One more for the mother-in-law ...

Wednesday: Oxford and Batesville

Its mid-week and I'm about mid-done!!! Another fun day of computer installations. For lunch, we ate at a really small place called Mama Jo's in Oxford. I think that was the name of the "restaurant"? This place didnt have a sign or any other marking to denote that we should eat there. On the inside, we were promptly greeted by a lovely gaggle of older ladies that offered a traditonal southern meat and three kind of lunch. Meat choices consisted of overly fried pork chop, hamburger steak, some kind of liver, and traditional southern fried chicken. The vegetables of choice (today anyway) were green beans, purple hull peas (with more fatback than peas), mashed potatoes (trust me, these were hand mashed), and macaroni and cheese. Best of all, we fed six people for 50.00 dollars including apple cobbler, lemon cake and tea for everyone. Dont ask me how to get there, I dont know.

After saying goodbye to Oxford, I headed out to Batesville, Mississippi. You can learn more about Batesville here. Thankfully, the drive was short and straight. Not too much to say about Batesville, I took a short drive around the town this afternoon and the best thing I can say at this point is that the town is only about 45 minutes south of Memphis. I doubt I will make it to Memphis (too bad since I love BBQ), but I might try to make it over to Tunica tomorrow afternoon.

Green tip of the post: Saving water is cool and easy. Here are a few ideas in the bathroom:

1. Replace the old shower head with a new low-flo shower head. Modern low-flo shower heads aren't free, usually costing near or more than a 100 dollars but they can cut your water usage by as much as 40%. It will probably take a year or two to pay for itself, but you can feel better that you saved resources (something that is quickly disappearing, think about the drought we've been under in the south) along the way.

2. How old is that toilet anyway? Most modern toilets use 1.6 gallons per flush (gpf) or less. Older toilets use 3.5 gpf. Considering the average toilet is flushed at least eleven times per day, that is a considerable amount of additional water used. When we updated the girls bathroom this summer, we replaced their toilet with a new 1.6 gpf toilet. I figure that we will save enough water every year to fill a minimal of four eighteen wheel trucks per year. I don't know how much money that will equate to, but I bet it will pay for itself ($150 dollars for the toilet) in less than a year.

3. Don't have any money to spend saving money (isn't that like buying clothes on sale?), then try this simple step. Turn off the water while you are brushing your teeth! Want to know how much water that will save? Try placing an empty gallon jug under the sink while you brush. I bet you could water your plants in the house with the water you collect.

4. Speaking of watering the house plants, collect the water you run in the tub waiting for the water to heat up and use that water to water the house plants.

Have a great day. Its time for me to eat.