Our place and random tidbits

We drove 15 hours from Texas to get here.  The kids were champs - they were unbelievably good - very little crying or whining, I think they might have had more patience than me on the drive.




We call Mooresville our home - it's a town about 25 minutes outside of Charlotte.  People might call it a suburb - which it partially is but it has its own history outside of Charlotte's expansion.

College Football Holy Site

We didn't do much sight seeing because we wanted to avoid dragging out the drive.  But we did stop in Tuscaloosa to see the home of the Crimson Tide.  Jenny indulged me.  Wow!  That stadium is the crown jewel of the town .  I have been to a bigger stadium, Darrell Royal Stadium in Austin, but the kind of money that went into the renovation of the stadium is unbelievable.  I poked around some of the club-level areas on the south end-zone and was floored.  They always say that football is the second religion in the south - well I have seen one of its temples now.  I was wearing a Minnesota shirt (where I went to grad school) which doesn't have much of a football tradition beyond the 1960's - they must have wondered what I was doing there...

Peaches and Fireworks

In South Carolina they had a peach store off one of the exits.  On one side they sell peaches on the other fireworks - convenient since I usually buy both at the same time.  We thought we were pretty cool because we had found this unique place that sold fresh peaches (which were spectacular by the way) but then we saw that they had the same store at the next four or five exits.  Not a true find - but worth it.

Stray Cat Strut

Since the day we arrived we have had a cat on our deck.  We figured it was a stray and that the previous tenants must have been feeding him - because the cat is always there.  We asked the previous tenants about it (also the Landlord) and it turns out that they had a cat but it ran away a bit before they were going to move.  The never saw the cat before they moved, but low and behold we have a cat.  Mystery solved.  We could potentially take the cat in but I am allergic to cats and my allergies have been flaring up with it hanging out the deck.  We will call the Humane Society and hopefully they can take care of it.

The Cable Guy's Warning

We had our internet site set-up with a local company.  The gentlemen that came out to do the installation was great - he spent a lot of time poking around the house to find the right wires so he wouldn't have to drill a hole anywhere in the house.  After spending sometime in the crawl space below the house he came into the house with huge eyes.  He tried to start a sentence about 4 or 5 times but couldn't get passed the first few words.  He finally said, pointing to me, "Why don't we step outside to have a word."  He told me that while under the house he came across three 18 inch snakes.  Now I knew why he looked the way he did.  He didn't want to say it in front of my wife because he didn't want her to "freak out".  He told me to be careful with the kids and not to let them under the deck.

Jenny knew something was up and wouldn't let it go.  I avoided it, changed the subject, downplayed it and finally told her what he told me.  For someone that has a phobia of any kind of creature (home intruder) she has handled it relatively well.

Funny Juxtaposition

Mooresville has a great little Main Street area with old brick buildings.  I always like to see these shops because they tend to be very eclectic and create interesting juxtapositions...For example you can get a tattoo and go next door and pick up a piece of fine art.

In Mooresville there is a Coffee Shop/Military Museum (which is interesting in itself) next to a Hippie Guitar Shop (which is owned by the Mayor).  So you can buy your tie-dye t-shirt and peace neckalce and walk next door and have your picture taken with an artillary shell...kind of funny.

Explore Our Backyard

We hope to see a lot of North Carolina this year (which this blog will give you flavor of) so we started looking at waterfalls to go visit this weekend.  But being pretty tired after unpacking and doing all the things with moving we decided to explore the backyard.  One part of the backyard has good slope so we got out the camping tarps turned on the hose and made our own slip-n-slide.  The kids loved it almost as much as I did...Maybe next weekend we'll go explore outside the backyard.

Almost a Month Here

My wife's brother just got married last week in Washington DC, so we spent a week out there - unfortunately we still haven't explored this lovely State much.  It was nice to drive 7 hours and be in the Nation's Capitol.  Being from the west, everything is so close out here.  At West it is at least 10 or 11 hours between major cities, I am just thrilled how close so many places are.

Pig Pickin' - not a Western BBQ
Our Church is going to host a Pig Pickin' next Saturday.  A Pig Pickin' is cooking an entire pig (in this case 150 lbs) in a pit and people eat it and bring sides to accompany.

There has been a lot of education as what is appropriate to bring to a Pig Pickin'.  There are a lot of transplants from the West at our Church and apparently there were quite a few faux pas committed at last year's pig pickin'.  People showed up with green salads and jellos.  Someone even brought Kraft Barbecue Sauce to last year's event (even I don't think I would make that mistake) a slow cooking a heresy of the highest order!

Today at church someone was naming items that were black listed, someone yelled out "If it isn't fried or doesn't have Mayonnaise, don't bring it!"

Okay, I think I got it.  Jenny and I will be attempting to create a worthy Cole Slaw.  I will let you know how it goes.

Southern-Northeastern Hospitality
I am not sure how we got on the list but we are a part of the "Welcome Neighbor Program".  It must be set-up by the Chamber of Commerce or something, because it essentially businesses that give you a first time coupon to earn your business.  The two people that have come as part of the program have been from New Jersey and Long Island.

To be honest you are just flattered when someone rings your doorbell when you have just moved somewhere, but it still makes me chuckle to replay in my head the "Welcome to North Carolina" in a thick Jersey accent.

There are quite a few transplants from the Northeast here.  I call it half-retirement because they typically move here halfway through their career for a better lifestyle (bigger house, less congestion, slower pace, warmer weather, etc) and they make it half of the way to Florida - half-retirement.

Cat Update
We still have it, we are trying to find a home for it.  The poor cat does not get any affection from me because of my allergies and Jenny is somewhat of a germaphobe (and not a animal person) so it doesn't get petted, just fed until it finds a new home.