LBeau says he had experience in college making similar contraptions. The fraternity boys used them to launch water balloons at the sorority houses. I'm sure that made a good impression on potential dates.
Anyway, I'll let y'all know how it goes.
We’re back from our trip to London, and I’m just about over the jet lag. Since I need to get back to blogging, I’m going to join Chari at Happy to Design for Sunday Favorites. Chari makes it easy for bloggers by letting us re-post a favorite from the past, so be sure to head on over to see what others are sharing.
While we were in London we noticed that the British Royal Legion was in middle of its Poppy Appeal, a fund raiser held in conjunction with Remembrance Day, their equivalent of our Veterans Day and also celebrated on November 11. At Westminster Abbey, poppies were displayed on small wooden crosses in a Field of Remembrance to honor those who had died in service to their country, and they were also offering poppies to wear on your lapel for a donation of any size.
I was reminded of the small paper poppies from my childhood that people in this country used to wear on Veterans Day. They may still be worn, but it’s been years since I have seen any. So in honor of Veterans Day, coming up this Wednesday, I am reposting something I wrote last year.
A Sunday Favorite
On this Veterans Day I am reminded of my father, Captain Thomas Benton Walker, Sr., who served with the Timberwolves during World War II in Germany, France and Belgium.
After reading Scott Turow's Ordinary Heroes I became intrigued by The War and started going through a scrapbook that my Aunt Sissy, Daddy's sister, compiled with letters, photos and other things Daddy sent home from Europe. Unfortunately, I didn't even know about the scrapbook's existence until after Daddy died.
If you've been reading my blog for a while, you may remember that we've been having an ongoing battle with the neighborhood squirrels, who like to make their way into our attic and keep us up at night.
We've tried hiring professionals to catch them and carry them off to another zip code. They've put traps on the roof, traps on the deck, and traps in the attic, but in the past four or five years, they've only managed to catch one squirrel. And he died anyway, because it was on Christmas day, and by the time they were able to come carry him off, he had succumbed to nature.
Last March LBeau decided to get serious about the squirrels and ordered some "real" traps from F&T Fur Harvesters. Designed for capturing mink and muskrats, LBeau thought they would be perfect for catching squirrels. They came in no time, but for months they sat in a box in the basement, and I was about to chalk them up to another one of those purchases that never gets used.
This fall, however, LBeau got out one of the traps and set it in a flower pot on the deck. He placed it close to the spot right outside our bedroom where I have on numerous occasions watched a squirrel take a flying leap from the deck, scurry up the brick beside the den window, scramble onto the light fixture, and leap onto the roof, all in the span of about five seconds.
A few days later, the trap was sprung, but we failed to catch a thing. Then one day LBeau came home from work and found the trap missing. After a quick search of the area below the deck, we found it in a flower bed. Something had obviously been caught but had managed to free itself. In fact, a closer look at the trap revealed a tiny toe caught between its jaws. At this point we decided we should probably nail the chain that's attached to the trap to the deck.
At 2:30 this morning, I was awakened by a commotion outside our bedroom. At first I thought it was probably a squirrel running around in the gutter, but I soon decided that the trap had finally captured its prey. Although I had to relocate to another bed to get back to sleep, I was comforted knowing we were about to be rid of the squirrel.
Not so fast. It seems that what we had really captured was a rather large raccoon.
When I went outside to take his picture before LBeau turned him loose, he took a flying leap, pulled the chain loose from the deck, and headed down the steps into the early morning darkness. Fortunately, the chain caught on the deck railing, and LBeau was able to set him free.
In the meantime, during his captivity he decided that my garden hose had something to do with his predicament, and he proceeded to chew it in half.
So we're back to square one with the squirrel. If anyone has any suggestions, let me know.
When I got this picture in an email earlier this week from my sister-in-law Susie, I knew I had to share it on Pink Saturday. It makes me happy just looking at it.
It also reminds me of a saying that I have pinned to my bulletin board. I'm not sure who gave it to me, but I think about it all the time, since I'm married to an engineer. So here's my thought for the day.
"Arguing with an Engineer is like wrestling in the mud with a pig. After a while you realize that the pig enjoys it!"
Happy Pink Saturday everyone. Be sure to stop by Beverly's place at How Sweet the Sound for more Pink Saturday posts. By the way, I just love Beverly's new fall "dress."
Every good Southern girl learns things about cooking from her mother, who learned them from her mother, who learned them from her mother—things like how to fry okra or make cornbread or brew sweet tea.
Bless her heart, my daughter-in-law Katie did not learn Southern cooking from her mother. Diane is a fabulous cook, having once owned her own catering business, but these are West Coast girls, and Katie spent most of her growing up in Los Angeles and Seattle.
So when she and Brent purchased some purple hull peas at a farmer's market in Savannah, where they now live, Katie turned to the queen of purple hull peas, my mother, for instructions on how to prepare them. As Katie tells it, the conversation went something like this.
Katie: Mema, I bought some purple hull peas, and I need you to tell me how to cook them.
Mema: Well, you season them and cook them in water for about two hours.
Katie: Two hours?!! Oh, then I guess we won't be having them for dinner tonight. I thought you just had to heat them up good.
(Note: This conversation took place about 6 p.m. one evening.)
Katie: I guess I'll just cook them and save them for tomorrow night. So how do I season them?
Mema: Well, you season them with a little salt. I also used to put bacon drippings in mine, but after all the talk about cholesterol a few years ago, I started using oleo. So just sprinkle in salt to taste and add some oleo. Bring them to a boil, then turn down the heat, cover them and simmer for about two hours.
Katie: So that's all you do?
Mema: That's all.
Katie: Just one more thing, Mema. What's oleo?
Last weekend we gathered in Auburn for the wedding of Wanda's son Braxton to Catie.
A couple of years ago, Wanda's daughter Katie (now is that confusing, or what) married in Atlanta. Here is the video of Katie's dance with her father Ralph.
Now if you knew Wanda, you would understand that she was not about to be upstaged by her husband. So I invite you to take a look at Wanda's dance with Braxton. Unfortunately, the camera was turned in the wrong direction for the first part of the video, so you'll just have to turn your head until it gets corrected.
I'd say that family has some serious talent!
Once again it's time for Sunday Favorites, hosted by Chari at Happy to Design. This is one of those memes that I really ought to participate in every week, because Chari has made it so easy for us. All you have to do is repost one of your favorite posts from the past. And Chari even gives directions for doing just that.
This week, in honor of the Razorbacks' 44-23 victory over Auburn yesterday in Fayetteville, I have decided to share my post from exactly one year ago. A year ago Tommy Tuberville was coaching Auburn. This year he was predicting a three-touchdown Tiger victory. Maybe he needs to rethink that.
Ironically, this year our weekend was also about football and weddings and Auburn and Arkansas. Yesterday afternoon as the game was winding down in Fayetteville, we were headed to Auburn for the wedding of Ralph's and Wanda's son Braxton.
So life really is about more than football, and it's all good!
A Sunday Favorite
It just doesn't get much better than this--a football weekend in the South. Add to that a Friday night party for Ben and Claire, and you have a perfect weekend. 
Saturday morning bright and early, LBeau and I headed to Auburn with the red F-150 loaded with grills, tables, tailgate chairs and food to set up for the Alabama Chapter of the Arkansas Alumni Association Tailgate Party. We've been doing this for at least 10 years at either Auburn or Tuscaloosa, cooking burgers and dogs for all Hog fans who stop by. The money we raise goes to our chapter scholarship fund.
