Eastern Kentucky

To those who don't already know it, we've moved back closer to home. And I use the term "closer to home" because it's really not "home," as we formally knew it. It's Eastern Kentucky. And I will say right off the bat that in no way do I want this blog to come off slamming EK.... it is what it is, and there are already parts of it I love. But I had no idea the difference in culture just across the river, and wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't lived it first. One of my friends put it best: you need a passport to come here.

For your amusement and information, here are a few facts about the area we are now calling home. It is all true.

- Extended families live clustered in neighborhoods. To get to each other's houses, they don't drive their cars and they don't walk. They use one of the following: golfcart, John Deere gator, four-wheeler, or dune buggy. Having a license to drive one of these is optional.

- Everyone knows everyone. Don't try to fight it. Don't be surprised. Just accept it.

- A riding lawn mower is not a luxury here. It is a necessity. Again, don't fight it. Just fork over your savings account.

- On the subject of mowers, lawns are generally mown every six days at minimum. Why? Because most everyone is retired and has nothing else to do (it's the truth!!).

- Talking is a passion here. People want to talk to you. It's wonderful, and at the same time, a game of attrition, wearing you down to the point where you throw up your hands in mercy, back away, and make a break for your garage.

- You live in the world of wildlife. They do not live in your world. Seeing your neighbor chase a herd of deer of his lawn with a newspaper at 6am is not an uncommon event. Neither is watching a doe carefully stand on her backlegs as she grabs apples from the lower branches of your apple trees.

- Neighborhood brush bonfires are welcome, accepted, and an excuse to gather and --what else-- talk.

- It's not safe to go out driving past dusk. Not because of the crime rate, but because of the 75% chance you will hit a deer.

- Walmart is a place for meeting up with friends and neighbors in the aisles and socializing.

- If you proceed to chainsaw down three huge trees in your frontyard, no one will give it a second thought, and you'll likely have a neighbor or two show up to hold the tree while you saw.

And specifically, in our household:

- Clean-platers are no longer rewarded with candy or cookies after dinner. They're given four-wheeler rides around the property by Daddy.

- Hanging out on our front porch in their underwear and t-shirts with the neighbor's family of cats is perfectly acceptable behavior for the boys in this neighborhood.

- Apple trees are not something we read about in books anymore. We pick off the apples, take bites, and practice our throwing techniques with the teeny ones.


I have to say, I deeply miss parts of our life in Lexington, and there are times I wish we were living right back in our old true "hometown," but life here surely has its own flavor, too.