Maury County in Tennessee is known for a lot of things such as home of the 11th president of the United States, James K. Polk;  several southern plantations such as Rippavilla Plantation , antique stores, and the infamous week of celebrating the “mule” better known as Mule Day.  Columbia is known as the “Mule Capital of the World”. 

For a week usually the last week of March or first week of April we are transformed into Mule Town.  While driving around town during that week, you will see mules of all sizes, horses, wagons, and even a wagon train.

The whole town of Columbia revolves around this celebration for months prior to the “big” Mule Day week and parade on Saturday.  There is a beauty pageant to select the “Mule Day Queen and her court”,  a championship mule is crowned, also liar contests, country and bluegrass music, food and more food,  a 5k run called Mule Day Kick, a flea market, arts and crafts and did I mention food and FUNNEL CAKES!!!

Our local coffee house Buckhead Coffeehouse has a special coffee for the occasion called Hallemuleyah.

Don’t get the idea this is just a local thing, over 200,000 people attend and celebrate the “beautiful” mule.  If you don’t believe me about the “beautiful” thing check out the pictures below.  These pictures were provided to me by my sweet, sweet brother-in-law Mark, who is a fabulous photographer.

Here are a few interesting shots of the highlight of Mule Day…..the parade!

This is all about mules.  There is a mule named “Amazing Grace” who was on national television because of the tricks she could do.  There are pulling contests, hauling contests and various other activities surrounding mules.  Horses, as gorgeous as they are, come in behind the mules, and I mean literally, at the parade.  There are hundreds of mules but everyone who owns a horse for miles around can ride at the end of the parade on their horse or pony.  IT”S A SITE TO BEHOLD!

Best of all, friends and family come to join in the fun.

You should join us on the square and watch the parade.  It’s definitely something you’ll never forget and you can check one more thing off your “bucket list”.

My sweet niece over at Orangie’s Attic  tagged me with posting seven (7) factoids about myself which I’m sure everyone is sitting on the edge of their seat waiting to read.  Thank you sweet, sweet niece.  Here goes!

1.  I cannot tie or untie knots in cherry stems with my tongue.  Not something I inherited or even know that I could  have possibly inherited. 

2.  I can no longer HULA HOOP  because the hoop will not fit around my waist!!  Just kidding. Well maybe it will fit but can’t rotate!!

3.  People tend to talk to me anytime and anywhere and tell me their life story.  Especially when I’m in line at Kroger or Wal-Mart.  Even on the phone making reservations at a hotel.

4.  I love going up to my sewing room and spending hours playing with fabric, looking at magazines and sewing up new projects.  Pondering whether I should start painting again or what piece of furniture I would like to slap a coat of paint on.  I’m wanting to decorate an extra room which is used mostly as extra storage right now with emphasis on the word wanting.

5.  I love watching any movie that has Tom Hanks or  Meg Ryan in it.  Sleepless in Seattle and You Got Mail, two of my favorites.  Also Castaway and French Kiss are two more and….. I could go on and on.  Oh! and Forrest Gump.

6.  I can’t wait for vacation every year because it is a mini family reunion.  So much fun and so many hugs and kisses from my niece, and nephews, and great nieces and nephew.  Love, love, love it.

7.  I want to go to Italy and spend about two weeks roaming around the country side and taking it all in.  I also would like to learn the language but I’m not sure you can teach “old dogs new tricks”.  I was in Venice a few years ago for about 5 hours, oh woe is me.  Not enough time!!!

As my niece said, I now need to pass this along to other bloggers.  I don’t know of many that might really take this much further.  That aside two of my other favorite bloggers are The Pioneer Woman and Miss Mustard Seed.  However, if you are a blogger and want to join in, it really is fun, so go ahead.  Tag you’re it!!!

I don’t know about any of you but I am totally ready for spring and for every tree, bush, stem and leaf to turn that beautiful new green color that is most prevalent in spring.  I can’t think of any other color that goes so perfect with every other color as green does.  I love it so much and makes me so happy that I painted my front door green last summer.  Haven’t had any accidents in front of our house or any nasty notes in the mail box so far.

When my crepe myrtles bloom in early summer, the watermelon pink and green just make my heart jump for joy.

Boo also looks fabulous on my green ottoman.  Don’t you think?

I also use every color in my quilts with green.  In this baby quilt, I used blue, yellow, brown, purple and orange with the green.  When you put it into words vs visual it doesn’t sound as good but it works and I love it. I use to be told as a child not to use blue and green together.  I did it anyway (defiant child) when I colored in my coloring books or would draw pictures. 

Hey you know, some apples and pears are green, broccoli, asparagus, cucumbers and lettuce are all green.  Frogs are green (Kermit), grasshoppers and some crickets (Jiminy Cricket), freshmen in high school are green and money.

Anyway, green to me means spring, daffodils, tulips and hyacinths popping up.  Redbud trees and dogwoods.  New beginnings.

I can’ decide if I adopted a cat or a cat that’s PART FISH?!  We got her in October 2010 hoping she would be pal to our other cat “Boo”.

You see, we lost our beloved Corky in early fall and Boo aka “Big Cat” adored Corky.  Corky loved her too but he didn’t want anyone to know.  The pictures below are proof…..

When the kitten “Lil’ Bit” (LB) came home with me, Big Cat (BC) did not take it too well at first.  However, once BC decided LB wasn’t leaving, she decided to ‘tolerate” her.

LB is fearless.  She catches BC with her back to her, runs up, gives BC a little smack on her backside and then LB runs, ducks under a piece of furniture ( just far enough), so BC can’t reach her.  OH, maybe she’s a CHICKEN…..CHICKEN OF THE SEA (she loves tuna).   Oh I forgot, I had just said she was fearless.  She climbs every where and sometimes falls off but it doesn’t affect her.  She just “gets back on the horse” as they say. 

 Where is this story going, anyway?  Well she is not a “chicken” but she doesn’t act like most cats.  You see I caught her several week’s ago standing in the large drinking bowl with all four feet, playing and digging.  She was splashing water everywhere.  Later I was running water in the kitchen sink, she came running and proceeded to paw at the water and stick her head under the stream.  She does this every time at the sink.

Another time, Mike’s uncle came for a visit and didn’t know we had a new cat.  He went into the powder room and found her inside the commode, playing in the water.  EEEEW!  Thankfully it was clean and had clean water but EEEEW!

Her latest antic is to take a shower with me.  She comes running into the bathroom whenever she hears the water running and jumps in the shower with me.  She sits down underneath the water and gets soaked.  If I put a towel down for her on the floor, she will proceed to dry off.  It happens every time I shower and now when hubby showers.  Here are pics of her after the shower.  Notice her head, back and tail.  She hasn’t dried off yet!!

After drying off, she proceeds to get on top of my hubby’s vanity and look at herself in the mirror and occassionally paws at it.  I suppose she’s checking her makeup.  Next comes the weigh in.

Just the other morning, I got on the scales to weigh, UGH, and was panicked that I had gained so much weight in the last few days.  What has happened?  Then I looked down and “guess who” was sitting on the scales.  “Whew”  I thought something was bad wrong with me or maybe I had been sleepwalking to the frig.

One good thing, she will be the cleanest cat for miles around.  I think in a previous life she MUST have been a fish…..a CATFISH…., or with all that primping a MOVIESTAR.