Leaving Athens

Poop Head and I are leaving Athens. We have known since February, but that does not make the transition much easier. The original plan was to be here for four or five years, but things change, often for the better.

Moving again is frustrating, to say the least, especially since we have done it three or four times in the past year. This time, however, we have sold almost all furniture items and all the extra things that we have no use or need for. Honestly, that was quite a lot of things! Tomorrow we are going to the flea market--this one has an actual flea in costume who traverses from end-to-end--to sell what remains. Then it is our final packing day, and we will load Monday. By Tuesday, we will be heading on yet another road trip. I sincerely wish these were better road trip circumstances.

The entire situation has been a conglomerate of many emotions, smooshed with time until they are a hard, ugly rock whose presence we barely notice.

Oh, and Poop Head has high cholesterol and a high triglyceride count. At 30. Oh boy.

Greenville Trip (April 18-19, 2009)

Mad props to Greenville, South Carolina for city planning and management! Poop Head and I went there for a mid-sized southern wedding the weekend of April 18-19, 2009. (Congratulations to Tad and Katherine!)

Greenville is only about two hours or so away from Athens, Georgia, and there is a noticeable difference between Georgia and South Carolina. Almost the instant that a person crosses the state line, the landscape changes! The trees stand a bit taller, the hills roll a bit more, and the bumper stickers of a tree and moon reproduce ten fold!

Poop Head and I stopped at an Ingles before merging onto Highway 85. That was, by far, the nicest Ingles we had every seen. It reminded me of a Fred Meyers! In any event, we picked up some apples and cheese and a veggie plate. The night before we had purchased everything chocolate at Kroger and had packed six cans of Diet Coke and Diet A&W rootbeer. ROAD TRIP!

On the way to Greensville, we ate all the apples and some Pringles. We chit-chatted and really just enjoyed ourselves. When we got into Greenville, we were a bit too early to check into the hotel, so we went a little shop and found the most amazing mug ever!

Then we went exploring down a main road. I saw a lady holding up a sign at a church, but the sign was pointed in the opposite direction, facing oncoming traffic, so I figured she was just hosting a car wash or something. Poop Head and I went on our way and found an interesting sign when we were turning around to head back to the hotel.
We were still laughing about it when we saw the same lady on the corner at the church holding the sign. Most of the cars sat idling at the red light, and I could not quite read the sign. As we all started to accelerate, I managed to scan the sign and my breath caught in my throat. The sign said, "Family needs gas to get home and food." By the time I found my voice again, we were a good clip down the road, but I managed to squeak out. "Turn around! Turn around!" I grabbed $20 of the $40 I had allocated for the trip (from selling our dining room table so that we would not have to move it), and packed up all the food we had not eaten. We pulled in, and I nearly lost it. There were two males, the mother, and two incredibly adorable, happy kids. The kids and one of the males, I assume their father, were playing in the church yard. When they saw us, they came skipping back to get in the car and eat. I only wish I had purchased different things at Kroger than Chocolate Chex Mix and chocolate granola bars, but we also gave them the veggie plate and all our drinks and the $20. They had Georgia plates, and I wondered how they became stranded.

In any event, I have been praying for that family, especially the kids, since then. And wherever they are, I know the Lord has his loving, protective hands on those children. Poop Head and I have so little to give these days, especially since he is in school and I am just doing contract work, but I hope the little we could give them went far! Later that evening when we had to go the same way to get to the church, the family was gone. I hope someone else took them to dinner or to the store or something!

The wedding was simple and beautiful, and that was the first time Poop Head and I had ever seen a bagpiper in real life! Tad has Scottish roots, so he planned the surprise of a bagpiper without telling anyone. To my chagrin, there were people who scoffed and laughed--most of those people were young and looked like Barbie. Shame on them! After the beautiful, God-centered wedding, we went to the reception which was at a college on the far side of town in the hills. While the campus was beautiful, we learned that the school had actually been moved from the center of town (which will come into play later) to this spot. There was a buffet and music, and it was all very beautifully done. Even the cake was decent!

Poop Head and I also noticed that the only people who know how to dance are our parents' ages or older. What a loss to our generation! No matter what anyone says, humping on the dance floor does not dancing make! And I have to say, the people who danced probably had the best time of all! After the wedding, Poop Head and I went back to the hotel and had a good evening. I feel asleep while he watched Star Wars.

The next day, we went downtown and were SO impressed! Greenville's downtown is where it is at! The downtown is much larger than Memphis' downtown, and much cleaner! We went from one end of Main Street to the other, and it is just BEAUTIFUL! After eating Memphis Bar-b-que (oh, the irony), we bought some chocolates from a lady from Ohio and went to the park that is off main. This is no ordinary park! There is a suspension bridge and a waterfall and...You simply MUST see it for yourselves!

And while you are there, try to find the Mice on Main!

The Black Widow Comes to Town

For those of you who don't know, I brought another man into this marriage. His name is Fred, and he is a cactus. Fred has been with me for many years now--since 2003, I believe. As far as cactus grown from a seed, Fred is practically in Depends. Well, in any event, a few weeks ago (after the last Frost in early April) Fred moved outside with some lesser plant friends. 

One Sunday, Poop Head and I were leaving to go to church. I decided that Fred looked a bit uncomfortable. (See the pictures--he sort of has a humped back from some uncontrollable growth spurts.) He was pointing towards the walkway, and for anyone who has ever been stabbed by the wrath of Fred, you know that this is a precarious situation for all involved. 

So I bent down to turn Fred's pot around and noticed a spider web. Fred had only been outside for about a day, so I commented to Poop Head! "Wow, a spider web already!" As I did, I began turning the pot and felt my hand accidentally touch the web. Just as I was about to really put my hand into the web to turn the pot, I noticed a black dot! "BLACK WIDOW!" I jumped back, and Poop Head, about ten seconds too late, figured out what was going on and tried to pull me back further. 

I stood there in shock. The black widow was less than an inch from where my fingers had been in the web and she looked none too pleased! 

Fearing the wrath of the spider, Poop Head covered a long grilling spatula with some tin foil and squashed the black widow to death. (If you look closely in the picture, you can still see the dead spider's carcass next to the pots.)  He called the apartment's manager's office the next day and asked them to spray. We had no proof whether they had or had not until yesterday evening!

Well, Poop Head and I have been training (the overstatement of the month) for a 5K--actually, he has been coaxing me from "Chocolate Craving Chica" to "Might Run a Full Minute." The other night, I broke the five-minute barrier. I was SO thrilled (and rightfully so). As I was stretching outside, I noticed what looked like a black widow's baby egg nest! (When you almost get bitten, you get informed quickly!) Sure enough, there on the wall was a black widow's pre-hatched hope. 

So Poop Head took a can of Lysol and about 40 matches to it. 

The moral of the story? Make sure they really did spray!  

Before there was blog...

This blog space reserved for the history of Love Bug and Poop Head before this blog was begun... (April 20, 2009).