Wordless Today

And What Generation Was That?

A large sign appeared outside Bryson City in nearby Swain County.  Placed there by the Swain County Health Department, the sign displayed information about the services available to the citizens.  The department used $992 in federal funding to pay for this sign and one other advertising the services provided.  Three separate services were listed at the bottom of the sign, including the costs:  Adult Physical Exams $45.00, Family Planning at Low or No Cost, and FREE Condoms.

Can you guess which advertised service created a controversy?

Photograph from The Asheville Citizen-Times

Did you guess "FREE Condoms?"  You are absolutely right!  For the record...the Swain County Health Department has provided free condoms for more than thirty years.

This is serious business, folks.  It appears that many citizens assume advertising free condoms promotes sexual activity among teens.  [Last year a Swain County health report indicated that more than half the high school students in the county have had sex.  From 2004 through 2008, Swain County had the thirteenth highest rate of teen births among North Carolina's one hundred counties.]

Not to worry...the Swain County Board of Commissioners met and all of them condemned the portion of the sign related to condoms.  County Commissioner David Monteith says the sign "sends the wrong message."  He was further quoted as saying, "I come from a generation where you don't have sex until you get married." [ Hmmm...I wonder just what generation that might have been.]

In a very literal cover-up, the sign has now been altered and the section about condoms is a blank spot.  Commissioner Monteith was very pleased.  "As a Christian, I totally oppose sex before marriage and it was a shame to see something with Swain County's name on it advertising that."  The commissioner said he had received calls from parents who were embarrassed when they drove past the sign with their children.  (Oh, heaven forbid you might seize it as an opportunity to share your own views with your children!!!)

The Swain County Health Department will continue its practice of providing free condoms.  They will continue their practice of informing all recipients of the free condoms that the only sure way to prevent pregnancy or sexually transmitted diseases is abstinence.

Thank goodness the health departments provide free condoms...for the poor who cannot afford other methods of birth control, for gays, and straights, for sexually active teens and even the elderly.

On a related subject, North Carolina's 2012 budget cuts all State and Federal funding for Planned Parenthood.

The Pumpkins Are Back

My husband came in to make the announcement.  "The pumpkin people are back."  I had lamented the fact that the place where the pumpkins stood every year had been purchased and was an unsightly detail shop.  The people who had previously owned the space have opened up a little coffee shop near us.  And they continued the annual practice of having the pumpkin people wave as people traveled US 276 through the mountains.

They are a bit different this year.  Always a male and female before, it seems to be two guys this year.  Well, either that or she has quite a growth of "lip hair."  Before I could get a picture, we had heavy wind and a few of the pumkins shifted on their legs.  But no matter, I am happy to see them once again smiling and waving.

Hello everyone!

They don't seem to mind at all that they have lost the gorgeous mountain view.  Perhaps that's because it was behind them and they never got to see it anyway.

It's mid-week again so quickly.  Sometimes we feel as if we are simply passing time, or watching time pass us.  This sign expresses it well.

As Lewis Carroll said, "If you don't know where you are going, any road will take you there."

For many years I hated that phrase because it was invariably used in those annual Strategic Planning sessions I had to endure.  It seems one cannot go through that tedious process without hearing it at least once, and usually more often than once.  Since retirement, I've come to like the phrase once again.  So often we get in the car without a particular destination.  Simply driving through the beautiful countryside is destination enough.  When we do that, almost any road will take us there.

To wax philosophical, life is not about getting there.  Life is about enjoying where you are.  As some wise person observed (this is from one of my favorite tee shirts), THE JOURNEY IS THE DESTINATION.

BTW:  Whoever said the Pine Siskins would not be irruptive in our area got it all wrong.  They came in such huge numbers and were throwing birdseed all over the place and totally disrupting our other birds.  So we brought in all the feeders except for the suet.  Too bad for the cardinals and the finches, but we still have our chickadees, nuthatches, wrens, titmice and woodpeckers.  We'll put the feeders back out this weekend.  One or two Pine Siskins are cute.  Dozens of them are not.

More Signs for Stupid People

,I love to read tee shirts.  They tell a lot about the person who wears them.  Interestingly enough, when I was a child the only tee shirts with printing on them came free from companies and were definitely not trendy.  I never dreamed we would be paying money to wear a company logo.

Now you can find almost anything you want and wear it proudly to proclaim one thing or another.  The other day I saw a man with a CSI tee shirt.  I used to watch that all the time so I found his tee shirt interesting.  As he passed by me in the cereal aisle, I saw that it wasn't related to the television show at all.  Beneath the CSI was this:  CAN'T STAND IDIOTS.  A very quick search led me to several Web sites that sell this tee shirt, along with the usual coffee mugs, key chains, etc.  (Ain't the Internet grand?)

This was downloaded from Zazzle

Somehow I think the guy wearing the tee shirt might enjoy the following signs:

 If you can't see the windmill, I strongly suspect you can't see the sign.  (Photograph by Steve Juliano taken in the Netherlands)

Nothing to add to this one.  (Photograph by Sue Bayer-Jabb taken in Neenah, Wisconsin)

Signs for Stupid People

Warning signs abound. Some of them provide important information. Others? Well, they should be preceded by a statement, "Stupid People Read This." I resent warning signs that state the obvious.

There are some helpful warning signs at the waterfalls here in the mountains. Most of them contain information about the dangers and almost all of them warn people not to wade in the water above the falls, because "the rocks are wet and slippery." Yet every year several people visiting our county die from falling over a waterfall. Because they waded in the water above the falls and found that the rocks were indeed wet and slippery.

Almost every item you might microwave carries a warning that the food will be hot when you take it out. The take-out cup at your local coffee shop warns that the contents might be hot. Our entrance gate has a cute little graphic of a stick figure falling forward with the gate crashing down on his neck.

Now I do appreciate the "wet floor" sign in the grocery store. And the sign that reminds you to step down when you open the door. But there are so many other signs that say something so obvious that I often wonder why the sign was placed there. I suspect it has something to do with lawsuits.

Here is a sign in a hotel room in Austin, Texas. (Photo by John Zachar) I have a feeling that if you are so drunk you don't recognize that you are not on ground level, then you are too drunk to read the sign.



On the other hand, some signs seem intended for very intelligent speed readers. I don't know the origin of the sign, but it seems a bit complex to me.

Here in the mountains we have a lot of road signs to remind drivers of approaching sharp curves. Most people appreciate them. We also have signs that none of the tourists seem to be able to read and understand. These signs are to indicate that there is a turnout ahead for slow moving traffic. They never seem to recognize who they are. So here's a bit of advice for them, "If you can see fifteen cars in your rear-view mirror creeping along behind you, it's just possible that you are in fact slow moving. PUT ON YOUR SIGNAL AND PULL INTO THE TURNOUT. PLEASE!"

One afternoon I was especially frustrated after following a old man up the mountain. He was going 20 miles/hour, often braking while going uphill and braking every time there was an oncoming vehicle. I came inside and told my husband that I sincerely hoped he would tell me when it's not safe for me to be driving up the mountain. He placed his hand on my shoulder and gently said, "Honey, it's not safe for you to be driving up the mountain." What a funny guy.