In Search of Jack Macon

So, my search for Dr. Jack Macon continues.  I did a Google books search and discovered this: Perhaps the most celebrated slave in Tennessee was Jack Macon, known simply as “Doctor Jack.”  Owned by William H. Macon of Maury County, Jack was permitted to move about the countryside as an itinerant physician during the 1830s [...]

Things You Learn on the Internet

The “White” of Whites Creek is the husband of Granny White of Granny White’s Pike. Edited to add: I learned this from my around the back neighbor.

Sometimes You See Something and You Say “Oh!”

So, I’m farting around in the Tennessee State Library and Archives’s online photo database… What?  You’re not all the time farting around in old photo databases?  Then what, pray tell, do you do when your day threatens to overwhelm you and beat you down and you’ve still got 5 1/2 hours until you can reasonably [...]

Send Help!

Cookies, Diet Dr Pepper, an alien to abduct me, something.  I am begging you, Universe, for something, anything, to brighten up my day and to give me the strength to make it to quitting time.

Does the Government Know Better than I Do What’s Best for My Family?

That’s the question you have to ask yourself.  And the truth is that the answer varies.  I wish it didn’t, of course, because coming up with a hard and fast rule–”Hell no, the government never knows better than I do what’s best for my family!”–would make things much simpler. But, as I’ve pointed out repeatedly, [...]

Echinacea Tennesseensis

Okay, I know I have some readers who work for the State.  I’m not asking you to out yourselves.  I’m just asking you to ask around and find out two things. 1.) If Echinacea Tennesseensis is endangered and if it only grows in Davidson, Wilson, and Rutherford counties, should willing gardeners in Davidson, Wilson, and [...]

Can We Discuss Annuals for a Second?

Yes, I know it’s not Sunday, but, when it comes to discussing annuals, why should we be confined to Sundays?  Here’s my question.  An annual is a plant that grows, blooms, goes to seed and dies in a year.  A perennial is a plant that grows, blooms, goes to seed, and lives on for many [...]

Reason Number 2 I feel So Fondly Towards the People Who Owned This House Before Me

I do think those are crocuses under the tree by the creek.  That would not be where I planted crocuses.  I planted crocuses further north along the creek in a loose line. I have the daffodils I planted along the front ditch.  But there are daffodils everywhere in the yard. And there are irises everywhere, [...]

Whining about Wine

There is no good reason we should not be able to buy wine in grocery stores.  And, I’m sure, if you read Tennessee blogs, you’ll see lots of good reasons why we should be able to. I would like to talk about two. 1.  Two-buck Chuck (which I believe is now up to three dollars).  [...]

Why I’m Flip

Tiny Pasture is taking me and other female bloggers to task for suggesting that abortion is just another form of birth control and not the slaughtering of innocents. And I am flip about it.  I think it’s clear why I’m flip, but let me be explicit. I’m flip about abortion because most anti-abortion folks in [...]

In Which I Bring The Enemy Into My Yard

Planting the Enemy

The Butcher has asked me to plant strawberries.  Beautiful strawberries.  Luscious, red strawberries filled with strawberry goodness.  The kind of goodness that is constantly trying to kill me. So, since I’ve become allergic to strawberries, I have tried not to think about them at all.  Because I love the and they love to try to [...]