Images from the All Star Race

Yesterday Harry and I, as well as a group of friends, some new and some old, made our way over to Lowes Motor Speedway for the 2008 All Star Race. We had a great time! We camped in one of the Speedway's campgrounds and made our way home this morning, burned and tired. Enjoy pictures from the race.

Harry at the camp site

Joanne rocks the air guitar


Joanne, me, Erin, and Jackie


Brad and Amanda


Harry and me


Shannon and me


Chair malfunction featuring Brad



Joanne in one of my favorite pictures ever!


Harry and I waiting for the race to start


The start of the pre-qualifier


We're Racing!


The introduction of the All Star drivers


Gentlemen, Start Your Engines!
(The head basketball coaching staff from Davidson College started the race.)


The first lap to warm the tires


Racin'!
If you look closely you can see the cars right in front of us.
We won really good seats.


Hitting pit road

After 100 laps of racing, plus the caution laps, Casey Kahne was the winner of the All Star race and one million dollars. Pretty good since he didn't even qualify for the race but was voted in as a fan favorite.

I will have to admit, I was always the first to bash NASCAR; however, the race was a TON of fun. It is really amazing to see how fast the cars go. Plus, the noise and the excitement make the event a full sensory experience. I will definitely be going to another NASCAR race in the future.

Clay and Karen, we did get to see some minor crashes in the pre-qualifier but nothing in the main event. One car got the wheel stuck in an out-turned position after a crash, causing quite a few sparks as it made its way back to pit road. Your crash may have been a bit more exciting.

Harry Took the Checkered Flag!

This evening Harry and I went out with a group to celebrate our friend, Shannon's, birthday. While we were waiting for a table, we were given the opportunity to "race" (playing a video game) to win NASCAR All Star tickets for tomorrow. Harry played, along with some other friends in our party as well as other restaurant patrons, and Harry won!! Amanda, another friend of ours (and sister of Joanne) came in second and also won race tickets! Looks like I'll be enjoying my first ever NASCAR race tomorrow.

New Neighbors

They hatched last Friday.
Now they are living in their nest on top of a column on the front porch.
Joey and Phoebe LOVE them!!!

Happy Mother's Day!

Taking a page from Karen and Clay's book we wanted to post some "mom" pictures.
Happy Mother's Day Mom!

Harry and Mom

Meredith, Mom, Martha, and Dad

The kind of kids only a mom could love!

Scare Crow or Scare Humans?

Today, while visiting Harry's parents, we were introduced to the Thompson version of a scare crow. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves...



What you are looking at is a dead crow hanging in the Thompson garden from the remnant of a relator sign. The crow was shot earlier this week for digging up corn seeds. It is a mafia style signal to stay out of the garden. I don't know about the crows, but I'm not going near the garden!

Finally, a plant you can trust!

Many of you may remember our post last month, "Don't Ever Trust Grass...". It highlighted a Christopher Walken sketch on Saturday Night Live where a gardener was afraid of plants because he couldn't look them in the eyes. To remedy his fear he put googlie eyes on all his plants, except grass. Apparently somebody (other than Harry and I) in the viewing audience thought the sketch was brilliant. Check out what we saw at Lowes yesterday...

"My Peeps"

Happy Earth Day, Earth...

we got you a tree!

Harry and I finished up backyard improvements (for this week) by planting our Chief Cherokee Dogwood. It was tough work, but the tree is happy in its new home.


Our backyard as it looked this afternoon.
I know you're jealous of our really nice grass. Harry and I love Bermudagrass. Ours was particularly damaged by the drought last summer. There are plans to aerate in a couple of weeks.


This is my rock. I dug it up out of the bottom of our hole (which also can be seen in the picture). It was very difficult to dig out and, although you can't tell by looking at it, it was very heavy.
Side note: Harry did have to reach down and get it out of the hole, my arms weren't long enough.


Hooray! The tree is planted! Earth Day was a success.

Say Goodbye to the World's Ugliest Tree

Today, Harry and I rid our backyard of the aforementioned "World's Ugliest Tree". It was a sad day for lovers of the tree (my dad) but a happy day for Harry, me, the yard, and all residents of our neighborhood who had to look at the tree.

Behold, the World's Ugliest Tree!
It is not the tree's fault. Before Harry and I bought our home this tree's top was killed by an ice storm. It had, since then, become infected with a fungus and insects. It was finally killed by last summer's drought.


Almost out! The roots on the tree were rotten and we were able to dig it our much easier than we originally thought.


Success! Notice the tiny root ball. This tree had been planted 5 years ago. Pathetic!


The original "landscapers" had done a great job of NOT taking the steel cage off the root ball. This poor tree was destined to die.


Yea! The replacement for the World's Ugliest Tree. A Thundercloud Cherry Plum.


Here you see the soil were are saving under a tarp for tomorrow's planting.
Yes, that is what is left of the World's Ugliest Tree holding the tarp down.


Tomorrow's project, a Cherokee Chief Dogwood.

A Trip to the Zoo

Today Martha, Madison, Luke, and I met at the North Carolina Zoo. We had a wonderful day of eating, playing, walking, and looking at animals. Check out our pictures!

Madison with the tortoises, the first animals we encountered.


After some lunch Madison and I played on the playground.


Madison was quite happy to see the "cows".


Madison loved the bears (this picture was actually a mistake, she was posing and then at the last second swung on the handrail into the camera).


The zoo also has a carousel. Madison has been trained well, she chose to ride on the tiger (Go Clemson!). She loved the ride.


Luke did go, even though he didn't make it in many of the pictures.


He enjoyed hanging out with Madison's zebra more than looking at the real animals.


Madison loved the gorillas. She got up close and personal with this one.


The elephant exhibit was recently updated. They seemed to like their new home. Madison liked the elephants even though they were "a little scary".


We ended our trip at the zebra exhibit. This encounter with the zebras was much more enjoyable than my last encounter at the Lazy 5 Ranch.

It was a great day for the zoo!

Don't Ever Trust Grass...

you can't tell where you stand with grass because it won't look you in the eyes.

The only thing this sketch needs is more cow bell.

Misheard Lyrics

This past week Harry and I purchased Pearl Jam tickets for their concert in (yuck) Columbia, South Carolina. (We are a little upset that we are indirectly giving money to the University of South Carolina, but the concert will be worth it.) Anyway, we had to laugh at the misheard lyrics video on YouTube for "Yellow Ledbetter" and we cannot wait to hear this song in concert. Enjoy!

"Potato Wave"...

2 Weeks in a Row!

Last night Harry and I, accompanied by our partners (my fellow Holograms) Joanne and Shannon, won trivia night at Fox and Hound, again. Take that Karen! A group of about 8, named Birthday Girl (real original), took an early lead by answering a 20 point bonus question correctly; however, we slowly chipped away at their lead to finally bring home the championship. (Birthday Girl didn't even finish in the top 3 when we were done with them.) Our arch rivals, Das Boot, were there last night, but we stomped them, yet again. Dad, you would be proud, we answered all of our history questions correctly, including the final battle of the Revolutionary War (Yorktown) and the president during WWI (Wilson). We don't think there will be trivia next week; Fox and Hound will most likely be overrun with UNC fans there to watch the championship game. We will be back to defend our title the following week!

Our prize was another $25 gift card.