Power Washing, Pig Pickin' & Pigskin

Power Washing

Last week I power washed the porch and started power washing the deck. My gasoline power washer finally gave out so I’ve replaced it with an electric one. The gas washer obviously has, or rather had, a lot more pressure – but the replacement electric washer is really all I need. This week I’ll work on the deck a little each evening and hope to have it finished by next weekend.

Pig Pickin' Party

Saturday I went to a pig-picking / party that friends (CP & SP) host once a year. It's a charity fund raiser - and an excuse to have good music and a good time. One of them, along with their neighbor, has formed a semi-professional country-rock band - MJB. They’re getting pretty good.

The gathering officially started at 8 PM, but I volunteer to pick up the kegs so I got there around 6 PM to deliver the beer and to help finish setting up. The music was great and I'm guessing about 100+ (maybe 150?) people showed up. It was a lot of fun and very successful. I got home after midnight which is really late for me.

During Sunday, I didn’t do much. Just puttered around the house and took a couple of naps. I picked up the empty kegs and will deliver them back to Total Wines & More at Cross Roads on my way home from work Monday. Actually, my friends went out on Harris Lake to go fishing so I met them at the boat ramp and we transferred the empty kegs from their truck to mine. That saved me a special trip to Fuquay-Varina.

And finally

College Football Season arrives! NCSU hosts Appalachian State next Saturday night. Although NC State will likely be average at best – I’m really looking forward to the games.

This Week at Work

This week is going to be pretty busy. I’m slightly behind on office work so I’ll be hitting that pretty hard. I’ve also got to do some work at the Morehead School for the Blind on Tuesday and three of the engineers will be in the field all week.

Hmmmmmm

Roomate JN sent me this link - he put "The Future?" in the subject line.

LOL

Pet Update

The baby raccoons (kits) are doing well. There used to be 4 but one apparently hasn't made it.

There are 2 adult raccoons. The male usually stops by first - just after dark. Later, the mama raccoon shows up and after checking things out - calls up her kits. While adult raccoons will sometines den together, adult males do not help raise the kits. In fact, earlier in the season, the female and male would sometimes encounter each other on the deck with snarling and some actual fights. Now that the babies are born, the female makes sure the male is nowhere around before she brings up the kits.

When they drink from the small water fountain on the deck, the babies will stand in the fountain and wash up. The adults eat very carefully - taking one piece of food at a time, eat it, all the while keeping a watch. The babies haven't learned yet and just tackle the food - making a mess and a lot of noise (for raccoons). The one on the screen door is the most adventurous and often strays away from mom exploring on it's own. The other 2 stick close to mama.

I tried getting photos through the screen both with and without a flash but no success. So - I opened the porch door - mom took off - but stayed on the deck (she went to the water fountain) but the babes stayed. I don't want them to get used to 'humans' so I took 2 quick photos and closed the door.

Sunday, August 6, 2006

Went to see a couple of bands Saturday night at Moore Square. Weather was too hot and muggy but it was a good time.

Right now, I’m watching Death Becomes Her. What an under appreciated film. Best described as bizarre, brutal, and somewhat restrained over-the-top. Each time I see it, I pick up on more of the little jokes and gags that are hidden throughout the film.

Later today I need to install a cell phone repeater that arrived Friday. I essentially get no phone reception out here so I hope this repeater will solve the problem. First, I have to go to home depot to get a receptacle to wire into the light circuit in the attic. The game plan is to install the antenna at the eave at the roof ridge top and place the amplifier and power source in the attic. Of course, it’s going to be in the 90’s today so this is going to be a fun job.

Well, gotta get a move on.

Scotland and Richmond Counties

This week I’ve been in Scotland and Richmond Counties for work. Mostly the usual DOT and DMV compounds and offices and a couple of prisons to assess. We also inspected a 4-H camp and several Wildlife Resources facilities including 2 places where hunting dog field trials are held.

We were working around Rockingham, Laurinburg and Hamlet. I did not know that Hamlet was the location of a very large CSX railroad facility. The train maintenance yard stretches for miles along NC 177 between Hamlet and the North Carolina Motor Speedway. Along that 4 or 5 mile stretch are multiple rail lines, service support buildings and hundreds of rolling stock.

Hamlet has just finished renovating their train Depot pictured above. We spent a few minutes inside to check out the renovation which is absolutely spectacular. The depot is used for the 2 Amtrak trains which pass through daily and the town is gathering artifacts for a train museum to fill the rest of the building. The building originally stood across the tracks but had to be moved off of the CSX rail property. A whole new basement was built and the building placed on the new basement and foundation. That's quite a feat!

Hamlet is also the birthplace of John Coltrane and we happened to pass by his birthplace. So we stopped to take a photo.

We passed by this church near Gibson. Notice that all the windows, including those above the doors, are stained glass save for the steeple and the addition on the right. The plaque says the original church was built in 1835, burned by Sherman (pause while Bill spits the bitter taste out) and rebuilt in 1870.

The final photograph is of the Ellerbe Springs Inn where we had lunch on Thursday. Great food at ridiculously reasonable prices. I had a huge steak salad for $6. Coworkers had a Chef Salad - $6 and a Reuben Sandwich with fries and slaw - $5. My salad was as good as any I’ve ever had at 2 to 3 times the price. It’s amazing what you can find out in the middle of nowhere.

The bedrooms of the inn are very nicely done but the rest of the building still needs a lot of work. Of course, an old hotel of this size requires a lot of money to restore and the owners have only been at it a few short years – so it will take some time for them to afford the complete restoration. But you can tell that it’s going to be a grand mansion once they get the bulk of the work done.

We’ve had a really good productive week. I’m tired but it’s a good physical tired.

Tomorrow we finish up Morrison Prison and should be back in Raleigh by late afternoon.

I’ll be glad to be home for the weekend.

JN’s parents are coming Monday to work on the Durham house so I’ll be cleaning my house this weekend.

I may go into Raleigh on Saturday for the reopening of Fayetteville Street. They’re planning a festival with music and fireworks. I’ll see how I feel Saturday.

pray4anton

http://mosnews.com/news/2006/03/02/musya.shtml