kentucky State AFL-CIO.  

 

 As you can see in the image above, House Bill 500 will repeal several elements of pro-labor legislation which have been considered sacrosanct all across America for more than 50 to 100 years.  Union men and women literally fought and died for these rights all across the United States and the working class has grown to assume that they would never be attacked or eliminated in a democratic country or state.  But Kentucky is no longer a democratic state.  By the phrase "Kentucky is n o longer a democratic state", I do not mean that the state is being run by Right Wing Radical Repugnicans which it is except for the governor and his appointed staff.  I mean that the Right Wing Radical Repugnicans in the state legislature and the majority of statewide elected offices have been working to destroy democracy in Kentucky on a daily basis since they gained control of the majority of the elected offices in the state.  When a state legislature even quietly considers taking away the rights of workers to have a designated lunch period, a designated break or rest period, or to receive overtime pay if they are forced to work 7 days in a row, or the other rights they want to destroy with this legislation, they are declaring war on the entire working class in the state.  And the only reasonable response to such an act must be for the working class to declare war on that state legislature and remove every one of them from office in the November 2024 election.  A vote for any Right Wing Radical Repugnican for any office in Kentucky is a vote against the working class; against teachers, nurses, EMT's, police officers, and every other blue collar worker in the state.  This is a link to House Bill 500 as described above.  You can go to this link and read the bill for yourself to see exactly what it and its sponsors intend to destroy.  This bill will literally rob every worker in the state of their individual and collective rights to have a decent, acceptable working environment.  Every legislator who votes for this bill or even speaks out loud in favor of it must be voted out of office in the November election.  We must remove these people from office all across the state and we must give Governor Andy Beshear a Democratic majority in both houses of the legislature for the last three years of his term so all the actions of this legislature can be repealed, revoked, and never again be thought of in this state.   Phillip Pratt is the original sponsor of House Bill 500 and is also sponsoring another bill, House Bill 255 which is intended to weaken child labor laws in the state.  He must be defeated and so must any other public figure at any level in the state of Kentucky who votes for, publicly speaks out in support of, or commits any act in defense of these two bills.  

Hawley Warrens, Old Regular Baptist Minister, 1889--1977

 

Hawley Warrens was a long term minister of the Old Regular Baptist Church, New Salem Association, and served as the long term moderator of the Steele's Creek Old Regular Baptist Church.  He was born in Floyd County Kentucky at Minnie in 1889 and died at Hi Hat in 1977.  But he had lived the majority of his life on a farm at Dema in Knott County about a mile and a half south of the Floyd/Knott County line on Right Beaver Creek.  I apologize for the poor quality of the photo which I have located in the obituary in the Floyd County Times.  He was the son of Whitt Warrens and Nance Moore Warrens.  His first wife was Caroline Moore Warrens and they had eight children, five boys and three girls.  Caroline died very young in her middle forties and Hawley then married Mandy Layne who also died before Hawley. He was also married later in life to Dorothy Little Warrens. He joined the Old Regular Baptist Church in 1914 when he was about 25.  He had been a member of the church for about 63 years at the time of his death.  About 5 years after he joined the church, he was ordained as a minister in 1919 and continued to preach and work as an officer of the church for most of the remainder of his life.  His funeral was conducted at the Old Beaver New Salem Association Building on Left Beaver Creek in Floyd County near Minnie.  Due to his long service to the church and association, his funeral was attended by large numbers of people from the entire area served by the New Salem Association.  He had been one of the best loved and most respected members and ministers of the New Salem Association.  He was buried in the Turner Cemetery at Dema near the farm where he had lived most of his life. 

"Hungarian Recipes" Reflections On An Intriguing Cookbook From The Magyar Evangelical and Reformed Church in Elyria, Ohio, 1957

I love food.  I like to cook but I don't claim to be a good cook.  I also love cookbooks, especially interesting, odd, unusual cookbooks, and I have bought cookbooks which fit that description for many years at yard sales and discount stores such as Goodwill, Salvation Army, etc.  I don't even remember when or where I bought this little cookbook but I strayed into it again and, due to the fact that it is a piece of work from a truly unique cultural group in America and contains a few odd, interesting, and unique recipes, I decided to write about it on this blog.  My copy is the 12th printing of the book with a copyright date of 1957.  It is, amazingly, available online in whatever the current printing may be.  In the copy I own, it labeled as being "Compiled by The Dorcas Guild of the MAGYAR EV. and REF. CHURCH 119 West River Street, Elyria, Ohio".  The copy available for sale on the internet today is labeled "Compiled by The Dorcas Guild of Community of Faith United Church of Christ (formerly Magyar UCC)".  My copy sold in 1957 for one dollar with shipping available for 25 cents extra.  The copy available today online is priced at $15.00 with standard US shipping.  Inflation has obviously had some effect on the cost of cookbooks.  Interestingly, the cover of the book is exactly the same plain green it was in 1957.  The only change is the address and name of the church.  It is said to be available until December 31, 2025.  One other interesting footnote to this story is that despite my not remembering where or how I came to own this cookbook, I used to have an aunt, uncle, and three cousins who lived in Elyria, Ohio.  The book is only 40 pages in a pamphlet form but it is loaded with recipes.  

For me, the most interesting recipes in the book would be the following: Liver Dumplings, Veal Heart And Lung Soup, and Kidneys With Rice.  There is also one recipe for Chicken And Rice which calls for "1 chicken--using bony pieces: neck, feet, wings, gizzard, liver".  The wording in that ingredient is taken verbatim from the book.  Many of the meat based recipes also call for generous portions of lard.  I am forced to wonder if the 2024 version of the book still calls for lard but I doubt it.  The book also has a large section of recipes for dessert items, cakes, pies, cookies, etc.  For those of you who might not know the term Magyar, it is defined as:

"a member of a people who originated in the Urals and migrated westward to settle in what is now Hungary in the 9th century AD"

 

Basically, Magyars are Hungarians.  For those of you who have spent your entire lives in Central and Southern Appalachia and wonder what connection there is between Appalachia and Magyars or Hungarians there was once a large community of Hungarians in Martin County Kentucky who were brought into the area to staff a large, cooperatively operated coal  mine near Beauty and Lovely on the Tug River.  This is a fascinating little cookbook and you can find your copy at the link above at a considerably larger, but currently standard level, price.  I would love to try the recipes I mentioned above but doubt that I ever will due to changes in my eating habits over the last 6 or 7 years. I was raised on organ meats and love to eat them but I just don't do that anymore.  If any of you readers try the book and recipes, please leave the rest of us a comment about what you learned from the experience.  

 

 

Requiem For A Friend, Willie Elwood Isaac, 1928--2023

 

Willie Isaac and his new car--Photo by Cakes For You and Roger D. Hicks

My neighbor for the past 30 years was Willie Isaac who lived nearly his entire life on a small hillside farm about a mile and a quarter from my house.  He was born in 1928 and died in 1923 about one month before what would have been his 95th birthday.  Willie and I had known each other ever since I moved to this community in 1992 although we did not become close friends until  after his wife, Flora Cook Isaac, died in October of 2018 after 66 years of marriage.  Willie and I had frequently encountered each other in our home town of West Liberty, Kentucky, at local stores and other public places.  We had always been friendly but not close until a couple of weeks before Flora died and I saw Willie's truck parked in the local ARH Hospital parking lot and inquired if he or his wife were in the hospital.  I visited them there as he stayed by her side during her final hospitalization and transfer to a nursing home where she actually died a few days later.  But I had known for about three or four years that her health was failing and Willie was taking care of her diligently, cleaning the house, mowing the yard, and driving her to her appointments.  He had finally stopped driving a couple of years before his death and, although he had no children, his nephew Jimmie Wireman had selflessly driven him to all his medical appointments, bought his groceries, took him to his bank and to the local utility companies to pay his bills.  Willie had finally stopped mowing his own lawn at about the age of 90 and Jimmy had taken care of that also.  But Willie had continued to maintain contact with his widely diverse group of local friends and extended family until about three weeks before his death. He spent a large part of most days on the telephone talking to his relatives and friends. He had continued to live alone with support from Jimmy and his wife Brenda Smith, and I also assisted him at times with minor tasks once in a while, almost daily contact in person or by phone, and one occasion when I had assisted him in getting back up after a fall in his living room.  Amazingly, until just a few days before his death, Willie had maintained his cognitive capacities and still had conversations with Jimmie, Brenda, and I as we visited him in the hospital during his final three week stay due to kidney failure.  Sadly, Jimmie, who was 79 himself, only lived about 9 months after Willie's death.  But he had managed to complete the job of caring for his uncle's needs before his death. 

Willie Isaac, about 1951--Photo by Willie Isaac & Roger Hicks

Willie and Flora had no children other than a son whom Flora had before they married and adopted to a couple from the area who lived in Ohio and raised him.  After Flora died, Willie continued to live in the little three bedroom brick house he built many years ago and where they had operated a used shoe and clothing business for more than forty years.  As a trained and retired mental health professional, I was worried that Willie would suffer from the grief, loss of socialization, and loneliness which often afflicts the elderly following the death of a long term spouse.  So I had begun to visit him regularly.  It turned out he actually had a fairly large support system for a man his age with no children.  He had two nephews who lived in the area and they visited him regularly as did several members of the church  he attended weekly until he stopped driving.   A previous minister of that church also visited with him frequently until his own untimely death due to suicide.  He had a few friends and a sister who also called him nearly every day to check on him. But that sister also died in July 2021 at the age of 100 almost three years before Willie's death. We had developed a system quite informally where I either visited him or called him at least every day or two. At times, Willie would also call me to remind me of a UK basketball game or some other issue in which he knew I was interested.  Since I knew that he was having regular contact with several others, I didn't always visit or call every day but we stayed closely in touch and I made sure he knew that he was free to call me anytime he might be in need of assistance.  

Willie Isaac, Korea, photo by Willie Isaac & Roger Hicks

Not long ago he brought out a collection of photographs which he and others took during his time in the Korean War in 1950-1952.  He agreed to allow me to post them on this blog although he had never used the internet and didn't have a clear idea of exactly how a blog works.  But his mind was still sharp until shortly before his death.  He loved University of Kentucky basketball, watched every game which was available on his limited plan with Dish Network, and read every issue of "The Cats Pause".  He also maintained subscriptions to the local newspapers in both Morgan and Magoffin counties in Kentucky because he had friends in both counties and lived within sight of the county line.  His memory was well above average for a man his age and he loved to talk about his life, extended family, and his years spent "in the shoe business".  He and Flora had built a little building in the edge of their yard on US 460 and sold used clothing and shoes for over 40 years. Willie would drive as far as Columbus, Ohio, to buy a pickup load of shoes and clothing at a large Goodwill sorting center and also often bought large lots of new shoes from shoe stores which were either reducing unsold stock or going out of business. He also managed at some time during their selling days to buy a used shoe repair machine and also repaired shoes and other leather work both for his own sales and for customers in need of repairs.  He eventually sold the shoe shop equipment to one of his nephews after he and Flora had stopped their selling activity. I actually have met dozens of people in this community who talk about having gotten nearly all their shoes from Willie and Flora as they were growing up. And after I posted this blog post, one person commented on Facebook that he had bought all his shoes for many years from Willie.  And, interestingly, he also said that Willie had cut hair at times and only charged a quarter for a hair cut.  But, in all the time I knew him, Willie never mentioned cutting hair to me.  My first blog post about Willie was primarily about his service in the US Army during the Korean War and the stories Willie had told me about his time in the Army  during the Korean War.  First and foremost, Willie always made a point of saying that he was attached to an engineering unit which built bridges and roads during the war.  He always said "nobody ever fired a shot at me and I never fired a shot at anybody" since the engineering unit he was assigned to was always working behind the front building roads and bridges.  He also talked sometimes about one R & R episode he spent in Japan during his Korean duty but he apparently had no photographs from that trip.  Willie did have a few photographs of other soldiers some of whom he remembered their names and some he did not.  I have added the names he either remembered or wrote on the photos. Some will have to be nameless.  But maybe some of their relatives might recognize them and I will add their names if you recognize a member of your family in his photos and contact me on this blog.  Willie also never mentioned a unit name and number for his engineering unit but a retired Army person I know says that it might have been the 103rd Engineer Regiment.  If you have a definite answer other than this please tell me what it was and I will add that to this post also until we can come up with a more indisputable answer.   

Walter H. Handley, Alabama--Photo by Willie Isaac and Roger Hicks

 

 

 

One of the photographs is of a local man who also was assigned to the same unit and Willie now says that man is dead.  Here is his photograph as identified by Willie. 

Bill Ison, Crockett, KY--Photo by Willie Isaac & Roger Hicks

Willie also loved to tell a story of being classified as a truck driver during his time in Korea.  He said "They told us they were giving us driver education and we were in a classroom for about a half a day.  Then we went out in a parking lot and had to drive a truck around the parking lot one time and they let us go."  Later he says, "One day my sergeant came to me and told me to report to the motor pool.  I asked why do I have to go to the motor pool and the sergeant said 'They need a truck driver and you are a truck driver."   Willie says he told the sergeant, "I'm not a truck driver.  I never drove a truck in my life."  He says the sergeant said, "It says right here you are a truck driver.  It's in your record.  You're a truck driver."  Willie said he reported to the motor pool and they put him in a big truck and told him to drive twenty or thirty miles down a river to pick up supplies.  He said, "I tried to tear the transmission out of the truck on the way there but I couldn't."  He also saidnnb that on the way back to his unit he met two men in a jeep whom the motor pool had sent out looking for him afraid that he had driven the truck into the river.  But when the entire thing was over, Willie was a truck driver and was proud enough of it that he sent the photograph below to his parents with the caption, "This is my truck."  It seems most likely that the truck Willie drove was a 2 1/2 ton truck commonly known as a Deuce And A Half. 

The Truck Willie Drove--Photo by Willie Isaac and Roger Hicks

Being able to survive driving the truck apparently got Willie a promotion since he also sent home a photograph of another soldier driving a jeep and added the caption, "This is the jeep I used to drive."  

"Hauser from Alabama" driving the Jeep Willie used to drive--Photo by Willie Isaac and Roger Hicks

Willie also sent home a few photographs of himself with other soldiers whom he could not name or simply did not write their names on the shots including this one below.  It might be "Hauser from Alabama" since they are standing behind a large flat bed truck.  

Willie Isaac & Baker from Central or Western KY--Photo by Willie Isaac and Roger Hicks

Willie was assigned to a bridge building unit and also took a few photographs of a bridge they were building over an unnamed Korean river including the next two, one with an unnamed soldier in it.  Willie told a story that his unit was getting their water from the river a mile or so below this bridge and "one day after they pumped a truck load of water they found five dead Korean bodies in the water upstream above where they were pumping the water."  He said that he tried to not drink anymore water for several days after that.  He also always said that he hated rice and would never eat it after his time in Korea.  He said that the Korean civilians which worked for the US Army would "roll rice up in balls about the size of a softball and walk around eating that rice all day long.  I couldn't stand to eat rice after seeing that."  One of his favorite foods was boiled chicken feet and as long as he was able to do his own grocery shopping and cooking he would go to Wal Mart and buy multiple packages of fresh chicken feet and freeze them.  At his funeral visitation, several people and I wound up talking and laughing about Willie's love of chicken feet and I was the only one besides the deceased minister who ever admitted to having eaten chicken feet with Willie.  I had actually been present at Willie's one day when that minister was sitting at the kitchen table eating chicken feet.  Honestly, I never really cared for the feet but my mother had eaten them with gusto and I figured I owed her and Willie the one honest effort I made to eat them.  Willie also talked often about how in his young days his family frequently went opossum hunting and ate a lot of opossum which few people eat or hunt today.  Willie also loved turtle and in the first years of our acquaintance while he was still able to clean a turtle I would sometimes catch female common snapping turtles crossing the highway to lay their eggs and catch them and give them to Willie.  He never turned one down until he became too physically weak for the job.  I also love turtle but I hate to clean them so I quit eating them many years ago. 

Bridge Over An Unamed Korean River With An Unnamed Soldier--Photo by Willie Isaac and Roger D. Hicks

The photo below, although unlabeled, is of Willie Isaac in front of what appears to be a mess tent.   Since it is a tent, I have to assume it is also from Korea.  

Willie Isaac In Front Of A Mess Tent--Photo by Willie Isaac and Roger Hicks

When Willie returned from Korea, he spent some time at Fort Knox, Kentucky, and eventually left the Army in 1952. He was discharged from Fort Knox at the end of his hitch. He still had his discharge in a frame hanging in one bedroom of his home until the day of his death.  He also had one photograph of himself in what appeared to be a barracks building at Fort Knox with a friend but did not remember that man's name.  

Willie Isaac and a fellow soldier at Fort Knox 1952--Photo by Willie Isaac and Roger D. Hicks

 

Willie also sent home one photograph from Korea of what he described as "an 8" gun".  Maybe somebody with military experience can tell me exactly what this weapon was called.  

"8 inch gun"--Photo by Willie Isaac and Roger Hicks

 

Despite my fears about Willie after the death of his wife, he managed remarkably well for a nonagenarian widower living alone in Eastern Kentucky.  He did his own laundry until he was past 90 and his nephew Jimmy's wife, Brenda took over that job and also began bringing him home cooked meals regularly, At some time past 90, he got out a small steam cleaner he owned and steam cleaned his carpets.  He also adopted and took care of a stray dog who showed up at his house and ate the food he offered but wouldn't let him touch it.  The dog, a pit bull cross female, seemed to have a serious history of abuse but I have seen her follow Willie in his yard and dart from behind him just close enough to brush a hand in passing.  I also never saw anyone besides Willie ever get close to her before she died. One of Willie's favorite photographs was an old black and white shot of himself and a long dead brother in their yard as boys with a favorite dog from his childhood. He loved dogs but always said he didn't like cats and "never owned a cat in my life".  He drove to church every Sunday as long as he was able and did his regular trips to town for groceries, medical visits, and bill paying in his brand new car he bought a few weeks after his wife Flora was buried.  

 

He loved words and had a strong vocabulary for a relatively uneducated man in Eastern Kentucy and kept several dictionaries.  He had actually returned to high school in the 1940's to graduate as he had promised his mother when he dropped out for a year to follow an older brother to Ohio to work.  It was an incredibly rare event in 1940's Eastern Kentucky for a young male to return to school after having dropped out.  He kept a wooden chair on his back porch which he had built in a high school shop class and given to his father.  He pointed out to me a groove in the right arm of that chair which he said had been made by his father's habit of sitting in the chair smoking his pipe and lighting it with kitchen matches which he always struck on the chair arm in the same spot for many years. He was also proud of having used some of the first pay he ever earned in a regular job to buy his mother her first washing machine.  Shortly after his marriage to Flora, they had ordered on the same order from the Sears and Roebuck catalogue a sewing machine for Flora and a single shot, bolt action rifle for Willie.  He still had the rifle at his death and had killed thousands of squirrels with it on the farm which he inherited from his parents.  

 

To say the least, I think about Willie every day and will miss our friendship as long as I live.  This is a photo of the tombstone which Willie and Flora paid for along with their funerals several  years before Flora's death.  Willie's date of death has not been inscribed on the monument yet but you can bet that Brenda Smith and I will see to that it  gets done sometime soon.  They are buried in a little family cemetery which is located on Willie's family farm and holds the graves of Willie's parents, a few of his siblings, and a lot of his friends and neighbors including a few of my other neighbors in this community who have died since I moved here thirty years ago.  Willie, who owned the cemetery property never refused to allow anyone to be buried on the cemetery and had even allowed some people he knew in Magoffin County to have an unmarried friend of theirs buried on the cemetery.  Sadly, his grave is still only marked with the common metal temporary marker which funeral homes use at the time of a burial.  

 

 

More Observations on Reading "The River of Doubt" by Candice Millard

 

It is a very short list of books which I have ever mentioned more than once in this blog.  This is the first that I have chosen to write about twice other than a couple which I have chosen to discuss in multiple posts centered on brief, compelling segments of such books.  But this book is so powerful, interesting, and worthy of extended attention that I chose to write this second post about it.  Go get it! Read it!  You won't be disappointed!

Theodore Roosevelt In The Dakotas

Most literate Americans will remember that Theodore Roosevelt was a former President of the United States but many might not know that he was also a well respected naturalist and explorer in addition to both his careers in politics and military service.  After Roosevelt left the White House in 1909, he ran once more in 1912 as the candidate of the Progressive or Bull Moose Party.  He lost that election in a landslide for a variety of reasons including having invited Booker T. Washington to dinner in the White House as the first African American ever given that honor.  After this loss, Roosevelt suffered serious depression and eventually decided to go on a long, dangerous adventure in the Amazon.  He and his son Kermit had spent a long period on a big game hunting expedition in Africa and both were accustomed to life in extreme physical conditions.  Roosevelt went on a tour of several South American countries and was eventually connected with Colonel Candido Rondon who was a Brazilian military officer who also served as the director of the country's effort to design a route for and construct a national telegraph line into the most remote communities of the Amazon Basin.  Rondon was also the first person from the developed countries to discover the river he had named The River of Doubt.  This river had never been explored and its actual route or the mouth of the river were not known.  It was truly and uncharted river which might or might not turn out to be a major branch of the Amazon.  Rondon and Roosevelt were installed as co-commanders of what was officially named the Roosevelt Scientific Expedition.  They handpicked a group of professional explorers, naturalists, and native laborers to join them on the expedition to float down the River of Doubt and map it's route, study its wildlife, and determine where it actually terminated.  

Theodore Roosevelt & Candido Rondon

Candice Millard was an excellent person to write a book about the expedition.  She is a former writer and editor for National Geographic and has traveled and performed writing assignments in many of the most remote areas of the world.  She is also an excellent researcher and utilized a vast amount of written records about the expedition to complete her book.  She depended heavily on the journals of Theodore Roosevelt; Kermit Roosevelt; Colonel Rondon; and, George Kruck Cherrie, an American ornithologist who had several different species of birds and animals named for him because of his work both before and after the Roosevelt Expedition. Cherrie was generally conceded to have been a self-made man who arose to international fame after having gone to work at 12 in a sawmill. Millard also utilized official records of the American Museum of Natural History, the Brazilian government, and communications between the principals of the party and their families and friends.  

George Cherrie

The book does an excellent job of describing the near disasters and one or two actual disasters which struck the group and their 19 native laborers on this trip into a thousand mile long river filled with unmet local tribes including some of which practiced cannibalism; the many dangerous species of flora and fauna along the river; and, most importantly, the myriad deadly and debilitating diseases of the unexplored jungle.  Along the trip, the expedition discovered that they had been very inadequately supplied with equipment and food for the trip by the old friend Roosevelt had allowed to act as the purchaser of equipment.  They lost their canoes one by one, eventually carved out dugouts similar to those used by the local tribes.  One by one, they became infected with deadly Amazonian diseases and Roosevelt was nearly dead by the end of the trip.  In fact, his disease required several months of recuperation after the trip before he was back to full health.  Their native workers had also been poorly chosen and one actually murdered their most qualified native worker. He then absconded into the jungle to be seen one more time and being abandoned to the jungle by the two leaders.  Another native worker drowned in one of the many cataracts along the river.  One very dangerous tribe of natives made contact with the expedition and killed Rondon's favorite dog before deciding in their somewhat archaic method of decision making to allow the expedition to pass through their territory without further molestation. By the time the expedition managed to make contact with Brazilian rubber gatherers near the end of their trip, they were starved nearly to death, left with only the most minimal clothing and equipment, and probably would have perished if they had been required to remain on the journey for just a few more days.  

If you like books about exploration, discovery, adventure, and success in the face of nearly impossible odds, this is the book for you.  It is a relatively easy and engrossing read.  It will hold your attention from cover to cover and will give you a close look at one of the most interesting presidents ever to live in the White House.  It is also likely to leave you with the impression that Theodore Roosevelt was capable of performing tasks which most, if not all, of the subsequent occupants of the White House would never attempt.