Do You Have Your Blue Bag?

 This post is not for the person who is easily grossed out, so reader beware.  

The newspaper is delivered in a blue bag to our house every day around 6:30 A.M.  The first day I went out to get the news, I noticed my neighbor taking the blue bag off of the paper and stuffing it into her pocket.  I figured she was going to recycle it and thought nothing of it.  Well, the next day as I was walking Ellie girl, another neighbor stopped me and asked if I had my blue bag.  I told her that I had put it in the recycling bin and she replied,"Oh, no, we use them around here for our dog poo.  People get very upset if your dog poops in their yard, so we use our newspaper bags to pick it up."  And she showed me how to pick up  the poop, by turning the bag inside out. ( like I wouldn't have known that ) 

Now I TOTALLY get it that people don't want dog poop in their perfectly manicured carpet of a lawn. Really, I do.  Especially around here where there is not one blade of grass out of place.   Our neighbor's dog in Alabama was allowed to roam free, and he took a liking to our azalea bed, and when I weeded, it was disgusting, so I understand.  But here's the rub: Ellie's poop is rarely  "pickupable". She is a golden retriever with a sensitive stomach, and this is a new place, and when she gets nervous, her stomach is the first to go.  So, I'm finding myself RUNNING to the nearest common area (which by the way is still off limits to poop), saying over and over, "Come on, girl, you can make it, Ellie."  And we run and run and she looks over her shoulder at me like I am crazy.  I mean, we have just moved from the WOODS where a dog can find all KINDS of poop to sniff, and explore, and add to the variety with no bags attached.  I know this has to be some kind of torture for her, but imagine the  kind of walk I am having---it is so stressful.  Long gone are the strolls enjoying nature.   And for added stress,  I feel like everybody is watching us to see if we are following the "rules", and if Ellie makes a mistake, it will reflect on me.  You see, I'm a rule follower, and sometimes it comes back to bite me.  And I think this is one of those times.  I should just throw up my hands, and do the best I can, but I just know the neighbors are lurking near their windows ready to burst out of the door to chastise us if Ellie finds their yard the most attractive for her business.  So, I have resorted to practically dragging her to a semi-hidden spot, or a common area with trees and bushes to hide us.   And THEN, I am actually taking the blue bag out of my pocket and pretending to pick it up, because that's how paranoid I am.  And if I CAN manage to scoop the poop, who wants to continue on a walk with a big lump of smelly poop in the bottom of a bag swinging from your hand as you hit your stride?  Should I stuff it in my pocket?  I don't think so.  And guess, what?  I have done some lurking myself, and I am telling you that a WHOLE LOT OF PEOPLE are walking their dogs with a blue bag full of, well, you know--I'd like to say what I'm thinking but I'm trying to keep this blog clean.  It's just not a relaxing or therapeutic way to start my day.  I guess you can take the dog out of the country but .....you know the rest.  And I guess that goes for me too.   

Anybody Here Seen My Old Friend Bobby?

When Clark was a senior at Tupelo High School, he went to Washington D.C. as a page for Congressman Jamie Whitten.  One of his duties was to make deliveries to various senators and congressmen.  On the occasion of his delivering legislative documents to Senator Robert Kennedy, he noticed that Sen. Kennedy's office was filled with beautiful young women.  Clark told me that every single assistant and receptionist was gorgeous. And it certainly made his trips to THAT office exceptional. Clark asked one of the beauties to get him a personalized signed picture of Senator Kennedy, and she obliged.  He has had that photograph of Bobby Kennedy hanging on his wall wherever he has lived.   When we moved here last week-end (has it been a week?) we began to pull out pictures that we knew we'd display here, and of course, Bobby made the cut.  But he was not with the photos he had been hanging with in Alabama.  He was not anywhere in any box.  We began joking about where the photo was, and we even left a space on the wall for it.  Every day we'd check with each other to see if Bobby had surfaced, and every day was the same.   I even opened the Christmas boxes just in case.  no Bobby

This weekend, our goal was to go through every single picture or photograph, categorize them, and box them back up with labels, so that we know where everything is when we move out of our "flat" we are leasing now.  We are purging, and "Goodwilling" and lending, and tossing, even though we thought we had done that on the other end. 
 This move has definitely had its moments of frustration. For instance, the piano would not fit up these stairs and we had to make a quick decision what to do with it, and our entertainment center was too big to go through the door, so we had to put it into storage. (The TV is now sitting on top of a trunk, college style.)  And when we realized we had lost the key to the secretary, Clark decided to go to several antique shops and old furniture stores borrowing keys rather than paying for a locksmith, leaving the contents of the secretary all over the living room.  And the defining  sad Memphis moment: I found out bluebirds do not live in the city of Memphis but in the rural areas only, which led to another mini-meltdown.  But good ole Clark has held strong during this move, and has not wanted to show any disappointment, because I have needed his shoulder to cry on.   BUT I have seen it on his face every time we unwrap a picture that is the same shape and size as Bobby, and it is NOT Bobby.  So we have just looked at each other and have gone on to the next box and laughed about it.  But today it was no longer funny.  It was really bothering him.  So to add a little humor, we started singing Dion's song.   And then Clark noticed .....next to the couch.....was a box that we had overlooked-----for DAYS.  There were some items on top of the box so we had not seen it.  Clark grabbed the box, unwrapped a rectangular shape, and out came Bobby.    We made a big production of hanging him back among his friends, and Clark had the biggest grin on his face.  And then I started wondering, did he really admire Robert Kennedy that much, or did the photo remind him of all of those beautiful women in Senator Kennedy's office?  Either way, I'm OK with it because when I walk down the hall, I look at Bobby and smile.  

Memphis vs Montgomery

I've had a lot of time to think while I'm opening and closing boxes, so I decided to compare these two cities and see what I come up with.  I have not really considered everything in both places yet, so I will be excited to see which one in my view wins out.  So, let's start:
Beauty: Montgomery-not so much, but Wetumpka is pretty. Memphis is a pretty city, so that's a wash.  
Job: loved my job in Montgomery ; don't have a job here yet, so for now Montgomery goes ahead by 1. O-1
Proximity to family: Memphis wins hands down. Both of our parents are within an hour or so of Memphis and my sister, Peggy, and her family live here.  Clark's son, Sam, is based out of here, though he's in China for the next two years.   We're even. 1-1
Proximity to airport: Well, Montgomery has an airport, but I rarely used it. Both flights I booked out of Montgomery were cancelled , so I missed my connection in Atlanta twice.  We always drove to Birmingham or Atlanta to catch a flight, and driving home was usually late at night.  It will be so nice to jump on a plane to visit my kids and their cute kids right here in the same town.   Montgomery gets a big 0 and Memphis goes ahead by 1.  2-1
Proximity to outdoor activities: I was shocked when we moved to Montgomery, because they really do not have a good park system.  There are very few places to take kids and dogs.  Memphis has my fave, Shelby Farms, and because it is big, there are lots of places to hike, bike, and explore.  You also have to drive your head off to get anywhere in the mountains from Montgomery.  The beach is closer, but we prefer the mountains.  -lots of mountains closer to Memphis-Memphis goes ahead another point.  3-1
Neighbors: We have never had such fabulous neighbors as we had in Wetumpka.  I would find it hard to believe that there is a neighborhood as friendly as the one we left.  I'm talking: cleaning your house when you have people coming to look at it (because you are out of town), walking your dog every day when you are at work, surprising us with dinners and desserts , mowing the yard when we were gone, dog sitting too many times to count, feeding Clark when I was out of town, shooting an occasional copperhead or timber rattler, and jumping in to help us mulch---just to name a few things.  And this is from a bunch of folks on the street--not just one family.  So I'm going to have to give 2 points to the old hood here, and the score is even.  3-3
Restaurants and Entertainment: Memphis is delicious. And there's more to do, but that's a little unfair because it's a bigger place, but still......  Memphis 4 Montgomery 3
Residence:  Those of you who have been reading my blog know that I am in critical condition having to move away from my house, gardens, and critters deep in the Alabama woods.  We have plopped down right in the city, with its bars on windows, security men 24/7, beautifully coiffed yards, complete with chemicals of every kind, and noises---oh, the noise!  Maybe Montgomery would have been just like that too, but we chose to live out from town in the woods, so I have  to compare what I know---so we are all tied up. 4-4
Clark's job: 10 minutes and lunch at home eclipses a 10 hour round trip once a month. Memphis 5 Montgomery 4
SEC Athletics: I don't know where to start here.  If you live in Alabama and you do not pull for either Auburn or Alabama, you are a semi-outcast.  Aaaaaannd if you happen to have attended another SEC school, like, uh say, Ole Miss, who is performing poorly and is looking like the worst team in Ole Miss history, you are a joke.  Their football means EVERYTHING to them. -- really-- Flags are still waving on cars way after football season is over--in fact, it's never over in Alabama. It seems if there's a get together, the conversation always drifts to Alabama or Auburn football.  I wonder if they know they have other sports teams at their schools.  One time I complimented an Alabama alum on a big win for their tennis team by telling her, "Congratulations on your beating Notre Dame this weekend  in the NCAA championship."  And she said, "Oh, you must be mistaken; football is over."  and so it goes.......
And another thing--Auburn and Alabama HATE each other more than any other interstate rivalry I've ever known.  And it's not pretty.  at all
So we are so glad to be in a city where there are lots of Ole Miss folks, and we can cry on each other's shoulders. Because there's gonna be lots of crying this year.  Yep, football season was a good time for us slip out of Alabama.
Memphis 6 Montgomery 4
Church:  We never seemed to plug into a church in Montgomery.  There were very sweet churches in the area with very good ministers and wonderful folks.  I don't know why we couldn't plug in.  Maybe because we were gone so much on the weekends visiting family that we just couldn't seem to be consistent in our attendance.   But we are really excited to hear that Maxie Dunnam is interim minister at Christ United Methodist in Memphis, and because we have attended there before, I think we will like it a lot.  So Memphis goes up another point.  Memphis 7 Montgomery 4


And, I'll stop here.  Looks like Memphis, for us, is a winner!!  And that's a good thing, because we're here now.  What I've learned in all my moves is that sincere, kind, generous people are everywhere.  You just have to get up and find them.  And as soon as I get these boxes out of this house, that's what I intend to do.   














  

Chikma! (I hope you are well)

Chief Tishomingo

We've moved. We've come full circle. Clark and I started our marriage here 10 years ago and were transferred with his job to Greenville, South Carolina within 6 months.  After being there for 5 years, we moved to Wetumpka, Alabama (outside Montgomery) where we lived for 5 years until now.  I should be used to moving, but it just seems to get harder!  Anyway, we made the transfer of all of our belongings and the leftovers of our adult kids to Bluff City, and we have been up to our ears in boxes for the past 3 days.  I grew up about 70 miles to the north and Clark grew up about 80 miles to the southeast, so Memphis is not foreign to us like some of our other moves.  I came here quite often as a child and had my firstborn, Leah, in the Methodist Hospital a few miles from where we are now.  So I will always have a soft spot for this city.  Which brings me to the name of our new street:  Tishomingo 
Because my high school mascot was the Chickasaws,--sorry, I know it is not politically correct to name mascots for native Americans--but I swear we really did not know that it was a bad thing--I had heard of the name Tishomingo before.  So Clark did some research and found out that Tishomingo was a Chickasaw chief, and was probably born in or around what is now Lee County, Mississippi, where Clark grew up.  He received the silver medallion from George Washington for fighting the Shawnee in the Old Northwest, and served in the war of 1812.  Now I don't know if he wanted to do that or not, but evidently he did a great job and then went back to farming, which is what he was doing before all the fighting.  Now here is that terrible part that is starting to become redundant as far as we Americans go----he was forced off of his land, even after he served his "new country" well, and was made to walk to Oklahoma on the Trail of Tears whereupon he died somewhere around what is now Little Rock, Arkansas. Oh, but he got a county, a park and a street named for him.  (Also the capital of the Chickasaw Nation in Oklahoma).  But that's it folks---do what you are asked to do and you get kicked in the pants--for 500 miles, on foot.  

Why do we do things like that?  He kept his end of the treaty, and he got nothing....
  One of the first people I have met is the guy who is in our front yard right now, cutting down a 100 year old tree.   A huge part of the trunk fell on the car of another man who was painting this house before our arrival.  Apparently, it squished the entire car while he was inside painting and he couldn't even get insurance coverage because it was an "Act of God".  Oh, I forgot to mention it was his mother's car.  Looks like folks are still getting kicked in the pants around here.  But here is home now, and we'll take it on the chin, (or wherever) if it comes our way.  

Camera Shy

While I am packing, I am also thinking about pictures I would like to take of the house and the yard--you know--so I can remember how this place looks.  And I would love to take some shots of Ellie, our dog, with her friends, Bea,the beagle, and Bentley, the black lab.  But Ellie will have none of it.  I don't know if it's because she was in a cage somewhere for two years before we got her, or if someone banged her over the head with a camera her first two years of life, or what, but she will not let me take her picture.  I know you are thinking, well--she's a dog-just get out the camera and take her picture.  But it's not that simple.  I swear she knows when I am about to do it. I sneak the camera out and take off the lens cover in another room. I even turn on the flash manually and focus in the next room.  Then when I go back into the room where she is---------gone.  She has sneaked out of the room.  every single time
I have tried it outside, hiding the camera on the steps or on the porch.  I have even palmed my phone with the camera mode on and as soon as I try to click one off, she has her back turned and is headed in the opposite direction.  It's so frustrating.  Even our neighbors have tried.  nothing..... so the only way to get her picture is to put a choke hold on her with your arms, pretending you are hugging her.  
But I intend to outwit her; I just don't know how.  It's like she can read my mind!(or my body language)  

see what I mean?

Ellie is a beautiful golden retriever who we got from a rescue center in Knoxville, Tennessee four years ago.  She was in pretty bad shape when we got her, but we immediately enrolled her in Obedience Training and she came in second in her class and received a perfect attendance certificate.  (She's very proud of her work ethic.)  I am not kidding when I say that I had to literally drag her into the pet store where we took lessons, and she would hunker down and look pitiful until the last one or two sessions.  When Clark and I would take her for a walk on the street, she would cower down and pull on the leash for us to take her back home.  And she was scared to death of men, even Clark.  But now, we have neighbors who come and get her every day to walk her with their dog.  And she walks with this amazing gait with her head held high, actually a bit prissy.   And she adores everybody, especially Clark.  She is our baby, and I think she will miss our wonderful neighbors, especially Kris and Clayton and Kathy and Becca, who will probably miss her more than they'll miss us. 

Movin on up.....

to a deluxe apartment in the sky...and I'm not sure if I want a piece of that pie, but I'm getting it anyway.  
It's T-7 days till moving day, and we have just come back from Memphis where I had my first look at our house on top of a house.  Yep, it sounds weird and it is a bit weird.  But what it is is a huge house and I do mean huge---that was built in 1945 as two houses in one.  So it's a duplex, but not side by side-- instead it's upstairs and downstairs.  And we have the upstairs, much to my gardening chagrin.  
The first thing I did was to test the windows to see if they were painted shut.  I thought if I could get some air in there, I might be able to adjust more quickly.  Success there.  And the interior was freshly painted and clean and certainly roomy.  No complaints there.  So, not wanting to appear ungrateful, I am trying to keep a positive attitude.  But those of you who know me, know it's hard for me to hide my feelings--I'm just not a good faker.  I'm telling myself that lots of people do not have a comfortable place in which to live, especially in today's market.  And I am lucky that we have found a wonderful place in a beautiful, safe neighborhood. And Clark and I are blessed that he landed a great job after the company he worked for in Montgomery closed its doors after over 100 years. So I should be counting my blessings. But isn't it OK to be sad when you are giving up something you love?  The thing is, we knew we were not going to be here forever, I just didn't know how much I would like it out here in the Alabama woods.  I mean Clark can call an owl in, even in the daytime.   How cool is that?  
 And what about Rhonda the rogue deer, and Clyde the rat snake, and Maxwell and Maxine, the tree frogs who serenade us at night?  And our bluebirds?? We have watched around 3 nestings of babies fledge every year for the last 4 seasons which amounts to 2 dozen of those beautiful birds hanging around our house.  Oh, and our wild turkeys!  The only Wild Turkey I'll see is in the bars on Beale Street.  And don't get me started on all the flowers, shrubs and trees we have planted and enjoyed.  I'm missing my huge gardenias already.  
 I try not to get depressed thinking about fences and train noises and Poplar Ave. traffic.  When I was a little girl, I wanted to be "Girl" on Tarzan.  Heck, they had "Boy"; why not a small version of Jane swinging around playing with Cheetah?  And when I was little, I spent a lot of time in my tree.  So this makes perfect sense, right?   
Now let me say that I am also a fan of Memphis.  It has its problems,  but it is home to us, and we have family and friends there.  And just down the road a bit is our alma mater, Ole Miss, and our friends in Oxford.  And a huge plus is the airport is in the same city in which we live--not an hour and a half away--very good for visiting with my kids and grandkids.  So, I keep telling myself it will be fine, and I will adjust, and I will find something there that I will love doing.  
But I just didn't see this one coming either........maybe the bluebirds in Memphis will, because I'm going to our new place armed with my bird feeder and my trusty mealworms.

Maylee Girl is Two

I love this child.  I can identify with her because she is second in line with an older sister who she is constantly trying to keep up with.  I was in the same boat myself.  And like most second children, she's found a way to be just herself.  In fact, she kinda reminds me of me----guess that'll mean I'll let her get away with everything, but, hey--I pretty much do that with all of the grandkids.  She's feisty and good natured: two really good qualities that I hope she won't grow out of.  I love it when she falls out on the floor like Katie used to do and a few seconds later she jumps up and says,"I'm all done".   hard not to laugh..... I certainly didn't laugh when her mother did that.  I wish I could put her in a time capsule. 

Having had two girls of my own, I know what Katie has ahead of her, and I hope I am in good enough shape to help her.  She's gonna need it.  Happy birthday, Maylee Grace!  Thanks to Stephen Hunton for the cute pic