NC State Fair

The department had a "team building exercize" at the State Fair today. The admission was free if you brought 4 cans of food for the NC Food Bank. I took a ton of pictures...it was hard to decide which ones to put up on the blog. I was trying to find a couple things that were sort of representative of the whole experience. I put up one of the department...we're so proud that the company is a sponsor of the fair. And there's one that sort of captures the spirit of the fair...which is a celebration of state agriculture. We made a special effort to attend the pig races. That's always a lot of fun. And we sampled a variety of fried food. It's truly amazing...you can fry just about anything. The effects of the drought were very evident. The big waterfall was turned off and you could really see how the plants have suffered all summer. This is the first time I've been to the fair in about 15 years. It was fun, but I'm good now for another 10 or 15 years.

There goes the neighborhood

New development going in...right down the road from our little bungalow in the low rent district. There's something really weird about building a bunch of McMansions way out here in the county...between the dairy and the crack house. I'd like to know who they think can afford a multi-million dollar house...certainly none of the locals...since the meth labs got busted there's no place to work!

The New Kid

Just what I needed...ANOTHER cat. We're at critical mass here and the other night this kitten just shows up at the door looking for a handout. The word must be out in feral cat land that I'm a soft touch. So, after a quick meal, this little guy is here to stay. I'm hoping we can find a good home for him SOON, before he gets too comfortable, although it may already be too late for that. He's the sweetest natured cat in the world. His color is a cross between Karl and Wally. He looks so much like Karl that I wonder if they aren't related. Karl's mother, Higgid, may have had a litter or two before she wandered onto our porch (with 4 kittens in tow). I wanted to call him Cleocatra until I realized he was a boy. Malcolm calls him Theo. Anyhow...if you know anyone who needs a cat (yeah, like anyone NEEDS a cat) please let me know. And on a lighter note, my spinning friend Vicky turned me on to this great show on Animal Planet "Meerkat Manor." I think I'm hooked. She wants me to crochet a meerkat for her, so I'm going to give it a shot. The pattern is at http://littlegreen.typepad.com/romansock/files/meerkat.pdf. Guess I better go track down some mohair and get to work. Oh...and fall break starts today. We got a FULL house for the next week.

Yo, Baby!

Baby Lila is 2 weeks old already. She's so tiny! I forget that my own kids weren't always 6 feet tall. Here's a picture of the sweet family...Matt, baby Lila, Ella and Laura. Congratulations you guys. Good job!

Mary's kids

I babysit my neighbor's dogs from time to time. Here I am with (from left to right) Annie, Gabe and Vinnie. Annie is blind and Vinnie is deaf...Gabe is okay though. Nevertheless, they are wonderful dogs...sweet and well-mannered. They mind really well and don't make much mess...if only my own children were so cooperative!

Carrboro Music Festival

Friends, family and band mates...Stratocruiser played at Cat's Cradle yesterday for the Carrboro Music Festival. Pictured here starting with my darling daughter Bert and going clockwise are: Miguel, Clay, Jack, Jay, Emily, Gary, Donna and Matt in front. Not pictured: Malcolm, who got hungry and walked up to Ben & Jerry's where he now works to try to get some free ice cream. They wouldn't give him any freebies, but said he could work a couple hours and earn some ice cream. So he did. All the acts at the festival got food coupons, so after the gig, and after Malcolm's shift, we ate at Amante's. Excellent pizza by the way. I highly recommend the greek pizza.