Speed

Winter is dreadful. I promise I will never claim winter as being my favorite season for as long as I live.

With that said, yes...it is another gloomy day in Northeast Georgia. I really, really need to escape. Really. It would be so nice to smell the ocean. To hear the waves crashing. To feel the spray against my face. I would love to be able to see the sun for more than an hour and actually be able to feel the heat from it. God! I miss my tan, dammit.

I'm hoping that once winter is over, I will be able to find myself again.

In other news, I think I might have found my motorcycle. Its a 2005 GSX-R 600. Its a little smaller than I wanted but the price is right. Now I just have the difficult task of convincing J to turn her head when I buy it. She really doesn't want me to get one and has warned me that she will never ride it with me. I think I can deal with that but I can't deal with making her worry. My solution to that is to just show her that I know how to ride and promise her that I will be safe. I'm sorry, but that will have to be enough. Besides, the roads around here are much safer than Florida's.

She still is trying to talk me out of it. She even went as far as to tell me that she would be more than happy to let me get a drag bike and start racing again. That made me question her sanity. In my mind, a drag bike is much more dangerous than a street bike. Her point was...the safety equipment required for drag bike racing makes the sport safe. Hmph...

Either way, I will be getting a bike. Either way, I will have to get a license for it. Now I just have to decide if I want to ride whenever I want or whenever the track is open. I think the street bike is going to win.

Vertical Flurries

I swear to you...

Its like walking into the outer edge of the eye of a hurricane out there. Vertical flurries and wind that feels as if its slicing you in to small slivers.

The leaves chased my dog up, yes up, the driveway. The fear in her eyes would have explained it all.

My friend was telling me last night about the things we take for granted. Today, I agree. I took for granted all those comfortably cool winters in South Florida. I took for granted that bright, beautiful Florida sun.

And as my feet are trying to thaw and I slowly regain feeling over the rest of my body, I realize that maybe I was wrong in wanting it to snow. Fuck playing in it...I'd rather have a heated pool or the ice cold ocean.

A change...

I think I found something I dislike more than summer weather in South Florida...yep, winter weather in Northeast Georgia sucks.

I've really been missing home lately. And its really not the weather I miss. I think its more like the familiarity of home. I know J wants to live up here because this really is her home, but sometimes I doubt I can do it.

Mountains are beautiful and I love the creeks and rivers but they still do not compare to the ocean and the Glades. At least to me they don't. And it has been so long since I've seen the ocean that I'm beginning to feel jittery. I've realized that being land-locked isn't so much fun.

I was talking with J about this the other day. Although she won't admit it, I can tell she's feeling pretty restless herself. I guess you can't introduce a country girl to the city life and expect her to jump right back into the country life again. It got me thinking that maybe her restlessness is what is causing her to be so unstable. Maybe.

My grandmother invited us...dogs and all...to come and stay with her for a little while. To me, it sounds like a great idea but I haven't had any luck convincing J.

I'll keep trying.

Maybe a change will do us both some good.

In the new

Today feels like a blur. I'm sick but not too bad sick. But overall, it is slowing me down. As if living in the sticks wasn't slow enough...

The rain makes it worse. Winters in these mountains are dreary. Makes me wonder what the suicide rate is around here.

A phone call yesterday from my sister informed me that our uncle (an adopted uncle -not blood related) has passed away. I wasn't close to him anymore and, although I'm sad, I'm not all that devastated. We knew it was coming. God, rest his soul. Yeah, that's four grand I will never get back... (I swear, I'm not being cold. You would have to know all the circumstances here, so don't judge.)

Sitting in the doctors office today, I got a brilliant idea for my next art project. I'm still working on the big one that I started in the beginning of October but I think I might put it on hold for a bit. This new one, I have affectionately named "An Assault on Time" and I'm thinking clocks and...well, if I told you, there would be nothing left to look forward to.

My finger has healed and we have been practicing every night. New songs are coming together nicely and Lilith Fair is getting closer and closer. With fingers crossed, I'm hoping we make the deadline.

Well...August Rush is coming on. Got to love a movie about a kid and music.
Keep warm - all you Northern readers...

Soggy

Just some pictures from around the area. I didn't take any of them and I'm not sure who did. Some were J's friends and others came from the news.




This is Pitts Park. Its not too far from where I'm at.







The Soque River is supposed to be way in the back of this picture. J said that from where the photographer is standing you shouldn't be able to see the river at all.

Good thing this stuff is bolted down.

This was the road one of J's friends lived on.







I was told this was Mableton, GA. It might be near Atlanta.




Sadly, they are finding cars that were washed away with their drivers still inside.

Can you see the horses back there? Crazy. Well, I hope everyone is safe. It looks like the worst of the rain might be over. The weather man said that there will be some scattered stuff for a while but they fear there might be more down pours for the weekend.

Flash floods: high water

It has been raining for 9 days and relief doesn't look like its coming for at least another day or so. I now understand the meaning of flash floods.

The Soque River is being brutal. It has taken over Pitts Park and flooded the houses that are along its banks. There are roads and bridges being washed out and neighborhoods that can only be accesses by boat.

We are lucky so far. We live on the side of a mountain. The only thing we need to watch is the driveway. The creek that flows under it is usually 5 to 12 inches deep at most parts but at the moment, its up to about 4 or 5 feet. Another two and it will be over the road.

Sadly, a few of our friends haven't been so lucky. A friend of J's from high school had three feet of water in her house yesterday. Another friends entire basement and half of their first floor is still under water. Its not pretty and it has even been deadly.

I will have pictures soon.

Four Seasons?

I can feel it. The season changing. I guess summertime is really just about gone.

Honestly, if you would have asked me while I was living in Florida which season was my favorite, I would have said the winter time. Not like we really had winter. But anything below 80 degree's was cold to us and it always felt so good to get that little relief from the super hot Florida sun.

Believe it or not, it snowed in South Florida once. I was four, I think. It might have only lasted for about five minutes and was gone as soon as it hit the ground, but it did snow. I remember my Grandma Beth woke me up and took me outside so I could see. It was funny because I asked her if the Everglades were on fire. The snow looked like the ashes that we would see floating around when there was a big blaze out there. I don't think she ever really explained what exactly the snow was so when I called my other grandma to tell her about what I saw I said, "You should have seen it, Grandma. The clouds got so cold that when the wind blew, it broke of little frozen pieces of clouds and they started falling on the cars. But they weren't heavy pieces."

I moved up here to the mountains last winter. Winter is no longer my favorite season. I don't think my bones thawed out until a few months ago and now, it is starting to get cold again. To me its cold. To J, its just real nice.

I have a cousin that lives in Alaska. Up until about ten years ago, half of my family lived in Alaska. My cousin Mel is the the only one still living up there. I don't know how she does it. One winter, my uncle called down on Christmas and told us that they had been in the house for two weeks because it was too cold to go outside. He said that if you were out there for more than five minutes, your lungs would freeze. Crazy shit. I couldn't imagine. (J and I will be in Alaska next year for Mel's wedding. Mel warned me that I will think that its so beautiful up there that I will never want to leave.)

But, it is inevitable. The weather is going to change. And before I know it, winter will be here.

Maybe...I'll take Mel up on the offer to move up there and work with her. She spends the winters in Hawaii.

Helen, Georgia

My wake up call today...
"Hello?"
"Hey girl! How you doing?"
I cringed. My ex. "Great. How are you?"


"Doin' good," he tells me. "We are heading up to Helen and wanted to know if you and J wanna meet up with us for lunch."


I took the phone away from my ear and shook my head, trying to clear the sleep. Then I scanned the room looking for J. "Uh..."


"Our treat," he added.


Still couldn't find J and he was waiting on an answer. "Yeah, I think it would be cool."


"You're only like ten minutes from there, right?"


"Yep. Where are you?" I was praying he wasn't going to say he was in the driveway.


"We are about an hour away."


Whew! So, yeah, we hung out with my ex and his wife and son all day up in Helen. At first J was a little hesitant but she shrugged and said, "What the hell, why not."



Since our divorce many many years ago, he has been like the annoying older brother. He used to call me daily but since I've ridded myself of a cell phone, he rarely calls anymore. (thank God...lol) Sometimes, I don't understand why he is still in my life. He treated me like shit and cheated on me constantly. And though I hate no one, he was definitely worthy of hating. I did try to distance myself from him (getting rid of my cell and moving to Georgia) but he still knew where I was. Whatever...



We ate lunch at a place called Margaritas. It was all right. Our choices were limited. Then ex, his son, and J took a ride to Anna Ruby Falls leaving me and ex's wife to do "shopping." Me <--not a shopper. But she is pregnant and couldn't walk the trail up to the falls. It was cool. We did go in a few of the tourist trap shops and then we found a spot on the river to sit and put our feet in the water.

The water felt great. We watched the people tubing and laughed with them when they got stuck.

My sides still hurt from laughing so hard. It wasn't long before J, ex, and his son got back to us. The little guy loved playing in the water and him and I mined for really cool looking rocks. (Okay, I picked up handfuls of the rocks and he told my that none of the were 'gorgeous' and dumped them back in the water.) And then he tried to catch a minnow with the water bottle.



Done with the water, we walked to the ice cream shop. On the way we met Sweet Tater Salad.

Really...that was what the lady said his name was. His little hat was cute. He had a couple friends too.

It was a fun day. Even if it was with the ex...

*I can't tell you more about the ex, it will give away the Back Then story.

Redneck Aquarium

It threatened to rain off and on today but it didn't deter Jules and I from heading down to the creek while J and Rock went to the cemetery. Jules is Rock's girlfriend and has recently moved in to the house with the rest of us. Anyone else need a place to stay? We got two empty couches and a recliner left?

Our creek journey recap...

me: You wanna ride the four wheeler down there?

Jules: Nah. I need to walk. But I'll ride back up with you.

I went to get the key for the four wheeler and met her down by the creek. She has a small plastic fish tank and two small nets.

me: What's the nets and tank for?

Jules: I'm gonna catch some crawfish and make a redneck aquarium.

She laughed and stepped into the water.

Jules: There's one.

She splashed through the water and trapped a small crawfish in the net.

I was still stuck on the redneck aquarium.

me: What else are you going to put in your aquarium?

Jules: An old beer can. And hopefully a few of these crawfish. I don't want to catch the big ones because Rock will eat them.

Redneck aquarium. Hmmm...

Jules: Come on in. The water isn't too cold.

me: Alright. (I step in and scream to the top of my lungs. The water is like stepping in an ice bucket. It reminded me of Manatee Springs, Florida...but much colder.) Not that cold?!

Glutton for punishment, I kept walking into the water. I tried not to squish the snails, but I might have stepped on a few. There was just so many of the damn things. She handed me a net.

Jules: Ooh! There's one.

She leaned over and netted another small crawfish. This one was lighter than the other.

Jules: Cool. We got a male and a female.

Me: Really? How can you tell?

Jules: The red ones are females...I think. The lighter one is male.

The water didn't feel so cold anymore and I got brave. I carefully maneuvered the moss covered rocks under the rushing water and ventured further down the creek. Jules followed but didn't fair so well with those slippery rocks. She slipped and fell on her ass. I did a great job a not laughing but she laughed her ass off at herself. We found nothing in the curve of the creek so we made our way back to our original spot.

There she spotted two of the biggest crawfish I had ever seen in the creek. We both splashed over to the area and she almost netted one. But they backed themselves into the holes in the rocks and never came back out again.

Something nibbled on my toe and I jumped splashing that ice cold water up the legs of my shorts. After another short scream from me, Jules spotted something.

Jules: Don't move!

I'm thinking...snake!? Because, if that's the case, my ass in running not staying still so it can slither up my leg and bite my ass.

me: What? What is it?

Jules: Algae eater.

me: Huh?

Jules: A fish. Right...here.

She slaps the net in the water and brings up a bunch of sand. I search for what she is talking about and don't see a damn thing.

Jules: See it?

me: Nope.

Jules: Its like camouflaged. There!

This time she points and I see what looks like a translucent minnow size fish.

She ended up catching two of them and putting them in her tank for her redneck aquarium. J and Rock came back with DQ Blizzards, so we headed back up to the house.

A few minutes ago, Jules went back down to the creek to let all the creatures she caught go. (I didn't catch a damn thing, but give me a fishing pole and watch out!) She said she felt bad.

I think my feet are still frozen but it was kind of fun. I now know what a redneck aquarium and a crawfish is. I learn something new everyday. Ha!

Daily injury status report

Shannon came over today with her boyfriend, Rob. Shannon definitely wasn't dressed for riding the four wheeler, so I got Rob to ride with me. We had a good time and, when we were about finished riding, Rob talked Shannon into taking a ride with him. She really wasn't dressed for it...loose fitting skirt and a too small and tight shirt. By the time they came back up the driveway, she was almost naked.

I took one last run through the trails before I parked it. The trails we were riding are becoming easily noticeable now so it should have been no problem to maneuver.

I rode the steep incline to the top of the mountain, slid around the fallen tree, swerved around the rock, and turned the corner to the circle. Out of nowhere, BAM! I still don't know where the branch came from but it damn near knocked me off the machine.

So, my injury report for today...fat lip with a nice cut on the inside of it and a scratch along the side of my nose. Ain't I purty...lmao. It was so worth it. J is making me get a helmet...arrrggghh! And its such a small scratch!

Astronomy night was pretty cool. We learned a lot of stuff that I probably learned in school but can't remember. Like the life cycle of stars and stuff about the moons craters. At the end of the lecture, we looked through a few telescopes they had set up. We got to see Saturn, which was way cool. But J might say that when I started laughing with a mouth full of water and ended up spitting it out all over the place (including on the backs of the two girls in front of us...I apologized) was the coolest part of the night. I guess I can think of it as funny now, but I didn't think so last night. And the reason I was laughing...J and Shannon said 'no' right after each other. I still have no idea what I found so damn funny about that.

The cool things about living in the North Georgia Mountains:
The speed limit is 55 pretty much anywhere you go.
Anna Ruby Falls.
Helen.
Building a fire and roasting marshmallows, all in your own back yard.
Friends and guitars and bad singing around that fire and no one complains that we are making too much noise.
J and her amazingly funny family. (You gotta hear Aunt Rita's cat stories.)
Riding the four wheeler without worrying if the cops are going to come and give us tickets for trespassing or try to arrest us.