Inkem binkem notamus rex, protect us all from the man with the hex

Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu Mayberry wgah'nagl fhtagn.


Barney is finally going to get to use his one bullet - on himself.

Daylight's precious when your a youngen'.

Back.

We had a wonderful time in and about Sparta, North Carolina for the past week or so. We were visiting my father in law who built a beautiful house pretty much by himself just outside Sparta.

Although there were no Civil War sites nearby :( we did get a chance to take in some of the local culture and cuisine. Here's a few pics---

View from the deck of my FILs house. The kids spent a ton of time swimming in that river.

We were surprised when a huge thunderstorm come through out of nowhere.

My FILs cat loves to catch critters. He eats everything but the tail. I think this is what remains of a squirrel.

We spent a day at old Salem in Winston Salem. The juxtaposition of modern buildings with 200+ year old gunsmith shops and bakeries was a bit odd.

This coke machine was behind a stall door in an original barn. Obviously the settlers were way ahead of their time.

George Washington slept in this tavern...

...in this room.

Downtown Winston Salem was hosting their annual ribfest. It was a pigacaust of biblical proportions.

These guys made the best ribs IMHO. Their name was "Sgt. Oink." Were it up to me he would be promoted to Colonel Oink.

Note all the trophies with little pigs on top of them. They take their ribs VERY seriously.

Mount Airy was a quaint little town that plays up the fact that Andy Griffith was born there and based many of the characters in his show on the people and places there. For example you can take a guided tour in one of these show-themed police cruisers.

The famous statue of Andy and Opie which stands in front of the Andy Griffith museum.

My favorite part of the whole day. In the middle of the South at the birthplace of Andy Griffith and the apex of hometown values the first thing we saw when we parked in the visitor lot was this Obama headquarters sign. Did my heart proud seeing this.

Tweetsie's Railroad was a themepark built around an actual coal locomotive ride that gets attacked by bandits.

Some of the wicked desperados.

Fighting off "Red Devil." Sigh.

All in all it was a wonderful trip and we were sad to have to come home. North Carolina was absolutely beautiful and the people were about as hospitable as they could get.

Nip it. You go read any book you want on the subject of child discipline and you'll find every one of them is in favor of bud-nipping.

Why I'm not a Right Wing Blogger by Dean Vernon Wormer.

I have a sense of shame.

The End.


(Case in point - This weekend Atrios pooches something and then publicly flogs himself for getting the basic facts of the matter wrong. At the very same time the conservative Ace of Spades completely botches another "fake memo" story but refuses to apologize or make a correction proving once again that the conservative blogsphere is made up of a bunch of intellectually stunted four year olds.)

It's a wise man who knows not to push the limits of the law.

There's a certain karmic symmetry to a week that began with news of the death of Barney Fife ending with the news that Bill O'Reilly is now playing Barney Fife.

The king is dead. Long live the king!