Musings About Cycling in Mississippi......

• Mississippi has a lot more dirt roads than we do here in North Georgia.
• Mississippi also has a lot more undeveloped land. 
• Dogs in Mississippi are even more likely to be loose than they are in Georgia.
• If you speak sweetly to two dogs because they are behind a fence, one of them may crawl under the wire and chase you, teeth bared, for a mile. Or more.
• Many people in Mississippi are dumbfounded to see someone riding a bicycle.
• Many dumbfounded people in Mississippi are still friendly.
• Mississippi has a tremendous amount of road kill.
• You can only hold your breath for so long when you are forced to ride right past a dead skunk.
• If a woman out walking with her small son tells you, "I don't even go down that road alone in my truck," it's a good sign you should turn around.
• If you leave your bike outside the clubhouse at the golf course and go inside to get some water for your water bottles, you shouldn't then go out the BACK door of the clubhouse and wonder where your bike is.
• If you walk through the construction entrance at the casino at break time for the workers and you're wearing cycling shorts and jersey, expect a lull in conversation. At least until you are out of earshot.
• If you do more cycling than gambling, you will bring home almost all the money you took with you.

Things That Make You Go "Huh?"........

I have frittered away the afternoon doing nonsense things like cycling and watching football and playing a video game. Now it is time to get serious and go play poker. So I don't have a whole lot of time to post tonight. I'll be back on track and schedule tomorrow night, regaling you with drivel and sarcasm.

I will leave you tonight with something I overheard in one of the casino shops.

"Retro is coming back in style......"

Cycling and Gambling.....

Hubby and I are in Mississippi for one of his golfing/gambling weekends. I brought my new bike for several reasons. #1 - I can't stay in the casino ALL day long. Well, I can, but it often has negative consequences. #2 - It's a new bike. #3 - If you go to the trouble to bring a bike 300 miles, you are sort of obligated to ride it.

And by the way, just where was this weather last weekend? We were in Florida last weekend, and we nearly froze to death. Today I was able to wear shorts and sandals, and the temperature was nearly 80 degrees. Stupid weather. 

I had mapped out a route for today that was supposed to be 39 miles. I have mentioned before the dangers of creating route maps on the computer, especially when I'm dealing with unfamiliar territory. I had ridden my bike here once before, but I just did an out-and-back on a fairly busy highway. Today I wanted to do a loop, so I plotted a route on the website and uploaded it into the GPS. The computer doesn't tell me, however, when roads are dirt. Two different times today I got to my turn and couldn't turn because it was a dirt road. I was headed down one road on my route, feeling proud of myself for riding and for venturing out on a new route, when the road changed to dirt unexpectedly. I decided to tough it out, because turning around at that point would have meant doubling back a little more than 4 miles. I thought I might be able to navigate the dirt road if I went slowly and proceeded with caution.

My bike started fishtailing immediately, and then the road turned to pure sand, and my bike ground to a halt. I decided repeating a little more than 4 miles was preferable to wrecking my bike, so I turned around. That explains the weird little appendage in today's map.





The name of the route stems from the fact that I wound up in Madden, Mississippi, not a place I had originally included on my route. I stopped at a little store there, and there were several very nice people there who spoke to me about being out there riding.

I just THOUGHT I lived in the country. Some of the roads I was on today weren't just rural. They bordered on desolate. I vacillated between being thankful for the lack of traffic and being nervous that I was out there all by myself. I made it back without incident, even coming back on a busy highway with big trucks and very little shoulder. I wasn't afraid they would hit me; I was afraid they might scratch my bike. When I got back to the parking lot of the golf course where I had dropped Hubby off, my GPS said I had been 49.62 miles. So I rode around the parking lot until it read 50. Rozmo would be so proud of me.

I haven't mentioned the gambling part. Last night we played 3-card poker, which is my favorite. Tonight the cards weren't going our way, so we moved to the craps table. I am not a huge fan of craps, but I won a little over a hundred dollars tonight. I just hate that the only way to play craps is to stand up. And I still can't reach the table when I need to pick up chips. My legs were already sore from riding today, and then I stood there for a couple of hours.

So Hubby and I are turning in early. I'm planning to ride again tomorrow, but a much shorter route. I want to be back before college football comes on.

I will try to take pictures of our suite tomorrow. It has more square footage than my first apartment, I think. Good night!

I Don't Get Some People......

I mean there are some people I don't EVER get, and there are a lot of people I don't get some of the time.

There is one particular person, however, who (as I'm guessing you have figured out) has prompted this blog post.

He's a golfing "buddy" of Hubby's and a guy I've known for a hundred years or so. He's a strange little man who used to play the song "Elvira" by the Oak Ridge Boys repeatedly on the jukebox. Now I can't hear "Giddy Up Oom Poppa Omm Poppa Mow Mow,  Giddy Up Oom Poppa Omm Poppa Mow Mow" without thinking of ....... let's call him Herman ...... and I can't see Herman without hearing in my head "Giddy Up Oom Poppa Omm Poppa Mow Mow Giddy Up Oom Poppa Omm Poppa Mow Mow."

To those of you for whom I have just created what my brother-in-law calls an "ear worm," you're welcome.


Back to Herman.


He called Hubby back in July with one of his seemingly never-ending sob stories. He said his wife has cancer and he needed $260 to buy her medicine. Hubby has a soft spot a mile wide, so he told Herman to come by the house and he would be happy to loan him the money. Herman said he would get his next Social Security check in August, and he would pay Hubby back then.

August came and went.
September came and went
October came and went.
November came.

I'm counting at least 4 Social Security checks here.

Hubby and I have joked between us about the fact that Herman couldn't show up to the golf course as long as he hasn't paid Hubby back. In a rare moment of seriousness, Hubby said one day that if Herman had asked him to GIVE him the money, he probably would have done that too. (Did I mention Hubby's soft spot?) But the fact that he was so specific about WHEN he would pay it back indicated, at least to Hubby and me, that his intention to pay it back was very real.

Today Hubby texted me from the golf course and said Herman was there.

Apparently Herman is now suffering from amnesia, because he never mentioned the $260.

Poor Herman. He will probably need money to buy medicine for that too.

Please Hand Me That Knife......

.....so I can stab my eardrums out.

I've had two unpleasant restaurant experiences within the last five days. At two different restaurants in the same chain.

I don't want to embarrass anyone by mentioning the restaurant chain by name, but it begins with an "Apple" and ends with a "bees."

Last Friday when Katydid, Rozmo, and I were on the BIKE RIDE FROM HELL ONLY IT WASN'T NEARLY THAT WARM, we had lunch at that particular restaurant because it was on the way BACK. We did not want to venture even one pedal stroke farther than we had to, and this restaurant was right on the route.

It was nice to get inside out of the cold and wind, and we chatted while we waited for our lunch to arrive. I was vaguely aware of some music playing in the background. But then the music changed, and all conversation in the restaurant ground to a halt. You could see people all over the restaurant frowning and looking at one another. The music had gotten so loud (and the music was so obnoxious ....... so ........ not the kind of music I listen to) that it was very hard to hear the person across the table.

I made eye contact with a manager-type-looking person, and she came over to see if "everything was all right." I wasn't mean, but I said (almost apologetically, in fact), "That music is kind of loud."

She said something about it being a jukebox (did I venture into a honky tonk without realizing it?) and the girl choosing the "music" was standing right in front of it, so she couldn't turn the volume down until the girl moved.

The girl didn't move until she had chosen another GAZILLION songs that sounded just like the first one. And they never DID turn the music down. It was without a doubt one of the most unpleasant eating experiences I have ever had. At least in recent memory, which I will readily admit doesn't go back terribly far.

Fast forward to tonight, when Hubby and I ate at a different restaurant in that same chain. (He wanted to go shopping, and I bought some jeans ... JEANS!!!!! ... in a size I haven't seen in a while. Oh happy day.) There wasn't a jukebox, but the music was ..... so ...... not the kind of music we listen to ..... that it was painful. Do you realize how hard it is to eat three cheese chicken penne pasta while holding your hands over your ears? Try it sometime. It's virtually impossible. And I wasn't holding my hands over my ears for dramatic effect. I was literally trying to get some relief from that screaming music.

Maybe it's just another sign I'm getting old.

A Blog Award.....

Maggie-O is going for the trifecta. This is the third time in less than a week that I have mentioned her in my blog. I don't even mention Hubby that much.....well, sometimes. Occasionally. Never mind.

Anyway, delightful Maggie has passed on a blog award to me.

It's the "Baton of Friendship" award. In addition to displaying it on my blog (like I wouldn't anyway!), I am supposed to answer a few questions to the best of my ability.

1 - too small when you were asked, what you wanted to do when you were big; What did you reply?

The grammar snob in me is having a hard time deciphering this question, but I will try. That's not Maggie's fault, by the way; it appeared that way on her blog too. And the person who gave it to her. And the person who gave it to her. I traced it all the way back to a blog that is in Italian, so I can't determine whether the grammar issues began in the Italian version or in the translation.

 

I wanted to be an ice skater, until my brother Jack told me I couldn't weigh more than 100 pounds because I would crack the ice. He didn't mention that growing up in a trailer park in the Deep South put me at a decided disadvantage. Butthead.

2 - What were your favorite cartoons?

The  Road Runner and the Pink Panther, although I didn't get a lot of the PP ones until I was older. I loved the Charlie Brown specials, although the Halloween one always made me cry because he always got a rock. And you KNOW those were grown-ups putting rocks in his bag, because all the kids were out trick-or-treating. Buttheads.

3 - What were your favorite games?

Life, Scrabble, Monopoly. Katydid and her husband taught me a card game that I THINK was called Back Alley and took about three years to play.

4 - What year was your nicest birthday and why?

Gosh, this one is tough. I don't remember a lot of birthdays. I know I had a surprise party when I was about 9 or 10, and that was pretty special. On my 17th birthday about half the senior class at my school skipped school for the day and went to a local swimming hole. Jason and I jumped off a bridge into the river to celebrate my birthday.

5 - What were the things you absolutely wanted to do, and not yet done?

Grammar again. I just finished teaching a session tonight on parallel structure, so this question is bothering me. I'm too much of a literalist to change it, though. Now what was the question? Oh....things I have absolutely wanted to do and not done..... Ride in a hot air balloon.

6 - Which 'was your first love? sports? or what not?

Huh? If we're talking about sports, I remember sitting on the floor with an encyclopedia open to the entry for "football." This was (way) before the days when the referees had microphones (not to mention the yellow first-down line), and I wanted to know what penalties they were calling. So I kept the encyclopedia open to refer to the signals. Oh, and I loved a lot of what not also.

7 - Which was your first musical idol?

Donny Osmond. I kid you not.

8 - Which was the most' beautiful sought (and eventually received), Santa Claus, Jesus' Child, Saint Lucia, Christmas gift?

When I was in the seventh grade, I remember telling a friend of mine that I got "everything I wanted for Christmas." Her mother turned her nose up and said she didn't think ANYONE should get EVERYTHING he or she asked for. Give me a break, lady. I wanted a hand-held hair dryer, a transistor radio, and a camera.

I am also supposed to pass this award along to 10 people, but several of the ones I would have chosen have already been picked by someone else. So I will break the chain and risk all kinds of bad luck and ill health by not naming anyone specifically. If you read this blog, you are hereby designated my friend. And I pass the baton of friendship on to you. If you would like to use the blog award on your blog and answer the questions, by all means do so.

By the way, #5 reminded me.....

I'm still looking for suggestions for 50 new things I can do next year, my 50th year. I will be posting some of your suggestions in the next week or so, and we will begin to build a list together. Keep 'em coming!

Thank You All Around......

I posted last Thursday about the wonderful surprise I got in the mail from my blogging pal Maggie. In case you have forgotten or don't want to go back to that post, I'll refresh your memory. She sent me a wonderful yellow knit cap, just in time for the coldest weekend we've had this year, along with an eye mask and a precious journal. I gushed in my blog post about how nice it was to get a surprise, and then over the weekend I realized I never said "THANK YOU" to Maggie for being so stinkin' thoughtful. Thank you, Maggie, from the bottom of my heart. If ever I needed a pick-me-up gift, it was last week. You rock!

I would also like to thank Evil Pixie for making me her featured blogger this week. I am honored to be included in the same company as Evil Pixie and some of her fellow bloggers and photographers. Ever since I started following her blog, Evil Pixie has been quick to comment on my blog posts and to answer my lame and ignorant questions about photography. Thank you, Evil Pixie, for making me feel like a very special member of a very special club.

While I'm on a roll related to blogging, I would like to thank my former co-worker and blogger extraordinaire Neena over at Hooey!Critic. I still have no idea what a hooey is or why one would want to criticize it, but Neena is one of my all-time favorite people. When I unexpectedly had to teach English Literature, Neena shared all her teaching materials and lesson plans with me. Sorry, Neena, but I never DID learn to like Brit Lit. Thank you for being my friend and for introducing me to the blog world. I had no idea it was filled with such wonderful people. I should have known, though, if YOU were part of it, it had to be marvelous. Yes you will finish that Ph.D., and just like childbirth, when it's over you will say to yourself, "Well. That wasn't so bad after all." I promise.

Two of my most faithful readers are my sisters, Katydid and Nurse Jane, and I would like to thank them publicly for encouraging my writing. They keep me honest, because if I tried to pull off any fraud on my blog, they would call me on it immediately. They also kept Mom from killing me when I got suspended from school in the tenth grade. If there is any class to this blog at all, it is because I know they will read it. If you find anything on the blog completely without class, the fault is all mine.

Thank you to anyone else out there who reads my blog, either occasionally or regularly. As I mentioned in my questionnaire for Evil Pixie's featured blog post, I think blog writing requires a more "professional" (for lack of a better word) level of writing than mere journal writing. Please don't ever go away, because if I ever resort to the kind of garbage I used to write in my journals, I may have to burn this blog too.

Thank you to everyone who has ever loved me or at least not hated my guts enough to tell me!