Most of the farms around here are moribund. I am on the side of a
mountain and just on the other side of it there was a fairly active
farm, but the owner then got too old to farm and then died, so it is
mostly returning to forest or brush. The mountain itself is forested and
the forest begins just a few yards above my house, but it is bisected by
a gas well road. There is a gas well up on the side of the mountain, but
it is long since depleted and is used as a storage well right now.
Continuing from the gas well the dirt road continues to the top of the
mountain where it used to be mainly an access road to a cemetery at the
top, but a gas line does run along the ridge and now there is a cell
phone tower up there. In front of me is a highway below my house and
below that is a river. Across the river the bottom land is used as a
hayfield. When spring comes I hear hay being harvested over there about
three times a year the last harvest is in the fall. On the other side of
that hayfield is a road with numerous houses along it and behind those
houses is another forested mountain. On the other side of that mountain
the population increases tremendously. It is an unincorporated area
called Cross Lanes, but the population density is great enough that it
could easily be a city. That increase in population and associated
business started when the greyhound race track and casino was built.
Cross Lanes really boomed with the addition of that casino including
numerous hotels, strip malls, and more than one shopping center. Some of
that boom has spilled over onto my road with a lot of houses being
built, but it is still officially rural. That is, my road is not even
officially included in Cross Lanes. There is another mountain to the
east of me that is also forested, but I think that just on the other
side of that mountain there are some active farms. After having lived in
a number of places I am now back in my childhood home which is a good
deal more livable than it was in my childhood. It even has running water
now. This is the house that was next door to my paternal grandparents'
house with afield in between. My grandparents' house is now gone and
there are some other houses and trailers where it used to be and in the
area, but this is where my grandfather used to keep hogs and my
grandmother used to keep chickens. Before I was born it was a much more
active farm, but times change.
On 12/29/2015 10:30 PM, Miriam Vieni wrote:
Roger,
Your story makes me curious about the area where you live. I thought that
you lived in a town. But you mention woods and a pig. So are there also
farms where you live?
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Roger Loran
Bailey (Redacted sender "rogerbailey81" for DMARC)
Sent: Tuesday, December 29, 2015 7:14 PM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] A strange thing happened today.
A strange thing happened today. A pig, yes, I mean the kind that says oink -
walked out of the woods and started playing with the neighbor's dogs. They
started calling around trying to find who lost a pig, but no one admitted to
owning a pig and no one knew anyone who did own a pig.
Finally the pig wandered off into the woods again as the dogs barked their
goodbyes. If the dogs had not been chained I think they would have followed.
Those dogs just loved the pig. It was both dog friendly and people friendly,
but no one can find out where it came from.
