My First Post

First of all, let's all take a moment to congratulate me on my 1st blog post. It's a momentous occasion. I've finally joined the world of blogging and I am excited to share my insights, adventures and experiences with my friends, family, colleagues and whoever else may find this blog of interest. Okay, now on with the show:

Cara has now been in Knoxville two weeks and we've kept ourselves very busy. Last weekend, we went to the pumpkin patch for the perfect fall experience. We did a corn maze, hayride and we picked out three perfect pumpkins to make a happy little pumpkin family. I'll pop on in a later blog to describe our fall themed weekend and to post some pictures of the finished jack-o-lanterns...so feel free to be excited about that.

Yesterday, I did some cleaning around the house while Cara baked some fall-themed muffins. She made funfetti muffins with orange coconut topping and chocolate muffins with chocolate frosting and candy corns. Mmmm...mmmm! They were good. Mike's wife, Jennifer, even referred to them as very Marth Stewart-esque...she wasn't kidding. They were a hit at the cookout we went to last night, but there were sweets galore, so we brought quite a few home! I'm definitely looking forward to satisfying my sweet tooth!!

The cookout was good fun - Ernie Cadotte (a marketing professor) hosted at his beautiful lake house. The sunset speaks for itself...could you handle this view to wrap up each day? I could.


The night started with an interesting game of touch football. Being the competitive guy that I am, I joined the game (in-progress) the moment I arrived. The rules made the game a bit more like rugby in that forward passes were allowed (and encouraged!) even ahead of the line of scrimmage, which allowed more folks to get involved. It was all good fun - until that rock got in the way. On my team's second drive - we drew up a tricky double reverse play. The center snapped to our quarter back who handed the ball off to a player who swept around from the left. I swept around from the right and took another hand off and sprinted off to the left. Just when I was about to be touched, I flipped the ball off to Ernie. Knowing that we could continue to lateral the ball, I figured I had a wide open sideline ahead of me as our opponents swarmed Ernie. So, I took off sprinting, intending for Ernie to flip the ball back to me so I could "house it." I didn't make it that far. Just as I was accelerating and calling for the ball, I felt my legs being swept out from underneath me..and it didn't feel good. I had run smack into a gigantic rock. Next thing I know, I'm lying on my belly on top of this momentous boulder that someone had strategically placed directly on the field near the sideline. A bit dazed I rolled off the rock and surveyed the damage. My knees were both bloodied and I also managed to scratch my arms up quite a bit. Yeah. Not a smooth move. What my collision did do, however, is provide a pretty darned good distraction. While half of the other team was watching this spectacle in complete disbelief and awe, my teammates were able to take the ball all the way down field for the score - our only of the game. The game ended in a 1-1 tie. And I was carried off the field as a hero. Okay, maybe I just imagined that.

After the game, we feasted on burgers, pasta salads, and desserts aplenty. We then gathered around the campfire to stay warm. The fire more than did it's job.


All in all - a great evening. Though I could've done without the broken kneecaps!!

Cheers all - more to come!!

MH