Posted in authors, blogging, breakfast, chocolate, dessert, desserts, dieting, drinks, Fiction, food, humor, Jansen Schmidt, pumpkins, redneck, soup, writing, tagged cheese fudge, eating, fried food, fudge, gross foods, Kalen Reacts, ketchup, ketchup cake, mayonnaise, mustard, peanut butter, shoelaces, Twix, Twix salad, weird food, Youtube food on August 6, 2018| 11 Comments »
Let’s talk about food today shall we? Here in the south people like to fry stuff. My husband and I often joke that if someone fried shoelaces, people would eat them. If you go to a restaurant and you want shrimp or chicken on your salad you MUST specify that you want it grilled NOT fried, because otherwise, you’re getting the fried version. And every restaurant serves fried chicken and fried catfish. Every. Single. One. Fried chicken. Fried catfish. (more…)
Posted in authors, Baer House Inn, blogging, breakfast, Family, humor, innkeeping, Jansen Schmidt, Mythology, redneck, writers, writing, tagged B & B, bed & breakfast, creeping, creepy, flashlights, hallway, morning, mystery, nighttime, no privacy, old houses, privacy, sneaking around, snooping, Vicksburg on July 30, 2018| 17 Comments »
Owning a bed and breakfast joint may seem glamorous to some, like a lot of work to others, and downright stupid to another group. Let me tell you, it’s all of those things.
Posted in acting, authors, Family, Fiction, friends, humor, Jansen Schmidt, redneck, short story, watching tv, writers, writing, tagged clandestine operations, counterfeit money, crime, crime scene, crime shows, drug deal, jogging, spies, spy, spying, sting operation, tv, undercover cops on October 23, 2017| 8 Comments »
A week or so ago I was watching one of those crime shows on TV, you know the ones where they have an agent/detective go “undercover” and spy on someone? In this show, the gal was sitting on a park bench with ear buds, bopping along to some unheard tune when this jogger stops and plants himself on the bench next to her and starts up a conversation. Now, this gal didn’t want to converse, yet neither did she want to appear as though she were spying on someone. So, she provided the occasional nod or “um hm” while continuing to watch her target from the corner of her eye.
That scene got me to thinking – which can be a scary thing I’ll admit. I wondered if this had ever happened to me. I mean, I’ve been known to strike up a conversation with a totally random stranger if the mood hits me. Yet I wondered, have I ever intruded in a clandestine spying operation? Have I ever encountered a completely random person, who appeared to be sitting/standing idly, yet was really annoyed because I was distracting them from their bad guy’s activities with mindless chit chat?
Seriously, how many of those mornings at Starbucks or the gas station or the grocery store have I talked to an undercover law enforcement person doing their surveillance job?
That in turn got me to wondering other oddball things. Like, have I ever had in my possession counterfeit money? Have I ever spent counterfeit money passed on to me from some other source?
Have I ever happened upon a drug deal without even being aware it was happening in my presence?
Has a late night sting operation ever had to be aborted because I happened along for a snack at a convenience store? Gosh, I hope not. And yet . . . hmmmm?
How many people do I talk to every single day are hiding concealed weapons? Being from Mississippi I’m sure that number is quite high.
There are just so many things that could be happening right in front of my nose. I know that from now on everyone is going to look suspicious to me. How about you?
Have you ever been in the wrong place at the wrong – or maybe right – time? What sorts of clandestine things have you interrupted? Come on – please share. Have you ever wondered if you’ve thwarted a crime just by showing up some place? Surely this isn’t just me.
Word of the day: Ididem
Fun fact about me: I’m tap dancing again.
Original post by Jansen Schmidt, October 2017. Photos courtesy Google Images.
Posted in Baer House Inn, diamond ring, drinks, engagement ring, Family, food, friends, hill billy, humor, Jansen Schmidt, love, redneck, romance, wedding ring, writing, tagged backyard weddings, bride, garden, garden wedding, gazebo, groom, music, Vicksburg, wedding gazebo, weddings on May 15, 2017| 10 Comments »
The Baer-Williams House was the scene of a very lovely afternoon garden wedding a couple of weeks ago. Bride and groom wanted to keep things low-key and stress-free. We were expecting about 30 guests for a 4:00 ceremony on a gorgeous Saturday afternoon. (more…)
Posted in authors, blogging, costumes, Family, Fiction, friends, humor, Jansen Schmidt, redneck, short story, vacation, words, writers, writing, tagged Alfred Hitchcock, beard, blood vessels, Buzz Aldrich, Cousin It, Eiffel Tower, Giethoorn, kangaroos, lunar walk, Muppets, nonsense, Psycho, random, reindeer, San Francisco, trivia, ventriloquist, WWII trivia on November 7, 2016| 7 Comments »
So, tomorrow’s the big day; America’s getting a new Commander in Chief. I don’t know about you, but I for one am terrified to see the results. Either way, I’m going to be holding by breath for the next four years.
But, enough about that. Let’s let that fracas happen tomorrow shall we? Today, let’s have some wacky fun. I’ve already told y’all how much I like trivia, so here are some more totally random oddball facts for you to do with what you see fit. Feel free to laugh, scratch your head, research, whatever.
Everyone has a unique tongue print, just like fingerprints.
Most Muppets are left-handed. (Because more Muppeteers are right-handed, so they operate the head with their favored hand.)
Female kangaroos have three vaginas.
During World War II, the crew of the British submarine HMS Trident kept a fully grown reindeer called Pollyanna aboard their vessel for six weeks. (It was a gift from the Russian government.)
The first man to urinate on the moon was Buzz Aldrin, shortly after stepping onto the lunar surface. (So he was holding it all that time and needed to relieve himself? Seriously? I don’t know about you, but I’m pretty sure peeing isn’t what I’d have been doing if I stepped onto the moon’s surface. I mean no gravity. Think about that. Where’d it all go? On to his space suit? But hey, whatever.)
In 1567, the man said to have the longest beard in the world died after he tripped over it while running away from a fire. (I can’t make this stuff up.)
In 1993, San Francisco held a referendum over whether a police officer called Bob Geary was allowed to patrol while carrying a ventriloquist’s dummy called Brendan O’Smarty. (He was by the way, in case you’re wondering.)
The Dutch village of Giethoorn has no roads; its buildings are connected entirely by canals and footbridges. (And don’t you just want to go there now after seeing these pictures?)
The first American film to show a toilet being flushed on screen was Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho.
The top of the Eiffel Tower leans away from the sun, as the metal facing the sun heats up and expands. It can move as much as seven inches.
Lt. Col. “Mad” Jack Churchill was the only British soldier in WWII known to have killed an enemy soldier with a longbow. “Mad Jack” insisted on going into battle armed with both a medieval bow and a claymore sword. (God bless “Mad Jack.” I wonder if he also wore a kilt?)
There are around 60,000 miles of blood vessels in the human body. If you took them all out and laid them end to end, they’d stretch around the world more than twice. (But, seriously, don’t do that.)
So there you have it. A whole bunch of useless knowledge to clutter up your brains. I know, silly, but, I took your mind of the political circus for a few minutes anyway, huh?
What crazy thoughts do you want to share? Any random weirdness happening in your world? Who wants to go with me to Giethoorn? Have kayak will travel.
Thanks for stopping by. Until next week – here’s to random weirdness.
Word of the day: Lytta
Fun fact about me: I fed a reindeer lettuce when I was in Alaska.
Original post by Jansen Schmidt, November 2016. Photos courtesy Google Images.
Posted in authors, blogging, Family, Fiction, friends, hill billy, humor, Jansen Schmidt, redneck, short story, words, writers, writing, tagged 2-story outhouse, 4-hole outhouse, Baer House Inn, cistern, hoop skirt, Leona Baer, Mississippi, outhouse, porch, privies, privy, upstairs, Vicksburg on November 30, 2015| 23 Comments »
Most of you know about outhouses. Some of you have probably even used one at one point in your life. I’m not talking about the port-a-potty johns at the county fair either, I’m talking about the real life wooden structures with a bench seat inside.
Photo courtesy Google Images
I’m sure you’re familiar with how these contraptions work; you dig a hole and place your little house over the hole. When said hole is full, you dig another one someplace else, move the house and throw dirt over the almost full former sewage hole. That is why outhouses were portable.
Well folks, the lady who designed my house (Leona Baer), had a different idea for her privvies. You see, she did not want her elite socialite friends and distinguished guests to have to trapise out into the elements to use the outhouse. Oh no, that would be a disgrace. She insisted that her privvies be attached to the house and under a covered walkway (aka porch). And, of course, there had to be a mens and a ladies facility. No co-ed for Ms. Leona Baer. No sirree.
Photo by P. Rickrode. November 2015.
Women’s side of outhouse at Baer House Inn. Photo by P. Rickrode. November 2015.
Men’s side of outhouse at Baer House Inn. Photo by P. Rickrode. November 2015.
Notice that the ladies side is much bigger than the mens? That’s because ladies wore hoop skirts and needed more room to negotiate around and get everything settled into place. Imagine trying to use the facilities shown above wearing this:
Photo courtesy Google Images.
Now, having your outhouse attached to your house is certainly convenient, but it created a huge problem: what to do when the holes got full. Well, obviously, you clean them out. Say what? Shovel s$%@? I know. Right? Who is God’s name wants that job? But, shovel s$%@ someone did. You see, Leona had workers dig a pit, a cistern if you will, and covered it with a permanent structure that sat very close to the house (not completely attached) but connected by an extension of the porch. She really created a very primative septic system, minus the leach lines.
Here’s a picture of the downstairs portion of this structure. This shot is taken from the farthest end of the porch where the men’s privy was (the door on the left) looking back toward the back door of the house on the first floor.
Photo by P. Rickrode. November 2015.
But, wait, there’s more.
If you will remember, the title of this blog mentioned a 2-story, 4-hole outhouse. Two stories? Yes, my friends – two stories. One hole on the ground level and one hole above it on the second story. Here’s how my second story porch looks. The privvies are through that little doorway at the end of the porch.
Upstairs porch and walkway to privy. Photo by P. Rickrode. November 2015.
Notice the white lattice work at the end of the porch? Well, that would be the enclosure. You can see the 2 doorways at the very end of the hallway.
2nd story outhouse at Baer House Inn. Photo by P. Rickrode. November 2015.
Here’s what it looks like from afar. The privvies are enclosed by that white lattice on both floors.
Baer House Inn 2-story outhouse. Photo by P. Rickrode. November 2015.
How do these things work you ask? Well, on level one of the house, a person walks in about 2 feet and encounters the hole. On the second level, a person walks in about 4 feet before encountering the hole. Now, mind you, there is a wall directly behind the hole on the ground level so nothing falls down upon you from above, but you can hear everything directly behind your head that falls from above. I know . . . how pleasant.
Why two stories? Well, thank you for asking. You see, Ms. Baer felt that her family should not mix and mingle with her esteemed guests, so much so that the children and servants were relegated to the second floor. But not just during parties or social events. Oh no. No, no, no. Children had to remain upstairs ALL THE TIME. They were never allowed downstairs. They even have their own set of outside stairs in the event they needed to leave the house. They were not allowed to enter or exit the home through the first floor. There had to have been a lot of this going on:
Photo courtesy Google Images.
Not being allowed downstairs created a problem when little Sarah, or little Samuel had to use the facilities. So, Leona fixed the problem by creating their very own privvies on the second floor. The added bonus? If Leona needed to use the bathroom during the middle of the night, she did not have to go all the way downstairs and outside, she simply walked along the upstairs porch to her own private penthouse privy.
Now this structure, that is original to the home, is still standing and part of our house. Of course we don’t use it, but it’s here for everyone to see and admire. The downstairs portion has been repurposed into a very nice, very modern bathroom as part of room number 8, but the original outside doors are still in place. The privy doors are on the left in this picture and the door into room number 8 is on the right.
Room 8, Baer House Inn. Photo by P. Rickrode. November 2015.
Room 8 bathroom (former 1st floor outhouse). Photo by P. Rickrode. November 2015.
So tell me dear readers, have you ever seen a 2-story outhouse? Would you have wanted to have the job of cleaning out the poop cistern? Somebody had to do it. Yuck.
Word of the Day: Odurate
Fun fact about me: My uncle had a cabin in upstate Minnesota with no indoor plumbing and we had to use the outhouse whenever we visited. Good times.
Original post by Jansen Schmidt, November 2015. Original photos by P. Rickrode. Stock photos courtesy Google Images.
Posted in authors, blogging, Family, Fiction, friends, hill billy, humor, Jansen Schmidt, love, redneck, romance, words, writers, writing, tagged cassette player, cd's, dads, DVD, DVD player, gourmand, hi fi, internet, interstate, little records, website, wi fi, wrong words on October 5, 2015| 14 Comments »
Image courtesy Google Images
We all know our parents are a little nutty but we love them despite their weirdness. I’ve often wondered how I could have turned out so perfectly normal when I have such goofball parents. Fortunately, I have no children to dispute my normalness, so you’re just going to have to take my word for it.
Anyhoo, so my dad has always mixed up words and smushed words together into one stupid new word; more so when he’s trying to sound really smart. Most days I just smile inwardly and say “uh huh,” and just let the conversation continue as though what he said was exactly right.
Photo courtesy Google Images
Other times I grit my teeth to keep from screaming at him, especialy if I’ve already corrected him on the exact same word.
Some of my dad’s favorite wrong phrases include hi fi and interstate. A conversation he had on the phone the other day went something like this: “I can’t get on the interstate because I don’t have hi fi for my computer.” I rolled my eyes and continued to listen to my dad try to explain to the person on the receiving end of the call, what they heck he was trying to say.
Another favorite of his is “flusterated.” I guess he doesn’t know the difference between flustered and frustrated so he simply squishes them together and hopes people know what he’s trying to say. This look I’m sure has appeared on my face many times.
Photo courtesy Google Images
Yeah, he’s got a special language, all his own. And, on a side note, one not involving an incorrect word, but very similar, the other day he told me he needed help setting up his cassette recorder so he could watch his movies. I asked if he meant his VCR for his video tapes and he said, “No for my little records.” Little records?
Photo courtesy Google Images
Turns out “little records” are cd’s and what he was needing help with was his DVD player.
Photo courtesy Google Images
Yup, my dad needs a cassette recorder for his little records.
What crazy dad words get your all fired up? Do your parents have words or expressions that make you cringe? Do your parents have hi fi on their interstates?
Word of the Day: Gourmand
Fun fact about me: I’ve experienced both hi fi and wi fi in my lifetime.
Original post by Jansen Schmidt, October 2015. Photos courtesy Google Images.
Posted in authors, blogging, driving, Fiction, friends, humor, Jansen Schmidt, moving, redneck, writers, writing, tagged fairies, furniture, gasoline, high seas, huntboard, Impreza, moving, sailing ship, ship, Subaru, truck, walnut on September 28, 2015| 7 Comments »
Photo courtesy of Google Images
Last week I posted about some fabulous new furniture we’ve acquired here at the Baer House Inn. Well folks, all of this buying and selling does not happen with the help of magic fairies who come in and transform your house overnight. Oh, how I wish it did.
Everything we’ve acquire recently is old and therefore heavy. Not just heavy, but unusually heavy. A dining room table that weighs about 800 pounds. A huntboard that disassembles into 4 pieces, each pedestal weighing about 200 pounds; the top, one solid piece of finely crafted hardwood, weighing about 400 pounds and the fence about 200 pounds.
Photo courtesy Google Images
This is the good stuff people, the solid, built to last, good stuff.
So, we bought this amazing 450 year old table and chairs at an on-line auction. No problem. Yay us. But wait – we have to pick the stuff up. An 800 pound table with 8 leaves and 14 solidly build, solid walnut chairs.
We have a 2013 Subaru Impreza sedan. How’s this going to work? Lots of trips? Hardly. Meridian is two and a half hours from Vicksburg on a good day with no traffic. Hmmmm.
And did I mention we purchased this out-of-this-world huntboard that came off of a ship – an honest-to-goodness sailing ship on the high seas? It was built in the 1750’s. From solid hard wood. With pegs and carved out tongue and groove construction. And heavy sold metal hinges. (It’s a wonder those ships didn’t sink.)
Did I mention that we have a 2013 Subaru Impreza sedan? How’s this going to work? Luggage rack? I don’t think so.
Photo courtesy Google Images.
You see – it’s a trucking problem. We don’t have a truck. We used to have a truck, but we sold it because gasoline in California was over $5.00 a gallon at one point and we drove that truck alot. It was over $100 to fill that beast up and we filled up at least once a week or more. We couldn’t afford the truck. Well guess what? Now we need that truck. And, even more ironically, gasoline here is under $2.00 a gallon. And, to add insult to injury, everything we need to haul is relatively close to our house so we’d probably only need to fill up once a month if that.
Photo courtesy Google Images.
Oh Mr. Murphy – damn you and your stupid “laws.” Guess we’ll be getting a truck soon. Subaru, it’s been nice knowing you.
What ironies have befallen you lately dear readers? Do you find yourself needing something you’ve gotten rid of? How often do you use a truck?
Word of the Day: Filial
Fun fact about me: I actually like driving trucks, although parking can be a challenge.
Original post by Jansen Schmidt, September 2015. Photos courtesy Google Images.
