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photo / Samford / Wednesday — Comments Off
16
Apr 14

Just a few more pics

Basically I’ve seen my office, the pool, a few colleagues and students this week. It was raining and overcast on Monday. And we had a nice bit of sunshine yesterday. I was inside all day. And, so, I present two of the most beautiful things I’ve seen this week.

This flowering dogwood is on Samford’s campus, not far from my office. It never disappoints in the spring:

And, beautiful in a different way, french fries from Milo’s. There’s one just down the street from campus. And so, occasionally, I indulge.

Milo got his start as a cook in the Army during World War II. He came home, opened a restaurant and started working on his burgers. It is a love it or hate it think, everyone agrees. Now they’re starting to expand outside of the state, at least their tea business. This has never made sense to me. The tea is fine, but it is tea. At some point tea is tea. And there is better tea. But now that’s what Milo’s is known for.

A lot of Milo’s doesn’t make sense, granted, but it works.

Today? We had class. And then I made recruiting phone calls. And we critiqued the newspaper. And then I made more phone calls. And then more grading.

So you see why fries were important.

iPhone / photo / Tuesday / windshield time — Comments Off
15
Apr 14

Stuff from the road

On the way to work I drive under an under-construction spaghetti nest of overpasses. Ultimately it will join this and that. The ramps up are built. The overpass superstructure is complete. I thought they might be almost finished — it has been a few year.

And then I looked through the sunroof:

Nope, not quite ready to drive on that yet.

The famous lakeside sign pointing out to the freeway. You actually have to stop to get at a good shot of it. I never seem to be going by it on a day when the skies cooperate and I am not running behind on my way from there to here, or, worse, here to there.

Maybe I should make a category called windshield time. It would be well populated.

iPhone / Monday / photo — Comments Off
14
Apr 14

Felis domestica

I think we all wonder, from time to time, what a pet or a small child is thinking. The kids’ thoughts are probably more interesting, but that doesn’t keep us from wondering why animals do the things they do.

Probably she’s thinking “Pet me. But not like. Like this. That is enough and now you will stop.”

And “Tuna, hooman.”

“I have an important business meeting in the other room that began five minutes ago!”

“Where is the next nap? What window is holding the sun now?”

And “Super Allie!”

“Tuna, hooman.”

photo / weekend — Comments Off
13
Apr 14

Catching up

The weekly post with extra pictures. And, this week, we’ll wrap up the many days of interesting tidbits from New Orleans.

Like this door:

And, nearby, these door handles:

And also, this street performer. “Hey, what do you do?” I balance.

You know you’ve been thinking about that peanut butter and bacon burger. I have to, but not in an obsessive way. I liked it, I don’t feel the need to have another, but I’m pleased with the memory:

Mirrors reflecting mirrors reflecting mirrors in the Sheraton. This reminds me of all the bad things we saw in the 1970s.

And, on the way home, there’s the Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Alabama, just outside of Montgomery. The billion dollar plant opened in 2005 and employs 3,000 people. Secondary industry tied to the plant put another 5,500 or so to work.

Successes at that plant convinced Hyundai to drop more money into a Kia plant, just 75 miles or so away across the line in Georgia.

adventures / history / photo / weekend — Comments Off
12
Apr 14

Washington Artillery Park

This is a gun guarding over the Mississippi River, just off Jackson Square, standing in honor of the Washington Artillery, the 141st:

It is a still-active unit, which first drew colors in 1838 (though the unit has an unrecognized pre-history) in the Louisiana Army National Guard. It is the Louisiana Guard’s oldest unit, in fact. It is also the oldest artillery outfit in the nation outside the original 13 colonies. There’s something special about that gun, one of the unit’s original four-pounders.

The Washington Artillery received its regimental flag in 1846 after serving under Zachary Taylor in the Mexican–American War. Four companies of the regiment served in the Army of Northern Virginia and a fifth for the Army of Tennessee. Domestically they worked floods, yellow fever outbreaks and labor riots. World War I ended with the 141st still training in France, but their sons earned a Presidential Unit Citation for the Washington Artillery in World War II. In Europe they saw 463 days of combat and fired 150,871 rounds during 7,004 missions and occupied 108 positions. The modern guardsmen saw action in 2004 through 2005 and in 2010, in Baghdad.

Many of the members were still in Iraq when Katrina hit the Gulf Coast. They rotated back and a detachment immediately went to work in rescue efforts here at home and ultimately worked with state and local police to combat looting and other crimes in the New Orleans area. They patrolled at home for an astounding three-and-a-half years. Many of their own homes and their barracks, were flooded in the storm.

Battles? You name it, they’ve been there. In the Civil War they were at both battles at Bull Run, Shiloh, Sharpsburg, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, Chickamauga, Chattanooga, Atlanta, Appomattox and many more. In World War II they fought in Algeria, Tunisia, Anzio, Po Valley, Rome, Sicily, Normandy, the Ardennes and Germany. Sgt. Lee Godbolt, the last member of the unit to have died in the line of duty, was killed in Iraq in 2005.

Their coat of arms has both the growling tiger and a pelican tending the nest of chicks.

Their unit motto, perhaps the best ever: “Try us.”