Oh, happy day!

It's national
















doughnut day.


I heard it on the radio this morning and took it as an excuse to eat doughnut holes (and share them with the newsroom, too).

How wierd is this?

I'm blogging from a hotel room in South Carolina tonight after attending a workshop all day today. I left Shelby around 7 a.m. and drove until about 10 a.m., when I arrived at the conference center. After a long (but really good) day of meetings, I drove to my hotel, checked in, took a glorious nap (as you'll recall from my New York City entries, I love doing this) in a fluffy bed (I also have a thing for featherbeds).

I woke up three hours later, then went to the mall across the street to do a little walking around. I bought Gracie a new collar because she keeps breaking hers. (This new one is guaranteed for life, which will probably com in handy, considering she's been through four collars in three years.)

Around 8:30 p.m., I went down the street for dinner at a Chili's. I placed my order and started looking around the restaurant while I waited on my food, looked up and saw someone who looked really familiar. The first name registered with me as Matt. I couldn't remember the last name to save my life. So when my waitress came back, I confirmed that the waiter was, indeed, named Matt and had her send him over.

Turns out, it was Matt Tryon, who graduated from Gardner-Webb a semester before I did. What are the odds of that happening? (For those of you who know him, he's in grad school for advertising/PR.)

Anyway, I was really glad to see a familiar face and get to catch up. Yea Matt!

Saturday evening part two

Keeping the hay away from the cows is a challenge when the barn we're unloading into is located inside their fence. It takes a bit of creativity to keep them away from the trucks and trailers we're unloading. Once we're done, we close off the barn with gates so the cows don't pilfer it overnight.

he cow standing by itself in one photo was really bent on getting some of the fresh bales and had to be shooed away several times. He's even licking his lips in the photo.

The two women in the last photo are my mother (left) and my aunt, who were taking a break after we brought a load back to the barn.

I also had a bit of a surprise when I carried a bale from the trailer to the stack in the barn. When I sat it down, a snake's head and body were coming out of the bale... I dropped that one and backed away a few steps before I discovered that it was really dead and that it had evidently been hit by either the mower or the bailer. Its eyes were still open, so I made the boys take care of that bale. It was too freaky.

How I spent my Saturday evening

You guessed it... hay season continues.

This time was a lot easier because part of the field was shaded and we were using a much more open barn, so it's easier to breathe through the dust.

The first photo is of a load of hay coming out of the field. (I'm taking it from another truck.)

The second photo is of my cousin Jeremy, who is going back over the field to glean any leftover hay and turn it into a final bale or two.

The third photo is of two loads of hay waiting to be put into the barn.

Although the work is hot and heavy, it feels great to go inside when it gets dark, take a shower and just sit. It also makes you appreciate iced tea, air conditioning and cold showers.

How I spent my Saturday off

I volunteered this morning at a Star-sponsored Black Achievers event. Here's a photo from that.

I continued painting outside and made yet another trip to Lowe's. I love the store, but I hate the stoplight at the Pizza Hut where I have to wait to turn left. It holds forever! Here's that light.

Blogging backlog

I meant to blog a few things last week, but I ran a little short on time. I'm going to dump all those random things into one blog. Yay for you, dear reader!

MASERATI: I drove in to work one day last week around 8 a.m. and got behind a Maserati on Lafayette Street. I'd say that's a pretty rare sight in Cleveland County.

NEHI: I took Lulu and Gracie to the groomer last week for baths and haircuts. On the way back, I stopped in Polkville for a peach Nehi. Can you guess which convenience store had it in a glass bottle?

The groomer I use is between Lawndale and Polkville. Here's what it looks like inside Animal Trax. I also checked out several new businesses in the upper Cleveland area and got a lot of story ideas, especially for the food page.

Want a sneak preview? One of those ideas is a new barbecue place in Fallston, which opens today (Wednesday). That's hopefully coming in next week's Star.

That's all for now. I'm sure I'll have more ramblings ready for you in a day or two.

Hay season

I got behind a tractor this morning.

Not all that unusual, except it was one of about 9 million on the roads this week.

Yes, it's a bit of an exaggeration, but it's a definite sign that hay season is here.

(As if the scratches on my arms, bruised and skinned knee, sore muscles and farmer's tan lines weren't a dead giveaway.)

At any rate, don't be surprised if you get behind a bailer or mower, or even a trailer full of bales in the next couple weeks.

If Cleveland County farmers are anything like my family, they're making all the bales they can, because you never know when you're going to have a season as bad as last year again.

It's impossible to haul hay and look cute.

There isn't a right thing to wear... you can sport jeans and a long-sleeved shirt if you don't want your skin to get ripped up. But if you do, you'll practically roast. You can wear shorts and a tank top and stay cool, but then you have to deal with the flying hay, dust and all the scratches and cuts the sharp hay pieces can dish out. There are middle-of-the-road options, of course, but with them, you end up with a farmer's tan line (such as mine, which was caused by a T-shirt, baseball cap and jeans).

There are really only four must-haves (other than equipment).
ONE: A pair of shoes with good treads. Loose hay + truck bed = slippery.
TWO: Allergy medicine. It's imperative to load yourself up with Benadryl, Zyrtec, etc. If not, you can find yourself having a hard time breathing for days.
THREE: Water. It's hot and sweaty work.
FOUR; Perseverance. After 100 bales, you feel tired, hot and sweaty; after 300, you want to die.

Bloodline update

Word came out today that there were tons of people clicking on the story about Nashville Star hopefuls Chad Duncan and Travis Powell.

Concerned that the duo had made the show and I missed it, I gave Travis a call. As it turns out, they were in the top 75, but did not make the show.

The two have, however, played at the recent Merry Go Round Festival in Shelby and will play at Mi Pueblito's on Thursday (5/28).

Here is their MySpace page.

The case of the missing M&Ms

I like to keep a candy dish on my desk, if for no other reason than to be one of the "popular kids." We all have high-stress jobs and there are a lot of people in the room who really like chocolate. Here's what Star newsroom staffers did to a bowl of M&Ms... in less than 24 hours. I have a limit of six M&Ms a day, so it wasn't me!

The bowl was originally overflowing. The first photo is of it after about 4 hours. The second is after 24. There are currently three M&Ms left... we'll see how long those stragglers last.

Puppy-sitting

I puppy-sat over the weekend for Eddie, a lab-poodle mix with loads of energy.

The entire time he was awake, his little legs didn't stop moving... he'd even run during his sleep sometimes.

He didn't really slow down until we were on our way to drop him back off at home... at which point, he took up residence in the back window of my car.

So to the person driving the Jeep behind us, apologize for all the dog booty you saw between Hickory and Shelby.