Trip home

There's no better time to journey South than in the middle of a hot summer. Jack and I visited Arkansas over the July 4 holiday and spent quality time with family and friends.

But more importantly, we ate. We ate Watermelons from Hope. We ate purple hull peas and those zesty, homegrown tomatoes that you just can't buy in a store. We had tangy plum cobbler and fried okra. Cornbread. Fresh garden relish. Yes, summertime is the time for the very best eatin' at home.

Here's a brief scrapbook of the trip:

Grandmother doin' what she does best, watching the new great grandbabies.



Jack got to spend time with cousin, Kolby, who just might be a better babysitter if he lived closer:







Jack and the other great, Rhealee:
Here's Jack with his Pappy. If there ever was a grandfather to call Pappy, this is him. Check out the family resemblance on these noggins:








And finally, Jack met his new cousin Camryn. Neither one was that enthralled with the first encounter, but they are exactly three months and about 14 pounds apart. I love this picture:


And another staple of summer: front porch swinging. Even though the temperatures were in the 90s with soggy humidity, Jack couldn't get enough of it.

Varmints in the backyard

We were having cosmos at a neighbor's house Saturday night when a certain show came on television.

This is where you came from, right?

Right.

This week, Billy the Exterminator has come up in conversations in both personal and professional life. It's a show on A&E that follows Billy and the family working the family biz of killing pests and varmints out of their Benton, Louisiana-based business. I've seen references on Twitter, on Facebook, and out in the community. It's quite intriguing to think about people being interested in a zany pest control company in the area where I used to live.

I thought I'd give the show a chance. I almost fell out of my chair when I saw Billy's mom, Donnie, give her son instructions from the home office. The menagerie of crosses behind her desk had to be the same ones my roommate used to have up on her wall. I recognized a few places and references. I got skeptical a few times, but understand the producers have to sell the show.

Who knew the place where I lived was so dangerous?

Coincidentally, it's not the first time the area has been highlighted nationally for pests. Check out this YouTube story, a 1969 report the CBS news did on Texarkana's rat problem. They needed Billy the Exterminator for sure!