Calvary, GA: Mule Day 2009

Yesterday we went to Mule Day in Calvary, Georgia. It is amazing to me how many people come from miles away to the little unincorporated town of Calvary, Georgia to celebrate Mule Day. There must have been thirty to forty thousand people lined up for the parade and to shop the makeshift storefronts that are jammed into about 10 acres.

A Word of Advice
Mule Day is the first Saturday in November every year. If you want to go next year a word of advice. Enter Calvary from the North on Old 179. There is almost no traffic coming from this direction and you can park for free on Old 179 about 5 minutes (walking) from the parade route. If you don't mind paying $3-$5 you can park right in the middle of everything. Do not enter on SR111. If you do, you will be sitting in traffic for at least an hour before you find any parking. We've taken both routes in years past and prefer the former to the latter.

Here are some pictures we took.

Some of our relatives (on Aim's side, of course).

Nice Hat.

Ride 'em Cowboy.

The slowest mules in the parade. The saddles I mean.

Cute kids. We don't know who they are though.

Anyone can look cool when sitting on a Clydesdale.

Are those donkeys or dogs?

Kappy looking through a covered wagon.

This Farmall is in better shape than the one in our barn.

A little John Deere Green.

This is what a Go-Cart looks like in Calvary.

I'm tired of this parade stuff.

Go Noles! Let's make a bowl game this year.

An old Fashioned Ice Cream Maker.

This is a Cane Grinder. He is shoving sugar cane stalks into the machine. The machine smashes the juice out of the stalk. Some of the juice was squirting back at the guy instead of staying in the machine. If you look underneath the gears in the front you can see the cane juice trickle out of the machine and fall through a strainer.

After being squeezed out, the juice is dumped into a big hot vat and boiled. Some foamy green stuff floated to the top and this guy was skimming the foam off the top. We assume once the foam is skimmed off, the cane syrup is what is left.

Inside one of the booths at Mule Day.

And Now for My Opinion
I do not live in Calvary nor do I have any vested interest in the success of Mule Day. In fact, until a few years ago I absolutely refused to go with my wife and kids (citing my aversion to large crowds). So, for what it is worth, this is what I think of Mule Day.

Mule Day seems to epitomize all that is right about living in the south. People of all races, colors and religions come together to have a good, clean, wholesome time. On one stage there was a band playing "Old Timey" music, on another "Gospel," on another "Rock and Roll," and on another "Modern Country." There are all kinds of well constructed booths with everything from antique furniture to folksy paintings to leather accessories to gardening accessories to any type of food you can possibly think of eating. This list is endless.

In addition to the music and shopping, there are all types of antique motors used for woodworking, picking cotton, making ice cream, etc. as well as antique cars.

There is no large police presence required like you see at some of the festivals and no "Carnival like" feel. The only rides you will find at Mule Day are on tractors, mules and horses. Except for the guy riding the water buffalo of course.

The Mule Day Official Website

I just found out that Calvary's Mule Day has an official website. It is located at Calvary Mule Day.

Stephen Finishes Second in Albany Regionals

Stephen finished second in the Albany Georgia GISA Cross Country Junior Varsity Regional. We are proud of him as this is his first year running cross country. I suspect we will soon be starting another blog devoted to running as my younger son seems to love cross country as well. Stephen is the one in the middle. Great Job Stephen!

Snakes: My Kids Love Them

This is a picture of my son and daughter playing with a snake they caught in the backyard. They are crazy. Neither my wife nor I really like snakes, but our oldest son loves them and he has convinced our other kids that snakes are really cool.

Alligator Road Kill

Only in the south will you get to see alligator road kill. We came upon this unfortunate reptile beside the highway in Hosford, FL on our way to the coast. All I can say is P. U.!

A Beautiful Moth

My kids caught this moth and wanted me to put a picture of it on the blog so here it is. I think moths get a bad wrap sometimes. Most people think they are bland looking and just hang out waiting to destroy clothing. This one was quite pretty.

Young Women's Camp North of Macon

My wife spent a week at a youth camp for girls last week. The camp was just north of Macon, Georgia. In addition to hiking, canoeing and swimming, the girls visited a nearby petting zoo. Apparently about half of the girls didn't really think of it as camping because they slept in makeshift houses without air conditioning. Apparently the other half of the girls thought it was too tough. Oh well. You can't please everyone.

Tropical Storm Fay

For those of you who missed it, Tropical Storm Fay just would not leave. It passed over our house twice (once going West, then going East) and dumped tons of rain. Next door to our house is a cow pasture. These cows were apparently killed sometime during the rain, but I don't know what killed them. The rainwaters were not so high they would have drowned. I guess maybe lightning struck a pool of water they were standing in. That is all I can think of.
This carp may not look like much, but it is one of 3 carp that have been living in our pond for the last 15 years or so. Tropical Storm Fay ended this carp's tenure in the pond. We don't know if the other two survived or if they were washed over the dam and down stream.

A Trip South to St. Augustine

My oldest son's class took a trip to St. Augustine last week and I went along as a chaperone. They had a blast. This picture was taken on St. George Street (a popular retail shopping venue downtown).

Jacob joined the Cub Scout Troop in Whigham, Georgia this year. This is a picture of his first Pinewheel Derby. His car was one of the slower ones, but he did win an award for most unique design.

Today I caught my daughter "clip clopping" out the back door in her diaper. I couldn't resist taking a picture!

Back to School!

This is a photo of my kid's first day back to school. I will miss having them at home, I hope they will be okay!

Dad's New Filly - "Frizzy."

This little Filly was born this month at my Dad's farm in Cairo. He bought the mare (mother horse) and the previous owner thought there was a chance she may be pregnant. For the longest time, we weren't sure if she was or not, until one day voila! He decided to name her "Frizzy because of her frizzy little tail. She is only a day old in these pictures. It always amazes me how they just stand up and walk right after being born!

Mommy's Little Angel - Jersey!

Jersey is the smallest miniature dachshund I have ever seen. She only weighs 7 lbs. She is a good sport to put up with all the kids playing dress-up with her and carrying her around all the time.

Our New Puppy

This is our latest addition. She is a piebald miniature dachshund. We decided to name her "Jersey" because her markings closely resemble that of a Jersey cow.

Check out this cool collage I made using Picassa. I love the Sepia tone. It gives the photos a timeless quality. These are my kids and nephew and niece. 

Feed Me I'm Starving

Look at the mouths on these bluebird hatchlings. They remind me a little bit of dinner time around our house. Four starving young'ins willing to bite your fingers off if you get too close to their mouths.

The hatchlings are about 2 weeks old here. They start out with grey fluff, and turn blue later. Their eyes are open now and you can see the little shafts on their wings. Pretty soon feathers will begin sprouting from the shafts.
The birds are in a nestbox my dad built and mounted to an electrical pole in our back yard. Several wires (about 20 feet above the nestbox) run from the pole to our house and barns - (don't worry, this story isn't about how we electricuted four helpless birds).

Below, Mama and Papa Bluebird sit on the wire waiting for us to leave so they can fly down, enter the nestbox through the tiny hole in front and feed the hatchlings. Mama Bluebird is on the left and Papa on the right.

My husband always teases me saying Papa is much more colorful than his realtively drab female counterpart. If you ask me, what woman wants a guy who looks "pretty." I better not catch my husband putting on make-up!

If you question my dedication to keeping this blog up, you should see my ankles right now. Fire ants have built a hill right underneath the nest and they are quite vicious!

CHOW TIME!

It took me quite a while for me to get these pictures, the adult bluebirds are very skittish creatures! The male bluebird is pictured here with a poor-soon to be devoured-insect in his mouth.

My dad made the bluebird house without a little peg in front of the hole as a perch since the bluebirds prefer to perch on the hole.

One of the parent bluebirds returns about every two minutes with another meal. The baby bluebirds get rather loud when their parent appears competing for the meal.

FEED ME!

All four of the eggs hatched a few days ago. Their wings look like little arms. They are covered in grey "fuzz," and their eyes are not opened yet. I will continue to track their progress in pictures on this blog. Have a great day!

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!

This is what we got to enjoy after a day full of swimming and barbequeing.
My friend Kim made this beautiful patriotic cake complete with sparkler candles. The fruit was sooo good with the chocolate cake and sour cream icing.

MORE BLUEBIRD EGGS

After the last set of bluebirds learned to fly a different bluebird came and built a new nest. She didn't even give me time to clean the box out. She laid these pretty little blue eggs. I will post a picture of the babies when they hatch. 

CORN AND SAUSAGE CHOWDER

1 lb. mild sausage (about 2 links)
1 large onion
3 potatoes – peeled
Salt and pepper to taste
1 tsp dried basil
2 cups water
1-17 oz. can creamed style corn
1 16-1/2 oz. can skimmed, evaporated milk

Remove sausage from “skin,” scramble in water, pour off grease.
Repeat, drain well.
Sauté onion in 1 tsp. olive oil, add meat and all other ingredients except evaporated milk and corn.
Simmer 15 minutes.
Add milk and corn.
Heat, and then serve.

This is one of my favorite recipes that many have requested from me. Real easy to make and soo good! I got it from my mom. Enjoy!

CORN, PEACHES, AND BLUEBERRIES

We took the kids over to my parents' farm in Cairo to pick some corn, peaches and blueberries. They own 250 acres that is leased out to a farmer.

This year the corn he planted is an improved Silver Queen variety. It is the best corn I have ever tasted! It is so sweet and creamy that you don't have to add any butter to it.

We had a little competetion between the kids to see who could collect the most ears of corn in five minutes and my son Jacob won with 25! Now we have corn coming out of our ears!
After this we went over to a friend's house who has a pool and sat beside the pool and shucked all the corn. After we got all hot and sticky with corn juice we jumped into the pool and cleaned off.

My daughter Caroline collected peaches. As for the blueberries; they were so good that they all got eaten before they could make it in the house.

BLUEBIRDS

My Dad built this bluebird house for us last year. He told me to hang it on a tree or pole in an open area. And to place it a good distance from the house, at about 4-6 feet high, and bluebirds would come and make their nest.

I nailed it to an electric pole in the backyard and the next day bluebirds began to appear in our backyard. Before this, I only rarely saw bluebirds, and before I knew it, they were building a nest in the bird house.

The one pictured here is a female. I often see both the male and female working together to feed their babies. Wouldn't that be nice! :)

HARVESTING VEGGIES

This is my first bell pepper of the season. I bought the pepper plant at Wal-Mart. It is the "Big Bertha" variety. I wish it had grown a bit wider. When I cut into it the walls were very thin. I've been told in the past by my grandma that I have a brown thumb.

Since we have moved out to the country, I have been trying my hand at gardening. It has also given me the opportunity to expirement more since we have more land and sun exposure out here. I have started trying the "Square Foot Garden(ing)" method. My husband built me a small raised bed and I have been hewning my gardening skills. I hope that my thumb will become greener!

Last year my son's elementary school handed out "oversized cabbage" plants to all the 3rd graders. They told them that whoever could grow the biggest cabbage would win $1,000. Along with some occasional Miracle Grow applications, my son managed to grow the second place winner! Great job Stephen!

SNAKES ALIVE!!!!

Our family ate at Sonny's Real Pit Barbeque tonight. When we got home there was a snake slithering across the backyard. We couldn't figure out what kind of snake it was so we looked it up online. We found a website on snakes that indicated we had found a "Mud Snake." We found out the Mud Snake was not poisonous, did not bite and is a rather uncommon snake. My husband told our oldest son, Stephen, that if he were the first person to pick up the snake he would be a stud. After petting the snake a few times he got up the courage and picked it up.

Our youngest son, Jacob, was not quite as enthusiastic about holding the snake. It wasn't until we were about to let it go that Jacob mustered the courage to hold it. That was short lived, however, for when the snake began to slither up Jacob's shirt he quickly threw it to the ground.

This was the friendliest snake I have ever seen. It didn't seem to want to leave so we had to pick it up and move it away from the house and under the fig tree. I bet it will like it there. The only problem is now I am afraid to walk around outside in the dark. I guess I will have to drag my feet around so I don't step on him. Yikes!

WELCOME TO CAIRO, GEORGIA

Our family moved here three years ago from Tallahassee, Florida. Not really much of a move geographically (Tallahassee is only 30 minutes south of us) but nearly a world away culturally. In Tallahassee we had wall to wall neighbors (after nine years we still didn't know their names), lived in a shoebox and spent 30 minutes fighting traffic to leave our subdivision in the morning. Not in Cairo. We now have 10 acres, two ponds, a 2,800 square foot home, chickens, a garden and all the amenities of farm life; all for roughly what we sold our shoebox for in Tallahassee. Our neighbors are hard working and pleasant farmers who have gone out of their way to help our citified family adjust to life in the country. Today was hot. The temperature got up to 89 degrees but (like it says on the Weather Channel) it felt like 95. We had one of those strange southern Georgia rains where the sun was shining, not a cloud in the sky, but it rained like crazy.I hope you enjoy the comments and pictures of our life here in Cairo, Georgia. Oh, by the way, the natives in Cairo pronounce it Kay-row.