We had our first real tomato the other night, as BLTs. It has been getting bigger and bigger and I thought it would never turn red before it split open. It was great, nothing like that store-boughten cardboard fake tomatoe stuff. We aren't making many, and the vines don't have a lot of flowers--been so cold.

The rain has been crazy--14" in May, and it has rained some more after a week or so of it letting up. Big black thunderheads, sideways rain and hail the size of a nickle, blew trees and power lines down all over. In a mile or so around taylor, I saw a transformer on fire, a tree down over the highway, and a pole split in half from the wind. It was so fast it was picking up gravel off the road. Then we had some more hard rain for an hour or so this morning about the time I woke up. 

I guess it's not necessary to say so, but the mosquitos are swarming thick now it is finally warm. Now that its in the 90s most days, maybe the crops and gardens will finally take off. I need to get out and do some jobs; I have the background stuff for 6 reports written, and just need to get a few days its not a) too wet or b) too hot to go dig the holes, collect the samples, take photos and suchlike.

I've been reading Uncle Ed's ancient history schoolbook, the book he used in 1912, when he was 12 years old. It is pretty surprising how much they already knew about the ancient Egypt-Mesopotamia-Persian-Phonician world. Pretty modern to tell kids that the Bible is myths the Jews took from the far-deep ancients, that the stories of the Jews are the quaint and familiar possessions of childhood, but not necessarily so. Also, they assume a better knowledge and understanding of geography than the modern college student has, and use words like "adobe" and "simoon" that today's books would have to explain with one of those wretched "side-boxes." And the maps are all color lithos, with some good cuttings of ancient digs and artifacts. I love maps, especially old maps.

But...I really need something else to read. I made this deal with my mother not to "waste" (as she says) money on books. Well, actually, I unilaterally ammended this agreement to that I would not buy any book that costed more than $1. Which means I have been reading musty old books from the top shelves around here and odd stuff nobody else is interested in from the library book sale table.

I'm kind of busy with surveys these days, a bunch of road and bridge improvements in Coahoma County. One is at the jr. col., not the one I attend, but I could; my county pays to belong to both districts. Part of my reading for these surveys is about Gov. James L Alcorn. I had barely even heard of him, except that our HBCU A&M Alcorn U. is named for him, and that he is buried on an Indian mound. In fact he is buried under a marble statue he had carved of himself. "For $2200 not a bad likeness" he wrote in his diary. I guess his widow had it put on top of him to get it out of the house. Bunch of his matrilineal descendants buried there too--his sons didn't amount to much, the older one came home deaf and drunk and finally killed himself in 1878, the little boy ran off to join the rebles, got captured, escaped, made it to Richmond and died on way home of fever in May '65. Nobody claims him, not black nor white, not Democrat or Republican, but they all admit he was a brilliant lawyer and pol and an honest and just man (he was a white Republican governor and US Senator during Reconstruction, served amicably with the first generation of mulatto and Freedmen politicians). He hurt himself in a fit of pique over the military governor Ames, refused to bring Miss. junior senator forward for the oath, but apparently in resentment for ingratitude rather than racism, and that sort of put an end to his effectiveness. But he deserves to be better remembered than he is--at one time he paid 1/9 th of taxes in Coahoma County, built a railroad, was a reluctant reble general for a little while, and a cotton smuggler to the Yankees at Helena (and got paid in gold and greenbacks). I think we ought to consider him god's little brother if for no other reason than he gave us the levee board in the fifties and public schools in the seventies. Oh, and he repeatedly campaigned to have the formation of Quitman County, a gerrymander if there ever was one, repealed, which would still be a real good idea, as we barely make it and would be better off put back with Coahoma and Panola.

But anyhow, I was going to tell about the MidSouth. It was at Rhodes Col. in Memphis. Even tho we theoretically alternate Memphis and somewhere else, it will be at Rhodes next year too. After nobody else had much of an idea, I suggested geophysics as next year's topic--geomorphology/soils, GIS, remote sensing, non-destructive analytic methods. That idea was because that seems to be what everybody is doing these days. Well, that and I just came back from a remote sensing class, and we sell more volumes if we have it on a particular theme insead of just contributed papers. There was a suggestion of charging attendance fee, whch we have never done, but nobody seconded that. It was sort-o lame, in keeping with recent years. I think last time I went, I was the youngest person there. Maybe it's not just me, maybe archaeology is dieing out with the old folks. There is less cropland, less tillage, fewer academic posts, less public funding, more resistance from the developers, more centralization of cultural resources work in multinational architecture & engineering firms. Another fellow I used to work with, a good archaeologist, told me he is getting out too, becoming a grade school teacher. he will be good at that and probably do the world more good that way. But it is sad to see so many good archaeologists have to leave the field. At least this year there were a few techs and students, a few even read papers. But it was almost all Memphis folks, one person from Arkansas Survey, one from Miss. Dept.. I quess there were 8 papers, and half of them on Ames Plantation. They have 18,000 acres at Grand Junction, where the National Birddog Trials are held, over 200 historic sites, great document record, and plenty of prehistoic sites as well, including a Mississippi period mound group. It's alweays been considered a "vacant ceremonial center" (mounds where chief and priest lived, but no resident town, but now magnetometry has revealed a palisade and rows of houses outlining a plaza in front of the mounds. They're digging some slave cabins on one of the middling plantations, too; they have brick piers indicating 20 x 20' and brick-lined storage cellars, say 2 m square. Oh, yeah, I almost forget, some more Civil War stuff, but one of the mempho contracty firms has found part of the breastworks of Ft. Pickering. This was a big Yankee base, railroad/steamboat transfer depot and training ground/cantonment for the slave volunteeer troops. It has soem Mississippian mounds too.

Then I went to one of my favorite pho (Vietnamese soup) joints and has a big plate of rice, barbeque pork chop and chilli, and plate of lettus, tomatoe, cucumber, carots and some other stuff (raw plant matter) that I have never been able to identify (but it tastes good), all soaked in fish sauce. It was too much and I sorry to say ate it all, but it was good good good. Then I came home, reported summaries of the papers to my father, and went to bed early and slep late.

If you use youtube and have a fancy high-speed connection, unlike me, you can see me running a magnetometer in a video from the National Park Service's National Center for Preservation Technology and Training. I think it's called "National Park Service Geophysical Training." We were at Los Adaes, a Spanish fort from the 1600s and 1700s.

I got up this morning, had tea and started writing at 9 and sat there largely uninterputed until 7 tonight writing, expanding on a remote sensing proposal for the historic cemetery. Got 15 pages, which is a pretty respectable day's worth of writing, in fact 8 pages is pretty good. Now I don't really want to do any more. But I have a report on a survey at Eagle's Nest, near Clarksdale, Coahoma County, a mid 19th century narrow-guage railroad village and cotton plantation that I need to be working on too, so if I don't waste all evening browzing the net, that's what I will do.

I went over to Eagle's Nest the other day with some Ole Miss students to help me. We each found one marble. I found a translucent blue one, then John found an opaque blue and white swirl, then Brianna found one with pale blue and deep red swirls. She said hers was the best and I guess it is. But they were disappointed they don't get to keep them. Then what does happen to all these broken bricks, rusty nails, pieces of dishes and bottles...and the perfectly good marbles? Maybe you saw the movie "Raiders of the Lost Arc", where in the end the looted treasure gets hauled away to a vast dark government warehouse? Yep, they go into perpetual care where nobody will ever play with them again. Yes, I agree it is a shame to lock good marbles away like that when we could be shooting them around the yard. We had gotten a pretty nice marbles court beaten down this spring, but then came 14" of rain and turned the yard into Lake Yakni.

Do single-sex schools still have a role to play? The president of "The W", MUW (Mississippi University for Women, formerly MSCW, Mississippi State College for Women) wants to change the name of this 125-yr old institution to either a) Rambeau (?), 2) Welty, or 3) Waverly University, since they started admitting men 25 years ago. The first is for the founder, the second for writer Eudora Wealty, who went ther 2 years, and the third is for an old mansion house in Columbus named for the Walter Scott novel. She says the "women" in the name of the school hurts enrollment because today's women don't want it on their record and men might think they are unwelcome.
I guess all the women in my family of my mother's and grandmothers' generation went to the W. I would never have considered it, because I had absolutely no interest in being a teacher or nurse. I also think I considered it a stigma of second-class education, which it isn't, as well as a restriction on freedom, which it was in their day. what do you think? Did any of you attend single-sex schools? was it good or bad for you?
We didn't have school today because of the cold rain and snow this morning, which was good with me, because I am sick as a dog.

I studied for 3 hours last nigh, on top of what I did this weekend, but I have a cold. I didn't get to sleep at all last night and was pretty much wiped out when I went in this morning at 8 to take my exam. So I really have no idea how I did, other than none of my answers were uglier than the original, sio I guess if them compacted down that is a good sign. Algebra never made a lot of sense to me. I am much better at geometry and trigonometry. I can see them and so have some idea what the answer I am looking for should look like.
After the test I went back to the vo-tech building to ask Ms. T what we are doing to day and she said, "You're going home." So I did. Daddy went and got me a can of chicken noodel soup and once I put onions, garlic, carrots and celery in it it was okey. Especially with soem lime juice and chili sauce. I may have some more before I take my shower and go to bed.
Maybe we wont have to go to school tommorrow. the boys in surveying class yesterday were talking about an ice storm, but I didn't give it much credit, because it was nearly 60 degrees, and even warmer this morning as there was heavy clouds all night and good south wind, but on news this morning they say Texas and Oklahoma have ice already and it is moving this way. I wonder did Dallas get any? It is getting a little colder and some drizzel, very fooggy. It would be okey with me not to have to go in.
I'm beat so I will not edit this even tho there are spelling and grammar errors. Goodnight.

I guess I have been signed up for the rat-a-day club. I came in the other night and went in the kitchen to make a cup of tea, without turning on the light, and stepped on a large, warm, headless cotton rat. The next day there was a little deer mouse lying on the carpet where I sit in front of the fire. My little pet carnevoirs earning thier keep.
Instead of one cold day a week we have been having one decent day a week. So maybe 20 degrees isn't cold to you but it is pure misery to me. I am out of firewood. Again. I know where so is, but it will take a little work (ax, sledge, wedges) to get it. I guess there is no option.
There have been so many geese around lately the fields where they are grazing look like cotton ready to be picked. My ornithologist friend has been telling me for years now that they have overpopulated their range and will soon crash in population. However, it just seems like there are more and more every year. Conversely, ducks are rare. When I was a kid--the seventies--we never saw geese south of Cairo, Illinois, but had plenty of ducks. Now the oposite. geese breed on the Canadian tundra, ducks in the glacial pothole country of the Dakotas, etc.
I went to Lafatyette County last night, and came home a different way, Hopewell Road and Clear Creek Road. the deer were out all over the place. One hered was about a dozen of them. I wonder do deer congregate by the roads, or is the road a sampling tansect thru a random distribution of deer? If so, there are an awful lot of deer out there judging by the ones standing by the road.
The Mahonia (Oregon holly) are blooming--a stickerbush that makes a grape or olive looking fruit, said to be edible, and bunches of little yellow flowers on the tops. The forsythia is budded out and ready to bloom. I planted lettus, onions and violas Saturday, and took some rose cuttings to try to root. When I watered my plants 9houseplants) this weekend, I counted 45 pots. I'm not real sure on the accuracy of that count, but I think it is close. Which is way, way too many pots. I am tired of all the leaves, bugs, watering and mess from having the one room I can heat and live in like a jungle.
School is already pretty busy. I made a 97 on my first law test, the first accounting test is Monday, and I have an algebra test tomorrow. algebra is going to be the really hard class, and I will be thrilled if I can get a B. Well, before it is over I will probably be thrilled if I can pass it. My technical classes are surveying, architectural drafting and cost estimating (using Excel spreadsheets).
Last Monday (REL/MLK holiday) I went out and made a sketch map of an early 19th century cemetery I am documenting. It was too cold to be out trying to draw a map, but interesting tombstnes and some pretty old cedars. Also, some short-straw pines which I tought was odd. I guess maybe they were air seeded from someone's plantings in a yard, but they are old-senesent. I need to get the work there finished up, it is a lot of privet hedge and also kudzu which will be pretty much impossible to deal with once it greens up.

I haven't left home in over a week, so I went out last night to watch a little TV and say happy new year to my friends in the next county. I havent seen any TV in almost two weeks, so of course it sucked me right into its bottomless morasse. It was a sort-of cloudy day, and I saw something like some sundogs (two little pieces of rainbow on either side of the sun) or the refraction halo you sometimes see around the moon. Both of them (I think) come from ice crystals in the upper part of the air and are generally a sign of the weather changing and usually not for the better. It did get colder, but so foggy and heavily cloudded over that it couldn't get too cold. It's been trying to rain for the last couple of days and done everything but rain; there is a film of water or heavy dew on everything. When I came home at 3 last night I saw 7 deer in separate places standing by the road. Only one ran out in front of me, the rest just seemed to be standing there looking, perhaps waiting for bigger sport than me.

I had noticed that the smoke from the catalpa wood smells unusually good. I was chipping up a piece with a hatchet the other night and find it has a very good smell, like good Japanese aloewood incense. The wood is a homogeneous ash-grey  color and will shave in thin chips. I think it would be good for woodwork. I have never heard of catalpa being used for anything other than an ornamental for its early summer flowers. It's not a very good firewood, that's for sure.