How to... in Mississippi

Tax season is over! It was long and painful, full of long days and early bed times. But now we get to focus on exploring our new state and trying to make due with the landscape we have. As noted in an earlier blog entry we are now bona fide slackliners and the more people that you can round up to slackline with the better. I have succeeded in convincing some fellow Ducks Unlimited employees to take up the slackline banner and follow me into the world of balance and zen. Every day at lunch we go outside set up line and work on our skills. Ryan is hooked and will always be game for slacking in the middle of the work day but I have also convinced Corey, Billy, and Felicia to make attempts at balance as well. Planting season ended on the farm this last month too, which signals the departure of Ross from Louisiana back to his home in Montana. Before he could get on the road though, he needed to make a pit stop in Jackson, yes I know this is not the direction to MT, to say hi to his Mom and sister. We had a good time setting up the slackline, surprise surprise, and visiting about all things relevant. Ross was also kind enough to help us finish up the fabled book case that we have been working on for many, many, many, many moons. But the bookcase now sits appropriately in the office looking very rustic and unique. With tax season over Les had a chance to relax by going to the spa with her mom for a little pampering she has nice orange toes now... I like it. I digress, This weekend was interesting, we had plans to head to Baton Rouge to visit an old high school friend of Lesley's; these plans fell through so we decided "lets go camping "( note, we said this in unison with big smiles on our faces!) With only two days to plan we had to get moving. Step 1. Find a place to camp. This is a little more difficult than you might think. Mississippi , unlike ... say every where in the west, has very little public land. Most land is private and the National Forests are extremely segmented pieces of land that have private land spread within and around it. They are also small. It is hard to find a good camping site because of this and there is little information floating around about where a good camping spot would be. Through some research and some phone calls to the NF we decided on the Bienville NF at Base camp 1. This camp site is on the 23 mile Shockaloe trail and close to the town of Forest, MS. Step 2. Pack up our Toyota sleeping machine with all of the essentials and hit the road on I-20 east. Mississippi is RURAL, I mean RURAL. I know Jackson is rural but leave the confines of the "deep south" and you really get into the "DEEP SOUTH" you can almost hear the banjo pickn' and blues singing in the stillness. It almost brings on an acute sense of claustrophobia. Give me the wide open west any day. We made it to our campsite just as the sun was setting we drove around the loop and saw , nothing. Not one other person was there I liked it, it made Les a little nervous. One thing to note about Mississippi is that though hunting and fishing are integral parts of every day life other outdoor pursuits such as camping and hiking are not so important. Again I digress, we managed to get our camp set up and cook a little jambalaya for dinner we ate our fill and called it a night. The "Toyota Sleeping Machine" did a great job of housing us and before you knew it the sun was coming up. I got out of the "Machine" and went to gather water and start the coffee. I also decided that this was the perfect time to set up the Slackline. It was a long loose line that was fun and challenging and it was great to be in the woods au naturale. ...And this lasted for about one hour. Just about the time Lesley was waking up the clouds were rolling in and it was looking slightly menacing...drip, drop, drip. The rain came rushing in and we moved our selves into a little shelter to try and ride it out. It was breakfast time after all and this was a good spot to stay dry and cook. We had a great breakfast of poached eggs, sausage, and tea. The rain didn't let up as quick as we would have liked and after checking the Iphone (Cheating while camping I know) for the weather update the rest of the trip was starting to look a little bleak. around noon the rain let up a little and we went back to read and do a little slacking. The wildlife were also starting to come out a little after the rain had forced them to take shelter. I watched intently the work of an ant fighting a little spider, Ant 1 spider 0, and then drag it away to enjoy the spoils of victory. (Look Close at the Picture) also giant spiders had taken refuge on the slackline. Just when we were getting comfortable though the strange red necks in their flat bed trucks and mini vans came storming into our campsite . In a very clandestine manner they all got together in the mini van to partake in , what I believe were, nefarious activities designed to shake our confidence in our chosen camp site. Due to the red necks and the weather service's flash flood and sever weather warnings we packed up and moved on. We headed first into the Bienville Wildlife Management Area to see what wildlife we could, as it turned out our little turtle friend was about it. We were getting a little distressed at this point because we had been forced out of base camp 1 by foe and weather and were now trying to salvage a quickly eroding trip. Being in rural Mississippi we decided to go to another portion of the forest called Marathon Lake. On the way we were treated to views of some of the local pride in a local holiday celebrated no where else. You guessed it Confederate Independence Day! The Flags, Confederate, were flown at half massed for such an occasion. you see some back woods excitement just by leaving Jackson for a little while. It is also a fact that state government celebrates this holiday and all state agencies shut down an extra day. After visiting the Marathon Lake Recreation area for some ornithological studies we headed back west to make one more pit stop at Roosevelt State Park, open on Independence day yeah. After our touring, and our disappointment in our camping trip we decided to make our way back to Jackson . ..and then the rain started... Well, we are back and I had the time so enjoy the pictures and we will see what the next trip holds.

Spring Time.

Ok, I know it's about time to update the blog, and I know I have been slacking, um.. quite literally as you will see below, but this is the next installment. I will provide a retrospective of the last month. Les and I have been very busy at work, Les more so than I due to Tax season. She has been working 10 hour days and 6 hours on Saturday too. I do my best to take care of her though. When we do have some time off together we have been trying to relax. One of the ways that has manifested is bird watching. We have turned our deck into a little wild life refuge full of birds, bugs, and a mammal or two. Over the past few months it has been fun to watch the birds come and go and change from wintering to breeding plumage. The American Goldfinch (Carduelis tristis) has gone from a muted yellow brown to a bright yellow and black. Of course the Cardinals (Cardinalis cardinalis) have changed very little but are non the less a lot of fun to look at. We have a finch bag full of thistle that, along with the Goldfinch's the House Finch's (Carpodacus mexicanus) like to play on. And then we have our big feeder that plays host to a wide variety of species including the Carolina Chickadee (Poecile carolinensis) and the House Sparrow (Passer domesticus). The deck, where the seeds fall, also collects some fun birds like the LGB (little grey birds) or more commonly called Dark-eyed Junco var. slate color (Junco hyemalis). Well I digress and I'm sure this is all very exciting to all of you. One last note on birds we have also received a very large wood pecker trying to cling to the feeder its name is the Red-bellied Woodpecker (Melanerpes carolinus) he is about 10 inches tall and impressive. Our herb garden has been discovered by a little squirrel and I have no idea how he gets to and from the deck three stories up, just industrious I guess. On we go... We were able to make it to the farm a few weeks back to visit with Lesley's brother Ross and his girlfriend Adrien while she came to surprise him during corn planting. It was a lot of fun to hang out with them. We managed to go on a good 10k around the farm in training for the Crescent City Classic, and we also just wondered around and relaxed. Most of our chickens have succumbed to the food chain, which is ok, but Lesley's grandfather thought with the pond being built that it might be nice to have ducks. He went out and picked up a couple and then with Adrien in town she went and picked up a few more and also some replacement chickens. They are cute and our one lone Dominicker will surely bring them up in the wise ways of the farm. The old barn is also receiving a face lift. A brand new roof is going up along with the replacement of the truss' supporting it. It will be nice and the barn will last a lot longer now.
The Crescent City Classics 30th running was held this year in New Orleans. Lesley, Tucker and I thought it would be a good event to train for and compete in. We kept up our training miles and then by narrowly avoiding a set back, on Lesley's part, ran the run. One week before the race Lesley's office decided it would be time to start working on Saturdays due to tax season. This was not going over well at the Johnson house but Lesley is a very convincing woman and managed to get the day off. Race day was very nice and the French Quarter was clean and sparkling. We followed our group led by some purple balloons to the start and then we were off , slowly,dodging about 20 thousand walkers, poor planning on the CCC's part, but once we were about half way through the 10k we managed to set a good pace. It was fun to run around the city and end in the football stadium in City Park were we had free Jambalaya, Abita beer, and a concert by Cowboy Mouth. We also were able to squeeze in some time to enjoy the food of New Orleans after the run and then a walk through Jackson Square where the Azaleas (Rhododendron) were blooming. We did leave pretty quickly after the race because the next day was Easter. Easter was unexpected this year because it was so early. We did have a chance to dye some Easter eggs and have a great lunch with Lesley's mom, Tucker, and Baker. They also treated Les and I to an Easter egg hunt with the eggs we dyed. I won of course, but don't ask Lesley if I cheated and stole an egg or two from her basket.
The past few weeks since Easter have really bogged down with work. I have been working a lot with our new Geodatabase at work trying to pull all of our spatial data together and organize a logical spatial model and Lesley has of course been working day and night it, seems, on taxes. She may not admit it but she does enjoy the work and is learning a lot, she's my little CPA. We have taken up a new hobby in our spare time called Slacklining. Because Mississippi is flat, and there are limited opportunities for non hunting and fishing recreation we decided a cheap fun way to cross train and play outside would be to balance on a 1 inch wide piece of tubular webbing strung tight, but not that tight, between two trees, or anything solid. Once tight the fun begins as you try to walk across it. The slackline swings side to side as well as bounces up and down like a trampoline. It really is hard at first but we're starting to catch on and it's beginning to be a lot more fun... in fact I think i'll go slack a little now.. enjoy the video and we'll talk to you soon.

A Month Later!

It's been a month, almost, since our last update to the outside world. A lot has happened, besides work, since we last wrote, most notably the passing of my dear Grandma Miller. Grandmas left this world and is back with Grandpa and that's a good thing. I was able to take some time and fly back to Colorado for a few days to say goodbye and also spend some time with my family, who I never can tell when I will see next. There is always some good that comes out of the saddest of occasions and this time it was hanging out with all of my brothers and cousins. We were able to spend the better part of three days together eating sandwiches and visiting. We had a pool party in Uncle Larry's room complete with two kegs... ahem.. Mini kegs. I also had Fun walking down to the river with Chris, Matt, and Zach. It was a strange experience seeing Fort Morgan, I guess it always is after being away for over 10 years, but it was fun. The iconic images of the sugar factory, always present on the horizon, and the plate river are the two things I remember most... and of course the olfactory (Stress the Factory) stimulation that occurs when you approach within 15 miles of the city limits. Justin, Chris, Josh, and I also had the chance to go to Riverside park and through some heavy plastic disks at pieces of dangling chain... Frisbee Golf. This is a sport that I played a little in college but never really got into but it has now made it to Fort Morgan. If you can get by the Canada Goose do-do you can really have a great time. It was fun. I also spent a lot of time at the church eating sandwiches learning about my grandparents parents, and the past, as well as watching the little cousins perform, which they do well.. it must be a Miller thing. Matt and Zach did a good job of disappearing with Chris, Justin, and I and they got us up to speed on the goings on of New England and their most recent adventures. It was nice to be back in Colorado and I look forward to the next time we all get to hang out together, under better circumstances I hope.

A Walk in the Woods

It was a crisp morning as we drove west on interstate 20 into the dense cypress filled swamps of northern Louisiana this last Saturday, the purpose of our trip was a little walk in the woods, or should I say a run. Last week Lesley emailed me at work about a trail run taking place at Lake Bistenaue state park in Louisiana on the the 9th and wanted to know if we should run. We talked about it and decided it wold be a splendidly spontaneous outing. A co-worker of Lesley's, Michelle, came along as well and we met Tucker in Ruston the night before the race. Well, this takes us back to the first sentence and we are on the way to the race. We get there and it's kinda' cold out which only helps motivate us, I think, to "warm up". The race was a "chip race" were all of the racers wear a small Velcro band with a computer chip in it to accurately time them. We lined up and people started running. As this was a trail run we didn't run on the pavement, nice, and we did run on a narrow sparsely marked rout through the woods. It was a 5k, and after the few minuets it takes to complete that distance, though it feels longer than it is, we all showed up back where we started. We were greeted with hamburgers and beer and it was only 9:00 in the morning. We didn't stick around very long afterwards because we wanted to explore the park and this part of rural Louisiana. It wasn't until later in the day that we discovered that I had taken 2nd place overall in the mens division. It was my first placement and I guess I should of known when I crossed the finish line and there was no body around. But we all had a blast and did great as you can tell from the post race group shot.

Laissez les bons temps rouler!

Today is Fat "Super" Tuesday! It's a lot of things to a lot of people. I hope all of you in the super Tuesday states got out and voted. We in Mississippi have to wait a little while longer for a primary but as I was thinking about writing this blog I was catching up on some of the excitement. Politics aside, Lesley and I have been keeping busy with work and learning how to be domestic. We enjoy things like dehydrating Pineapple while enjoying a glass of wine
and changing our license plates from Arizona to Mississippi (It's about time I know). But one of the most recent highlights had to be our attendance in Belcher Louisiana for the "Krewe of Cotton" annual Mardi Grass parade. This was an extra fun event because Lesley's grandparents were the King and Queen this year. No parade in New Orleans is this great. Lesley's aunt Pam came down to visit so we were able to catch up with her as well as well all watched the parade together. Look at all of our Loot IEEEEE. We even had some king cake before we made our way back to Mississippi. We should have some interesting events coming up but things have slowed down for the time being because, well, lesley works for the "man" the "tax man". As soon as tax season is over we expect the real fun to start. If ever anyone wants to come to Ol' Miss we have a place for you to crash.

Winter?

This will be a short entry but I just had to share this with you guys. I had heard rumors of the possibility of a "Wintry Mix" headed into the Jackson area over night. I thought I had better set an alarm to wake up in the middle of the night and validate the "Wintry Mix". Sure enough, after I figured out what the strange noise (my alarm) trying to wake me up in the night was, I looked out the window and there was indeed a "Wintry Mix" falling. (Look Close for the Mix) I tried to snap a few photos with a low aperture and long shutter speed. Sorry about the blurriness but I need a tripod for this kind of high tech photo journalism. After I went back to sleep and woke up for real, just about an hour ago, yeah Saturday, Les and I went out to investigate. We did find some traces of this thing they call snow. So I can say with a hint of authority that we had a "Wintry Mix" the first alleged spell of such in Jackson since 2000. Well, I thought I should share this.

California Dream'n

Most of you know, if you've been following our blogs lately, that our favorite getaway spot is Santa Cruz, California. Our good friends Jen and Colin decided to tie the knot and we couldn't pass up the opportunity to congratulate them and headed out to the west coast. Now, you might think that this would be a relaxing trip, fun though it was, but it was a 36 hour turn around from Jackson, MS to Santa Cruz and back. We started off on Friday.

Friday January 11th

Lesley and I woke up early, about 4am, to catch our flight from Jackson international to San Jose. I wish I had a picture of us at 4, but it's not pretty. We made our flight and were excited to meet Mrs. Jacquie who so graciously set time out of her day to pick us up. We had a nice visit with her and ate lunch with her in Scotts Valley before meeting Jamie at her house in Santa Cruz. Next off we tried to hastily get ready to head back to Scotts Valley to meet Aunt Pam, Uncle Pete, Lynn, Eric, Emory, and little Sam. We had a really nice time catching up with all of them and seeing how big the kids were getting. It was by now late and we had a busy day the next day so we headed back to Santa Cruz and Jamie's pad.

Saturday January 12th

Now the wedding day has a arrived, but first I must explain about big waves. As the budding surfer that I have become, or think that I have become, I have become interested in waves, and none are bigger than Mavericks! This wave comes in only once a year and is the kind of wave that makes legends. It is, I think, no coincidence that this year Mavericks came in on this day. I begged Lesley to let me grab a board and hang on for dear life but we couldn't have me breaking every bone in my body today so we settled for a walk along west cliff. Now believe me when I tell you these were the biggest waves I had ever seen. I don't think the pictures do any justice to them. I couldn't hang out there all day though so after we saw the ocean for awhile we headed over to Brazil for breakfast and coffee. Ok, I had too much coffee. We had more coffee while we met with Jamie's brother Jeremiah at Pete's Coffee. So many friends so little time. We had to get ready for the wedding so we made our way back to Jamie's house to change and then headed up to Mount Herman on the way to the wedding to squeeze in a visit with Scott and Lynn. We had a great visit with them as well.

The Wedding

We really got to now Jen when we lived in Colorado and played ultimate Frisbee with her at the quad on the campus of the School of Mines. We moved away and Jen moved to Santa Cruz but we always stayed in touch. Jen met Colin and soon after, at our wedding, we met Colin. It was a lot of fun to be apart of their wedding. They had a beautiful ceremony and a wonderful reception . We danced, and ate and had a great time. We can't wait to see you two again soon. After the wedding it was back to Jamie's for some rest before we had to catch another flight back to Jackson.

Sunday January 13th


We met Mr. Ron and Mrs. Jacquie for our ride back to the airport early in the morning. It was fun to visit with them on the way to San Jose. We always have such a wonderful time in Northern California. The flights home were uneventful except for some Texans at DFW reminding some travelers that the Cowboys were going to win the playoffs because they were "in Gods Country"... and then the Cowboys lost, go figure. Now were back home, and back at work and excited for things to come...

P.S. Peter, sorry we didn't get to say hi but we knew you were busy so we took a picture of your bug and thought of you as we left the wedding.