As many of you know, I had never even been to the South until we moved here last week. Here are my observations/experiences in the past week.
1. I can now add Arkansas, Mississippi, and Alabama to my States-Traveled list. We are heading down to New Orleans in Sept. for the BYU vs. Tulane game, so then I will be able to add Louisiana to that list.
2. The whole roadkill-armadillo thing is FOR REAL! I had no idea--I thought it was just some random red-neck type joke...I didn't realize (until this past week) that there really are lots of armadillos running around that get hit by cars all the time. Random, I know, but since I have never even seen an armadillo before, this was news to me.
3. I have been called "ma'am" and "honey" more in the past week than in the rest of my life put together. I was also told that I was "good breeding stock" but that story needs to be told in person.
4. The South comes with GIANT grasshoppers. Seriously, we saw one that was about 4 inches long and 2 inches tall...Fearless was not so fearless when he saw it; he came running to me screaming at the top of his lungs. Turns out it was only the exoskeleton and our realtor told us they get bigger than that. Um, great, considering what we saw could be misconstrued as someone's small pet. Also, I have had a painful introduction to fire ants.
5. I still don't know what butter beans are, but apparently they are a hot item in the school cafeteria because T-Man's teacher made sure to warn us that sometimes they run out before the class gets their turn at lunch.
6. We at dinner at a fabulous restaurant called Harvey's that had one of the best steaks I think I've ever tried. YUM-O! Also, I'm dying to try a place called "Petty's BBQ"--a shanty with a big tent set up next to it filled with of picnic tables. It looks like it's been around since the 1950s but it has those big rounded grills and lots of yummy-smokey-meat smells coming from it. It looks like it is right out of the movie "Fried Green Tomatoes".
7. You have not truly experienced humidity until you have been to the South. We swim to the car every morning and swim back to the house in the afternsoon--in the 2 minutes or less that it takes to get from the car to inside the house and vice versa, we have totally melted. I am looking forward to fall and winter though; I have heard that the coldest it gets down here is in the 40s--which to the locals is apparently "bone-chilling cold." Right. After Nebraska's sub-zero windchills for days on end, I can handle the 40s. In Nebraska, when it gets to the 40s, we started breaking out the short sleeve shirts and opening the windows to let in the warm air!
This is just the short list, but I have the feeling that my Southern education has just begun.
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5 comments:
Yuck to the grasshoppers. Armadillos were weird to me too the first time I saw one on the road in Oklahoma, I had to do a double take. Travis just laughed at me. I LOVE BBQ, hopefully that place it great!! Glad to hear all is well, all-be-it slightly wilted.
Sounds like fun! I have heard the bugs are bigger down there... Butter beans are lima beans, my favorite vegetable. Yum. When we have mixed vegetables Alexander doesn't eat his so I often get them (unless they are molested). Do they put bacon grease in their green beans? That is also delicious. Good Luck getting through the cold winter months!
I can't wait till you have your first Subway Sandwich shop experience in the South. Please budget approx. 45 min. for each sandwich, as folks in the South have loads of time on their hands and aren't afraid to share all that time with precious ole' you.
Watch out for the ants. That's all I'm gonna say.
Oh, I am not jealous at all of the bugs! Oh, and a 7:30 start time for school has to be a little on the early side! Good luck with all the transitions!
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