The cult behind high school basketball

A little background about J. She is a basketball player. She played from the time she could walk until she graduated high school. An injured knee her senior year stopped her from pursuing the game into college.

From what I understand, she was pretty damn good. Both of her parents have told me stories of her game playing days. I have only seen her play one-on-one games against some of our friends...and those friends are still whining about how bad they lost. So...yeah, she is good.

I've mentioned before that this is a small town. Since she signed up for Facebook, it seems she has been friended by her entire graduating class (the whole hundred or so of them) and then some. More than a few of them are the girls she used to play basketball with. Only one did she consider a close friend.

I met HH last night. We made plans to meet up with her at, what else, a basketball game between their Raiders and the next county overs Indians. Supposedly, these Indians have always been a huge Raiders rival.

I admit, I am clueless when it comes to basketball. I never gave the sport a chance until I met J and I'm still not a big fan. Hell, I'm still trying to decipher the rules. Ask me all you want about hockey or football but prepared to be confused if you ask me about basketball.

We met HH at the door of the high school. HH = blond, thin, and tall. Like 6 foot tall. J is taller than I am, too. But 5'9" is hardly 6". Needless to say, I felt like a midget. I'm 5'7" in my sneakers but I still felt little compared to them.

Small town politics in the Southern states is strange to me. I played softball for four years and our biggest fans were most likely our parents. I really do not remember any of my high school sports teams having a huge following. Here, in hick ville, Georgia...its something of a cult following for any high school sport. Yes, I said high school. And its not just any sport, its all of them.

Since HH lives in the Indians county and she is pretty involved with the county sports leagues, we had to sit on the Indians side. I was going to question this since both J and HH are Raiders alumni and I couldn't grasp the concept of supporting the other team. But before I could ask, I got my answer in the form of a crowd of very big men as we tried to make our way through the people.

"Hey, HH," one of them said. "I know you a Raider but you live here now. You sittin' on this side, right."

It wasn't a question and I knew it. I'm glad very few people know where J and I live because we would have had to sit on the Raiders side, leaving her old friend to fend for herself.

Now, I mentioned the cult following and I wasn't kidding. There were more than a few times I thought that things were going to turn violent. I completely understood the need for the ten or so police officers. By the end of the girls game, I was sure those officers were going to be needed to escort the refs from the building.

The home team Indian fans were pretty brutal but the Raiders fans came right back at them. As small as the auditorium was, the noise level rivaled the NFL playoff games. The home teams die-hards were dressed in raincoats and a few of the boys had blond wigs on. (I have no idea.) The visitors proudly wore their bright orange and blue. Some things were pretty funny, like the way the Raiders fans turned their backs on the Indian teams as they were being introduced. Or the way the Indians would chant, "Awwww....sit down."

In the last few minutes of the boys game, the ref gave the Indians a technical foul for their fans. A minute later, he ejected the raincoat wearing fans. Yeah, I'm glad I wasn't that ref. An officer escorted a few more people out and an eerie quiet fell over the auditorium. Yeah, we took it as a good idea to leave. The calm before the storm had electrical anger fueling it.

In the end, the Lady Raiders lost but not by much. The boys annihilated the Indian boys. When we left, the score was 79 to 47. I'm pretty certain that leaving early was the smart thing except for the fact that a few of the ejected fans were still outside raising hell. I think the cops handled them well.

High school sports. Who would have thought? Crazy. It could almost be compared to a Dolphins/Bills game or even a Flyers/Bruins game. This place just keeps getting more interesting every day.

Germs: Stay away

The last twenty-four hours have been...cold, crazy busy, and a little on the "I don't wanna get sick" side.

We got a phone call -yesterday, I think. It was after we went to sleep Tuesday - from one of J's aunts at a little after 3am asking us if we could help take Granny to the hospital (she asked J but I couldn't let her go alone). Of course we both jumped up and rummaged for clothes, a little groggy but really, we had just went to sleep. We spent all freezing morning into mid afternoon at the hospital. Granny is going to be fine -she's sick with a bad cold- but they did keep her. Said she wasn't breathing too good. She should be out Friday.

(Yeah Starr...I was at the ER and it wasn't for me. Shocker, huh.)

J's other aunt -who would have been the one that took Granny to the ER- had to go to the doctor herself yesterday. Seems she has pneumonia.

Now I'm repeating this in my head: "I am healthy. My immune system is strong."

I really do not want to get sick. I did that pneumonia thing last year and it hurt like hell.

And due to my zombie-like coma yesterday, I owe this blog an extra post. So -fair warning- I will be back and maybe even with a Back Then post.

PS...another warning: Next week expect "Days of J" week. Its our ninth anniversary on the 30th. And yes, I will be explaining the "Mayonaise" song. It will be mushy!

One big (slightly) happy family

I'm pretty sure it is near 100 degrees outside but I don't mind. I am from SOUTH Florida, so really its nothing. Georgia definitely doesn't have a problem with humidity like Florida does.
Since I will be heading back to the scorching sunshine state, I figured it would be a good idea to get some sun so I don't stand out like a tourist. Besides, my farmers tan needed the work.

I took the dogs out with me and relaxed, reading my book. (Thief of Always by Kim Baldwin and Xenia Alexiou.) The dogs started barking like mad and I turned to see CJ (one of the outside dogs) hiding under the stairs. She was making a strange grunting noise, so I investigated. Imagine my surprise when I saw a second tail coming from her behind.

We all thought she was faking a pregnancy but we all were way wrong.

I've had many dogs in my life. But the only dog I had that had ever had puppies was my German Shepard. She had three litters of 13 and I didn't witness any of them. She had them while I was at school.

Unfortunately, the first puppy didn't make it and she is still in there struggling, trying to deliver the rest. We are watching her in shifts. She is such a small dog we're afraid she might not make it. The Vet doctor guy came and checked on her and said she was doing fine, but still. If she is still having trouble later tonight, we will most likely take her in.

I will hope for the best and update if we have any new additions to our family.
Five humans, five dogs, and a cat...whoa! Anyone want a puppy?

*Wiggle*

I'm doing the happy dance! I think I've announced this everywhere (facebook, myspace, and such) but here.

I have finished the first draft of book three! (Actually book four but I'm iffy on the first one. Its real violent.)

I'm torn. I already have a new story in the works in my head and I'm anxious to get going with it but...I hate to start something else when I'm not finished with what I was working on before. So do I get to writing the next book or do the re-read/edits on the book I just finished?

Hmm...

And when I asked J, she was no help. She said she didn't know and then started talking about what the stock market did today.

I think she just wants her computer back.

I need a new laptop. I see a barter in the near future!

More excitement!

Today...me and J went down to Pueblo's. Its a little Mexican place with great food and a cool atmosphere. We ate a perfect meal and were walking back to the car when I saw something that just didn't look right. I stopped J and made her look too.

"Holy shit!" she said as we both stood and stared.

In the parking lot, behind our truck, there was a minivan on fire. Flames were shooting from the hood and dancing across the windshield. Smoke was clogging the streets around us. We stayed back and watched while we waited, and waited, and waited for the fire trucks to show up. One of the guys that worked at Pueblo's walked by and said, "I can't believe the fire trucks aren't here yet. The station is behind that building."
He pointed to the building that was behind the lot where we were parked.

The cop was there though. Umm...in South Florida, the police carry fire extinguishers in their cars. I guess that cops up here don't. Because if he did have one, he could have put it out before it got so bad.

So...after about fifteen minutes, the fire department showed up. By this time, the entire front of the vehicle was completely engulfed. It was like watching a bloopers show. The fireman pulled the hoses from the truck and made a tangled mess. When they finally got to the front of the van, he turned on the hose and nothing happened. He followed the hose back and found that one of the connections was leaking. Now there is two more fire trucks and all of them were standing around watching these guys struggle with the hose. Finally, after the windshield melted and the interior began to catch fire, the guys started spraying it with the water. All the owner of the vehicle could do was stand there and watch. I felt bad for the guy.

When the flames were finally out, I walked up to the cop and asked if I could back our truck out of the lot. I figured that the further away our truck was from the firefighters, the better. He agreed to let me.
On the way home, J starts laughing. "I can't believe those people were driving by that. The flames were shooting out across the street."
"I still can't figure out why the cop didn't redirect traffic," I shrugged. At one point, a propane truck drove by it. The burning van was less than three feet from the passing traffic. "I can't believe it took so long for the fire trucks."
J laughed again. "I know. The fire department is really only fifty feet away from where the fire was."
A few months ago, I told J that I wanted to be a firefighter. Even if it was just volunteer. "See, I told you that I should join the fire department. I would have been there and had that out even if I had to jog to it. Hey, can you hand me my smokes?" I pointed to where they were.
"Uh, you wanna smoke after seeing that?"

A few minutes later, we were home. J's dad is home and J starts explaining the excitement. Then they both started looking at me like I had clown makeup on or something.
"What?" I asked.
Mick smiles and J starts shaking her head. "I'm staying away from you. The other night, you called me to tell me the woods were on fire and now, I take you to dinner and a van is on fire. Ten feet from our truck."
I put my hands in the air and swore it had nothing to do with me. But maybe...just maybe, its a sign that I should be a firefighter.

The excitement!

We live with J's dad (temporarily) and he has 8 beautiful acres of wooded land on the side of this mountain. Neighbors aren't very close. We can burn whatever we want and shoot our guns in the backyard and there's no complaints. Hell, if your shooting, the neighbors join in.

Tonight, I'm alone at the house. J is at her aunts house (right down the road. In fact, most of her family lives on this road.), Mick (J's dad) is at his girlfriends house, and Rock...well, I don't know. Not my turn to watch him. I fixed some sloppy Joe's and pretty much have been just chilling out with the animals.

Its been pretty cold all day and the threat of rain has been just that...a threat. It was starting to get dark and I decided I was going to take a ride to the store to grab some smokes (no I haven't quit yet) before it got pitch black. I walked out of the door and froze. Behind the house, the top ridge of the mountain was on fire. FIRE!

My first thought...someone is burning something. No big deal. But then I remembered that the dogs were howling at the sirens I had heard a few minutes before. Hmmm....maybe I should investigate. If there is a fire, I have a lot of animals to evacuate...including a pet raccoon that is vicious.

I call J at her aunts house and ask if she had seen where the fire engines had gone. (The road makes a big U and she was on the other side where the fire was.)

J: No why?
me: Umm...there's a really big fire behind the house. I was about to leave and I didn't know if I should.
J: (talking to her aunt) She says there is a big fire behind the house.
aunt: Ran (her husband) said that Mr. D (our neighbor, just over the mountain) was burning something earlier but no one was out there watching it.
J: (to me) Where are you going anyway?
me: Just to the store. So, is it cool? Can I leave, or should I go check it out?
J: Rita's gonna call around and see if its okay. I'll call you back.
me: Okay.

Its true, most of her family lives on this road. Mr. D isn't related. At least I don't think he is. But she had another family member that lives just over the hill. (Her family is huge.) I got bored waiting, so I climbed up the mountain to get a better look.

That fire...way out of control. I lived on the edge of the Everglades all my life and seen it get scorched many, many times. I've seen small fires turn into infernos in a matter of seconds. This fire, although not as big, was definitely getting too close for comfort and spreading. I made it to the peak and there were firefighters all over the place. Small fires everywhere. I heard them digging in the ground with their shovels and shouting out orders to each other. It was dark, I couldn't really see the men but one by one I watched the smaller fires being put out by the shadows. It looked like they had it under control.

Now, I made a big mistake. I walked up the mountain, in the woods, in the dark without a damn flashlight. Honestly, I had gotten lost up there in broad daylight on a four wheeler last year when we were visiting and had to call Mick so he could signal me the way home. It wasn't funny, but Mick makes sure to pick on me about it every chance he gets. Anyhow, I watched them put out the fires closest to our house then turned around and realized, I couldn't see the path.

Thank God for my dogs. I made a few wrong turns and got tangled in them damn briars a few times, but I followed their barks and howls home.

The phone was ringing when I walked in the door.
J: I've been trying to call. Rita says that the fire trucks are at Mr. D's.
me: No shit. I just saw them. They are all over the place.
She relayed what I said to Rita.
me: Since the fire trucks have it covered, I'm going to the store.
J: (laughing) If you are scared, I'll come home.
I'm thinking, what part of "I'm going to the store" sounds like I'm scared?
me: Umm...nope. I'm cool. I'm going to the store.
J: Alright. But if you want me to come home...
I had to laugh. She lived with me in South Florida. She's been with me to see the fire in the Glades. Fire = no big deal.
me: Uhh, nah. Really, I'm cool and I'm going to the store.

I had to reassure her several more times before she actually let me hang up the phone. God, I love her.

Well, when I got back from the store I grabbed a flashlight and walked half way up the mountain. I stopped when came close to running into the firefighters. I figured they didn't need me in the way. (I really wanted to help. I thought it would help me get my adrenaline fix.) All was good so I went back down to the house.

Fire is out and J is home. And this is the most excitement that has happened around here since we moved here. I think its time to trick out the four wheeler and make a track with some jumps. Real excitement.

How much do you wanna bet that this fire will be the talk of the town tomorrow?