Tired Raccoon

 

 

This is one of my friends who visit me every afternoon. She, and one other one, live pretty close by.

This one had a bunch of her fur worn off behind her head to the front part of her body. It looked like she had gotten trapped in something and had a hard time getting free. The fur's grown back. But as you can see, she's got a lot of gray.

I think she's getting pretty old. Her behavior seems to be pretty tired - she pants a lot in the heat and she just seems run down all the time.

She's always been a bit neurotic. Extremely skittish - which is a good thing for a raccoon around humans. But she's always been far more nervous than the other raccoons. She's still the same way - but she's gotten a lot slower in the past year or so.

I believe she's had her littler of kitts. She appears to be nursing. I think her den is right in my back yard (heavily wooded) or not far from it. Hopefully she'll be able to raise this year's offspring.

Here's a photo of the other, younger and much healthier looking, raccoon.

 

I think this one is a female too - but I'm not sure.

This one is far more laid back. Not a pet by any means - but she's far more comfortable around me than the other one.

John Mark Coney for School Board Chairman

Normally this blog is about ME!!

But I ran across this little item and it’s a bit of a hoot.

In Orange County Florida, candidates for the School Board Chair presented their qualifications at a recent forum. John Mark Coney is running for the position and he had the opening remarks.

So, apropos of nothing (with apologies to Mr. Letterman) – Here (in Top Ten format) are the reasons Mr. Coney should be the next Chairman of the School Board:

(drum roll please)

Number 10 - President Obama should withdraw the nomination of Elena Kagan

Number 9 - Israeli Independence Day

Number 8 - He’s misplaced his Star of David

Number 7 - Isaiah 19:23-25

Number 6 – He’s a math teacher

Number 5 - Sodomy is a crime against God, nature and humanity

Number 4 - Real men don’t wear condoms

Number 3 - Real men don’t pay for abortions

Number 2 - Jesus is King

And the number 1 reason to vote for Mr. Coney for School Board Chairman –

He’s a 53 year old virgin

Cue the music . . . . .

Tea Party-On Garth.

Weekend Update - May 8, 2010 +Addendum

Lath week I went thoo thuh denthist. Hath a quown an a fillwing weplathed. Loths of Novocain.

Let’s see – went to the annual Sanford Pottery Festival. Haven’t been in a couple of years. I’m not much of a pottery fan – but I did see a couple of cool things. The library had a used book sale tent set up. Picked up a couple of reads.

 

 

This past week I’ve been working at NC Central University. The days were long and hard so when I got home – I basically crashed.

NCSU Sports

I need to remember to order my season tickets for NCSU football. Orders are due . . . . . Tuesday? I think. Thursday maybe?

I’m going to try and do it on line. I’ve tried using their web site in the past – without success. Each time I end up going to the Wolfpack Club offices to give them my check. And - each time they apologize and tell me that a lot of people have trouble getting the site to work. For a high technology school, the ticket office should be embarrassed to have such a crappy web site. Or, better yet, they should fire the people / contractor responsible.

Between the crown, filling and season tickets – I’m out a bunch of $ this month.

Speaking of NCSU sports . . .

On the basketball front – Coach Lowe has pulled together one of the top recruiting classes in the entire country. We’re talking top 10 – maybe top 5. It’s a given expectation that State will be back in the NCAAT next year. Frankly, with this class – along with the returning players – I think we should make it to the Sweet Sixteen.

Nay, I demand we make it to the Sweet Sixteen!

LOL

I think Coach Lowe is becoming a really good coach. With all this talent we’ll know for sure one way or the other.

Also, our Athletic Director was fired this week. That's positive news too. He wasn't bad - just mediocre.

Actually, Lee Fowler did a good job running a clean program and raising money (via the Wolfpack Club including yours truly) for well planned facility upgrades. Not just the obvious RBC Center and Carter-Finley Stadium - we now have a fantastic baseball stadium (Doak Field); Tennis Complex; updated Track and Field facilities; updated Aquatics Center (Olympic Pool and Diving Complex); and so on. Lee should be applauded and thanked for this.

However, NCSU has lagged in basketball and football on field performance (although both are headed in the right direction and I think results will start showing up). And - the on field performance in the non-major sports has been even worse.

I wasn't one of the rabid Internet fans who've been trying to get him fired. But there's no doubt in my mind - we can do better than Lee Fowler.

We've had a string of crappy ADs for the past couple of decades.

Todd Turner - possibly the worst AD in the entire country. Followed by Les Robinson - terrible coach, not quite as terrible AD. Then Lee Fowler, who was above average on his best day.

At least each AD was better than the last. Let's hope the trend continues and we get a really good one this time.

Weather

It's been unusually dry for at least the past month. I'm beginning to wonder if we're in for another drought like a few years ago.

The raccoons have been coming to the door to get fed earlier and earlier. Today, two of them showed up at 1300. I think they are having trouble catching food with the dry weather. They did the same thing, showing up during daylight, during the last drought.

Addendum

Just ordered my football tickets on-line. The site worked!

It's still very poorly designed and some parts are unclear (the user interface just plain sucks) - but at least it worked.

Football ticket math for 2010 works out as follows:

4 season tickets @ $1220
1 season parking pass @ $120
processing fee @ $23
1/2 of annual Life Time Rights payments @ $300
1/2 of annual required Wolfpack Club donation @ $210

Adds up to $1,873.

4 season tickets times 6 home games = 24 tickets.

$1,873 / 24 = $78.04 per ticket.

Or, $312.16 per game.

That's a lot of moola for about 4 hours of Saturday entertainment.

Ahhhh . . . . Coach O'B - I'd really like to see some more W's this year.

Weekend Update - April 24, 2010 +Addendum

Nothing all that exciting.

Been very busy at work. And, my team and I got together to plan out our upcoming schedule. NC School of Science and Math, NC Central University, UNC Penbroke and East Carolina University. We're set through at least July and possibly into August. I think we've over scheduled - but we'll see.

I watched some DVDs this week.

The Blind Side - absolutely great - a must see.

Up - pretty good. Well, more like OK.

Star Trek - one and done. If you want to lamely go where every B list sci / fi action movie has gone before . . . Knock yourself out.

Next week I have to get a crown and filling replaced. Both have small cracks in them that will only get worse. So, it's preventive replacement. Even with insurance I'm still going to be out about a thousand co-pay.

Oh well, it's gotta be done.

Sunday 6 PM Addendum

Usually my critters show up after sunset. But the gentle one showed up early. I went ahead and fed her.

Since it was still daylight, I took these 2 photos. Even though she was eating, when I opened the door, she came right over to investigate.

 

 

No, the close up is not a zoom shot or cropped - this one will come up and check out just about anything. Usually hoping it's a special treat like peanut butter on crackers or something.

Hay Street

 

 

 

Worked at Fayetteville State University last week. FSU has a very nice compact campus and it’s well maintained.

Drove around town after work one evening. It’s amazing how much has changed and yet stayed the same.

Downtown has changed the most. When I was growing up there, Hay Street was the main commercial area. Once Cross Creek Mall opened (I was in high school) – Hay Street pretty much died. All the stores and shops closed. The only things left were strip bars and low rent clothing stores.

Hay Street has been completely renovated – very much like Fayetteville Street in downtown Raleigh. I counted 12 different restaurants. My co-worker and I ate lunch at this one, The Fresh Cafe:

 

I had a chilled split pea and white wine soup and veggie quiche and triple chocolate cheesecake for dessert. It was great.

There are now condos, townhouses and a number of shops including a couple of spas. I also saw a yoga place.

I took a number of photos to send to my sister. If you're interested, click on Bill's Online Photos.

The recession has hurt it – but not completely. I saw several places that were being up fitted for opening. I think the Hay Street revitalization and surrounding area is going to be a pretty vibrant place in a couple of years.

Odds and Ends

The pollen this past week has been awful. Thursday's rain finally washed it down. Friday I swept off the porch. I couldn't believe how much pollen there was. Should have taken a photo. Of course, my sinuses went nuts Friday night and all day Saturday.

Last weekend I went to St. James to visit JN and his folks. He's got a nice little place down there.

St. J's is a huge gated community that eventually incorporated into a town. It's pretty nice. It's all about golf down there. Lot's of people walking and biking. I could live there.

JN and I spent some time hanging out at the Tiki bar at the marina. The next day we took his parent's 2 dogs over to the St. James Beach Club where they saw the ocean for the first time. They were not impressed. They were interested in digging in the sand.

I also took my Fuji bicycle down there. I haven't ridden it in years so I figured JN could use it. St. James is the perfect place to have a bicycle.

I've kept it in good shape and had it tuned up last year. Took it for a little spin - still rides like it's brand new.

I really enjoyed the Duke - Butler game Monday. What a great game. I think this year's NCAAT was the best ever.

Last night I made homemade tomato sauce with mushrooms, onion, and fresh garlic and spices. Very simple, very fresh, very good. Pasta and some homemade bread (given to me by a co-worker) with olive oil and balsamic vinegar (with fresh cracked pepper). A great dinner which took all of 20 minutes to fix up.

Let's see . . . work has been typical.

That's about it.