The 2nd Annual Market in the Park had a great turnout this year, and the weather mostly cooperated.  This year’s market featured double the vendors of last year’s market, and it was great to see the variety of arts and crafts on display.

Couldn’t make it to the park, or just want to take a trip down memory lane?  Look no further!  We present to you, the 2010 Market in the Park photo gallery.

I would have opted for a pack of Kools, but I figured this might send a better message.

Well, I don’t have to tell you how hot it has been.  There’s several things it has been hotter than lately…Hades…love…the surface of the sun.  You get the idea.

It looks like this week may be headed fora  cool down, and it will be much welcomed by everyone, I’m sure.  Highs are projected to be in the upper 70′s and low 80′s, with nighttime lows in the 60′s and possibly the 50′s by Friday morning?  I like it.

I’ll have more to post later, but just to keep it brief…

- The Market in the Park was great this past weekend.  It had double the vendors of last year’s market, and the turnout seemed to be pretty good on a day that was overcast and threatened rain.

- If you couldn’t make it to the park, or just want to take a trip down memory lane?  Look no further!  We present to you, the 2010 Market in the Park photo gallery.

- If you aren’t watching “The Colony” on the Discovery Channel, Tuesdays at 10pm, you should check it out.  It is an interesting concept, even if it is a tad unrealistic that a group of such handy folks would be lumped together.

- Football is almost here, and I couldn’t be happier.  UK will face off against UL in less than 2 weeks, and even though NFL pre-season football is lousy for the most part, I’m just happy to see it back on TV.  My wife may not agree.

More as I think of it…

WKYT Story

UPDATE: Couldn’t make it to the park, or just want to take a trip down memory lane?  Look no further!  We present to you, the 2010 Market in the Park photo gallery.

It won’t be long now before the Big Tent goes up on Main Street and the funnel cakes get dusted with powdered sugar.  In the meantime, how about whetting your Sorghum Festival appetite with another event showcasing the artistic and creative spirit of Morgan Countians?

The 2nd annual Market in the Park will be held this Saturday, August 21, from 9am to 3pm at Old Mill Park.  The event started last year and drew a good crowd.  This year looks to expand on that initial success.  So far, there are over 40 confirmed vendors, with items ranging from woodworking, to dolls, to candy and a book for children.

In addition to the variety of great arts and crafts items, there will be music by local musicians, as well as food and produce from local farmers.

Summer has been a scorcher so far, but at least as of right now, Saturday is looking more agreeable in the temperature department, so it should be a great day to get out and socialize, do a little early Christmas shopping, or just walk around and take pride in the creative spirit of your neighbors.  Too often we take for granted in this area just how talented a lot of the people are, and I think this event is a great way to showcase that talent and give it the recognition it deserves.

For a list of vendors and other information, check out the web site at http://marketinthepark.net

Hope to see you there!

...and this was INSIDE!

Been a crazy hectic couple of weeks, so I haven’t been able to keep up to date on posting…it’s also been too hot to type, so…let’s catch up a little today.

- It looks like the heat will be around all week.  Mid-and-upper-90′s for highs.  The good news is that it looks like a cool down is headed our way for next week.  As nice as last summer was, this one has been equally miserable.

- The old McKenzie’s Shopwise/Department Store building is pretty much gone.  Yesterday it was down to mostly just a pile of rubble.  I’d imagine that soon the lot will be completely empty, no remnants or remembrances of the building that stood there before.  Such is the way of progress, I suppose.  I find it disturbing how often small towns get all torn up trying to “modernize”, while the larger towns often go out of their way to capture the past and that “small town” feel.  Progress doesn’t have to mean abandoning the influences of the past.  In my opinion, small towns such as West Liberty should embrace what they are…a window in to a past that, believe it or not, a lot of people actually remember fondly.  The buildings and storefronts had character.  I’m afraid that by the time folks realize this, it will be too late and West Liberty will look like a poor man’s Hamburg Pavillion.   I won’t even get started about the new “Justice Center” in this post…maybe some other time.

- The Market in the Park is fast approaching, and I’m awfully excited about it.  The market will take place August 21st from 9am to 3pm at Old Mill Park, and it features local artists, crafts people, musicians, and farmers.  It was a great event last year, and this year looks to be even better.  This is a wonderful event for the county, and I hope to see it grow every year.  You can check out the details on the web site, marketinthepark.net

- And finally, an interesting story about the impact the USPS’s potential decision to cancel Saturday mail service would have on smaller towns and rural areas.  Something to think about.

It's out there...you just have to dig a little

Well, it is Monday, and that is bad enough.  Throw in a night of restless sleep, and a small amount of it, at that, and you’ve got yourself one great way to start the week!

But rather than bemoan the fact that is Monday, I decided to post a little good news today…something to help everyone get the week off to a good start.  Only problem is, I couldn’t really find any!!

Don’t get me wrong.  Good news is all around, to some degree.  I’m sure we can all report some items from our personal lives that would qualify as good news.  Having a job in this awful economy, your health, a happy home, you name it…there’s plenty to be happy and thankful for…I certainly won’t argue that.

No, I was searching for a story that would be more far-reaching…something on a national or global scale that would just make everyone feel good about themselves.  However, the items that I found weren’t exactly what I had in mind.

I decided to search on web sites claiming that their sole purpose was to report good news.

One story was about a man swimming in a VERY cold lake below the summit of Mt. Everest, becoming the first to do so.  Great accomplishment? Yes.  Good news?  ah…not so much.  To top it off, part of the reason he was doing it was to bring awareness to the fact that global warming is melting the glaciers on the world’s mountains.  So, it is, in fact, BAD news wrapped INSIDE good news.  Tricky.

Next, I found a site that looked a little more promising.  The Good News Network had lots of links on their home page to stories that seemed promising.  The one I was most interested in was about a Superman comic saving a family’s home from foreclosure.  Now THAT is the kind of thing I was looking for.  So I clicked the link…and was taken to a page indicating that in order to view the story, you have to subscribe to the site for $2/month!  Granted, that isn’t much, but is that where we are now?  Good news is so few and far between that web sites are actually charging people to read it??  WOW!

Well, I don’t have any earth-shattering good news, but I’ll give you what I can…and all for FREE!!

- Temperatures this week will be closer to normal, with highs in the mid-to-upper 80′s and nighttime temps back in the 60′s.  Not cool, by any stretch, but it sure beats mid-90′s and 70′s at night.

- As of right now, it looks like the gas customers in West Liberty are going to continue to receive gas service (VERY good news, if you ask me!).  The PSC SHOULD approve the city’s move to take over the utility, and the claim so far is that the cost won’t be passed on to the customers.  We’ll keep an eye out for that.

- Produce season is in full swing, and the tomatoes sure are good.  Corn too.  And beans.  and cucumbers…and melons…just go get some.

- And I was able to get the Classifieds working, which ended up being broken because of something I’d done…so, post those ads folks!  Now people will actually be able to see them.

So see?  I guess there IS some good news floating around out there.  Anyone got any more they’d like to share?

i bet cnn.com doesn't have this problem.

well, thanks to an observant reader, i’ve been informed that our Classifieds are broken right now.  i hadn’t noticed it, because i almost exclusively use Firefox, and it appears to be isolated to Internet Explorer.

i supposed i could just tell everyone to switch to Firefox and save me the hassle of trying to figure out what is busted up, but i won’t….even though you should.

anyways, i’m working the problem (i hate it when people say that)…and hopefully i’ll have a solution before too long.

come to think of it, this might explain why there hasn’t been any more than about 10 classifieds added since i switched to the new software.  d’oh!

stay tuned…

dear Liza, with what??

So basically, when this whole oil gusher thing began down there in the Gulf, you KNOW they had a meeting trying to figure out what the hell to do to stop it.  At some point during that meeting, somebody said, “Well, we could just try to shove something down in the hole and clog it up…sort of like a cork.”  And, apparently, all the other BP people said, “Listen, Frank, we need REAL ideas.  Anyone else?”.

Fast forward a few months…and Frank looks pretty smart.

Moving on…

So basically, I stink at keeping this site updated, and for that, I apologize.  I appreciate the folks who keep coming back and checking things out.  I tend to keep several irons in the fire at any given time, and sometimes one thing will suffer so that another can move forward.  I really, REALLY, have to do a better job of balancing all of that…it begins today.

It isn’t like there hasn’t been plenty going on to post about.  I’ll touch on a few things here and follow up with a more focused look at some of the items later on, but basically…

- the oil has stopped flowing in the Gulf, and it is possible that the final stopping-up of the hole will take place over the next few days, as the 2 intercepting wells are getting closer.

- the City of West Liberty may be getting in to the gas business.  this is probably the biggest local story lately, and I’ve totally dropped the ball on it, which is bad, since I am one of the customers that would be affected by a shutoff.  The deadline is the 26th, but it sounds like barring disapproval of the sale by the PSC, West Liberty will take over the utility, and we’ll all keep our gas on.  We shall see.

- my garden is a mess.  However, some people seem to be having luck.  We’ve gotten some great produce from both Fannin’s produce over at Index and Shenk’s produce in Crockett.  I love me some summer ‘maters.

- speaking of Crockett, did you know there is a bakery up there?  A really GOOD bakery?  They sell fresh baked bread, homemade preserves and jam, good and tasty Amish butter (if you are going to eat butter, I think you should eat the best), and all manner of bulk packaged items, such as flour, salt, sugar, spices, and dried items.  It is called Sugar and Spice, and they are open Tuesday thru Saturday, from 9am until 5 (i think?).  You should go check ‘em out.

Ok…I’ll be back soon with some more stuff.  How’s THAT for specific?