New House Update--Siding!

Work on the new house has started again! We got our hemlock siding, and other things we need to finish the exterior last week, and Friday, subtle changes in our stalled project were apparent. I hope there will be more exciting photographs this week.

A Crazy Week of Weather

The past week has been a little confusing, weather-wise. Last weekend, we had some warm spring weather, and our daffodils put on a fine display. They smelled heavenly, and I've never known these particular plants to have a fragrance before.

Quite a few leaf buds popped open--buckeye, cherry, hop hornbeam, hawthorn....It looked like spring might finally be here.

Later in the week, we had rain and hail. Next day, we had snow all day. Now, we're in a run of 80 to 90 degree F weather. What next?

Getting and Spending, We Lay Waste Our Powers

"Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers...." An Earth-Day inspired article, Waste Not, Want Not by Bill McKibben reminded me that the Romantic poets were spot-on about the Industrial Revolution. The news sites I follow have featured environmental news and commentary along these lines:

In the end, we built an economy that depended on waste...Making enough money to build houses with rooms we never used, and cars with engines we had no need of, meant wasting endless hours at work. Which meant that we had, on average, one-third fewer friends than our parents' generation. What waste that! "Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers," wrote Wordsworth. We can't say we weren't warned.

The economic mess now transfixing us will mean some kind of change. We can try to hang on to the status quo--living a Wal-Mart life so we can buy cheaply enough to keep the stream of stuff coming. Or we can say uncle. There are all kinds of experiments in postwaste living springing up: Freecycling, and Craigslisting, and dumpster diving, and car sharing (those unoccupied seats in your vehicle--what a waste!), and open sourcing. We're sharing buses, and going to the library in greater numbers....

It's not that I don't take these things seriously--my parents remembered the depression after World War I as well as the Dustbowl, and I never felt comfortable spending money on stuff in suburbia, back when I had the income to cover it. It's just that these endless discussions of lifestyle modification are so repetitive, and generally involve at least a little whining.

That's why I was so pleased to find a reference to Susan Strasser's book, Waste and Want: A Social History of Trash, including a generous two-chapter sample from Google Books.

She provides a review of how people have seen household and industrial trash from Harriet Beecher Stowe's household hints through the swill children of New York City to today's freegan dumpster divers. It's refreshing to get a really different perspective on waste and recycling. ("Fresh" isn't quite the word for it....) I particularly liked Catherine Beecher and Harriet Beecher Stowe's distinction between

"cunningly devised minces" made from leftovers by "the true domestic artist" with "those things called hashes...compounds of meat, gristle, skin, fat, and burnt fibre, with a handful of pepper and salt flung at them, dredged with lumpy flour, watered from the spout of the teakettle, and left to simmer at the cook's convinience while she is otherwise occupied."....Unfortunately, cookbook writers had trouble describing exactly how to achieve a cunning mince instead of a forgettable hash....

That is the rub, isn't it? Sometimes hash is best forgotten, especially if it sports much "burnt fibre."

Yew Piney Mountain

You never know what you'll run across on line; I found Pocahontas County musician Pam Lund playing banjo with fiddler Dave Bing on "Yew Piney Mountain." The Yew Mountains, aka the Yew Pine Mountains, are in the Cranberry Wilderness Area here. The fiddle may catch your ear first, but listen for Pam's banjo. No muss, no fuss, just as good as it gets.

Easter Greetings, 1907

One more Easter Postcard...to sooth my seasonal nostalgia for baby chicks.

We're Linux (and We Like Doughnuts)

There was a contest to make a Linux commercial to match the humorous "I'm a Mac" commercials Apple ran on television, which Microsoft followed with heartwarming "I'm a PC" ads. The winners of "I'm Linux" can be seen at He's a Mac, he's a PC, but we're Linux.. The commercial above is one of the top five, but not the winner. I like it best; the final voice-over is spoken with mouths full of doughnuts. Very evocative of late nights in the cube-farm.

Websites and Other Projects

Things have been a bit hectic here on Droop Mountain, but it's been a good kind of busy--that is, the kind that generates income. I've added some more part-time teaching jobs to my collection. The only down side has been that each job-let requires as much paperwork as a new full-time job, with ordering grad school transcripts, proof of citizenship, proof of valid public school teaching license, pre-service training, etc. Getting all that done has amounted to yet another job. However, I believe the end of this unpaid, unfun job is in sight.

Meanwhile, over At Home On Spice Ridge I've felt confident enough about my Drupal skills to take the Web 2.0 version live. Cron is still not acting right, and I have lots more work to do, but I believe I'll be able to back up the database and rebuild the site in case of disaster.

The same goes for Pocahontas County History. Both the historical society's archives and the home page are functional, if not yet full of juicy data. Week before last, an actual history researcher looking for information on Rev. William T. Price used the database to request access to his papers. I was amazed to find that all the Archon bells and whistles worked to send me (the database administrator) an e-mail. The researcher has an appointment to visit the museum and meet with the appropriate Rev. Price expert. Data will be shared. Arcane knowledge will reach the person who wants it. I feel so fulfilled! (Really. That might sound a little sarcastic, but it's not. I get excited over the darndest things.)

Happy Be Your Easter Day, 1912

"Happy Be Your Easter Day," with bleeding-hearts. Addressed to "Miss Florance Williamson, Prescott, Iowa." The message reads" Nevinville, Iowa, April 3--1912. Dear Florance, Do not eat too many eggs on Easter. They are not good, for you. Wish you many joys on that day Your Friend, Grace I. Haynes."

Easter Peace Be Thine

Easter Bunnies. Postmarked "St. Paul, MINN, March 20, 1913" and addressed to "Miss F. Williamson, Williamson, Adams County, Iowa." "Dear Florence, I received your pretty St. Patrick card. Was glad to hear from you. We girls wished that we could be down with you for the good time that you are going to have. We are having awfully cold weather for this time of year. Love from all of us, Edna C."

Easter Eggs and Forget-Me-Nots, 1908

More seasonal cards from Florence Williamson's Souvenir Album. The message reads: "Thanks for the pretty postal. I should like to come home very much but can't leave because Grandma is very poorly. Would like to see you. Anna" Postmarked "Prescott, Iowa, April (?), Prescott, Iowa."

A Test

This is only a test. Had this been a real blog entry, it would have tried to make sense.

Impatient for the Growing Season

Most springs, the daffodils surprise me, but this year, I've been waiting for them.

The potatoes in the kitchen are also anxious to get the garden started.

Lilac Leaves

Non-native plants continue to lead the charge into spring. These lilac leaves may get frostbitten, but they've popped open their bud scales anyway.

Coltsfoot on the Equinox

I've been dragging around the yard for the last month, looking for some hint of Spring from the plant kingdom, but the native plants are sensible and still hold their buds shut tight. However, my non-native plant buddies are less cautious. Coltsfoot is finally popping through the leaf litter, several weeks later than it usually appears.

Let's Have Another

The puppy is quoted as saying "Let's have another." The postcard's sender, "Agnes" (I think that would have been Agnes Moore, my grandmother's school chum, but her family was full of women named Agnes--when Grandma had her first child, she named her Agnes (my mother) in honor of a whole crowd.

The message reads: Hello there. How are you? I'm just fine and Busy. Libby came Saturday & started to work in store on Monday. (Agnes) The postmark is "Iowa City, April 1, 1911."

Happy St. Patrick's Day, 1909

Evidently snail mail did not always have better punctuation and sentence structure than we find in Internet-based communication. Des Moines, Iowa, March 17, 1909. Dear Friend Florence, I thought i would write you a few lines to let you know how we are we are all well and hope these few lines will find you all the same. From Al 1238 33

St. Patrick's Day Greetings--Printed in Saxony

This postcard may have seemed too fragile for the Post Office, or maybe someone bought it and never could decide what to say. This lets us read more easily the printing on the back. Like most of Florence Williamson's postcard collection, this St. Patrick's day greeting was printed in Germany.

Everything Is Looking Just Fine

More cards from Florence Williamson's "Souvenir Postcards" album.

The Top of the Mornin'
To you, My Dear
May the Good Saint bring
You Luck this Year!

On the back it reads Dear Florence, It was just a year ago today that we were all at your place having a jolly good time. I expect everything is looking just fine--from E. C. Postmark is St. Paul, Minn, March 13, 1909

Bill O'Reilly Confused About Appalachia

State politics blog West Virginia Blue informed me last month that "Bill O'Reilly Hates You." Now, I already knew that Bill O'Reilly hates me, as a woman, and as a person with more learnin' than him, but I was quite surprised that he hates Appalachians. (I'm not pretending to be an Appalachian--I'm an Iowa farm girl, and wouldn't dream of putting on airs. Still, I feel offended on their behalf, and on behalf of all put-down rural people.) I thought that my neighbors were part of "Real America," and that they had Bill's approval. I know a majority of West Virginians voted for George W. Bush twice, and many of them watch Fox News regularly. Turns out, Bill runs with the inbred, toothless, drunken hillbilly story, (just like the Yankee newspapers did in Hatfield and McCoy days!) and thinks Appalachians should all leave home for Miami.

I think Bill may be a little confused about Appalachia's geographical identity. Living in New York City as he does, he's probably confusing it with "The South." Or perhaps he doesn't know about the "Hillbilly Highway."

The bona fide Appalachian member of our household believes that negative stereotypes should be encouraged, as they serve to discourage annoying tourists and the sort of people who move here and want to make it like the place they moved away from. He only regrets that Bill didn't go for "inbred hillbilly cannibals," as seen in Wrong Turn.

For a serious response to Bill's nasty rant, see Betty Cloer Wallace's essay on Dave Tabler's excellent blog, Appalachian History. She is eloquent, but I have mixed feelings about campaigns against "hillbilly" stereotypes because I believe the real problem is a matter of social class, not ethnicity. Poor whites are especially hated by the well-to-do classes because their existence reminds the wealthy that privilege can be lost--it could happen to them. Believing that poverty is "their problem," because of some racial, ethnic, or regional identity keeps that fear at bay. I expect this sort of labeling to get worse with increasing fears of hard economic times.

Marcellus Shale Developments

The Marcellus shale natural gas extraction business has made the news in West Virginia lately. One company has decided not to build a regional corporate headquarters here after all, while local and state government are moving toward regulation of hydrofracture extraction's use of water resources.

Chesapeake takes parting shot by George Hohmann Charleston Daily Mail Business Editor

Chesapeake Energy Corp. on Thursday not only announced it will downsize its Charleston office, it sent the state a stinging message: West Virginia's legal system hurts business. The company said the jobs of 215 of its Charleston-based employees will either be moved to Oklahoma City or eliminated in the reorganization.

Chesapeake co-founder and CEO Aubrey McClendon said in a prepared statement that downsizing the Charleston office from a regional corporate headquarters to a regional field office follows an operational model Chesapeake has used successfully elsewhere....Then he took a parting shot at West Virginia's legal system.

It was just four years ago that Chesapeake made its presence known in the Mountain State in a huge way. In 2005, it bought Columbia Natural Resources for $2.2 billion cash. The deal instantly made Oklahoma-based Chesapeake the largest natural gas exploration and production company in West Virginia.

Little noticed at the time was the fact that Chesapeake inherited a role as defendant in a class-action lawsuit known as the Tawney case. The lawsuit charged Columbia Natural Resources and NiSource Inc. with cheating landowners. In early 2007 a Roane County jury said the companies should pay $134.3 million in allegedly unpaid gas royalties to landowners plus $270 million in punitive damages....

In October, McClendon was forced to sell 33.4 million shares of Chesapeake - essentially all his stock in the company - to meet a margin call in a $570 million fire sale.

Chesapeake's Appalachian Basin operations stretch from the Finger Lakes region of western New York to central Alabama. Chesapeake is one of several oil and gas companies drilling in West Virginia's underground Marcellus Shale reserves.

Chesapeake's stock plunged from a high of $74 last summer to a five-year low of $9.84 in early December. The company's shares were trading at $16.32 Thursday....

Last week, a New York law firm filed a class-action lawsuit against Chesapeake, alleging that company officials violated federal securities laws by issuing false and misleading statements about Chesapeake's business activities and finances.

This cancellation of regional corporate headquarters does not mean that Chesapeake will give up its existing natural gas extraction sites, or quit buying ad developing leases in West Virginia, as some people around here have speculated. Their operation in Jane Lew, along Interstate 79, is hiring now. Here are a couple more analyses of the court verdict, the unsuccessful appeal, and its putative effect on the natural gas industry in West Virginia:

• Chesapeake slashes 215 jobs--Company blames natural gas slump, court decision
• Hoppy's Commentary on Chesapeake by Talkline Host Hoppy Kercheval

A "Marcellus Shale water pollution control" bill was introduced last week: West Viginia Legislature House Daily Journal for March 5, 2009:

H. B. 2960 - "A Bill to amend and reenact §22-11-4 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, relating to water pollution control; and requiring the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection to develop specific standards to control levels of total dissolved solids in the state's rivers and streams"; to the Committee on Government Organization then the Judiciary.

By Delegates Fleischauer, Manypenny, Marshall, Mahan, Doyle, Martin, Beach, Shook, Lawrence, Longstreth and Hatfield

Last month saw some local government action, described in this article: Morgantown City Council Passes Marcellus Shale Resolution by John Christensen, WVEC Lobbyist.

In order to express major concern over the possible hazards to water supplies due to drilling for natural gas in the Marcellus shale, the Morgantown City Council adopted a comprehensive resolution calling for the Legislature to adopt stricter standards and "emergency measures" to prevent water contamination resulting from that activity. The resolution also asks for the Legislature "to petition Congressional leaders to amend the (2004) federal Safe Drinking Water Act" which "exempts hazardous chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing--even diesel fuel--from limitation."

...The three page resolution addressed the hazards of the 300-odd chemical compounds used in the fracturing process developed by the Halliburton Corporation in which a pressurized brine solution is injected along with one to six million gallons of water for each well to explain their heightened response for safety....

WVEC Green Legislative Update tracks West Virginia state legislation on environmental and energy issues.