Wedding Season

One of my good friends and college teammates Krista Swanson is engaged! Her boyfriend Brad Lang proposed to her Thursday evening, June 18th. Congrats you two. Looks like wedding planning is in your futures.


Speaking of weddings, Tuff and I attended my friend Kristen's and Tuff's teammate Colin's wedding Saturday, June 20th. The wedding was in Nashville at Kristen's parent's residence. The pictures below are of Kristen making her entrance to the ceremony and the wedding party waiting anxiously for her to come down the stairs. It was very beautiful.



One of our friends Austin helped out with photography at the wedding.


The following day we enjoyed a Sunday afternoon at our apartment pool with one of our friends Casey. The pictures below are of Tuff and Casey heading to the pool on my scooter. Due to weight restrictions, I couldn't ride with them.


I have some more pictures from OTA's including last weeks. Some of them you have to look hard for Tuff, but they are the only ones with him in it. He has had a good couple of good weeks at OTA's, including a few interceptions. No pictures of the interceptions though. I told Tuff they probably didn't want to publish pictures of the quarterbacks throwing interceptions.



The picture below looks like Justin Gage is catching the ball and Tuff's face.



Tuff says that in the picture below he is pointing because the play that just ended was an incomplete pass according to the defense. Shortly after this shot the referee called it incomplete so the defense was correct in their pointing and arm waving.

We golfed at Gaylord Springs course this week. Its Tuff's favorite in Nashville. Tuff and I both shot 78's (no cheating or second shots, something Tuff used to do often and something I do more often now) from 6500 yards. We felt like pros kinda. Unfortunately I finished bogy-par and Tuff finished birdie-par, allowing for the tie finish. I'm quite competitive so I was hoping for victory that day but a tie is OK too:)

We snapped a sneak shot of a pretty big water moccasin in the bushes below.


The golf courses down here use giant fans to keep the greens from dying from the intense heat.

Kudzu, sometimes referred to as "the vine that ate the south," grows all over everything down here from trees to streetlights. Kudzu first came to the United States from Japan in 1876 where is was promoted as a forage crop and eventually encouraged to plant to prevent soil erosion. However, it was subsequently discovered that the Southeastern US has near-perfect conditions for kudzu to grow out of control; hot, humid summers, frequent rainfall, temperate winters with few hard freezes and no natural predators. The United States Department of Agriculture named the once promoted plant a pest weed in 1953. Below is a picture of some kudzu growing on the trees at a golf course.


Monday, June 22nd Tuff played in another celebrity golf tournament. His love for golf is getting out of control-just kidding. Below is him at the Titan's Charity Tournament and the Courtland Finnegan Charity Tournament.



Tuff reports back to camp July 31st. From now until the end of July Tuff is in two weddings. One he is the best man in his cousin Donnie Lyman's wedding in St. Xavier, MT on July 19th and the second he is a groomsman in his college friend/teammate's wedding in NY on July 25.

Craziness

It storms often this time of year in Nashville and I got to know that fact a little too close for comfort not too long ago. My friend Kristen and I frequently walk a hilly six miles at a very wooded park. On one of our walks we were only halfway through when a very electric and windy storm hit the area. The sky went black and the trees started creaking and cracking from the wind. We took off running since the only shelter was a few miles away, and by sheer adrenaline made it to safety. We still had over a mile to get to our cars so had to wait out the storm in the shelter with other hikers who came running in to join us. I had my camera with me that day hoping to catch a picture of one of the two owls that live in the park but spent most of my time trying to keep it dry while running. The first picture below is before the storm hit, the sky is getting dark. The second picture is of Kristen and I in the shelter, the sky is black and we're soaked.


Saturday we golfed nine holes (rain check) at Henry Horton State Park course, which is 38 miles south of Nashville in the boonies. On our way home we stopped in a little town to check out a flee market. It was like we were back in Mexico; hardly anyone spoke English. People in Nashville call this area "Little Mexico." Tuff and I usually try the restaurants in Little Mexico because they are so tasty and cheap.



When we got home Tuff noticed we caught something unusual in one of our spider traps. It was a little lizard! Don't worry, the trap was outside on our patio. The poor lizard was still alive but really stuck to the trap so Tuff used a stick to peel him off and he flicked the lizard into the woods. I looked up what kind of lizard it was because it had a really bright blue tail. It is a young male Broad-headed Skink. This one was about six inches long including its tail but they can get as long as a foot long. Below is a picture of the lizard we caught in the trap and then a picture representing the species so you can get a better look.


Sunday after church we played ladder golf (everyone has a different name for this game) and had a picnic with our friends. Then we golfed at Nashboro golf club. After 5:00pm you can play for $10. After our experience golfing there I don't think we will go back. Each hole is lined with apartment complexes. People (mostly kids) were roaming around the course like it was a park. Several times we had to wait for a group of kids to get out of the way. On hole five I hit a drive up the fairway and a kid ran out and took my ball. I yelled at him from the fairway to drop it but he took off running. This happened the next few holes, including a hole with a bridge crossing where some teenagers decided to post up on the bridge and smoke weed together. They also stuck their feet out when you tried to cross as if they were so intimidating that we wouldn't cross. I wanted to take out one of my clubs and whap somebody. I've never seen anything so out of control on a golf course before. I forgot my camera that day but do have pictures from the park.


Ladder Golf? What do you call this game?


Our friend Casey and The Parthenon in the background. The Parthenon in Nashville is a full-scale replica of the original Parthenon in Athens. It was built in 1897 as part of the Tennessee Centennial Exposition. Today is functions as an art museum and is the center of Centennial Park, where we usually picnic on Sundays.


A tiny little Praying Mantis joined us for the picnic. It was ant size.


Below is one of many house centipedes we've killed in our apartment, including one in our sheets! They are harmless but creepy.


The Titans updated their website and changed Tuff's roster profile. Make sure once you've opened the link below that you click "More+" so you can get his full profile. The "More+" button is located below his biography.
http://www.titansonline.com/team/roster/Tuff-Harris/4b58759f-a2f5-474b-8445-fbb85f0281c4

I found some more great pics of Tuff during OTA's. LenDale White (#25) must still be on a weight loss kick because it's stinking hot outside and he's wearing long sleeves. Tuff's in the background (#26).


Tuff attempting to tackle Chris Johnson.




Finally, Titans cornerback Cortland Finnegan hosted his first annual ARK 31 Celebrity Golf Tournament on Monday, June 15 at Saddle Creek Golf Club in Lewisburg, TN and Tuff was one of the celebrities. His team shot 19 under and took 4th.

Next week Tuff has three more OTA's and then vacation until the end of July.

Its the Middle of June Already

Tuff is back from Montana and we drove around Nashville, checking out the neighborhoods. If you've never been to Nashville, you would not know that the average house is huge and made of brick. We live in Davidson country but literally are across the road from Williamson County. In 2006 it was the eleventh wealthiest county in the country, but the Council for Community and Economic Research ranked Williamson County as America's wealthiest county (1st) when the local cost of living was factored into the equation with median household income. My point is that when we go on a drive to check out the neighborhoods, we're looking at mansions. Below are a few pictures Tuff captured as I slowly drove. They hardly even scratch the surface for the biggest houses here. Those ones have a lot of land and long driveways. Tuff and I call them mansions, but people in Williamson County probably call them average-haha.









While checking out the neighborhoods we spotted a baby deer and its mommy.


The pictures below are our place (remember, we live in Davidson County-just kidding). Its a great little one bedroom corner apartment. Its terrace level which means from where we park our cars we walk down stairs to get to our place. The second picture shows the wall that the snake crawled in. It went in a small hole under the siding.



Next week Tuff and the Titans have three OTA's (organized team activity). Between May and June the NFL allows each team to have a maximum of 21 OTA's. The Titans are having 12 this summer. Coach Fisher does a really good job of preserving his players. When Tuff played for the Dolphins, Coach Cameron maxed out the OTA's and people were getting injured left and right. The picture below is of an OTA a few weeks ago.

We Miss you Grandma Goodie

Hi to all and welcome to our blog. Last Wednesday night Tuff's grandma Mary passed away from a stroke she had the week prior (she is the beauty in blue in the picture below). Tuff is in Montana for her funeral today (Monday, June 8th). She was such a beautiful person, a wonderful wonderful woman. She truly was an example of the Proverbs 31 virtuous woman. We miss you Grandma Goodie and can rejoice that you are in heaven.


I was in Minnesota May 28th-June 5th for my little sister Cydney's high school graduation and state golf tournament. Cydney placed 3rd overall, shooting 73/77. That's her posing with her coach and our dad. Good job Cydney and congratulations on graduating!




One interesting thing occurred just as I arrived at the Minneapolis airport and was waiting for my ride down in baggage claim. The people in the RV managed to get wedged (didn't check their clearance I suppose). To make matters worse, they tried to back out and damaged the RV more. The man with his arms above his head is the driver. I couldn't help but snap a shot of this unfortunate occurrence.


Other than the last week, Tuff and I have been actively killing critters. Yes, you heard me. Tennessee has a plethora of critters and our apartment happens to be their home:) One of the more threatening critters is the brown recluse spider. So far we trapped four. They are pretty fast buggers and I'm glad Tuff is around to do the trapping. We have sticky traps, but they don't fall for those, so when we see a spider, Tuff forces it onto the trap.

A few weeks ago we had a five foot snake in our breezway. We're not sure what type of snake it was but it does not look like any of the four poisonous snakes that make their habitat here in Tennessee. He had a few large lumps in his belly like he just ate. We tried to get him back outside and instead, he crawled into a hole in our apartment wall we didn't know existed. Its my understanding that snakes that size only need to eat once a month so we don't expect him to come out any time soon. Tuff threw some sand down in front of the hole so we know when he comes out. Unforetunatley I didn't get a picture because my camera was inside the apartment which required me to walk by the snake (I wasn't about to do that). I did get a picture of one of Tuff's trappings, the brown recluse on a sticky trap. We'll keep you posted.


For those of you wondering, Tuff is still a Titan. Now that we started a blog, hopefully we can keep you all informed on the transactions that occur with Tuff and the Titans. Until next time.