Tennessee

Things I've learned about Tennessee...

1. Possums sleep in the middle of the road with their feet in the air.
2. There are 5,000 types of snakes and 4,998 live in Tennessee.
3. There are 10,000 types of spiders. All 10,000 live in Tennessee plus a couple no one's seen before.
4. Squirrels will eat anything.
5. Unknown critters love to dig holes under tomato plants.
6. Raccoons will test your crop of melons and let you know when they are ripe.
7. If it grows, it sticks; if it crawls, it bites.
8. Onced and twiced are words.
9. It is not a shopping cart; it is a buggy.
10. Fire ants consider your flesh as a picnic.
11. People actually grow and eat okra.
12. Fixinto is one word.
13. There is no such thing as "lunch". There is only dinner and then there is supper.
14. Ice tea is appropriate for all meals and you start drinking it when you're two. They do like a little tea with their sugar!
15. Backards and forwards means "I know everything about you."
16. Jeet? is actually a phrase meaning "Did you eat?"
17. You don't have to wear a watch because it doesn't matter what time it is. You work until you're done or it's too dark to see.

More about Tennesseans....

You know you're from Tennessee if:
1. You measure distance in minutes.
2. You've ever had to switch from "heat" to "A/C" in the same day.
3. You use "fix" as a verb. Example: "I'm fixing to go to the store "
4. All the festivals across the state are named after a fruit, vegetable, grain, insect or animal.
5. You install security lights on your house and garage and leave both unlocked.
6. You know what a "VOL" is.
7.You carry jumper cables in your car...for your OWN car.
8. You know what "cow tipping" is.
9. You only own four spices: salt, pepper, Tabasco and ketchup.
10. The local papers cover national and international news on one page but require 6 pages for local gossip and sports.
11. You think that the first day of deer season is a national holiday.
12. You find 100 degrees Fahrenheit "a little warm".
13. You know all four seasons: Almost Summer, Summer, still Summer and Christmas.
14. You know whether another Tennessean is from east, west or middle Tennessee as soon as they open their mouth.
15. Going to Wal-mart is a favorite past time kn own as"goin' Wal-martin" or off to "Wally World".
16. You describe the first cool snap (below 70 degrees) as good pinto-bean weather.
17. A carbonated soft drink isn't a soda, cola or pop...it's a Coke, regardless of brand or flavor. Example: "What kinda coke you want?"
18. Fried catfish is the other white meat.
19. You understand these jokes and forward them to your friends from Tennessee (and those who just wish they were).Not EVERYONE can be a Tennessean, it's an art form and a gift from God!

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Ok, so I know that is Christmas, but right now is absolutely wonderful too.

I took my little sunshine boy (see his "rays" on his neck?) for a walk tonight after supper. One of the perks of living in northeast Tennessee is that there are so many parks to walk in. This week we've been going to one of the local state parks that has a .75 mile loop on a small island in the lake. A picture may be worth 1,000 words, but I don't think that even a picture would do this justice. The sky was beautiful - mostly blue, but with light grey clouds that were tinged with pink from the sinking sun. The water was perfectly calm, disturbed only by the ducks and geese. The honeysuckle is now out so it was lightly sweet smelling for most of the loop. The mountains were such a wonderful, vibrant green. It was a completely relaxing hour, and it appeared that many other people felt the same way as they were out walking their dogs.

Now hopefully that guy will sleep soundly all night.

Walking For Linda - Update

Blue Ridge Chapter MS Walk

May 20th, 2006

Well, tomorrow is the day of my walk. I've still got some weird chest pains going on, so it looks like I will just do the 3 mile course instead of the 6 mile course. There are over 100 walkers scheduled to walk. The coordinator sent out an email looking for volunteers, so I'm going early to help with registration and Shannon will be helping with set up, handing out shirts at the start and handing out fruit and water to walkers. Not bad for both of us being first timers! This chapter really tries to get people involved - unlike the Tennessee chapter that never did respond to my email to volunteer (for the third year). There wasn't any press on the Kingsport walk either. Sad.

Anyway, the good news - thanks to family and friends (including internet friends that I've never actually met!) I've raised $630! The average walker raises $198 and I had set my first goal at $250, thinking that I wouldn't get a lot of donations. Not only did all kinds of people donate, I was overwhelmed by some of the levels. For those of you who did - again, thank you so much! It is so wonderful to be able to help local people with MS and help with the funding for MS research.

Didn't read my story and my reason for walking? You can access my personal page here:

http://www.nationalmssociety.org//VAB/personal/default.asp?pa=54338937&pd=VAB0EWLK20060520BRS

Update

Wow! It's been over a month since I last posted. A lot has happened and frankly, I was burnt out on the computer in general in the evenings.

Kodie recovered from his grooming ordeal. He also survived his double surgery on April 17th. There's a time in every male pup's life when a boy become a man becomes an it. While he was getting sniped, we also had his declaws removed - they are black, very hard to cut and the way he tries to chase squirrels (EVIL CREATURES that DELIBERATELY taunt him), we were afraid he would rip them. The first night I felt like the worst mom on the planet - he was collapsed, pathetically, on his little mat, his ears off to the side, his eyes half shut. When he later got up to go outside, he was walking stiff legged in the front (had little half casts on his front feet) and bow-legged in the back. We didn't want to leave him by himself, so I took him up to bed with me. He spooned in front of me and had ragged breathing, like someone who is silent crying. Every now and then he would whimper softly. The next morning he seemed quite a bit better and by the next day he had completely forgotten that he had had surgery. He also didn't appear to hold a grudge because he got excited at the vet's.

I kept busy all April with work. We had our quarterly earnings and report at the end of the month and put in overtime.

However, in mid-April I started having chest pains. On the second day, I was taken to the hospital for testing. After an EKG, x-ray and bloodwork, they determined that it wasn't anything life-threatening, although it could be anything from a pulled muscle to a viral infection. I've been to the doctor 3 times since, have tried different treatments and am still suffering. Hopefully we'll figure this out soon. It's not nearly as bad as it was, so it might stop as mysteriously as it started.

Right now my parents are here. They came last Sunday and will be here until Saturday. I've taken 3 days off so far and will take one more before they leave. Sadly, it is what is known as "Blackberry Winter" here right now. We tend to have 3 cold spells in the spring and this is the third of them. Luckily, we have had a couple of days where the rain has held off and we've been able to spend time in Knoxville on the river and enjoy some hiking.

The day they leave is my MS walk. I've been really blessed by good friends all over the States and Canada (several whom I have never even met in person!) who have donated generously to the cause. I've surpassed my goal and it means so much to me that we've been able to do this.

That brings you up to date!