We are finally feeling sort of settled. Still trying to find the best place for everything but at least we're able to move around and not trip over piles. We're also getting to know the area and have found the library and the best Walmart and the pool on the base. The other night for a bit of history we watched a video a friend loaned about Katrina, which made everyone scared before bedtime. They all wanted a grownup to sit near them during prayers.
One of the supposed perks of renting the house we're in right now is that we are only a mile from the beach. So yesterday, after listening to Ben cry about how he wanted to go home to Virginia, and everyone else complain about being bored just minutes after dropping Dan off at the airport for a 10 day trip to Italy, Spain, Germany, Romania and Bulgaria, I decided we should load up the bikes and ride to the waterfront. The ride was pretty easy, but upon arrival we were greeted by this: "Lay down on the ground or I'm going to **&%$# kill you!" Sunday afternoon drunks getting into a fight. A bronzed, fat bald guy was cussing out another chubby drunk for flashing his wife, a skinny, burned up lady who was also cussing up a storm. (Two of three Mississippians are overweight, leading to the motto, "Walk, Mississippi!" posted all over town. Who wants to walk when it's hot and humid all the time?) Fortunately, the police arrived before I had the bikes locked up, so we decided to stay. The beach is not actually on the Gulf, but the Mississippi Sound, I have been informed, which is why the water is black and muddy and not blue and green like the area around Pensacola and Destin in Florida a couple hours away. And which is probably why Annie ran up to me crying, "I sat down in the water and now my bottom hurts!" Nonetheless, we stayed for about half an hour before riding home because a big black cloud was rolling in. I was able to get supper made before a storm hit, and the lights started flickering, causing flashbacks to the Katrina video.
Still, we'll probably go back to the beach. And there is some aesthetic appeal in the live oaks draped in Spanish moss and the little island in the bay we can see from our corner. I think we'll have to get a boat.
