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!
Monday, May 14, 2007
Sunday, May 13, 2007
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.
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.
Saturday, May 12, 2007
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.
Friday, May 11, 2007
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 sh
ield 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!
ield 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!!
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!!
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