The Wrath of the Fire Ants

As you can see, I have become quite proficient in the art of taking pictures of myself! Here are some pics from yesterday's adventures in the Mississippi Delta. You can click on a picture to make it bigger. The first picture is of me holding my "Rolling Fork Tragedy" book in front of the actual Rolling Fork water tower (sorry you can't see the writing on the water tower very well). I guess that you could call my stop in Rolling Fork a literary pilgrimage of sorts. The next picture is of me standing in front of one of the biggest Indian mounds at Winterville State Historic Site. I know that the mound doesn't look very big in this picture, but it's probably about 70-90 feet tall. I just can't imagine building that with baskets full of dirt! And of course, the third picture is of me in Onward, Mississippi--home of the teddy bear. Well, it's actually a picture of two of me hunting with Teddy Roosevelt and him telling one of me to let the bear go. (The picture looked lame without a face in the second hole, so I photoshopped myself into the picture again).

Today has been a busy day--I left Vicksburg this morning and came down to work. It's a long drive, but I actually don't mind it. There is some beautiful scenery along the way. I especially love coming out of the big hills around Vicksburg, and you can see the tree tops clear up the Mississippi River. There is usually kind of a low fog or mist hanging over the trees, and it looks sooooooo pretty! I can just see General Grant and his troops marching up from Bruinsburg on their way to attack Vicksburg. Speaking of General Grant, I have been listening to the Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant in the car while I've been driving. It's terribly interesting, but I must admit that I'm a little mad at U. S. Grant for how he treated General McClernand (I think I've gone off on this tangent before). It's been fun to listen to the escapades of the Union troops as they covered the same stretch of land along the river that I've been driving the last few days.

I think that some fire ants attacked my feet last night, because I've got some nasty bites that have been itching like crazy. I think they were mad that I was poking around out in the garden. Thank heavens for Benadryl, which I believe is kicking in about now, so I'd best be off to bed.