A Royal Feast!

Wow--the Natchez Food and Wine Festival yesterday was quite the event! It was held at the Natchez Convention Center, and since Nathan, Kate, Tim, and I were going to help out with serving food, we got in for free (everyone else had to pay $50 per person). When we walked into the gigantic auditorium full of food vendors, and they told us that we could just walk around and try all of the food for free, I thought I had died and gone to heaven. All of the local restaurants had booths there, and even some restaurants from places like Vicksburg came down for the event. Luckily when you sampled food at someone's booth, they just gave you a little taste--so you could try a whole bunch of things without getting too overly stuffed. Here's a little run through of everything I tried: oysters bienville (baked oysters with cheese on top), lobster manicotti, stuffed pepper soup, stuffed mushrooms, crawfish tarts, oyster-stuffed artichoke hearts, lobster BLT's, cheese grits with corn biscuits, pork loin with sweet pepper sauce, duck enchiladas, crawfish and shrimp corn chowder, and tomato basil tarts. Then, for dessert: pecan pie tarts, brownie cheesecake, chocolate chip cheesecake, lemon cheesecake, white chocolate bread pudding (but I think my bread pudding is better!), and red velvet cake. Mmmmmm, everything was so delicious. It truly was a ROYAL feast because the guest of honor was none other than Princess Diana's butler!!! (I can't remember his name, but everyone just knows him as Princess Diana's butler.) He's from England (of course) and has his own brand of wine, which he was promoting at the festival. Earlier in the day he had gone on a tour at Melrose, and Nathan gave the tour, so Nathan considered himself to be a close friend of the man and introduced me to him. He was very nice (and smelled good)! According to everyone at Melrose, he showed up for the tour in a white double-breasted pinstripe suit--he was dressed to the nines, and what intrigued everybody was that he took the tour, then walked around in the hot sun wearing a long-sleeved suit, and he never cracked a sweat the entire time. Hmmm, how is that possible? He told us at the festival last night that when Nathan was talking about the slaves at Melrose always having to wait on someone and never getting a quiet moment to themselves, he could relate. :-) Princess Diana's butler is probably the most famous person to visit Natchez since Ulysses S. Grant rolled through town for a night after the Battle of Vicksburg. They've had him on all of the radio shows and things like that in town--and you'd better believe that people were guzzling his wine last night. Speaking of wine, it just so happens that my job at the festival ended up being, of all things, pouring white wine for people!!! I thought to myself, "Oh dear, I have no idea what I'm doing, nor do I have any desire to do it." But, I needed to earn my dinner, so I quickly got the 4-1-1 from Kate on white wine. Basically, the one in the red bottle was really sweet, the one in the blue bottle was semi-sweet, and the one in the clear bottle was not sweet. It also helped that by the time I started pouring wine, people were already getting a little tipsy, so they were happy with whatever I poured for them. There were some truly funny drunk people, and it made me all the more glad that I have no desire to ever partake of any type of alcohol. It was pretty fun to crack jokes to the people I was pouring wine for though--they thought everything I said was incredibly funny. Little did they know that I thought the way they were acting was even funnier! I was surely the only sober person in the place by the time the evening was over, but we really did have a good time. Even though we took Kate's car, she decided that it would be best if I drove because she, Nathan, and Tim were feeling a little too warm and fuzzy inside. I gladly obliged, and we all made it home safely. As for all of the other drunk people, we can only hope that they made it home all right (and woke up with terrible hangovers so they won't want to drink ever again). :-) It was definitely an evening to remember.

Today has been a pretty good day too. I took Angie to lunch at a new place in town called Vaughn's Cafe and Bakery. She wanted to take me to lunch since it's my last week, but I told her that I needed to take her to lunch to cheer her up. She got a thumbs-down from the people at Vicksburg for the job she had applied for, which she had really, really, really hoped to get. So, unfortunately her 3-hour daily commutes will continue for an indefinite amount of time. :-( She has a good attitude about it though, and says she's glad for the job she has in Natchez. We had a good chat and a fun time trying the food at Vaughn's. It was a pretty tasty lunch buffet, but the biscuits weighed about five pounds. We were laughing really hard when I was trying to eat a biscuit because it sucked all of the moisture out of my mouth, and I was chewing it for about five minutes. When it started to turn into bread dough in my mouth, I thought Angie was going to pass out from laughing so much :-) We decided that maybe we'll ask Vaughn's to donate some biscuits to Junior Ranger camp next summer, which we can then use to play baseball with the kids (the biscuits would be the baseballs!)

This morning I went to open my fridge to get some yogurt out, and all I saw was this gigantic box that said "BEEF" on the side of it. I was like, "Hey, where's my food?" But then I found it all pushed to the very back of the fridge. I have no idea where the BEEF box came from, but it was gone when I got home from work today. It must have been a Catherine and Everett thing. There was also a random black lab (which at first I thought was Dixie, but then I saw Dixie in her usual spot and realized it wasn't her) that sat outside my back door all night. Then this morning the random dog slobbered all over my pants as it was chasing me out to the car. I think it belongs to one of Catherine and Everett's kids, but thankfully it, like the BEEF box, was gone when I got home from work. I'm trying to start the packing process this evening, so we'll see how that goes.

Free Food for the Designated Driver

Hello everyone! Here is a picture of Eliza that I took at Vicksburg the other day. Isn't she SOOO CUTE??? I love how her spiky red hair blows in the wind :-)

Soon I will put up more pictures of the fun time we had here with the baby, but tonight I've got to run and get ready to work at the Natchez Food and Wine Festival. Nathan, Kate, and Tim do this every year, and this time they invited me to come along and help out. Our services at the event qualify us for all of the free food and wine we want (although I'll just stick with the food and avoid the wine)! They said that it is the best food I'll ever eat, so I couldn't pass that up. The three of them are planning on drinking wine liberally this evening, so I have already been pegged as the designated driver. I'd rather be the designated driver, though, than someone needing a designated driver. It should be a lot of fun, and I'll be sure to tell you all about it tomorrow.

Yesterday was really fun in Vicksburg. I went downtown to the Coca Cola museum and had a Coke float made with cherries and cream ice cream--I think it was one of the best things I've ever tasted! I met this really nice lady at one of the shops in town who asked where I was from. When I said Utah she figured out that I was LDS and told me that she is too. Her kids went to BYU. We decided that it's a pretty small world. Then Angie and Matt arrived home in the evening, and we had a good time talking about their trip and looking at pictures. This morning Angie and I drove down to work, and Tim wanted to go to lunch at Breaud's with me before I leave, so we did that today. I had some fried mushrooms and red beans and rice. It was pretty good, but I've decided that Breaud's is a little too overpriced and the food is a bit too spicy for me. It was fun though. I think I kind of fell asleep for a little while at the Johnson house this afternoon, but no one came in (I don't think, anyway), so it was okay. :-) Well, I'm off to the food fest!

Felines and Fried Chicken

Hello everyone! Sorry I didn't post anything yesterday--it was such a fun, busy day, and I had meant to write something in the evening, but I kind of forgot. So, here's a recap of the last couple of days. On Tuesday afternoon, Sarah, Joel, Eliza, and I had a fun time visiting the William Johnson House. Eliza was cute and smiley all day, and all of the rangers loved seeing her. That evening we had dinner at Magnolia Grill so that Sarah and Joel could try the best bread pudding in the entire world. They agreed that it was indeed some of the best they've ever had. We then went for a drive across the Mississippi River bridge (which kind of scares me now after that bridge in Minneapolis collapsed yesterday--that's totally sad and scary!).

Then yesterday, Sarah, Joel, and Eliza took off for South Carolina, and they made it to their house yesterday evening! It was sad to have them leave, but I'm glad they made it safely to Clemson, and I'm really happy that they were able to stop by. I then left for Vicksburg to hang out with the kitties. I stopped for lunch in this little town just south of Port Gibson called Lorman. They have this place called the Old Country Store, and Donna told me that if I ever had the chance I should stop there for lunch. She said that they have the best fried chicken in the entire world, and she was right. It was soooooo good! I had the lunch buffet, so I got to try a little fried chicken, some BBQ ribs, some greens, black eyed peas, rice, potato salad, cucumber salad, and cornbread. It was great! The guy who owns it is really nice, and I guess that he's pretty famous for his fried chicken. He autographed a copy of an article from a Farmer's Market magazine that he was featured in for me. :-) After lunch I continued on up to the Burg, and the first item of business was to pick Cali up from the vet. She'd had her claws removed and was staying there at the vet's office for the week. She was very excited to come home, but she still has her stitches in her feet, so she can't use the regular kitty litter. I put some newspaper in Angie and Matt's paper shredder, and fixed up a nice paper-filled litter box for her, but she's kind of sad because she has to stay in the bathroom (otherwise she'll get into the other kitty litter). She seems to be doing well though. All of the kitties have decided that they love me. Last night I had two bed buddies: Pitty Pat and Mosby. They both plopped themselves down right next to me and slept there all night. Mosby has decided that she likes to sit in my lap while I'm at the computer too :-) I watered the garden and the flowers last night, and then right as I came inside, it started raining :-) Ooops! I guess everyone just got double-duty watering. Yesterday afternoon I went and drove through the Vicksburg battlefield again. I've always run out of time to actually drive through the entire battlefield, so yesterday I finally made it through! I ran into the same ranger that I thought was pulling me over the other day, but he was glad to see me and wondered if I was still house-sitting. I got some cool pictures on the battlefield (which I'll try to post tomorrow), and I even found the John McClernand (also known as "J-Mac") statue! (He's the general I like from Illinois.)

Today I'm just going to hang out here, do some cleaning, play in the garden, and do some laundry. I think I'll also go visit the Coca Cola museum in town (Vicksburg is where Coke was first bottled). Angie and Matt will be coming home this evening, and I'm sure the kitties will be overjoyed to see them.

World Ranger Day

Today is World Ranger Day! I don't know what that means, but that's what it says on the NPS employee website. Shouldn't they give us cake or something? Balloons? What I'm even more excited about than that it is World Ranger Day, is that Sarah, Joel, and Eliza are in town!!! I met them up in Vicksburg yesterday afternoon (they were coming east from Dallas, and Vicksburg is just off of I-20), and we got to drive around the battlefield and eat dinner at the best Italian restaurant ever. We then drove down to Natchez, and they enjoyed seeing the house and relaxing a bit. Eliza has been soooooooooooooo cute!! She smiles all the time and laughs and laughs about things. Dixie almost attacked Joel last night when he went to get something out of their car (well, she wouldn't really attack anyone, but she barks as if she's going to), but this morning we introduced everyone to Dixie, so hopefully she won't try to chase them away any more. I needed to come to work for a little while this morning, so the gang is just relaxing there at the house, and then they'll come over to go on my 12:00 tour of Melrose. After that, we're going to Mammy's Cupboard for lunch!! Yummy!! Then I have the afternoon off, so we can go sightseeing together. It should be a really fun day. Hopefully the weather will cooperate today. Yesterday we had a nasty thunderstorm blow through. There was this one crack of lightning that sounded like it hit the house, and then the power went out for a second, but it came right back on. It didn't rain while we were in Vicksburg, but it's so humid outside that when we were driving down to Natchez, there was this thick mist/fog in the air that was kind of weird. It was pretty outside though. Well, I'm off to tend the visitor center and have a fun day with the family!

Foggy, Muggy, and Buggy

It's been a foggy, muggy, buggy day today--with 97% humidity in the air! The temperature isn't toooo bad--in the upper 80s, but with the humidity it feels like a sauna. This morning when I left Vicksburg, it was just overcast, but when I reached Port Gibson, it was super foggy. It wasn't dangerous to drive or anything though--it actually made everything look really cool. It was like driving through a Civil War wonderland! But now the fog is gone, the sun is out, and everything is melting outside--except for the insects which keep stinging and biting me. I must have gotten something in my clothes because I have these big mosquito welts on my hip and thigh. I also seem to have gotten more fire ant stings. They are everywhere! I was reading about fire ants today, and they sound really gross and mean. One website described a their mode of attack: "The fire ant uses its mandibles to grasp its victim. It arches its body and drives an abdominal stinger into the skin to release venom. If not quickly removed, it then pivots around its mandibles and inflicts further stings in a circular pattern. I have some good Benadryl spray though, and if I go to bed early enough, I can take another Benadryl to help with the bites. It's been kind of a slow day here at Melrose today. I think it's just too hot for most people to venture out. I wish I could have gone to church today, but at least it's been a nice day here.

Today Matt and Angie are in Cooperstown, New York with 70,000 other people to see Cal Ripken Jr. be inducted into the baseball hall of fame. Tony Gwyn was also inducted today, so sports people are calling this the most anticipated hall of fame induction ever. I talked with Angie on the phone last night, and they were gearing up to face mass humanity today. Hopefully they're having a great time--which I would imagine they are because they love Cal Ripken Jr. They are true Orioles fans through and through. Well, I've got one more tour to give this afternoon, and then I'm going to make some cornbread and take it over to Nathan and Kate's for jambalaya night. Kate makes really delicious jambalaya, so we're going to eat that and finish season #2 of "Lost." Then, tomorrow Sarah, Joel, and Eliza are coming to town!!!! I am soooo excited to see them! Hopefully they'll be able to rest and relax here a bit before making the final leg of the journey to South Carolina.