Mohawk Mania

It's a nice, sunny day today and, except for the soggy earth, you probably wouldn't even know that we had gotten slammed by a beastly storm yesterday. It will probably storm again this afternoon though. Last night after the rain died down I ran a couple of errands, and the air was so completely saturated with moisture that I had to have the windshield wipers going even though it wasn't raining! I would be driving along, then all of a sudden I couldn't see, so I'd flip on the wipers to clear off the moisture. Now that's what I call humidity! I gave the 12:00 tour at Melrose today, then I'll give a couple more this afternoon. It's been a pretty quiet day, but we've had a steady stream of people at the park. One guy who came in had this crazy mohawk and had all of these earrings all over his face (I guess you would call them facerings?), but luckily Ranger Tim was with me there at the visitor center, so he dealt with the guy. Well, I best be heading back to Melrose.

Running in the Rain

Oh my goodness!!!! I know that I already posted something today, but I had to write about the monster storm that blew through this afternoon. It was so nice and sunny and hot outside all day, until about 4:30 p.m. Then, all of a sudden, these black clouds rolled in, and WHOA!! I seriously have never in my life seen it rain that hard before. I thought I had seen big Mississippi storms in the past, but they paled in comparison to today's little afternoon shower. There was thunder and lightning everywhere, and Tim and I were stuck back in the ranger office, which is about 75 yards out behind the visitor center. We had to lock up the slave cabin, so we ran outside, and it was literally like being hit by a bucket of water. By the time we got everything locked up, we were both soaked to the bone . . . and we still had to make it up to the VC. So I take off running at full speed, but then I realize that I can't see anything--the rain is too heavy. I was trying to wipe my eyes, but they were stinging, and the rain was coming so hard that it was impossible to shield my face from it. I was hoping that I was running in the general direction of the VC, when I heard Ranger Sharon's voice above the thunder saying, "Tiffany! Over here!" I was able to make out Sharon and Nathan standing over by the parking lot with their umbrellas out, so I turned and made a dash for Sharon. Luckily Tim wasn't too far behind me, and we all made it to our cars safely. The driveway out of Melrose was like a muddy lake, and the cypress swamp, which has been kind of low lately, was overflowing. I couldn't believe it! Like I say, I have never seen anything like this storm. I may as well have jumped in a swimming pool--I was that wet. My polyester ranger uniform weighed like 50 lbs. because it was so saturated with water. I had my windshield wipers going full blast all the way home, then I parked my car, and dashed to the house. There was lightning everywhere and these huge cracks of thunder. Needless to say, I was glad to get home. Angie, who had been at the Johnson House, called to see if the Melrose crew was all okay. Luckily she had gotten on her way up to Vicksburg before the worst of it hit. I looked like a drowned rat when I came inside, so I changed clothes, wrung out my uniform, and tried to remove my hair from its plastered position on my head. After it settled down a bit outside, I ventured out and took these pictures of Routhland and the reflection of the house on a small pond that formed out in the trees during the course of the rainstorm. I certainly hope that was the end of this evening's severe weather!

Tonight for dinner, I had some leftover that Ranger Tim got for me at Miss Betty's luncheon this afternoon. Every Friday, Miss Betty has her friends over for lunch, and her cook, Miss Big (who is actually a really tiny lady) makes a feast. Miss Betty lets her resident rangers come to lunch when we have the 1:00 lunch hour, but unfortunately I had lunch at 11:00 today. But Nathan, Kate, and Tim got to go, so they saved me some Salisbury steak, Klondike potatoes, asparagus and onions, and some good ol' greens. It was DELICIOUS!! I thought I had died and gone to heaven. Miss Big is definitely a good cook. That saying, "Never trust a skinny chef" doesn't apply to her in the least. I'd eat her creations any day. I always thought that everyone called her "Miss Big" because she's so little, but maybe it's because everyone she cooks for gets really big!

Dixie's Doctor

I am now officially Miss Dixie's vet for the weekend. Catherine and Everett are going out of town but are leaving the dogs here, and since her foot has been bothering her, she needs to take these doggie pills. So, I am to wrap up a pill in a piece of Everett's pork each morning and give it to her. We'll see how that goes!

Today is a really nice day here in Natchez. The storms haven't materialized yet, which is nice. At work this morning, a guy came into the visitor center and, when he found out I was from Utah, he asked if I was LDS. I said yes, and he told me that he's from Northern Arkansas, and that he had ancestors killed in the Mountain Meadows Massacre. I thought, "Oh great, here comes trouble." But he was actually really nice and said that he thinks it's cool that President Hinckley has done so much to recognize the victims of that sad event. Well, I'm on my lunch break right now, but I'd better head back to Melrose. I love that I can use the internet here at the house!!

I'm connected!

Hooray--the internet modem came in the mail this afternoon, so now I am connected to the internet at my very own house!!! How convenient. Now I have all of the amenities of home--except for a dishwasher, but I'm getting used to that role. Today while I was at the coffee shop, this real, true-to-life nun walked in! These funny people at the coffee shop were asking her if they could take her picture by the Coke machine and all of this crazy stuff like that, but she really seemed to enjoy it. She ordered an orange creamsicle drink, similar to my vanilla bean drink--also a non-coffee beverage. I'm glad that I won't have to go to the coffee shop to use the internet anymore, because just before I left today, the explitives guy from the other day came in and started talking to me again--this time about animal testing on mice. Luckily there was a nice lady from California sitting by me, who I had been talking to earlier, and the explitives guy could see that I was already talking with someone, so he didn't chat as long as he did (or use as many explitives) the other day. This afternoon I fell asleep on my bed, and then I heard Dixie outside barking and carrying on. She was growling at someone, and I heard a guy saying, "Get away from me!" Then I heard a package dropped at my door, so I realize now that it was the UPS guy delivering my modem--poor guy. At least we know that Dixie truly is a good guard dog. She has decided that she likes to sleep on my welcome mat outside the front door. Well, I just thought I'd share the good news that I now have access to the internet at my house--hooray!

Lunch at Tiffany's

I ended up back at the coffee shop today because I needed to send some e-mails. Hopefully my modem will come in the mail tomorrow. You have to order something in order to receive an internet code, so I ordered a vanilla bean drink--without coffee in it--and today I got the right drink! It's a super hot day, so the drink is especially refreshing. The guy here at the coffee shop who makes the drinks is really handsome. Yesterday I was afraid that he was married because I heard him talking about a baby to someone, but he doesn't have a wedding ring on. Maybe he was talking about his little sister? Today my buddy Ranger Angie came over for Lunch at Tiffany's--probably not quite as fun as Breakfast at Tiffany's, but we still had a good time. I whipped up what I must say were some tasty roast beef sandwiches. Angie enjoyed seeing my place--which, according to my brother Richard's suggestion, is now named Tiffland (it sounds more like Routhland than Taylorland). After I took Angie back over to the park, I ran into Everett Ratcliffe (Miss Betty's son who lives at Routhland with his wife). He insisted on giving me some smoked pork loin that he made yesterday--which, he explained, was smoked for four hours over green pecan leaves. Mmmmmm, tasty! Miss Dixie wasn't anywhere in site when I left Routhland to head out to my apartment, but as soon as I stepped outside, she came running 'round the bend, sniffing the air. She could certainly smell the pork! She was looking at me with her big, sad eyes, silently begging for a snack, but I knew that Everett was going to bring some out to her, so I ran inside with mine. It's been really sunny outside for the last few days, but it's supposedly going to get pretty stormy this afternoon and stay that way for the remainder of the week. It's back to work tomorrow, but it's been nice to have a little break!

How to Cook with a Turkey Fryer

Today is my day off after eight days of working! Since I'm taking some days off at the end of the month for the Mormon History Association conference, I have to put in a little extra time during the month. It's nice though, because I like being a park ranger so much that it doesn't bother me to work eight days in a row. Days off are nice too though. I enjoyed sleeping in this morning and watching TV while I ate breakfast. I'm at the coffee shop again today--this time having lunch--and using the internet. Hopefully by the end of this week my modem will come in the mail so that I can use the internet back at the house. I'm eating a delicious turkey and rosemary panini. They do have really good food here. Something kind of funny happened here at the coffee shop though. You see, yesterday when I was drinking what was supposed to be my non-coffee vanilla bean drink, I kept thinking, "This doesn't taste quite right." So, I asked the guy who made it if he had accidentally given me the vanilla coffee drink. He said, "No, that's the non-coffee vanilla bean." I thought maybe they had just changed how they made them or something. Anyway, today when I came here, the same guy was working and he said, "Hey, you know the drink you ordered yesterday? Well, someone had switched the vanilla bean mix and the vanilla coffee mix, so it really was a vanilla coffee drink." Yikes! Is it bad to drink coffee if you unknowingly do so? Maybe that's why I didn't have as hard of a time staying awake at the Johnson House yesterday afternoon as I usually do! I have this Civil War computer game on my laptop which also helped me stay awake. It was a little slow at the WJ house in the afternoon, but I kept myself busy fighting the Battle of Bull Run!

While I was out running errands today, I stopped at the funny Natchez Mall for just a little while. I went into the bookstore (I know--it's dangerous for me to go into bookstores--but I didn't buy anything today!) and there was this entire cookbook about cooking with a turkey fryer . . . only in the South!

The Ratcliffes have been up at their house at some lake for the last week, but they arrived home yesterday, so now things are pretty busy there at Routhland. I now have two guard dogs posted outside of my house--Miss Dixie and Miss Mollie Matisse (they had been at the lake with the family). They are really funny dogs--Dixie is this big, black dog that seems kind of scary until she starts licking you, and Mollie is a tiny little white dog that thinks she owns the place.

After I finish lunch, it's off to the grocery store, then I'll do some laundry, wash the dishes, go running, read, watch TV, and call it a day. Thank you to everyone for your nice phone calls and e-mails--that has really helped me get through my homesickness and enjoy things here! I don't know if I'll have a chance to get online tomorrow, so my next post might not be until Friday--hopefully by that time I can have internet access back at the house!

Woody the Woodpecker

I am here at the Natchez Coffee Company this morning enjoying a delicious vanilla bean blended ice drink (my favorite) and a yummy blueberry scone. I needed to send some e-mails this morning, and with internet access being rather scarce here in town, I had to come to the coffee shop to get online--at least there is good food here! I gave myself plenty of time here this morning, before I head to work, but then this middle-aged man who liked to use explitives in each sentence kept talking to me about how "historic preservation" is an oxymoron. Thank heavens I have a minute of peace and quiet--but I'm almost out of time, so I'd better run. Last night I was in my bedroom, and it sounded like someone was knocking on one of my windows. It was kind of creeping me out, and I was trying to figure out if someone was knocking on my door or what, but then I discovered the culprit. There was this cute, little woodpecker outside my window hammering away at the house! It was sooooo funny!

Follow the Footpath

We have these relatively new--yet rustic-looking--footpaths around the Melrose grounds to kind of guide visitors in the right direction. I usually don't stick to the paths though, because just walking across the grass is usually a quicker route to wherever I'm going--and it's not like at BYU where everyone gives you dirty looks if you step off the sidewalks. Walking on the grass is acceptable here. Anyway, yesterday I realized that maybe sticking to the footpaths is a good idea. I had just finished locking up the slave cabin and was heading up to the visitor center, when I almost stepped on this HUGE black snake!!! Yikes! I think it's the time of year where all of the creatures start coming out (or maybe they're always out in Mississippi). I've encountered frogs, bugs, and this weird thing called a skink (which looks like a cross between a lizard and a salamander) that lives at the visitor center. Craziness! Lunch with Angie won't work today because, unfortunately, she contracted a terrible cold, so we'll shoot for another day. This morning I ordered internet installation at my apartment so I'll be able to get online in the evenings!

Wild Westerners

Hello everyone! Sorry I haven't been able to post for a couple of days. There is no internet access at the William Johnson House, where I worked yesterday, and our main computer at the Visitor Center here at Melrose got fried in the big thunderstorm the other day. So, it's been a little hard to find a computer to use. Luckily the weather has been much better the last few days. I hear that it's been cold there at home--yikes! I have to work today, but hopefully when the interns come in a few weeks, I'll be able to have Sundays off. It's been kind of funny here because we've had all of these visitors from the West! Last summer I met a few people from out that way, but I would say that about 70% of the visitors last summer were from Mississippi and Louisiana. This morning on my tour, there were people from California, Idaho, and Wyoming, and the other day I had some folks from Colorado on tour. Yesterday, some people from Salt Lake City even showed up! So, it's been kind of fun because they're interested in the fact that I'm from their neck of the woods and they wonder how I got down here. It's been a pretty normal last couple of days--except that yesterday when I went to pick up some groceries at Wal Mart, I had to wait in line for about 30 minutes--which is quite a typical grocery line waiting time. Needless to say, when you grocery shop here, you have to plan a big chunk of time. I found these cool Zatarain's New Orleans style microwave meals that come in a little pouch. They have jambalaya--complete with sausage, as well as blackened chicken and yellow rice! Yummmmy. They sell Zatarain's stuff at home, but I haven't ever seen the microwave meals before (which are especially nice for me since my kitchen stove is questionable--though it's clean!). Tomorrow Angie is going to come over to Taylorland (also known as "The National Park Service Complex" because Ranger Tim and Rangers Nathan and Kate also live in houses on the Routhland property) for lunch, so that should be fun. She is my lunch buddy. We had a good pre-Cinco de Mayo lunch at La Fiesta here in town the other day. Well, I'm off to go do some ranger stuff, and will try to post again tomorrow. Adios!