So What!

This so much reminds me of my mothers' cat. I watched this frail old lady stand there for several minutes the other night holding the door for her cat. He was half in and half out. He was also obviously enjoying his power trip until I smacked him on the butt and made him go all the way out. She says she wants the cats put to sleep and buried with her when she dies. This is one cat I would be pleased to comply with.

I only worked 1/2 day Friday. Sinus infection got the best of me. Woke up with vertigo. I was puzzled at first, knew I didn't drink that much the night before. Lay around the house until my ears popped and the vertigo let up. Worked four hours, felt like crap warmed over, returned to house and went back to bed. Stayed there until this morning. Think I'll live.

This is so true. thanks for reading.

Meds

Well, mom did something really strange yesterday. On my way home I got a call from my sister "Mom is frantic because someone has taken her meds." I got home and went immediately to moms' house. She said that her meds were missing and that she dreamed someone had been in her house and taken them. I began to look for them while whistling absint mindedly. I thought the whistling would help her calm down. Only later did I realize I was using the Scarecrow song from the Wizard of Oz. You know "...if I only had a brain." I checked the canister set first because that's where I found the cell phone charger last week. It's kept in with the corn meal. I finally found them in her dresser with her purse. She was mystified. We talked for a while and when I told her I was going to hold the meds to give to my sister for the doctor visit on tuesday she suggested that I should put them in her dresser with her purse so she wouldn't forget to take them with her. Ten minutes after I got home she called my sister frantically saying she couldn't find her meds. I had beat her to the punch by calling my sister and telling her the story beforehand.

She insist now that we embalm her two cats and bury them with her when she dies. Riiiiiigghhhttt.

Well, all for now, I've got to go to the shop and rebuild Cash Acceptors today. Our Cash at Pump opton is real popular but it requires constant attention. People will put anything in those machines. I've found debit cards and coins, chewing gum and paper clips, etc.. thanks for reading.

On the road again

Well, I got called out again today. Someone made a programming error at one of the stores and when they had a shift change it locked up the computer. I called one of the other techs and he walked me through correcting the error. He's been doing this a lot longer than I have and has seen most all that could go wrong.

Mom told me this morning that her memory wasn't bad and accused me of lying to her about doctors' orders. She seems to accept the situation for the most part but has flashes of rebelliousness. She seems to think that I enjoy being in charge of her life. Nothing could be further from the truth. What I would really enjoy would be for her to have a sudden reversal and be totally independent once again. She enjoys talking about the past but makes up a lot of it as she goes. Days seem to morph into weeks for her and time has slowed to a crawl. When she had been out of the hospital for two days she insisted that 10 days had passed. She has a routine about taking her meds and I have to constantly remind her to take the ones that have been added since her fall. They are not part of the routine. She has been caring for herself really well and covering her condition for a long time. I've found that she did this by keeping a calender and med diary. Her routine had allowed her to appear to be in better condition than she was. Everyone was convinced that she only had slight memory loss. She actually was in Moderate alzheimers instead of Mild. She is a clever and intelligent person but close observation has revealed the real extent of the desease. If you have more than a casual conversation with her she will begin to say things that reveal her real condition. I had coffee with her this morning and thought that something was amiss. When I went to clean the coffee maker I found that she hadn't used a filter but had put the coffee straight into the filter holder. I admit that there have been times when I forgot to put water in or even forgot to put coffee in but this was really bad. This is part of her routine. Two days ago she forgot to take some of her meds. These are indicating that her routines are breaking down. I'll just have to take it a day at a time. thanks for reading.

Why two?

Here's a question for you. If your razor last forever why do you need two of them?? I guess you could give one to a friend. This just seemed kind of ridiculous though. I was watching this commercial on TV and said "I bet they give you a free one when you buy one." Lo and behold they do give you a free one.

Mom has now decided that she would have gotten better care after her fall if she could have driven herself to the hospital. Interesting to note that after the fall she had to crawl back into the house to call for help. She refuses to keep the cell phone on her person and rarely uses it even though her long distance bill on her land line was over $90.00 last month. Long distance on the cell is free. A good idea for a cell phone would be one that is modeled on a regular land line phone. This would be more acceptable to seniors and easier for them to use. Thanks for reading.

And they'll stay dead too!

Here's a novel way to release your frustrations. Go to the morgue and shoot everybody there. Shooting only the dead will lessen the charges against you. Take that you ugly dead person! I didn't know you but I bet that if I did I wouldn't like you. Probably a mexican, all the local criminals nowadays seem to be hispanic.

Got to start early today. One of the dealer stores accidentally shut down their pumps last night right before they closed for the night. They couldn't understand how to reset the breaker when we called them. Cultural and language problems. Therefore I've got to leave early to go by the store and reset a breaker. We've got a lot of stores operated by Middle and Near East immigrants. They have maintenance contracts with our company and often call us for the most mundane things. They are shrewd in business but often know very little technical stuff.

Here's a picture I found on the net of two guys putting a sealer on the sidewalk. Notice where the truck is parked.

Find Yourself

Used to be, when I was younger, that everybody talked about traveling or camping or doing something totally nonproductive for months at a time in order to "find themselves". Well, I discovered rather late in life that you are always there. You may deny your existence or put on a front to conceal yourself but you are always there. Actually some people would do the world a favor by concealing their true "Self". The spouse recently looked at my sleeveless tshirt and cutoff bluejeans and said " You're just a redneck!". I agreed but added "I'm an educated redneck.". She then opined that she would prefer a cultured redneck.

Well, mom finally did it. She took a tumble out the back door. I knew it was just a matter of time. After a couple of days in the hospital she came home and picked a fight with me on the way. That was yesterday. Today when I apologized for speaking ugly to her she said she didn't hear me or didn't remember our argument. One of the few benefits of Alzheimers. Whatever you do or say is forgotten in just a short while. Tonite she was very sweet and cooperative. Who knows what tomorrow will bring?

Paris Hilton

I've often wondered if I was a shaken baby. It would explain a lot of things.

I've had an 87 VW Rabbit convertible for several years and never get to drive it a lot. There is always something wrong with it. Yesterday I had to remove the water pump. The car has been running hot for about a year now and I couldn't pinpoint the problem. I finally found fluid seeping out the weep hole on the water pump. be nice to be able to drive it withour wondering if I'm going to make it home.

Here's a picture of my VW in a typical pose. I'm trying to figure out how to attach the ramps to the wheels in portable fashion so I don't have to get it home to work on it. I've spared no expense in the restore job. So far I've got more money in tools than in the car. The first thing the spouse says when we attempt a trip in the car is "Have you got your phone?" I recently mentioned the possibility of selling it and had several people tell me it was a collectors car. The only justification for that title would be its' value as the worlds' largest paperweight. thanks for reading.

Paris Hilton

Have you ever had days like this? I swear I've had whole years like this. Like the year my dog died. I had this mutt that was about 6 months old. I was working under my house and unbeknowest to me the dog followed me under there. I crawled out and shut the crawlspace door and locked it. The mutt got cold and clawed his way into the flexible duct pipe. He then followed it back to source of the heat. That heat source was 10 KW's of electric heat strip. When he stuck his nose into the electric strips he was immediately fried. His nose exploded and sprayed blood 6 or 7 feet down the duct. the he proceeded to cook. Too bad we're not Vietnamese. 3 days later when I came home from work I could tell there was something bad wrong in the ranch. Can you say disgusting? I thought you could. I had to literally shovel his bloated stinking carcass out of our ductwork. Compared to raising teens it was an easy task.

Well mom hasn't done anything weird lately except that she thinks my sister is out to steal her property. Absolutely no basis in fact but no amount of argument would convince her otherwise. Three weeks ago she was convinced I was calling her a liar. That is her big thing right now. "Are you calling me a liar?" Imagine Marty Macflie being called a coward. Same emotion and same rationality or lack thereof. Thanks for reading.

Paris Hilton

This is why you should be tech savvy.

The continuuing saga of mom. Tonite she announced that she was going to the pharmacy. I had my truck parked in her yard repairing the corner of the carport she knocked off a couple of weeks ago. She eyed my truck, and then said "If I hit something as big as that I shouldn't be driving." I returned to my painting and BLAM! she hit my truck. Fortunately all she did was scratched the bumper a little. She then leaned out of the window and said "Did I knock off much paint?" I responded in the negative, she rolled the window up and roared out the drive. Later she came to the house and instead of apologizing for slamming my truck she was all agog over how wonderful her medicine was. It's like living in a bad novel. thanks for reading.

Paris Hilton

Actually, Paris Hilton has nothing to do with this blog but it might get me noticed by the search engines.

This photo is a lot like my mother and my siblings and me. She called us the three stooges last night when we tried to discuss her alzheimers with her. Can you say "Extreme Denial?" She actually called the sheriffs' dept. The officer who came out was very understanding. Says he sees this all the time. She is just aware enough to continue to care for herself but on the edge of being a danger to herself. I guess we just have to wait until she gets so hopelessly lost that she has to admit there is a problem. She keeps trying to justify our behaviour by accusing us of trying to steal her property. If I was trying to steal her property I would be sucking up to her instead of antagonizing her. If I had my choice I would just hit the road instead of facing this. Thanks for reading.

4rth

Had the family over for the 4th. Everyone didn't make it so there were only about 20 here. One of brother in laws drove his baby over and parked it in a showplace position in the front yard. After a swim with her dad my grand daughter had to catch a snooze. Typical American 4th of July. Lots of food, drink, sun and talk.

Brother and Sister are coming over today to help me deal with mother. She missed a doctors appt yesterday because she got lost. We are going to insist that we carry her to future appts on pain of losing auto. Doctor said he would agree to taking away her driving privileges if needed. She can still drive safely. We followed her and observed. She just forgets where she's going. Got to be extremely traumatic. She has always been VERY independent. We would like to stall taking away the car until she gets so lost that she has to call for help. This is how we dealt with dad when he went through the same thing. The ability to reason goes first so you cannot argue them into submission. You have to wait until they have an example to convince them. When you talk to her she is often so lucid and reasonable that you can't believe anything is wrong and then suddenly she will come out with something totally off the wall. Well, more later. Thanks for reading.

Nature trail

Here's a pic I tookrecently at Lake Keowee. the redhead is my grandson and the other one is his step-brother. You can probably see that it's a double handfull of trouble. This was the first time my spouse ever used a porta toilet. She was astounded at the fact that there was no way to flush it. She was also amazed at the smell. the grandson is staying with us tonite. Tomorrow his parents will be here for the fourth. We expect about 30-35 family here for the celebration. The other day my brother called to see if I had the buns and wieners for the hotdogs. I thought he said Buds and Liters. I understood 48 Buds but I thought 48 Liters was kind of over the top. If you're reading this and you are American then Happy 4th. If you're reading and you're not then TFB. thanks for reading.

Nuttin

Actually all you have to do is have in-laws.

We've been getting ready for the 4th. We've also been getting ready to have the house appraised for a re-finance. The list were endless but we are beginning to see the light at the end of the proverbial tunnel. Just visited with the neighbors. Seems that many of the same problems we have also afflict them. Small world. They also have an elderly parent that is difficult to deal with and they also have problems with rain washing the yard away and they also have problems with taxes and paying bills and ............... you get the idea. I'm reminded of the words of a very wise man, Red Green, "We're all in this together, I'm pulling for you!"

Got a call this morning. One of the stores has Air Conditioning problems. The clerk said she was going to start taking her clothes off. I took care of it promptly by calling the AC guy. Sales at that store are bad enough without driving any customers off. Thanks for reading.

Nature Trail

We travelled today to visit the Nuclear plant at Keowee. While on the nature trail there I saw this tree. I thought it amusing that the tree was so strange so close to the reactors. My spouse is seen here with our two grandsons. One childs father married the other ones mother. They are very much alike and yet so very different.
The boys really enjoyed the trip. We enjoyed visiting Pickens Courthouse. This is the first settlement in this area. The only surviving building is the church built in 1840. There are lots of really old graves there. The old timers put some strange stuff on tombstones. The most popular phrase was "Gone but not Forgotten". My question is this , If the people who wrote that are all dead then isn't that untrue? Thanks for reading.

Get it?

What's wrong with this picture? If you don't get it leave a comment.

Another Wreck

I came along just in time to miss this one. Seems that the young guy was coming down the hill when someone cut him off. He swerved and ended up on his side in the parking lot of our store on Haywood road in Greenville, SC. The cop car in the second picture was already there when the wreck happened. If the truck had rolled it would have gotten the cop. I bet he choked on his doughnut when he saw the truck coming at him.

Visited mom tonite. She was cordial and made small talk . She then called my sister and told her to call off the dogs. She accused my sister of sending me to check on her. This desease is really strange. Makes people act absolutely crazy. Makes us crazy dealing with it. She can act so totally normal one minute and then come out with something so off the wall that you feel like looking around to see where it came from. The really sad thing is that she doesn't see what's happening. In her mind she is completely normal.

A day in the life

Just another day in the life. USA today is running a series of articles this week about caring for the elderly. A subject close to me. My 80 year old mother has Alzheimers and is getting really difficult to deal with. "I don't need anybody and I'll do whatever I want to do." Tonite she directed her wrath at my sister because she was seen talking to the enemy(me). Sis refused to be browbeaten and made her calm down before she would leave. She also told mom to go ahead and call the police if that's what she wantd to do. I'm not sure if modern medicine is all that great if we keep people alive into their 80's and 90's just to have them lose their personality and forget all the things that make them who they are. Thanks for reading.

Who's in charge here?

This is an older pic of my grandson. I think it's pretty obvious he thinks he's in charge. His 8 month old sister is actually in charge.
They came over today and she made it clear that everything was fine as long as she got what she wanted. Her dad sounds like a broken record "No Mam, No Mam, No MaM..........." Makes it easier for all the trouble he got into to fade away.
A new subject I haven't got into before. My mother has alzheimers. She's ok most of the time but then does or says totally irrational things. She has cut off relationships that she enjoyed for a lifetime including my brother and me. We just ignore her protest and continue to do things for her. She cut off a close personal freind that she had talked to and shared with for a lifetime. I call it the "Damnable Desease" because it doesn't just affect your health but destroys who you are. I worked in a Nursing Home for 7 years and saw the effects of this desease daily. I'm looking forward to the day when mom forgets who I am and doesn't think that I'm the enemy anymore.
We can only pray for a swift end before the desease takes her personality away entirely. thanks for reading.

Virgins in Heaven

I found this the other day and could hardly wait to post it for your viewing enjoyment. I mean, really, how lame do you have to be to believe that G-d is gonna reward you sexually for killing innocent men, women, and children to please Him? Not only are you destroying yourself but you are passing judgement on others of His creation. thanks for reading.

Funny you should mention it.

I decided tonite to share a little humor with you. The top one is almost not funny. I'm constantly admonished to do something about the prices. Just for the record, I have no control over that, I just fix things, I don't run the company or set the prices. So, if you see me working on a pump somewhere, ask me anything you like but don't ask me to do something about the prices.

Saw a great site tonite http://OLIVERBENJAMIN.NET check it out.

I was talking to a man yesterday about having a tree cut at my house. While I was talking to this person I was removing a fuel meter from a pump. I was down on my knees with the meter in my hands and gas running down my arm. I told the guy " What you do seems like pretty dangerous work." He looked at the gas dripping off my arm and said " No, what you're doing looks like dangerous work." I said " As long as it don't catch fire I'm OK." thanks for reading.

Laws of the universe

The guys in the top photo are discussing one of the laws of the universe. The one that says two objects having mass cannot occupy the same space at the same time. I looked up just in time to see the guy in the pickup try to drive thru the tail of the tractor-trailor. I gotta believe it ruined his day.

On a lighter note this little guy builds a nest on my light fixture every year. I clean it up after he leaves but he comes back every year. I looked him up one year but I've forgotten what kind he is. You can look out the living room window and watch him up close. I didn't use any zoom at all to take these pictures.

I saw it at least three times in the last two days. My pet peeve. People leaving their cars running, unlocked, while they "run" into the store to get something. When they're stolen we all get to enjoy higher insurance premiums. You can fix machines, traffic tickets, typos, and many, many other things but you just can't fix stupid. Thanks for reading.

Summertime!

Well, it's finally here. the crazy, hazy, lazy days of summer. This is always my favorite time of year. I never complain about the heat. I work outside and I'm always aware of the days when it's 28 degrees and sleeting and I'm out in it. That helps keep things in perspective. The only downside to this time of year is the thunderstorms. The lightning plays havoc with our electronics and some nights are really busy trying to get the stores back online.

Above you see where we spend a lot of time in the summer. A couple of years ago I had to replace the liner and used the occasion to fill in the deep end and get rid of the diving board. My insurance company was pleased. Most teens don't have any brains when they get on a diving board. Now we have a SWIMMING pool. Less water, less chemicals.

Gotta go, thanks for reading.

Gross Stupidity

I took this picture on I85 in greenville, sc the other day. That's an unrestrained dog in the back of the small truck. the dog weighed app. 80 lbs. Every so often he would get up and wander over to the side of the truck and lean over to see where they were going. the owner would then turn his head and shout at the dog to sit down. Whilst performing this the truck would weave across the line in one direction or the other and the dog would come close to falling over the side. All this while travelling 70 mph. The picture was made in a rare moment of light traffic. Usually there were trucks and cars on both sides. The oncoming traffic seen to the left was more characteristic of the traffic that morning. After taking the shot I passed them and got as far away as I could. If that dog had fallen out.............

On a lighter note, here's the spouse and our youngest grandchild. I don't know who's happier here. The smell was really strong. That baby is one really spoiled child. Of course, the father and I had nothing to do with it!

Your govt at work

I don't know if this is for real but considering the fact that a crazed paranoid can buy a gun and kill 30 classmates and 12 million illegals can cross our borders at will I tend to believe it is.
We were discussing tonite whether to vote in the next election. It would be real easy to give up on our govt.. Unless you are a minority or a wacko the government doesn't seem to be on your side. But still..........It still seems to be the best thing going. Every other English speaking country I looked at has problems at least as serious and not nearly the same freedoms. I guess you have to keep on plugging along and try to save what you can for your children and grandchildren. thanks for reading.

Unbalanced

So very true. I worked in a nursing home for 7 years and found that many elderly act absolutely crazy. I believe that this is a latent tendency that only comes out when they no longer have the constraints of family or job to make them practice restraint. Small frustrations daily cause tiny slip ups, for example when a normally nice person goes off on the clerk because they're out of a particular brand of cigarettes. by the way, have you noticed how many different brands and varieties there are now? I think the tobacco companies are heading for a big crash. You don't make that many different items, maintain the stock and distribution, and keep all your customers happy. Sooner or later it's all gonna come crashing down. Either the distribution will fail or the distributors will rebel. Right now it's a nightmare for distributors, finding shelf space for everything and keeping up with inventory. Many of the customers are incredibly picky. "I want the ultra slim, crush proof box, menthol 100s, with the flavor tip and red writing, brown wrap, with the gold seal on the box." I mean, really, these are cigarettes we're talking about here. You burn them and throw them away. Your taste buds are so fried by the smoke already that you couldn't possibly discern the difference between a brown paper wrap and a white paper wrapper. As I see it there is really a need for just four different packs. Menthol, with and without filter, and Regular, with and without filter. thanks for reading

Sunoco having a Lexus

And I bet you thought they were made on assembly lines! I would hate to be this guys insurance agent. I bet he's looking for a new insurance company after this stunt. How crazy do you have to be to drive your car into a building because you're ticked at your significant other. The way I look at it is like this. If You and Them don't get along this bad you need to walk away and start over. Life is too short to waste it on someone who only causes you grief and pain. There's too many people out there looking for someone who will treat them decent for you to stay with a jerk.
We went to see the youngest and his brood tonite. They are finally getting settled into thier new home. I am really proud of him.
The oldest is getting very close to having all his stuff done to get certified to open his new shop. Proud of him too. thanks for reading.

Signs of the times

Well, we raised the sign in front of the eldest new tattoo shop. (above)

I took a picture of the front of the shop but it didn't come out. Here's the desk and a couple of the employees. Now if we can just get thru the liscencing procedure the ink can flow.

I was watching Miami Ink last night, they always make it look like the people just walk in. Actually you have to apply way ahead of time and then get screened before you appear on the show. Oh well, it makes for entertainment.

Back to the grindstone, never know what the day will bring. Thanks for reading.

Look Out!

I was taking calls Friday so the dispatcher/manager could take a day off. I got this call early. Seems that some guy was really upset with his wife and decided to drive inside to get her. See the story here.http://www.greenvilleonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070505/NEWS01/705050334 guy must have some money cause his insurance company had repair crew there really quick.
Last week we had to go to our Columbia, SC store to repair damage by a drunk driver. She came thru the parking lot going over 70 mph. took out a light pole and then jumped the curb, went thru the shrubbery and back out into the street. She would have kept going but her car decided it had had enough and quit on her. She had two small chidren in the car with her so Child Endangerment is added the DWI. The safety guy is supposed to be getting me video of this. When I get the video I'll post it so check back with me.
The oldest son is coming right along with his Tattoo shop. You can see his blog here.http://myspace.com/cherrybombtattoosc He needs an artist to help him get the shop opened up. He's really picky about this and wants someone to live up to his standards of hygiene and quality of art. He is really getting tired of all the red tape. SC and the locals make you jump thru increasingly smaller hoops to open a tattoo shop. You can open a home for sexual predators easier than a tattoo shop, seriously. It's like you are some kinda pariah come to prey on the innocents. He's opening in another county because our home county made thier rules so outrageous. Example: You must be 1000 feet from any single family dwelling. You must be 1000 feet from any School, Church, Playground, Liqour store, or Daycare. Try to find a commercial property in your area that meets these criteria. That's over 3 football fields in length. Almost all the commercial property we looked at back up to residential areas. Why build a strip mall anywhere else? You got to build near the customers. Oh well, If the locals don't want the tax money. All the shops that have managed to get open in this area since they legalized it in SC last year are appointment only and many are really doing some terrible work. I believe that in a few years it will settle down and only the best will remain. I also think Oldest will be one of them. thanks for reading.

On and on and on and on...........

One of the funniest things I've seen today(above). Youngest and his family came over tonite. Wow! Two 6 year old sons and a 6 month old daughter. No wonder he's got high blood pressure.
I spent the entire day working on one machine and still it refused to cooperate. I finally buttoned it back up and left it for another day. Sometimes machines are like life, you just gotta walk away and think about it.
The media is going crazy over the VT shootings but no one seems to realize that this is happening daily in Iraq. I'm a conservative but I don't blindly support anyone or any party. The people in that part of the world have been murdering each other for hundreds of years and I don't really see us stopping it. I wish there were an easy answer but I know there isn't. The children are trained to hate and they raise their children to hate. how can you stop the violence when you're dealing with that kind of culture?
thanks for reading.

Tattoos, Car Theft, Etc.

Well, I've been saying it for months and it finally happened. A woman in in Travellers Rest, SC left her small child in the car with the keys in the ignition and someone took off with it. Fortunately for the child the thief saw the child, got scared and abondoned the vehicle just down the road. The woman and a friend found the car with the child still asleep inside. the police are looking for the thief. I don't understand why they haven't charged the woman with child endangerment. Wake up, people! The world is not safe. Do Not Leave Your Car Running or Leave The Keys In It while you run in the store for a pack of smokes. It is stupid and reckless behaviour.

The Tattoo artist in the family finally found a place to open his business. He will be loacated on the 28 Bypass in Anderson, SC. CherryBomb Tattoo will open sometime in June. The surrounding counties made their ordinances so tough that it was almost impossible to find a suitable location. Pickens County requires 1000 feet between the business and a single family dwelling, school, playground, church, or daycare. Try to find a business loacation that is 1000 feet from a single family dwelling. These rules are tougher than those for a sex offender. I look for court challenges in the next few years. Tattoos, horrible! We don't want those people in our community! They just don't know my son. He is a gentle, sweet, caring vegetarian. An artist who happens to use skin for a canvas. He and his wife would do anything for you.

Enough for now. Thanks for reading.

More Mayberry Pictures

As promised here are more Mayberry pictures. The TV Land statue outside the playhouse is probably the most photographed statue in North Carolina. Floyds Barbershop and The Snappy Lunch, home of the porkchop sandwich, are also well known. I couldn't resist checking out the cannon ( I didn't realize I was that bald). In the background you can see the wrecker next to Wallys Filling Station.

I got back to work just in time to fill in for another one of the guys who took a few days off. Kinda like going 0 to 60 in 5 seconds flat. I'm on call all weekend and so far I've been able to use contractors for all the calls. Got my fingers crossed. We just installed laminated wood flooring in three bedrooms and a hall. The first two rooms were rough but then I got the hang of it and the rest went really smooth. Don't believe the hype, It is not that easy. The prep work is extremely important and patience is a real plus. Thanks for reading.

A visit to Mayberry

We recently had our first vacation in ages. We travelled to Fancy Gap, Virginia and stayed at the Volunteer Gap Cabins on the Blue Ridge Parkway. The tiny cabin was just the right size for two people who care for each other a great deal. If you don't like each other look for a bigger place. We visited Mt.Airy, NC. This is the real life Mayberry. We saw all the sights including the Courthouse and Jail. I'll share some more pictures later. I got a good taste of what Otis must have felt. the good folks at Volunteer Gap found my lost ring, a keepsake from my Dad, and returned it promptly! Thanks! I would recommend their Cabins to anyone. This was the most peaceful vacation we have had in years. The frogs in the pond out front lulled us to sleep each night. We were 154 miles from Asheville, NC on the Parkway and intended to return that way. the morning we were to leave, however, was foggy and when you've seen fog on the Parkway you've really seen fog. We chose to come down the mountain and return on the Interstate. I named the road down the mountain the YEEHAAA road. You lose several hundred feet in just 14 miles. Well, that's all for now, thanks for reading.