Sunday, February 27, 2011

Things to do in West Virginia when you're bored, Part 4

Jul 30, 2009

Current mood:tired

So in my last "West Virginia" post I had commented how I had been kinda lazy.  Well, things turned around pretty fast.  I feel like I almost need a vacation from my vacation.  Here's what happened.

I only had 2 relatives die while I was up there.  I swear it's like an olympic competition when we're on vacation.

I wrote 2 and a half songs.  The first one was lousy.  The second one was great.  The third one is incomplete.

I went to the Gun and Pawn.  It sucked.  I went to the local guitar store.  It sucked.  I went to the local taxidermy shop.  It was creepy.  However, the prices were quite fair.  I did this in just two hours. 

I collected a lot of lumber.  It was Yellow Locust, Hickory, Apple, and Paw-Paw.  Actually, it wasn't lumber yet.  It was still fallen tree.  It will be made into lumber, and then something else cool.

I ate lots of cake and pie.

I went to more antique stores than should be allowed.

I was yelled at loudly by a New York carnie who owned his own antique shop, but really wanted to give museum tours.

I did a lot of filming up there.  My Girlfriend Roxy (not her real name) really liked everything that I filmed.  Not so much what I filmed, but the commentary.  I got some great footage of turkeys and a red fox.

I took lots of pictures.

I got Roxy lots of things for her birthday.

I then promply forgot the rug I got her for her birthday.  It's now sitting underneath Grandma's bed.  It will most likely be a Christmas present for Roxy by the time I get to it.  I mean it's only 890 miles north of here.

I went to the family reunion.  It was a nice time.  Although, I was one of the youngest relatives there.  To be fair, anyone who was of working age had to work, and couldn't be there.

I didn't get to start a bonfire.  However, I did get to throw a lot of things in the Guyan River.

I found a huge fallen tree.  It was amazingly big.  So me and Dad went down and got a few pieces of the wood.  We asked my Uncle's neighbor/ Brother-In-Law Wayne (who is good at identifing wood) what he thought it was.  He said it looked like Red Oak to him.  You know what?  He was right.  Neither me nor Dad could really use it.  So we went to cut up other stuff.  Man, I would have loved if that tree had of been maple.

Me and Dad then went to clean up an Apple Tree in my Grandmother's neighbor's yard.  She is old, and doesn't have any young males around to clean it up.  Now most people don't know that Apple trees don't get that big.  However, this tree was quite old, and had fallen over.  We figured that it was so rotted that it would only take up to 15 minutes to chainsaw through and clean up.  What really happened was that this was the biggest Apple Tree that Dad had ever seen.  Grandma's neighbor (we'll call her Ann) said her Father planted that tree in 1944 when he came back from the war.  The top part of the tree was rotted, but the bottom four foot was intact.  The wood was unbelievably hard, and was amazingly figured.  Most apple is very white like maple.  This wood was red like red oak, and figured like Mahogany.  I've never seen any apple like it.  It turns out that there was a few branches of an American Chestnut down, so we cleaned that mess up too.  Overall we spent three hours down at Ann's house.  Also, the wood was so hard that it dulled the chainsaw blade, and possibly bent the bar. 

Dad admired the beauty of the American Chestnut trees in the area.  They were almost wiped out do to a canker.  Now they are making a comeback.

I must have been to six different music stores, and almost all of them carried Dean Guitars.  In fact, one store was like 85% Dean Guitars.  Assholes. 

I did not get to see the cows.  I went to where the cows were, but they were not there.  They were lazy cows.
One of the great things up there was local TV.  No really, hear me out.  On the local Fox station from 3-6 was the greatest lineup ever.  3 PM.  Maury.  4 PM.  Jerry Springer.  5 PM.  The Steve Wilkos Show.  First, I got to find out who was the baby's daddy, then I got to see lesbians fighting and reading bad poetry, then I got to see Steve throw chairs.  It was awesome.  However, the last week there we were so busy that I didn't get to see the lineup except for one day.

On a serious note (I know, me serious?)  But, on a serious note, I did get to visit my Grandfather's grave for the first time.  There's quite a long story about how all of us got together, and planned out the design for the headstone.  I was glad to see that it came out fine. 

I got lots of things for Roxy, but I never bought a thing for myself.  However, when I was in my Grandfather's toolshed I came across an old moonshine jug.  Now, technically it is a vinegar jug, but it can hold other liquids.  I asked my Grandmother if I could have it, and she was more than glad for me to have it.  I said I would put it next to my Grandfather's old lanterns that were given to me. 

No comments:

Post a Comment