I can relate:
Green acres is the place for me.
Farm livin' is the life for me.
Land spreadin' out so far and wide
Keep Manhattan, just give me that countryside.
New York is where I'd rather stay.
I get allergic smelling hay.
I just adore a penthouse view.
Dah-ling I love you but give me Park Avenue.
...The chores.
...The stores.
...Fresh air.
...Times Square
You are my wife.
Good bye, city life.
Green Acres we are there.
I remember watching the old episodes of green acres never thinking that I would be in a somewhat similar situation today. For starters, Just look at the town name similarities:
Town name in green acres: Hooterville
The town that I currently live in: Crawfordville
Farm livin' is the life for me
We don’t actually live on a farm, but if we wanted to, we could have livestock on our little plot we call home these days. We do have a VERY annoying rooster next door that is cock-a-doodle–doooing at 5: am every morning on schedule, never missing a day.
To my delight, I did find this:
Corfu Rooster
Serving size depends on the bird
1 rooster, cut into pieces
7 garlic cloves, smashed
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon black pepper
3 tablespoon olive oil or lard
1 tablespoon tomato paste (or use some tomatoes)
2 tablespoons red-wine vinegar (or cider vinegar)
2 medium onions, halved and thinly sliced
3 ½ cups water
½ cup dry white wine (or vermouth or other booze)
1 teaspoon sugar
........One day
We don’t have a pet pig like Arnold Ziffel, around the house.
Arnold was an amazing pig, he could knock on doors, sign his name, and turn on the television. An urban legend says that Arnold was cooked and eaten by the cast after the show ended. In reality, several different pigs were used during the shows run, none of which was eaten by the cast.
Despite not having a pig around the house, I have learned a lot about pig parts down here-Ham hocks and neck bones to name a few. Don't put too many of these pig parts into your collard greens, just a taste!
We did have an opportunity to watch over a horse for 6-8 months. What a trip, and very educational.
The chores........
I have always been afraid of horses-yup, I know,wimp! (I am always thinking they are going to bite me...must be something in my childhood). I had to be up at 5:30 am to feed and replace water, put out the hay, check the salt licks (“what the hell is that?”) and various other items and duties for horse caring.
One thing I will share with other Northerners coming to the rural south-Buy a pick-up truck! They are very useful for hauling things such as hay and do better on dirt roads than a car. When buying hay, I had to use my Ford Taurus to stack the hay in the trunk..what a Sight! Might have been better off doing it this way:
You are my wife.......
Do you think AJ would let me get away with this?
On a sad note, the horse, Jessie, passed away. It was a horrible thing for my wife, AJ, to witness first hand.
She calls me from home and says Jessie is acting crazy..trying to jump over the fence, he did finally jump a fence and right there in the middle of the dirt road, he died. That was a first and hopefully a last for us. You can imagine the details of removal and burial…
Fresh air.....
The night sounds are very different down here. In the city you would get the sounds of cars/trucks passing, emergency sirens, people yelling etc..etc..
Down here at night, it sounds like the Amazon rain forests. All sorts of creatures a yapping to a cadence, listen here
Mix that sound with the sounds of tree frogs and owls and other creatures yet to be identified and you have a wildlife Hootenanny <--love that word.
[Hootenanny is an Appalachian colloquialism that was used in early twentieth century America to refer to things whose names were forgotten or unknown. In this usage it was synonymous with thingamajig or whatchamacallit, as in "hand me that hootenanny." Hootenanny was also an old country word for "party". Now, most commonly, it refers to a folk-music party] Who would think a little creature like this could be so loud. Theses green tree frogs have a special sound, I swear they are all saying Gordon….Gordon…..Gordon
Owls are cute little animals but………
They don’t play......
Good bye, city life.......
We have heard stories of little pet cats and dogs being carried off by owls.
In the city you will notice people walking carrying long sticks, canes etc..in case of stray dogs, stray people…Down here ......they are used to beat off snakes!
We have seen many a snake on our front lawn and have found the ultimate removal technique,ignore them
Dah-ling I love you but give me Park Avenue........
What happens when city folk move to the country...
City folk do not now much about country wild life as depicted in the lost cat poster below:
Keep Manhattan, just give me that countryside.....
We do love it down here, I think we have assimilated well or as best as we can being a Yankee and all :)
