Jay's front porch

By Brenda Jones

Does anyone remember the man with the pig? I found out recently that many do.

I went to Food Lion at Cum Park Plaza recently to get groceries. When I got out of my car, I recognized the old beat up orange station wagon, and immediately thought of the pig. I noticed the familiar yellow Labrador sitting in the front seat, but didn’t see the pig. However, I did see an older gentleman walking towards the car, and since I am as Southern as they get, walked right up to say hello.
 
Turns out I was speaking to William Hodge, who apparently gets a lot of questions about his pets. I was saddened to hear that his pig, Arnold, had passed away on September 12, 2005. I also learned that he had to find homes for all of his pets, except for Rex, the golden Lab. Seems he’d moved into an apartment for easier upkeep and was allowed to keep Rex because he was such a well-mannered dog. He spoke of how much he missed his animal friends and how blessed he was to keep his faithful dog . He’d had him for 12 years, so I was glad too. He mentioned that an article had been done on him and his pig, Arnold, back in 2000. He related how he’d gotten the pig when he was 9 weeks old, and how much he still missed him.
 
While we were chatting, a lady walked up and inquired about the dog. She wanted to pet him but wanted to make sure he wouldn’t bite. Mr. Hodge told her to go ahead, that he might lick her to death, but would never bite. After that, Rex got many head scratches from both of us. Now the three of us continued to chat, and sure enough, she wanted to know where Arnold was too, and shared her remembrances of seeing him in the back of the station wagon. She also commented how wonderful it was that people who didn’t know each other at all could have such good conversation. With that said, here came a couple out of the store, and immediately called out, “Where’s the pig?” Poor Mr. Hodge had to again tell his sad tale.

This couple had a wonderful story of their own. Seems every time their little toddler girl would see the orange car, she immediately knew it was the “Pig Car”. Also, they related to us how they owned a pot bellied pig, and anytime they were heating up the baby’s bottle in the microwave,  the pig would take off for the kitchen when he heard the microwave going beep, beep, beep, with the toddler behind the pig, because anytime they heard the beep, beep, beep, she knew there was a bottle, and the pig just knew someone had food. What a sight that must have been!

Jay Ashley has been posting stories of remembrances of  East Burlington, and I thought, while I was exchanging phone numbers with Mr. Hodge, that here is a memory right in front of me…an old orange station wagon, and a gentleman with fond memories of his pig, Arnold.

This is a quick quiz for people who know everything (only 9 questions). These are not trick questions, but are kind of tricky. They are straight questions with straight answers

1. Name the one sport in which neither the spectators nor the participants know the score or the leader until the contest ends.   
 
2. What famous North American landmark is constantly moving backward?
  
3. Of all vegetables, only two can live to produce on their own for several growing seasons. All other vegetables must be replanted every year. What  are the only two perennial vegetables?  

4. What fruit has its seeds on the outside?   

5. In many liquor stores, you can buy pear brandy, with a real pear inside the bottle. The pear is whole and ripe, and the bottle is genuine; it hasn’t been cut in any way. How did the pear get inside the bottle?     

6. Only three words in standard English begin with the letters ‘dw’ and they are all common words. Name two of  them.     

7. There are 14 punctuation marks in English grammar. Can you name at least half of them?  

8. Name the only vegetable or fruit that is never sold frozen, canned, processed, cooked, or in any other form except fresh.

9. Name 6 or more things that you can wear on your feet beginning with the letter ‘S.’   
  
 Answers To  Quiz: 

1. The one sport in which neither the spectators nor the participants know the score or the leader until the contest ends . . Boxing

2. North American landmark constantly moving backward. Niagara Falls (The rim is  worn down about two and a half feet each year because of the millions of gallons of water that rush over it every minute.)

3. Only two vegetables that can live to produce on their own for several growing seasons . . Asparagus and  rhubarb.

4. The fruit with its seeds on the outside .. Strawberry.

5.  How did the pear get inside the brandy bottle? It grew inside the  bottle. (The bottles are placed over pear buds when  they are small, and are wired in place on the tree. The bottle is left  in place for the entire growing season. When the pears are ripe, they  are snipped off at the stems.)

6. Three English words beginning with dw:  Dwarf, dwell and dwindle.

7. Fourteen punctuation marks in English grammar . . Period, comma, colon, semicolon, dash,  hyphen, apostrophe, question mark, exclamation point, quotation marks, brackets, parenthesis, braces, and  ellipses.

8. The only vegetable or fruit never sold frozen, canned, processed, cooked, or in any other form but fresh: Lettuce.

9.  Six or more things you can wear on your feet beginning with ‘S’ ..  Shoes,  socks, sandals, sneakers, slippers, skis, skates, snowshoes, stockings,  stilts. 

If you like doing laps in a swimming pool, you might want to stock up on the energy drinks before diving in to this one (CLICK IMAGE TO ENLARGE). It is more than 1,000 yards long, covers 20 acres, has a 115-foot deep end and holds 66 million gallons of water. The Guinness Book of Records has named the vast pool beside the sea in Chile as the biggest in the world. It took five years to build, cost nearly £1billion and the annual maintenance bill will be £2 million. The man-made saltwater lagoon has been attracting huge crowds to the San Alfonso del Mar resort at Algarrobo, on Chile ’s southern coast, since it opened last month.

Cyber-neighbor Ed Riddle stopped by the porch today and brought along this video to share. It made my feet tingle. If you get vertigo or are afraid of heights, you might want to avoid this nail-biting video.

Some days you catch the fish and some days…

These signs and photos are self-explanatory. Except for the elephant. I just liked it.
CLICK ON THE IMAGE TO ENLARGE IT

Cyber pal Ed Riddle dropped by the porch this week and brought his photo album. These cars aren’t his (I know he wishes they were). Here’s what he told me:
“This is a private collection. The fellow opens it to the public occasionally and he is somewhere in Iowa. There is a 1939 coupe amidst all those ragtops as Chevrolet chose not to build a convertible that year. Now you know. Starts with a 1912 Little motorcar, which was absorbed into Chevrolet in 1913, then a convertible for every year up to 1975 in the big cars, except for ‘71(not found yet) and 1939 (no ‘verts made) and 1923 (Huckster instead). Chevelle SS ‘verts from ‘64 to ‘72, Camaro SS ‘verts ‘67 to ‘69, and ‘vette ‘verts ‘53 to ‘75, with a few coupes thrown in. Now we know why convertibles are so rare — this guy has most of them.”
CLICK ON THE IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM

Here’s a chance to test your knowledge of North Carolina, her land, her people, her heritage.

By RICHARD CAMPBELL

As we left Wilmington’s busy streets behind, U.S. Highway 421 widened
out to four lanes with a very wide grassy median separating the north
bound lanes from the south bound lanes. We were headed south toward
Carolina Beach and looked forward to the weekend.

The end of the 10-mile stretch between Wilmington and Carolina Beach
was heralded by the big, new bridge over Carolina Beach Inlet. The
bridge arched over the inlet nearly 80-feet tall and was lit by
hundreds of bright incandescent bulbs as if to announce, “Welcome to
Carolina Beach.”

We arrived in front of the beach cottage a little after 10. As we
exited the cramped car, we got our first scent of fresh ocean air from
the strong breeze blowing in from the Atlantic a few hundred feet to
the east. It was a very cold wind. When we left Burlington it was around
suppertime and the weather had been very pleasant and mild and we had
looked forward to the weekend at the beach. Now, with the cold wind
blowing, I didn’t know whether or not I would enjoy the weekend.

We unloaded the trunk of the car and carried our overnight bags into the
old beach cottage. It smelled of stale air and bait. And moth balls.
Lee, our youth leader at church, had invited us on this excursion and he
owned the old house. The four of us had been the only kids to accept the
invitation for the weekend getaway. Even with the smells, we were
fortunate to be there.
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These two photos of an albino peacock were too beautiful not to share. (Click on the image to enlarge it)