The Kudzu Files

I know, I know, I promised these months ago.  They fell victim to yet another blog hibernation.  But it’s time to wrap up the remodel project, so now I give you the end result.  And yes, we’re very, very pleased with the result.  Remodeling the kitchen has completely transformed our house, and we love it.  Let’s start at the beginning, just for a little perspective:

And here’s where we ended up:

To give you a little perspective, the refrigerator is roughly where it was before. Click on the photo to see a larger picture. Here’s a slightly different shot, showing the island:

This is looking towards the front of the house, down what was before a long, dark hallway, where the washer and dryer had a little enclave. Now it’s a shorter, brighter hallway, flanked by those great cabinets:

And here’s our great new sink area:

This laundry area was once basically our entire kitchen!

And the washer and dryer, now no longer in the middle of the house, vented right through the outside wall (clothes dry much faster!)

In the end, it took a little longer than expected - closer to 8 weeks than 6 - and cost a little more than planned, but not much, and most of this was due to decisions we made that we knew would inflate the cost. But it was still only about 10-12% over the estimate. And as I said, we love our new kitchen. Really, we love our new house!

Late summer/early fall here means it’s Sweet Autumn time. This is one of the few vining plants I have, and I love it. It’s reliable, hardy, and outdoing itself this year:

The Clara Curtis chrysanthemum can’t be far behind!

Mississippi State at Auburn

Mississippi State opened the year like they closed last season, with an offense clicking and a QB who looked like a QB. For Bulldog fans, that’s a new experience. The defense looked decent, except for some breakdowns in pass coverage, but what else is new? Still, it was only Memphis. The next two games will tell much about Mississippi State.

Which brings me to - it was only Utah State! What was Auburn doing letting that team nearly steal one from them? Utah State might be much improved this year, but I’m not buying that we saw the real Auburn team last Saturday. Call it FTWCS - First Time Without Cam Syndrome. With fear and much trepidation…

Mississippi State 26, Auburn 21

South Carolina at Georgia

The Gamecocks gave up points early to East Carolina, then figured out that the season had started. And Stephen Garcia was released on bail in time to lead South Carolina to a second half comeback. I haven’t seen him on any court dockets this week.

After the first quarter, Georgia really wasn’t in the game against Boise State. With so many new faces, maybe that wasn’t surprising. But they need to come together quickly - like, now - if they’re going to compete for the SEC East title. Lose this one, and you’re already in the hole against one of the main contenders. Win, and you’re ahead, plus you get to see a visor-tossing exhibition with lots of grimacing.

Georgia 30, South Carolina 28

Alabama at Penn State

The Big Tweleven sends one if its Leaders up against Alabama, as Penn State, led by coach Joe “Most of the first players I coached are dead now” Paterno. JoePa hasn’t decided on a quarterback yet, preferring to use two. That way they’ll only get half as beaten up by Bama’s defense. There was a time when this would have been a huge matchup in college football, but only JoePa has been around long enough to remember when.

Will Penn State be able to run at all against the Alabama defense? If they can’t, Happy Valley is going to be one seriously unHappy place. At least the Big Tweleven isn’t sending one of their Legends against the Tide.

Alabama 35, Penn State 17

New Mexico at Arkansas

New Mexico auditions for the Big 12 against Arkansas. Why not, I hear there’s going to be a bunch of vacancies in that league very soon. The Lobos are probably taking some confidence from fellow MWC member Utah State’s game against Auburn. There’s just one problem with confidence games - they aren’t what they appear to be. Which is what New Mexico will find out very early.

Arkansas whacked Formerly-Southwest Missouri State back to the southwest last week. While the Razorbacks looked dominating, against an opponent so outclassed you can’t tell much. Same story this week. And next week, by the way. Then comes Bama.

Arkansas 54, New Mexico 14

UAB at Florida

The Blazers open their season against FLorida, which opened its season last week by destroying the Atlantic Ocean. Or at least their part of it. UAB probably isn’t a bad C-USA team, but they aren’t a particularly good one either. They have a tendency to play SEC schools close, however.

Florida isn’t the Florida of old (Joe Paterno remembers when they were great). The Gators rolled over Howard Schnellenberger’s Florida Atlantic team in workmanlike fashion (Joe Paterno also remembers when Schnellenberger was great, too). They’ll win this one, but not so easily.

Florida 34, UAB 20

Central Michigan at Kentucky

Central Michigan has trouble moving the ball and scoring against other MAC teams. Why should they think they have a better chance against Kentucky?

Because Kentucky, based on their performance(?) against Western Kentucky, doesn’t seem to be very good. Oh sure, they’ll win - with all the talk about conference changes, they can’t afford to embarass the SEC by losing - but the concerns about who would move the ball are justified. Joker ain’t laughing.

Kentucky 23, Central Michigan 7

Northwestern State at LSU

What, did the Louisiana legislature force LSU to schedule this game? Or did they think they were getting that school from Chicago?

LSU 68, Northwestern (State!) 10

Southern Illinois at Ole Miss

Southern Illinois is the Salukis. Are the Salukis. Whatever a Saluki is, or was. I don’t know much else about them.

The thing is, they’re playing Ole Miss. Ole Miss has a disturbing habit of losing to, or almost losing to, teams well below them in the food triangle. I’m not sure if Joe Paterno is old enough to remember when Ole Miss was good.

Ole Miss 30, Southern Illinois 10

Cincinnati at Tennessee

Cincinnati, being a mid-level C-USA team, shouldn’t really have much of a chance in this game. They battered Austin Peay last week, but Austin was dressed like he wanted it. And he’s little.

But Tennessee is not your father’s Tennessee (who, incidentally, would have said “this is not my father’s Tennessee”). Yeah, they beat Montana, but they should have. This may be more of a game than Vol fans expect.

Tennessee 26, Cincinnati 23

Connecticut at Vanderbilt

UConn tied for first in the Big East last year, and then showed why the Big East shouldn’t be an AQ conference. But still, they were a decent team. They opened 2011 by easing past mighty Fordham, led by a defense that basically ate Fordham’s running backs.

Meanwhile, Vandy was cruising past Levon - dang it, Elon - in typical Vandy fashion. OK, there isn’t a typical Vandy fashion. It’s just hard to find much to say about their football team, except that they typically give Ole Miss fits. Joe Paterno may never have heard of Vanderbilt. This game won’t do much for their street cred.

Connecticut 31, Vanderbilt 21

Mississippi State at Memphis

As far as Bulldog fans are concerned, the Gator Bowl ended a couple of days ago. The Dogs are rolling, with Atlanta squarely in their sights. Chris Relf is a dark-horse Heisman candidate. Maybe they are rolling. Maybe he is. Maybe Jon Huntsman has a chance. But the offensive line has to be rebuilt. And those great linebackers are gone. And nobody is ignoring Mississippi State this year.

Memphis is rebuilding. Memphis is always rebuilding. They’re like that fishing camp right down by the river, which gets flooded out every spring and you have to drag a new trailer in there. But when you’re 1-11 last year, rebuilding isn’t a bad thing.

Mississippi State 38, Memphis 13

Western Kentucky vs. Kentucky (LP Field, Nashville)

Kentucky has a coach named Joker. Or maybe they have a joker thay call Coach. They lost most of their offense, which was good at times, and a chunk of their defense, which wasn’t.

Western Kentucky was 2-10 playing in the Sun Belt Conference. Last time I checked, they weren’t on the list of potential Big 12 replacements.

Kentucky 34, Western Kentucky 10

Kent State at Alabama

Much is expected of Alabama. Much is always expected of Alabama. Just ask Bill Curry. Mark Ingram is gone, Julio Jones is gone, Greg McElroy is gone. That’s about all that’s gone.

Kent State won’t be able to tell the difference. When a train is running over you, can you really tell whether the engineer is wearing a hat?

Alabama 66, Kent State 3

Missouri State at Arkansas

Arkansas thinks this might be the year. Not that 10-2 was bad last year, but the -2 part meant they weren’t challenging for the SEC West title. Ryan Mallett is gone. The ofensive line is mostly gone. They have the running backs and receivers if somebody can get them the ball.

I had to do a Google search to find “Missouri State”. Turns out they used to be directional - they used to be Southwest Missouri State. Being non-directional won’t help them.

Arkansas 45, Non-Directional Missouri State 10

Utah State at Auburn

Auburn doesn’t have Cam anymore. Which means nobody really knows what Auburn does have. Wel, other than Michael Dyer. They also lost much of their defense, but really, did anybody notice whether Auburn had a defense last year?

Utah State wasn’t very good on defense last year. Even if they’re better this year, it won’t make a difference in this game. Utah State is also not mentioned as a potential Big 12 replacement.

Auburn 39, Utah State 13

Florida Atlantic at Florida

Florida had a miserable season by their standards in 2010. Fortunately, neither the offense nor the defense has many starters returning, so maybe they won’t remember. John Brantley, however, is still the quarterback. Gator fans don’t seem to be particularly happy about that.

Florida Atlantic is one of 472 schools playing college football in Florida. Like Western Kentucky, they’re in the Sun Belt Conference. They beat WKU by one point last year, so theoretically they’re a better Sun Belt Conference team than the Hilltoppers. That won’t matter here.

Florida 40, Florida Atlantic 7

Boise State vs. Georgia

Georgia has a good young quarterback in Aaron Murray. But he may not know the names of any of his fellow starters on offense. That wouldn’t matter so much if they were opening against Middle Westbury State, but they’re not. The defense has a few starters back, and some promising newcomers. That wouldn’t matter so much if they were opening against Middle Westbury State, but they’re not.

Not so long ago, Boise State was one of those teams that you scheduled for your opening game. They weren’t really a directional school, they were more of a pseudo-directional school, but still. Unfortunately, nobody can remember exactly how long ago bthat was. kellen Moore is back for his 9th season as the Broncos’ starting QB. He’s not sure who he’ll be throwing to, but he’s sure he’ll figure it out. The defense was very good last year, but that was against the WAC, mostly. If Georgia was smart, they’d have scheduled this one outside in the southern heat and humidity.

Boise State 30, Georgia 24

Oregon vs. LSU

LSU is expected to be one of the top teams in the country. LSU is always expected to be one of the top teams in the country. Then the season starts. And this year, the season starts without the guy they thought was going to be the starting quarterback. Stupid is as stupid does. LSU is loaded with talent, as always. But they’re playing a team that’s also loaded with talent, who has their starting quarterback.

Oregon has most of their skill offense back. They score points the way Auburn hands out money to quarterbacks, except more in the open. Their defense has a bunch of new faces - semi-new faces - but then, they’re playing a team without their starting QB.

Oregon 32, LSU 27

Brigham Young at Ole Miss

Ole Miss fans spend most of the off-season each year dreaming of their Glory Day, which happened in 1960. But in their bourbon-induced haze, that day covers most of the past 50 years somehow. What the hell, they tailgate better than anybody.

BYU has their usual crop of returning starters. Somehow, it seems every year they return almost every starter. There’s probably a special Mormon rule for that.

BYU 26, Ole Miss 20

East Carolina vs. South Carolina

South Carolina’s fortunes probably ride to a large extent on whether Stephen Garcia can stay out of trouble long enough to actually play. They’re good enough to win the SEC East, but maybe they’re not good enough to win the SEC East. Somehow, it’s just always hard to take the Gamecocks seriously.

East Carolina is one of those teams that always seems to be good enough to give really good teams trouble, and beat some not-quite-so-really good teams, but that’s about as far as it goes. Their defense, though, is horrible.

South Carolina 52, East Carolina 20

Montana at Tennessee

Why Tennessee isn’t always one of the top teams in the country is beyond me. They should own their state in recruiting, they have the facilities - they ought to be very good year in and year out. But they’re the Pam Shriver of the SEC. I don’t know why.

Montana will be traveling a long way to earn a big payday in the heat and humidity of the south. I guess that’s about it.

Tennessee 40, Montana 14

Elon at Vanderbilt

Vandy has a new coach, and a slew of starters returning. If those starters were returning from, say, Ohio State, there might be a brighter outlook. Or maybe not, Ohio State loses to SEC teams all the time too.

Elon, Elon likes his money, he makes a lot they say… What? Oh, that was *Levon*. I thought that sounded familiar. Elon has a football team? Enjoy this one, Dore fans.

Vanderbilt 32 Levon^H^H^H^H^H Elon 9

But I did once shake the hand of a sitting Vice-President who later became President. It took place here:

Or, approximately there. The date was September 24, 1960. I was 6 years old, and my parents took us down to see Vice-President Nixon, who was speaking at the Mississippi Governor’s Mansion that day. I don’t remember the speech. We may not have stayed for it. Or maybe the speech took place first. What I do remember, very clearly, is sitting on my daddy’s shoulders and seeing this big black convertible slowly round the corner between the mansion and the Emporium, a major downtown store in those days, when Jackson’s downtown was vibrant. We were roughly standing in the spot of the above picture, and as Nixon’s car came close, daddy told me to stick out my hand. Nixon reached up and shook it. The scene, as I recall, resembled the photo below, except that it was Mississippi, not Maine, and he would have been reaching out of the other side of the car:

Had he known I would grow up to be such a political liberal, he might have passed me over. But he didn’t, and that stretch of sidewalk and I will be paired forever, or at least as long as we’re around.

I’ve been too busy (ok, too uninspired) since returning from vacation to post. The garden got too much rain, then the rain stopped again. My corn all died - just dried-up little ears, some with what looks like corn smut. But the tomatoes are beginning to produce, with the slight break from the heat. My squash plants all died while I was gone; cucumbers are growing but not producing. Oh well, it’s about time to think about the fall garden anyway.

Just back from out vacation and 25th anniversary cruise, along the New England coast and the Canadian Maritimes.  It was a great cruise, during which time the heavens opened and rain poured out on my garden and lawn.  Which, of course, would be fine, except that because of the dry spell in May, June, and early July I had gotten an electronic water timer and hooked up various hoses and sprinklers to water things while I was gone, so every four days, in addition to all the rain, I watered most everything.  I came back to a near jungle, but that’s better than coming back to a desert.  Anyway, I was having much fun, seeing things like this:

More pics to follow…

My water bill is high, but I am keeping the vegetable garden growing. No tomatoes yet, though!

And the corn, as they say, is knee high by the 4th of July!

I have two pots on the front porch. They’re (almost) identical. Same soil mix went into each. Same plants are in each - a dracena, a Euphorbia ‘Diamond Frost’, a variegated potato vine, a white Hypoestes and a red Hypoestes, and a pink calibrachoa - except that’s where the problem comes in. Here’s the pots:

If you look at the pot on the right:

you’ll see the calibrachoa, blooming happily.

but on the other pot, on the left, you won’t see the calibrachoa:

(Actually, if you look closely, you’ll see a dead calibrachoa). And it wasn’t just one dead calibrachoa. That’s the third one I’ve planted in that pot, in that spot. Each one has died. I’m baffled, but I’m not putting another one there. Three strikes and you’re out, that sort of thing. If anyone has an idea why this has happened, I’d love to hear it.

You’re on your first day out of the nest, and you haven’t mastered this flying thing yet. Hopping around on the ground is not the smartest thing to do, with cats and stuff around, so you need to find a place where you can chill with a bit of anonymity. Where else would you go?

Here’s a closer shot:

But it turns out you’re not alone. You have a brother or sister, who wants a little more elevation:

I watched these two little fellows while I was working outside, to keep them safe from the neighborhood cats. I hope they make it. Blue jays have taken a big hit from West Nile Fever here. But they need to figure out the flying thing pretty quickly.

[Update]

Here’s a picture my wife took of the two babies together, after the one in the crepe myrtle joined the one in the bottle tree and they decided to do a bit of exploring: