Blueberry Crumble and Homemade Whole Wheat Bread

arlier this week a couple friends, boy and I all went to a farm outside of town to pick blueberries. This is one of those fun, cultural things I have wanted to do since we moved to the south. I think there are three typical views westerners have regarding the south: the poor white trashy part (which I have seen a lot of), the rich white trashy part (which turns out to be T-Town in a nutshell), and the cultural part full of history, romance, and charm. Sadly, that part of the South has been hard to come by in this college town full of privileged frat kids.

When we moved here I had dreamy eyed aspirations to find the romantic side of the south where we would eat good southern cuisine, drink sweet tea, go to a club and listen to that olde tyme blues. That kind of culture is thriving in places like NOLA, Memphis, and Atlanta. Tuscaloosa does not have a lot to offer in the ways of good ole southern culture, at least my vision of what I thought it would be. So I was so excited when we embarked on our own, tiny, cultural adventure.

I grew up sort of a city kid and all our dreams (boy and I) currently involve living in places with large, multicultural cities. But every once in a while, while driving through the country, I imagine how amazing it would be to live out there. Your closest neighbor would be half a mile away and you could go a whole day without hearing a train whistle, police siren, truck horn, or even a single car. Twenty minutes outside town, we arrived at the farm where you can pick your own blueberries for $6 a gallon. We were the only ones there. I guess not a lot of people go berry picking at 6pm on a Wednesday evening in the dead of August heat. We were a little late in the season and certainly did not get the pick of the litter. But at least 3/4 of what we picked was juicy and delicious. The whole time we were there I didn't see or hear a single car. An old hound dog wandered over from the neighbors to play with the farm's dog. It was lovely. Such a fun experience. Next summer we will definitely do this again, although probably go earlier in the season. So what did we do with all those blueberries? We made the most amazing, delicious, moan inducing blueberry crumble ever!!


Sadly, nothing remains of this masterpiece. We shared some with friends and consumed the rest as neither of us have much self control when it comes to amazing food.

As if you didn't think we were domestic enough, I made whole wheat bread from scratch. I have always wanted to bake my own bread and have only been able to master the lemon-poppyseed bread (which is amazing). I tried a couple years ago to make wheat bread at my parents house and ended up with two tiny loaves with the outer crust similar to a slab of granite and the inner meaty part the consistency of Alabama clay. It did not turn out well.

I have persevered this time with a dilectible, moist triumph of bakery! This loaf is perfect for Sunday morning toast, weekday PB & J's, and Tuna Melts!! Oh, the tuna melt...






*The amazing display cap above is by Jessica Hische, an amazing designer I came across in my perpetual search for awesome design and typography. The letter comes from her Daily Drop Cap project.

What Summer?

ne thing about getting two masters degrees in three years, you have no life. For me, this includes summer break. I mentioned previously about my awesome time at the University of Utah's Book Arts department in May. Sadly, this remains the extend of any exciting summer activities. Instead of hitting up the beach or travailing about Europe like other people I know, I chose to stay in this sweaty little burg and take some much needed Library classes. Thats right, ladies and gentleman, I voluntarily stayed in 105 degree heat and humidity to learn about the Dewey Decimal *ahem* Classification (not system, get it right...), HTML coding, and just how much money academic libraries spend on databases. Some of my classes were wonderful, some were not so much.

Now, I'm consumed with thoughts of the impending semester which start in a mere week. Not much of a break. The good thing about this experiment they call graduate school is that because I am doing two programs, each semester is a chance to mix it up, do something different, and prevent the fatigue of doing the same thing all the time. Now my mind races with prices of sharpening stones, goat skins, making my own paper, the complexities of really good typographic design, and how the hell I am going to exert any kind of authority to the newbies when I still feel like the newbie. This semester is going to be a doozie for me. I've got a full plate of classes, plus an assistantship, all while still working at the special collections library. Here is what I'm going to be taking:

Printing III - Students initiate and produce an edition of a relatively extensive book and/or participate in production of a Parallel Editions volume. Emphasis is on production, with manuscript selection and editing being critical aspects. Photopolymer platemaking processes are introduced in a desktop publishing environment adapted to historic tools and mediums. Such subjects as marketing and distribution of limited edition books are covered.

Binding III - A concentrated study of the use of leather as a binding cover material. Various binding styles and structures appropriate to leather treatment are studied. Familiarity with the preparation and application of leather in bookbinding is achieved through a series of assigned projects culminating in a final project. Though not the primary focus of the course, binding design and innovation will be studied and explored.

Tool Sharpening - For all my new fancy leather paring tools, and perhaps, my kitchen knives.

Book Repair - I don't even know where this class is going to go, but it will be a great way to learn to repair books and will let me know how I would like conservation type stuff.

Directed Research - 100 hours of papermaking. I will be making all the paper for my projects this year using old t-shirts and bed sheets.

Practicum in Teaching in the Book Arts - I will be assisting my printing professor with the first year printing class. I'll be there to help the students and do demonstrations.

Graduate Assistantship - With the help of another second year student, I will be assisting the Book Arts Department with any and every thing that they need. I'll be maintaining the work spaces, organizing and managing the exhibition space on the fifth floor, as well as planning for local events we are involved in.

In October there is a conference for people who wish to teach letterpress in Washington DC that I am going to look into going to as well.

A lot, right? Its going to be a lot of work. I will be tired and often. I will be cranky at some points, but I also will have a blast for most of it. I'm already looking forward to Christmas break back in the snowy mountains where it will be cold and I can sleep in!


*The amazing display cap above is by Jessica Hische, an amazing designer I came across in my perpetual search for awesome design and typography. The letter comes from her Daily Drop Cap project.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=128340180&sc=fb&cc=fp

Happy 4th of July Y'all!!

Believe it or not, but the weather has been quite pleasant this last weekend. Of course, there is a nice thin glaze of perspiration on the skin, yet somehow its been tolerable. Late evening has brought with it gentle breezes which have cooled off the sweltering heat from the hard ground and made evening walks a pleasant refuge from the day to day.

This was not my first 4th of July away from home. In 2004 I went to Australia to pick up my brother from school and he made sure to welcome me with an impromptu 4th of July BBQ for us Yanks. But this is the first 4th of July living away from my family, friends, and the traditional festivities I normally attend with great excitement. So to celebrate in our own little way, Boy and I made sorbet from all the seasonal fruits that have popped up recently.

It was super easy and lots of fun. All it took was lots of strawberries, several peaches, a few scoops of blueberries, some stevia leaves, a pinch of salt, and a healthy dose of Vodka all tossed into our food processor and TADA...


Pretty much the most amazing summer-time-in-the-sweltering-melting-heat-of-Alabama after lunch, after work, after dinner, after hard day of reading and napping treat possible.

Survey says: Yumm...

A lovely weekend, we've had here. Friends, food, a teensie bit of fireworks, and to top it all off, a good read. In honor of the book, and my profession's honouring of it, I have started To Kill a Mocking Bird again. I loved this book the first time I read it and it feels only fitting to read it again now that I live in Alabama. I decided that I am going to read southern books for the rest of the summer. What better way to learn about the culture you live in, than through the stories people write about it.

Making up for lost time...

I know, I know what you're going to say... And for all the aunts and mothers and dear friends who have been wondering where the hell I've been, allow me to just say, it's been a hell of a semester. That said, I'll try and post as much as I can about all the crazy things I've done this semester.

But before I get into that, just look and see how pretty my yard is :)

Food, HandyMen, and New Projects...

After a long break, we are finally starting to feel settled in again and gearing up for the semester ahead. We went to one of our favorite bars to watch the Big Game. Despite years of irrational hatred of the sport, I would be lying if I claimed I didn't totally get into it. Football is a completely different animal down here, and you best be prepared. Roll Tide Roll!

After the excitement from the game, Dan and I went on a cooking-and-freezing-so-we-will-have-food-later-in-the-semester-when-we-have-no-time-to-cook spree. We made two different kinds of pasta sauce, one plain ole wonderful Tomato sauce and Turkey Meatball and Chipotle Adobo sauce. We also made up some of Dan's step-mom's wonderful Chili.

Here are the two sauces. Turkey Meatball is on the left. Traditional Tomato is on the right.

Meatballs! (Notice fabulous Food Processor in the back. Smaller on is in the mail ;p )
The freezer. (From left to right: Two large tubs of delicious chili, two varieties of pasta sauce, two loaves bread, Lentil Soup and Butternut Squash &Pear soup, and frozen chicken.)
Still so much room!

A small setback...

So the temps down here have been abnormally low. There were about two weeks of below freezing temps for the high. So whats the big deal? I'm from the mountains! Rough and rugged, skiing in below freezing temps all day, walking the three miles home from work in the cold like it ain't no thing... The principle difference between my down home ruggedness and this southern freeze is that at least in the mountains people believe in insulation. That word does not exist down here. Our house was averaging around 45 degrees for the high and believe me, that is hard to strip down to take a shower for. Sufficed to say, we came out pretty good despite some minor whining on my part ;) However, our poor washing machine didn't come out as lucky.

After about a week and a half at home the laundry was beginning to creep into bed with us. I took it upon myself to brave the freezing cold of our back porch and do the laundry. After discovering the hoses were completely frozen, I got the bright idea to just put a space heater in front of them and once they were all nice and melted my problem would be fixed. Half a day later, my back porch was flooding, I couldn't figure out where the water was leaking and I needed to go to class! So I scooped out the soaking wet clothes (as the machine wasn't draining either) wrung them out and in the dryer they went. Dan My Man saved the day. He stopped the leak, discovered which part was broke, defrosted the drainage pipe and ordered the part we needed. I still had to use our neighbor's washer for a day but yesterday he fixed my washer and now I can do all the laundry I want!!

And, as if that wasn't HandyMan enough for one day, he built us a bookshelf!!
Now, its a bit wobbly and needs some minor propping in various places :) But we finally have a place for our ever expanding library.

So between the washer getting fixed and getting a new bookshelf I went a little crazy and cleaned the whole house, just in time for MLK day to contemplate our civil rights and mentally prepare for the upcoming semester.

I have a whole set of goals I want to accomplish and I figure if I tell y'all all about them, then I can't back out of them.

1-No Procrastination - I have so much work to do this semester, if I slack off I'm dead.
2 - Stick to the work out! - Dan and I are embarking on new scary territory of marathon training. We don't have one in mind and if we do eventually do one it will most likely be the half marathon. But we are going to train for one which will keep us active when we don't want to, don't have time to, or are simply making excuses. This way we can get into a habit of it and it won't be an issue of feeling guilty for not working out.
3- Flossing three times a week - The dentist was mean to me when I saw him last :(
4- Keep something for me -No matter how busy i get this semester, I will make time for me to do something for myself. Read a book, a book I WANT to read for at least fifteen minutes everyday.
5- Stay positive - something I always struggle with.

School Scoop:

4 Classes

• History of the Book: Print Culture and Society
• Bookbinding II Hard Case Structures
  
• Printing II Typographic Printing
• Papermaking

12 Major Projects including : Hard bound books in quarter, half and full book cloth, flat back, rounded and backed case binding and clam shell boxes to fit, various kinds of hand made paper with ingredients such as denim, linen, banana stalk, kozo, flax, and abaca, and a twenty page letterpress printed book.

Sound busy enough?

Roll Tide Roll

After a crazy busy semester and an equally crazy busy break at home with family, we are back in the land of the sever over reactionary. The football team managed to make its way into the national championships just in time for the school to over react and cancel the first week of school. Were there any likelihood that the majority of the student body and faculty able to attend the game, I would gladly admit canceling school to be a wise choice. However, as the game is in California and a mere 5% of all students and faculty will be in attendance, I feel this was on over reaction. Whatev, I didn't want to go to school today anyway.

This morning I dragged myself out of my nice warm bed into the brisk 50 degree temperature of my house and set off for work on this lovely chilly day. As I walked out the door I met the familiar site of snow flakes (an extremely rare occurrence in Tuscaloosa). I waited for forty five minutes locked out of work before I walked home only to find an e-mail from the University informing me that yet another over reaction has been passed down. The University closed down all none essential operations due to a snow warning. As of 4pm, not a flake had stuck. Whatev, I didn't want to go to work today anyway.

Mid-Semester Hump

Time, its such a funny thing. It feels like only a few weeks ago I packed up my Inter-Mountain life and found myself in this swampy little burg. Yet somehow, against all odds, the semester is halfway over and before I know it it will be time to pack up my Subi for winter break. Time moves quickly when you have none of it.

After two papers, three handmade books, and five no-sleep-until-1-am days, I'm taking a moment to relax and update this lonely soul I've cast out into the world with little attention. So rather than bore with mundane details I'll be brief and show off some of my wares from my bookbinding class.

Binding I



The Pamphlet:
Pretty straight forward, simple structure. Be wary though, not as simple as you might think.

Double Pamphlet:
Grade for both: A

Link Stitch:

These bad boys were covered in paste paper I made. My favorite...

This one!

Paste paper is tricky though. It can be a bit unruly after its painted and I had trouble getting my papers flat enough, and folded square.

Grade: A-

Long Stitch:
One of my favorite structures, but not without some drama.
The cover for these books is paste papered bristol paper. Because of the weight of the cover paper, our professor prefers tabs like this beautiful one. One afternoon, Tabs became the drama of my life.
Half an hour before class was to start and I was to turn in two of these books, I still had yet to cut a single tab. You learn very quickly nothing is more terrifying than folding and cutting in the bookmaking realm. Rushed and stressed, I was working on the green book in the stack above. The green book was to be my greatest work but quickly had turned to my greatest pain the night before when I had to remove the sewing THREE times in order to get it right. I should have known then it was never meant to be. As I rushed to get my tabs cut before class began I ended up cutting off my tab! No big right, you can just have the hole be closer to the fore edge, right? Except I had made the foolish mistake of cutting the hole before the tab. So I have a great big hole in the cover of this beautiful book with no tab. About to cry, one of my classmates offered a few words of comfort. "Oh, you know those aren't even due this week..." FML. Despite this ordeal, I have (mostly) conquered my fear of the tab and have persevered into loving the long stitch. I took the time and made two more to be turned in the following week.

Favorite Paste Paper!

Grade: A

Long and Link Stitch:



Again, the one I thought would be my shining achievment turned out to be an utter nightmare. Due to a slight obsession with sewing tension, I managed to turn Pinky here into my own little version of Hell. Because of the stiff spine and the complex sewing pattern of this structure it is nearly impossible to go back and tighten the sewing. Word to the wise, if it looks and feels ok, just leave it.

Grade: Just turned in, will know in about two weeks.

And the piece de resistance...

The Ethiopian Stitch:

This is the first structure where I had to cover boards and attach the text block. The boards are covered with fine artists decorated paper with a quarter of book cloth.


This is the last sewing structure for this semester, which is fitting as it is my absolute favorite.

Now that I've exposed all this beauty, I'll sign off with yet another classic Gorgas Elevator story:

Me: (very cold, wearing a scarf over my head to keep my ears warm)
New Bama Girl: Hey, why you wearin' a Burka?


Cheers!!

The Elevator: A History... And a little Print too

Setting: UA Amelia Gorgas Library.
The main library at the University of Alabama consists of seven floors. Seven. Due to the ridiculous numbering structure imposed upon this building, many believe there to only be five. My departments both live on the "fifth" floor which is actually the seventh. Why the confusion? There exist two "mezzanine" floors which happen to be numbered the same number as the previous level with a delightful M pulling up the rear. The levels are labeled as follows: 1, 2, 2M, 3, 4, 4M, 5. Confusing? Indeed, particularly when the expectations of the average freshman student exclude their ability to form an argument. The building consists of two public elevators and one staff elevator which will henceforth be the only elevator I occupy. What follows is the story of my day...

I arrive at school at 8:43am. Tired from the previous day where I had spent eight hours working the press for my first print from my Suicide Linoleum block, I lock up Lady and realize I have forgotten the plastic grocery bag I usually bring to cover her seat in the daily event of rain. Slightly perturbed but determined to be optimistic about my day, I walk into the library to find the elevators swamped with librarians with galleys and galleys of books to be shelved in different areas throughout the library. No Worries, I thought. I'll just take the stairs, a little more exercise won't hurt. After 103 stairs (I counted), I arrive in the Type Lab ready for my second print.

A little shop talk and off to the press. Luckily I jump at the chance and get to use class time to print. I can't find the color in the swatch I wanted to use yesterday, so I find another I don't like as much and get to mixing my ink. After a few minutes and some bating from my professor, I change the color mixture towards what I had originally wanted (he found the swatch in 3 seconds). After a moment later I realize I made a much better color than either and am not too discouraged about my day. Finding, mixing, blotting and warming up the ink has taken half an hour to forty-five minutes.

Next I clean the five rollers on the press to make sure there is no residual ink from who ever used the press last. The day before I skipped this step and had to clean off all the ink I had put on because my blue was coming out green. Always clean the rollers first! Wait fifteen minutes to let the rollers dry. Then I get the ink on my pallet knife, bead the ink onto the idle roller of the press, flip on the motor, knock the press into "Trip" position, and lower the idle roller and the oscillating roller onto the two rubber inking rollers and watch how the ink slowly covers the rollers. A couple more beadings of ink and I'm ready for my proofing. But before I can move on, I have to arrange my linoleum block.

The print I run must match perfectly with the print I ran the day before which can be tricky. Thankfully, I made a map of my furniture and quickly I can arrange the press bed just as I did the previous day. Soon I have all my furniture set up, the appropriate amount of packing under my block to get it type high, and have tightened the quoins so my block won't move. Another twenty minutes.

I "Trip" my block twice to get plenty of ink on there, place my newsprint paper in the paper guides, knock the press into "print," and roll out my first proof. I am ecstatic. The ink is beautiful. But I have a lot of work left before I can print. There is a lot of chatter in my proof. Chatter is the lines left on the block that are relief enough so they will print. Some of my cutting was not deep enough from the previous night. I take out my block, get my cutting tools and work out what chatter I want to keep and what I want to cut out. This takes another half an hour to forty-five minutes. I run another proof and decide I want to take out the very thinnest piece of packing. Another five minutes getting that out. Now I am ready. I print.

4 hours, 2 press cleanings, 50 prints drying. Not too shabby. I stick around, helping others carry their prints to drying racks, carve my block for the print I must do again in a few days and by 2:45pm I'm beat, sick of the Type Lab, and ready to go home to my Kiddo.

I go to the public elevators. Remember, I am on the fifth (seventh) floor. I get in and press 1 and silently hope that by some miracle it will not stop on any other floor. What is about to happen is not exceptional which is exactly why it is irritating. The elevator stops on floor 4M (the floor immediately below mine, also known as the true sixth floor). A girl gets in, goes to press 1, sees I have done so and stands in her respective opposite side of the elevator. The elevator stops on 3 (fourth). Bama girl walks in wearing Bama girl uniform (Nike Dri-Fit Tempo shorts, oversized T-Shirt almost as long as shorts) and confidently presses 2M (third). Immediatly, Bama girl realizes she doesn't know what the hell she's doing...

BG: Shit! Oh God! Shit y'all, what floor do I want?
Me: What do you want?
BG: Blank Stare
4M: What are you looking for?
BG: Blank Stare
4M: A book?
BG: Blank Stare
Me: Circulation?
BG: The desk. I need the desk.
Me: The CIRCULATION desk?
BG: The big desk, you know, outside the elevator?
Me: The circulation desk. Its on 2.
BG: Laughs as she hits 2

The elevator doors close, we travel one floor down to 2M (third), the doors open, no one is there but a girl sitting at a table and we all avoid awkward glances. The doors close again. Down to 2 (actually the second floor now), BG gets out, the doors close again. 4M girl turns to me, "You just saw every floor, huh?" "Pretty much." "That probably happens to you every time, huh?" "Pretty much." We arrive at 1, the doors open and floods of people invade the elevator before 4M and I even have a chance to get out. 4M shoots me a glance which says That sucks, I'm sorry, and walks away.

I go out to Lady only to discover it has rained. Her seat is wet. I wipe it off as best I can. Get on and ride home with a wet bum, and find this waiting for me...
Caption: Here's a treat for my Bebe.

Moral of the story: Chocolate and boyfriends make everything better :)

Destination: Alabama

A Brief Synopsis:
While we made the trip in the amount of time we allotted ourselves and I really don't know a better way we could have done it, I do not suggest to anyone a cross country move that could include a U-Haul and another vehicle. Moving is the biggest motivation for the Spartan lifestyle I have come across.

I will say the Wyoming sunrise was beautiful, only to be eclipsed by the Loaf N'Jug advertised on the Services sign immediately following. Nebraska seemed to go on forever with its rolling hills, or rather rolling flats of farmland. We got some free squash, courtesy of Steve and Charlene Dunbar. 18 long hours of driving and we made it to Kansas City only to be derailed by the incompetent clerk behind the plate glass cube at the illustrious EconoLodge Airport. This young lady wouldn't cut it at the UGH.

The next day we started off again after a lovely meal at Denny's where some poor soul seemed to be coughing up a lung and two people who shall remain nameless ordered their breakfast off the seniors only menu even though both are several years south of 65. *Ahem* For such a small state, Missouri took forever. Of course, we drove across it, then down along the state line so we pretty much drove it twice. I'm sure its a lovely town, but Memphis, from the freeway, sucks. How can you take a four lane highway, cut it down to one lane, with little to no warning and allow traffic to sit for about an hour, almost not moving? I know that sounds startlingly similar to I-80 in SLC but believe me, it's worse.This was about the time we all started hitting the wall. A few more hours, missed rest stop or two (it wouldn't be a road trip with Dad without one), a gas station with no food, a country road, and after two days of seemingly endless driving, Dan, my parents and I arrived in Tuscaloosa to a loud, rousing hello from Dan's friends and our new neighbors.

Our Home:

I promised I would provide pictures....

Here is our house!


Ha! If only...



Here is our actual house. Pretty ghetto and yet perfectly perfect. Of course its not really perfect but its about as close as we can get around here. Two bedrooms, three AC units, washer/dryer hookups... C'mon, you know that's pretty good.

The Living Room...







(Where our books live)

The Study/Office/Second Bedroom/Moderate Mess...



Dan's work station is there on the left and mine is on the right.

The Kitchen...





The Teeny Bathroom...



So that is our little home. It isn't the fanciest place, but then again, we aren't very fancy people. Just enough love to make it a home :)

Life thus far...

School hasn't started yet so I've actually had quite a bit of time on my hands and have used that time for mostly domestic endeavors. My grandmothers would be so proud. I've been arranging the house, cleaning that which must be cleaned, doing laundry, and managed to create the most amazing Spinach Quiche, courtesy some help from good ole Julia Child (Go see Julie&Julia, right now!! If you love food, love cooking food, or just love Stanley Tucci, get off your ass and go see it!)

I've started looking for a job. The University is a bit confusing regarding their application processes. I went to three different departments I was told on-line to refer to for student employment and was told at all three locations, to check the website. Anyway, I applied for a circulation job in the library so hopefully that pans out.

The humidity is kicking my ass. I was all cocky before, "Oh, don't you worry about ME. I'LL be fine. I KNOW what its like." Energy is a very difficult substance to come by in the oppressive weight of your own sweat that just never dries. Ok, enough melodrama. Its not that bad. It does take some getting used to and many, many, refrigerated Nalgenes at the ready to cool you down and keep you hydrated. You wouldn't think in such a wet place you could get dehydrated. You'd be wrong. The only real trouble I've had is at night. I had sleeping problems before I left SLC. I thought it was stress related and it easily still could be. I'm hoping once school starts I'll finally be able to relax enough. But as for now, it gets really hot at night in the house and I can't stay asleep. Dan got me some Melatonin supplements to try and help my body sleep, but to no avail so far.

The best part about living with Dan, is living with Dan. There is nothing better than waking up next to your best friend, going for a quick (albeit sweaty) run, and coming home to make yummy waffles and watch Buffy with best friend. I'm a happy girl.

The Parable of the Puppy and Crazy Towny Bud...

Emily is one of our neighbors and a fellow MFA in Dan's program. The Friday we arrived in Bama, she had gone for a bike ride in the country. She saw what she thought to be a squirrel, struggling by the side of the road. She stopped to see it and saw it was this...


A gentleman who was passing by said that the house just down the road breeds pitbulls and that's probably where she came from. Emily, knowing that a puppy that little wouldn't wander off that far without being noticed, brought her home to 15th court. Steamboat Pearl, as she has come to be called, is one sick puppy. After taking her to the vet we all found out she had worms and was really malnourished. Ashely and Nilo, our next door neighbors, decided to take over her care and got all the medications she needed. She puppy puked up a number of worms and dropped more weight and is now, at the ripe old age of seven weeks, a mere two and a half pounds. But she has started eating again and has more energy. She's gonna make it! I had the pleasure of some puppy sitting earlier today and yesterday and she is just the sweetest thing.

This weekend we 15th Courters took off for a lake close by to escape the heat and go for a swim. The lake was very beautiful and pretty close although down a rocky dirt road. Poor Midnight incurred a couple more bruises :C The water was, no kidding, the temperature of bath water. I'm used to Mountain lakes that on the hottest of hot summer day are still freezing.

It was a lovely, relaxing day. As we were preparing to leave a big ass truck followed by a white Mustang, blasting bad rap as loud as possible, pulled up by the spot where we were. This guy gets out of the Mustang with an open Budweiser Tall Boy in one hand, the uber classy Budweiser B complete with crown tattooed on his arm, and two boxer terriers. One boxer was over 100 lbs and solid as a rock. The other was ten weeks old and completely dwarfed poor little Steamboat Pearl. They smelled Pearl instantly and came over to where we were to investigate. So the Crazy Towny, lets call him Crazy Towny Bud, was clearly already pretty smashed and way too friendly. He came over, saying all kind of stuff about pitbulls, took Pearl's jaws in his meat hooks and proceeded to look at her teeth to see if she would be a good fightin dog, pointed out the second row of teeth in the back, for when they lock their jaws in a fight and told a lovely anecdote about how the big boxer was fighting a pitbull and won the fight but the pitbull locked its jaws on the boxers throat. As we all started to load up Midnight, he proceeded to tell us what we needed to do to get Pearl up to regular weight. As he drags the big boxer out of my car after it jumped in when I opened the door, he tells us we need to get her a "Beached Whale" shot at the vet and that will help her a lot. We leave the lake, grateful Crazy Towny Bud and his posse didn't bust out the banjos and invite us to reenact a scene from Deliverance. As we drove home, we were discussing just what the hell a "beached whale" shot is and why you would give it to a puppy. BJ, another neighbor, very astutely figured out that Crazy Towny Bud was saying "B12" but in his Crazy Towny Bud accent it sounded like "beached whale." Sound it out, folks. Its a fun game.

Well, that's my life in Alabama so far. I'll leave you with the stellar conversation I walked in on inadvertently at the grocery store...

Hiram, the Mormon bag boy: It's like football and wrestling... In the dark...