Hill Country Living
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Hill Country Living
By Coulter Fussell
It’s been so cold for so long that I and everyone I know have gotten really ornery about it. The last few weeks have been an endurance test for withstanding frigid temps and resulting bad moods. I’ve come realize that I’m so ill adapted for cold weather that I couldn’t live even one, single mile further north. I’m at the tip-top of my geographical cold weather threshold and even a trip into Oxford is like traveling into the cold heart of arctic Siberia.
I can’t imagine how I’m going to deal with this when I get older and my circulation starts to tucker out. Guess I’ll do like my grandmother and turn up a gas wall heater so high that my family has the equivalent of a hallucinatory sweat lodge experience every time they come over to visit.
During the cold weather lockdown, I occupied myself by following daily social media updates on the whereabouts of the Batesville emu. Apparently, some dogs got after an elderly Batesville man’s pet emu. The emu fled on foot, as is typical, as that’s their only option for fleeing. It has been spotted all over Batesville, remains elusive to capture and catching a glimpse of the emu is like finding a four-leaf clover. The Batesville emu has been the most active missing persons case of 2025. There are daily sightings of it running down various rural roads and highways. Many sightings are recorded on cell phones extended by arm from car windows and uploaded to the internet with a variety of musical accompaniments. The Batesville emu seems to have universal appeal in its sparking of human creativity.
Before Batesville lost its emu, when someone said “Batesville” to me I thought mainly of Taco Bell, cheap gas and taking a right toward Memphis. That is my own ignorance, by the way, not an indictment on Batesville! But now when someone says “Batesville” to me, I think of a so-ugly-it’s-cute emu! I’m jealous that Batesville has a lost emu. I think we would enjoy that sort of thing here in Water Valley. I’m going to suggest to the Water Valley Main Street Association that we consider losing an emu. It’s great marketing and does wonders for a town’s playful spirit of togetherness!
Speaking of The Water Valley Main Street Association and a town’s playful spirit of togetherness, we are hosting our Wine Down event this Friday night (February 28th.) Acting as our spring open house, this is a really fun happening that will have you mingling and meandering all up and down Main Street. It’s a great chance to hang with your pals and neighbors while supporting our hard-working business district.
You can get your tickets online right now if you go to the Water Valley Main Street Association’s webpage. You can also just show up at Pocket Park anytime during the event (5:30– 7:30 p.m.) to buy your ticket. Look for the table with the official Wine Down Check-In Dream Team: me, Karen Turnage and Leshon Polk! We’ll get you set up with your wristband for free wine, your official Wine Down t-shirt and your Wine Down tumbler. Then you’ll be on your way to an event where the moscatos hang with the sauvignon blancs!
And if the emu shows up, we’re keeping it.
