the thin line between optimism and delusion…

If you don’t live in a pollen infested place, you can’t possibly understand the wreck that pollen invokes.  It is disgusting.  Molly sent me an email the other day that while she was sitting outside at panera in the ATL stealing wireless internet she kept having to wipe her screen clean because the yellow build up happened almost immediately.  At the lake a couple of weeks ago I watched my uncle’s eye glasses slowly turn yellow until he had to take them off and clean them in order to see.  My parent’s front porch, which is normally black, is now a pale buttercup. 

Everyone’s car has a yellow film over it.  If you pour water out onto the ground you get a yellow puddle.  Or, actually I guess you get a puddle of water with a yellow film over it. 

APPARENTLY, I’ve been told that this yucky yellow coating pollen is not the pollen that gives you allergies.  It has been explained to me that if the pollen is big enough for you to see it, it is too big for you to breathe in.  I’m not sure if I believe this, but this is what I have been told.  Question everything. 

All I do know is that some sort of pollen, whether it is this big yellow stuff or some unseen pollen floating around, has been making me feel poorly.  Sore throat, always thirsty congested in neck sort of poorly.  I’m hoping this goes away soon. 

We need a good rain to wash all this yellowness away.  But it needs to rain before monday, then be beautiful and sunny for the rest of the week. 

Whose excited about the Masters?  I AM!

Read Full Post »

A lot of the sidewalks in my neighborhood are not concrete, but are dirt or grass.  The sidewalk outside my parent’s house is reddish sand, that is deep at points, deep enough that my little hybrid bike tires get bogged down.  Todd says I shouldn’t ever ride my bike on the sidewalks anyway, because that is the best way in the world to get hit by a car coming out of a driveway.  He is probably right, since I think he has been hit by a few cars. 

I love the red sand sidewalk, with the big roots of the huge trees that line the street.  Down the road a little bit and across the street there is a strip of sidewalk that is no longer sandy, but grassy.  Grassy with the same sort of big roots, and shady from the trees overhead.  And it is long grass.  Long grass that when trampled smells of rain and dirt and springtime in the backyards of my childhood. 

The best part about this little strip of shady, grassy sidewalk, other than the fact that it always seems to be damp and cooler than everywhere else, is that little blue flowers grow there in the spring time.  Pretty little pale blue stars.  These little flowers have hollow stalks, and don’t take very kindly to being picked.  These flowers also grow in other scattered spots around the neighborhood, but nowhere in the abundance of this strip of sidewalk.  When they are in full bloom there are always mothers taking pictures of their children. 

This year there seemed to be two bouts of the flowers, a first growth of the pale pale blue variety, and about two weeks later after a big rain another growth of the same flowers in a deeper blue color.  Like when the new green grass grows up through the old grass. 

Two things about these pretty little flowers. 

1.  I found one growing in my back yard yesterday.  Actually, there were a couple of them, but they weren’t growing in a patch, they were solitary little souls growing all alone.  Of the pale color. 

2.  SOMEONE thought it was a good idea to mow the path through the pretty little star flowers the other day.  WTF?  I mean, really.  They last a month, tops.  There is no need to mow them up.  Everyone can stomp on through them.  It made me sad.   There was a border of crushed blue flowers that didn’t get mowed up, but did get smashed in the grass along the path.  WHO DOES STUFF LIKE THAT?  Probably the same people who cut down all the trees on a lot before they build a house.  Idiots. 

Read Full Post »

Saturday I went to the Nalley’s farm in Burke County.   I like Burke County a lot.  And I love the Nalley’s.  I rode out there with Ginny and little baby Ginna – who wasn’t much of a conversationalist and slept most of the way.  Briscoe got to go too.  She was very excited. 

The boys were having a quail hunt and so there were horses and dogs and lots of fun stuff going on when we got there.  After eating some yummy turkey chili, the hunt took off.  Because lunch had taken so long and the hours left of daylight were waning, they decided to not take the horses out on the afternoon hunt.  Martha Burton and I followed the hunt on a four wheeler for a while, which was a lot of fun.  I like to watch all the dogs.  They look like they are having so much fun.  I want to come back as someone’s beloved bird dog in my next life.  Not the kind that stays in one of those tall pens in the back yard.  The kind that doubles as a house dog.  Then Ivy called and Martha Burton and I abandoned the hunt and went back to the house. 

Since the horses didn’t go on the hunt – they were just hanging around in the barn – obviously bored – Ivy and I decided that we should ride them.  Which was lots and lots of fun.  I haven’t been riding in a really long time, but I’ve always enjoyed horses.  It was a beautiful day, not very cold, but the wind was blowing and the sun was setting, and the birds were chirping.  It was past dusk and almost dark when we made it back to the road that leads to the house. 

There are few things as enjoyable as riding a horse in the dark towards the twinkling lights of the barn and the house where grits and bourbon await.    There was fried venison, fried dove, grilled pheasant and quail wrapped in bacon with jalapenos in the middle (make sure you chew it up and don’t swallow any shot!) asparagus, sugar snap peas, birthday cake, warm happy tired doggies, and a big fire.  After my first piece of quail with jalapenos I couldn’t feel my lips and I could have breathed fire so I was a little more cautious after that.  I guess I hadn’t had enough bourbon at that point. 

But let me just say that this experience came with the price of being UNBELIEVABLY sore yesterday and today.  I was fine most of yesterday, until about 4.  Since then I have been almost as stiff and sore as I was after the half marathon.  Maybe that is an exaggeration, but I’ve been known for my dramatic touch.

Happy Martin Luther King Day!  I’m spending the day getting my life in order.  Yay!  Dang I’m sore. 

Read Full Post »

spack: its 22 degrees. feel like 5 degrees per the weather channel
ckp: it was 23 here when I woke up this morning
ckp: yay!
spack: this guy I work with, who puts gel in his hair… his hair froze and cracked off
ckp: hahahahahahahaha
ckp: funniest thing I’ve ever hear

spack: that will teach you a lesson 

Read Full Post »

"What the hell is that noise?  That hollow, rushing sound outside my window?"

"The wind?  Really?  I guess I am on the ninth floor.  Look at all the trees and the people blowing about."

"Wait, what is that other sound?  The tinkling on the glass?"

"Sleet?  What?  Is it really SLEETING?  I didn’t even know it was that cold outside.  Are you sure it isn’t rain?  No, you are right.  It is sleet.  We should all go home and get in our beds immediately."

"Do you think this weather is coming from the mountains?  No?  From the Ocean?  I didn’t know the weather blew west.  The sky is falling chicken little. "

Read Full Post »

So, normally Athens is a touch cooler than Augusta.  But not today.  Today Athens is winning as far as the contest of heat. 

But just when you think Augusta is falling behind in the contest for most ridiculous summer weather and Athens is pulling ahead – you notice the Special Weather Statements.  True, Athens has a Special Weather Statement today warning about the heat – as noted in the post below. 

Let us take a look at the Special Weather Statement issued for Augusta –

Air Stagnation Advisory (what?  what the hell is an air stagnation advisory?  Gross). 

Oh – it is a smog alert.  How weird.  I didn’t know that Augusta had smog alerts.  Like I said earlier – Gross. 

Read Full Post »

Read Full Post »