Tri-State MS/TN/AL

Status
Not open for further replies.

Elaine Margarett

High and Dry
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jun 24, 2007
Messages
1,718
Reaction score
282
Location
chasing windmills
I've temporarily reloated to Iuka, MS; just over the border from So. Tenn and NW Alabama.

I am seriously suffering from cultural shock! WTF is going on with all the dead armadillos, not to mention cotton mouth water snakes which are so agressive they'll chase you down and wierd orange wasps that cause your flesh to disintingrate if stung? Then there's fire ants and coyotes and tornadoes and the paper mill that spews toxic fumes...

And nobody understands me when I speak. Don't these people have tvs? I can't be the only non southern voice they've heard.

HELP!

Is there such a thing as culture here? Any writers nearby? At least after two months I've been able to get online again. Thank goodness!!

EM,
a displaced yankee
 
Last edited:

jodiodi

Reflections of Reality
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jan 2, 2007
Messages
3,870
Reaction score
611
Location
Step into my nightmare
I'm in TN, northwest of Nashville. Originally, from SE GA and my husband was born in the Philippines and raised in Chicago. I'd be happy to translate for you. At least you're not in the land of 100% humidity, swamps, rattlesnakes, cotton mouths, alligators, giant mutant spiders and Palmetto bugs (AKA the giant North American flying roach). That's where I grew up.

Try to enjoy your time down here. Magnolia trees, crepe myrtles, warm winters, spanish moss, good food and sweet tea. Once you're back in the cold, wet parts of the world, you'll probably miss it.
 

Elaine Margarett

High and Dry
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jun 24, 2007
Messages
1,718
Reaction score
282
Location
chasing windmills
Thanks Jodiodi!

I'm familiar with the area north of Nashville as we drive to Lex., KY at least once a month. Believe me, once you get about two hours south of Nashville the landscape really changes. Nothing but pine forest, armadillos, and yes, lots and lots of snakes.

We're renting a farmhouse on a 200 acre farm which is surrounded by water on three sides- Pickwick Dam, the TN river and the Tombigby waterway. Fourtunately we have lots of fields, guinne hens and wild turkeys so no snakes near the house...so far.

However, I was told there's wild pigs in the woods. Did you know their tusks grow once they get loose and are no longer fed pig feed that retards the growth of tusks? <shudder>

No long walks in the woods for me!

EM
 

jodiodi

Reflections of Reality
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jan 2, 2007
Messages
3,870
Reaction score
611
Location
Step into my nightmare
You're in a pretty section of the state. Yeah, wild boars (hogs) are pretty tough. We have some back home. My husband wouldn't know a hog if it bit him on the butt.

When we go home to GA, we take 24 to Chattanooga then 75 through Atlanta, to 16 in Macon and turn off in Dublin to take the backroads home. North GA is beautiful but once you hit the gnat line, it's flat, swampy and hot.
 

Elaine Margarett

High and Dry
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jun 24, 2007
Messages
1,718
Reaction score
282
Location
chasing windmills
It'll be better here if I can bring one of my dogs down. I'm travelling home to MD for a month (yippee!). Our house is there as well as our two college age children, two cats and our dogs, a male and female German Shepherd. I'm not sure we can talk our landlord into letting me bring a dog back. He has beef cows and calves and I know he's concerned about the dog. I was a professional dog trainer and my dog is completely under my control so I'm hoping he'll take that into concideration. THis is the first time I've been dogless and I really, really miss them (dare I say more than the kids?).

You mentioned good food...would that be the pig brains, egg and bologna sandwiches or the slugburgers, all food featured on local menus?

Elaine,
missing Tess and Steve (the dogs) more than ever!
 

jodiodi

Reflections of Reality
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jan 2, 2007
Messages
3,870
Reaction score
611
Location
Step into my nightmare
I don't know where you've been eating, but I've never heard of any of that stuff.

Chicken and dumplings, peas & butterbeans with ham, creamed corn or corn on the cob, boiled peanuts, pecan pie, fresh tomatoes in the summer (not the store-bought crap), chicken and rice, cheddar cheese cornbread, buttermilk biscuits ...The list goes on and on. My husband's stepson, when we went home the first time with the kids, said, "If it's from the South, you gotta put it in your mouth!"

That other crap, I've never even heard of and nobody I know eat's it.
 

Elaine Margarett

High and Dry
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jun 24, 2007
Messages
1,718
Reaction score
282
Location
chasing windmills
LOL. Where I've been eating is Mississippi/Pickwick TN. Believe it or not, because of the water, this area is considered a resort! There are more bait shops around here than grocery stores and restaurants combined. In fact, they DO combine the grocery/bait/restaurant all in the same metal prefab building.

There isn't any good local produce because the soil around here won't support it. Nothing but red clay and loblolly pines. And seafood around here are the catfish they pull out of the bottom of the TN river.

The pig brains, which they mix with eggs comes canned. I took a pass on that. Slug burgers are a combination of pork, cornmeal and I forget what else. They have a Slugburger festival here to celebrate it. Can't wait~
 

san_remo_ave

Back at it
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Sep 27, 2006
Messages
3,336
Reaction score
628
Location
Middle TN
Website
www.elainegolden.com
Hi Elaine!

Just spotted this thread and thought I'd pop by and commisserate with you.

I'm originally from MD, too (Montgomery Cty) and married an Alabama boy. We live south of Nashville (close to Jodi --hi, Jodi!). I went thru the culture shock about 20 years ago --ha! Stear clear of the polecats and enjoy some of the best bbq in the country (if you like bbq --me, not so much). The people can't be beat --I don't miss the crush and hauteur from back north.

Never heard of slugbugers, but I'm afraid just the name would turn me off. Blech.
 

Elaine Margarett

High and Dry
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jun 24, 2007
Messages
1,718
Reaction score
282
Location
chasing windmills
I'm about three hours southwest of Nashville just over the TN state line in MS. and about four miles as the crow flies from ALa.

Montgomery County is beautiful this time of year. :) Although I must admit we've had lovely weather here in MS. Much cooler than I'd thought it would be this time of year. The farmhouse we're renting is surrounded by huge oaks and we're completed shaded by their canopy. Very pretty.

Anybody listen to Paul Thorn? I just discovered his music and I'm completely smitten. Dh and I are going to see him at a concert in Muscle Shoals.

EM,
finding things she likes about MS, like Sister Schuberts dinner rolls~
 

Chris P

Likes metaphors mixed, not stirred
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Nov 4, 2009
Messages
22,617
Reaction score
7,295
Location
Wash., D.C. area
Hey Elaine!

I don't know if you'll see my reply in the other thread, so I'll reply again. I'm south of you by a few hours in Starkville. I'm a Midwestern Yankee originally from Iowa, and yes, Mississippi has taken some getting used to but there is something about the South that makes people want to write. My wife is southern so it seems I might be here for a while. Let me know if you ever get down this way (or even Tupelo for that matter) and we can grab a coffee somewhere.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.