NORTHBAY Neighborhood Happenings

This is what I woke up to this morning on my way to train at 6:30 am. He was obviously going kinda fast in his new Tundra. That bridge didn't budge, but his truck sure is ruined. He ran from the scene of the accident.

By the time I got home at 8am it was gone. They couldn't get hold of the owner, but towed it off anyway. Another neighbor was out looking at it too letting his dog out. My big Bear ran her off from our yard though. She is the only dog in the neighborhood who can go on a walk without a leash. All other dogs flock to her and all I have to do is tell her, "No."

We use a leash walking around houses, but she likes to run around without it too. When it's time to put the leash back on I call her name, she comes to me, sits down and lets me hook her back up. She loves to get out of the yard and go sniff everything. She squats even when she has nothing else to let out. It's really funny. She is my baby Bear.

This is the house I want Amy to buy. She will be close to me, and we can drink wine and carpool to work in our dream world. We can plan all

our trips on her front porch or my back porch overlooking the water and dreaming about our vacations all over the world. We could go walk together whenever we want. She needs to cut her tree, but for the price of the house maybe they'll do that for her. It is a cute little patio home on a corner lot on Baytowne. She won't have as much grass as I do, so she won't have to rent a bush hog once a year. Maybe we can even have the same yard boy. Did anyone say sushi? I'm there.

Now this neighbor decided to rent a bull doser and offer all the residents a free wake up call at 7 am every morning, including Saturdays. They should be finished demolishing by the time Amy moves in though. Why would you want to tear down the back of your house? Why to build it back of course! I have a feeling this will not be the end of all this noise. It looks like they are building a new sea wall actually, which is necessary just very noisy for a very long time. Do you know what it's like to be woken up by a machine pounding pillars into the ground? All of us do after another lady complained enough to have her $900,000 sea wall built on the bill of Pearl River Valley.

There's never a dull moment in this place. It is a nice place, usually quiet, but things happen. We have a nosy neighbor, tons of walkers, joggers, kids, kayaks, jet skis, golf, clowns, birds, planes, turtles, alligators and all the kitchen sinks you could ever wish for.

Can you not see a RED CAR!!!???

Dangit again!!! Lady, get off your freaking cell phone and watch where you're going!!! Maybe you shouldn't be running red lights any more!!! Get off the road!!! Another two weeks with a rental? Good grief! Can you just put a new trunk on there too? Then it would be like a whole new car. So much for the Braves game.

Mobster's Ball in Louisville, KY

The Ball was an amazingly good time. We roared in like they did in the 1920's. We accidentally got thrown into jail, when Brad got Jo taken to jail. He bribed someone to take her to jail for $2. That did the trick as it was a lot of money back then. However, the accuser got put in jail with the accused when the court found out he stayed at her house. When they found out we were both staying at her house they put me in jail too. I was the first to get out with a little dance for the Godfather. Brad was the last to get out of jail.

One of the bartenders was also dressed up. Brad dubbed him "cupcake". He must've like it too, because our bar tab was only half of what it should've been at the end of the night.

There were some specialty drinks with Makers Mark and of course Dumante. This is the one I loved and stuck with, the Mobsters Kiss martini.

We also won lots of prizes. Brad talked the Godfather into giving him a Makers Mark wax dipped Fedora for a Makers on the rocks, a cigar later on in the night and I won him two money clips for twisting a cherry stem into a knot in my mouth. It was a fun time had by all and a time I will not soon forget.

A huge thanks to Lauren Frier Baker for letting me borrow her dress from, get this, a college sorority swap. Aren't we good girl to still fit in this!! High five!!

Pics Link

Here's the link to all the pics so far.

Picasa Web Album

Flotilla Parade on Lake St. John

The parade is the best thing that happens at the Lakehouse every year!! There were 2 boats that stood out to me. The overloaded KISS and PEACE pontoons. I will post a link soon when I get all the pics uploaded. This is what we look forward to every year. this year it was smaller than usual. We're not quite sure why, but there were only a few good ones. The winner will be in the paper tomorrow. If it's not one of these guys it was the "Beer for my Horses" boat who was not as good as he was last year. Happy boating!!

July 4th Lakehouse weekend

The binoculars are always in use. What people look at is a mystery to me!! Being inquisitive and finally asking made me wish I hadn't. All the boys use them to look at the girls in their swim suits on the boats and piers. Okay this shouldn't be a surprise huh. That's what we girls get for not letting them put a pool table in the sun room.

Here's the stocked refridgerator. Thank goodness nobody has to "drive into town" now to get beer. The little store reopened that is only halfway 'into town'. I gladly ride with anyone who wants to go as long as they agree to stop at The Dock, so I can get my Dock Rocker.

You wanna see how girls use binoculars? We have nothing to look at besides beer bellies, Titleist visors, Colombia shirts, and drunk boys. There aren't any cute boys. Hannah wanted to try them out but didn't get very far.

Stanton Hall Natchez

Hope and Isaac love to swim and are finally great swimmers!!! I was so impressed with their swimming this weekend. They went from being scared of the water last year to little fish this year. It can and does happen. We are sooo happy, and I'm happy that now I know they're actually related!! No relative of mine dislikes the water. They are full fledged swimming in the deep, shallow, under and on top of the water. It is amazing. They are five now and growing faster every time I see them. I love them to death and am so proud of them!!

Karaoke Mondays

Will loves to sing and all things music. In my opinion it's actually pretty good music. Fenian's has karaoke Mondays. Apparently Last Call has karaoke on Sunday nights, because Will was late for work on Monday. hmm. Maybe it was the stripper at Last Call. When Will and Will came in and sat at the table closest to the DJ, he put himself on stage and sang the song about "when a stripper is crying". It was hilarious. He also dedicated that song to our table. It's a good thing I was not invited to that one. I wouldn't have found it as amusing. Well, the song they played when they called his name was not the song he requested. The DJ said someone had turned that request in with his name on it and that song, so weird. We all had a good time, but I didn't get to hear "Living on a Prayer" before I left. They didn't call it out until 1:30am. We all did have a great time as always!!

Natural Science Museum

Today, Will and I went to the Natural Science Museum after I ran and napped but before work. It was soooo cool. The current display is "Monsters of the Deep". It is all about aquatic animals. Turtles, whales, and odd sea animals are all swimming around in the Museum. I would love to go back and spend more time. The manatee was so cute. Who knew how small it actually is compared to other sea creatures. There were tons of sharks ..... all kinds. It made us want to go scuba diving. Our next gay adventure will be the Mississippi Museum of Art. Neither of us like art, but with a coupon and some time off of work anything can be done. Will so cool; he will go to weird things like this with me. It was actually his idea the first time we went to a museum. It was cheap fun, and that was enough for us. We tried to go to the planetarium thinking the dinosaur exhibit was there, but it was actually at the NSM. We have yet to go back to the planetarium. One day....

Weekend in Natchez

I had the best time with the kids in Natchez. I took them to McDonalds and church Sunday morning, then we ate lunch at Meme and Papaw's house before taking them back home. They are growing so fast!! Thank goodness it was time to put them down for a nap and time for me to go home. I love them so much, but it's always good to give them back too. hehe

Beer Bottle Temple

Jenn and I are planning a trip!! Europe '09!! However, we were gratefully sorry that this did not make the cut...

Link

Bigger in Texas?

Is everything really bigger and better in Texas? Texans sure think so. It's like this place is its own country or something. The big question is : Will Texas or California be the first to secede from the nation? When they fly the stars and bars they always fly their own flag next to it, leaving one to wonder which flag do they think is the real National flag? They probably refer to their own flag as the "Bars and Star". In every other state residents are proud to be Americans. However, in Texas people are proud to be from Texas.

The first thing I noticed immediately upon entering Texas is that people drive faster!! For real! I even told someone this who had already noticed it previously. What is up with that? Is their time more valuable than peoples' from other states that they think they have to drive like racecar drivers? Do they just do it because the commute takes longer no matter where or when they are driving? On that note, my dad told me to leave Jackson early to 'beat' rush hour traffic. Generally "Rush Hour" is from 5pm - 6pm, correct? Knowing the big city, I asked, "ohhh, about 3pm - 6pm?" So, I planned and happened to fall into my plan of arriving around 7pm to miss the 'rush hour'. Ohhhh Noooo! Traffic was bumper to bumper in all lanes with crazy fast drivers and road construction everywhere. This is not even LA traffic, like constant speed, drivers know what they're doing, moving traffic. It's a mess of congested commuters changing lanes and slamming on brakes with half their brake lights working, stop and go traffic. Some kind of rush hour!

Construction brings me to my next hap.....
The first and only sign I've ever seen to read, "Caution Worker Convoy Ahead". WORKER CONVOY!!! convoy??? Since we are in Texas and proud to be, is this the same as the "Texas Hispanic Highway Compound"? They are escorted by a state agency so they don't get sent back across the border? Really, are they ever finished with highway construction? NO, NEVER. They keep adding routes to reconstruct, so they can add members to their 'convoy'. Let's have octuplets by invetro, unmarried, so we can have enough workers to finish this project. Ohh, wait, that was California.

If Texas is so gung ho on being different and separate, why do some of their towns have the same names as places in other states? I mean seriously, I drove through Canton, Winono and Athens all in one small stretch. Seeing the first two made me wonder if I was on my way to the Mississippi Delta on I55 or still heading my original, western direction. In fact I had to turn on the Nav System like a true out-of-stater just to make sure this was still Texas. Then, Athens came along and I couldn't help but wonder if Athens, GA or Athens, TX came first. Either way could they not come up with anything besides the ancient Grecian name?

What does one think of when wondering what it's like in the 'Wild Wild West'? Dirt roads lined with swinging, double saloon doors opening to hole in the wall, honky tonk bars, right? So, they have to wear their cowboy boots to ride into town and go into the bar. Well, not so much. This state is further east than 1/3 of the United States, and no other state has as many western cowboy boot wearing honky tonks as this state. They don't wear these in Wild Western places like Las Vegas and LA. They are not a fashion statement anymore!! Apparently the mobile home look is in now. It's not possible to count how many trailer dealers lined the highway throughout the drive on I20. If it wasn't a mobile home trailer it was a horse trailer outlet. In other states a trailer is where country people live, but in Texas they have horse trailers worth as much as their mobile homes. And every other one was named 'Big Tex Trailers'. Maybe Texans just like options. There is a Costco within one mile of a Sam's club on Central Expressway. Capitalism in its most effective state, state of emergency!

Maybe it was the 8 hour commute that got me all loony thinking or it's just reality. Unless living in a trailer is cool, or working for a convoy is admirable, Things are not bigger or better in Texas.

Cotton Bowl ~ House Divided

So how many households in America can say they were a house divided at the Ole Miss vs. Texas Tech Cotton Bowl in Dallas?? My guess is not many. One Mother/Daughter team got caught up in the fight to the finish. Mother's alma matar is Texas Tech, while I am no doubt an Ole Miss alum. Riding in seperate cars to the game, 8 hours away, was even necessary. However, mother had to drive her daughter's car to Dallas with TWO Ole Miss Alum window stickers on it. She didn't mind it driving back though. If you can't beat 'em Join 'em.

Do they sit together or not? Of course not. One chants Hotty Toddy while the other yells an all mighty "Raider Power". And that 'Guns Up' business, isn't that more racist than having Colonel Reb as a mascot. I mean seriously, if people showed me a hand gesture depicting a gun I would think they were going to shoot me. GET DOWN.

Who would win if Colonel Rebel got into a fight with Pistol Pete? They both have such equally large hats would they even be able to see each other? Colonel Reb may be able to beat Pete with his cane: shove it into his stomach, slap him over the back with it until he goes down then beat him to a bloody red pulp knocking his hat off and stealing his guns, because they don't really have bullets in them. That's about how the game went. Texas Tech just didn't show up with any bullets.

It seemed as though Texas had many Tech-nical difficulties all the way through. Thinking they had the game comfortably won before it even started, Ole Miss proved that the number 2 team in the Big 12 just can't play the boys in the SEC's number 3 team. Call me algebraically challenged, but doesn't this mean that the Big 12 must be the Flag Football League? It will all prove to be true in the BCS where Florida will stomp another non-SEC team. Nobody can touch the SEC. It is NO force to be reckoned with.

While Tech fans were storming out of the stadium named for itself, Cotton Bowl, Rebel fans were busy cheering on their new coach, "Houston - Nutt -- Houston - Nutt -- Houston - Nutt," as he received the Cotton Bowl trophy. Fans stayed long after the game was over to take in the moment and enjoy the end of a season long awaited, since Eli took us to the same Bowl. Victory was sweet for Nutt as well with his first bowl win in his coaching career.

We will be anxiously awaiting next season and seeing where our team will be ranked to start off the 2009 season.