Revenge could have been the keyword for The 14th Annual Nashville Area Literacy Council's Spelling Bee on Sept. 27. After a rousing, come-from-behind, catch-the-ball-as-it-caressed-the-grass win in 2005, Hammock's torrid spelling team got the bird on Kookaburra last year. So the pressure was on the litigious team from Waller Lansden law firm as they came back this year to defend their title. A new challenger, from McNeely Pigott Fox & Atkinson PR had cast a personal challenge at Hammock.

So Team Hammock -- Captain Jamie "Depp-adidoo" Roberts, Megan "I wasn't THAT good!" Goodchild, and Bill "AARPman" Hudgins -- had a lot riding on them.

The pirate theme for the evening played into a number of the word choices. Cap'n Jamie saved our soy bacon by knowing that "zucchini" had 2 C's. Bosun Bill thought it had one C and 2 Ns, which would have squashed us. The field of 10 was quickly whittled to 4 --Hammock, MPF&A, American Legal Services, and Waller. The latter two quickly fell, leaving the one-time champ and the new kids in a spell down.

The first word went to Hammock and nearly scuttled us -- pronounced as "key," the word "quay" meaning a structure in a harbor was familiar to all of us as "cay" from Caribbean forays. A lucky guess turned out right. Then the spinmeisters tripped over annihilate, which Hammock handled with ease, as we did the next word, "braggadocio." Which we were filled with as it won the contest.

The fallen foes will long remember the event as the day they almost beat Cap'n Jamie and her merry crew!

Over the weekend some friends from church came to see our burros, Edgar and Rice. The guy is a retired veterinarian, and the younger woman is his granddaughter. The burros were their usual gregarious selves, especially since treats were involved. This is the younger and more playful burro, Edgar.

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