On our Fifth

Like a typical husband, I woke up this morning completely forgetting it is our five year anniversary.

Like a good husband, I prepared for this occasion by purchasing several anniversary cards in advance.

Like a classic husband, I apparently lost them.

I suppose I could plead that we're in the middle of a major move, but I would rather plead "Y chromosome."  There's a lot of truth to the stereotypes.

Normally, we would be planning a trip to The Garden Inn.  It just about never seems to work out to fall on our actual date, but it's been a more-or-less traditional site.  As has a return to the site of our first meal as a married couple, The Foglight Foodhouse.

I'm linking to those to try and throw them some business if anyone happens to stumble across my blog, since this year will be the first in a while that we won't be giving them our custom.  God alone knows when we'll be either place again.

Instead, our anniversary weekend will be spent packing for the fourth or so greatest adventure we've been on.  Right behind Dot, Lump, and marriage in general.  Right before Atlanta, Lazy beagle, Inbred beagle, move 2, move 1...well, let's just say there's been a few moments.

Still, the Beloved observed recently that no matter what we've done over the past 7-ish years, the only truly bad decisions are the ones that have involved us not being together.  So, bring on the adventure, and here's to another 5 years and a whole lot more after.

Now, time to pack up the kids...

Detour

On my final trip to Atlanta, for the second time since I started making these trips, I missed a turn on the way down.

Why can't there just be four points like a normal intersection?

In one of the more interesting quirks of Georgia, the highway turned into a country road, then into a gravel road, then into a gravel trail, all in the course of about two tenths of a mile.

And yet, it's still in my Garmin!  Thank God.

I found myself quite glad I was driving Nikki the 4Runner, instead of The Flying Dodgeman.

It was more flooded last time.

So if you're ever in the mood for a scenic drive, punch 34.537822,-84.534175 into your GPS and hit go.

Just be sure to bring a 4x4.

Ah...Detroit

In their introductory video, Hantz Farms refers to themselves as “Detroit’s Saving Grace.”

Normally, I would say save the self-titling until after you’ve actually…you know…saved Detroit.  In this case, however, I think that they are the best bet.  Well, second best.  The actual best would be a hostile take over by Omni Consumer Products, which would, of course, result in the complete removal of all crime and corruption.

  

However, since RoboCop is, sadly, a few decades away, tilling under 10% of the city and replacing it with productive and attractive farmland is the next best thing.

Not everyone feels this way, of course.

Earlier, some members of the city council suggested that turning urban residential areas into farmland would send the message to outsiders “that they failed as a city.”

I've decided to write an open letter:

Dear Councilmen,

We already know you failed.

Hugs and Kisses,

The rest of America

Eventually, the sale was approved, but some people still aren't happy.  Councilwoman JoAnn Watson says that the sale is "illegal" and "against state law".  Her complaint stems from a statute that says a developer must pay fair market value.

I've decided to write another open letter:

Dear Councilwoman Watson,

Fair market value is what a normal person would pay for something.  Since no normal people are buying the land, that means the value is...hmm...let me think...right...nothing.  So $520,000 is a pretty good deal.

Hugs and Kisses,

Someone educated somewhere other than your abysmal school system

Now, personally, I would be leery of purchasing produce from Detroit, at least for a few years.  I hope that Hantz and any other companies that are considering an agricultural undertaking do extensive testing for toxins in the produce raised.  Some of the places being bulldozed are meth labs (and crack labs before that), so God alone knows what chemicals have leached into the soil there.

Overall, however, I think this a brilliant way to go.  A quote that surfaced around the American War for Independence goes something like this, "I am a soldier, so my son can be a farmer, so his son can be

a poet."

In this case, it's more like:  "I am a soldier so that my son can be a farmer, so that his sons can be merchants, so that their sons can be manufacturers, so that their sons can be poets, at which point they'll realize that poetry doesn't actually put food on the table, and they'll have to become farmers again."

Go west, young man

There's a reason they call it "Big Sky Country"

Courtesy of "Running with Noodles" at Wordpress, this image is of a road outside of Glasgow, MT.

The beloved has posted better than I can the determining factors behind our decision.  It was not an easy decision.  It involves moving away from pretty much everyone and everything either of us has known.  But if it means I get to see Dot and Lump grow up, it's a pretty sweet deal.

The massive pay hike doesn't hurt, either.

04JUL2013

“True and impartial liberty is therefore the right of every man to pursue the natural, reasonable and religious dictates of his own mind; to think what he will, and act as he thinks, provided he acts not to the prejudice of another; to spend his own money himself and lay out the produce of his labor his own way; and to labor for his own pleasure and profit, and not for others who are idle, and would live and riot by pillaging and oppressing him and those that are like him.” –Thomas Gordon, 1722