Annual Physical

You know those people who just love going to the doctor?  They love getting all the tests and the poking and prodding, buying all the newest medical gadgets and all of that stuff.  Yeah, I'm not one of those.  

Those of you with better memories than mine may remember about a year ago, I went in to try to get my cholesterol numbers under control.  I'd tried and tried to do it naturally, but it just wasn't working.  So, to avoid surcharges on my insurance, off to the doctor I went.  He put me on Crestor, and wanted to see me again in 6 months.  Things were better, but not quite where I wanted them to be, so he told me to start taking Omega-3 and come back in another 6 months. 

Today was that second follow-up, so after spending a week fighting myself not to cancel the appointment, I took a day off of work and went in to see my doctor.  All in all, everything looks pretty good, except for a couple of things.  

First up, some of my liver enzymes were a bit high.  He thinks it might be due to fatty deposits on my liver because my triglycerides have been so high for so long, however we're going to schedule an ultrasound just to be on the safe side.  That was my call, given my family history with liver cancer and all.  

The other thing he's concerned about is my A1-C.  I forgot what it is --6 point something-- but it's high enough to be considered pre-diabetic.  I know my dad was also pre-diabetic, but I don't think he ever was diagnosed with full blown diabetes.    The doc is going to set me up with a diabetes educator, and I have to go back at the end of July to see if it's gotten any better.  My insurance has a program where they'll send me a free meter and support, but I have to have a diagnosis first.  I really need to get back to eating my oatmeal, too.  I used to eat a bowl every day, but have kind of gotten away from it when they started making us come in so [unwholesome word] early. 

Anyway, he said my cholesterol numbers looked so much better, I don't have to do another 6 month follow up for them,  so I don't have to go back for those until next year.  I just have to go back for my A1-C.

 After I was done at the doctor's office, I ran by Walmart and picked up a few things for the herb garden.   For my full-sun garden, I bought some purple basil and some sweet basil. 

And some cayenne and jalapeno peppers for Cody.  

Then, for my part shade garden I got Greek oregano.  

I've got two more spots in each one, so I'll have to see if there is anything else the kids want.  Cody is the cook in the family.  I just like growing the stuff. 

Then I went by Spain's and spent those two gift cards I'd been carrying around -- one of them for 18 months.  Honestly, I don't know why everyone loves that store so much.  It's cluttered, crowded, and expensive.  I was just walking around buying stuff so I could use that gift money up, and I picked up some Velveeta Shells 'n' Cheese.  It costs .50 cents per box MORE than you can buy it for at Walmart. 

Then I tipped the bag boy way too much, but justified it by telling myself it'll be another two years or so before I ever come back to this store.  Really, it was just because I didn't have any $1s on me, and didn't want to not give him anything.  So he got a very generous tip. 

And that was it.  I came home, ate a bit of lunch, then got out and dug up the last of those daffodils from the front yard.   Here you can see the empty spot where they used to be. 

Why I felt the need to show you that is beyond me.  I've long since given up trying to find an explanation for such things. 

I did not, however, begin re-planting said daffodils.  I laid them back on my potting table, a bit overwhelmed by how many there are. 

I guess I'll just plant a few at a time until I get them all back into the ground.  

In the meantime, I think I'll go take a shower and wash the sweat from my body.  Oh, and before I go, it looks like this year's fawns will be here before we know it. 

There Has Been Knitting

 Lest you think all I did this weekend was piddle in the flower beds, here is proof that there has indeed been knitting. 

I finished this hat.

Then I cast on another with the same yarn. 

I even knit a few rows on this scarf.  

I probably won't do too many of these, though.  I've got to do 14" of garter stitch, followed by 18" of 4X4 rib, and then another 14" of garter stitch.  It's pretty mindless, but then, so are the hats, and I can get so many more of them done in the same amount of time.  

Meanwhile, I'm still adding a row here and there to this scarf.  

I dunno.  I might keep this one for myself.  I give most of my knitted stuff away, so it's kind of nice to make something for me for a change.  

In other news, I got a surprise when I went out and checked on my Cosmos yesterday evening.  You might have to enlarge the photo, but do you see it?  Right there at the top?

Yep!  It's a bud!  There are actually two of them on there, so I'm pretty happy about that.  And look at this: 

Now, I'm not all that familiar with sunflowers, this being the first time I've tried growing them and all, but those look like buds to me!  

Kindly ignore all the ground ivy in the background.  I've been meaning to pull it all up now that it's finished flowering.  I just haven't gotten around to it.

And finally, I've found a really good BBC series on Prime called The Royal.  It's a medical drama set back in 1960s Yorkshire.  I'm really enjoying it so far.  In fact, I think I'll go take a quick shower and watch a few more episodes while knitting...something.

Laters. 

Lazy Saturday

Today has been a totally lazy day.  It started when I slept in until 6:00, and after getting up at 2:30 all week, it felt wonderful.  I almost laid in bed even longer, but then I remembered, I have to check the sun!  

See, when I got my new raised bed, the plan had been to put it here on the East side of the carport. 

But I'd wanted to check and see how much sun this spot gets before filling the bed with dirt.  Good thing I did, too, because it doesn't get nearly as much sun as I thought it would.  

Even though the Supervisor approved of this location, it just wouldn't do for my plants. 

"Dis my spot now.  I'm not moving," she said.  

"Suit yourself," I said.  "I'm going to go get me some breakfast."  

"Breakfast?  I want some breakfast, too!"  said the supervisor and she jumped right out of the box. 

After breakfast, I moved the box to a spot behind the house where it gets a lot more sun. 

Confident I'd gotten the box in the right spot, I headed up to Lowe's to get some garden soil.  I'd checked on their app and found some Miracle Gro that was specifically blended for raised beds, and thought it'd be a whole lot easier than trying to mix soil.  Honestly, I wish I'd done that the first time.  

While I was up there, I checked their herb selection, then ran by Walmart on the way home -- the Walmart in Batesville, I mean -- to see if they had anything different than what our Walmart has.  They didn't, so I passed on buying plants and came on home.  

One of the things I did was to get out the old lawn mower to make sure I'd left enough room between the planter and the house, so while I had it out, I went ahead and mowed.  I was able to leave a huge patch of clover for the bees, 

along with some patches of my short yellow flowers, 

and my tall yellow flowers.  

Once the flowers have died back, I'll cut those spots, too, but for now, they stay.  I finished the back, but didn't do the front or the side yards.  I did them last week.  They're good for now.  I didn't fix the weedeater, either.  

Wait, what's wrong with the weedeater?  One of the gas lines broke.  I've bought a new one.  I just haven't gotten around to replacing the gas tank yet.  I don't really like weedeating anyway, so it probably won't get fixed any time soon.  I kind of wish I'd bought an electric weedeater again.   I had one before, and it was a lot lighter and had much less vibration.  It was not fun dragging all those extension cords around the yard, though.  

When I'd finished mowing and had cooled off a bit, I filled up my new raised bed and the first thing I did was to move the cilantro and rosemary into it. 

 I've got six more spots in this bed, so I messaged Cody and asked if he wanted me to grow any peppers or anything for him.  He said he's planted some cayenne and jalapenos, but they haven't grown, so I'm going to get some of those, and some sweet basil, too.   I might even get some catnip for the cat.  Or for tea...

I've got three spots left in my other box, the one that's in partial shade, so I'll have to look into getting something to put there.  I'm sorely tempted to pull up my peppermint and replace it.  I'd put it into a pot last year and don't think that was the right move.  Earlier this month, I moved it to the raised bed, but it's still struggling. 

Eh, it's still alive, so I'll probably just leave it and give it some time to recover.  If it dies, I'll get a new one, but as long as there's life, there's hope. 

Now if you'll excuse me, I've found Ray Bradbury Theater on Prime, and I have a hat to finish.  

Laters. 

Long Week

I got to work bright and early this morning, went to the break area and filled my lunchbox with ice, went and got my tool box out of my locker, then clocked in and headed over to my brazing stand to get ready for the workday.  I stood there for a moment, then without thinking I let out one of those deep, "whooee" sighs...and from across the department I heard another brazer say, "Me, too, Becky  Me, too."  

It has been a long week, but it's finally over, and I even successfully went to Walmart, where I picked up Cody's Italian Parsley and some Lemon Balm for me.  

I've already gotten them planted into the bed that will stay in the back yard, because they are partial shade plants.  

Then I put together my new planter while watching round 2 of the NFL draft.  

My supervisor abandoned me after I told her she could not sharpen her claws on it, 

but I persevered and got 'er done.  Even without the little brat's help. 

Tomorrow I will move it outside and go get some dirt to put into it, but for now, I'm going to go take a quick shower, because I'm all sweaty.  

Laters.  

I’ll Have My Crown Now

Did you ever watch the movie Dances With Wolves?  Do you remember the koo koo bird Major who assigned that post on the frontier to John Dunbar?  And how he flipped out and stood there demanding his crown?

Well, I'll have my crown now.

Yep, my long awaited dental appointment was this afternoon.  My dentist was a bit concerned at first, because the filling was pretty large and it had been replaced at least once.  What can I say?  I was cursed with soft teeth. 

The dentist was concerned that the cavity was so deep that we'd get into the nerve and I'd end up having to have a root canal.  But after getting the old filling out and my tooth all cleaned out, he took an X-Ray and said, "We're close to the  nerve, but not there yet, so we're going to go with our original plan of putting a crown on it."  He cautioned me to be aware that the tooth could still abscess and I might need a root canal anyway, and I said, "We'll deal with that when it happens."  

We got the tooth prepped and impressions taken, and he seriously pumped me full of whatever it was he uses to numb teeth, because my appointment was at 1:00 and it was after 5:00 PM before it all wore off.  

I'd planned on stopping by Walmart on the way home and buying soil for my new planter, which arrived while I was at the dentist, but after laying on my head for all that time, I was pretty wobbly for a while, so I decided to  just skip it for today.  I'll probably be tomorrow or even Saturday before I get the thing put together anyway. 

My supervisor is ready to oversee the project.   

Oh, and I forgot to mention, I finished reading Shakespeare's The Merchant Of Venice, and am now reading The Merry Wives Of Windsor.  Sometime this weekend, I'll find a production of The Merchant Of Venice on YouTube and watch it.  

Speaking of watching, I found a good miniseries on Prime called To The Ends Of The Earth, starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Sam Neill, and a whole host of other British actors I recognize but couldn't name to save my life.  It's based on the Trilogy of the same name written by William Golding.  If you have Prime, it's worth watching. 

And finally, here's a little humor for the day. 

You'd think...huh?  

It's That Time

Time to put that last little sunflower seedling into its permanent home.  

I put this one into my little flower bed in front of my porch, and protected it with a cloche. 

It will quickly outgrow it, just like the others have.  I'm thinking next year I might plant a whole row in this bed.  It'll give me a little more privacy in the front of my house.  I kind of wish I'd thought of that before I planted all of these...

which are doing great, by the way.  

The Incarnation of Evil was there to supervise the whole operation, but I don't think she approves. 

A bit of good news.  This little cosmos that I'd thought was done-for seems to be making a comeback.  

I know it's a blurry picture, but it seems to be growing a bit.  Even if it doesn't make it, I've got plenty more in the mini-greenhouse.  

Speaking of making it, I've been trying to kill this rose for about 5 years now, but it keeps coming back. 

It's even got buds on it!  Well, as long is it is out of the fence -- which I hope to get replaced sometime this summer or fall.  If I can ever get my act together enough to make a couple of phone calls.  And you know how I feel about those. 

Oh, here's something.  I finally got a good photo of my Bachelor's Buttons.  Or a halfway decent one, at least. 

And of course, the one I didn't plant is the one that looks the best.  Go figure. 

 While I was doing all of this gardening, I got Marty Mac out and trimmed all of his dead leaves and traps. 

He has fully recovered from being transplanted and is looking so much better.  If I can keep the critters from pulling him up, he ought to thrive from here on out. 

I reckon that's it for today.  Oh, I'm still plugging away at the piano, but it's slow going.  I'm hoping I can get a song recorded for you in a couple of weeks.  

OK, now that's all I have for you. 

Laters. 

Winter? Is that you?

Winter came back to Mississippi for one last hurrah before giving way to the suffocating heat and humidity of summer.  Some parts of the state were even under a frost advisory Sunday night.  I was a little nervous about my outside plants, but it only got down to 41° here, so they were fine.  

Still, that was enough to make it mighty chilly at my work station. 

I'd almost put my winter hats and scarves away for the year, but I was thankful I left them out a little longer.  I needed them this week.  It warmed up pretty quickly after the sun came up, but for a minute there, those winter clothes felt really good.  

I hope I haven't messed up with these little seedlings, but I've already started putting them outside in the afternoons.

 I don't know if it's something with the specific variety of cosmos, but they are thin and leggy as if they weren't getting enough light.  So, out into the sunshine they go.  Also, I still haven't figured out why some of the plant cells dry out so much faster than others.  I'm thinking I might get some of those grow sponges and try them -- along with different varieties of seeds to see if they do any better under these grow lights.  I don't know.  This little system got really good reviews on Amazon, but I'm not having much luck with it.  

The sunflowers did well, so maybe it's just these seeds that are struggling.  

Oh and I may have done something very foolish last night...And what was that foolish thing I may have done?  I ordered another one of those raised planters.  I've enjoyed the one I have so much, I've wanted another one ever since I got the first one.  Well, this week, I finally got my Amazon rewards card paid off, so I splurged a little.   I think I'm going to put this one beside the car port.  It'll get better sunlight there.  

In other news, my place of employment has struck again.  See, I've worked out there for 29 years, and for at least 28 of those years, it's been company policy that if you work a 10 hour shift, you get an extra ten minutes at lunch. Back in the day,  we got both a 30 minute lunch and a ten minute break, but they took the extra break away several years ago.  

OK, let me step outside my story for a moment to give you a little background.    Back during the pandemic, the Big Man Up Front that we had back then split us up into two different lunch breaks.  One was from 10:40 - 11:00 and the other was from 11:05 - 11:25.  Sometime last summer, the powers that be decided that since the pandemic was over, so was the need for separate breaks and everyone was going to go to lunch from 11:00 -11:20, the way it was before.  

That's what we'd been doing ever since then.  But for some reason, yesterday Group Leader Shark seemed to forget all about that, and told us that lunch was from 11:05 - 11:25 and made us stand there working like a bunch of doofuses while everyone else in the plant was going to lunch.  

Later that day, one of the brazers stopped Cuz and asked him.  He said that GLS was wrong and that we were supposed to be going to lunch at 11:00.  I said, "Can you please make sure she knows that?"  

So that was yesterday's drama.  

Well, today when I got back from lunch, she came over and told me "We don't get 30 minutes any more."  Nobody seems to know who decided that, or why, but suddenly after 28 years...someone has a problem with it.  I said, "Then I'm not coming in at 4:00 any more!"   To which she replied, "You have to!" 

Which brings me to my next question:  Why do I have to come in at 4:00 when everyone else over there she told, "Come in when you feel like it.  4:15, 5:00...whenever you want to..."  I don't know, but I'm going to talk to ...a supervisor about it in the morning.  I don't even know who our supervisor is now.  

I swan I hate that place so much.  I'm already counting down the days until I retire, and it will probably be a lot sooner than anyone thinks it will.  

Funny, they can get all bent out of shape over 10 minutes, but they can't seem to keep my Stalker away from over there.  They seem to think that's funny...

You know what I think is funny?  That they can't figure out why nobody wants to work there!  Oh, but they're playing that creepy weird music every morning!  That's supposed to solve everything, isn't it?  

And finally, just so this post isn't a total waste of your time, here's hat progress. 

I've started the crown decreases, and should be finished soon.  But for now, I'd better get to bed, since I'm the one that HAS to come in at 4:00.  

Earth Day 2024

1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.

4 And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.

5 And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.

6 And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.

7 And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so.

8 And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.

9 And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so.

10 And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good.

11 And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so.

12 And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good.

13 And the evening and the morning were the third day.

14 And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:

15 And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so.

16 And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also.

17 And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth,

18 And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good.

19 And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.

20 And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.

21 And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good.

22 And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth.

23 And the evening and the morning were the fifth day.

24 And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so.

25 And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good.

26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.

29 And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.

30 And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so.

31 And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.

San Jacinto Day

After the fall of the Alamo, on March 6, 1836, the Texas Army, led by General Sam Houston, spent 6 weeks running from the relentless pursuit of General Antonio Lopez de Santa Ana.  On April 21, on the banks of the San Jacinto River, the decisive battle of the Texas Revolution was fought.

It lasted just 18 minutes, and culminated with the capture -- and surrender -- of Santa Ana.  Against all odds, the Texas Revolution was won, and Texas became an independent republic, until they joined the United States by treaty in 1845.

And this is the song those soldiers played as they marched into battle:

Tell it to your children, and let your children tell it to their children, and their children to the next generation.  -- Joel 1 : 3

It's Alive!

Life!  Life!  I have given my creation liiiiiife!  

OK, they weren't exactly my creation, and I had very little to do with them being alive, but my seeds are germinating!  It would seem planting them at the proper depth is actually quite important.  I still haven't figured out why some of the cells are drying out so much faster than others, though. But I hope to get a few viable plants out of these anyway.  

By the way, the eggshells seem to be doing the trick with the ones already in the flower bed. They're not looking any worse, and I'm hopeful they'll recover in time.  

The only other new thing garden wise is I found some cilantro for the herb garden.  

Cody and Brennan requested some of that, along with Italian Parsley.  They actually had some at Walmart, but it didn't look too good, so I'm going to wait until next week to see if they get some more in.  I'd thought about running up to Batesville to see what they have up there, but when I saw the forecast, I reconsidered.  

Yep, it's rained on and off all day long, and is supposed to rain all the night through.  It was the perfect day to sit inside and knit.  I got a good deal done on my next hat for the Seaman's Church Institute.  

I decided I'd also cast on a scarf, too.  It's their pattern, available on their website.  

 I probably won't do too many scarves, as the hats knit up so much faster, but I've been wanting to do at least one for a while now.   It's a very simple pattern, good for mindless knitting.  

And finally, I've always been a morning person, but not this much morning.  You know you get up early when waking up at 4:00 AM feels like sleeping in.  

My next job will definitely have normal human being hours.  

Patriot's Day

 

Stand your ground

Don't fire unless fired upon

But if they mean to have a war

Let it begin here. 

Concord Hymn 

 RALPH WALDO EMERSON

By the rude bridge that arched the flood,

   Their flag to April’s breeze unfurled,

Here once the embattled farmers stood

   And fired the shot heard round the world.

The foe long since in silence slept;

   Alike the conqueror silent sleeps;

And Time the ruined bridge has swept

   Down the dark stream which seaward creeps.

On this green bank, by this soft stream,

   We set today a votive stone;

That memory may their deed redeem,

   When, like our sires, our sons are gone.

Spirit, that made those heroes dare

   To die, and leave their children free,

Bid Time and Nature gently spare

   The shaft we raise to them and thee.

Salad

Well, I came home to find cosmos #3 has become something's salad.  I don't know what's eating them, but I sure wish it would stop.  

I went ahead and took the cloches off, then sprayed them down again with my dishwashing liquid bug spray, and added one more weapon to my arsenal -- crushed egg shells.  

I've read that they can be a deterrent to slugs because they don't like the sharp edges and will not crawl over them.  

If this doesn't work, I don't know what else I'll do.  The slugs are why I stopped trying to grow marigolds, after all.  They kept eating them.   Shame, because I love marigolds.  

In work news, they've put up a sign up list for people to request a transfer to second shift.  I was seriously tempted for a moment to sign up, if for no other reason than to get away from my stalker.  But with my luck, he'd suddenly decide he needed to work late every day.  Sigh...

There are advantages to working second shift, though.  One is that I could get out and work in my yard in the cool of the morning, instead of the heat of midday.  Another is that I won't have to get up at 2:30 AM.  

And of course, there are fewer bosses on second shift, and fewer rules.  I won't have to use my purge gas.  I can pick and choose the easy orders to braze and not even have to worry that it's wayyyyy down in the schedule.  And I can play on my phone all day, wear earbuds, not wear my PPE correctly, and never have to clean up after myself.  

The downside is feeling like I have to watch the clock all day...waiting until time to get ready for work.  

Nah, I think I'll stay on day shift.

Dinosaurs!!

It appears it was a good thing I mowed yesterday, because we got a pretty good storm this morning -- with thunder and everything.  I'm not sure how much it rained, but it was enough to leave puddles in the parking lot at work.  So, yay me!

It also appears something is eating my Cosmos.  I went out to check them as soon as I got home, and another one has been completely stripped of its leaves.  After starting a load of laundry -- see, my list never ends, either -- I mixed up some diluted dishwashing liquid and sprayed the remaining two down pretty well, then I got my slug and snail killer and spread some of that around them, too.  Hopefully, that will be enough to keep them alive.  

The good news is, I'm seeing sprouts in my little greenhouse!  

I've been meaning to post these photos for a week now, and I'm finally getting around to it.  I'd mentioned that there is something new at the Memphis Zoo, and it is dinosaurs!  Real live dinosaurs!

They had them running loose in this one area, and you could go in and walk amongst them.  You did have to dodge getting eaten by some of the more...aggressive ones...

OK, not really.  Obviously, they were animatronic, but they were still pretty cool.   Most of them moved and made noise, but some were just models. 

They were life sized as well, 

despite the liberties Jurassic Park took with some of them...

Yeah, real velociraptors weren't as big as they showed them in the movie, being only about the size of a turkey. 

The triceratops was cool, 

as was this...whatever it is.  I think it's a Spinosaurus,  but I didn't take a picture of the sign, so I'm not completely sure.  

The Brachiosaur was truly awe inspiring. 

 I didn't intend to include a person in this photo, but I'm kind of glad she was there, so you can get some perspective on how big this thing really is. 

The person was a little taller than me -- maybe about 5'7".  

The whole thing was so cool, I said "I don't want to leave!  Where was this kind of thing when I was a kid."  But then, when I was a kid, we thought Tyrannosaurus Rex walked upright with a dragging tail...

Like this one from Dinosaur Valley State Park in Glen Rose, Tx.

Not my photo, by the way.  I swiped it off the internet.  At one time, I could have shown you an original photo, but Hurricane Ike ruined the ones my dad took, and dummy me taped over the video I made when I took Cody there when he was 8.  

I want to go back some day, and maybe some day I can. 

Anyway, I took a lot more photos up in Memphis, and if you want to see them, they're in my Facebook album.  Which you may or may not have seen, thanks to FB's stupid algorithm.  It's even got some videos in there, too.