Vacation Mode

I am already in vacation mode, and we have not even left yet. I have papers to grade and final exams to grade. I don't wanna. I'm ready to vacate.

A road trip is always an exciting new adventure, going somewhere where the experience will be new, even if the destination is not. The trail is the thing: what you do along it is what makes the journey interesting.
Marty's post this morning got me thinking about bridges--one of my favorite things to see and photograph. The above bridge is one on the Garden Route from Cape Town to Port Elizabeth, South Africa. It was from my second trip to SA (2002), when I was able to spend 3 months and $15,000 doing pretty much whatever I wanted every single day. I was on sabbatical from a university whose president many years ago had the foresight to obtain an endowed fund to support faculty development.
During that trip, I met Courtney and Lira, and 3 months later, that same university helped bring them to the US for their first visit. Here, we showed them downtown Fort Worth on a rainy day from one of my favorite views--a hilltop on a cemetery.
On our first trip to Florida that same year, we drove over this bridge in Mobile, Alabama. This was pre-GPS and we had a disc that played on the computer and mapped out our route for us. The long and winding way through Mobile and the tiny little roads to Winter Park convinced us that technology was not always better than just looking at an old-fashioned paper map and making your own decision about which route to take.

In 2006, I would get an unexpected trip to London--my first and so far, last. Tower Bridge, sometimes mistakenly called London Bridge, spans the Thames. London Bridge actually rather resembles the Elbert, Texas bridge across the Brazos River.
Much closer to home, the year Mom and I moved my niece back to Texas, we made a pit stop in Vicksburg as we were crossing into Mississippi from Louisiana. Though I had photographed the bridge in years before, this was the first time that a security guard actually came out to ask what I was doing. It must have been an orange alert day or something. Although I have looked at this photograph a number of times, today I noticed that a train was actually approaching at the time. That is a prime example of not seeing the forest for the trees. Imagine if I had been that observant that day, what the next few pictures might have looked like. Of course, I also recall that the air conditioner in Mom's truck had gone out back in Texas and we were really hot and wind-blown, and desperately ready to be home after 10 hours on the road.
As we head out in the morning, I will be awaiting all the grand new adventures, the picture opportunities, and the time to savor with Randy, Kate, and our good friends. Even if on some stretches of road I will be grading papers and on Thursday night, post grades from a hotel in Santa Rosa, the first day the window to post opens. Technology has come a long way since 2002.

Tula Opry

Last night, Randy and I made our first visit to the Tula Opry. (See more information here). This great little place in the community of Tula (about 15 miles or so out of Oxford) is now home to Tula Opry. We had heard the band play last summer down in Water Valley (Small Town Mississippi on Friday Night. Band member Rusty Pinion (on the banjo) has built the Tula Opry. They play a mix of bluegrass (my all time favorite) and gospel, with the occasional old c&w thrown in for good measure.

Last night the Opry was packed with SRO by the time we got there and the guest band was already in full swing when we walked through the door. It is a quaint little place, with a stage reminiscent of the western shows out in New Mexico and Colorado that I have enjoyed during visits to Ruidoso and Dolores. The walls are decorated with the kind of memorabilia one would expect in a place called the "opry" and includes the vintage Lone Ranger guitar. (Photo courtesy of Randy's new iPhone with flash. My old iPhone just didn't cut it. :)

We enjoyed a couple of hours of music, I saw a former student who is visiting her parents for a few weeks, and got to hold her new 7 month old baby girl. After intermission, we even got seats on the front row and I could feel the air conditioner! The young man (I'm guessing around 8 or so) sitting next to me proudly informed me the woman singing was his grandmother, and that "Muleskinner" was his favorite song she sang.

It was a pleasant evening and as Rand and I drove back home, we talked about how it stirred memories of our childhood--going to musicals and gospel "singings" and in Rand's case, "Rock in the Park" summer.

The video is a collage of small pieces of the show, and of course, includes Muleskinner. Enjoy their next show on September 11, 6 p.m. A word to the wise: get there before 6.

Black Jack to Clarksdale

I had to make a trip to Batesville today, so stopped by Black Jack community to locate the old school building. It was mentioned in an earlier MissPres comment about the architecture of rural schools.

You can read more about it here .

Batesville is only a half hour from Clarksdale, another trip I have been planning on for several months since reading about Lustron houses on the MissPres blog. I had looked up the location on the Lustron preservation site before leaving, but it was not at the alleged address. I drove up and down Cherry street to no avail.

While in the area, I spotted a now unused school complex, and stopped to explore a bit.

The Industrial Arts Building on Riverside Street.
The old school maintenance building for the Clarksdale school system.


Graveyard at the school.
Wonder how many couples stood under this tree before or after class?

The school reminded me that E. L. on MissPres had mentioned the Lustron house being on School Street, so since it had clearly been a bust on the "official" site, I was pleased to see School Street was the street behind the school I was exploring. Sure enough, down at the end of the street, there it was.

Lustrons were all-steel houses (inside and out, walls, ceilings, floors, roofs, frame, shelves, cabinets, etc.) prefabricated and set up on site, as an answer to the housing crisis following World War II. You can read more about Lustron houses and their fascinating architectural and political history here and here.

Heading back home, I passed this gorgeous field of sunflowers. It was a bit tricky to turn around on the narrow dirt road. A semi has a smaller turning radius than the Equinox.
I have spent so much time on the house and on research this past week that I could not resist a little road trip today. After all, rain is in the forecast for the next 3 days. While I will welcome the respite from the heat, I dread the resulting greater humidity. As Si put it in one of his songs:

"You know how hot it gets in Mississippi. You know how dry it gets in the summer sun. Dust clouds swirl all down the Delta. I just hope that I don't die before the harvest comes."

Updates on the remodel

Things Randy has accomplished this week:

1. Attached those little holders to the pipes that keep them flush against the wall.

2. Watched 5 episodes of Bones.

3. Watched 5 movies.

4. Played World of Warcraft.

5. Target shot with J.

6. Grilled chicken and made quesadillas last night.

Things Susan has accomplished this week:

1. Repainted the bench on the front porch and hung new planter.

2. Hung new curtains in living room after Roadie ate the last ones.
3. Finished cleaning the porch, and organized all the tools and bathroom items to finish remodeling the bathroom...some day. Attached wires across the bottles to keep Rex from putting his big feet through the screen again.
4. Planted new plants inside and outside Libby's kennel. Aesthetics are very important to her when she goes outside to potty.
5. Replaced the screen where Rex put his big feet through it two years ago. See number 3.

6. Painted and hung a vintage drawer front above my bed--for architectural interest. Aesthetics are important to me when I sleep.

7. Drove to Southaven and worked on a manuscript with a colleague.

8. Graded 54 papers for grad class.

9. Cleaned the house, cooked 5 dinners, cleaned kitchen 5 times, washed all the house laundry.
10. Watched the yellow cat.

11. Asked Randy when he might call the plumber to come finish the bathroom remodel.

I really hoped to finish that this summer--if someone can just put that tub in, I can do the rest. I have installed that sink and toilet before, tiled a shower already, and textured and painted untold numbers of walls. I think I can figure out laying the tile floor--it should be a lot like the walls only horizontal.

Happy birthday J

J was 28 today. These are some of my favorite pictures from the last few years since he has been home again.


He spent his birthday at the doctor's office--more tests and ruling out things before the next decision. This is not what I anticipated, but then, parents never do imagine these things for their children, do they?

UPS delivered a refrigerated package from his friend in California--turned out to be cupcakes from some San Francisco bakery. How cool is that?

It stormed all afternoon, and began to pour just as I was headed out the door to the bank and the store. By the time I got in the car, got my cane and umbrella in, I was drenched. Then I got to the bank and opened the door to find my skirt had hung in the door and the bottom 12 inches was drenched from dragging along the highway--you just know it is not going to be a good day when that is how it starts.

I made spaghetti and meatballs for J's birthday dinner--one of his favorites. I splurged yesterday while in Memphis after meeting with my colleague on a manuscript and bought Titus Family Zinfandel, and two bottles of Justin (cabernet sauvignon and syrah). We had the Titus Family tonight and it was wonderful. Though it had been miserably hot and humid earlier, it cooled off by 8 and was pleasant sitting on the porch with the fan going.

I looked out the newly repaired screen (my morning accomplishment) and spotted the tail-less ghost kitty (there are two of them who look just alike, but one has no tail) and her kitten--a yellow tail-less kitten. I had not seen them in two weeks, and was just telling Rand I had to learn not to get attached to feral animals as it is sad to me when they disappear. Ghost kitty with tail and black/white kitten live on one side of the yard and I feed and water them over there; ghost kitty with no tail and yellow kitten live on the other side of the yard and I feed and water them over there. Somehow, that seems to be a microcosm of life as we know it, doesn't it?

Day 3 and the loss of optimism

I know day 3 looks a lot like day 1; there's a reason for that. I mentioned Randy hates plumbing. He also hates plumbing with anything that has a lot of connections, which increases the possibility of a leak. Day 2 started out well enough, but then a leak ended that. Another trip to the store and additional fittings and an entire day getting it leak-free took out Friday.

The good news was I managed to go right on working on the porch, and we had room for two chairs by Friday night.
Yesterday, Randy finally finished the faucet and moved on to drilling the hole for the tub drain. All was well for the floor and sub-floor. Then, he was staring at a 2x4 that ran directly under the floor...and where the drain connection had to be. When we replaced the floor last year, he had added a couple of extra braces in addition to the joists that were under the floor, and this was one of them. He knew he could remove it, since he had put it in, but how to do it? He ended up drilling a couple of holes through it and then using the jack-hammer to split the wood. As he was lifting the hammer up, the catch to release the blade was activated and the blade fell under the house. "Well, at least it was only the $25 blade." He still had his sense of humor, but it was waning rapidly, given that he doesn't have much of a sense of humor even on his good days. He taped up the hole in the floor removed his bandana and declared he was done for the day.
He had managed to square off the sheetrock. I asked him if he planned to install the new shower head holder like sweet Willie had: nail it through and just bend the nails. He said he thought he would use screws.

I on the other hand, did complete the cleaning of the porch. There are boxes and bags of trash lined up next to the trash can, and the tools and boxes of bathroom supplies are neatly lined up along one wall. I discovered the tile on the floor is actually white.

Day 1 Bathroom Remodel

In the summer of 2004, this was my favorite place in the house. I ate out here, read out here, napped out here, played with my dogs out here. This porch was one of the reasons I wanted this house. (Note to self for future: not always a good reason to buy a house.)
The porch has not looked like this for the past two years however. It has been piled with all the tools from our bathroom remodel--the first one, which we had to rebuild after charming Willie put in a shower without putting in a shower pan or waterproofing the walls--but that is another story in the endless stories of all the things he messed up. Almost two years ago, we tore out the hall bathroom. Yes, to replace a floor that was rotting through where Willie incorrectly installed the tub/shower and it had leaked also. We managed to get the floor, toilet and sink back in, but really could not decide what we wanted to do about the tub/shower.

Randy took off yesterday and today, and combined with his 3-day weekend, we committed to finally finishing this bathroom. The first thing I had to do was clean up the porch. In addition to the toilet, sink, plumbing for the whirlpool tub which has been sitting in J's floor for over a year, it was piled high with other tools, storage boxes, and things better left unnamed. Ever since I lost my favorite spot, it has sort of turned into a catchall big ole trashcan. It was a necessity to clean it up, or else we could not get to tools, have any place to cut sheetrock or tile, etc.

Plumbing, day 1. Randy hates plumbing, but he learned it from his dad, and it is a skill that has been needed in this money pit.

This is a far cry from my porch the first couple of summers, but it represents a major accomplishment after a day's work--and yes, still much to go today. It is the first time in over two years that there has been enough space (and clean enough) that I could actually sit out there. After we finished up yesterday, I popped open a chair and enjoyed a glass of wine. I vowed that I will restore my porch to its former grandeur, right after we finish this bathroom! (I also found all of our missing umbrellas!)