summer 2022: a zoo trip and other adventures

We have a few more relatively quiet days. Dad M and Cheryl sent $200 for Emma to spend this summer, which was really cool of them, so Erin takes her shopping - 2 brand new shirts, a couple of pencils she loves, a spiffy water bottle are the proceeds from one such trip. One night the three of us go to Cracker Barrel, because Emma loves their green beans. She orders a veggie plate for dinner, with all three of her veggies being those green beans.

My job these days consists of running reports, maintaining the paperwork, and cranking out mailings for this husband-wife duo who sell insurance. They used to have an office in Mooresville, up until the spring of 2021, when the lingering Covid downturn finally persuaded them that they no longer needed it. Their company consists of just the 3 of us anyway and paying the somewhat steep rent seems somewhat ridiculous. We move their massive mailing machine into my office here at the house and everyone comes out ahead - they save something like $1600 a month, while I no longer need to drive much. The post office is only 3/4 of a mile from my house, and on days where there is no mailing, where I just have to check their p.o. box or something, I often just walk or ride my bicycle.

No set hours, either, really, meaning that when I’m done, I’m done, and it’s a Monday-Friday gig to boot. Therefore I typically tell people that this is the easiest job I’ve ever had, with good reason. The only downside is that business has gotten progressively worse in this economy, down to not-so-hot, and we’re all sweating how long they can stay afloat.

On slow days lately I’ve been working on repainting the hallway, whenever my work is done, if nobody else is around. Our house was built in 1935, sits in the middle of town on a busy state route, with a wide wooden porch atop a short but steep front yard with little concrete steps leading up to it. At some point it occurred to me this entire setup is highly reminiscent of this house some friends and I rented years ago on Summit Street in Columbus Ohio. So there’s obviously something I’m drawn to about such a scenario and I doubt either was a coincidence. In both cases it’s true I love sitting out here in my free time, day or night, as the traffic whizzes past, with music playing and some books/notebooks, possibly a beer or a coffee or whatever the case may be.

Anyway regarding this hallway, when we bought this place, it was done up in this “popcorn” effect type paint, light grey on the walls, white on the ceiling. Which looked neat, except it has begun peeling in extremely gruesome fashion. Therefore I’ve had to scrape it down to the original surface, one which includes numerous ghastly paint layers underneath, and start over. During this stretch of the project, I stumble upon a couple cool little finds, at the very surface of the original wall.

In one place, near the light switch, there’s a pencil notation someone made here. If I’m reading this correctly, someone signed this “R. Cochran.” Or something to that effect:

And then also a little while later, there’s another spot in what looks to be ink, near a corner. Here I’m glimpsing something I can’t quite make out, in the top left, and then what I think is the date “1-5-42” a little lower.

This all makes me want to investigate this house’s history and see what I might turn up.

July 7

So I’m holding my own, doing an okay job winging it through this house painting stuff. Not so much when it comes to pottery! This afternoon, Erin, Emma and I decide to hit this place called Kil’ N It Ceramic Painting Studio, a little outside Troutman. Basically it’s just straight down Buffalo Shoals from our place, then turn left on Old Mountain Road, and you’re there. It’s this funky little brick building right by that intersection, in fact next door to where Erin and the others always get their hair done.

There’s one cool older guy running the place, the owner. How this works is you pick out what plain piece you would like to paint, here in the front room. Then you head to this chill back room, with tables and a bunch of different paints, to create your masterpiece.

Erin and I agree that our moms would love it here. Emma picks out a butterfly and is of course extremely focused and dedicated to her task. Actually I’m majorly into it, too, but let’s just say this doesn’t exactly translate to stellar results. I pick out this “wooden barrel” looking coffee mug, with a sword for a handle, and paint it brown, with silver trim, a yellow skull. Then feel like the skull’s missing something and give him a red headband for whatever reason. Actually the more I ponder this I’m thinking it was inspired by some old Guns N’ Roses artwork somewhere. As for Erin, she starts out with more elaborate plans, but then pivots - she decides to keep things simple and settles for a plain yet effective change bowl or whatever, which is black on the outside, with a dark green interior.

How this works is, after you’re finished painting them, you leave the pieces here. He has to glaze them, then fire them in this oven. So you just swing by to pick them up at a later date. He’s commending Emma on a legitimate job well done; meanwhile, the girls are ripping on mine, and he cackles along as well. At this stage in the process, they look more muted or pastel, but after the glazing and finishing process, the colors will all be darker and bolder.

Later, we hit Broad Street Burger for dinner

July 8

At noon, I take Emma over to hang out with her second closest NC friend, Mary. She and Rosemary are both outside when we arrive, and come over to my car. Rosemary sees Emma wearing the mushroom shirt, says she tried talking Mary into getting that exact same one, at Walmart.

So I drop her off to hang out for awhile - it’s the only time we could, before they leave town - and then head back home to finish out my work day. Then Erin and I drive back over to pick up Emma. Rosemary stands at the passenger window for a good 20 minutes talking to Erin. She’s excited about getting this TA job at this one school on Old Mountain Rd.

From here, we then continue onward to scoop up McKayla. As she climbs into my car, McKayla says, “it’s good to be home.” Then Emma asks why she doesn’t have any shoes on, and McK retorts, “calm down, Emma. You are being too much right now.”

The plan is to hit this street fair in Cornelius where Rockie Lynne is playing. The thing about these events, though, is that there’s never really anything much to do, and everyone typically gets bored very quickly. Yet we somehow continually forget this and keep trying to go to them. So I drop them off, park, track them down, and pretty much the same thing happens here. Erin and I get something light to munch on while the girls walk around. Then they’re all bored before Rockie even comes on, and we leave.

So we end up driving over to DiMaggio’s Pizzeria for dinner instead. Later, back at the house, convince the girls that they really need to see Donnie Darko. Thus they sit there on the other couch, through the entire movie - Emma’s messing around with her phone and doesn’t really pay attention much, but McKayla actually sits there watching the entire thing. Erin and I are snickering throughout. “The last time the little fella came, the door was open!” McKayla says at one point, concerning the appearance of this mysterious rabbit. I also upload a bunch of photos to the TV as a slide show for background wallpaper when it times out, including some shot just today.

July 9

I make pancakes this morning. Erin’s cracking up because we’re watching this murder channel on Pluto, and they show a Barbie doll commercial. Then she goes back to bed. Mow, bring out Cruz (one of our three cats. Full name: Cruz Driver) to chill on porch with me for a bit. Ride my bike up to the library and the Free Little Library. Everyone else wakes up for good around 2pm.

Later, I have to take McK home to rustle up some of her stuff. Emma rides with me and we stop at Pelican’s on the way back for sno-cones. Then we’re watching this Yankees game on Fox and we’re cracking up because they keep showing this same commercial for CPI home security. They have a notation up in the top left during breaks that say Ad 1 of 5, etc. At one point they play this CPI spot four times in a row, the first four of five. We’re hoping for a “platinum sombrero,” but, alas, twas not to be, and the fifth one is something else.

McKayla says Emma has “Back to the Future hair.” By this she means hilariously frizzed out at the moment, and thus holds up a picture of Doc, on her phone, for comparison.

July 10

I’m up at 6am and take a shower, before waking everyone else. Then the four of us are on the road to Asheboro, for our great big zoo adventure. Erin questions whether this is a good day to go, weather wise. But she’d also said that yesterday, which is why we put the kibosh on it, though it turned out to be an awesome day. So I figure we might as well roll the dice, and continue with our plans - even if it does rain, this shouldn’t last all day.

And it stops raining well before we get here. Though you don’t hear much about this place, it’s actually the largest natural habitat zoo in the world. Clocking in at over 500 acres, though, and featuring more than 1700 animals, this does feature an awful lot of walking. It’s crazy that this is located right off of Route 64, though, and not even that terribly far away from us. Yet I’ve never been before.

The zoo is divided into two “continents,” North America and Africa. We decide to start in North America, where you park your car, then catch this shuttle deeper into that section.

This cougar is giving me a sad face. Insert your own jokes here - maybe that this wouldn’t be the first time?

There’s an otter doing flips; a seal swimming on its side, doing laps, seems to be showing off for spectators; female polar bear messing with this big yellow cube - looks like a toy but must contain food.

As is often the case, I find the random artwork and building designs to be nearly as interesting as the actual quote unquote attractions. Well, actually, here that’s a bit of a stretch, though it’s true that much like nature scenes, I find that static pictures of the animals usually don’t turn out that amazing, unless you’re willing to stand there and keep snapping pic after pic, endlessly. And then go through them afterwards, picking out a few magical, noteworthy shots.

Instead it seems to me that video works much better - especially as it means also capturing the color commentary from my people. Like for example Emma insisting that this snake is giving her “the angry eyebrow.” So I’ve assembled a nifty little montage of some highlights:

The main reason we chose to start in North America is so Emma can check out their mighty impressive butterfly garden. So this gets its own separate video. A few of the species here are incredible, like this one with see-through wings. There’s also this orange and black guy who insists upon just chilling on the sidewalk - nothing wrong with him that anyone can see, he just sits here, flapping his wings. So everybody has to continually walk around him. But yeah, although the footage here is not exactly earth shattering, it should give you some idea of what to expect if planning your own visit. Also, just listening to these nature and animal sounds makes for supremely soothing background noise. Even when some unknown country/Christian/county Christian song intrudes upon the soundtrack.

Speaking of videos, McKayla’s cracking up for some reason because I am intently watching the ones they show here. We do just barely make our way over this wooden bridge into Africa. Happen upon some gorillas napping. Then the rain breaks out with a fury and we decide to bolt. End up at this charming little place in the heart of Asheboro, CJ’s Olde Towne Restaurant, for an early dinner, before driving back home.

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