Wednesday, October 08, 2008

It ain't from the Food Pixies...

Would you like to know how the food magically gets to your table? Farmer Frank has been documenting the joys of the harvest season.

(Incidentally, driving past billiard-table-flat, harvested fields to get to Wildcat Valley last weekend triggered this Appalachian gal's agoraphobia something fierce...

"OMG! Where's the horizon?"

"Over there somewhere."

"That's not a horizon! The earth just drops away! A horizon is something like a tree line or a hill or a building!")

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

I was up in Eastern Md for a Century bike ride last weekend and I got the same feeling until we got back into the rolling hills near NoVa. To me, it feels like being at the beach since that was one of the few places we visited that had that "no horizon" feeling to me.

Chris

Anonymous said...

See, I lived near Seattle for a while. I missed Indiana 'cause the mountains kept gettin' in the way of the view.

BobG said...

""OMG! Where's the horizon?""

That's how I felt several years ago when I spent a week in Ohio. I constantly felt like I was standing on a hill.
Here where I live in Salt Lake our valley is surrounded by 9000ft mountains. To look at the horizon around here you have to look up.

Rio Arriba said...

From the "hill" behind my place I can see about 25 miles in all directions, but there's always a horizon.

Robert said...

I grew up in Nevada. You know, the state that is pretty much made up of nothing but mountain ranges. Anytime I go some place where I can look in even a single direction and no longer see a mountain range on the horizon, I start to feel a bit anxious. I'm not too sure how I would handle driving through the great plains or anywhere else that is pancake flat, but I don't think it'd end well.

Hmmm....word verification is "mpfky." Looks like a shortened version of HK's response to civilian demand for a non-NFA MP5...

Earl said...

Yeah, way back when I left those little mountains in PA for the wonders of Coral Gables in Florida, I was lost and afraid of FLAT all around and Hurricanes coming and nothing to slow them down.

Frank W. James said...

Tam: Thanks for the bump. I think the post I just put up about "FIRES" will meet your standards as well.

Thanks again,
All The Best,
Frank W. James

Anonymous said...

I live in Mo. and been to Iowa,Tx.and Indiana and flat land is just not right. Guess I'am not a flatlander.

Anonymous said...

My beloved bride is from the flatland's of the Midwest. Visiting her family, we were once driving through Indiana and Illinois.

"Beloved bride, this is as flat as flatland gets!"

"Don't be silly, there's a hill, right up ahead."

"Where?"

"Right there," as she points ahead on the interstate.

In the mountain West, there's this exclamation: "Flatlanders!"

"Love of my life, that's where the guy who ran the road grader lifted the blade!"

Robert said...

"Love of my life, that's where the guy who ran the road grader lifted the blade!"

I don't care who you are, that's funny right there.

Anonymous said...

Hoosier by birth, Region Rat by the grace of God.

My daughter's maternal grandparents are from North Carolina. When they come to visit, they are always amazed that our roads are so straight. There is nothing of the sort where they come from.

Two reasons for this. In Indiana, and in fact all the states except the original 13 colonies, the states were laid out into square-mile "Sections" to make parceling out the land easier and quicker. This began taking place shortly after the Revolution (Ordinance of 1787) so the new government could pay off its huge war debt.

In flat states like Indiana, it made the most sense to align the county roads along these section lines; they were the boundaries of the properties anyway, and these places needed a way to get from point A to point B.

It still flabbergasts Emily's Grandmommy and Granddaddy when they come out here. It looks so "unnatural" to them not to have twisty, curvy roads.

gvi,
Flatlander born and bred

Crucis said...

People claim that Kansas, Nebraska and Eastern Colorado are flat. They're nothin' when compared to Northern Illinois.

Kansas, Nebraska and Eastern Colorado are rolling hills. Yes, there are few trees, but flat they ain't!

Zendo Deb said...

I don't think Indiana is particularly flat. Things don't get really flat until you are about 100 miles west of the Illinois state line.

Sight lines are good, unless the corn is high. You don't notice it on the interstate, but on side roads, it is like driving in a ditch. A very green ditch.