Wild Foods In My Neighborhood

NC Wild Muscadine Grapes:

Meanwhile, In the Town I Work At...

...Darth Vader be knockin' over banks:

PINEVILLE, N.C. — Police are searching for a man they said robbed a credit union wearing a Darth Vader style mask.

The robbery happened around 11:45 a.m. Monday at the Pineville State Employees Credit Union. Police sat the Pineville State Employees Credit Union. Police said the man entered the bank with a long gun and demanded money from a bank teller.

Witnesses told police the man was about 5 feet 5 inches tall and was wearing dark clothing including the mask.

Five feet five? That's not Darth Vader, that's Dark Helmet! Anyway, here's a pic:

Pure Meanness

Fueled by alcohol and the resulting stupidity, a llama owned by a Union County, NC family is dead, killed by three man-children for the novelty of it.

According to Luke, the three men had been drinking and they said they just wanted to know what it was like to kill an animal.

Should have bought a hunting license, then, and shot a squirrel. Or a deer. Or gone to a slaughterhouse and had one of the workers let you help out with a pig. Now you're going to prison, because you destroyed someone else's private property in an act of cruelty.

One the three men - - Bray - - has a previous criminal record, for drugs and assault on a female. The other two aren't in the NC database.

This is where adult corporal punishment is indicated, if we still had it in the US. Give these men each a dozen lashes on their back with a whip and they'll likely not offend again, and the taxpayer doesn't have to fund the period in prison that they'd be subject to otherwise. All finished in a half hour, except for restitution, repaying the cost of the killed animal.

Meanwhile, Here In Indian Trail, NC....

...we have some indoctrination going on at the high school:

Is the faith of most Muslims “stronger” than that of the typical Christian? That’s what one public high school in North Carolina apparently is teaching students.

Outraged over the “correct” answers to her son’s ninth-grade assignment about Islam, a mother in Union County, N.C., turned to local news reporters to shed light on his school’s fill-in-the-blank worksheet.

Upsetting the mom most? A statement that read, “Most Muslims’ faith is stronger than the average Christian.”

I also note with amusement that in line 2C of the worksheet, the teacher uses the word "remerge" incorrectly; (s)he meant re-emerge.

Meanwhile, In Indian Trail, NC...

...which is just a half hour's walk down the road, one of our town politicians got tired of elected life and wrote a resignation letter - - in Klingon, the language of a fictional race from Star Trek.

Some Good Local News

Gander Mountain is opening a "firearms superstore" just down the road.

Well, Great. There Goes the Neighborhood

The Charlotte Observer's food writer points out my local BBQ joint - - the tiny, cramped, barely-room-to-swing-a-cat Rock Store BBQ - - as a place that DNC visitors might wish to visit while in the Charlotte area.

Thanks a lot.

Our Very Own Crazy Cat...Man

Over in Mint Hill.

The animal control people took 45 cats out of the house, most had to be euthanized. They gave him back three cats after sterilizing them.

Houses In the Fields

Going to the store a few minutes ago, I noticed yet another farm house for sale, the field around it where soy beans once grew now choked with weeds. There's fewer farm fields out here every year; when we first moved out here it was all farms and woods. Now it's mostly sub-divisions.

John Gorka wrote a song about it, a good while ago (apologies for the sound/vid not syncing properly):

Meanwhile, In Local Al Qaeda News...

...the parents of the late, unlamemted Al Qaeda operative Samir Khan have filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the US government for killing him via a drone strike.

Note On a Spring Day

Drove to a local grocery store a few minutes ago, down a road that was once strictly rural/undeveloped but is now suburban. Dogwoods were in bloom close to the ground, and above them wisteria hung in huge, grape-like clusters of blossoms, so many that the air was fragrant with it as I drove by. The azaleas are blooming, too, and the camellias are still lingering, but mostly gone now.

Pretty soon alongside the roads the gorgeous blue chicory will be blooming, my favorite flower for color.

It's a pretty day.

Gotta Love These Convenience Store Names

Earp's BP. Mighty Midget Mart.

They were broken into and cigarettes stolen, by the way. Sin taxes at work. Make something too expensive for poor people and they'll either steal it or bootleg it.

No Honor

A scumbag over in Gastonia, NC, used a child as a human shield to avoid being tased by police.

The old vikings used to call such men nithings.

There's a motivational poster that's germane:

Waxhaw, NC, Police Search For Vandals

Story.

Waxhaw is a little rail-crossing town just down Highway 16, has a population of 2625, according to Wikipedia.

And yet, this little tiny town has a SWAT team.



You'll usually find the Waxhaw SWAT truck parked at the edge of the parking lot of the Captain's Galley Seafood Restaurant. I haven't ever seen it anywhere else.

Why Waxhaw needs a SWAT team seems baffling to me. I didn't know that it was big enough to justify one. Learn something new every day, I guess. Next time I'm down there I'll take a photo of the SWAT van, if I can do so and not be arrested for interfering with a police investigation.

Poor Choice of Victims

Of course, when you're a rabid fox, you don't make informed choices, but choosing to attack men who carry bagfuls of clubs turned out to be a fatal mistake for the fox.

For many years now I've carried a staff or cane when walking, and now even when going outdoors to walk the dog. I've never encountered a rabid animal, but once encountered a rabbit with myxomatosis, and used the stick to put said rabbit out of its misery. (I wonder if Jimmy Carter's infamous Killer Rabbit had myxomatosis?) Carrying a cane to walk the dog may seem extreme, but we have hawks that roost on the power pylons next to the house, and I wouldn't want to have any of them make a mistake and try to swoop down on our dog, a Jack Russell bitch. The principle is the same as for any piece of survival or defense gear: better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it.

Going Back To Prison Is His Thang

James Tyrone Huntley and an accomplice, fleeing the scene of a home invasion, left behind a vital clue:

A t-shirt featuring a photograph of Huntley with the slogan Making Money Is My Thang.



And the dumb SOB just got out of prison last November, so presumably he's still on parole status and can have it revoked, thus sending him back to prison while the state of NC prepares its prosecution in the new case. Probably no trial in that one, since Huntley left such overwhelming evidence at the scene that he'll have to plead.

Dumbass.

I Think A Chrome Trailer Hitch Was Involved

A couple was arrested in a Gastonia car wash for sex crimes.

Identify Your Target and What Is Behind It, Redux

Looks like we're having a rash of these locally.

Identify Your Target and What Is Behind It

A violation of Rule 4 of Cooper's Rules results in the tragic death of a 3-year-old boy just down the road in Hemby Bridge, NC.

Now That He's Killed Jesus...

...maybe he'll finally see some serious prison time.

Here in North Carolina, like all too many jurisdictions throughout the US, a drunk can get away with DUI almost indefinitely, as long as he doesn't kill anyone. The drunkard Kevin O'Hagan his finally killed someone.

*shakes head sadly*