New Business, Old Business

Well, it is early in the afternoon and I should be knee deep in a little cleaning project down in the barn. Our barn looks like your typical barn on the outside, but on the inside it has become a workshop, tool room, loft, garage and storage for an era of clothes and once valuables.

We started dragging out boxes out of the "storage" area yesterday. When we moved here, we had just gutted the house so we packed up everything "we didn't really need" at the time and it was all neatly boxed and placed in the barn under a tarp. That was 13 years ago. We now have a time capsule just waiting to be sorted through. So far, I have found very tiny jeans, old kitchen stuff, gadgets, letters from Mark when we were dating (oh, the longing we had then!), shoes.... what seems like one million pairs of shoes. My, but I was a snappy dresser. Black and white pumps. I shudder to consider what business attire I paired those with. Anyway, there are also boxes of neat things that I will enjoy sifting through.

I found some letters I wrote but never sent to a handful of people. Not sure what possessed me to lay out on paper what I could not say in words. The words have since been spoken and I am glad I never sent the letters. There might be a back-handed lesson in that somewhere - but moving on....

I found a juicer that has never been used, purses - oh the purses. All of my wedding plans. I served my entire wedding meal for under 800.00. I recall it was a good meal - but since watching Bridezilla I fear it might not have been as good as I recall? Hmm. And what happens to pots and pans that have been in storage? Each has a film of some goo that does not even bow down to a healthy squirt of Palmolive. I fear the wrath of Ms. Pam has settled into the core being - they must be thrown.

Mark is a magazine hoarder. This is something I never knew! We found boxes and boxes of magazines on everything from motorcycles and cars to lawn care. I had to swear on a stack of these that I would not throw them away this week in his absence. So far I know of only 2 obsessions my husband has been given - trees and now magazines. I think I should be thankful for this and his magazines are safe with me. I have a couple friends whose husbands take a shining to bellying up to the bar in their spare time. If I ever have to wonder where my husband has wandered off to, I am certain I can find him at the local nursery looking for a good tree to plant. I'll take it.

On to old business - the Redneck Prom was a success or so I understand from my neighbor! Mark drove by yesterday (Sunday) around 8:00 a.m. and there were still people there. They have new things to admire as you drive by, too. I did take a picture last week, but now I fear it is already out of date.

Here's a look at the Redneck Crossing:





Above: The approach and the full front. The yellow sign says "Men Working" but they must be in the shed. I never saw them. Below: Roadside invitation to the "REDNECK PROM".




These are from last week. Today I had cars behind me so I had to take in as much as I could gawk at going 45 mph. If I saw correctly and I think I did, they have since added a statue of a large brown dog sitting on a slab of concrete wearing a yellow cape. Super Dog. That's an intriguing twist. No doubt a prom guest brought this for the host. This warrants a closer look. Stay tuned for the developing story...

Missions and Food - in no particular order

It's no wonder it is easy to be fat. I can say this, having been overweight about 80% of my life. The time it took me to clean and cut up a red pepper, green pepper, red onion, cucumber, radishes and celery - I could have driven to McDonald's and got a Big Mac and fries in the same amount of time (and I live 20 minutes away from the nearest one). This Revelation hits me at least 3 times a week - sometimes its peeling an orange - today it's the fresh veg. This particular combination is great to have in the fridge though. Perfect for salads and a homemade "Subway" sub - for which I have developed a particular shining for.

So, I am embarking on a little mission tomorrow that I must make part of this blog. Or, at least I decided this yesterday. Let me provide some background:

We live on a small acreage about 2 miles from this little village, we'll call Henryville. Hville is an amusing little place that touts a tiny bar (hole in the wall) and a bank across the highway that has been everything from a (bank, of course) rib place, burger hut, pizza place and I think one other thing I never stopped by to check out.

The inhabitants of Henryville have been the topic of conversation many times. Now, understand I am not attempting to poke fun at anyone's lifestyle, here. As with a great many things, I find myself completely amused by what I have observed over the past 13 years. Henryville could very well be the boyhood home of Jeff Foxworthy. Does that make sense?

Most of the homes that you can see from the road, tend to have old cars, lawn mowers, hobby stock race cars, TONS of lawn furniture about the yard - thousands of toys and bikes. This remains all year long. They shovel around it in the winter and mow around the dead mowers in the summer! Every other house has a dog tied in the yard - some in back of the house on a cement slab. So, you get the picture.

Some months ago, we noticed one of the residents had pulled an old, old rusted out car into his front yard. (We have to drive through this village to get to our house - so you begin to notice things...) It sat there a long time until the day we noticed that he had filled the inside with firewood - up to the ceiling, out through the hood area and out the trunk. Full. It sat like this for many weeks. Then one day - flowers had been planted around the car - so okay - they mean for this to be there - full of wood and right there.

There was no activity for awhile until one day a sign appeared on a make shift pole next to the car - "REDNECK CROSSING". Or something to that effect - it's hard to read at 40 mph. Then, a big fire ring appeared a few days later. We drove by the following Saturday and they must have had 40 people standing in the yard, with shiny little Busch Lite cans in hand and a raging fire! I don't know how long the shin dig lasted - but it appeared to be close to the entire town of Henryville.

This went on for several weekends in a row. Remember, we are not affected by this in any way since we live miles away off on a gravel road. But this is all curiously unfolding over several months and we now practically stop and gawk when we drive by to see what else is there!

Not long ago, then, I went by and on the roof of the tin shed that sits behind the car, this guy mounted a chicken crate or some kind of animal crate with a fake goose in it! It's screwed to the roof of the shed and sits there quite proudly.

Another few days passed and a phone booth appeared. It sits next to the shed (under the goose). That weekend, they again, had 'standing room only' and coolers as far as your eye could see! Raging fire, again, present and accounted for.

On Monday when I went by, I saw a yellow flag flapping next to the phone booth with something written on it - but it was too windy and I couldn't make it out. (I plan to find out though!) Then, if I could not possibly be any more amused I could see as I was nearing the Redneck Crossing yesterday, there was something new. A large white sign was set up near the road. It says, "REDNECK PROM, SATURDAY NIGHT, 7:30, Bring your own chairs, BYOB - EVERYONE WELCOME!"

Okay - I am completely hooked now. My mission tomorrow is to get a picture of this little slice of heaven! More to come...