A Reformation by stealth, right here in River City...

... or at least sometimes it seems so. While I had the little lummox with me yesterday we walked past a large van in the park that said "Iglesia Evangelica Emmanuel." I see a lot of that around here - a lot of signs in Spanish for what are clearly Protestant churches.

So what is going on? Nearly all of the 6 or 7 thousand Hispanics in the county come from Catholic backgrounds. I can only assume that once they get here they feel neglected or alienated from the Catholic Church, which is stretched very thin up here in Cloud Protestant Land and Anglophone in any case. So -- more and more of them slip out of the Catholic orbit and into other churches.

Which, for the local people, means that they become less 'foreign' in some sense.

Me and Lummox - the Killer!

... we had an interesting day yesterday. It was beautiful but very windy. Because the little beast likes to explore new places I took him over to the park at the Dam. We parked up at the picnic/playground area on top of the dam and then walked down to the walking track by the resevoir lake. It was cool and windy so Lummox was in the mood to run and I did my best to keep up. When he is like that I think of him as my own personal trainer.

On the far side of the track he slowed down and I was glad for the rest. He was wandering rather aimlessly though the grass by the track. Suddenly he plunged his entire snout into the earth, pulled up some little grey animal, shook it viciously two or three times and dropped it. He sniffed the little creature and then moved off, only to return in a minute or so to pick it up and shake it a few more times and drop it.

The animal was a large fat mole. What a thing to happen to it. He was just setting peacefully in his burrow when suddenly his whole world is crushed by a slavering monster and in two shakes he is dead. I doubt if he even knew what hit him, Lummox was so quick.

So there he was, laying in a grave he'd unwittingly dug for himself, little pink feet sticking in the air like supplicating hands. Nature is like that sometimes, I suppose.

Gives me a whole new perspective on Lummox though.

Mulan came to visit me ...

... while I was working in my office. From my desk while I type I can see the very end of the hall. I saw an attractive Asian girl come around the corner and for two seconds I thought she was one of our students. But it was Mulan! I wasn't sure it was her until her dad came around the corner behind her and I had something to judge her height. She's only eleven. Yet, she is tall for her age. And I wasn't wearing my glasses.

Still.

She sat down with me and asked if I thought Severus Snape is really evil. No, I do not. Even though he did ... well... you know. I don't want to give away the end of The Half-Blood Prince to anyone who hasn't read it, like Carmen. I am also beginning to think that Harry Potter is not the Chosen One, either.

This is me, Oscar, out standing in my field. When I was only 8 years old. It's the old family farm in northern Virginia. My oldest brother took the picture when he was a budding young photographer. It's a nice picture to recall a Fall day many years ago.

The Belief-o-Matic test....

... can lead to some peculiar results, in the most old fashioned, literal sense. You can take it yourself here.

And, here are my results, purporting to show the religions that most nearly match my religioius views.

1. Reform Judaism (100%)
2. Bahá'í Faith (88%)
3. Liberal Quakers (86%)
4. Orthodox Judaism (81%)
5. Sikhism (79%)
6. Islam (77%)
7. Unitarian Universalism (76%)
8. Mainline to Liberal Christian Protestants (75%) [what I actually profess to be!]
9. Neo-Pagan (65%)
10. Jainism (64%)
11. Orthodox Quaker (57%)
12. Mahayana Buddhism (56%)
13. New Age (55%)
14. Theravada Buddhism (47%)
15. Seventh Day Adventist (42%)
16. Mainline to Conservative Christian/Protestant (42%)
17. Hinduism (41%)
18. Secular Humanism (40%)
19. New Thought (40%)
20. Taoism (39%)
21. Scientology (38%)
22. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) (38%)
23. Nontheist (31%)
24. Eastern Orthodox (30%)
25. Roman Catholic (30%)
26. Jehovah's Witness (27%)

Joey took it first, then Carmen, and finally me. Oddly, we all had Reform Judaism as our top, 100% match. Hmmm.

But I am more intrigued that the Bahá'í Faith at 88% is in second place. I only regret that New Age and Scientology are not lower on the list. Carmen wants to know why Roman Catholic is so low. Well, off to Wikipedia to do some reading up on the Bahá'í.

And I am disappointed that the Belief-o-Matic doesn't have Zoroastrianism.

There is actually a word for it!

‘It’ being my little gas milage experiments, as I like to call them. I discovered this in the latest issue of Wired magazine. Here’s the entry:

Hypermile
v. To aggressively seek fuel efficiency,
even at the expense of road etiquette and safety. Champion hypermilers – usually hybrid vehicle drivers – shut down their engines while coasting and post photographs of their odometers on Web sites to boast of impressive (as high as 90) miles per gallon.

Hmm. Not sure I like being part of a community. Or, at least, not this community.

Our grand fall adventure...

... well, not really an adventure, but a remarkably pleasant day. This year in the mountains the fall colors have been splendid. Today was a Saturday, Carmen did not have to work, I was caught up on all my schoolwork, and the weather was clear, bright, and crisp rather than cold. In other words, the perfect fall day. Wilkesboro is the perfect place to start a trip to see the fall colors since it is surrounded by mountains on three sides. We were anxious to get underway.
We drove up Highway 16 to the restaurant at the Glendale Springs Inn. It’s one of our favorite restaurants up here. We had the usual good meal. I had hot cider just because it seemed like a hot cider day. It was so good that to keep Carmen from drinking all of mine she had to get her own cup for dessert.

One other added treat to the restaurant: every time I go there I laugh at the pictures the Inn has proudly on its wall showing the visit of Bill Clinton and Al Gore about a decade ago. Most of my relatives would probably be disgusted! Which, of course, just makes them that much more enjoyable.

From there we drove up the Blue Ridge Parkway to Doughton Park which has wonderful views. Someday I would like to come up to the hotel there and stay a night or so, with a big stack of books and notebooks, and set by the big fireplace out on the patio and gaze at the mountains. Oh, I might go for a hike or two, but mostly I would read and write. When we had looked all we wanted we turned around and drove back down the parkway to home. The scenery was simply marvelous and Carmen and I had a great day.

An Iranian cartoonist whose work I love...

.... and I think you will too. She is Marjane Satrapi and has done several autobiographical comic book biographies. Her art is severe, simple, and oddly compelling. Her stories are finely observed little vignettes of life and questioning before, during, and after the Iranian Revolution. I could try to describe her work in more detail, but think it is better just to offer you a sample of her work from her latest book, Chicken with Plums found in Salon.com.

Do yourself a favor and read this little story about the death of her great grandmother.

There was a nasty car accident at the end of our street...

.... at the beginning of the week. It was in the evening, after dinner for everyone except Carmen and me, when suddenly the lights went out for a minute or so. A few minutes after that we heard a wave of sirens coming towards our neighborhood. Then in a few more minutes a second wave of sirens. Carmen decided to go get us something for dinner and left out the back way of our neighborhood. I waited another ten minutes or so and heard yet another wave of sirens coming our way.

I couldn't stand it anymore so I drove down towards the sirens telling myself I had to get some gas. At the end of School Street I could see what looked like dozens of flashing blue lights, fire trucks, ambulances and police officers. I stopped and got out to have a look. By this time there were lots of people looking down into the deep ditch that Moravian Creek and a side stream make when they join right at the juncture of School Street and 268. There was a car at the bottom, resting on the side of the ditch and pinned there by lines put up by the rescue people. As I watched, the firemen down in the ditch used some kind of machine to snip off the roof of the car and remove it. Then they started working to rescue the person still inside.

I looked at the hundred spectators, the four squad cars, two unmarked police cars, the four ambulances and the two huge firetrucks, all with their lights flashing, and the two dozen of more police and firemen and decided that they did not need me at that moment and left.

Later when I read the news account I got a better idea of what had happened. Instead of teenagers out for a lark, which is what I assumed had happened, it was a 53 year old woman driving down 268 when she suddenly flew across the road, hit a power pole, and flipped over into the culvert. It was apparently one of her passengers who was trapped in the car. Investigators speculated that the driver may have had some type of siezure.

Never a dull moment in the Un-Mayberry.

Mulan came to visit with us at Mellow Mushroom ....

... this last time. I always like to rush off to the Mushroom on Tuesday evening, usually with young Clovis, to have beer and tempeh, but last Tuesday was special. Maeréad was there, of course, and we were settling down to order when niece Mulan came in with her mother. Her mother is a woman of the cloth, the most liberal pastor I've ever known. Her congregatioin loves her, which is interesting considering how conservative everyone is here.

Mulan is eleven, and is beginning to look like Arwen Undómiel (well an uncle notices these things!). I have known her since she first came to the High Country when she was two. We liked each other right away. Nothing makes an aging bachelor feel better than having a two year old think he's great. Of course, her dad helpfully explained that it was because of -- well, my age, the grey hair... etc., reminding her of granddad. Anyway, since Mulan is adopted we decided to adopt each other as Uncle and Niece. Fortunately her dad works with me, and I outrank him, so that was no problem. We probably should draw up papers and sign them in blood or something. Her mom the Pastor could help with a few blessings.

Mulan loves the Harry Potter books and so do Carmen and I. In fact I have listened to all of them read by Jim Dale and enjoyed each. So we had a lot to talk about, especially because Mulan had brought a little encyclopedia type book about all the magical and mythical creatures in Harry Potter. It had a wonderful map with wonderful little drawings of places and creatures from the world of Hogwarts and co. My favorite was the little picture in the middle of Italy of Romulus and Remus with mom. The Seelkies are great too - I still remember the folk song about the Great Seelkie. And lots of funny little sailing ships with tiny sailors steering them out into unknown waters.

We spent the whole time looking over her book and talking about Harry Potter stuff. She says she is going to be Cho Chang, Harry's lovely but difficult girlfriend (when she was three she went as Princess Mulan, hence the nom de blog). It has been several months since I have had a chance to talk to her, so it was a special evening.

Now we will have to have her come down to visit so we can take the little lummox over to see the Chocolate Pony. Mulan loves horses!

Wilkesboro really is NOT Mayberry! ...

.... unless you can picture Chief-of-Police Andy Taylor getting involved in a true-life story such as the following.

Our former Police Chief Gary Parsons was dismissed from his post by our ever vigilent town council after pleading guilty to five counts of private use of a publically owned vehicle and one count of willfully failing to discharge his duties as a law enforcement officer (which I believe involved telling officers not to investigate a bar owned by a friend of his for selling drugs*). The other charges, six felony indictments, one for embezzlement and the others for obtaining property by false pretenses, where dropped as part of the plea bargain. I think at this point everyone just wanted him out of office and a distant memory.

Alas, he is back in the news.

He was back in court with three counts of violating a domestic violence protective order and two counts of stalking. Apparently he has been acting kind of funny about his ex-girlfriend who reported him lying in the woods outside her house.

And you thought I lived in a quiet backward little community.



*Even though it was my favorite bar, I have no personal knowledge of any of this.

Update on me and the little lummox....

.... not that any of you were waiting for an update. A few nights ago we were walking along a little fence in the neighborhood when I saw what I thought was a dead groundhog. Lummox almost stepped on it. It was very much alive, however, hoping and praying in its little animal brain that we wouldn't see it. It shot out from under our feet and ran away down Moravian Creek as fast as it could. Lummox was so startled it took him a second before he had a reaction. Then he went wild, and almost drug me down the creek after the groundhog. I got him under control and back to the house.

Yesterday we went out along the Reddies River trail to see the Chocolate pony. Chocolate was there, right in his usual spot, calmly munching the grass. Lummox sat down with him and began to munch the grass too. He was very nice to Chocolate, who didn't seem the least bit disturbed. I'll have to get Mulan to come down and see Chocolate with us. He's a cute little thing. Hasn't put on his winter coat yet.

Today we were walking at the Community College. It is the great Cycle North Carolina bike rally day and literally hundreds of bikers were pedaling into the college. The park area was covered with little tents with bikers and their friends relaxing and talking after a hard days ride. We walked up to the new technology building, which at least is now totally enclosed with walls now. In the process the lummox attacked a duck nesting under a bush. The duck would not give up its spot, so I had to haul the little beast away before the duck pecked his eyes out. On the rest of the walk he got to meet some dogs and was well behaved, for him. And a cute little girl pet him for a few minutes and thought he was so cute. He was a happy little dog.

While we were leaving the parking lot we saw two of the distinctive black and red buses making the Greensboro to Boone run. Don't know why they would use two buses, but it is homecoming weekend up there, so maybe there was actually that many riders. It's good to see the route prospere.

I continue with my gas milage experiment ....

.... and it seems to be working. The last few tanks I averaged about 28.8 mpg, which is a bit better than the 27 mpg I usually average. I have been driving just at the speed limit, don't accelerate fast, and try to time the stop lights so I don't spend much time idling.

This last tank I did even more of that, even driving 5 mph under that speed limit when there was no traffic behind me. When I come home in the evening, as I tilt over the lip of Deep Gap, I put the car in neutral and coasted down to the bottom of the mountains. It's about 5 or 6 miles before I slow down enough to engage the gears again.

I am not sure this is the best way to drive, partly because it will increase wear on my breaks, but the last time I tanked up I got 30.9 mgp. That's great - nearly 4 miles more than the EPA rating.