Falling in Love with Kentucky

shortly before he was fed 2 hamburgers, with cheese

It's officially autumn. Slept with the windows open by my bed last night and woke today congested. Hooray. Bailey slept in a small nugget shape between my feet and is still there kinda mooing. It's 8am on a Sunday and I'm awake and writing. What makes me grateful for fall? The summer was unusually hot, my work load unusually heavy, and my social life unusually congested. These are good things for the most part, but the slow pace, the college football the pending fires I'll light in my little cozy apartment make me happy. Last night at a tailgate I was leaving just before UK fed itself into an odd, but ultimately predictable end against Spurrier's Cocks(*I'll let you go where you want with that); a guy saw Bailey, (FYI my dog gets more come-ons than a sorority girl in cowboy boots and a tube top) and said "I have a lab too, he changed my life." It's actually true. Younger versions of me were known for partying, for being very mercurial and wild, it's funny how 69.7 lbs of soft good smelling fur and flawless good looks can make you settle in and want to spend time at home, or on a walk. It's fall, my dog can finally run comfortably without looking at me like I'm torturing him, and for the first time in my adult life, I have no desire to move away from one of the prettiest cities I've lived in. (You can keep your winter, Madison, we've got horses).
So if you're free and have the inclination, my door is always open- we can go caving, hike some local fall color, go apple picking and eat kettle corn until our lips crack, and drink a dark beer on a chilly day, or you can lose your shirt at horse racing while sipping bourbon made 15 miles from where you sit. Yeah, it's ok here.  


(I feel like this post is kinda over sentimental but should say something like "this post brought to you by the Kentucky Tourism Bureau: Kentucky, we've got more teeth than you'd expect").

if you can't be an athlete, be an athletic supporter

I live in Lexington, KY. Do you know what that means? It means people ask me if my blue eyes were to support UK. I feed patients with blue colored food, they think that's because of UK. At times, I imagine the pulmonary patients we see whose skin turns blue from the eastern Kentucky hills, I can see some people thinking "wow, they really go all out for the team." What's astonishing to me is this- we have year round sports, but just happen to wipe the floor of NCAA Basketball courts like an overly assertive cleaning service. Being a Georgia girl, I have SEC Roots, and also ACC (go noles!), but honestly the SEC at UK feels kinda like being asked to take your cousin to prom. It's all wrong.

What I've decided is this: the UK football team is bad. We know it, they make fun of the coach, who admittedly sometimes doesn't seem to fully understand the rules of college football- but his name is Joker...he's come a long way with what his mama gave him. The problem is this- without fans, ticket sales, justification our team WON'T be good. As a girl who loves a project, my new mission is to help UK Football. I am buying season tickets, getting a tailgate with a large blue overhang, possibly even making themed brunches to accompany it...whatever it takes. I'm only one person, but I do have friends and those friends have friends. The reality is this- they can fire the coach, they might even teach the players some rules of football, or a play besides, hold onto it and run directly toward the other end of the field even if the other team's defense is collectively 5 tons. We can do this...I almost think it could be a reality show "From Mildcats to Wildcats: The genesis of football in Kentucky"  Thoughts?