Are you ready for some football?

Well, are you?


Let me fill you in a little bit on my football background... I don't have one. My high school didn't have a football team. We did not ogle the football players as they walked through the halls because... there weren't any football players. (And if my small school had created a football team- we would have been terrible and pathetic and therefore the football players still wouldn't have been revered). I have two brothers... but they are much older than I am and certainly didn't include their younger sister in football viewing activities. Even if they had tried, I would have scoffed and said "NO WAY!" Growing up, football was as much a part of my life as trying to catch a unicorn.. while flying through the air in a rainbow hovercraft... while wearing lederhosen... and eating brussel sprouts. *Shudder*

But then I met DM. A football player. And suddenly, I was dragged kicking and screaming gloriously swept off my feet and led into football land.

Recently I saw a cup that said "We interrupt this MARRIAGE to bring you FOOTBALL SEASON!" I want that cup. I have never felt a stronger connection with a quote than I do with the one on that little plastic cup.

I don't, however, mind attending football games. Which is precisely what we did last Sunday when we went to Charlotte to watch the Carolina Panthers (our team) take on the Philadelphia Eagles.(Oh, and really I don't mind watching football games when it is cold or rainy or yucky outside or when I'm bored... but shhhhh, don't tell).
I quite like our seats. We are close enough to the game to keep my attention... (which DM can certainly attest to my faulty attention span during sporting events)

This is Sir Purr. I love Sir Purr. Mainly because he is cuddly and cute- which is why I typically like all mascots. Also why I really struggled when I considered attending the University of Richmond. Their mascot? The Spiders. I don't know how you feel- but I certainly didn't think that Black Widow I found the other day was very cute and cuddly.

The players exiting their tunnel... fireworks, machismo, and excitement galore!

One thing I definitely do like... the flyovers. At least during the first game of the season they will have a flyover immediately preceding the game. It is really great! Except for that one time when we were running late and were still walking to the stadium when they flew by... It was not long after 9/11 and we were walking through downtown Charlotte... and WOOOOOOOOOOOOSH! They do not make much noise until they are directly overhead... and it is LOUD. I nearly jumped out of my skin. And then I felt dumb.


And... okay. Let me get my social commentary out of the way. Normally, I will keep my political/social/polarizing/etc opinions to myself and out of the blog. But I am going to make an exception here- and I hope you forgive me for it.

Because this?

This is how I feel. I am NOT a fan of Michael Vick. Not at all.

I will keep my real rants about it to myself...

Moving on...

Did anyone see this game?

If you did not see this game- let me tell you how it went. It was AWESOME! We won by a million points!

If you did see this game... well... umm... it didn't go so well. I mean, started off great! But went downhill from there. As in downhill from the peak of Mt. Everest.

But look! We did score one touchdown in the beginning!


This guy was absolutely enthralled with the game. He was cheering, and jumping, and screaming, and possibly doing ninja kicks in the air. The only problem is that he was supposed to be watching the crowd to maintain order. I think he is just a smart fan who found himself a gig that lets him be on the field!

This little girl was too precious not to snap a photo of! Look how cute she is!!

This gentleman has his face painted every game. EVERY game.

This gentleman... well, he was not pleased with the performance of his team. Not pleased at all, I tell ya.
This just made me laugh. He too was in charge of maintaining order but instead chose to spend much of the time presumably checking text messages. I will say this... it kind of makes me happy to know that the security peeps feel comfortable enough with the crowd to relax.

It's football season... marriage interrupted.

Fetch

"Throw it! Throw it! Throw it! Throw it! Throw it!"

"Yes!!!!!!!!!!!!"

"I got it! I got it! Guys? Did you see me? He threw it and I got it!"

"What? You act like it isn't normal to chase a ball over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over again!
....

Horses are so weird."

Peaceful Distraction

This is sometimes what I see from my office door... It fills me with joy. (And provides the billionth reminder of why I love working from home)

Vegetable Garden!

Living in the country has inspired me.... Inspired me to start my own vegetable garden.

"This is going to be a disaster!"

While Winnie might be right... I'm just going to keep going and not listen to her!! First, we had to build our garden. We have very compact red clay 'round these parts and building a raised bed seemed like an easier plan :) Plus, it should be a little easier for me to keep weeded, etc. which is always a bonus.

Everything I read said that if you are new to gardening, START SMALL! So, I did the opposite. Not that my garden will be huge, mind you, but it does not fall under the parameters suggested for beginners. If I'm going to fail, I want to fail big! Anyway, I laid out the boundaries for the two beds.

Oliver laid under the trailer (hence the extraordinarily tall grass) and watched my progress. He was very helpful and encouraging. (See, Winnie? Encouraging!)

Look, we measured and everything!! Then it was time to drill...

"I can't look!"

Winnie, what did I say about encouraging??

See, girl? No need to fret. We did just fine!

Two beds... complete. Now we needed to finish staking them into the ground.

Then I filled with a mixture of dirt and compost. Much better than red clay! Also? A wheelbarrow full of dirt is heavier than you would think... Write that down.

Time to plant seeds! This is where I really ignored the advice. Throwing caution to the wind, I decided not to keep it small and only plant 3 (or fewer) varieties as suggested for newbies. Instead, I planted about 16 different veggies and herbs. Fail BIG, I tell ya!

My temporary garden markers :) Don't worry, I'm a note-taking freak so I have bed layouts drawn with notes on harvesting, etc. Maybe if I want to embarrass myself, I show that to you one day.


But you know what?


Seriously, guess...


Ok, ok... I'll tell you

It's working!!! This was my first sprout! I mean, I still have plenty of time to kill them all and fail miserably... so don't lose faith in me yet... but as of now, we might have a fall bounty on our hands!

"Okay, Lady... that's great and all... but when do I get to eat 'em?"

Aaaaaargh!!!

A couple of weeks ago, DM and I visited our old stomping ground... Raleigh, North Carolina.



Downtown has changed significantly since we lived there... they have a new (gigantic) special events center... and they have opened a section of downtown which used to be accessible by foot traffic only up to vehicles.


This, however, is not why we visited. DM's job requirements were changing and we decided to go do something fun for the day. So, we packed up the car and headed to Raleigh on a moment's notice in order to go to the museum.


Why, you ask? Because DM wanted to go and view the pirate exhibit.


The exhibit is called "Knights of the Black Flag" and has loads of information and artifacts on pirates.

There is a section on women pirates...

For those of you who are interested, some female pirates were known to be females while others disguised themselves as males.

"Aaaaaargh"

This contraption looked like it was the opposite of fun....


The main focus of the exhibit is the legendary pirate known as Blackbeard.


His wreckage is believed to have been discovered. Many of the items from his ship were on display in the exhibit.



Even his skull....

Sorry, that's the best I've got. No photos of the skull were allowed. But, I shall give you a quick description. For those of you who aren't aware, Blackbeard was killed and decapitated... his skull was passed around through many hands and at one point it was dipped in silver. Although it went missing for many years, it is believed that the skull on display is the actual skull of Blackbeard and it is indeed silver.



An actual canon from Blackbeard's ship.


Bullets, etc.
Personally, I found this pretty interesting. There were several aquariums located in one section of the exhibit that contained items inside of them. These are items from the wreckage that have not yet been properly excavated... this is how they were found in the ship at the bottom of the ocean. Proper measures must be taken (ie keeping the items in salt water) until they can be cleaned by trained experts.


They even had a section on modern-day pirates.


DM as a pirate... BEWARE!
I don't know who this person is... Nope, no idea. Not me, though. I know that much. Yeah.


We also visited the exhibit which contained photography of the agricultural lifestyle in the mountains of NC. Basically, it contains 3 of my favorite things... Photography, Farming, and the mountains of NC!

I have more photos... but I won't bore you to death today. See how kind and thoughtful I am? You're welcome!