March Madness in Denver NC

Hard to believe it's been so long since I posted anything to this blog. I can only say that life has must have been keeping me pretty busy here in the laid back countryside of Denver, North Carolina. Yes, Denver...North Carolina. Not Colorado. Around here they refer to us as the "Denver of the East".

No, we are not as big as the other Denver. In fact, this small community often seems much smaller than it actually is. Even though the current estimated population is somewhere around 10,000, you might actually think its somewhere in the low 100s.

To illustrate the how small town Denver can sometimes be, all you have to do is read the local News@Norman or read it online. Yes, even small town America has online newspapers. News@Norman is a privately owned, family run newspaper that covers much of the local political happenings here. The publisher, Ken Fortenberry, is a seasoned newspaper man and reporter. Over the past ten years he has made it his goal to let everyone know what is going on in our little town. Ken is joined in his efforts by his wife Anna, and their daughter, Leslie.

While a lot of the paper may seem to be about local politics, they do also cover the local high school sports teams, as well as local events and happenings. But I think most people read the paper to see what Ken is going to write about this week. Depending on who you talk to, people either like it or love it. Not everyone is always happy about Ken's articles. Although his 'news' articles are straightforward reporting, his editorials do allow him to voice his opinion. Like I said, not everyone appreciates his opinion, but isn't that what editorials are all about?

From what I hear through the grapevine, some people do take umbrage. In the past, the building has been egged, nasty messages have been left on voice mail more than once, and some people are not shy about stopping in to complain about this or that. But so far nothing compares to what happened to Ken when he had a paper in South Carolina where he received threats to him and his family and had bombs go off in his yard. You can read about that in his book "Kill The Messenger" which is available on Amazon.com.

Aside from what is reported in News@Norman, we tend to really like living here in our small town. We're only 30 minutes away from downtown Charlotte, 2 hours from Ashville, and about ten minutes from Lake Norman. It's nice to live near a lake, although we've been here for three years and have yet to go out on the water. But we do get in the car or on the motorcycle and venture out on the quiet country roads, enjoying the quiet serenity, fresh air, and scenic views. This is definitely not South Florida and we like that. It may be small town, but that's alright with us. The people we meet tend to be nice and polite and will actually talk to you. Of course that might change as the developers continue to build new houses and stores and the population grows. We saw it happen in West Fort Lauderdale and, inevitably, it will probably happen here. We just hope that it isn't anytime soon.

Halloween yard night pics

The daytime pics didn't quite do justice so here are some night time pics. Some are a little fuzzy. I had set the camera on manual and tried to set the F Stop for a longer exposure

Mummy of the house. Wendy first saw this online last Saturday morning but we didn't want to wait or pay for shipping. We decided to head to Moorsville to see what we could find when we discovered a Halloween store that had just opened up that had this window hanging poster in stock.

Wendy and I spent most of Saturday and all day Sunday getting our Halloween decorations set up. I bought a set of templates online for a haunted house and spooky tree. This year we set everything up closer to the house than last year. Here are a couple quick pics I took this morning. I'll post some more later of night shots.

Time Flys

Can't believe that it's October already. Time flies. Been very busy with Omni and Dang! Good Graphics projects. SportsmansDaily.com is coming along. Added buttons to the site for dig, facebook, etc. Updated the meta tags. Although the Alexa score is lagging, the Google page rank went up to 6. Woo! Hoo! Pat on the back for me!

The deer have been coming to the back yard for feed a lot lately. Their coats have turned darker, presumably for the upcoming winter cold. Last night there was two doe and a fawn. We had some fawn earlier in the summer but they've grown up. This one must be fairly young, considering her size

Cooper and Madison have been enjoying the cooler temperatures this past few weeks. They love it when we open the windows and they can sniff the outdoor smells. Their vet, Dr. G, said Cooper was a little overweight. Too much pellets and not enough hay, so he's gone on a diet for a little while.

The newest member of the family, Roxy, has grown so much since we got her. She's a little rocket, running through the house chasing Hobie and Harley. She get's spit at a lot when the other two don't want to play with her. She loves to watch things move around on the computer screen too. I have to tilt the laptop keyboard on end because she hits the keys and changes the desktop folder names. Brat!

Speaking of kittys, we went to the Columbia, SC Zoo last month while we waited to pick up the Nancys at the train station. It was over 90 degrees that day, unbearably hot, so we were quite happy that any of the animals were awake at all.

The zoo was having a special day where they gave the animals "toys" to engage them in play. These exotic birds were especially intrigued by this particular toy of rope and bright colored objects.

Nancy, Wendy's mother, and her friend Nancy, spent the next week at our house, relaxing and enjoying the peace and quiet of our neighborhood. On their last day we took a short ride around the surrounding countryside, eventually stopping at a local attraction to take some pictures.

Another Silo in Lincolnton, NC

Here is another silo we saw during our drive.

Silos in Lincolnton, NC

A few weeks back we decided to go for a ride down some of the country roads in our area. On a whim we each grabbed our cameras hoping that we might snap a few cool pictures. We've had this idea of mounting some black and white pictures on the walls in our bedroom and thought, rather than buying a print, why not our own. After all, we are graphic designers.

So, off we went, heading west on 73 towards Lincolnton. The history of Lincolnton is long and interesting. In 1785 the town was established as the county seat of Lincoln County. In the 1800s the area became known for it's textile and iron mills. Historical markers popped up every couple of miles, reminders of people and events of long ago.

If you drive past Lincolnton, the roadside began to seem just a little more country-ish. Houses had more space between them. Fields and livestock appeared. Then we saw it. A silo on the side of the road. It looked like it had been there for decades. The tree growing out of the top seemed to attest to it's age.

From now on, whenever we decide to go on a long ride. Our cameras will be with us

This is the original picture


This is the picture after being edited in photoshop

Does anyone else know of some great photo ops around the Lincolnton area?

The Smart Alecks Return

Back in '02 I was fortunate enough to meet Tom Alexander. He approached me with an idea for a cartoon called The Smart Alecks. He would write and produce it if I would animate it in Flash. Always up for the challenge I accepted. It was a fun but long year getting it all together.
Now all of a sudden, The Smart Alecks are rumored to be making a comeback! That would be great! I can't wait. Tom! Call Me!

The Storm That Wasn't

From the way the local news stations hype an approaching winter storm I almost thought I was back in Florida and a Hurricane was almost on our doorsteps. Well maybe not that bad. But up here around the Charlotte area the threat of snow, no matter how little, is a big deal. Since the city rarely gets a really heavy snow, there just are not enough resources to clear the roads.
During the night we actually had about two or three inches of snow but as I write this the snow has turned to rainy slush, which is probably worse for those out on the highways. Thankfully I'm safe here in my house.
Here are some pictures outside the house this morning.