As many of you already know I have left the state of Maryland, land of the Sovereign Lord Martin O'Malley, and found greener pastures in the rural lands of Kentucky. When I arrived the lawn had not been mowed for some time; it was about 4 feet tall. I have a little 4.0 hp push-along mower to mow 3/4 acre of 4 foot tall grass. The mower was not working and had to be repaired, and there is only one shop in this rural town to repair the tractors and mowers so it took a couple weeks. It was a struggle mowing all that tall grass with this little push-along but thankfully the neighbors are right friendly down here. Harold, who lives two houses over came on by riding his powerful ride-on and just pitched in without even being asked. That made me feel real good. He asked me to start on the front lawn while he finished the back. It wasn't long before one of Harold's sons, Elvis (yes, that is his name) came over on his ride-on and quickly help finish the back yard. Both came and finished up the front yard for me too. Harold said he thought I'd like to be done before the elections in November. Here is a picture of part of the back yard, nicely mowed:

 I burn my trash in that big ol' can you see. Anyhow, I thanked them for their kindness and they said they were only too happy to help and added that if I needed help with anything to just ask. Right friendly folks down here. He thanked me for playing with his dog and feeding the dog too. When I first saw Spike I didn't know who his owner was. I was sitting on my patio folding my laundry when this mean looking big ol' black dog came charging at me. I braced myself for the attack. Spike started licking me, rubbing his face on me, laying down next to me, playing, having a good ol' time. He kind of looks at me as his massage therapist now. Well, after all the playing around I took some dog food (left behind from the previous owner) from the shed and gave him a small bowl of it. Harold saw all this and appreciated it. The old owners were right bolicking pillocks with the neighbors and their pets. Here is a picture of Spike, one of my best friends who visits me almost every day now:

 He looks mean, but he's a great pal. I also made friends with a horse down the street. I stop and scratch the horse's ears and chin and give him some grass growing outside the fence. I walked by last week and didn't see him so kept on my walk when I heard this snorting type sound so I turned to see what it was. It was the horse with his head bobbing up and down over the fence, trying to get my attention. He got his usual scratching and grass. I also have two hens with their chicks come over almost every day eating whatever they find in the back yard. I had to weed the small garden area in the front yard and it looks like this now:

 I think I'll plant some watermellons here next spring. Now with the front yard mowed and weeded you can look across the street to the cattle ranch:

 Another thing I enjoy doing is sitting on the front deck and watch the hummingbirds feed:

 That is the hummingbird on the right side of the feeder. I also like watching the sun set from my front deck, and look at the mountains:

 That is my neighbor Adam working on his car, he does that a lot. His wife and daughters are very friendly too.They always wave and say kind things when they see me ride by on my bike. I think I can grow to like this kind of kindness.

I do have to finish unpacking, the house is a mess. The entertainment center is up and running in the Living Room. After all, I must be entertained, it is important. So here is what the entertainment center looks like:

 Okay, you see some of the mess but I'm working on it, little by little. The weather has been so nice down here that I have to take time to see everything around me. And, there was the revival a church had which I attended every afternoon and evening. If you think the Living Room is a mess you don't want to even look at the kitchen, but I'll show it to you anyway:

 As you can tell I have a lot of unpacking and cleaning up to do.It will get down so GET OFF MY BACK ALREADY!!!! Glad I got that off my chest. When I am done this next room you see will be the spare/guest room:

 Yes, it is a mess because I have to unpack and clean up. Then there will be my office and storage room when it is all done and in order:

 You see all those boxes that have to be unpacked? It will get done, but not if you don't GET OFF MY BACK!!! My bedroom is in much better order, as you can tell:

 So, here I am, starting all over at my very advanced age. But I want to tell you more about how friendly the folks are down here. I went grocery shopping a few weeks ago. I had purchased more than I reckoned on. After checking out I took the cart full of groceries to my bike. I was dividing the bags up for those I would put in a big cloth bag that would be strapped to the back of the bike. The other bags would go in my knapsack which would end up on my back. This kind lady, Amanda came over and asked me how far I had to ride the bike to get all those groceries home. It's about 4 miles. She offered to put the bike in the back of her van and drive me home. It really made me feel good that a stranger would make such an offer, so I thanked her but I needed the exercise so I declined the offer. She gave me her number and her husband's number in case I ever needed a ride somewhere too far for the bike. As she was pulling out another lady came over and made the same offer. Two strangers willing to go out of their way to help a stranger. Back to Amanda, I did call her for a ride to the grocery store since I had to get some big items and frozen items I didn't want to melt before I got them home. Her husband, Wade told me I could use their home for a rest stop whenever I needed to, and if they weren't home to use the patio furniture in their back yard. Wade grills a mean, thick steak that was really good with Amanda's home made mashed potatos and veggies. Their three daughters (I call them The Supremes) are real nice to me also. When I do use their home as a rest stop Wade ends up putting my bike in the back of their van and driving me home. That is getting some rest.I really love this family, they are very kind, decent folks.

I could go on about how friendly folks down here are. Just the other day I was riding my bike when suddenly everything started spinning and my sight became blurry. I still have open wounds in my GI tract and losing blood, and even a little, every day made me a bit anemic. I'm suppose to have surgery soon. So I hear a horn honking and then breaks screeching but I can't see anything clearly. The car did bump me, it broke one of the cables and a brace. I wrenched the muscles in my right leg and left lower back but other than that I'm not hurt. They didn't cuss and carry on even though, legally, it was my fault. They got out, helped me up and made sure I was alright, and offered to drive me home. A gentlemen named Mark, on his own and at his own expense, went out and bought a new cable, brought it over and fixed my bike. Then there is Josh, the youth minister (I call him theYouth Vicar) at a Baptist church who has helped me on more than one occassion. I do a Bible study with him and the youth on Sunday evenings. Even the youth offer to ride me places. One Baptist preacher bragged about all the Baptist churches down here. I told him, "Yeah! You all have more Baptist churches down here than I can shake a rosary at!" 

 These are only some of the experiences I'm having down here. There is a lake that is a 15 minute walk from my home, about a 5 minute bike ride. I can go swimming there, or I take an inflatable raft with me and float on the lake for an afternoon. But, before I left Maryland I wanted to go to the Congressional Cemetery and pay my respects to Taza, the son of Cochise, who is buried there. I was saddened to see that this historical cemetery is in such disrepair, and people walking their dogs there, peeing on the graves. I was happy to see that someone placed flowers on Taza's grave:

 This is the update on me, such as I am. So, what are you folks up to? How are ya'all doing?