A reason to live!

I started this page to have someplace to comment on happenings in and around Frankfort but have done little with it.

However, we have all kinds of things starting to move here in this little town, especially new restaurants of all sorts, and some old favorites that are re-establishing themselves as good places to go so it's time to get fired up and start posting some new material.

Coming up - a review of the new Bistro 241 - a fine dining experience right here on Main street!

New garden space at the New Capitol

They've been really busy putting in trees and benches and doing landscaping, and some of the locals have been going up there with their pets to hang out.

I'm going up there with the dogs some time. I figure they'll get a kick out of it.

Been layin' low

Wow, how long has it been since I posted anything here?
Too long, obviously, but I've been really busy with all the other things that occupy my life - work, dogs and cats, reading and working with KC3.
Looks like I'm going to be busy posting on here in the weeks to come, though, because events here in our little town are brewing up to a boil. Looks like I'm fixing to get into a squabble with city hall over zoning and home improvements and living in the historical district.
Stay tuned - it's about time for some observations about Frankfort to follow.

Meat! - it's what's for dinner!

Been busy, haven't been concentrating on this blog like I would like to but am hoping to have more to put here in this week to come.
One place I would like to tell everyone about who doesn't already know about it Bryant's Pic-Pac grocery on Second street. Danny Bryant owns it. He started off there a good while back working as a meat cutter when it was still the A&P grocery. Now he runs the whole shebang and has the best meat in Frankfort, bar none.
When I was much younger the local Kroger's groceries had good meats. Now they've gone over mostly to pre-packaged stuff and frozen meats brought in from warehouses where it's all done up for them in advance. They do some stuff on the premises, but not that much. Walmart's the same way.
But Danny still gets in meat in pieces that you can look at and identify as being a real animal, great sides and quarters of beef and pork. He handles the full range of meat and poultry, and he'll get whatever you want and cut it any way that you like it.
I love being able to cruise in there and ask for pork loin steaks cut an inch thick. I cooked a bunch of those for some guys who were here for a shooting class several years ago and they raved about the food the whole time they were here. Thick or thin, Danny'll do it like you like it.
They make a lot of their own stuff in house, like pimiento cheese and some really fine beer cheese. And their made-in-house sausage is amazing. They take the trimmings and other cuts from the pork that they butcher, then mix it all together in the classic country manner with seasonings and spices and grind it all together. The result is something very lean, so lean that you have to cook it with some water or oil in the skillet since it won't release enough fat itself to keep from burning as you cook it. You can make big patties with it and they hardly shrink as they cook, it's so lean!
It's nice to be able to say good things about a local business like this, as they fade from the scene while the big stores displace them. Customer service is what they do best, making sure that you get what you need the way that you want it, and they manage to match pretty much any price that the big stores can throw out there in the process.
They cook chicken for various clubs and groups, cook and slice whole hams to order, and can provide various delicatessen services for any size group. Their deli makes the best lunch bargain in town. You get a meat and two vegetables along with a roll or cornbread for only $4.99 - you just can't beat that price for a full meal. Yeah, you can get hamburgers, or what some so-called chefs in this town want to sell you for twice as much, but you can't get food like that at that price anywhere else.
Lots to love about Bryant's, more than I'm going to try to tell you about in one piece on a blog. You owe it to yourself to go see them, at the corner of Second and Steele streets, if not to sample their deli and plate lunches then to order a prime cut for supper. Tell Danny I sent you so he knows that I'm thinking of him and giving him a thumbs up.
You can shop in bigger stores, but you can't get better meat or better service. Gotta love that.

Honoring a fine young man from Frankfort

Travis Clark, the son of Steve and Susan Clark, is now serving with the Marines in Iraq.

I've known his mom and dad for several years.  Steve is a firefighter and Susan's a nurse, so he comes by his attitude toward public service from influences at home, seems to me.

Travis was recently promoted to corporal and here's a picture from the ceremony.  Travis is the tall young man with the sunglasses to the right of the officer wearing the shoulder holster rig -

At a time when so many of the young people in this country don't have a clue what's going on in the world, don't think critically and don't have any love for their country I am thrilled to see an superlative young man like Travis volunteering to go into harm's way to serve his nation and defend us from a merciless and implacable enemy.

From an guy who's slowing down and getting creaky but was once upon a time a strac young Sgt. E-5 in the US Army, let me say to this young Marine -

OUTSTANDING!  Semper Fi!

As long as young men such as Travis choose to serve their nation there's still hope for our future.

Congratulations!!!

It's so strange when the boys that you knew as infants and toddlers and teens become parents.
But that's the way of life, growing, changing, aging, renewing.
Now Sellus Wilder and Jessie Bessinger have a lovely new baby girl, Jamison Elise Bessinger!


What a beauty, and already smiling!
Thank God she looks like her mother. :-D
Way to go, kids!

Building a community? Not like this, they're not.

There's a coffee house in Frankfort, the Kentucky Coffeetree Cafe, where my daughter worked just after graduating high school.

(photo by Scott Beale, www.laughingsquid.com)

It was recently taken over by a young couple who just had their first baby. They're earnest and enthusiastic, and by all appearances very liberal. They've spoken in the press about their desire to encourage a sense of community and involvement in the downtown. To that end, they've provided computers and wifi in the cafe, and encouraged musical and literary events.

They have good coffee, and the dogs and I have enjoyed a lot of sausage biscuits, scones and muffins there. I make it a point to try to patronize local businesses as much as I can, and have encouraged everyone I know to do the same.

But that might be about to end.

While the cafe's former owners, current owners and the majority of its clientele have always been obviously liberal in their politics, and some of the expressions of that leaning have been annoying, the introduction of one particular product in the store may be the tipping point for me, leading me to avoid patronizing them in future.

This is a coffee cup with the title "I have a dream!" which has on it a map of the USA with the now-classic red and blue states depicted. But when you fill it with hot coffee (or chai, or holistic green tea, or whatever young lefties slurp) ALL the states turn to BLUE! Yup, the dream is a map devoid of any red (Republican) states.

I'm only nominally a Republican and have been pretty annoyed with the GOP many times. I'm only supporting McCain because I fear an Obamanation and think Sarah Palin's a good thing. But I very much dislike such partisanship in a store that professes to want to build "community" and spouts all the other buzz words that go along with that.

I haven't told them about it yet, but I intend to, and to point them to this blog as well so that they can reply if they wish.

But until they can start stocking bi-partisan products that embrace both sides of the political spectrum, the dogs and I will get our morning repast from another vendor. Too bad. The coffee's pretty good and the dogs like the cranberry muffins a lot.

Yet another blog?

There were things that I wanted to say about my home town of Frankfort, Kentucky that didn't fit into the context of the "Bloggo The Dog Boy" blog and were much more focussed on local events.
So now, yet another self-indulgent web page cluttering up cyberspace.
But I gots things to say 'bout Frankfort and the folks in it, so here we be.
Pour a drink, pull up a chair and kick back for some musin' and reminiscin' about the Bluegrass and the folks in it, strickly from my point of view.
I'm likely to piss off some people but that's what's fun, ain't it? Poking wasps' nests and seein' who gets stung, n' who gets away?
Stay tuned!