dayofgloryandjoy

Indiana Jones and the Legion of the Ant Kingdom

There were these pavers, two wide, buried in the front yard.  We had to dig them up and move them.

It may seem like the kind of chore that was not fraught with peril.  It, in fact, was. 

It seems that every ant that ever existed lives under our front yard.  Millions.  Billions.  Possibly trillions of ants. 

I'm not even kidding.

It's All Flowers and Cake

Check out our new photo album: It's All Flowers and Cake, to the right in photo albums.  There are some mysteries in there, so have fun! 

The Office-to-Sunroom Shuffle

We're moving the office out of the, well, office and into our sunroom.  This will allow the, um, room formerly known as the office to become a real guestroom.

We went with the yellow on the left, if you're curious...

Day of Glory and Turkey

It was a great Thanksgiving in Springfield, Missouri, with a hat-tip to Susannah and Phillip for doing a great job hosting. 

Of course, it was Adam's birthday (34) the Friday after Thanksgiving and Hayden's second birthday in just a week or so, so we had a birthday bash in there as well.  It was a Kirby Family House Party. 

Check out the photo albums to the right (The Bird is the Word and The Bird Is The Other Word) for shots of the good times, including much cake eating, and a requisite trip to the Bass Pro Shop Galactic Headquarters.  It was amazing. 

Family Make Fire... Family Enjoy Dinner with Glass of Chardonnay

So we bought this grill the other day.

It's a pretty good grill.  A UniFlame?  You've heard of it, no? 

Alright, so it's not cream of the crop.  Whatever.  And maybe it was made in China and painted with lead based paint.  None of that matters.  It cooked our first grilled meal at home with tender loving care. 

You could barely taste the lead. 

Check out the pictures for more to the right.

It's Going to Kill Me, Isn't It?

Yes, I believe it just might.

Click the picture.  See that blurry black line on the ground, about the middle of the shot? 
Yes, that is called a Deadly Death Killer Mutilator Bitey Murder Snake.  And I'm pretty sure he's looking for me. 

Duncan took this picture from our office, so that's why it's a little weird -- through the screen and window and all.  She was actually going to go out and confron the Deadly Death Killer Mutilator Bitey Murder Snake, but when she walked out the back door to get a better look, he found a hobo in the alley to kill, and went after him.   

The (Gulfport) Paper of Record

The Gulfport Paper of Record is the Gulfport Gabber. 

It is my new favorite paper, ranking right up there with the Washington Post, the New York Times, the St. Petersburg Times, and the Arkansas Times.  You think I'm kidding, but I'm not. 

If you think that it's just another paper that has bravely featured as an advertisement perms for dudes (page 24), then you're wrong.  They have a writer on staff named Cathy Salustri.  Cathy managed to get a Gabber article published on the front page of the paper entitled "I Had a Dream."

It's basically about how she "became a racist."  I am, of course, not down with the whole racism thing.  Racism is, obviously, wrong.  But her piece compels you to think, and you don't get that from a lot of newspapers anymore.  Hair perm advertisements or no.     

Crabby Gulfport Update

Yeah, I'm sorry about not updating this thing more often.  It's been a rather crazy end-of-August-beginning-of-September.  I'll work on that. 

Anyway, we've continued our slow exploration of our new home: Gulfport.  This time with a swing-through at Gulfport Gecko Fest.  What a hoot.  Although, I must say that one of the highlights (aside from the shaved ice), as a stop in the local downtown bookstore, Small Adventures Bookstore.  If you ever try to get me at work, and they say I've called in sick, and you think, Hey, Ben didn't tell me he's sick, I'm probably not.  I'm probably playing hookey, hanging out at this bookstore.

We've also managed to sample some more of the local cuisine, to which we both give a hearty thumbs-up, this time to Back Fin Blue Cafe.  A nice, very Florida kind of place that has plenty of outside seating.  Perfect in about a month or so.  We opted for inside, and had a couple of very good, very full glasses of wine.  That was a good start.  The second part of the good start was the corn and crabmeat soup -- just outstanding.  Somehow they managed to exact the perfect blend of corn and crabmeat, and it really hit the spot.  Then there was the crab cake sandwich.  We both got one.  You can imagine those crabcake sandwiches that are fried or whatever and mostly breading and, you know, stuff.  This was mostly crab.  Mostly huge hunks of crab.  Huge hunks of crab, tons of it, and not much else (except for the bun and lettuce and stuff).  It was what always envisioned a crab cake should be: big on crab meat, light on onions and filler.  It didn't disappoint.

We'll be back there at some point.  If you're down here visiting us, be sure to make us take you there for a nice quiet meal and some excellent crab.       

Snakes... Why'd it Have to be Snakes?

You try to be a good guy.  You go out and mow the yard because, you know, that's what a good neighbor does. 

And then you come across this:

I believe this is referred to as a Ultra Deadly Killer Ultimate Murder Snake. 

It will haunt my dreams.

Places You'll Find Us In Gulfport: Gulfport GeckoFest 2007

That's right.  Gulfport GeckoFest.  How do you not go to something called "GeckoFest?"   Besides, they have Sterling Magee, who is a local, and who I hear is totally awesome. 

And, of course, there'll be pirates.