Weird Bird Vortex?

From the ol' JSH mailbag:

Hello there! I was googling "weird bird vortex" and your blogspot popped up and while I didn't investigate all the archives, I did think maybe you would have heard something about it.

About twelve years ago I lived in Bowling Green, KY and I was walking toward the square and I espied what appeared to be hundreds of starlings swirling in a cyclone pattern over the parking lot of the community services building. I asked a friend about it and he said that it happens every year on a certain date and is something akin to the egg-standing-on-end phenomena.

Have you ever heard of this and if so could you give me your knowledge on the subject? Much appreciated.

Marie

Unfortunately, I haven't heard anything about the connection of starlings to the balanced egg phenomena, although it sounds fascinating! Any other readers know anything about this?

I do remember taking some pictures in Georgetown, KY last year of a huge murmuration of starlings, who were swirling for over an hour in a peculiar sort of frenzied cyclonic cloud, much in the same way as in this video but more consistently figure-8-shaped. Going back through the files now to retrieve them.

Kentucky = Detroit

Kentucky and the auto industry aren't exactly thought of in the same breath. But even without taking into consideration that Kentucky is the home of the Corvette, perhaps it's time people recognize:

The Toyota Camry (pictured above) is the best selling car in the United States. It's manufactured in Georgetown, KY.

The Ford F-series (pictured below) is the best selling truck in the United States. It's manufactured in Louisville, Kentucky.

Nicknames on Graves

Some people have an interesting nom de tomb chiseled onto their headstone:


Both "Hoss" (probably the dog's name) and "Bud", Centerfield, KY


"Uncle L", Shelbyville, KY


"Prophet", Berrytown, KY


"Snookum", Lexington, KY


And of course, "Tent Girl", Georgetown, KY, wnose real name was unknown for thirty years after her death.

Edward Troye

The grave of Kentucky artist Edward Troye, spotted in Georgetown Cemetery.

Troye was born July 12, 1808 in Switzerland and died July 25, 1874 in Georgetown, KY. Primarily known as a painter of Kentucky racehorses, Troye also did many religious paintings inspired by a visit to the Holy Land, as well as portraits of people such as Rev. Joseph C. Stiles and General Winfield Scott (the latter portrait currently hangs in the U.S. Capitol Building).

Georgetown Home with Mosaic

Love the folk-art mosaic work way up at the top of this house in Georgetown.

"Gone Home by a Shorter Way"

Another Georgetown Cemetery grave with an interesting epitaph, source unknown:

We stood at the place of parting,
And the clouds were leaden gray
That hid from our sight our darling,
Gone home by a shorter way.

Abandoned House in Scott County

On Friday I was driving on some road - can't remember which - that leads out of Georgetown, and somewhere I took a wrong turn. The paved road transformed into a muddy gravel one, and then that road forked off into two, one of which had monster-truck tire gouges in the mud, so deep that no ordinary vehicle could traverse it without scraping its underbelly.


I found myself in a remote dense forested area surrounded by old dumpsites of household garbage, appliances, portions of automobiles, etc. I ventured into the woods to check out what turned out to be a portion of either a very old fireplace or some sort of outdoor furnace. It looks like it's actually been used relatively recently for burning something. Some sort of cult pyre, or merely an outdoor grill for hobos?




From there, I spied the remains of an old house and took a few pics. Some kids have already discovered the place, as kids always do, and added some touches of graffiti.








For some reason, two different Georgetown street signs are stashed out here, to the side of the house. Probably acts of vandalism from those aforementioned clever rugrats.

"Blessed are the Dead"

The epitaph on this grave in Georgetown Cemetery may seem a bit macabre (well hey, what do you expect from a rock that's sitting on top of a dead person in a box underneath the soil?) but it's actually from Revelations 14-13:

"And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them."

Then again, the Bible also says "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the Earth".

Then again again, Stiv Bators said "Meek inherits Earth six feet deep".

Q.E.D.

RC Vending Machine

That Georgetown office building mentioned in yesterday's post about the mystery red line in front of the urinal also had another distinguishing feature: a wonderful old retro 1970s Royal Crown Cola vending machine in its employee snack room. (It's starting to really freak me out that stuff from the 1970s is now "retro"... tempus sure does fugit.)

Thin Red Line

So there I was, in the men's room in an office building in Georgetown, and there was a red line taped down to the floor in front of the urinal. I spent a long time pondering this. Days later, I'm still pondering it. Was it a snide hint from the janitor that people need to stand closer? Doubt it, because it's actually too far away from the urinal to be a proper free-throw line.

Bi-Water Farm

Photos of the Halloween decor around Bi-Water Farm, just outside of Georgetown.



There's an interesting teepee on the far edge of the property too. I'm not sure what that's about, or if it's supposed to be part of the farm.

Bull Durham Ghost Sign

One of Georgetown's Ghost Signs that hasn't been repainted and touched up: since there are two different Bull Durham Tobacco painted signs superimposed upon one another here, presumably they couldn't decide which one to preserve. I like it just as it is, seeing simultaneous flickers of two different time periods, like the timespace channel-surfing of Star Trek's Guardian of Forever or Douglas Adams' Total Perspective Vortex.

Dairy Freeze

The term "Dairy Freeze" has become a generic name-brand these days, with most shops independently owned and many of them never having been part of the original Ohio franchise to begin with. The variations seem endless - some are still the classic roadside cone stand, while others have morphed into actual sit-down restaurants and even barbecue joints.

Above: East Main Dairy Freeze, Lebanon, KY. Below: Dairy Freeze, Georgetown, KY.



Below: Middleburg Dairy Freeze, Middleburg, KY. According to Lady of the Woods, the elephant statue in their yard was a frequent victim of "elephant tipping" from local teens, and so is now mounted to a concrete base.





Previously here, we've also reported on two now-defunct Kentucky Dairy Freezes: Red River Dairy Freeze in Clay City, and the Cree-Mee Drive-in Dairy Freeze in Stanford.

Guitars and Graves

Middletown, KY:



Georgetown, KY:



Louisville, KY:





Middletown, KY:




Morgantown, KY:



(Read more about Arnold Shultz here.)