Top Ten Reasons To Live In Putnam County

We have now officially lived in Putnam County for one year.  My son has now lived in this place longer than any other place.  Almost 1/4 of our marriage has been while in Putnam County.  The child that I am carrying in my womb has never lived elsewhere.
In honor of this milestone, I give you my top ten reasons to live in Putnam County.  While I know that there are many things that could be improved and I don't know that everyone would agree with my top ten list, this is our home... the number one reason that I don't even need to put on the list.

10. Farms  - The abundance of farms around here means that many people have green thumbs.  This translates into an abundance of locally sourced meat and produce, which is something that you have to search out when you live in other places.  The many farms also means that, instead of living next to a bunch of factory buildings, the business look like huge fields of green corn/soybeans/alfafa/wheat.  While there are some downsides to the large scale production animal farms, I trust that most of the farmers around here are doing their best to be kind to our environment and water supply while providing a fine product for the American consumer.  

9. Fitness - Ok, so there aren't any fitness centers here where you can take your kids and workout.... which is a HUGE downer.  However, there are many trails,  an indoor track/tennis facility, city parks, state parks, and miles of open country roads to go run, hike, bike, etc on.  There are a few people who are venturing into personal training with great success as well.  You can also spring for a gym membership at the 24 hour gym, at Greencastle Physical Therapy, or over at DePauw.  I was able to do it all for free this year and trained for two half marathons and stayed sane during a polar vortex thanks to the indoor track at DPU.

8. Local Events - There is always something to do.  People around here plan events like crazy.  There are random 5K walk/runs almost every weekend in the spring/summer/fall.  There are car shows, horse shows, cattle shows, and tractor shows.  The library hosts many events, as does Depauw.  The local schools usually have theater productions in addition to the many sporting events that you can go to.  Depauw hosts indoor track meets that draw from all over in addition to their regular competitive schedule of events.  OF COURSE the summer brings the county fair, where you can eat all sorts of things and see kids sweat like crazy to show off how well they brought up their animals.

7. DePauw University - It is too bad that some people in the county think that Depauw is snooty or snobbish.  The fact of the matter is:  DEPAUW IS GREAT FOR THIS COMMUNITY, GET OVER YOURSELF.  Sure, there are people that teach and attend the school for whom the Putnam County way of life is unappealing and perhaps, disgusting.   However the vast majority of people associated with the university live here and contribute mightily to the culture.  The school enriches the curriculum of the local schools, brings world renowned speakers and talent to us, offers art and music classes, provides a college team to root for in the Tigers, and keeps the 24 hour Walmart in business.

6. Cost of Living  - Once you find a place to live (which might be one of the downsides to trying to live here), the cost of living is relatively low.  You do have to factor in the extra gas that you might use because the distance you live from the conveniences of town and your job might be greater than if you lived in Indianapolis, but the ability to grow your own food, dry your clothes on a clothesline, buy locally, etc... all add up to a lower grocery bill than what I had in the city.  I also find I am not as tempted to buy things that I thought were necessary when I lived in the bigger cities.  No gym memberships, not nearly as many restaurant trips, no mall to tempt me to go get new clothes, etc...  The actual cost of a quality home is lower, although land prices here have gone up.  Taxes are also AMAZINGLY LOW. 

5. Low Crime - The worst thing that happens around here is that some idiot breaks into someone's home when they aren't there and takes their guns and jewelry.  If there is a murder here, it was probably done by someone who wasn't from here anyways.  Most people leave their doors unlocked actually. 

4. Education  - While test scores might say that some schools have an "A" and others a "C", overall the schools here are great.  WHY?  Because they are small and the teachers live in this community.  I think that there is always room for improvement in our schools, but I would take any of theses schools over the mega schools in Hendricks county anyday.

3. Location - We are 40 miles from Indy, 40 miles from Terre Haute, 40 miles from Bloomington, and 40 miles from Lafayette.  Not far from I-70 and US 40 and US 36.  Commuting to downtown Indy from anyplace from Greencastle and south of Greencastle takes less time than commuting to downtown Indy from Avon thanks to I-70.  You can get to numerous institutions of higher learning within an hour, and the same goes for shopping beyond Kroger/Walmart/TSC type places.  Oh, and the airport is about 30 minutes away.

Walker and Clay pretending to have babies in their belly too.

2. People - The mix of people in this county is great.  You have college students, professors, farmers, business owners, college-eduated, barely high-school educated, professionals who commute, professionals who work from home, professionals who travel for a living, people who have lived here all their life, and people who moved here for any number of reasons.  We have a variety of religions represented here (predominately Christian), and the number of ethnic groups is increasing slowly but surely.  We typically fall on the conservative side of politics, but there are many people here who have liberal leanings and are able to have healthy conversations with others.    People here care about each other and look out for each other.  The community raises the child, looks after the common spaces, and wants to have visitors be impressed with what we do here.

1. It is HOME - enough said.

Happy First Year Home... I didn't blog everyday... who has time for that?.... but I really enjoyed taking the time that I did to contemplate what made us move back here... back home.

A Community in Mourning

17 years of life on this earth, FFA member, 4-Her, popular with the students at multiple local schools, a loving child, from a well-established farm family, and a Christian.  Based on the obituary, Riley Sutherlin and my sister, Heidi Ross, had these things in common.  Riley was only 17 months old when Heidi died, and his parents probably held him a little tighter during the fair that year when they heard that she had passed in the prime of her youth.  I know that I held my son a bit longer when I heard about Riley's accident this week, especially as I thought about how much my son, even at 21 months loves the machinery that was part of Riley's accident.
I also know that this community very much understands how important it is to support those family members who are left behind when lives are taken from this earth at a young age.  The entire county heard of his passing within the day of it occurring.  Even though texting and social media wasn't as advanced when my sister died, the word of mouth spread similarly in 1998 as well.
When I drove by the funeral home tonight on the way to pick my son up from daycare, it didn't take me but a second before I realized that it was the viewing for Riley.  There was a line of young people woven through the parking lot of the funeral home.  The vehicles were parked in the nearby Greencastle High School lot as if there were a big sporting event happening at the school.  There were parents consoling their children as they walked away from the building.  Teenage boys were standing in their Sunday best with stoic faces as their girlfriends had tearful expressions.  It was if I had been teleported back to July of 1998.
Tears streamed down my face as I knew that, inside that building, there was a brother and sister who were trying to figure out what life would look like without the brother they had always known. There was a set of parents who were realizing that the dreams they had for their little boy would never be realized.  There were the grandparents who were wondering if they could have done something to prevent this from happening.  Then there are the hundreds of teenagers, who can't understand how someone who had lived such a by-the-book life as a Christian could die while other people who live carelessly are still here.
Fortunately, from what I know of Riley, he and my sister have the hope of Heaven in common.  Their lives were not lived in vain, but they showed others what a youth spent in service and living for the Lord can look like.  It is that knowledge that will comfort those who did and did not know Riley, and it is that knowledge that will be at the heart of conversations as the community heals from this loss.
To this day, people who knew my sister tell me that her death changed them for the better.  I pray that the same thing can come from the death of this young man, 16 years later, to enrich and strengthen our community and world.  

Whether at 96, like my grandma Hurst, or at 17.... we all will die.  I just don't want my death to be what people talk about and remember, but, rather, the life I lived for Him.  I hope that those who knew him talk about Riley's life as we grieve and recognize that God has truly blessed the Sutherlin family and this community, may he continue to do so. 

Two Things Rocked My World This Week and It Is Only Wednesday: Dog Parks and College/Career Readiness

Living in a community like Putnam County, one would think that everyone would be aware of what is going on everywhere... like, all the time.  In fact, some of my friends who have moved away use this as an excuse to never return back here.
This week, I found that you can hide in plain sight.

Exhibit One:
I was jogging around the Big Walnut Sports Park and the good folks at Cash Concrete were pouring a concrete slab that you can see here:

I walked up to their truck and asked what the slab was for.  The guy in the truck said "a ball diamond", while the guy pouring and smoothing the concrete said "a dog park." BINGO!  The man who was doing all the work was obviously right, unless some new type of baseball with rectangular fields is being done here.
I stood there, dumb-founded that I had yearned for a dog park in the community back when I had the dogs.  Now that I was dog-less, they open a dog park!  Hey... better late than never.  I am encouraged by this and hope that people take care of this park and pick up after their pets and are responsible with what dogs they bring here.  This is a big deal for the modernization of the park system to those of you who don't know much about the world of dog owners.  People spend a ton of money on their dogs in our country, and a dog park might be one of the draws for people looking to relocate to a community that is known as family-friendly, but not always progress-friendly.

Exhibit Two:
I had the pleasure of learning about the work that is being done at the Area 30 Career Center.  The programs that they offer are relevant, prepare students for college and/or career, and are FREE to students who want to go from the area schools.  Unfortunately, the type of learning that is offered there is only available from 11-12 grades, but it is better than nothing.  They have come a LONG way since the days of it being the school where non-college bound kids went to kill time until graduation.  I would encourage you to go visit this place and recognize that the skills that they learn there are going to transfer to college work and career work much better than sitting in a desk memorizing stuff is.  

The month of May

I haven't been the best blogger this past year, as I definitely don't make this a priority.  However, I do have a very valid excuse for not blogging very much this past month of May.  I WAS BUSY.
Between the massive amount of travel I had to do for work and the general business that is May in Indiana, I didn't find the time to write about what makes living in Putnam County great.

I will attempt to give you a recap now with a list of highlights:

1. The 500 Festival Mini-marathon.  It was the first half-marathon I ever ran, and now that I have done it 8 times, I feel very much at home when I participate in it.  I also have a lot of memories from doing volunteer work all along the route, so that helped this very pregnant momma end up cruising through the first 6 miles without taking a break, despite my intention to walk/run the course this year. I ran the mini under the name of a guy from Greencastle who sold me his bib at the last minute, and I will probably be more connected to the greencastle running group next time so that I can start and end with some familiar faces.  Despite doing it solo (well, the baby was with me...), I had a fantastic time and the energy of that race is like no other one I have ever done.  Worth the entry fee, worth the training, worth your time, and right down the road from Putnam County.  It still gives me chills as I think about how I am running in the largest half marathon in the world.

2. The greening of the landscape.  Everything comes alive in May in Putnam County.  Most people take pride in their landscape and lawns, the farmers have planted their crops and they are coming up, and even the weeds have beauty.  I wish that my allergies were less appreciative of the greening of the county, but I will sacrifice many a box of kleenex to be home.

3. Cook-outs, graduation parties, and get togethers.  This is a perfect time of year to have an outdoor party, as it isn't usually yet too hot and we all have piles of wood to burn if it starts to get chilly.  Hoosiers know how to throw a pitch-in, and we are good at entertaining ourselves with or without adult beverages.

4. Pacers and the playoffs.  I know this was a rough year to be a Pacers fan.  I had a mini pack of season tickets for the first time and really enjoyed the regular season only to feel very confused about the team that I saw in the playoffs.  Thing is, I always feel like we are the underdog and love rooting for the team in that role.  I have been a Pacers fan since junior high and I remember almost having a wreck when I was listening to the radio while driving to one of my AAU games and Reggie Miller hit  all those shots in like 7 seconds vs. the Knicks during the playoffs.  I just can't wait until the Pacers are also part of fun in Indiana in JUNE!

5. The hope that spring brings after a long winter.  I have seen snow flurries in May, but I definitely feel a collective optimism growing in the month of April that really shows itself in May.  People start to get fit, everyone smiles more, and the general mood of the county improves.  Sunny days that allow you to wear flip-flops and get your pool ready (or even use the pool) change everyone's mood after what was a particularly weary winter this year.  

Basketball

For anyone who graduated from an Indiana high school prior to 1998, basketball means something different than those who came after.  Prior to that year, the state high school tournament was for all schools to participate in one tournament with one winner.  There were no classes and the story of "Hoosiers" was alive and well.  You played hard because you dreamed of being the next Milan high school, who beat a much larger school to win the tournament.  You played hard because it meant that you would advance in the state tournament, that you would have the prestige of winning a game in the state tournament.
I grew up in the era of a boom in college basketball and girls basketball in the state.  I saw Bobby Knight win NCAA titles and battle Gene Keady's Boilermakers.  I saw Stephanie White change people's minds about females in basketball as she wowed crowds while playing for one of the smallest schools around.  I saw Purdue women's basketball thrive and grown into a national powerhouse.  AAU basketball came into its own during my formative years as well.
In my little world, I didn't particularly care for sitting in front of cheerleaders at a game, so I moved over behind the bench when my dad would take me to varsity boys games.  I became a default water girl from about 4th grade until 7th grade while I played in the school leagues. As I moved into 8th grade, I was recovering from being cut in 7th grade (when I attended Greencastle Middle School) but I made the South Putnam 8th grade team.  I also was in band and played at the boys varsity games my 8th and 9th grade year.  After a forgettable year of playing JV as a Freshman, I was a varsity starter my 10th grade year and joined the boys basketball stat team, which continued until I graduated form high school.   I also coached my sister's 8th grade team and volunteered as an elementary coach.
I spent most of my free time shooting and playing pick-up games with my sister and anyone else who would join us.  Many nights were spent sneaking into gyms with my dad and my friends' dads to play pick up games.
As I entered college, I played one year of Division Three basketball at Centre College and then transferred to Purdue, where I spent a year just being a fan of my sister, who was still in high school.  After she passed away, I volunteered as a coach at West Lafayette High School and joined the Purdue statistics and athletic public relations team.  I continued to coach for three years at WLHS, then joined the staff at Eastern Hancoack for a year.  I ended up at Scecina as a coach for 6 years and most recently volunteered with my old team, South Putnam, when I moved back home and volunteered when my old head coach, Bill Merkel, took the head coaching position for one year.  To say that basketball is in my blood and I am an expert in the game is beyond fair.  The only thing I haven't done with this game is to be a head varsity coach.
The circle would have been complete if the timing of family needs were better.  I knew all year that Bill would only be coaching for one year, but I also knew that we were still going to have another child and that coaching and raising young children is beyond difficult.  I know that there is a season to everything... and I just need to be patient and wait to see if my season to finally become a head coach will arrive.  In the meantime, I know that I will serve as a resource for the local team and work on coaching my children to not only excel at sports, but at being a Christian and learning about all sorts of things.  I have given a lot of my life to basketball, but giving my life to the family takes precedence now.

The last jog with a dog

Yesterday I was running down the country road much like I always do, but with a quicker step.  I had my running partner of the past 6 years with me and the weather was great.  I contemplated running to Belle Union, but decided that I better just stay on the regular route and see how far we could get.  With every car that passed us, my heart skipped a beat, wondering if it was the car that we were waiting on.  I wanted to just run with my buddy forever and get lost in the moment of runner's high, spring in the air, and my best buddy on the leash with me.  We were both in our element as a Volvo approached and then slowed.  There were three occupants in the vehicle, one of whom I recognized as Beth, someone who I worked with when I volunteered with the doodle rescue and who had counseled me as I worked with dogs over the past 7 years.  My moment with my dog dissolved into reality.  All three of them were smiling, and I did my best to smile back.  The drove on to our house, and I had about a quarter of a mile left to decide if I wanted to go through with this.  In my heart I knew that I had already made the decision and this would be the last moment of solitude I would have with my dog, Bodzin.
I never had a dog of my own growing up, mainly because of my allergies.  When I heard about doodles, I was excited about the possibility of having a furry friend that didn't make me sneeze.  In 2007, I searched petfinder.com daily, looking for a standard poodle mix that needed a home.  I was probably trying to replace a child (that I didn't have at the time thank goodness) with the love of a dog, and I was also looking for someone to run with me.  Enter Bodzin, who I went to meet in Robinson, IL after kidnapping my Grandma Hurst and having her take a drive with me.  He looked like a bit of a project, as he was very shy and timid, but I knew when I looked in his eyes that he wanted me to be his master.  We haven't left each other's side since. Until yesterday.

It has been much harder to live without Bodzin and the patterns that he created in my day than I thought it would be.  I walked into the sunroom last night and reached down to pet... nothing.  I went to the spot where his food was this morning to fill a cup with... nothing.  I decided to do a different workout than running today because it was too much to think about running without him.  I keep looking over at the carpet, where he would always lay while I worked, and there isn't Bodzin looking at me, snoring, or chasing rabbits in his sleep.  I have known that this day would come for a while now, the first day without a dog..... but I didn't know how much of a hole would open in my heart.  I realize how much having Bodzin taught me that has made be better prepared to be a parent, including dealing with body fluids that others cringe at.  He taught me patience, to be active everyday no matter what, and he taught me that I could love unconditionally.  

In Putnam County, dogs are animals.  This means, for most people, they live outside and get a petting now and then and largely are there to serve as a deterrent for things unwanted... like people and critters.  My husband and I both grew up being taught this, but I opened up to letting dogs be more than just animals.  Now that I have moved back here, the home we purchased wasn't dog-friendly and the comfort level of Bodzin was very much lacking.  He needed to be somewhere he could lay on the furniture and be around the family and not get yelled at for tracking mud on carpet.  He needed to be around calm people who didn't travel for work all the time.  He needed a caring, approachable male and female in the house.  We didn't offer him the home he needed to thrive anymore, and those folks who pulled up in the Volvo offered him just that and more.  He will be the only child and have love in abundance now.  I will always have the memories of having a fantastic first experience as a dog owner, and I do believe that we each made each others lives better in the time that we were together.  I love Bodzin and I always will, and as the saying goes "If you love them, let them go."
In that last little bit of solitude with him
yesterday, I felt Bodzin tug at the leash, trying to get closer to the car that had pulled in the driveway.  I felt myself pulling back at first, then letting go and running with him.  It was almost as he knew a better life was right there in front of him... and I reluctantly admitted that I knew this too.  

DePauw University's Indoor Escape from Winter

Shot of the track while I was jogging

Walker found a "yellow ball"!

I have written about the wacky weather that has hit our area this winter and I have mentioned ways that I have stayed somewhat sane during this depressing onslaught of bitter cold and snow.  I now firmly believe that DePauw University's indoor track and tennis complex has saved our lives. 
Where else can you let your 17 month old run around for an hour, chasing balls while keeping an eye on him the entire time?  Where else can you get 3+ miles of running or walking in with/without a stroller without wearing ten layers of clothing?  Where else can you get this provided for FREE!!?
I know that the hours are limiting to some people, because unless you work on a flex schedule, 2nd or 3rd shift, or at home you would have to run around the athletes while they practice and stay out of their way.   It is still possible to get the freedom of open space in a warm environment though, no matter when you try to get your walk/run on. 
The amount of balls just laying around is also fantastic for children to go on treasure hunts for "white balls" (golf balls), "yellow balls" (soft balls), and "orange balls" (lacrosse practice balls). 
There is also a group of retired men who are there every morning playing a version of "horse" on the indoor putting green.  The other people who are there in the morning are usually also retired looking people.  As the day goes on, people come in on their lunch break and increase the average age of the walker/runners. 
Largely, from my experience this winter, this resource is untapped.  If there was ever a winter to utilize this huge free space, it would be this one.  Hoping that more people come to know about this place and take advantage of it.