It has been a long time since my last blog post. That opening sentence is getting a little over used. We are into our KY volunteer gig at Wolf Creek National Fish Hatchery arriving here on April 7. Above is a picture of the outside front of the VC which was completed in 2006. The inside is dominated by 3 large aquariums with fish examples from the Cumberland River, the reservoir made by damming up the Cumberland, and trout that are raised at the hatchery. There also are smaller aquariums with frogs, toads, turtles, darters, snakes, and one of the big attractions, Squirt, the resident skunk.

The hatchery is in the shadow of a huge dam. The dam was started in the 1940’s, completed in 1950, and has leaked ever since. Below the dam, the tail water is great for fishing, there is a very nice Corps of Engineers campground, and it’s where the hatchery, VC, and the volunteer RV sites are located. There are 5 volunteer RV spots laid out in a semi-circle with a large propane bottle at each site. It has been cold enough at times that we have been using the government propane. Thank you very much. And, every morning when we wake up and are dry, we know the dam is still holding.

 We are located in south central KY among the hills and hollars; most everyone it seems lives up some hollar or another. It is very rural and beautiful here. The red buds were starting to bloom when we first arrived and continue to be spectacular despite time and temperatures in the low 20’s. The dogwoods are at their peak flowering right now which also adds to the beauty of this area. The language here is very daunting. Texans I could mostly understand on the second try. Understanding South Carolinians maybe took three tries at times.  But the language of Kentucky is only for Kentuckians and not made to communicate with the outside world. There is just no Yankee-talk here. But I must say, the hardest part of being here is being subjected to Mitch McConnell TV ads on the local stations. Already I’m done fixin’ to celebrate up some hollar when the elections are over.

 We are set up for a long stay here. We finally unpacked everything and even got our bicycles set up which is a first since last summer in MN. For our first bike ride, Shannon decided she wanted to take Tuzi along. The photograph above looks like we are getting ready for a nice gentle, idyllic ride through the KY countryside. But wait… We successfully rode to the campground next door with Tuzi only attempting once to jump out. I signaled the alarm and Shannon caught her in time. As we came back to our motor home, we go down a slight hill which allowed Shannon to pick up some speed. As she approached terminal velocity, Tuzi decided to bail out. I yelled, Shannon hit the brakes, and she went over the handlebars. First you need to know, Tuzi was okay. She was like, hey that was fun; let’s do that again. Shannon you ask? It was the second near face-plant since coming here. She added bruises and strawberries to her knees and hands. These were on top of the strawberries and bruises she had from our first day at work when she tripped over a slight imperfection in the sidewalk leading into the building and crawled to our first day of work on bloody hands and knees. So, now I’m thinking of kneepads, gloves, and a helmet just to walk to work. Bicycling will require more protection. We do have a Plan B for Tuzi on a bike. More when we execute that plan.

 This is Squirt. He came to the VC in 2008, and obviously, although incredulously people ask, he has been de-scented. My first job when I get to the VC in the morning is get Squirt out of his cage, clean the cage, and prepare his meal. While I’m doing cage-cleaning and food preparation, he has the run or should I say the waddle of the VC. He is paper trained, and he has a favorite spot for the paper; so, we have to cover that area before we can let him lose. We were warned to close all the doors and block any cubbyholes in the VC, because Squirt will find them and make it difficult to retrieve him. So far I haven’t lost him although he usually plays hard to get and waddles under some chairs by his cage which makes it a little more difficult to get a hold of him. He is huge, 20 to 25 pounds, but is very gentle. Occasionally, I will get him out of his cage and let kids pet him, but not on the head or face. To say the least he is the hit of the VC. I remember when I was growing up one of my classmates had a pet skunk, and occasionally I would see the skunk out on a leash in front of my friend’s house. Little did I realize at the time there would be a skunk in my future and he would talk Kentuckian.