About the South

For our new neighbors, there are a few things you should know about the South:

• Much like the stereotypical Minnesotan, the typical Southerner values manners over being straightforward.
• We even try to be polite when we're being rude. Any critical comment is immediately softened by the clause "bless his/her/their heart(s)." E.g. "He just has no class at all, bless his heart."
• Yes, we put sugar and ice in our tea -- in that order. Putting sugar in after the ice defeats the purpose.
• A word on grits: grits are made from ground corn. They are served savory, never sweet. They go with pretty much everything, especially bacon and eggs or, for lunch/dinner, shrimp.
• We do get occasional cold weather and snow, but we are rarely prepared for it. Please be patient with us as we prepare for your frigid winters.
• Not all of us wave the Confederate flag.
• If I'm "fixin' to," I am preparing to do something at an indeterminate point in the near future.
• On that note, the letter "G" is optional when it comes at the end of a word.
• "Y'all" is the informal plural second person. It comes in quite handy.
• "Ain't" is technically a contraction of "are not," but is often used as a more general negative regardless of person or number.
• I ain't
• You ain't
• He/she/it ain't
• We ain't
• Y'all ain't
• They ain't
• "Yonder" is a general location, not a specific place.
• If something is "over yonder," it's "just over there." 
• If it's "down yonder," it's a medium distance away. 
• If it's "up over yonder," get ready 'cause it's gonna be a haul.
• While much of the South is rural, we also have our large metropolitan areas -- namely Atlanta and Nashville.
• While some of our schools our falling behind, we also have some great colleges and research universities -- Emory, Georgia Tech, Vanderbilt, UNC, UVA, Duke, Wake Forrest.
• Related: there is more to the SEC than athletics.
• While the Redneck stereotype exists for a reason, the South is also a hotbed for musical innovation, birthplace of the Civil Rights Movement, and the former home of great authors including William Faulkner, Harper Lee, and Flannery O'Connor.
• Lutherans are far and few between, but we have plenty of Baptists, Methodists, and Presbyterians (with a descent compliment of Episcopalians as well).

What do we need to know about life on the edge of the prairie?

Up, Up, and Away

The truck is reserved, the boxes are (mostly) packed, and life is chaotic. By the end of the week, we will be in our new home, an hour south of the Twin Cities.

So many questions! Do people really top their hotdish casseroles with tater tots? Will we have to eat lutefisk? How do you survive in -30F weather? And will people understand us when we address a group as "y'all" and tell them we were just over "yonder"?

And later:

The truck is loaded. We're off tomorrow to pass through Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois (with a stop in Lincoln's childhood home), Iowa, and finally to Minnesota.