About McCracken County, KY

Today my family and I spent most of my time watching TV. While channel surfing we came across a marathon on A&E called "Parking Wars". It's a reality TV show that shows the daily events of the Philadelphia Parking Authority. The show has periods where the camera crew follow "meter maids", tow truck drivers and the staff at the impound lot.

As you might expect, the public that is shown is not in a good mood. Most of the public is either being ticketed for being parked in a no parking zone, next to a fire hydrant or in a rush hour zone. One lady we saw today was double parked. Other vehicles were having a "boot" placed on a tire so they couldn't leave or the vehicle was being towed. These vehicles had an excess in parking tickets.

My wife and I watched this show with interest because we own a business that at one time was on Broadway in downtown Paducah. The parking on Broadway in this part of town is similar to parking in a big city. The city of Paducah actually removed the parking meters long ago but parking in this section of downtown is limited to 2 hour parking. At one time the city's "meter maid" actually marked tires with chalk and ticketing vehicles parked in the same spot for more than 2 hours.

Being a business owner, this two hour parking limitation was very important to us. Western Kentucky residents aren't acustomed to parallel parking nor having to search for a parking space and then walking a couple of blocks to the store. With our business model it's even more detrimental. Many other business' employees or people going to the federal courthouse on 5th Street would park and stay all day. We needed these spaces open for customers.

A couple of years ago we moved our business a couple of blocks to a building that has it's own parking lot. It still has a few parking spaces on the street but we aren't dependent on those.

Paducah's GPS RecycleNow recycling efforts have expanded hours and a new location!

Now, you can bring your recyclables to 1830 North 8th Street during the following hours:

• Thursday 12pm - 6pm
• Friday 7am - 12pm
• Saturday 9am - 1pm

Volunteers are needed to help. Volunteering information can be found at http://www.recyclenowpaducah.com/node/18

An example of acceptable recycables are shown below.

When I married my wife back in 2001, the deal included a couple of winter tires!

One of the things that intrigued us when we first talked on the phone before our blind date was the fact that we both owned Ford Broncos. She had the one her dad gave her and I had one I bought myself. Her Bronco was an '86 and mine was a '92.

Her dad had bought a couple of WinterTrax winter tires for her. For as long as I've known my wife she never used the tires. it doesn't really snow that much around here. I never installed them on her truck or any other vehicle.

A few years ago I asked her if it was ok to sell those tires. I listed them on our local Classifieds web site for a few dollars. This web site is always hopping with visitors and ads - which I happen to manage . I didn't get a single response.

So these tires sat next to my shed in the back yard for a few more years. I finally decided to ask the wife if I could just give them away. She agreed!

So, at about 9:30pm one night this week, I put them back on the Classifieds and advertised "Free WinterTrax winter tires!". I included the size and two pictures of the tires with rims. Within 10 minutes I had an email reply.

The next morning, I had another email and within a couple of hours I had 5 phone calls. I had left these tires at the end of my driveway so whoever showed up could get them without me being there. I live at the end of a short dead end street so there wouldn't be any passersby see these tires.

When I got home that evening the tires were gone. I don't know who got them but I hope they can use them. They weren't used a single time by me.

How is this related to real estate?

One of the gentleman asked me if I was a realtor. I had used my realtor profile on the Classifieds to advertise these tires. He asked me how the market was right now and said he was going to sell his home and move to Princeton, KY sometime. I honestly told him it wasn't very good right now. He asked me to call him when the market was "HOT!" so we could get it listed. I started smiling to myself because of the words he was using. He was an older guy so the words kinda surprised me. It was quite interesting for such a short conversation.

Before writing this blog entry I start wondering if there was anything else I could put at the end of the driveway!

BTW, the tires shown are the actual tires I was giving away.

Thursday, September 25

Family Entertainment – Wilson Stage

5:30 PM – Elsenpeter Marionettes

6:00 PM – Elsenpeter Marionettes

 

Family Entertainment – Four Rivers Church Hospitality Tent

Big Screen T.V.’s will be showing the latest in family films nightly

5:00 PM – 9:00 PM – Clay Creation Station – Bring your entire family to take part in this hands on creative experience.

 

Main Stage Entertainment

5:00 PM – 5 on Friday

7:00 PM – Murr-Vegas All Stars

 

Friday, September 26

• Lots of Tasty Barbecue and Fixin’s at various booths
• Children’s Activities at Wilson Stage and Four Rivers Church Hospitality Tent
• Live entertainment on the Main Stage in front of the Beer Garden which opens at
• 13th Ever Media Cook-Off - Come out and cheer on your favorite media personalities as they compete in the Iron Chef Style Cooking event.

 

Family Entertainment – Wilson Stage

4:00 PM – Elsenpeter Marionettes

4:30 PM – Eldon Roark – Magician

5:00 PM – Babaloo – Family Comedian

5:30 PM – Troy Roark – Master Entertainer

6:00 PM – Elsenpeter Marionettes

6:30 PM – Eldon Roark – Magician

7:00 PM – Babaloo – Family Comedian

7:30 PM – Troy Roark – Master Entertainer

Nitro Joe’s Mad Science Booth will be froom 4:00 PM – 8:00 PM on the West End of Wilson Stage area up near the floodwall.

 

Family Entertainment - Four Rivers Church Hospitality Tent

Big Screen T.V.’s will be showing the latest in family films nightly

5:00 PM – 9:00 PM – Clay Creation Station – Bring your entire family to take part in this hands on creative experience.

5:00 PM – Live Children’s Entertainment

6:00 PM – Live Children’s Entertainment

7:00 PM – Veggie Tale’s Autograph Session

 

Main Stage Entertainment

3:30 PM – Special D

5:30 PM – Partial Post

8:00 PM – The Cruisers

 

Saturday, September 27

 

• Lots of Tasty Barbecue and Fixin’s at various booths
• Children’s Activities at Wilson Stage and Four Rivers Church Hospitality Tent
• Live entertainment on the Main Stage in front of the Beer Garden

 

10:30 AM ‘til the Barbecue runs out!

The public is invited to PIG OUT on over 35 tons of Barbecue and the fixins’

Symphony Beer Garden opens at 11:00 am

9:00 AM – United Way 5K Run – Starts and finishes at Paducah Bank

For more information visit www.unitedwaypaducah.org.

 

Marine Industry Day – Riverfront at the Foot of Broadway

9:00 AM – 4:00 PM – Towboat Tours – Sponsored by Ingram Barge Company

9:30 AM – 5:00 PM – River Heritage Museum open to the public

10:00 AM – Calliope Concert

Seamen’s Church Pilot Training Simulator – Tours start at 10:00 AM – on the ½ hour thereafter to 1:30 PM.  Limited group size – please sign up for a tour!

1:00 PM – Line Throwing Contest – Cash Prizes

              First Prize - $125

              Second Prize - $100

              Third Prize - $75

              Traveling Company Trophy

The following will be set up for display throughout the day:

              St. Louis Admiral’s Club – remote controlled model boats

              James Shipyard – Towboat Wheel Display

              Towboat Artwork by Randy Mayse at Doe’s Eat Place

              Riverwork Discovery by AEP

The Ohio River Sanitation Commission (ORSANCO) Aquarium will be set up for viewing on Thursday, Friday & Saturday at the corner of Broadway & Water Street.

 

 

Family Entertainment – Wilson Stage

11:00 AM – Nitro Joe – Mad Science

11:30 AM – Eldon Roark – Magician

12 NOON – Randy Erwin – Singing Cowboy & Rope Tricks

12:30 PM – Troy Roark – Master Entertainer

1:00 PM – Nitro Joe – Mad Science

1:30 PM – Eldon Roark – Magician

2:00 PM – Randy Erwin – Singing Cowboy & Rope Tricks

2:30 PM – Troy Roark – Master Entertainer

3:00 PM – Nitro Joe – Mad Science

3:30 PM – Eldon Roark – Magician

4:00 PM – Randy Erwin – Singing Cowboy & Rope Tricks

4:30 PM – Troy Roark – Master Entertainer

Nitro Joe’s Mad Science booth will be open at the times listed below at the West End of the Wilson Stage area up near the floodwall:

12 NOON – 1:00 PM; 2:00 PM – 3:00 PM; 4:00 PM – 5:00 PM

 

Family Entertainment – Four Rivers Church Hospitality Tent

Big Screen T.V.’s will be showing the latest in family films nightly

10:00 AM – 9:00 PM – Clay Creation Station – Bring your entire family to take part in this hands on creative experience.

10:00 AM – Live Children’s Entertainment

2:00 PM – Live Children’s Entertainment

4:00 PM – Veggie Tale’s Autograph Session

6:00 PM – Live Children’s Entertainment

 

Main Stage Entertainment

11:00 AM – Vintage Alley

12:30 PM – The Redding Brothers

2:30 PM – Bawn in the Mash

4:00 PM – Awards Presentation

5:00 PM – Timeless

7:00 PM – Lew Jetton & 61 South

 

Old Market Days
Thursday
NOON - 10:00 PM
Friday & Saturday
10:00 am - 10:00 PM
 

More info available at http://www.bbqontheriver.org/

The remains of hurricane Ike passed just west and north of western Kentucky this morning. At 7:10am the power at my home went off. After a couple of hours the power came back on for a few minutes and went out again. Four hours later the power came for good.

I had to respond to a power outage downtown and check on my wife's store. The roof of her store has a rubber roof on it. The rubber roof was being so inflated it almost looked like a balloon. I thought the high winds were getting between the rubber and the roof through a big hole somewhere so I got up there to check it out. I took a roll of duck tape with me. I did not find a big hole but did try to foolishly apply some duck tape in a few places. The duck tape wouldn't stick to the rubber.

The Paducah area literally looks like a tornado went through town. Signs are laying on the ground everywhere. Trash cans are laying on their sides a block away. Big and small trees are down everywhere. My neighbor tells me that a house down the street is a total loss after a large tree up rooted. His neighbor had a large limb fall through his bedroom. That limb went completely through the house and stopped when it in the ground under his bedroom floor.

This part of the midwest may get some tornadoes from time to time but we certainly aren't used to the persistent winds like we saw this morning. Anything that wasn't battened down got blown away and any trees that weren't in good shape got blown over.