If I were to live in Natchez . . .

. . . this is the house I would buy! Isn't it cute? It's for sale right now, but I don't know how much it is--probably plenty. It's in a great location along Homochitto Street on the outskirts of downtown Natchez. However, Natchez is a fun place to work and visit, but I don't think I would really enjoy actually living here. Does anyone else want to buy this house? The weather is beautiful today!! It couldn't be more perfect! I truly wish that it would stay like this all summer long, but I'm afraid it won't last. It was in the mid-70's today, and last night it even dropped down into the low 50's. I actually slept with my bedspread pulled up over me! I worked down at the Johnson House today, but it was a pretty slow day. I got some good work done on other random things though. As I was driving home this evening, I saw this bride and her bridesmaids dancing in the street in front of the courthouse--weird! Shrek III was so funny last night!! It was especially fun to see it with Ranger Sharon because she has a very boisterous and contagious laugh. It's only a few days until I come home for the Mormon History Association conference--I'm so excited!!

Cravats and Crinolines

One of my jobs this summer is to revamp the "Living History" collection of clothing here at Melrose. We have a plethora of clothing items to be used in the historical programs here, but they are all in one big heap up in the dairy building behind the main house. Angie has been trying to find the time to go through everything, but seeing as how she is currently the acting Supervisory Ranger, she hasn't had a chance to work on it yet. So, I'm now the clothes person. I've been learning all about crinolines (the wire cage things that go underneath hoop skirts), bodices, fabrics, and a whole bunch of other stuff. Today, as you can see, I was up going through some of the less relevant material we have in the collection--such as colonial hats and Spanish helmets. It should be a fun project to do!

The "National Tourism Week" celebration at the Natchez Convention Center yesterday was really funny. It was very apparent that tourism is the main (or the only) industry here in the city because the reception was just for people involved in hospitality services (hotels, restaurants, tourism companies, etc.), and the WHOLE city of Natchez was there! They had some tasty eats there.

There are a bunch of cool birds that live here at Routhland. Last night I was washing dishes in the kitchen, and this bright red cardinal came and landed inside the awning over the window. He sat there looking at me for a minute, then he took off--he was soooo pretty! There's also an owl that lives in one of the trees outside, and sometimes I hear him at night.

Today was a good day at work. I had this couple on my 3:00 tour from France. They didn't speak much English, but somehow we made it through the tour. They said that I was easier to understand than other people they had met in the area, and I said, "Heck, I can't even understand people around here!" They were really nice. The only French I really remember from high school is: "J'mapelle Tiffany," which thoroughly thrilled the couple when I said that. Well, I'm off to see Shrek III tonight with Ranger Sharon and a couple of her Alcorn State University friends. I am really excited to see it!

A Pleasant Day

I think that the best way to describe things here in Natchez today is "pleasant." The weather is beautiful! It's a bit cooler today (70's as opposed to high 80's), and there is a nice, cool breeze blowing outside. Too bad that the weather can't just stay like this all summer!

Today is my second day off this week, and since I kind of played, relaxed, and slept yesterday, I decided that I should buckle down and get some work done today. So, I've done a truck load of laundry, swept the house, cleaned everything, washed dishes, and went running--whew--and it's only 2:00! This evening I'll be going down to the Natchez Convention Center to celebrate National Tourism Week. At first I thought "National Tourism Week" was something that the Natchez visitors' bureau made up, but I guess it's a real thing. They will be serving free food--which we rangers all love, so I think I'll stop there for a few minutes later today.

I'm still trying to recover today from the shocking and terrible turn of events on "American Idol" last night. My favorite American Idol performer of all time, Melinda, who was in the final three, got cut from next week's final. (sobs and tears) I can't believe that she didn't make it! She was by far the best singer and performer as well as the nicest person. I really like Blake too, who did make it to the finals, but I don't like Jordin very much. She's kind of a spaz. It should have been Melinda and Blake in the finals! Oh well, hopefully Blake will win. Melinda is a Southern girl--from Nashville, so I think that pretty much the entire South is a little depressed today. However, I bet that in the long run Melinda will beat Jordin in CD sales and popularity!

Autographs and Runaways

Hello everyone! It's my day off here in Natchez, and I've been having a nice leisurely time watching Civil War movies, napping, skulking around downtown, and just relaxing. Yesterday afternoon was kind of funny. I took a pretty big group of 12 people through Melrose on the 3:00 tour. When we were upstairs, there were some people kind of wandering off while I was talking (this is quite a normal phenomenon) but I was trying to keep everyone pretty much together. Then, when we went outside on the back balcony, I realized that we were missing two people! I said, "Are we missing someone?" The others said, "Yes, someone went back downstairs." That is a big no no, and I hate it when that happens! So I told everyone else not to fall of the balcony and I would be right back, then I went back through the house in search of the runaways. They were nowhere to be found! I discovered later that they had gone back out the front door because the wife's back was bothering her. Yikes! Another funny thing that happened is that this guy who had been on Ranger Sharon's tour whipped out this book of Natchez homes and wanted Ranger Sharon and myself to autograph the pages that talk about Melrose. We looked at him like he was crazy, and he said, "I've been having people sign it at all of the houses, and then I'm going to sell it on e-bay." Sharon told him that with my signature in the book, he will have to charge a lot for it because I'm going to be the next Shelby Foote (a famous Civil War historian/author). He said he would remember that. Speaking of authors, I got some good news today--a book proposal I submitted just the other day for Arcadia Publishing who does a series of books called "Images of America," was accepted by the publishing committee! The editor lady called me from San Francisco this morning and said that her committee was really excited about my Zion National Park book and they want to go ahead and have me sign a contract and get started on it! I wasn't expecting to hear back from them so soon, but that was definitely good news. With grad. school starting in the fall, this wasn't exactly the best time to pick up a project like this, but it was too good of an opportunity to pass up, and hopefully I can get some good work done on it this summer.

We had another HUGE thunderstorm yesterday afternoon, and I think it's fixin' to storm again today. I have never enjoyed thunderstorms, but like I told Mom last night, maybe this summer I will become desensitized to them so that they won't scare me quite as bad in the future! When the thunder gets really loud, I just try to imagine that it's 1862 and the Union gunboats are coming up the river and firing on the city. I know that that would actually be worse than just a thunderstorm, but for some reason it makes me feel better.

Mormons and Magnolias at Melrose

Look at this cool picture that I took with my cell phone today at Melrose! The flowers on the magnolia trees are starting to bloom--and they are HUGE! This blossom is probably about the size of a basketball. I love it when the magnolias bloom. This morning I had some people from Illinois on my tour, so I pointed out the Nauvoo painting upstairs at Melrose, and they said that they lived about 30 miles from Nauvoo. I told them that I spent a semester of school there, which I guess gave away the fact that I was a Mormon, because then this other family on the tour (with a cute but loud baby) told me afterwards that they are Mormons and that the husband served his mission here in Mississippi. So I've been having a lot of people ask me if I'm a Mormon, but today there were actually other real-life Mormons on one of my tours! It was fun to chat with them for a while. Yesterday I had a guy asking me about the people who crossed the Plains with wheelbarrows. I said, "You mean handcarts?" He said, "Oh yeah, that's what I mean." He thought that was a pretty amazing feat--which indeed it was.

Last night Nathan, Kate, Tim, and I had a really good deer sausage dinner over at Nathan and Kate's house. It was nice and sunny when I walked over there at about 7:00, but then all of a sudden these black clouds rolled in and we got hit with another doozy of a thunder and lightning storm. It was pouring rain, and it sounded and felt like lightning was striking nearby. It was craziness, but luckily I didn't have to be out in it like I was the other day. Kate was nice enough to give me a ride home (even though I live pretty close by). I got home just in time to watch my favorite TV show "24" at 8:00, but, horror of horrors, the Fox cable channel had gone out (probably because of the storm)!! I couldn't believe it--of all the times for it to get knocked out. Of course it came back on later in the evening after "24" was already over. Thankfully Mom took notes on what happened and gave me the lowdown later in the evening. The cable service is just a little questionable down here--I remember this from last summer. That's okay though, there are definitely worse things in life! I hear some thunder outside right now. It seems that these afternoon downpours are going to be a pretty regular thing (except on the days when I actually bring my umbrella to work--then it's nice and sunny). As I mentioned the other day, there is always something bizarre in the newspaper here. Today one of the headlines read: "Tainted catfish not a health hazard." Oh great--that is really comforting! I guess that some catfish that came to Mississippi from China showed traces of illegal antibiotics in them. But the state health guy says it's not harmful. That doesn't really make me want to go someplace and order catfish though. Today Angie and I steered clear of catfish places for lunch and grabbed a sandwich at Subway.

Oh! I got the coolest early birthday present in the mail from Mom yesterday--Perry Mason DVDs!!! Thankfully I had those last night so that I was able to watch an episode during my "24" time.

Deer for Dinner

Hello everyone! In a few minutes I am heading over to Nathan and Kate's with Tim for a deer meat dinner. You see, we discovered this gigantic cache of deer meat in my freezer. The Ratcliffes are quite the hunting family, and they seem to have more deer meat around than they know what to do with. Tim decided that we needed to eat some of the sausage, so Kate is going to whip up a deer meat pizza this evening, and Nathan is going to make stuffed mushrooms. It should be quite tasty. We have to be done by 8:00 though so I can get home for 24!

I had such a fun time last night with Angie and Matt in Vicksburg!! They are such cool people, and I am grateful to have them as friends. They make being here in Mississippi a lot of fun. Angie and I had a nice drive up there after work, then we all just kind of hung out for the evening. I got to see Angie's new garden that she has put in since finishing the semester last week--it is totally awesome. She and I had to leave pretty early this morning in order to make it to work by 8:30, but we did it. She's a real trooper--making that commute each day! Then this afternoon, she and I went and grabbed a hamburger at the Malt Shop. That place has our favorite sign: "Shakes, Malts, and Sundies." Sundies?? That's how you pronounce the word here in the South, but as far as I knew, it was still spelled "sundaes."

Today at work I had some fun people on my tours. I think I got asked if I was a Mormon like 20 times. People always ask where I'm from (because they can tell I'm not from the South--my accent gives it away), and then the first question after they find out I'm from the Beehive State is always, "Oh, are you a Mormon?" The next question is always, "Well how did you end up here?" Sorry I was kind of late posting today--I wasn't ever really near a computer until after I got home this evening. Well, it's off to the deer fest in a little while!

Where Truth Really is Stranger than Fiction

Happy Mother's Day Mom!!!!!!!!!!!! I wish I could be there at home with you today, but luckily we can talk on the phone. Watching the news and reading the newspaper here in Natchez is even better than watching reality TV or reading a crazy fiction novel. The drama never ends here in this little Southern town. A few days ago, we had a lady who was going to jump off the Mississippi River bridge. She sat on the edge of the bridge for like two hours, so the road had to be shut down while police officers tried to talk her out of jumping. Finally her boyfriend convinced her not to jump, and she let rescuers pull her to safety (I understand that situations like this happen quite often 'round here). Then, my favorite story was in the newspaper today. Some people discovered a prosthetic leg lying on the ground at Natchez-Under-the-Hill. So there was this big thing about who lost a leg. The police traced the serial number to a guy here in town, and the policeman knocked on the guy's door. This is seriously what the newspaper said: The policeman said, "Sir, are you missing a leg." The man looked down and responded, "Why yes, I actually am missing my right leg." The policeman then said, "Well, I happen to have an extra right here." How funny is that????? Apparently, the man had gotten a little to drunk one evening, and he fell while leaving the bar. His leg came off, and he lost his cane (so how did he get home?), but when he awoke from his drunken stupor, he was too embarrassed to go looking for his lost leg. The police said that they were getting ready to search the river for a body, but were glad to find that the leg belonged to someone who had not fallen in the river. What would be considered by most people to be bizarre is just everyday life here in Natchez!

After work today, I'm heading up to Vicksburg with Angie to hang out and spend the night at her and Matt's house, which will be very fun! We both have to work tomorrow, so we'll leave in the morning and drive back down here (about 70 miles). It will be fun to have a little Vicksburg adventure this evening.