all my rowdy friends

Any of you who have known me for very long know that I used to be a regular at that bar up in the kudzu. That went by the wayside when money got tight and I began having my dollar beer at home. I could write an entire book about what good times we've had there....a few scary ones and several sad ones. Always memorable, though even if in the same old faces every day sort of way. There have been live bands and way too much bad karaoke to even think about...grilled food, football games and pool tournaments. I was there the night that Becky and John got married and had their wedding reception in the kudzu. I didn't know them then, but shortly after Becky started workin' there and they became good friends of mine. We may not see each other that often, but it's always there just the same. I always felt safe going into that bar because there were tough guys around who knew exactly how to handle shit BEFORE it hits the fan. I made a blog/website for the place and it was wildly popular until somebody who was marrying somebody didn't want his picture on there with the ex..heh. All it took was one click to erase that entire period of history. Dont'cha just love technology?

The kudzu bar has always been a favorite birthday celebrating place for everybody who calls it home. Once my friend Yaya fell OFF the stage on her birthday while posing on the dance floor against a pole. Thankfully there was a big biker dude sitting there to break her fall a little. She wasn't right for a week or so after that. When they finally added the patio out back, we all showed up to set up the tables and chairs and enjoy the spring sunshine. Every time I went, I'd pick some kind of flower from my yard and give it to Becky to have behind the bar while she worked. This girl has the patience of Job to put up with that bunch of afternoon guys, in addition to all the other assorted folks who find their way in. Yesterday was her birthday and I picked some buttercups and a couple of budding stems to take to her. The guy who lives upstairs was working for her so she could play some more for her birthday. "It's my BIRTHDAY!" was the mantra. John kept throwing it back at her while she tried to recover from the night before. I can only assume they moved onto bigger and better times after that.

As for us here on the lane, the air is warm, heavy and soggy....prime tornado conditions. We are right smack in the middle of the midsouthern part of tornado alley and it can get pretty scary up here on the hill when the wind gets to howling. Since I've been here there has been only one really close call where a twister tore through the golf course and across the highway knocking out our power for a week. It didn't matter though, because the culvert in front of the dairy barn collapsed from three days of heavy rain so we couldn't get in or out anyway. Sound familiar? See....great Forked Deer flood of '10. Rains began April 30th, Southtown flooded May 4th. My friend Gigi is a real estate appraiser and she knows those dates by heart. We went to Mexico for lunch yesterday and even had a giant margarita before noon. Gotta live it up when you can, ya know?

BG was born with dark hair which promptly all fell out and came back white blonde...taking forever to grow past wispy. All these years she's been various highlighted shades of her natural blonde until yesterday and she decided to do "something different". Like red! It looks great on her too. I do good just to run a brush through mine and get Miss Rhonda to trim it every couple of months. Miss Clairol is my weapon when the grays get to be too many. I rarely wear makeup, and only minimal jewelry. Vain, I'm not. Probably why I was single for so long :)

I'll give ya'll a tornado update later. Keep the faith ^j^