Apple

Our good friends Barabara and Bill came over yesterday with their 14-year-old grandson, Kyle. Kyle loves Ginger, our lovely and spoiled mare, and he brings goodies for her to eat on each visit. I want you to note that "spoiled" is the operative word here. We have had Ginger living with us about a year. When she came she was too skinny, unaccustomed to any love or attention and had lived an abusive life alone in a barb-wire enclosure. She jumped at any loud noise and broke out in a salty sweat at anything that made her feel threatened.

Editor's note: Kevin Duke and Wilson Garrett, Centre College interns at The Advocate, will be investigating this area's history in a feature called History Hunters. See their video and blog at http://historyhunters.wordpress.com . PLEASANT HILL - Growing up in a city, it's hard for me to remember the last time I was out in a field doing any real work with nature. That changed last week when I went out to Shaker Village to try my hand at pruning some apple trees. While I was a little apprehensive at first, the whole experience turned out to be a lot of fun. Arriving at Shaker Village in cold, rainy weather, Kevin Duke and I met with Don Pelly, the naturalist and orchardist there, for some hands-on training in pruning at the apple orchard.

THOMPSON TO SPEAK JAN. 25 AT LIBRARY Sharon Thompson, a Lexington Herald-Leader food and dining columist, will speak between noon and 1 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 25, at Clark County Public Library's Book Lunch. She will discuss her new cookbook, "Flavors of Kentucky," that contains recipes for fried apple pies that were made by her mother, Myrtle Wiseman, and used for bake sales at the Franklin Avenue Church of God, now Church of the Living God. Seating is limited to 15, and those planning to attend must register by Tuesday, Jan. 23. LEARN ABOUT IDENTITY THEFT Identity Theft will be the topic of the program at 10 a.m. Thursday, Jan. 25, at the Clark County Extension Office, 1400 Fortune Drive.

When Cinderella's coach turned into a pumpkin, she knew her time was up. When the Cinderella pumpkin - and the knot head pumpkin, cushaws and gourds - appear on the shelves at the Beech Springs Farm Market, owner John Hendricks knows he's in the home stretch too. Pumpkin sales start picking up during the last week of September, Hendricks said, and last right up to the week before Halloween. Mums, apple cider and homemade caramel apples are also big sellers, but these popular items mark the end of the year for farm markets.

The Guerrants passed down traditional family recipes for years. Tuesday, they brought some of those recipes to 4th Street Deli and Tap for the guest chef special. Five family members pitched in for the "Just like Momma used to make it" feast, all making their own specialty dish. Evelyn Guerrant Page made her apple and cherry cobblers, a dish her mother taught her how to make. The cheesy chicken was also a dish Page made for her four boys growing up. One of her sons, Ben Guerrant, his wife, Laura, their son, Benjamin, and Laura's mother, Lanna Weddle, helped bring the meal together at the deli.

This past week I went to Louisville to see my daughter after her eye surgery. Hopefully, the doctors were able to get the cancer from the spot on her eye, but another suspicious spot on the same eye was discovered. She is awaiting the results of that biopsy to see if another surgery is in the future.  After a few weeks, the bruises from the surgery should go away, and hopefully everything will be good for her.  Later in the week I went to Bramble Ridge Orchard to surprise a friend who was there with her church group on her birthday.

Dell has made a significant return to the Linux arena. While the company has never completely abandoned the Linux community, they had cut back on Linux offerings during the last three or four years. However, lately, this trend seems to be taking a significant change of direction.  The company recently announced the launching of two new high-end Linux laptops, a 15-inch Dell Precision M4700 and a 17-inch Dell Precision M6700. The Linux operating system offered on the laptops will be Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)

Apple has named Marty Park, Clark County district technology coordinator, as an Apple Distinguished Educator for 2007. The Apple Distinguished Educator program provides a unique forum for Apple and exemplary educators worldwide to exchange ideas and information about the effective uses of new technologies in the creation of engaging learning environments that will promote student achievement and academic scholarship. ADEs are members of a select group of education professionals committed to the promise of educational technology in the classroom and beyond.

The Casey County Apple Festival continues through Saturday. The schedule is as follows: Today 5 p.m., Carnival opens, 6 p.m., Serving of 10-foot chocolate chip cookie. Free in city parking lot. 6-8 p.m., County-wide devotional service featuring gospel singers Kimberly Holsapple, Terry Milbey, Basic and Brush Creek Pentecostal Church.