Blaine the Groundhog, or rather, Son of Blaine ...

... is in the neighborhood again. I went for a walk over to the Wilkes Hot Dog Stand and saw a young but large groundhog sunning himself right at the doorway to Blaine's old burrow. I got within about 15 paces from him before his slowly disappeared into the hole. So even in this bad housing market someone decided to take over the old property. I think it was what a groundhog Realtor might call a "fixer upper."

Too bad I didn't have the lummox with me.

Wilkes makes the news again!!

This time on MSNBC (a real network I hear - never watch it myself). If it isn't folks driving their cars through the local coffee shop it's a really big guy catching a REALLY big catfish with a tiny little Barbie fishing pole.

I don't know what to think about this national attention to poor old Wilkes Co. Perhaps McCain's best VP choice would be Virginia Foxx.

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The Dragonfly and the Mongol ...

.... the week before we left for that pestilential swamp in the south (now mostly paved over but not improved) I went with Maire, Murty and their friends to see "Mongol" at the Dragonfly theater. Even though they are not serving beer yet it is a wonderful new theater. You can set at little tables with your food and drinks or lounge on big fluffy red couches down in front. Clovis took one look at the couches and ran down to throw himself into one.

The movie is the best medieval epic from Kazakhstan ever, I can say with some confidence. Even Clovis pronounced it "Awesome!' which is his equivalent to 'two thumbs up.' Not only was it a good movie, it was reasonably accurate.

If you ever have a chance, go see it. We were all convinced it would never come to Boone, or anywhere near Boone. So I think I'll go pour myself a shot of cognac in honor of the Dragonfly Theater.

We got back to Wilkesboro without any bad weather...

... which was coming up this way from Cuba. Tropical Storm Fay. Spoke to a truck driver heading south towards Kissimmee. He seemed a little concerned about it, but it shouldn't be that big a problem. In fact he has probably dropped his load and turned around by now.

We got to Statesboro and Mr Patel's motel about 8:30 Sunday night. Once we got in our room it began to storm with load booms and bolts of lightening. The little lummox immediately decided that he'd had enough walking that night and was ready to stay in. It stormed the whole night but that was the only bad weather we had the whole trip.

Now I am busy getting ready for classes. I can hardly wait.

We are in that unnamed port city to our south...

... we even brought the Beast with Four Paws. He is happy - he gets to sleep in the same room with us when we travel, doesn't have to worry about the cats, and usually eats better. But I don't have access to the Internet this trip so won't be posting much. Right now Carmen and I are with the Sobrinos at the beach. They have laptops laying all over the place with internet connections.

I am going to type up some things on my NEO and post them when I can. That's it for now. Back in a week or so.

Can't say we aren't newsworthy ...

.... this from the local Republican Rag:

The surveillance camera video of a minivan crashing through the front wall of a Wilkesboro restaurant is causing a national stir.

The incident occurred last Wednesday evening at the Coffee House on Brushy Mountain Road in Wilkesboro.

According to reports a 2001 Ford van, driven by Mary Lou Lunsford Sheppard, 60, of Cain Ridge Road, Wilkesboro, was traveling south on Brushy Mountain Road when the vehicle went out of control, ran through the restaurant parking lot and smashed through the front wall.

Kenneth Mack Anderson was sitting in a booth reading a newspaper when the van ripped through the wall. The impact pushed Anderson and the booth against the restaurant counter.

Anderson received minor cuts and bruises. Lunsford declined to be taken to Wilkes Regional Medical Center in North Wilkesboro.

Bob Ashley, the owner of Holly Mountain Enterprises, which includes Coffee House restaurants, Run In convenience stores and Holly Mountain IGA has been getting a lot of phone calls about the video.

“Several other TV stations have contacted me to use the video,” Ashley told The Record during a Tuesday afternoon interview.

A segment on the accident was aired on NBC’s Today Show on Monday morning.

And, truTV, a national cable network that shows reality-based programs, has even offered to buy exclusive rights to the video from Ashley.

Ashley seems a little surprised by all the hoopla.

For what it's worth, this Coffee House is the one I and a colleague stop at one day for coffee and the waitress refused to even acknowledge we were in the place. After waiting about 5 minutes we started trying to get her attention. No luck so we left - and she watched us leave, still with no reaction. I've never been back. I spoke to Carmen about it and she promised to try some Cuban Santeria on it.

Coincidence?

of course, it did take about two or three years to take effect. But then it took the FBI seven years to find the Anthrax killer supposedly. So it looks like Santeria is more effective than the FBI.

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Lately I have been having a lot of trouble with ...

... getting lost in the Internet. Now I find another blogger who took a two week brake from it and reports:

I can't remember when I last unplugged quite as effectively as I did the past two weeks. For a week, no email; for another week, only marginal reading of the web. The come-down wasn't too brutal, as I slipped into a bit of a coma for a while. And the feeling of free-floating freedom that being a normal pre-web person provided was a bit of a revelation. You can get lost in these here Internets. Sometimes you need to clear the mental horizon of all protruding objects and breathe a little to remember what being human used to feel like.

I think I need to do something like that. Maybe another retreat to a monastery. Something.