Watts Consulting

More than you ever wanted to know about Alabama native Joe Watts

Photos

First Flowers

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I’m really excited this morning as I can look outside and see the fruits of my labor beginning to bloom. The jonquils and hyacinths are starting to bloom. I planted the jonquils shortly after Christmas 2006 and got a few blooms last year. This year, there are many more getting ready to bloom, but this is the first. The hyacinths were planted this Christmas and I’m pretty sure that all their blooming energy was stored from last year at Mama’s house.

All the bulbs that I’ve planted in our front, back and side yards (well over 600) have come from Octagon–I really feel a little closer to home and to Mama when I see them. I’ve been watching them closely every day since they poked their heads through the mulch and have been hoping that they would bloom this year.

Birmingham: Love it, Hate it

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I have a love/hate relationship with the city we live in. Beautiful architecture, interesting considerate people, some great friends. We have amazing places to eat, some really great shopping, and, although I don’t usually get around to enjoying them, lots of cultural events. Birmingham is big enough to have all the great shopping and dining and still small enough so that you don’t have bad traffic (unless you try to drive down 280). Living in the city, we almost never run into traffic that is terrible. Try doing that in Atlanta.

Of course, there is a downside: we’ve got pretty bad crime. Birmingham has a VERY bad murder rate (not so much in the part of town we live in, but still, not what you’d really like to see).

Birmingham has questionable leadership–still a little early to know for sure, but judging by past performance, I have my doubts. There is such a reliance on old stereotypes and race still polarizes city politics. Maybe we can get past this. I sure hope so.

And, if that’s not enough, Jefferson County, where Birmingham is located, has had some pretty impressive corruption. Loads of county commissioners have gone to jail for graft–taking money (cash and services) in exchange for huge projects with the sewer. There was even an attempt to drill a sewer line under the Cahaba River (source of most of our drinking water). Luckily, it didn’t get completed, but how smart is it to send your sewer line under your drinking water. Enough of a rant for today!

Happy Birthday to Leroy

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Leroy, our platinum Burmese boy cat, turns four years old today. When we brought him home, we still lived at the Claridge Condos in Birmingham. He didn’t get to stay there for long, though, as we moved to our current location on Lakeview Crescent shortly after bringing him home.

We’ve taken to calling him Chicken Little as he runs from anything. If the doorbell rings, I can generally expect to meet him in the hall–he’s heading for the bedroom to hide under the bed as I make my way to the front door to discover who’s ringing the doorbell.

He’s always been skittish, but for some reason, he has gotten terrified of strangers lately. It all stems, we think, from when we had a good bit of work done on our windows earlier this fall. He didn’t mind people banging around outside when they were working on the deck, but somehow, he’s decided to play it safe and avoid people at all costs. Who knows, maybe he’s been reading the Birmingham News and is worried about the crime statistics.

Regardless, Happy Birthday to Leroy!

The Camillas Are Blooming

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Our camellias in the front yard are blooming as are the Daphne bushes. The Daphne bushes are amazingly fragrant. (If they were inside, my allergies would require them to be discarded, but they smell really nice by the front door.)

Many of the bulbs I’ve planted over the last two years or so are springing up. It shocks me to even think that spring is around the corner.

2007 was a blur. I’m looking forward to having a little time to stop and smell the flowers in 2008.

Another Newsletter–for the Alabama Byways Program

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Seems as though I’m working on lots of newsletters these days. This is a newsletter I’ve intended to put together for a long time and just haven’t gotten around to it. This is the first newsletter for the Alabama Byways Program. Future issues will have more topical information  including grant deadlines, tips and more, but for the first issue, it seemed a good idea to send out basic information about exactly what the program is.

I’ve been working on byways in Alabama since I took a job at Scenic Alabama back in 1999. I’ve long since left Scenic Alabama, but really fell in love with the byways program. It is one of those really great concepts that lets small communities around Alabama (or, in larger terms, around the country) band together to create something bigger than any of them can create on their own.

Growing up in rural Alabama (I’ve always referred to it as the edge of nowhere because people have actually heard of the middle of nowhere), I’ve always had a love of rural life and the small towns that exist nowhere else. The byways program is my chance to work with these communities. (I’ve also managed to work with Alabama communities on some other projects, too. More on that in another post on another day.)

To read the newsletter, just visit the Alabama Byways website: www.alabamabyways.org/news.htm.

And, in case you are wondering about the seagull, this was taken in February of last year along the beautiful Coastal Connection Corridor that runs from north of Orange Beach over to Dauphin Island and beyond.

What Sundays Are For

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Sometimes kitties have a better understanding of things than we do. I’m sitting in my office working (well, Ann and I did get out and rake up many of the remaining leaves and clean out the flower beds). Riley has a much better way of enjoying the sunny day.

Here’s hoping the drought in Birmingham doesn’t last through this summer and our hard work in the yard pays off. Otherwise, I should just be living the life of Riley.