Is that a Bald Spot?

So once in a while, life throws something at you that is farrrrrr more entertaining than anything they could make up on TV. This morning held one of those moments for me. Let me set the scene: At the office I have a sweet little old man that cleans the joint on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Because Vance is the best cleaning man on the planet, he came in Friday night to buff the floors. Just for fun. Monday morning, I walk in and find this little note on my desk:



Any thoughts on what he found? …He found someone’s orphaned weave in one of the exam rooms!!!



This entertains me on a number of levels:

• My scream was heard around the entire office. We only had two patients checked in so far, so explanations weren’t too extensive. (I think my shock came from living in an insulated caucasian world where our hair stays on our heads (for the most part), and only our fashionable AA sisters can get away with adding and subtracting length at will. Frankly, I'm just not used to seeing it on my desk..)
• How do you not know part of your hair has fallen out???!! I asked Lyndel, my resident authority on all things African American, and even she was grossed out. She says they really hurt to put them in, so it would stand to reason that one coming out would be traumatic as well? If you DID know it fell out, why are you gonna leave it on my floor?
• Granted, Vance is like 93 years old, but he didn’t know what it was??? Maybe if you grow up out west, and don’t mix with a large African American community, I could see not knowing what it was right away. BUT WE LIVE IN THE SOUTH! There is an African Nubian Queens Hair Braiding on many a Raleigh corner.
• Why leave it on MY desk? Granted, my excruciatingly honest cleaning man asks permission to take a water out of the fridge, so maybe he was afraid someone would come looking for it? Didn’t want to be the one to throw away someone’s personal effects?
• I’ve seen some beautiful hair braiding out here, but this one was kind of nappy. Like, bought the kit at Sallys, and let your boyfriend’s friend’s sister do it kind of nappy. And before you get upset at me for being insensitive and/or flip about another race, I'm going to remind you that hair of any kind is gross, and even digging my own hair out of the drain makes me want to ralph!
• This event was so blog-worthy, I'm putting off the Daron-Birthday-Post until I've recovered.

The Second 1st Annual Barnes Family Campout

I say the second, because we tried this last year with disastrous results. A torrential downpour mixed with hurricane force winds made us all run for cover, and call it a night. Not to mention demolished tents and soggy bedding. And a wet dog. Nobody wants to camp with a wet dog.

This is what we affectionately dubbed "Tent City."

Daron showing off his mad skills on the Canjo. Yep, it's made out of a tin can. And hopefully you enjoy favorites such as "Dueling Banjoes," "When the Saints Come Marching," and my personal favorite, and oddly out of season "Silent Night." Because, these are the only songs he knows.

Side Note: No you're not crazy. There DOES seem to be a Sheetz cup hidden in every post on our blog. (See post "Gone Country")

Our campsite seemed to be very popular...
This one I like to call "posteriors for posterity." See the concerned look on Sherri's face? She knows that in no time at all a picture of her derriere will be circulating cyberspace at record speed. Just one of the many services I provide.

Are there any fish left in Grandpa's pond? The kids caught all the fish, and the adults didn't catch anything. Maybe because we were busy pulling hooks out of fish every 4.3 seconds

Chilling over a game of Uno, and a new member of the family. To Alexis' delight, Randy and Sue relented and let the boys get a dog. A sweet little beagle they call Titan. Skip wasn't sure what to think about him, but they were buddies in no time. As long as the puppy knew his place! The weather was gorgeous, and not hot at all. And just enough breeze to keep the bugs off!

All in all, a really fun time. Everyone was a good sport about sleeping in tents, even though we didn't get much sleep. Everyone thinks it's quiet in the country, but noooooooooooooo. Between the fox that kept barking at us in the middle of the night, Jeremiah the bullfrog, the pack of wild coyotes in the woods, and the 6 million tree frogs, we didn't get a wink of sleep. We broke camp around noon, and made it home just in time for a nap!