Bloated Cow Syndrome

Saw a headline online that said: "Lush Kentucky pastures causing bloat problem". Needless to say, I had to click on that. And I learned something today.

Evidently "frothy bloat" is a major problem in the bovine industry, and recent grazing conditions in Kentucky have been ideal for the condition. The article says frothy bloat is distinctly different from gaseous bloat, which happens more often when cattle are consuming grain.

Once the bloat sets in, death can occur within 1 to 4 hours. Why? How? The article explains:

“Usually frothy bloat happens when cattle are grazing forages that are high in soluble protein combined with rapid fermentation,” said Jeff Lehmkuhler, Extension beef specialist for the UK College of Agriculture. “It produces a stable foam in the rumen that blocks the normal escape of the gas from fermentation through eructation or belching.”

When the gas cannot escape, the cow’s rumen becomes distended similar to blowing up a balloon, and that can impact the animal’s ability to breathe normally because of pressure against the diaphragm, added Michelle Bilderback, UK College of Agriculture Extension veterinarian.

I was around cattle all the time on the old family farm back in Waco, and I never heard of such a thing. But a quick Google search was performed and sure enough, serious cattle farmers discussing cow bloat can be found all over the net. One heartwarming anecdote is told here with the headline "I Stabbed My Cow":

"i stabbed her hard..the whole knife blade went in..i quickly pulled it out..in about three seconds she started quieting down..the gas coming out was keeping the hole open..you could see her stomach going down..jess put a halter on her and slowly led her around..the gas kept coming out..she kept getting smaller and quieter..cathy went in and called the vet.she told him i had already stabbed her..he was amazed ..in 30 years he had never done it nor seen it done..he said all the bloated cows were dead by the time he got there."

Weird Artists: Jeffrey Scott Holland

Hey, that's me! Well, it's my blog, so why not? I'm probably not the weirdest artist in Kentucky (though you might get a different answer if you asked some of my ex-girlfriends) but I do have a grip on a certain unique reality principle, as William S. Burroughs sort-of once said.

Originally I envisioned a whole chapter in Weird Kentucky on weird Kentucky artists, but it sadly got the cut in the final edits and was reduced to a mere page. Here's the expurgated talking-about-myself-in-third-person text from my entry in that material:

Weird Kentucky's own author, Jeffrey Scott Holland from Waco, KY, has sold thousands of his raw, primitive paintings and recorded thousands of equally primitive songs with his various musical projects. From his most recent artist statement:

"I work in a savage, post-neo-expressionist style that is often heavy with line and thick with impasto. For the patient observer, a gradual bigger picture of what I am doing may be formed by studying what I choose to paint and why. My work is about secrecy vs. openness, mystery vs. revelation, rural vs. urban, certainty vs. uncertainty, wave vs. particle. My work is not for the jaded, the ironic, the unenthusiastic, the terminally hip, the perpetually bored. I'm looking for people whose joie de vivre knows no boundaries."

Two years in a row, Holland has showered the nation with hidden green plastic Easter eggs with miniature artwork concealed inside. The majority of the eggs in Project Egg remain unfound, however, and are still out there waiting to be discovered. A third installment, intended to reach a global audience, has been cancelled because of Holland's increasing anti-plastics activism.

Madison County Meteor

Once when I was a kid living on the farm in Waco, KY, my father and I saw a huge red glowing ball streak down through the sky and disappear on the forested horizon. It made an audible crash, and a red glow momentarily rose the spot.

I've always wondered about that fireball from the sky, and a few years ago I decided to go poking around in the general vicinity that it appeared to have landed. I came upon this round pond that seemed uncannily like an impact crater. Unfortunately, the next time I came to the site to investigate further, construction work for homes had begun and obliterated the evidence.

Bybee Pottery

Bybee Pottery is the oldest continuing pottery business west of the Alleghenies, and their primitive and rustic pieces have a considerable following around the world. Even in Japan, there are collectors who know of the work done in this ancient building that looks much as it did when the business began in 1809. Unlike many attractions whose patina is faked for the tourists, this place is the real deal.

Many who have purchased Bybee's creations around the world are shocked to find this global empire is still run from this tiny run-down shack in rural Kentucky.

Bybee also happens to be part of a concentrated cluster of small spot-in-the-road towns between Richmond and Irvine, with great local reputations for hauntings: Bybee, Moberly, Robinsville, Estonia, Drowning Creek, Sand Hill, Panola, Speedwell, Brassfield, Waco, College Hill, Winston, and Wisemantown.

A number of other Kentucky potteries, spurred on by Bybee's success, also operated in this region for many years. The most famous was Waco Pottery (actually, there were three different Waco Potteries and one was actually connected to Bybee Pottery itself, but that's another story), whose creative glazes and shapes often rivaled those of higher-end companies like Teco or Van Briggle.

Rumors are, Bybee Pottery may close its doors in a few years. Being family owned and operated, they're reluctant to turn the project over to anyone else if the next generation in their family doesn't want to take it over - and word is, they don't. So visit this American cultural landmark sooner, not later, before its reign of two centuries comes to an end.

Flint Road Ghost, Waco

In the late 1970s, I lived on this farm in the rural community of Waco, on Flint Road.

At that time, there had been a fence separating the front area of the farm from the second part, which was essentially a huge field. I often leaned on the gate and stared out across the field towards the woods in the distance, lost in thought.

On a brightly moonlit evening I was staring out at the field when I saw a male figure dressed in shabby coat and hat ambling across the adjacent Botner Farm to the right. He then climbed the fence and began traipsing across our property. This was no big deal, as there were always assorted bums and yokels taking shortcuts across our property. I watched him get to almost exactly the halfway point across the field, then I glanced away for just a mere second.

And he was gone.

I stood there for what seemed like an eternity, staring at the empty field. Freshly cut with no tall weeds to hide in. No holes or ditches he could be laying in. Just a plain empty field that had a man on it one second, then nothing the next.

This, more than anything else in my life, proved to me that things are not always what they seem, and that paranormal things do occur.

The picture above shows the fence at the point the man climbed over it from Botner's property. This was taken from the farmhouse side where I was originally observed him while facing the woods. The picture below was taken facing the other direction, looking back towards the house, and showing the exact spot where the ghostly figure vanished.

Murderers Ate Here

Ruby's Restaurant - In May 2007, O.J. Simpson was in town for the Kentucky Derby, and he and his entourage filed in to Jeff Ruby's Steakhouse, one of the state's most prestigious and upscale restaurants. As the anecdote is told, someone - either an employee or a customer - came up to Ruby all dazzled and star-struck by Simpson's presence. After just a moment of distaste and reflection, Ruby walked over to O.J.'s table and informed his party that they would have to leave immediately, as a show of solidarity with the Goldman and Brown families.

O.J. and his crew quietly gathered their coats and left without a fuss, and the dining room burst into applause for Ruby. Afterwards, there was some venting in the press by O.J.'s attorneys, but this soon died down as cooler heads prevailed and realized this was already enough of a bad PR situation as it was.

Ruby's restaurant is very highly recommended, incidentally, and its wild and lavish decor is worth checking out: the chandelier is from the famous and now-destroyed Cadillac Square Building, and its elevator facade came from the historic Chrysler Building.

Kim's Coffee - Although this cafe, a longtime Louisville tradition, no longer exists, it once stood at 1704 Rowan Street and once was the site of a Ted Bundy sighting. In 1977, serial killer Bundy was zigzagging around the nation after having escaped from jail in Aspen, Colorado, and found his way to Louisville for awhile. At least long enough for a cup of coffee and a danish.

Officially there has been no connection made between Bundy and any murders in the area during that time, although some have raised suspicions.

An apartment building stands at the spot today.

Waco Food Mart BP - In its glory days of yesteryear, the small spooky community of Waco was once home to a number of thriving mom-n-pop grocery stores and markets, but this large food mart/gas station is the last one standing.

Serial killer Glen Rogers reportedly ate, snacked and gassed up here whenever he was in the area and visiting relatives. He possibly also purchased here the can of beer that he hurled in desperation at the arresting detective when he realized the jig was up. Rogers' family owned property near Beattyville, KY and he often traveled on KY 52, passing through Richmond, Waco, Irvine and Ravenna, and frequenting several other restaurants along the way. (One of Rogers' victims ended up found dead in that Beattyville cabin, incidentally.)

Rogers' nationwide murder spree left a trail of victims from Hamilton, OH across the country to Los Angeles, and ended in Richmond, KY in November 1995 when a relative tipped off the Madison County police that he had just left her home. Currently Rogers is on Death Row in Raiford, FL.