Happy post
So tonight I finally felt like writing something. I was all set and ready to go when I noticed my laptop wasn’t connecting to my wireless connection, and I’ve become too much of a wireless snob to use a network cable that’s tethered to the wall. Sometimes the box goes on the fritz and I have to reset it, so when I went to quickly do that before I sat down to bash out a post a long time in the making, I was absolutely appalled when I traced the power cord from the router through my hand to find the adapter, only to have the frayed ends of a severed cord slip through my grasp. And my little Bora, the wire chewer, looking so sweet and innocent…yeah right. My alarm clock’s radio antenna apparently didn’t slake her thirst for electronic destruction. So, after a fair amount of time spent splicing wires and brushing up on the electrical skills I’d learned when designing my graduation cap last year, here I am–online, wireless and nearly too tired to write.
Work has been going great. I finished with training for now, I’m on my first real project and I finally feel like I’m contributing something. Although for someone who is as unlucky with computers as I am, I don’t think I am the ideal person for this job. When I can’t get things to work right on my home computer, I pick up the phone and call the help number. At work I can’t do that because there aren’t really any help people because the product hasn’t been released, so I bang my head against the desk and hope that helps, which it doesn’t. Crap. Oh well, everything will work itself out…it always does! My little training buddies have gone back home now as of last week, which is too bad considering they were all really nice and we had a lot of fun hanging out. Kelly came up for a visit two weeks back and we all went out downtown together and had a great time. It figures I’d meet some cool people down here and they’d live thousands of miles away! Ahh well, I have new Facebook friends and at least I know someone in New York, Maryland and San Francisco in case I ever decide to do some traveling in my own country for once.
Last weekend was the much anticipated Possum Festival in Wausau. I drove up to Gainesville last Thursday night and drove up the rest of the way with Mom on Friday evening just in time to catch the end of the Possum King and Queen contest at the Possum Palace. When we got there I found Granddaddy and said hey to him and he was completely taken aback by my new haircut. When I told him I’d stood behind Grandmama waiting for her to finish talking to someone but she hadn’t seen me, he said, “She probably didn’t recognize you. You don’t look right!” I knew what he meant…I think. 🙂
Saturday was the day of the main event. Most of my family was there–my dad’s two brothers and all their kids–and we all went that morning to a big pancake breakfast at the town lodge and had the best pancakes (and the worst coffee) I’d had in a while. As I was heading out my grandfather touched my elbow and pulled me to the side. He then proceeded to tell me how much it would mean to him if I’d ride in the parade with him and my other cousins. I didn’t know what to say. I would have rather scraped a week-old possum off the road and eaten it raw than to ride in the back of a pick-up truck as an anonymous hanger-on to the founder of Possum Day in a tiny little back woods parade. I told him I’d see about it.
An hour later and I was standing behind a Ford F-250 while my cousins slapped handmade poster boards to the sides of the truck that read “Founder of Possum Day” on one and “Dalton’s Grandkids” on the other. It was too funny to be pathetic. I had made up for the poor coffee at the pancake breakfast by having a half a pot to myself back at my grandparents’ house and I was about to bust. My grandmother heard me comment, and then yelled out for a girl walking out of the house we were parked in front of, asking her if she could show me where the bathroom was. I was mortified. She wanted me to go traipsing through some stranger’s house to use their bathroom? Small town or not, that was too much. Then Grandmama yelled out to the girl, “She’s your kin!”, and to me, “she’s your cousin, it’s all right.” So I follow this bewildered-looking girl who’s apparently kin to me inside this strange house, stand in a strange hallway because the bathroom’s occupied, wait while strange people move around in the living room completely unaware of my presence, then use the bathroom and get out of there as soon as I possibly can. I had a parade to be in.
It was quite fun actually! We all piled into the back of the truck, all the grandchildren apart from Jared who couldn’t make it down from Philly. But Brittany’s boyfriend Scott stood in for him, so we at least had the correct numbers. Granddaddy and Grandmama sat on the dropped tailgate and we sat along the edge and on the toolbox, waving to people as we crept along Highway 77. I thought nobody would care who we were and would wonder why on earth there were so many people on the truck for the sole founder, but as we went along I realized it was nice for some people. My grandparents waved at everyone, but the great thing about it was that they actually knew most of the hundreds of people who were there. People would call out to Granddaddy and comment on how much we’d grown and what a nice family he had and it was so obvious how much it meant to him. I was really glad I changed my mind and rode along for his sake instead of worrying about what anyone else might think. In times like that I just have to tell myself that I don’t know anyone anyway, and I’ll probably never see them again!
It was so hot that day! It was sticky and humid and the little cardboard fans the political supporters were handing out just weren’t cutting it. When we were done with the parade and had taken our spots to watch the rest of it, one candidate’s camp was giving out bottles of water and people were beating a path to the middle of the road to grab what they could while there were still some left. After the parade we went back to the Possum Palace for the possum auctions. It’s always funny watching people try to hold possums…especially politicians. I talked to a few people and took a few notes in case I decided to write an article on it later, but I’m definitely not up to par on my shorthand skills and I don’t think I got anything of use, but it was kinda neat talking to Katherine Harris. I was all prepared to ask her some questions about whether or not she felt responsible for the deaths of soldiers in Iraq because she handed the presidency to George Bush on a platter, but she turned out to be such a genuinely nice woman that I just smiled and stared in awe of her practically non-existent waist. She needs to eat more possum.
It was so hot that day! It was sticky and humid and the little cardboard fans the political supporters were handing out just weren’t cutting it. When we were done with the parade and had taken our spots to watch the rest of it, one candidate’s camp was giving out bottles of water and people were beating a path to the middle of the road to grab what they could while there were still some left. After the parade we went back to the Possum Palace for the possum auctions. It’s always funny watching people try to hold possums…especially politicians. I talked to a few people and took a few notes in case I decided to write an article on it later, but I’m definitely not up to par on my shorthand skills and I don’t think I got anything of use, but it was kinda neat talking to Katherine Harris. I was all prepared to ask her some questions about whether or not she felt responsible for the deaths of soldiers in Iraq because she handed the presidency to George Bush on a platter, but she turned out to be such a genuinely nice woman that I just smiled and stared in awe of her practically non-existent waist. She needs to eat more possum. I got a chance to meet up with a journalist who’d stumbled upon my blog and had emailed to ask me a few things about Possum Day. I think it is so great to see first-timers there! It is one of those things that seems so natural to me because I grew up going to it, but for others, especially people going for the first time as adults, I have to wonder what goes through their minds as they witness this small town spectacle. From what I’ve heard after his visit he seemed to enjoy it, so that’s good news! Possums need all the friends they can get.
The highlight of the day for my family and me was the renaming of the Possum Palace. Granddaddy was given a plaque that stated in the town bylaws that the building would hereby be named the Dalton Carter Recreation Center, with a permanent plaque to be installed for next year. He then gave a thank you speech and he made my dad and uncles go up on stage with him (my cousins and I clung firmly to our seats this time). It was really nice to see how much it meant to him and how honored he was. He deserved it after all the years he put into it and for all it’s done for the community. Hooray for Granddaddy!
The highlight of the day for my family and me was the renaming of the Possum Palace. Granddaddy was given a plaque that stated in the town bylaws that the building would hereby be named the Dalton Carter Recreation Center, with a permanent plaque to be installed for next year. He then gave a thank you speech and he made my dad and uncles go up on stage with him (my cousins and I clung firmly to our seats this time). It was really nice to see how much it meant to him and how honored he was. He deserved it after all the years he put into it and for all it’s done for the community. Hooray for Granddaddy! The highlight of the day for my family and me was the renaming of the Possum Palace. Granddaddy was given a plaque that stated in the town bylaws that the building would hereby be named the Dalton Carter Recreation Center, with a permanent plaque to be installed for next year. He then gave a thank you speech and he made my dad and uncles go up on stage with him (my cousins and I clung firmly to our seats this time). It was really nice to see how much it meant to him and how honored he was. He deserved it after all the years he put into it and for all it’s done for the community. Hooray for Granddaddy! We had a big lunch later in the afternoon and then we had to drive back to Gainesville. I got one more night in my bed before I had to drive the rest of the way back down to Fort Lauderdale Sunday. I was happy to find my cats were still in one piece (unlike my router cable…grrr) and hadn’t made a complete mess of the place.
Too tired to go on, you’ll have to come back for the next installment…there’s solid gold I promise!
Tags: cats, festivals, Florida, Fort Lauderdale, Possum Day, Travel, Wausau
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