World's Strongest Man a WVian!

A Charleston firefighter has won the title of strongest man in the world!

Poor guy. Now you just know everyone in the city will be calling him and asking him to lift heavy objects - "Hey, I got this old truck I need pushed...and oh yeah, my daughter's moving into a new apartment on the 5th floor."

Making 'Lasagna' in the Backyard

I found myself buying a lot of squash and zucchini this summer, so I decided to make a small addition to my small garden using the "lasagna" gardening technique. I'm referring to it as Squash Annex.

I used layers of wet cardboard, bagged cow manure (200 lbs. total!), and a bale of straw, and then covered it with a layer of chicken wire to ward off the neighborhood cats. This will "cook" over the winter, and I'll be able to plant in the spring/summer without digging.

Materials cost about $26, with the chicken wire being the biggest single expense. I'd hoped to have enough wire left to make another bed, but I didn't. :(

A great place to live, but maybe not for a long time

Another ranking out today puts WV near the bottom.

We rank 46th in longevity at 75.1 years; our unfortunate pals in Mississippi got 50th in this particular study.

Still, the WV counties of McDowell and Logan rank in the top 25 for counties nationwide with the lowest longevity. According to a local TV newscast I heard, Kanawha County had the highest life expectancy in WV.

"Stick Around -- There's More"

OK, I'm not a political scholar. Heck, I've barely been coherent the last couple of weeks. But I have noticed what seems to be something new in political ads around here.

Utilization of SUSPENSE.

Or faux suspense.

Something like that.

One group running ads against Alan Mollohan is now ending them with lines like: "Stick around -- there's more," "Betrayed? There's more," etc.

OMG.

I gay-ron-tee you I'm glued to the set to find out what else there is. Screw the new episode of "House", I'm looking for the next ad. What genius!

(The fact that I remember it probably indicates that it is genius.)

And while I'm on the topic of political campaigns, I would like to state for the record that in the last 6 months I have received more answering machine messages from anti-Alan Mollohan organizations than I have from my own family and friend(s). If it weren't for his opponents, I would be one lonely hillbilly.

Brooklyn Hillbilly - I know you aren't getting these in NYC, so you can view the ads here on the group's site, if you dare.

Dog Fight

Man, the Daily Mail is on a roll this week with its photos. First the contortionistic pose by the first lady, and now dogs dressed in Herd/Mountaineer apparel. I wish I were excited enough about this game to torture my pets with costumes.