Showing posts with label Reflections on life in NC. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Reflections on life in NC. Show all posts

Tuesday, July 1, 2025

Feeling like a Charlie Brown tree ...

We moved to the Youngsville, NC area almost 6 years ago, to a nice quiet rural town that was close enough to the bigger cities, but far away enough to still retain  that Southern country atmosphere. One of the best things about living here at that time was the way one could drive around in the area and miss the big highways with its semis, dump trucks, and other assorted traffic-accident magnets.

We really enjoyed the wooded back roads. In the fall, the leaves were brilliant with all kinds of color. If one knew how to navigate the by-ways, a whole afternoon could be spent on a Sunday just driving without the sound of very loud mufflers, and honking horns.  

Fast forward to 2024, 2025. It seems that there isn't one single country road that hasn't been torn up by heavy trucks hauling trees to the mills. And the countryside has pretty much been devastated by developers hoping to cash in on the (so-called) housing shortage. New housing areas pop up faster than gasoline prices -- overnight developments grow quickly, but the infrastructure to service them often lags way behind. New roads are planned, but just never seem to get built, so the two-lane road net  still services areas where hundreds of new homes just appear. And with each house, apartment or condo, there are usually 2 to 6 cars parked somewhere (other than in the garage that is usually full of boxes and "stuff").

One of our favorite drives between Youngsville and Wake Forest just disappeared in about a two month period. Now all that is left in one area is this Charlie Brown tree and a field of stumps.

I guess people need places to live, but they are building them so fast that the quality can't be that good and they often sit empty for long periods of time. 

I guess I shouldn't be too critical though, because I'm sure developers had to clear out land where our subdivision was built.  I'm just glad I wasn't here to see that take place.

So, my wife and I took a week to travel back to Ohio about a month ago. I guess I shouldn't have been surprised, but when we got back, another wooded tract of land near our house looked like a tornado had gone through there. I was told that there will be close to 600 housing units there, a few retail stores, a new high school and (maybe) some new roads. 

Can't wait. Ughhhh...

Hooah
 

Saturday, March 22, 2025

Just a collection of some thoughts...

Well, the sun is going down, the Reds just gave up an 11-run inning to the A's (after they were leading 7-2 - - aren't spring training games just the greatest) and I got a decent round of golf in today (decent for an old guy).  So what is it that's on my mind?  Well, just a few things...

1.  A few weeks ago, my grandsons, who are both Boy Scouts, had a weekend camping outing.  This particular one was really special for me because one of the training events on tap for the weekend was their shooting qualifications for merit badges. This wasn't a big deal for Q as he is pretty comfortable with shotguns.  He shoots trap and has earned his merit badges and an NRA badge that he can wear on his scouting vest. In fact, he now owns the all-time marksmanship accuracy record for his troop in his trap shooting. He said he hit 49 out of 50 clay birds. Pretty good. 

2.  The other really cool thing was the younger grandson, H, earned his merit badge with the .22 rifle. This was clearly a remarkable accomplishment because he was really apprehensive about guns. He, Q and I went to the range a couple of weeks before the camp-out and we (Q and I) worked with him shooting the .22 (loading, maintaining a sight picture, breathing, pulling the trigger as opposed to jerking it, etc.). I saw his targets pinned up on his bulletin board in his bedroom.  I was proud of him, Q was proud of his little brother, and I think H was pretty proud of himself.

3.  One of the things that has come out this time of year is the Southern pine pollen and the trees are full of those yellow pods, just waiting to release that sinus-killing powder. When I lived in Ohio, I don't recall having an issue with pollen, but boy do I have an issue with it. 


 

 


Can't you just hear those little rascals..."We're coming for you!! Get ready!!"

4.  BUT -- it may not be for long, as it seems all they know how to do down here these days is cut down trees to clear land for housing developments.

Every week sees a new plot of pines cut down.  When we moved here, there were trees everywhere and the forests really made this area special. Not so much now.  In fact, if things keep going as they are now, the town of Wake Forest will soon just be called Wake as there will be no more Forests. I have never been classified as a tree-hugger, but some of these places look pretty bare. If they were just harvesting trees, that would be one thing, but they are putting up condos all over the place. Where are all of these people coming from, and why are they coming here. 

Just one question for the town planners -- When is enough enough?


  

5.  Oh well, there's nothing I can do about all of that.  So I'm concentrating on something I can influence. Have to start getting ready for the 17th Annual Man Trip coming up in September.  After looking at this clip, I think it's a good thing I've started already.

6. Well, one last thing. The trees and flowers are starting to come out this week. Really looks nice. 

So that it for now. Gotta go clean my clubs.

Spring: The season where the grass grows faster than your weekend plans. (Anon)

 Hooah 

Wednesday, March 1, 2023

Continuing education ...

My next-door neighbor, who is an actual native of North Carolina (one of the few natives around here with all the move-ins from all over the country) has given me a number of sayings and bits of wisdom that are actually helping with my "North Carolina continuing education" process.  So between her and her husband (who is also a native), I plan to apply for semi-native status (do you suppose this is a real residence category?) before too long. 

Check out the latest installment ...

 

When she gave me this bit of local knowledge, I was really surprised at how  close to  "southern Hi-o" talk a lot of these sayings really were. I really remember growing up using #6 before trips in the car on Sunday afternoons. So this list, along with my childhood "fetchin' up" has really spared me a lot of misunderstandings, and that has made my education a bit easier.  I'm also sure that a number of my Army buddies will attest that some of them (like numbers 2,3,4,and 8) are pretty close to official Army knowledge and talk.

Now, I bet you thought the above-listed items were all I have come across since I have been here...WRONG!! Check out these gems that I came across (and thanks to the North Carolina  Life and Language Project) ..

1.  "I speak North Cackalacky."  The most probable origin is that it developed from a kind of sound-play utterance once used to parody the rural ways of people from Carolina. In the 1940s, “Cackalacky” was used in a somewhat derogatory way by outsiders. For example, servicemen assigned to rural bases in the state in the 1940s referred to their environs as “Cackalacky,” deriding the rural ways of native North Carolinians. Though it may have been intended as an insult, over time the term was re-appropriated by natives, and it is now embraced affectionately as a positive reference to state identity.

2. "Dingbatter"  At the time, outsiders on Ocracoke and other Outer Banks islands were referred to as foreigners or strangers, but the term dingbatter seemed like a perfect way to describe the lack of common sense sometimes exhibited by tourists who tangle their fishing lines with commercial fishers and think the middle of Highway 12 is a walking trail. To this day, outsiders on Ocracoke are referred to as dingbatters, though it is losing some ground to the blended term touron, a combination of tourist and moron.

3. "Might Could"   The expression might could is hardly unique to the Tar Heel State. It is as widespread and Southern as kudzu! But in North Carolina, it is so common that it is barely noticeable – unless you are a Yankee transplant.  I'm told that this is a favorite expression of politicians around here. It means one "might"  do something and "could" do it - but may or may not do it!

I'll keep working on my education.  Hope y'all have also learned some things in the process so you don't end up ...

All Goobered Up!!

Hooah

Friday, February 17, 2023

Boy, it's tough to keep up ...

This is another entry in the series called "YES -- this is why we moved here."

I have had a lot of good, quality time with my 14-year old grandson, Quinn.  He is sharp as a tack, and one of the things I really like doing with him is going to the shooting range.  Q is a Boy Scout (First Class) and a couple of the merit badges he was recently working on were the shotgun and the rifle badges.

If you are not familiar with this system, Scouts have a large list of educational areas that they study and can earn "merit badges"  when they have mastered that particular area.  Among other things, Scouting has a rich history of teaching boys about outdoor life.  This dates back to its earliest days.

So anyhow, these two merit badge areas were something I could help him with since I've had MORE than my fair share of time on a range.  We started with a .22 Henry rifle. No recoil, easy to shoot and fun. I should mention that he is already quite proficient at archery, so shooting this rifle came easily to him.

                         

This is one of our targets.  He was shooting at the big circle.  I shot at the little box in the lower right.

So, what to you think -- Him?  Me?  Toss-up?  Nah ... I think he got me.

And if you think this is good, you should see him shooting the 20 ga. at clay birds at the trap range. Very good!! Maybe some time I'll tell you about my experiences with the 20 ga. pump ... pretty embarassing. Oh, and one other thing -- he learned how to clean both of the rifles afterwards. Oh yeah!!

All-in-all, it was a proud moment for him and me when he received both of these merit badges.  Good job.

Merit badges are your doorway into countless possible lifelong passions. Take your time and enjoy them!

Hooah

Wednesday, February 15, 2023

What a view ...

Pam and I recently traveled to Ohio on some family business, and had a little bit of time so we decided that on the way we would finally stop off at Pilot Mountain outside of Mt. Airy, NC.  We have driven past that iconic landmark hundreds of times and even played golf at a course located near there with the guys on the Man Trip outings. But we had yet to actually stop there and go up to the top.  So this was a chance to check an item off our bucket list.

This was one of the team pictures from a recent trip.  I believe this was 2021.  We didn't play there in 2022.

As I was saying, we had always wanted to stop at this site because it was always mentioned in the Andy Griffith's shows, and Pam's brother, Chuck, always talked about it. He was such a huge fan of that show.  Anyway, it was a beautiful day, so up we went.

It was pretty cool once we got up there. Actually, it was COLD. But what a view.




It was quite a winding road up to the parking area.  Really reminded me of the bus ride up the alps on the way to the Eagle's Nest. Switchbacks, 10-15 miles per hour, with the edge of the road right on the edge of the mountain. YIKES.

So, once you got to the parking area, you still had to hike up to the end of the walkway ... and that wasn't even the top of the mountain.  To get there you had to hike some more and then I don't think you could even get to the actual top. We didn't go there.  Weren't dressed for it.  No -- that isn't the real reason ... we are too old to be climbing around on mountains.  That's what they make telephoto lenses on cameras for. 

As we were getting ready to leave, we decided to stop at the gift shop.  I'm usually a sucker for gift shops and this one was worth the stop.  In fact, we bought a couple of Christmas gifts for our grand children there, and I bought a lego (a knock-off brand I think) "eagle" to put together.  It consists of miniature pieces complete with "directions" that must have originally been written in some language and then translated into English (poorly translated). I tried it once, Quinn tried it once and gave up, Heath took one look at it and passed.  So here it is:

I'll get to it one of these days.

We met some nice people up there and thoroughly enjoyed that little diversion to our trip. That's one of the nice things about having some time available -- one just never knows what's up the road, 'round the bend. All you have to do is go there. Makes me appreciate Emerson's quote a bit more:

"It's not the destination, it's the Journey."

Hooah

Tuesday, January 31, 2023

So close, but so far away ...

One of the nice things about living in North Carolina is our proximity to sporting venues, both college and professional.  Since moving here and enduring that asinine period of time known as "COVID" we have managed to go to several Durham Bulls baseball games, two college football games (Wake Forest vs. Army, and NC State vs. Syracuse), two hockey games (Carolina Hurricanes) and a couple of baseball games for a local minor, minor league team called The Carolina Mudcats and a NC State vs. Duke basketball game (NC State killed 'em in front of a sold-out PNC arena).  And I guess if I wanted to stretch out some, I could probably go to any of 3 or 4 professional golf events in this area too.

Another nice thing is that we have been able to continue the MAN TRIP golfing extravaganzas  all this time, and I think this year's trip will be the 16th year for it. Everyone must like it -- they keep coming back.  Heck, I know some guys who's marriages didn't last 16 years!  But then, this is golf, not married life.

So here it is, the end of January.  The grass here is green, but needs to be weeded and fed.  Plans have to be made as to what new items will be added to the yard landscaping.  Vacation plans have to be drawn up and agendas need reviewing (you know -- gotta get all those doctors scheduled and visited). So what is missing?

Well, here's two things I can think of right off the top -- the Cincinnati Reds and maybe homecoming at Ohio University.  Might have to see if we can fit a "road trip" in to catch those two things this coming fall.

Oh yeah, I haven't even gotten to the grand kids and their activities we have gotten to see and be part of.  Why just last night, Quinn (our oldest grandson) received his First Class Scouting badge.  That was really neat to see and be there for. Anything he does now in Scouts will take him past my level of achievement in our scouting troop back in Zanesville.

We've got some pretty exciting stuff lined up for them this year -- hang gliding lessons for Quinn, and an old-fashioned train ride for Heath.  

I guess I've been neglecting the blog for a while (has it really been since August?) and have been fooling around in FB land. I have been called to task by some of my olf friends and blog followers, so I guess I had better get back to it.  I might mess around in both arenas for a while, but the blog is my first love so we'll see what happens. Stay tuned.




So these are just a few pictures of some of the things we've been doing  and some of the upcoming entries I will be writing about. Until then...

“I do not want to get to the end of my life and find that I just lived the length of it. I want to have lived the width of it as well.” (Diane Ackerman)
 
Hooah

Monday, August 15, 2022

Giddy-up L'il cow-poke ...

A couple of our grandkids were here to spend the night this week so we decided to take them back to the horse farm we had visited a little over a year ago.  At that time, one of the horses they were riding, Kitty, was expecting a colt at some time and they were anxious to get back to see the young colt, which the owners had named "Pistol." 

But before they were able to do any riding, they had to do some "barn" time which involved brushing a horse and checking the feet for dirt clods. 

 
Of course, when all of that is finished, it's time to saddle up. I think the saddle probably weighed almost as much as Heath does.  But they finally got everything done.
 

 And off they went into the sunshine. Giddy-up l'il doggy.

 

Thought I would include a team picture from this event.  The horse liked the smell/taste of Vivian's hair.

Another fun day with the grandkids.  Doesn't get much better than this.

Courage is being scared to death but saddling up anyway. ..

Hooah

Friday, July 15, 2022

Getting ready for this year's MAN TRIP ...

NOTE:

After some thought, I have decided to revise this and make it a two-part entry. Check it out.

Part one:

Well, it's almost time for this year's Man Trip.  I've been working with the hotel getting things lined up and the courses selected.  In fact, I've even been to the driving range a couple of times this week hitting balls.  Boy, it's really interesting how quickly one can lose a swing and tempo.  

So it was interesting when I signed on to the computer today and there was a little video of my photos from our last trip. Check this out. Be sure to enlarge it.

These trips are always fun, and there is even some good golf played every once in a while.  Looking forward to this year's trip and I'll keep you updated after this outing. 

Part two:

Maybe I'm overthinking it, but it seems a bit invasive, bordering on spooky, that on its own, Google would decide that all of a sudden I would want a video of pictures  from over a year ago, put them in the correct sequence, and end them with a team picture in front of the Pilot Mountain background. 

I know Big Brother is always watching, but it seems strange that just as I am working with the hotel on our arrangements via Gmail correspondence, this Google video would appear. Maybe I shouldn't be surprised because I know that if I even mention or search for something in Google, I will be bombarded with ads for that product.  Same issue with Facebook. Just a head-scratcher.

Maybe I am going to have to read those two- and three-page-long "agreements" next time I get an update.  It probably says in there somewhere that I have no expectation of privacy and should not be surprised by anything that goes on in Googleland.

What do you think?  There is a little link below called "comments" if you care to leave your thoughts.

“You don’t know what pressure is until you play for five bucks with only two bucks in your pocket.” (Lee Trevino)

Hooah

Tuesday, June 28, 2022

Hot air balloons at the First Fruits Farm ...

This past Memorial Day weekend was a pretty special one as there was a big shindig at the First Fruits Farm.  Hot air balloons, some military displays (helicopters and sky divers), and two USO-type shows. As I mentioned, the event took place at a place called The First Fruits Farm, and if you do not know the story behind this farm and its owners (Jason and Tay Brown), it is a good story.  Jason grew up in Henderson, NC which is not far from where we live.  He played football for the University of North Carolina and was taken in the fourth round of the NFL draft by the Baltimore Ravens as a center and signed a $37.5 million dollar contract making him the highest paid center in the league. He signed subsequent free agent contracts but then gave it all up to become a farmer back in his native NC. He owns a 1,000 acre farm and raises a variety of crops, most of which he gives away to food banks and needy people.  He did this because God told him to do it. Read his story at Jason Brown and First Fruits Farm.

So, back to the weekend's activities. 

There were lots of food trucks, craftsmen, antique tractors and power equipment, live entertainment, military attractions, and rides around the farm grounds.  This is one big farm.

 

These are just a sampling of the balloons there that weekend.  They had rides and a "glow" in the evenings.  I liked the one of "Joe Cool" and the Bald Eagle. The Jester balloon was really unique. One of the Army sky divers had a wing that was sponsored by the Wreaths Across America program while the other paratrooper had the various service flags hanging below him on the jump.

And then there was the live entertainment.  As I said, there were two USO-type shows.  They were both pretty good, but the one I was able to get a picture with was the group of ladies called the "Bombshells." Don't know why they would have been named that. Hmmmm........

Ok. Ok. They were just taking pity on an old Soldier.  At least none of them asked me if I was in WWII.

There were fireworks at night and lots of good food throughout the day. We really enjoyed the day and were glad to get to know the story behind Jason Brown and the farm. It was a very nice Memorial Day celebration, and it was especially good to see so many people out to celebrate and remember our Veterans who paid a heavy price for us.

“And I’m proud to be an American, where at least I know I’m free. And I won’t forget the men who died, who gave that right to me.” (Lee Greenwood)

Hooah

Monday, June 27, 2022

Carolina Beach -- what a fun place ...

Last week, Pam and I went to the Carolina Beach for three days.These kinds of trips are fun and since we had been there before, we knew where things were and weren't wasting time looking for shops or food places that either weren't open on certain days or weren't any good anyhow. We did eat at Freddies again this time and had a wonderful meal.  After that we drove down to the Ft. Fisher point to watch the boats (big ones) come in for the night.

This trip was a little different because we really only had two whole days to be there.  So we spent one of them on the beach.  It was hotter than a match that day so we/I spent much more time under the beach umbrella or actually sitting in a chair out in the ocean.  

The second whole day, however, was spent exploring a town called Southport.  It is a really cool oceanfront town, very quaint and best accessed by the ferry that runs from Ft. Fisher.  It takes about 1/2 hour to get from one side of the Cape Fear to the other. 

 

Cars were packed pretty tightly on the ferry.  I was not able to open my door without dinging the car next to me, so I rode all the way over sitting in the Jeep listening to the radio, hoping the ride back would be better.
 
Once we got over to the other side, we did some shopping, went to the maritime museum and the welcome center and then went on our way.  On that day, they were having an open air market which was set in a park, under a couple of acres of live oaks.  It was really a picture of old southern living.

After a bit of shopping, we walked down by the water front and sat at a open air bar where they filmed a movie called Safe Haven. It was really nice there, sunny, breezy and we got to talk with some other people there - just chillin' out.


While we were there, we saw a shrimp boat that sure looked like the one used in Forrest Gump.  It was really pretty cool.

I think this little town might be a great place for a couple of days.  We saw some condos that could be daily rents and they were right on the pier area.  I'm sure they are pretty expensive though.  We'll see.  It might happen for some special occasion.

So it was getting close to time to head back to the ferry landing and get in line to get on the ship.  Pam generally wants to squeeze every possible second out of these visits, so getting her to head back to the ferry pier a bit early was a task.  However, when we got there, she was glad we did because there was already a line of cars waiting to load, and this was the next to last ferry trip of the night. I think there is a way to drive around the area and eventually get back to the beach, but after looking at the map, I knew that wouldn't be a great option and would have really eaten up time and gas (you remember gas - $4.99.9 on this island !!).  Anyway, it was another pleasant ride on the ferry.

Had to hold on to your hats while on the water.

So, that wraps up another short visit to the beach.  As I have said before, we really enjoy these trips and living where we do, we are perfectly situated  -- 3-4 hours to any beach on the Atlantic, and 3-4 hours to the mountains in the western part of the state. Nice !!

"The sea cures all ailments of man." (Plato)

Hooah

Sunday, June 26, 2022

Take me out to the ball game ...

A couple of weeks ago, about 56 members of our church got together and went to a minor league baseball game -- the Carolina Mudcats. The Mudcats is a Low-A team that is a part of the Milwaukee Brewers system.  They play a pretty good level of ball, and it's always fun to go watch them.  The people there run a pretty nice operation and the stadium is clean and easy to get to.

So, our Men's group at the church organized this outing and opened it up to family members so we could get more participation. It was a beautiful afternoon, but all week the weather guys were predicting rain and thunderstorms for that day.  All the tickets had been paid for and everyone was looking forward to it, so I said a little prayer on Monday that the weather would be good. After that, I never even looked at the "rain date" plans because it was in God's hands now!  It started out at 90% chance of rain on the Monday before and each day saw a reduction in that percentage until game day when it was 0%!! Our seats were in the shade and there was a slight breeze -- what a day!!

This game was also a replica Mudcat game shirt giveaway game and the first 1,500 people through the gates would get one of these shirts. I cautioned our people to get there early if they wanted one.

But that wasn't the biggest draw for our people.  I had made arrangements for one of our guys, Adam Neill, to throw out the first pitch.  Adam had pitched in college as a relief specialist so this seemed like a no-brainer. We all had such a fun time with this, throwing challenges his way about what kind of pitch he should throw, and that he had better not air mail it.

 

       Adam was the third person to throw out a pitch.

Adam and I are standing at the edge of the field and he is showing the pitch he is going to throw.  I said he should just throw a fastball (or as close to a fastball as he could muster) but he said his curve was his money pitch.  He ended up throwing a "12 to 6 curve" (as one of the Cincinnati Reds former pitchers calls it).  It is called that because as the ball curves, it also dives for the ground. It is 60' 6'' from the pitcher's mound to home plate.  Most "12 to 6 curves" only travel 55-60 feet before they hit the ground, with the batter swinging over the top of it.  Works real good in a game, but looks real bad as a first pitch.

Oh well, we had a great time and got quite a few church members together for an afternoon.  And as our Pastor, Eric, says -- it's all about building relationships.

Just a little side bar ...

While I was getting ready to write this post, I came across this funny little thing.  And then, as I watched the Red's manager (David Bell) get thrown out of the Reds-Giants game today for complaining about the umpire calling pitches that were 5"-6" off the plate strikes,  I saw the wisdom of this story.   

            Best Funny Baseball Quotes

"Life is a lot like a baseball game ... when you think a fastball is coming, you gotta be ready to hit the curve." (Jaja Q)

Hooah

Wednesday, June 1, 2022

Boy did this bring back memories ...

A little over a month ago, a group of men from our church decided we needed to camp out and share time and fellowship together.  I don't have any statistics on which I can base this guess, but I think a number of churches are suffering from a lack of action and leadership from the men of the church. Again, I don't have any sound basis to say this, but when I hear men from churches here and from back in Ohio talking about this, and ministers lamenting a lack of action and leadership in their church, I have to think there might be something going on.  You know, where there is smoke there is fire.

I don't think our desire was to just go out and camp overnight some place.  We had done a couple of outings for an afternoon or an evening leading up to this  and we were looking for the "what's next" thing. That's when a few of us who were sitting around after a study night came up with the theme -- "Cast and Blast."

The thing that would make this different was that we were going to involve more men in the leadership roles and we were going to take them away from their beds for a night.  We were going to cook our meals, maybe catch our dinner from the lake, we were going to do some things none of us/them had ever done before and we were going to ask them to bring their sons or grandsons too.

This resulted in about 40 men and boys spending a Friday afternoon, evening and all day Saturday out in a nature setting, camping out.

So, let me show you some of the things we did:

A couple of the young boys knew they had to set up a tent if they wanted to be in out of the cold, and it really got a bit cold that night.

Jonathan really couldn't wait to try out his smoker. We had chickens and fixins for dinner Friday, bacon and eggs for breakfast, and burgers for lunch.

There was also a good bit of "supervising" and telling stories while waiting for the dinners.


Put some Army uniforms on these guys and they would have taken a page out of some of my field training.

The kids really enjoyed the knife and axe throwing taught that day. This picture is not staged -- he really hit it dead center.

Here are some more pictures of the meals we had, starting with breakfast on Saturday.

Of course, no Southern camp-out would be complete without some shootin' .  We shot a lot of clay birds and there were several of the men and almost all of the boys who had not shot a shotgun before, especially at a flying clay bird.  If you haven't tried this, it really is fun and when you get the hang of it, it gives you something to brag about (because it's not easy).

But before any shootin' could take place, we had to have a playin' of the pipes, like the old Scotish Warriors did before they went to war. Nobody going to war, but it might have sounded like it at times. We were shootin' so much, a beaver that lived in the lake came over to see what all the racket was.





 

All in all, it was a really good time. We thanked John for the use of his property and managed to keep all the cars and trucks out of the wheat field. We must have hit on something because a number of these men have stepped up recently and taken on leadership roles. They also had fun with their kids and grand kids and kinda gave some meat to the words of Proverbs 22:6 "Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it."  We spent time training them to respect nature, trained them how to use and respect firearms, and talked to them around the fire on Friday night about goodness and Godliness.

What a good time.  What a great investment in these men and youngsters. I think our church benefited greatly those two days.

So, what's next?  Well, we have a baseball outing for families coming up on June 5 at the Carolina Mudcats and we tentatively have a golf scramble scheduled  for September.  Looking forward to these events.

Oh yeah, if you are wondering, I did play revellie in the morning at 0600.  Just couldn't help myself!!

“A great many people, and more all the time, live their entire lives without ever once sleeping out under the stars.” (Alan Kesselheim)

HOOAH