Things we did today

The highlight of the day without a doubt was the flu shot.  We went to a Walgreens drugstore in Hudson, right on Rt 321, and we took the scenic route up thru Rhodhiss road.  We got to take all kinds of strange turns in the Alfred Hitchcock like small town of Granite Falls along the way. 

The pharmacy was actually quite busy - not because there were so many people waiting for service, but because there were so few pharmacists.  I wonder about that, people dealing with medicine who are obviously professional, but at the same time VERY busy, quite overwhelmed. 

At any rate, we managed to get a flu shot & it was even covered by our insurance. This year's shot included the "pig flu" shot that was so scarce last year (and which I never did get), so we should not be oinking any time soon.  (I said OINKING, pay attention).  And of course we spent some money on the way out, which I'm sure is one of the reasons they offer flu shots there in the first place.   We were classic flu shot customers.

On the way to get flu shots, we took advantage of early voting in North Carolina, voting at the Connelly Springs Town Hall.   We were approached by a couple of ladies while in the parking lot - and one gave us a sheet telling us all the conservative candidates to vote for.   They may have technically broken the law by approaching us in the parking lot - you have to be a certain distance way from the polling station, and that may have been too close - but they looked like a cross between Aunt Bea and your favorite grandmother, so I doubt the Burke County police will slap them in the hoosegow any time soon, unless Barney Pfife shows up.  They were very nice, and we thanked them, but I'm pretty sure I didn't vote for anyone on their list.

Today we also dealt with installing a new DVR box, which was a lot more difficult than it should have been.  But basically all that had to be done was put the TV input (or is it output) cord on the correct post & pull out and re-seat the smart card.  Took a few minutes to figure that out, especially the smart card.  But now we are back in the 21st century.  We can once again DVR programs, pause live tv and skip the commercials.  Skipping commercials is important.  It's how I get past all the political ads, and in a month or so, it'll keep me from going crazy because of the Christmas ads. The old box suddenly quit working yesterday, and they got the new one to us today - pretty quick.  We have to send the old one back, so that'll be fun to deal with.

The day started with a dog walk, as usual.  We took the long way up to the cemetery, which means I got to walk up lots of hills, but only one way.  Not like in the old days when you had to walk up hills both ways, thanks of course, to modern engineering.  The last few days have been very pleasant, warm days, cool nights, clear skies, and the mountains are quite visible.  The leaves are changing, and things are very beautiful.   I hear it's going to rain though - fine with me, let it rain.  Just means Pickles and I will get wet when we go for our walks.

Spring Time in Kentucky

I took a weekend trip back to my tribal home in eastern Kentucky - my father has been ill and I thought I'd run down and pay a visit.  The picture above is somewhere in Tennessee, I believe just before Kingsport.  I had stopped to fill up the car & stretch my legs (mostly to stretch) and figured I needed to take some sort of odd picture to post in this here blog.

In Kentucky, the redbuds are in full bloom.  The dogwoods are just starting, and many of the trees do not yet have leaves.  Springtime there is about 3 weeks to a month behind springtime here in North Carolina.  I find stuff like that interesting.

Here's something else I find interesing - the perceived length of daylight.  Kentucky and North Carolina are in the same time zone.  Kentucky is further west and further north.  Just based on east/west, the sun should set later in Kentucky than in NC, but NC should get more morning sun. However, there is the north/south issue, and at some point there is more sunlight in the nothern lattitudes than in the Southern - both morning and night.  When I was in Germany, I thought some days in the late sring would never end.   Also, in the part of eastern Kentucky I was going to, you have a lot of hills - a road, a creek and steep hills is much of what Knott County is.  That artificially makes the sun appear to set earlier than it otherwise would.

So, how do they know?

A Dance Studio on Main Street

Looks like the Video store/tanning place/gym that is no longer in business is going to be replaced by a dance studio. That's cool, I hope it succeedes - it could bring people into the downtown Valdese area. Couldn't hurt.

Not missing a chance to pass on a rumor, I heard that Valdese Video/tanning place/gym left that location because the landlord raised the rent - and not by a little. Almost doubled it. So says the Valdese, NC rumor mill, the one mill in town that works full time.

The Valdese Video sign is still on the building. Its a nice sign, but I wonder who's gonna take it down.