Category: Kentucky

Brush with Gr8ness

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I walked by Anthony Davis in his car the other day while he was stopped at a red light.

The only reason I saw him because this (maybe) homeless (probably) drunk guy next to me on the sidewalk wearing a UK hat was screaming, “AINTHONY!  AINTHONY!!  AAAAAIIIIN-THON-YYYYY!!!!”  into the street, while his also potentially homeless, definitely toothless girlfriend standing next to him on the sidewalk kept yelling back “HE CAIN’T HEAR YOU!”

Anthony Davis really couldn’t hear him because he was bompin to some jam in his car.  So the dude  walked up to AD’s car window, which was rolled down, tapped him on the shoulder (which scared the crap out of AD) and was like, “HEY AINTHONY!  LIKE MAH HAT?”

Anthony Davis was like, what the s**t, then the light turned green and he drove away.

Very exciting.

NASCAR Nugget

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A coworker of mine posted a note on the office kitchen wall that she has 2 tickets available for purchase for the Indianapolis 500 in May.  This, in turn, has led to a few conversations around the office about car racing.  Which is how yesterday I learned out that my other (male) coworker and Paul share the same favorite NASCAR driver:

Mr. Trickle is the most winningest short track driver in history.  He is 70 years old and still races. In 1984 he won NASCAR Rookie of the Year driving #84 Miller High Life Buick (the champagne of beers, see above), and he used to drill a hole in his helmet so he could smoke his cigarette while he drove.  And his name is Dick Trickle.

…and that’s all the knowledge I have to impart on you today.  This afternoon I fly down to Atlanta to wish my sister safe travels as she departs on her first deployment for the US Army, so I probably won’t be back online until Monday.

Have a good weekend.

Brow Down

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“NOBODY has this shirt anymore.  I mean, look!  Kneepads!”

Actually, the reason that nobody has that shirt anymore is because they stopped making them in the 90s because the tongue on the Wildcat was considered obscene.  Which it is.

This weekend two Kentucky teams will be playing each other in the Final Four.  Not just any two Kentucky teams, but UK and Louisville (we had 4 in the tournament…betcha didn’t even know Kentucky had 4 universities).  This is a VERY. BIG. DEAL.

Why?

Let’s start with the Kentucky fan base.

Below are some pics from our last game against Baylor (all of these pics courtesy of the Kentucky Kernel):

During the game:

(Keep in mind, we were up by 10-20 points for the entire game following the first 5 minutes.)

After the game:

Furniture burning in the streets for victory in the Elite Eight over a team that we have no history with.

Next, the UK team:

This is Anthony Davis, Kentucky’s star player.  He is a freshman.  He’s been named best of everything this year in the NCAA and will likely be the top draft pick.  He is a SUPERSTAR.  Other fun facts: he has a huge following and a commanding unibrow.   Beauty salons in town are running waxing specials this week, I know at least one guy shaved a unibrow into his chest hair, and they are selling these at Kroger:

Davis is not central to the UK-Louisville rivalry, but his role on the team and eyebrow(s) earned him a mention.

About the rivalry:

This is John Calipari (Coach Cal), coach of the Kentucky Wildcats.   He is so revered here people do things like this:

That’s a cornfield.

This is Rick Pitino, coach of the Louisville Cardinals.  Pitino used to coach UK, and he was a legend.  He took Kentucky to 3 final fours and one championship.  Then he left UK and went to coach Louisville…which is like Johnny Damon going to the Yankees (“but a thousand times worse” says Paul).  People took it very, very personally.

It is also worth noting that Calipari and Pitino used to be friends.  Now, they hate each other.  A lot.  And they do things like this often.  I don’t know the backstory, but that’s the situation.  They are also the only two coaches in NCAA history to take 3 different teams to the Final Four.

And, finally, Louisville and UK have never faced off in the Final Four before.   Ever.  The last time they played each other in the tournament, it was in the Sweet Sixteen in 1984 (Louisville won).

So this showdown is truly epic…and is the reason why things like this have been happening across the state.
…and pictures like this have been getting passed around Facebook for the past week.

Go Cats.

Update: They’re giving away unibrows in New Orleans.

A day at the farm

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Last week Paul noticed that our compost pile was not composting (largely, I think, because he insists on leaving the top off so rain can get in, which is fine, but then animals get in there too and eat everything.  Plus it doesn’t heat up, which accelerates the composting process…one of the first things you learn when you are a camp counselor on Catalina Island and need to compost almost all of your waste…WHATUP CIC COMPOST BINS!)

So since worms weren’t showing up in there naturally, he decided he needed to add them.  He did some research and found out that the worms you can purchase online are a.) too numerous (you get like hundreds at a time), and b.) don’t always arrive alive.  So he decided we should make a trip down to the thoroughbred farm where his sister lives and dig up some red wigglers (yes, that’s the kind of worm we needed, and why he couldn’t do this in our own backyard, I’m not sure.)

So, on an absolutely beautiful Saturday morning, after a long run, we hopped in the car, cardboard wormbox in tow, and took a drive out to the country.  And what greeted us as we arrived?

Babies!

The baby horses are out and about, with their knobby knees and scraggly fur. They are really frickin cute.  This one above was a ham, he loved to pose.

Anyway, we got to the house and were greeted by the Westies…

…which Spike was pretty happy about.  Paul got his box and we all went down to the river…

…to go worm hunting.

Success! (we got more than that one.)

And, of course, one of the best parts of going out to the farm:

What in Gods name, you might ask, are they?

Miniature donkeys.

As far as I can tell they serve no function other than entertainment.   They are pretty mean (why is it funny when little things get angry?) and will bite, so watch out.  They also actually go HEEHAW when you bring out food.

When we got home we went out to the compost and found it…already composted!  Paul switched his beer into a new carboy last week and had (unbeknownst to me) dumped all the yeast into the compost.

Surprise!  Basically overnight the yeast had decomposed everything.  Now we have some nice clean soil for the worms to play in.  Oh well.

For some more pics of the farm, go here.

South-facing window

~ meh ~ 2 Comments

We’ve been talking for a while about trying to get a jump start on spring planting.  Considering how erratic the weather has been, an indoor approach seemed like the best way to go.

Basic steps for starting seeds indoors are: plan which seeds you want, get seeds, plant seeds in little pots, and put them in a south-facing window.

Unfortunately, our only south-facing window is already dominated by another force.

We talked about hanging something from the window frame, moving the couch over to the right and trying to squeeze some plants on the table, even investing in a heat lamp and starter kit…but all of these ideas were shot down and the conversation kept veering back in the direction of a greenhouse.

You might remember the multiple greenhouse battles we lost last spring that resulted in our not knowing where anything was planted.

For me, that was enough.  I had written off homemade greenhouses in the spring in Kentucky.

Paul, however, is not as easily deterred.  He also still refuses to spend money on these things (see: birdfeeder), is home more than I am, and tends to take on projects like this with gusto.

And so, meet south-facing greenhouse 3.0:

Apparently, with a few bricks holding it down this one is INDESTRUCTIBLE.  We already have some herb and tomato seeds in there.

Considering we’ve only had 38 tornadoes touch down in the state this spring…I’m sure it’ll be fine.

Sprung?

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75 degree sunny days.  Nighttime thunderstorms.  Blossoms blooming like woah.  (The pic is from my Sunday morning run.)

We had tornadoes in January followed by mini snowpocalypse in March, so I’m not deluding myself into believing that this weather will stick around.  But I have a nice little sunburn, our house is spotless, and I’m heading into a recovery week.  I’ll take it.

Spring is wonderful.  Get outside.

Give me some Bass

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There is a new varsity sport coming to Kentucky high schools: bass fishing.   In addition to bringing up some good questions (including, how does one become an elite bass fisherman?) KY Sports Radio commented on a tweet someone sent out suggesting that UK’s bass fishing chant should be “C-A-S-T, CAST-CAST-CAST!”  Good one.

At least it’s not noodling.

When it rains…

~ meh ~ 4 Comments

 The weekend in weather:

Friday, March 2nd:
pictures taken by my coworker from his 17th floor apartment balcony in downtown Lexington:

Saturday, March 3rd:
taking Spike for a walk to the Barkery on…Molly’s 29th birthday!  HAPPY BDAY MOLLY!

 Sunday, March 4th:
our house

(The snow started yesterday, but these pictures are actually from this morning. We woke up to 6 inches.  The most snow we’ve had all year.)

What. The. Heck.

We lucked out here in Lexington on Friday, no major damage. Anyone local looking  to help with relief efforts: