DAY 76 - Ellis Dam Lock

Ellis Dam is the northernmost dam on the Muskingum River. The river is really shallow there, navigable only by canoes and really small fishing boats.

I hadn't realized that the lock itself was not even operational anymore. Lock gates are silted in and in disrepair.

DAY 75 - A Little Fall Color

Trees and shrubs in SE Ohio are beginning turn from green to those gorgeous fall hues. Seems to be more yellow this year.

Peak color is estimated to be about the middle of October, so I'm hoping to get lots of beautiful shots in the next couple weeks.

DAY 74 - Paul's Farm Market

We took a drive down the river to get some fresh cider and tomatoes and apples. Paul's makes their own cider, no preservatives or pastueurization, just fresh, pure apple cider -- nothing like the stuff that passes for cider in the stores.

The bins at the market were loaded with pumpkins and gourds, mums, Halloween decorations, and all those wonderful fresh fruit and veggies.

They had some of the most unusual gourds and mini pumpkins, too.








And finally, the Indian corn and corn for the birds and squirrels.

DAY 73 - St. Mary's Church

This little catholic church, out on a country road, is over 150 years old. There is a little shrine and the old graveyard.

DAY 72 -- Turkey Buzzards

We were driving through Dillon State Park the other day, rounded a corner, and there was a flock of turkey buzzards in the road. They weren't in much of a hurry to get out of our way.

DAY 71 - More from McIntire Terrace

Grass peeking through the brick streets

Interesting architecture

DAY 70 - Some McIntire Terrace Homes

McIntire Terrace is one of Zanesville's oldest areas with many homes built in the 1800's, including the Zane Grey house from yesterday's post.

Many of the homes have been beautifully restored. Some of the streets are still the original brick pavement. Many large trees, lovely landscaping, and squirrels abound.

DAY 69 - Zane Grey's Birthplace

The McIntire Terrace area of Zanesville is one of the oldest area's in the city. It's full of brick streets and big old homes, many built in the 1800's. One of those homes, a rather small, nondescript one, is the birthplace of Pearl Zane Grey, the famous western book author. It's a private residence now with a historical marker in the front yard.

DAY 68 - East End Cafe

I've always thought this was an unusual little building -- it's so skinny! It's a little neighborhood bar on Zanesville's east side. I love the purple painted bricks and the canopy awnings over the windows.

All the years I've driven past it, and I never really noticed the Mail Pouch Tobacco advertising on both sides.

DAY 67 - WE HAVE ELECTRIC POWER!!

Our electric power is finally back on after 6 days! Hurricane Ike’s winds hit SE Ohio on Sunday afternoon and really did a number on the whole state. We lost power on Sunday about 6:00 and finally got it back on Saturday about 1:00 thanks to the wonderful guys from Pike Electric out of North Carolina! Wind gusts of up to 70 mph took out trees, which then fell on power and telephone lines. There are still over 1000 customers without power just in our county.

We have a huge 100-year-old sycamore tree -- just lost one large limb out of it, and lotsa leaves. . .

Our neighbor's tall, skinny pine tree was snapped off about 4 feet or so from the ground and fell into the road. When it fell it caught the main electric line running to a neighbor's house and practically tore it off the house. It was still attached to the meter on the house blocking the road. Neighbor's put up the yellow caution tape to block the road to traffic, but that line stayed down for three days until a private electrician finally came out and got it off the house and repaired the damage. But that line still layed curled up by the pole until Saturday when the power company finally repaired the line and turned on the power to the neighborhood.

Poor Susan, the pine tree neighbor, also lost a huge limb off her lovely old maple tree in her back yard. It missed the house, thank goodness, but destroyed the kids play station/swings. That tree will have to be taken out, too.

The only other tree damage in the neighbor was a large limb that fell on the front of Steve's house. Luckily it just bent the spouting and dented a couple shingles.

Our neighborhood was lucky. Many homes were severaly damaged by large trees falling on top of them. We had a man in from a local tree service in to inspect our sycamore. He showed us a picture of a tree they were working on Saturday that fell onto the center of a house and literally chopped the house in half! Below is the aftermath from a huge, huge tree that blocked Blue Avenue in town -- it fell across the road and took down electric and telephone poles with it. It took 3 days to get that mess cleaned up and utilities repaired and back on. Luckily for the home owner, some industrious men offered to clean up the tree in exchange for the firewood!

DAY 66 - Hurricane Ike 5, SE Ohio 0

Still no power, but it's getting closer. The large subdivision to our west got power yesterday -- there's a township fire station on that circuit, so it was a priority to get them back in business. I understand, but still. . .

Cable is back on (not sure if they have power or are on generator), so I do have internet service again. We're running on generator mornings and evenings, so I was finally able to get on line this morning to check Ebay and do a little bit of maintenance. I haven't been able to do any listing since the end of last week -- thank goodness for Store sales!

No later than Sunday midnight is the projection for power. There are still 4654 customers in Muskingum County without power, 19,075 in Licking County just down the road from us. 34,000 homes in SE Ohio are still without power; 38,000 have had power restored.

To quote the power company: "It brought down entire trees, poles, and wires and it's requiring us to rebuild entire sections of our system. There really isn't anything you could do as a utility to prevent that (70+ mph wind gusts).

DAY 65 - Hurricane Ike 4, SE Ohio 0

Just a quick update -- still no power since it went out Sunday at about 6:00 p.m. The entire State of Ohio was slammed by the winds of Hurricane Ike -- 84 of the 88 counties in Ohio have power outages. We didn't get any rain, just horrendous wind!

I didn't even see a power truck until Tuesday -- word is that half of Ohio's electric trucks had been sent south to Texas, then they had to be turned around to head back to Ohio. There are crews in from other Ohio counties, Kentucky, Ontario and Quebec.

American Electric Power estimates power should be restored by the weekend at the latest. There are still about 8,000 customers in Muskingum County with no power!

Thank goodness for our generator -- so the freezer and refrigerator are okay, and we ran a line up to our neighbor's to keep his freezer going. We have city water and a gas water heater and stove, so we're coping well.

It's just having to make daily trips to the library to check Ebay and Amazon for sales!

If interested, go to www.zanesvilletimesrecorder.com for more info.

DAY 64 - Hurricane Ike's Winds

Winds from Hurricane Ike hit SE Ohio with a vengeance. Our power went out on Sunday about 6:00 p.m. It will probably be several days before we have electric, so I'll see you then.

DAY 63 - The Horse Statue

I've always admired this lifesize horse statue that sits across the road from the Amish bulk food store on Rt. 40 West. That is until this last Saturday -- it's gone! I'm glad I got a picture of it while it was still there. It's been there forever. . . wonder if it's been moved or what. . .

DAY 62 - Some Purty Flowers in the Rain

Shasta Daisy . . .

White Iris . . .

And a Red Rose . . .

DAY 61 - Before and After

Yesterday was groomer day for Sam. Poor baby, he hates to be left there. He just hates to be left anywhere away from his people.


He won't walk back to the cage area with the groomer, he sets his feet and you have to drag him to get him to move. No one drags my boy . . . so I have to take him back to the cage area, then we both have to push his butt into the cage. I exit fast, because he looks so sad and forlorn in that cage!


Here's his before shot, really shaggy with a good doggy funk going on:





And now after, all clean and sweet smelling, foofy as we call it. . .

DAY 60 - An Iris for Iris

This white iris is a little confused about the seasons -- normally iris in Ohio bloom in May or so. I shot this one on Sept. 10!

DAY 59 - Another Cool Old Barn

I found this old barn with unsual roof on the way to the bulk food store. The farmer had recently baled hay -- those huge round bales again.