Pile O' Rocks

Contrary to what my wife might tell you, I am not really a downer. I have a generally positive outlook on life and I wish my fellow humans the best even if I tend to think that the majority of them are really not all that bright.

OK. I said it, but let me be clear here, I believe in a God that loves ALL of us and notwithstanding my overall opinion of the general intelligence of humankind, I love people.

But even a cheerful dude, like myself, needs to have a reason to get out of bed in the morning.

What I mean to say is that if you look too long at the news or worse yet, television, you can very easily get the impression that the whole world is going to hell. There is a lot of bad news out there and even though that is what our news sources deem the most important information for us to have, I still think the good outnumbers the bad. If I didn’t believe this, I would probably pull the covers over my head and refuse to rise. My family or friends would have to drag me out kicking and screaming all the way.

I find joy in life. I love good writing, good movies, good music and of course good food and drink. I believe all these things to be gifts from God and I believe our fellow human beings are gifts as well.

Last week on our trip across America I experienced several fine examples of the inherent good in humankind.

We do need to keep abreast of what is happening in the world. I do anyway and I don’t think we can ignore every bad thing that is going on in the world or America. There is much to be concerned about and we need to be informed if we are to make intelligent choices when we elect the people who are charged with guiding our future. But with the growth of the internet we have reached a point where the television is practically useless. Ninety percent of my news comes from the internet and twitter.

Like many of the major technological innovations that were introduced during the last one hundred years, the television was hailed as a miracle. It was to be an educational tool that would raise the intelligence and standard of living for all of us. All I can say is that the folks who predicted that did not envision The Gong Show or Court TV. My real beef with the idiot box is that we seem to have reached a point where there is nothing new that can be done with it. A few years ago we were presented with Reality television, a name that has no basis in reality whatsoever. After the initial success of such shows as Survivor and Big Brother (very appropriately named in my opinion) we have seen an avalanche of copy cat shows. Each one has been more outrageous then the last one and not really different in any way from its predecessors. Just like Hollywood with its endless sequels and prequels and Rocky VIIs and Rocky VIIIs, the so called creative minds in power seem to have dried up and we can only hope they will soon blow away.

I do watch some television. I enjoy the nerd shows like Jeopardy and I am a fan of The Office. But I would not say that they are the good shows and that everything you watch is bad. I just think that the whole concept is outdated. If you want to control your television at all you should use the DVR buttons and prerecord what you want to watch in order to view it on your time. It also allows you to skip the asinine commercials that are the real purpose of the whole thing anyway.

My question is this, why do we have to pay for cable as well as watch the stupid commercials. Commercials were used in early TV to pay for this whole mess. Reception was so poor that cable was introduced in order to get those commercials to us in an easier to view format. But we had to pay for that too. It sounds kind of like the petting zoo concept. You charge people to come pet animals and then you charge them for food to feed the animals that you charged them access to. What a concept. It’s win-win for the petting zoo owners and of course it’s win-win for the TV executives.

Alright. I’ve probably gone too far already. Perhaps the wife is right. Maybe I am a grouchy old man.

I love to read. As snobby as I know it makes me, I love a good book. I have often said that a well written book on cleaning toilets would be enjoyable to me. Just give me good writing. I aspire to it myself, but more than that, I just love to read it.

A large portion of the stories, phrases and titles of the books we’ve come to think of as classics have come from two sources in the English language. I am referring to Shakespeare and the King James Version of the Bible.

In my humble opinion, The Bible is the king of the books. I think the KJV, while technically not as accurate a translation as some, is the greatest piece of literature in the English language and I read it a lot and am always finding new things in it. It is in truth, a book of books and contains everything from poetry to history. There are stories that have captivated readers for hundreds of years as well as philosophical truths and moral examples in this library of books. In short, The Bible contains an endless supply of entertainment and education.

That being said, I must also point out that it is probably the most dangerous book ever written.

Human beings throughout history have used it to further practically any cause they care to champion. It was used to support slavery and to go to war. It is still used to support as well as to oppose capital punishment and it will probably be used in the future for even stranger notions that we have not had the time to even imagine. I strongly endorse reading it, but I caution the reader to read it carefully and for God’s, as well as Man’s sake please do not try to take it too literally. Remember Jesus, according to his own words, taught in parables.

I would also like to point out that while I read The Bible regularly, I try to maintain a healthy respect for those who don’t as well as those who read other Holy writings for guidance in their lives.

WE MUST RESPECT EACH OTHERS BELIEFS.

We will not survive as a planet if we do not figure out some way to get along. That involves giving up the deadly notion that what we believe is right and what anyone else believes is wrong. I feel strongly about this.

When my wife and I finished our trip across the country we did some grocery shopping to fill up the pantries of our children. They are young and still struggling to reach the level of comfort that we old folks have found and I think you should help your children as much as you can. While shopping I discovered that I was missing a bank card. I must admit that it put me in a minor panic. I headed to my computer and started checking my bank account to see if there were any unusual or inaccurate charges on the card. I was glad to see none but as soon as my bank opened, on the West coast, I called them and explained the situation.

They told me the card had been turned off.

I was very confused about that since I was sure I had used it the day before but they insisted that it had been turned off three days before the time I thought I used it last. Now I was really puzzled. How could that be? I used it only yesterday.

I spent the day watching my account rather closely and waiting for some of the charges I knew were on that card to clear. Sometimes it takes a couple of days for things to go through. The next day I checked again and not only were there no unusual charges on the card, but the stuff I knew I had put on it a few days earlier had not cleared. I could not figure out what was wrong. Then I looked at a different card for another bank account and saw the charges I was looking for coming through on it.

Can you see the light bulb coming on over my head? I’m not the smartest guy but it finally dawned on me that I must have been using the other card for several days and did not even realize it. All of the charges I was waiting to see on the one account came through on the other. Fortunately that was not a problem but it meant that I lost the first card several days before I realized it and guess what?

Someone turned it off.

Someone called the bank and had the card turned off.

What I’m saying is that I must have lost the card, while pumping gas or buying something; someone found it and then called the bank to tell them. The bank then canceled the card.

Who did it? I will never know. Just some person of undetermined ethnicity, religious perspective, political party, gender or sexual orientation who found a card on the ground and said to themselves “what would I have wanted done” if this was my card and another human found it. In other words, they did the right thing just because it was the right thing.

In our house we have an expression we use when a good thing happens in our life.

When something like that happens we say, “Thank you Jesus”.

It is our way of expressing our appreciation for the teachings of Jesus being acted out by normal, whatever that means, human beings. We are not concerned with any intricate implications and rules or theological speculations associated with those who choose to call themselves Christians. We are not detailed in our interpretations of what constitutes “real” Christianity or what rules are practiced or not practiced by others. We don’t decide who lives up to the rules and who does not. We accept the fact that we really do not know what all of the rules are supposed to be. We just feel that we should be treating each other decently. Keep it simple.

I love to read good books. I am crazy about great music as well as food and drink. I love humanity with all of its warts and I am constantly learning more about all of these things because not only do I not know it all, but I never will. It’s the journey that counts and that is why I am able to drag my large frame out of bed every day. I hope you have your reasons. I will try to respect them and will be appreciative if you respect mine.

Prissy Polly's Restaurant in Kernersville, NC

Barbeque is a word of many meanings. In some places it is considered a verb and in others a noun. For the sake of simplicity I will be referring to it here in the latter sense.

Barbecue can be made of pork or beef and I suppose just about anything else in the way of meat. I don’t really know if there is such a thing as barbecue made from fish, but I would not be all that surprised if someone told me there was.

I have enjoyed barbeque that was made from beef but after living twenty years in North Carolina I tend to think of it as pig. Some may call it pork but I think we should be honest about what we are eating here.

Recently the pig itself has been suffering from a bit of negative publicity. I am referring to the most recent swine flu outbreak. I pray that this outbreak will be contained and that no more lives will be lost. But I do love to eat the pig.

Having just returned to North Carolina after a leave of almost four years I was glad to find myself rolling along I-40 and headed in the direction of Kernersville, NC as the lunch hour was approaching. Kernersville is the small town between Greensboro and Winston-Salem that has my favorite barbecue in the world and with that in mind I call the lunch hour any time they are open and I am nearby.

There is a major divide in terms of barbecue in North Carolina that is just as distinct and almost as fought over as the Civil War was some 150 years ago. On the eastern side of the state they slow cook their pig and serve it with a vinegar sauce that has hot pepper flakes in it and some brown sugar. In the western side of the state they use a more traditional tomato based sauce. This is the sauce that most resembles what is sold in supermarkets like KC Masterpiece or any one of a number of name brand commercially produced sauces. Most people prefer one over the other and it has been known to divide families. The dividing line in the state between these competing sauces is generally regarded as Lexington, NC and the western sauce is sometimes referred to as Lexington barbecue. Most restaurants sell one or the other and that is one of the reasons I really like Prissy Polly’s in Kernersville. They serve them both. The live together side by side in the same building and they act as a guide to the whole human race. There is no reason we can’t all coexist as well as these two different, yet equal, sauces do at this fine dining establishment.

The Large Barbecue Plate

Today I got a chance to eat at Prissy Polly’s for the first time in over four years and what a treat it was. I ordered the large barbecue plate with the eastern sauce. My wife chose a western style barbecue sandwich. We too are different but equal.

I love that stuff but that is far from the only reason to stop and dine at Prissy Polly’s.

You would think that beans are a side dish that would be hard to ruin and yet I cannot tell you how many times I have eaten in a lunch room or diner and been disappointed by my bean experience. They are usually just so bland and simple. It is a shame because they are not all that difficult to make really well. I know this because I have made beans many times and feel very confident in my recipe. Prissy Polly does them right.

The other great dish they do that goes so well with the barbecue is their collard greens. Once again, they are not all that difficult to make but somehow they are often made very bland and tasteless. Prissy Polly does them right.

I will miss the west coast and I hope I return again but I am going to enjoy myself living in the land of my favorite barbecue. I am back in NC. The pork industry should consider itself forewarned.

We finished our trek yesterday and are now staying with my daughter and her fiancée in Raleigh, NC. It is great to have a break from motel rooms and road food. It is fantastic to see our children and other relatives who are living in the Old North State. We were on the road for nine days and traveled a total of 3684 miles. I totaled our expenses at $1590.23. The quote to ship the car was over $1700.00 and we would have had to buy airline tickets to move ourselves. The trade off in time was more than worth it in our eyes because we will have the memories for the rest of our lives. To those of you who have followed the trip, thanks. To those friends we left behind, we look forward to the time when we see you all again.

A Big Ol' Southern Breakfast

Let’s make this simple.

We left Oklahoma.

We crossed Arkansas.

We reached Memphis and then went on a little further.

Now we are in a hotel room and I am having a hard time drawing together the strength to write a post about today. So let’s break it down and make it simple.

There was a light rain falling when we loaded the car in Oklahoma today. We were lucky to drive out of it after about an hour or so and have had very nice, but windy, weather all day. We stopped for lunch at another Cracker Barrel and my wife saw an interesting electronic tablet they were using to organize their seating and serving. She was quite excited as they claimed they were the only Cracker Barrel using this particular device. You should probably check out her post as she will undoubtedly be talking about it. http://www.managemypractice.com/road-trip/

For lunch I had a big old southern breakfast of country ham (you know, really salty and thin sliced), scrambled eggs, a hash brown cheese casserole, grits, fried apples (great with the ham), biscuits and cream gravy. I gotta tell you it was pretty darn good and filling. I did not order pie as they really do not serve a good one.

After lunch we hit the road and ended up here in Tennessee. Short and simple.

We did have a great night’s sleep last night in that rather unusual place we stayed. The kid with the basketball did stop playing with it outside our door and the screams of delight subsided. We slept so well that we actually slept past the time I had originally planned on arising. That’s ok. We needed the rest and I know it made the day go better.

The high point of the day for me was the music we chose to guide us out of Oklahoma.

As the light mist continued to fall we pulled up some good old Mahalia Jackson and what a beautiful sound filled the van. Whenever someone tries to tell you that the devil has all of the best music just smile and point out Mahalia to them. Yes indeed she did it right. When I hear her singing I hear, Aretha Franklin, Janis Joplin and Gladys Knight. I know they all owe her a great deal. Sweet, sweet sounds.

Along the road today I started to really notice the road kill that litters our highways. I saw a lot of it today and it made me think of all of the dead critters I have seen in my lifetime along the road of life I call my biography. I recall skunks, and possums. I have seen a bear cub and a several horses and cows as well as innumerable deer. In just the last week I have seen a rattlesnake, an owl, a hawk, a dog, a crow and a raccoon. One time long ago I saw a fox. The casualties are endless. So many creatures destroyed by the passing American automobile.

Progress claims many lives but we should not let that stop its forward motion. As if we could.

Roll on and watch your step. Move carefully forward and try to shed no blood. But do continue to move forward. Thanks for all the comments and thanks for taking the time to read this garbage.