Short and sweet

Nothing new and exciting to report. Just wanted to share this picture. The point here is not the dog, but rather, if you look closely, the giant puddle of goo that has dripped from said dog after excessive running at the park. She drooled everywhere! Eww.



Also, for those who are not aware, Chowly recently got a backpack for when we go on walks. Some of you scoffed at this idea; however, today she was able to carry the poop bags, a tennis ball, a bottle of water, a small water bowl, the house keys, and my phone! So scoff all you like, but she feels very important performing her new duty! Unfortunately, the weight of everything pulls the bag off to one side so she looks like a lop-sided teenage mutant ninja turtle, but she gets the job done.

Ship Island

Yesterday I took the ferry out to Ship Island with a couple friends from work. This is one of the barrier islands 11 miles off the coast of Mississippi. It takes about an hour to get out to it and no, the oil is not there. The water is cleaner than where I live, though, so you can get in and swim. There is also an old Civil War fort on the island called Fort Massachusetts as well as a snack bar and shaded pavilion.

On an unrelated note, this is a Biloxi sunset from my front porch. Enjoy.

On the way out to the island there were a ton of pelicans. They sit on top of the poles that are marking who-knows-what out in the Gulf.

This is a fishing boat we passed. Apparently we don't like these because the particular fish it catches and/or method used to catch said fish really disturbs the environment. It was hard to hear the overhead speaker so I'm not clear on the details.

Coming up to the island you see Fort Massachusetts first.

Closer view of the fort.

Friendly ranger that will take you on a free tour of the fort. I passed, straight to the beach for me.

You walk about 1/3 of a mile to the beach along a boardwalk. This is what it looks like most of the way.


Someone carved Spongebob into the sand!

Looking down the beach. There is a tower where lifeguards monitor swimmers. On the way out you're told to shuffle your feet as you walk in the water to scare up the stingrays so they don't sting you. I didn't do this and I was fine. Also, there was a kid catching baby jellyfish right near shore...I'm starting to think this water isn't so safe. It sure was warm though!

For a fee you can rent chairs and umbrellas. The only shade on the island is the covered pavilion so it's not a bad idea. Unfortunately it costs $20 for one umbrella and two chairs. I'm too cheap to pay that!

On the ride home dolphins were jumping in the wake of the ferry. I was only fast enough to catch this one but there were two jumping together.

Meet Ricardo

This is my new pitcher plant. They sell them in the commissary here, which is the base version of a grocery store. I saw them every time I went, then this last time I went there was only one left. I decided to finally buy it. It's a carnivorous plant, so bugs are attracted to the pitchers, fall in, and the plants digest them. I killed a couple mosquitoes and dropped them in to get him started. I named him Ricardo.

This is Ricardo hanging on the front porch. Apparently they love humidity so he should thrive here.

My garden! Everything's growing now. I had to thin out the tomatoes and put some in the annex. So far, so good.

Garden closeup by special request from Robin.

I also decided to give Chowly her first Biloxi haircut. This is the before picture. I had to spread the haircut out over a couple days because the razor was dull and could only cut parts of her the first day. Then I had to go buy a new one and finish up. She looked bad that first day, real bad.

This is the after picture! It's only a coincidence that she looks angry here, I'm sure she's actually much cooler and therefore happier...

In other news, I graduate from my nurse training in only a couple more weeks. After that I'll be working on the medical floor on orientation for 10 shifts and finally I'll be set free. I'll be working nights for the first four or so months, which I've never done before so hopefully it goes well. Eek, we'll see.

The Cemetery and Such

I have three days of in a row this week so I thought I'd wonder around the streets by my house and take some pictures. I started in the cemetery. The oldest grave I found was of someone born in 1812 that died in 1895. Sadly, there are a lot of teenagers and children buried here- some of them very recently, like three months ago recent. Also, lots of gravestones have pictures on them of the people laying underneath, it's weird and sad and creepy.

The cemetery is one street behind my house. I come here a lot to walk the dogs and ride my bike. I was unaware, until today, that there was a bee problem.

The people of Biloxi love them some Mary. It's kind of hard to see here but there are 7 statues of Mary just in this one picture, which represents less than 1/4 of the entire cemetery.

I stumbled across this and thought perhaps the Brown family could invest in one so that we can spend eternity together.

But then I looked inside...you can't go in, I tried. You can, however, peak in the windows. The silhouette you see is an angel standing on a table. Resting at her feet is a large key ring with several huge keys on it. I'm talking BIG skeleton-key style keys. Why on earth would you need a key to a grave?? I left immediately and decided not to pursue a Brown Family Monument. Or maybe if we just don't have keys...

One of several amazing trees in the cemetery. This one happens to be my favorite.

Another tree, obviously.

A grave marker peeking around a stump. Kind of cute in a non-traditional sense of the word.

And for those of you who are wondering, no, the oil has not hit here yet. My beach is behind the barrier islands, though. From what I hear some of those have some oil blobs but I think they were still part of Alabama.

I'll keep you posted. This is one of many large drain pipes that empty at the beach. Apparently they connect to the streets and drain the rain water.