Home from ‘bama…poorer but happy…. January 12, 2011

Parking lot lost and found......

We were a little uncertain about getting out of  Birmingham yesterday…but the ice and snow that paralyzed Atlanta(and canceled by bro-in-law’s flight to Boston) was not nearly as horrifying in Bham….so I was able to fly out pretty much on time, on a nonstop Southwest flight(God bless them) from there to Baltimore.

I was a few miles down the road from my sister’s house on the way to the airport when she called and said, “You left your coat and gloves!”(I still don’t know how I did this)…and since I really did want them/need them, we whipped around and hot-footed it back to meet her at a gas station in between. But when we all got there, she had dropped the gloves somewhere, in the mad dash for the car….so my other sister calls and says, “I have the gloves and I’m on my way!” Her husband said dryly, “It runs in the in the family“…..Thanks George. But we had such a good time together.

Cook that duck....

And I was not kidding about having duck for dinner…..though we also had Fat Mama’s tamales and roast pork tenderloin. (See the hoodie on Jan on the right? One day a man in line in front of her admired it and asked, “Is that vintage or just old?”…hilarious. Is there a difference?)

It wasn't all meat...

 As you can see vegetables and fruit did at least make a token appearance. And to keep it interesting(as if we needed that)…we had a little something  on the game. Everybody put in 20 bucks…and we each got a certain number of squares in which we put our initials.

Here's my $20....I'm in....

And every time the score changed…. the initials  in the square that coincided with the last numbers in the score, won 5 bucks. I managed to get back 15 of  my $20….but my sister Audrey’s husband got most of it.( thanks again George). We all thought about how much Mom would have loved the fact that we were all together, AND that Auburn was in a national championship game….she was a big fan of both. I just wanted to share a little of the fun with you…..happy Wednesday everyone!

Rescue from a nightmare “rescue farm”…and it’s Friday people! September 17, 2010

This horse weighed 900 pounds in July, now down to 700..

Ok, this is a story you must see tonight on 11 News at Five….about horses that were given to a “horse rescue”  place in West Virginia….because the owners couldn’t care for them anymore, but here’s the catch. The woman who runs the “rescue” place….puts these horses out to pasture with no feed and no water. They were slowly dying from hunger and dehydration. What a terrible cruelty…and worse because the place accepted healthy animals and starved them. Who would do such a thing? Collect money to care for animals and then deny them any sustenance? 

This vet said, "He's just bones covered by skin."

Luckily an investigation led to their true rescue…those in worst shape were taken to Day’s End Farm (here’s a link)in Howard County…where the horses are being rehydrated and fed, and hopefully, brought back to health.  As the vet in the story said about these horses…”They’re just bones covered by skin“.  Even these people at Days End who are used to seeing malnourished and abused animals, were shocked. 

Worker at Day's End Farm....

Honestly, it just makes me very very sad…and then very very mad. There’s just no excuse at all…I hope you’ll watch Rob Roblin’s story at five. Rob asked me  if we should warn viewers that the video might be disturbing….I told him people should be disturbed. That if you can see something like that and NOT be disturbed something is wrong with you.  So if you’re disturbed tonight, you can blame me.  Here’s a link for more details about Rob’s story…

OK, enough about that,,,happy thoughts, happy thoughts…it’s Friday people!! Friday after a somewhat stressful week. I’m gonna have dinner with my sweet daughter tonight(135% Wine Bar in Hampden), and Auburn plays Clemson Saturday night…hollah!! We’re doing bison burgers with a choice of toppings(tba toppings)…sweet potato fries and a black bean salad. And, something for dessert(hello, Sugarbakers?)…so all is well. Hope all of you have a great weekend…play nice, don’t throw rocks, and come home safe(that all takes on special significance to me after this week)…’cause we miss you.