7:02 p.m. - 2002-12-16
Free Cats
I'd like to start out this entry with a big, fat thank you to my pal and yours, Trent Freakin' Lott. For three years now I have been trying to convince my friends and family that Southerners are not all snaggle-toothed yabows, but instead are actually intelligent people who wear shoes and even wash their armpits occasionally. Well, thanks to Trenty Baby, I can start all over again.
Yup, I can't think of a better way to make the entire country believe that people here are all stupid, racist, crackerhats than to have the esteemed Republican majority leader, one of the most powerful people in government, who just happens to be from Mississippi, spouting off his racist mouth about how much he loved the old, equally racist Strom Thurmond.
It's one of those times when I desperately wish I were a vampire, because ol' Trenty is looking pretty tasty right now.
*************************************************
Ok, now that I have wiped the froth off of my mouth I'm going to do a brief and disjointed recap of the last couple of days of bliss at Dauphin Island. Just to torture all you freezing cold folks back up North, I'll casually mention that last night I was sitting on the steps of the double wide we stay at (courtesy of Bruce's position as UAH representative to the Field Station there) with just a sweater on. It was so lovely and warm. Sigh.
Well, ok, so I was warming my hands around a cup of tea, but I have arthritis so I tend to pamper my hands a bit too much anyway. It really wasn't that cold.
******************************************
Drove down on Saturday. Not much to say about it except it was a long ride with occasional bouts of strange conversation. For example, our first discussion was about what to name the house. I firmly believe that houses, like boats, should have names.
Bruce has been wanting "Lothlorien", but with the new Lord of the Rings movie coming out we decided it was probably too pretentious. Besides, even though our land is wonderful the effect is marred by our 1950's house, which by no stretch of the imagination looks like anything even vaguely Tolkein-like.
So we are going with my choice, which is Hobbstweedle. I've been wanting to name a house Hobbstweedle for ages. It sounds down to earth, like where the proletarian elves would live. You know, the ones who don't have Hollywood contracts.
We also debated whether Cullman County should have a sign on the interstate that says: "Welcome to Cullman County. Seek Shelter Now!!", and Bruce told me about his two ancestors who were named Fairy Annabella and Vashti Crigler. I love that name, Fairy Annabella. It makes me wish we had a baby girl, just so I could name her this.
No, I'm just kidding. I would never do that to an innocent child.
**************************************
I wish I had more time to talk about Sunday, because we went on a fish collecting expedition across Alabama and as far as Biloxi, Mississippi. It was lovely. We stopped at a State Park that had all kinds of signs like "Swimming Is Reserved For Alligators" and "Please Do Not Feed Or Throw Things At The Alligators. It Makes Them Angry."
We wanted to go as far as New Orleans but in Biloxi Bruce got cold feet. He just got very reluctant to go on. When I pressured him, he started mumbling about how he would be happy to turn around and drive straight to Boston right then, but he felt really strange about driving to New Orleans. He had a Bad Feeling about it, he said.
This was a shocking and unexpected event. Was my scientific, rational husband having an attack of intuition? The discussion was suddenly punctuated by a huge BANG caused by a van a few blocks away smacking against a median strip and rolling over.
Now how's that for a sign from God? We decided to stay in Biloxi and went over to the George E. Ohr cultural center. It was, sadly, closed. Sadly because George E., "the Mad Potter Of Biloxi", is one of my most favorite artists ever and the cultural center has a large collection of his pottery. Oh well, we'll be back in Biloxi again.
************************************
Came home today. Long, long trip and the only funny thing we came across was in Chilton County. Next to the highway was a barn that had a huge banner stretching across the entire side of it.
The banner said, in capital letters: "FREE CATS!!!" with a phone number.
"Bruce! We gotta' stop and get us some free cats!!!"
"Uh, I think we already have too many free cats." he said. I swear he looked nervous.
0 comments
