Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

homestead - [Homestead] Ch Ch ch ch changes...

homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: Homestead mailing list

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: EarthNSky <erthnsky AT gmail.com>
  • To: Homestead List <homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [Homestead] Ch Ch ch ch changes...
  • Date: Fri, 15 Oct 2010 13:35:46 -0400

My homesteady neighbors, George and Nancy, are moving and have bought a house in Arkansas near the Bull Shoals dam. This is the guy who taught me to gut a deer, render lard, hunt...OMG, just know I am going to miss them. They invited us out for a vacation and I told Ron that I wanted to go. They are both extremely talented artists. Nancy can do anything with paint and George is equally talented but also makes knives and forges other metal artwork. He was a friend of Mr. Nelson, the guy in the Foxfire books that makes the horse carriage. They are good people and I am so sad that they won't be my neighbors anymore. They gave this valley character, and it is really hard to see them leave, but I totally understand that this place has changed in the years since her daddy bought all this land. It has changed just in the 12 years we have been here. Granted, the changes are slow, and I still say that I made a good decision on picking land with a 15-20 year buffer against new developments, but it definitely won't be the same without George living on Rock Creek.
I know that is really, really close to you, Gene, and some others on this list that I would like to see, so I think we will heading to Arkansas/Missouri sooner than anyone knew. I definitely want to fish on the river and see some old friends and meet some of you fine folks. Ron's monk brother lives nearby in Ava as well.

The new guy who bought George's place is a rich architect from Atlanta. They plan to use the house as a weekend getaway so that their kids can ride 4 wheelers and experience the country. They mistakenly think they can ride them on the forest service roads and land..they are in for a rude awakening. I have heard all kinds of things about them...they ripped native flowering vines out of a small tree...they did not know what turnip greens were when they saw them...the kids were not minding the parents and were extremely unruly and disrespectful...they were playing with George's axes and throwing them, causing him to have to resharpen everything.
I am holding my breath and I'm trying not to prejudge, but what I have heard is not good. The winds of change are blowing...

Speaking of changes, it is kind of a joke...
A mile or so down the road there are 3 or 4 'new neighbors' all Atlanta escapees who have moved here in the last 4 years. One of them started a petition to get our road repaved. It really was the most horrific paved road I've ever driven on and you literally drove an obstacle course swerving to hit only the shallowest of potholes instead of the larger, deeper ones. We live at the tip of the loop, which is 3.5 miles in from either direction. Most folks only had half that distance to drive, but I ran the full gauntlet. It was tearing up peoples' suspensions in their big trucks..lol... So anyway, they took this petition around and from peer pressure, I signed it. There was only one resident, the local 'crazy' guy, who refused, and I really should have joined him because I was thinking that if the road was paved better then there would be more traffic, more dope dealers, more teens racing, and more development. This is a 7 mile long loop, and there are 5 or 6 ritzy houses on the other side of the loop that had a decently paved section of the road. They even have a fire hydrant (county water access) and DSL other there. Alas, though, we are back in the hollow, the poor hill billies, and the county has overlooked us more than once, which really is a blessing in many ways. But I digress..

So we sign the petition and less than a month later, a new sign goes up at the entrance to the loop-"Loose Gravel", and within a week, they are ripping up the road surface and laying gravel. They have packed it down and it is better than having all the potholes, but everyone hates it. All the new people, including the rich folks on the other side of the loop that did not sign the petition are now up in arms because the county has left us with a gravel road..lol..I actually this is hilarious and once it rains good and settles the dust I think the new gravel road will be fine. At least no one will be racing and no one will get their trucks damaged. It is horrible for our bikes, though, and the rich people will probably get their way and have their little half mile repaved. It has to be a sign of the times that a paved road becomes a gravel road. I could be a conspiracy theorist and say that the rumors for this valley long term might be true..I have long heard that this might become a new reservoir for drinking water for Atlanta..it makes me wonder if this valley and my home might be underwater in 100 years...maybe I should move to Arkansas or Missouri, too.

B



--
EarthNSky Farm 34.498N 85.076W
SISU! (Finnish--There is no single word in English that encompasses
all that sisu means, but it combines the following ideas: guts, pep,
determination, stubbornness, perseverance, hardiness, stamina, go, do,
nerve, spunk, pluck, and grit. It's like "Just Do It!"& "Go for It!")






Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page