Miller Land | Our Family's Little Blog

What you’ll find within a 2.5-mile radius in Byesville and Cambridge is pizza shops. Fifteen come up on the Google radar. FIFTEEN! What you won’t find is a solo coffee shop. Cool Beans on Cambridge’s main strip closed down since we moved here. The other location that comes up on a Google search is TJ Cinnamon’s, which is actually located within a fast food restaurant.

Coffee is considered a luxury here and it’s easy enough to make. Pizza is an all-around favorite food that takes some time because of the dough. It takes just the right amount of work to make it worthwhile to buy instead of make. Unless you’re Charity Pryor or Lori P., which, let’s admit it, most of us are not.

Each pizza shop has its gimmick that distinguishes it from the others. Little Caesars can offer pies for $5 because it’s a national chain and it can’t be rivaled for volume. Wally’s makes huge rectangular trays of pizza perfect for parties and technically qualifies as a chain because it has two locations, one in Cambridge and one in Byesville. Some would agree that hands down, the best pizza in Byesville is made by Plus One, also a local chain. Papa John’s has  “better ingredients” and offers coupons in the Sunday Jeffersonian. Dominoes, another chain, offers pizza for the same price as Little Caesar’s and brags about their seasoned crust. My favorite is the  big sign out front of Galaxy Pizza on Mother’s Day: “Your mother called. She wants you to pick up a delicious pizza from Galaxy.” Galaxy also has one store in Byesville, one in Cambridge.

Either the gimmicks work or pizza itself works, but the towns of Cambridge and Byesville love themselves some cheesy pie. The true sign that tourism is helping the economy of these two towns will be when a coffee shop can stay in business.

The earth in southeastern Ohio has layers of shale, limestone, clay, and coal. The area’s rich coal and gas deposits once made Cambridge a thriving glass and pottery center. A geologist whom Pa met when he worked for an oil company grabbed a handful of clay from the ground and sculpted a bust of a native American woman on the spot using tools he fashioned with sticks.

From Drop Box

In the early years, the Cambridge Glass Company operated its own coal mines and consumed 50 tons a day to fire its melting pots. It also used natural gas produced from its own wells. The abundant supply of natural resources was one of the main reasons for locating this factory in southeastern Ohio. To this day, Cambridge glass is considered one of the finest quality glassware lines in the world and glass from its heyday is still highly prized by collectors.

When I learned about Cambridge’s rich history, it explained why several of John’s artist friends have been here even though it seems like a sleepy little town in upper Appalachia. The Cambridge/Guernsey County Visitors & Convention Bureau puts out a nice little visitor’s guide. Here are some of the reasons listed to visit Guernsey County:

Once a year, during “ugly time” as Daren calls it, they have a Dickens Victorian Village festival and life-sized dolls dressed in Victorian clothing line Wheeling Avenue. The display draws busloads of people.

The Salt Fork Arts & Crafts Festival (August 13, 14 and 15, 2010), a chance for local artists to display and sell their art, will likely draw large crowds at Cambridge City Park this year as it has in the past.

Salt Fork State Park and Seneca Lake are pretty busy during the summer.

Something I’d be interested to check out: A major power supplier in the region, AEP, has reclaimed former mined out lands to build beautiful recreation areas (one aptly named ReCreation Land) throughout southeastern Ohio.

Who knew such history and natural wonders existed in our little corner of the world?

What became apparent to us soon after our move to Ohio was that country folk live by the DIY credo – If someone else can do it, why can’t I? As a result, they only spend money on what they absolutely need to. Which means, good or bad, businesses do their own promotional work here, if they advertise at all. Most rely on word-of-mouth marketing and referrals.

Wages are lower here so there’s less to waste. Therefore businesses like Home Depot and Lowes that cater to the DIY crowd will never go out of business. However, the row of empty storefronts on 2nd Street, a major (term used liberally) downtown thoroughfare, tells a different story about commerce within the village of Byesville itself.

The towns of Byesville and Cambridge are manufacturing/agricultural towns so this is where things are made, not so much where things are purchased. Colgate-Palmolive, Ridgid tools, John Deere and Champion Spark Plugs all have manufacturing plants here.

Since the preferred currency around here is favors, money doesn’t exchange hands too often. In order to barter, you need a skill that you can leverage. The question is, whatcha got?

There is a great deal of excitement in the Miller/Campbell camp over the acquisition of a washing machine. Until today, we (meaning “I”) have been weekly regretting our decision to leave our washer/dryer behind in Los Angeles. Usually about half way through the rinse cycle at Bernie’s Laundromat.

Now, the Indian Lakers are set in case there isn’t enough rain to keep the spring-fed water supplies full uphill during the dryer months. We have city water so lack of water isn’t usually a problem for us.

During the summer, it usually rains about 8 days a month, that means  more days to line dry our clothes. We won’t have to worry about getting a dryer until the wet season (October).

We’ve discovered that  there are some advantages to line drying that might put off that decision indefinitely.

Line drying saves $10/week in dryer money at the laundromat or who knows how much in electricity at home.

I love the way clothes smell when they come off the line, infused with fresh country air. There’s no way to imitate it with chemicals. It’s the original and much cheaper scent of Spring Breeze. Mixed with fabric softener which is  a must when you line dry. Otherwise you’ll end up with cardboard clothes fit only for very large paper dolls. Towels dry rough anyway, but without softener, you can use them to scrub a layer of skin off your body like they do in Korean baths. Can you say torture?

Machines are faster, but not by much. The time-consuming part is hanging the wet clothes. Some clothes are nearly dry by the time you finish hanging. I’ve almost got the drying order down, which clothes dry the fastest, which take a little longer, and so forth. And you develop ways to hang clothes so that they dry faster, too. It’s a science.

I was just about to use our newly attained Maid-Rite washboard that the Trimbles left behind to do our laundry, but thanks to Jared and Aprile, my knuckles and dry hands have been spared. And Jason, good lookin’ out, thanks bruva.

City folks like us can’t stomach the thought of eating deer meat because we feel like we’re eating Bambi. That’s all we know of deer. Spotting deer on the mountainside as we drive up the 405 near the Getty Center exit, we actually get excited. Even the name sounds so sweet.

It’s not like that in the country. We arrived in Ohio at the height of deer season (October to December) and deer carcasses lined the roadside everywhere we went.  POOF! just like that, our romantic notions of deer were history. The reality is, if deer aren’t hunted, they will overrun the countryside.

Cars do the trick too, and the law allows you to keep any deer you hit with your car as long as you report it, but it’s messy and dangerous. I would NOT recommend it. Our CO’s car was struck by a deer and the antlers came through the windshield. White-tailed deer can weigh up to 300 pounds! Do the math, it’s not pretty.

There are few days throughout the year that are designated deer hunting days. Kids don’t play in the woods and they wear brightly colored clothes when they go outside. In fact, you’ll see spots of fluorescent orange all over the place, they call it “hunter orange.”

Venison is considered red meat, but it’s much leaner than beef so you have to use a little more olive oil than usual when cooking and sticking agents like egg to keep patties together.

We put a slice of reduced fat American cheese between two flat patties and crimped the edges together for some tasty “Juicy Lucy’s” one evening. That worked out well because the cheese held the burger together. Because there isn’t as much fat, the patties don’t reduce very much, so make sure the patties are as flat as possible. We mixed the meat with finely diced shitake mushrooms and yellow onion to mask the musky. It worked. The burgers were de-lish.

Maybe we just haven’t had the right cut of beef, but dare we say deer has more flavor than beef? Just a year ago I would never have imagined saying this about deer meat, but now I must eat my words. I hope they taste as good.

Venison is naturally sweet so it works very well in tomato-based dishes such as spaghetti sauce , chili, and stuffed cabbage rolls.

When John was visiting, he made some venison wontons (or man-du in Korean) with cabbage and onions. For a city boy, he took to venison very quickly. An egg held the meat together when we were assembling them, and the wrapper did a pretty good job afterward. We had to add olive oil so it wouldn’t be too dry. We’re going to try mixing it with a fattier meat like pork next time. I don’t think mushrooms would hurt either. We just took some of those wontons out of the freezer for lunch today and they are even tastier than at first, the flavors have come together very nicely.

A hunting license costs $19 and deer processing costs roughly $70. A deer with a hanging weight of 90 pounds will yield about 60 pounds of meat. That’s about $1.50/lb. You can’t really beat that, especially if you share the cost with another family and split the meat. Of course, this all means nothing if you can’t handle a rifle, but believe me, that is not a problem here.

The combination of  generous friends who supplied us with 10 pounds ground last deer season and sheer desperation lent itself to an episode of “Beyond Jerky-101 Ways to Cook Venison.”  We’re very thankful to our friends Dawn and Tony for introducing us to this new meat.

“Meat is murder – delicious, delicious murder.”

A Brooklyn writer once said that there are four words that strike fear in the heart of any city dweller when they think of the country – “Check yourself for ticks.”

I can vouch for the truth of that statement. This city girl transplant has developed a tick phobia since finding four of them on Lia recently, one crawling unnoticed across her eyelid! They first grabbed our attention when Lia woke up with a pair of them attached to her ears like earrings, the creepy kind that people might wear at Halloween.

Black is not a country color and ticks are why. White hair does double-duty in this town – as a crown of glory as well as a protection. I’ve been praying for a reason to go natural and I believe I’ve found it. Black hair is not an advantage here.

One night during a routine tick investigation that was taking a particularly long time, Lia cried out, “Oh Jehovah, why did you have to make me so hairy?”  The other “hairy beast” in our house, Judah, is quite a tick magnet himself. His record ties Lia’s at four.

Since dark clothes tend to camouflage them, ticks may get me wearing bright clothes yet.  On the West Coast Tiffany would be so proud and in the Midwest, my clothes would bug Lucia less. We mustn’t forget Lia who has never shied away from color and of whom people might finally say, “She’s a tick off the old block.”

What all those fine sisters who have tried and failed to get me to do – add some color to my wardrobe – this hardy, spider-like insect  has got me to consider. Those little buggars have pushed me to the light side – well, slap my face and kiss a Wookie!

I’ve got less to hide anyway nowadays. Black has always been a color (some would call that a misnomer) for me to hide behind, but since Mary, Lesh, Brent and I joined the Shape Up Club, a program that allows you to track your calories, we’ve lost a total of 75 pounds!  Mindful eating is what it’s all about, that and weighing in every week to determine if “the numbers have been kind to us” as the ever-supportive Jason puts it.

Speaking of eating,  Mary suggested that we introduce natural predators of the tick to the area, chickens maybe, who would fully appreciate their ticklisciousness. Of course then we’d run the risk of being overtaken by orange chickens that smell like garlic when you crush them accidentally. (See Asian Beetle)

This week, there has been much talk of ticks exploding when you set them on fire. It seems the only way to kill them for sure. Pa, a seasoned tickinator and non-smoker,  carries around a lighter just for that purpose.  According to Lori P., Dave subjected a tick to subzero temperatures once for 30 minutes, once longer, and aside from legs chipping off while being removed from the freezer, it was absolutely impervious to the cold.

As far as this Scrabbler is concerned, this four-letter word is worth absolutely nothing. I hope they are the first subjects considered in School of Paradise Bug Appreciation class where I will be seated next to Shelli and Lia.

You get a sunburn sitting at your desk because you just can’t bring yourself to draw the blinds.

Aaaaaaahhhh, toasty!