I'm fixin' to blog

One thing I want to try to do more of on here is to share things about the southern lifestyle and growing up in the South. I realize there are lots of things that I do, say, know, think, believe, and experience, many of which aren't common in other parts of the country or the world. But when you've seemingly always known something, or always done things a certain way, it's easy to forget that. It wasn't until just a few years ago that I realized that sweet tea wasn't served nationwide. How do you people live!

One thing I do know is that pecan trees only "make" every other year. Maybe everyone knows that. It's just one of those little bits of information that you pick up somewhere along the way. We have a pecan tree at work. Two years ago, we had bunches of pecans. Last year, just a very, very few. So this year, we're due for a bumper crop, so to speak. Wednesday night, it got very windy here, so I went out yesterday just before I went home to see if there were many pecans. There were! I gathered them until my back began to hurt.

As usual, I came across a few which had already been eaten at by squirrels. It made me wonder if some squirrel wouldn't have enough to eat this winter because I was selfishly taking away its food. Am I interfering with the cycle of nature that God has put in place? Sometimes I wonder silly stuff like that.

When chatting with someone from another part of the country, I try to avoid using certain "southern" words or phrases, such as using "supper" to refer to the last meal of the day. Even though we all know that's what it is. But inevitably, something eventually slips out. A couple of other "southernisms" I've been caught using recently, include:

I'm fixin' to - As in, "I'm fixin' to get ready to go to the store." You might say, "I'm about to get ready to go to the store."

Hunt - As in, "I'm gonna hunt me something for supper." This doesn't usually actually involve the act of pursuing game for food or sport, but is more likely closely related to "I'm gonna try to find me something for supper," probably in a cabinet, refrigerator, or restaurant.

At least I think those are southernisms. Maybe they're just Boneisms. Either way.

In other news, my mother has been sick this week. She's still got her betta that I got her for Mothers Day this year. If you'll recall, I bought Pablo originally for her, but got so attached to him that I had to go back and get her a different one. So last night I was telling her how I've dreamed a few times that Pablo gets out of his tank when I'm changing his water, and ends up on the floor or something. So she's nodding as I'm telling her, and then tells me, "I dream that mine gets out of his tank at night and comes back to the bedroom and starts fighting." Wow! And I thought my fish dreams were weird...

Well, I think I'm fixin' to hunt me up something for lunch. Hope ya'll have a great weekend now, ya hear!

"Misty sunrise in my hometown, rows of cotton, 'bout knee high. Mrs. Baker down the dirt road, still got clothes out on the line..."