Validation that my allergies really were worse in Jackson than they were in Houston. I still have no idea how Houston didn't make the top 10 list. Perhaps it's the "spring" qualifier that exempted Houston - Houston's allergy problems are year round.
One of Michael's former classmates is from Russia, inside the arctic circle. He immigrated to the U.S. for school at Texas A&M and graduated from A&M with his masters at the same time Michael graduated. Shortly thereafter he and his family also moved to Jackson, Mississippi for work.
Not long after we moved to Mississippi, they were eating lunch one day and he asked, "What's with all the signs and car stickers that say Olé Miss?"
You can definitely tell his port of entry to the U.S. was in Texas!
A friend of a friend took her cat to the groomers for a haircut. She asked for a LINE cut. The cat came back with a LION cut.
My friend was sharing the story with her coworkers. One of her coworkers piped in about how her elementary age daughter was having trouble with grammar lessons in school. She had been studying with her daughter and trying to help her. In the lion – line discussion, she helpfully chimed in that LION and LINE were one of “them there homonyms.”
Only in the deep south (LION and LINE really are pronounced the same by many down here)…
Uhhh, yeah. For anyone who has tried to call us in the past 48 hours, our phone lines are out (again). Sorry! Was I not just talking about how pleasant and enjoyable neighborhood construction is? Joy of all joys. This is like the umpteenth billion time that one of our services (electricity, phone, gas, etc.) has been cut in the last 7 months. I'm pretty sure it happened when they came to bury our neighbor's cable line on Monday. The incompetence is sometimes astounding!
Anyhow, they are supposed to be coming out today to fix the phones. Hopefully soon...
Update (8/17/06): As of about 10am, our phones are back up and running. They had to lay a temporary above ground cable, which they are supposed to come back and bury next week. You have to wonder how many other cables they will cut in the process. It's a never ending saga...
*I have to give a quick shout-out to our friends Beth and Jeff too! Happy Anniversary you guys!!
On Friday night, we went to a little get together with some people from the media team at our church. We each brought some sort of side dish to the gathering. One couple brought a party staple - "Rotel."
When we first moved to Mississippi, "Rotel" was quite the anomaly. The first time we were at a party and someone said, "You made Rotel!" the concept was lost on us. We thought that someone had dumped a can of Rotel in that crock pot and that everyone was excited about it. Alas, in Mississippi "Rotel" is what we formerly knew as "Queso."
Could you imagine going to a restaurant outside of the South and ordering "Rotel"??? They would probably look at you really funny and bring you an aluminum can of tomatoes and chiles.
We have finally adapted to the point that we aren't puzzled every time someone says that they are bringing "Rotel" to a party - but it still makes us giggle a little... and probably always will. :)
Yesterday I talked to my sister, Kelly, who's currently living in Peru. She was cracking up over the Boil Alert post. To quote her -
"I live in Peru and I don't even boil my water!"
So my sister who lives in the middle of the jungle in Peru can drink the water... Ahh, the joys of living in Jackson!
When I arrived home from my D.C./Houston stint, I returned to a great Jackson “boil alert.” Yet again the Jackson water system had contamination problems such that all Jackson residents were advised to boil all water before drinking. I loved the comments of some of the businesses and officials in the Jackson area. Check out these quotes from the Clarion Ledger (our Jackson paper):
“Dennis Cameron, who owns Cups [a local espresso café] with his wife, said his company has learned from previous water service problems and stocks jugs of water in its Ridgeland warehouse just in case. ‘Around Jackson, [boil alerts are] kind of routine," he said. "Before we used to have to scramble around to get (water).’”
Seems that Cups doesn’t have to scramble around for water anymore. They’re so used to Mississippi water problems that they stock up supplies – just like for hurricane season. Boil alert season. Comes around yearly. Oh so predictable and expected…
This one’s great too… from a city official at that…
“This is the first boil-water notice in Jackson this year, Sharlot said. ‘The last one I remember was three years ago,’ she said.”
The joys of living in a developing neighborhood... In the two days, we have lost our 1) gas, 2) phones and 3) electricity. What an adventure! You just never know what the next day is going to bring. It's been a constant adventure ever since we moved in. The phones are still out - and we don't know when they'll be reconnected - so if you need us call our cell phone. :)
The good news is that construction is almost finished on our street so hopefully these woes are almost over. Five of the eight houses on our cul-de-sac are sold (three are currently occupied). We'll have more new neighbors soon. Construction is finished on all but one house - and they are laying the foundation on the last house now. Hopefully all the construction on our street will be done by June or July.
They finally put in the street signs in the front part of our neighborhood this week. Until Wednesday, we didn't know the name of our cross street.
Dang - We have to stop at the corner now...
Yummm....
Kelly - you might recognize these placemats. Guatemala at its best! We are trying out some color this week. Normally we use the standard black placemats. Got to spice things up from time to time!
The plants are currently hanging out inside - along the floor in the back of the picture. It's cold right now. They don't so much like the cold.
Our little bookshelf is also back up. Cookbook central... And the "Mississippi Stinks" picture. Here's a close-up for those who haven't seen it:
There's a story to go with this. This picture was taken at the Mississippi highpoint. I'm standing on the highpoint marker. There was a dead and decaying Nutria Rat about 15 feet away. Auughh that thing stunk. Stunk to the point it made your eyes water. The picture captured the moment. Later it got deemed the "Mississippi stinks" picture :) - pretty well summing up our initial experience here. Thankfully, we have since found things to appreciate about our new locale.
This past weekend we went on a little adventure - a trip to the Mississippi State Fair. It was quite an experience! I was actually rather impressed with the fair - it was much bigger than I had expected. We went with our friends Kevin & Christy, rode several fun rides, played with the animals and stayed out way too late! I was exhausted the next day ...or two ...or three! As a bad blogger, I forgot my camera. There were many fun moments that will only be captured in memories.
This coming weekend (October 15th) our church has arranged a community service day. Our small group has "adopted" a local family and will help meet some of their needs. We are looking forward to that.
I am busy this week preparing for a meeting of our work Board of Directors next Wednesday (October 19th). I will be out of town all next week, in Houston, for those meetings. I will get to go hang out with my little sister Teri, who is a sophomore at Texas A&M, on Saturday the 22nd. That will be the highlight of my trip!
