Casper's River Walk

 

They say exercise is an antidote for depression so this morning we started with the best of intentions of going to the Y and work out some stress from the weekend. Casper noticed that we were putting on our walking shoes and started talking like a Huskie suggesting that we take him for a walk to the river. As I may have said before, the Nature Walk to the Wolf River is the best amenity in this whole wonderful town. We haven't seen the sun in more than two weeks so everyone was overdue for a riverwalk. There is not a cloud in the sky and the humidity is low and for about an hour we forgot about football--or basketball for that matter. Camille, wish you were here

Basketball (Men's) - Schedule - Mississippi State University Bulldogs Official Athletic Site - mstateathletics.com

Basketball (Men's) - Schedule - Mississippi State University Bulldogs Official Athletic Site - mstateathletics.com

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View of the Vandy Stadium

Vanderbilt has a very uniquely placed Marriott on campus. From its rooms, high above the field you can watch the game from the comfort of your own private bird's eye view. This really came in handy when the rain started before the game and the boys had already gone out to watch them warm up while Tani and I stayed nice and dry and could watch them from our perch w/binoculars. It helped that we won the game unexpectedly so we didn't have far to go to celebrate.

My View at the Titans Game

I have been a long-time fan of the Titans and their legendary coach, Jeff Fisher. I was thrilled to get to see them in person last weekend in Nashville from a Suite on the 30 yard line. It was a great game experience and an unfortunate loss to the Texans. The civilizated traffic ingress and egress paterns were amazing and we were home in three hours from the stadium at game's end.

Today I Saw a Coyote Run across Byhalia Road

It's getting a little scary around here with random animals coming out of the "Woods."  Today when I was driving home, I saw an apparent coyote run across 4 lanes of traffic from our neighborhood to the Baptist Church.  I thought he was either a wolf or a coyote but Wikipedia convinced me he was a common coyote.  Tomorrow I guess I should be on the lookout for a  rhinocerous.

More Proof the Neighborhood is Haunted!

Without photographic evidence, you are just going to have to trust me on this.  Last summer Beth called us one morning to come down and see her armadillos in her yard (armadillos are nocturnal) and then we saw deer in her yard as recently as a week ago.  This is not the country.  I noticed my hostas looked like they'd been mowed by a weed eather and then after we saw the deer it became obvious that they were mowed by the deer instead.  I started tellimg my neighbors and they started noticed deer damage in their yard as well.   BUT this is not the real haunted part.  Several years ago we had a mirror fall in our bedroom over a mantle--for no apparent reason--then as I was telling another neighbor about that, she said that her mirror on the same relative wall in her house had recently fallen.  Fine, so mirrors fall, but then when I told a third neighbor (and one of the most down-to-earth ones) about it she said it was probably the neighborhood ghost.  She said she had seen him and recently when her husband was putting the kids to bed, he saw it.  Now he is an attorney w/a local Fortune 500 company so I give him a lot of credibility and accept the fact that they have a ghost.  Meanwhile, we have these 3 bullfrogs in our pond that came from somewhere and I know I didn't put them there.  Not to mention the Pool Parrot, maybe we are just a natural habitat for weird animals as well as people here in the Woods.

I Think Our Neighborhood is Haunted!

So, today when I drove out of the neighborhood  to run errands, I noticed a large object (bird) in a tree in a friend's yard. I called her to come outside and look and it started to fly off w/this gigantic wing span. But he landed on the top of the light pole in her yard and mainaged to stay there long enough for Dean to come home and help id him. I thought he might be a turkey or even an eagle but Beth and others thought it was a big crow or raven or something--turns out he is a big ugly buzzard (kind of like "War Eagle") and is prowling the neighborhood for squshed squrrels and chippies. All I could think of is that if it weren't raining, I would have taken Cap out for a walk this morning  and the gross bird would have flown off w/him like the dog in "The Proposal." My other thoughts on the subject involve inviting Mr. Buzzard up to the pool to meet lovely Polly the Parrot.  When I looked up this creature on wikipedia (my fav) it said they had wingspans of 5 to 6 feet and were 2 to almost 3 feet tall. 

We Were So Busy We Didn't Have Time to Take Pictures!

Camille spent a four-day weekend at home and it was a jam-packed, fun-filled weekend of food, football, friends and family.  We had lunch w/Lauren at Southern Hands, went to Starkville and had dinner at Restaurant Tyler.  We got up Saturday morning in time to go to City Bagel before the tailgate four hours prior to the game.  Our tailgate consisted of sausage balls and wonderful pimento cheese sandwiches cut out in the shape of dog bones.  By noon when it was getting hot we went to Dogwalk and then on to our seats for the game that was going to start two hours later.  As we were gettting ready for kickoff, they sent all the players inside due to lightning in the area so it prolonged the day seemingly forever but we had Walking in Memphises and were happy.  After the game, we went home to fix hamburgers for more people than we had knives and forks for but Camille graciously went to bed at 8 and we had enough forks.  P.S. The recipe for a Walking in Memphis is equal parts of pineapple juice and Parrot Bay (see a pattern here) coconut rum.

Sunday, we woke up early and decided to let Dean choose the breakfast place and true to form, he chose Shipleys.  When we got there, the line was out the door but we were not deterred.  We had to wait on the donut holes because they were still cooking so we got to watch them float in the sugar glaze mixture and then we got to see them drain off the excess glaze and then the absolutely melted in our mouths.

All the way home we discussed lunch and we settled on Dean's Tuna Salad w/a twist---Camille decided to use onion buns and top w/swiss cheese and a tomato for a tuna melt.  Fabulous---t  but we had to run to the mall--We spent wayyyy to much time shopping and then had to hurry home to get Dean away from the Memphis game so we could go meet Elise@Sekisui on Humphreys--Lauren was there as well and then Brent and Cynthia came by to round out the traditional group at Sekisui.  I would have been happy to go home and play on my computer but agreed to go to a movie w/them--We all agreed on "The Proposal" because I had heard Jordan liked it a lot.  We all enjoyed it and and finally got to come home and plan for the next day.

Camille had already decided to ditch a certain jacket that she "didn't love" so when we hit the mall early Monday am to get a pedicure I was able to drop her off and then head to the store to return the jacket.  By this time Barnes and Noble was open so I could get us coffee and tea. As soon as the toes were dry we headed to Aunt Terry's for bbq lunch.  As soon as we could we left and headed back to the mall for some shoe shopping and then to Sephora for a certain brush.  We then had the brilliant idea to go to Sonic(because the Jackson State Sonic Boom was fresh on our minds)  and get some refreshing drinks for all of us including Dean who was glued to the tv at home.  P. S.after 2 p.m. every afternoon it is happy hour at Sonic so we got all our refreshing drinks for a total of $4.14-- In the meantime we had found time to go buy a new camera but didn't have time to put it together--hopefully Camille can do that herself--I would hate to have to make a trip up there for just that!  After packing it was time to head to the airport for the traditional tearful goodbye.  Armed w/the new e-ticket on the blackberry check in was a breeze and it wasn't long before Camille got back to DC and unpacked.  At least I have Jordan and Saunders here to keep me from being sad and it won't be long til Thanksgiving when Camille will be home again.  PS, we didn't get to go to the pool but BJ reported the parrot was back in his special crepe mrytle tree.  I have failed to mention Lindsay so far but she did have a birthday last week and we are playing her alma mater this week at Auburn.  Whew----I am "wore out."

A Picture of Polly

Because I was taking this photo from afar, I don't have perspective for you to see that this parrot is in a tree at the pool, but trust me!

Bring Your Parrot to Work Day Sunday August 30, 2009

It must have been because someone did.  BJ and I went to the Pool Sunday for a last dose of Vitamin D and we heard this screech.  BJ said it sounded like a bird and I said, "Naaw, it's someone moving their chair."  We heard it again and BJ looked up into the crepe myrtle tree and saw this beautiful monster parrot. I immediately thought it was someone's lost pet but when we asked the very tan guy in the chair across the pool from us he if it was his parrot  and he said, "Yes."  He is a man of few words but lots of Vitamin D because he is always at the pool and seems to study for some kind of test (hint:FEDEX pilot) and uses a blue highlighter to study his materials and then gets mad when the kids at the pool splash and get his stuff wet. Because of the highlighter, we had knicknamed him "old blue" but now he is the official "Parrothead of the Woods Pool."  He was there w/said parrot before we got there and we had to leave before he did so we are not sure how he transported the parrot to and from the pool.  This picture was zoomed from afar as we didn't think the man would be happy w/us taking a picture of his beloved pool partner parrot.