cultural influences

Bear versus Raccoon

We moved into a house in April.

My house

My house

I haven't lived in a standalone house since 1998 and have forgotten some of the conveniences/inconveniences of having a house. Sure we have space for Meg-o, but there is yard work to consider and we have to remember to take the trash to the street on the right days of the week. 

Then we started finding a piece of trash or two in the yard on a regular basis. 

At first we thought it'd blown into our yard or was from a neighbor's turned over trash can.

Then we recognized the trash as something from our garbage.

Since the trash cans were never turned over we were certain it wasn't a dog. 

Then we quit thinking about it.

 
 

Then I read this article from a neighboring town. A few highlights. 

  1. Bears are everywhere

  2. Most city residents are OK with bears around
  3. Individual bears differ widely in their movements
  4. Bears aren't always territorial
  5. Urban bears are healthy, produce more cubs 
“The bears in town seem to be a whole lot healthier than the bears in the forest. It’s because they’re getting a lot better food in the way of bird feeders, trash, and being fed by people.”
— Mike Carraway
 

7,000 bears live in the mountains of NC and TN.

 

The only reasonable assumption is A BEAR IS GOING THROUGH OUR TRASH.

 

The Evidence

Bears are tall. They could reach into the trash can and rip through a bag with precision, hiding in the back yard while they eat our garbage. I decided it made sense to:

  1. Develop a bear strategy.
  2. Freak out about bears.
  3. Discuss the situation at length with friends and family members.
  4. Ignore all comments that the "bear" is probably a raccoon. Bears are tall. Raccoons are short. I'm no dummy.
  5. Make half-hearted attempts to dissuade the "bear" from our trash. 
 

Then we kinda forgot about it. I'd get giddy every time I'd think about our "bear" but it didn't really impact my daily life. 

Then driving home in the rain one night this week I saw three raccoons crossing the street.

Photo courtesy of MichaelMurray.CA 

Photo courtesy of MichaelMurray.CA 

Mystery Solved

So now we know. We don't have a bear problem; we're the hosts of a raccoon party. 

I like that. 

Thanks for reading. All of the articles on VirginiaIngram.com are by Virginia Ingram, a freelance writer, account planner and digital strategist who is consulting in the marketing, social media and caregiving world. She writes regularly here and on Medium.com. If you would like to read something similar, choose from the tags and categories below. If you need help communicating to the people most important to you, you should hire Virginia.   

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Recent birthday graphics

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A few birthday graphics created for friends. 

This should probably say, "the ability to poop
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

These graphics are a blast to create. 

Thanks for reading. All of the articles on VirginiaIngram.com are by Virginia Ingram, a freelance writer, account planner and digital strategist who is consulting in the marketing, social media and caregiving world. She writes regularly here and on Medium.com. If you would like to read something similar, choose from the tags and categories below. If you need help communicating to the people most important to you, you should hire Virginia.   

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Checker Neyland: One Tweet influences 100k+ fans.

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One of the most beautiful things about social media is the opportunity for a simple comment to turn into a movement. 

 

One tweet, with a conceptual image.

 

Inspired a website.

 

Inspired 102,000 to make it a reality. 

Congrats to Tim McLeod (a Will This Scale alumni) and Jonathan Briehl for making Spencer Barnett's vision a reality.

Read more about the effort on The Bleacher Report.

Thanks for reading. All of the articles on VirginiaIngram.com are by Virginia Ingram, a freelance writer, account planner and digital strategist who is consulting in the marketing, social media and caregiving world. She writes regularly here and on Medium.com. If you would like to read something similar, choose from the tags and categories below. If you need help communicating to the people most important to you, you should hire Virginia. 

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John Wrestler

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When paddleboarding at the lake on Thursday I heard an unmanned sailboat was found on the lake on Wednesday morning. They were still looking for the owner. Because I know exactly one person on the lake who owns a sailboat, I immediately thought of him. This friend, John, is a new friend. He and his daughter took four of us out on his sailboat over Labor Day weekend.

Immediate questions about the situation assured me it wasn’t him, so we went out to paddle.

Besides the rescuers looking for the sailor, we had the lake to ourselves. We paddled for two hours. I thought about John often on the paddle.

When he knew I was interested in paddle sports, he encouraged me, suggesting we go kayaking together sometime; letting me in on the best places to launch kayaks if you’re new to the sport.

John is well-known in Johnson City. His pizza restaurant is decidedly unique. At Scratch, you BYOB, listen to records and trust the chefs to make you a delicious pizza with any of the toppings they chose. We’ve been going for 5 years and had many fun times at his restaurant.

 
At Scratch with Marie (visiting from Durham, NC)

At Scratch with Marie (visiting from Durham, NC)

 
Ariel and Noel at Scratch.

Ariel and Noel at Scratch.

 

I thought of John frequently throughout the day and found myself checking the Facebook page and website of his restaurant several times. While doing so I thought about our Labor Day sailing trip.

The circumstances that had us sailing with John and Maia on Labor Day weekend were quite random. My friend Samia was moving from NYC to LA and on her way to New Orleans, where she is from, for a respite on the journey. Her friend, Melanie, was with her to make the ride more fun. They were spending a night in Johnson City with plans to go to Asheville, Charleston, Savannah and Montgomery on their way to New Orleans.

After looking at the websites for the recommended restaurants Samia and Melanie chose Scratch because the website proudly boasted that the pizza and experience is "not for everyone.” 

 
 
 
 

When eating at Scratch, John would come around and talk to all of the customers. His conversations were far more interesting than the usual “how’s everything” conversations you get from restaurateurs; the interactions were noteworthy and fun. From previous conversations I knew he wanted to close  up Scratch for the winter so he could sail to Homestead, Florida and he wanted to have a big business of ferrets.

 
 
A business of ferrets from two perspectives.

A business of ferrets from two perspectives.

 

Up until that night, those were the only types of interactions I’d had with John.

That Friday night our conversation with John turned into an invitation for an outing on his sailboat on Saturday. Samia and Melanie decided to delay the rest of their trip so we could go.

When we arrived at John and Maia’s “Addam’s Family house” we caught a glimpse of the father and daughter riding their tandem bike to complete their Saturday errands. John warmly invited us in and showed us the in-progress renovations and discuss future plans. He showed us the mobile brick oven he was building so he could franchise Scratch.

While sailing we discussed his business philosophy, among other things.

When John started Scratch he was only open on Friday’s, Saturday’s and Sunday’s or as he said, “the good days of the week.” He only accepted cash or “good” checks so if you didn’t have either you would sign your name in an I.O.U. book and promise to return and pay when you had cash. Over the years those policies have changed. He’s now open 7 days a week and he accepts credit cards but the restaurant remains a very special place.

While we were sailing he talked about those changes. He wished he still had the I.O.U. book because the fees he pays for credit card processing are much higher than than the money he lost when I.O.U.-ers didn’t return to pay their tab. Scratch was open that Saturday and since he was on the lake he occasionally checked his phone to keep an eye on the happenings at the restaurant.

John runs his restaurant with no managers; instead he instills a sense of personal responsibility in his staff, pays them well and has cameras installed to monitor the goings on. The cameras have a live feed allowing him to keep track of current activity, but also go back nine weeks in case an issue crops up later.

Over the years John experimented with cheesecakes, breads, sandwiches and pizzas but decided to settle on pizzas only. The scaled back menu makes it easy for him to train his staff to create a product like he would make.

While sailing with John he proudly showed us the places he loved on the lake. We stopped at the Watauga Dam; one of the largest loose rock dams in the US. He encouraged us to scale the dam. Once he was at the top he incentivized us with colorful descriptions of the view and fact that he, Maia and Ariel were now scampering on the Appalachian Trail, later admitting to Ariel the scaling of the dam, while fun, was much harder than he thought it would be.

 
 

While on the lake we encouraged John to give tours of the area. As I thought about John on Thursday, I vowed to go to Scratch for dinner so I could tell John how good I am getting at paddle boarding and kayaking thanks, in part, to his encouragement.

 
 

Johnson City lost a notable, sometimes controversial, character when we lost John.

 
 

I’ll be at his celebration but I also wanted to write this to remember what he taught me in our brief friendship.

  1. Push yourself to do things you don’t think you can do

  2. Create an environment where you can trust people to do the right thing

  3. Put the safeguards in place so you’re not blindly trusting people who don’t deserve your trust

  4. Celebrate small moments

  5. Embrace who you are, especially if it is not like everyone else

 

As I prepare for another day of paddle boarding on the lake that took John’s life, I know our brief friendship found a permanent place in my memory.

A few moments from our sailing trip with John. 

Sailing with John and Maia.

Sailing with John and Maia.

Thanks for reading. All of the articles on VirginiaIngram.com are by Virginia Ingram, a freelance writer, account planner and digital strategist who is consulting in the marketing, social media and caregiving world. She writes regularly here and on Medium.com. If you would like to read something similar, choose from the tags and categories below. If you need help communicating to the people most important to you, you should hire Virginia. 

Future Islands

Hopscotch was in Raleigh this past weekend. I skipped it this year. It was a mistake. I've heard about some great shows, name-calling and the monsoon that happened, but I'm missing that crazy energy you get at a music festival. 

In 2013 I stayed at the Sheraton so I could fully take advantage of everything the city had to offer. As a result, I caught the Breeders doing their afternoon sound check and had a chance encounter with Future Islands while hanging out in the hotel lobby in the wee hours of the morning on Friday. 

The Breeders doing a soundcheck at Hopscotch 2013. 

 

Though Future Islands are originally from NC, have played Hopscotch before and have toured extensively with Dan Deacon, I was completely unaware of their badassness. 

Because we chatted with them and they were playing the main stage, we decided to deviate our plans and watch them perform on Saturday. Watching them perform live, while knowing nothing about their music, was one of the best experiences of my life. Not kidding. 

It's been fun to watch them blow up since that night. In the spirit of Hopscotch and sharing music, I present to you some of my favorite Future Island videos. 

Seasons (the *epic* David Letterman performance)

This video gives you a hint of the showmanship of the band (though seeing them live is the best way to experience it). 

Seasons (official video)

A Dream of You and Me (official video)

A Song for Our Grandfathers (live)

Doves 

This is my current favorite song. Looking forward to the video.

Music has always been a source of inspiration for me and Future Islands have been an active participant of my playlist of 2013 and 2014.

There are so many people doing cool things in the world. I love finding people who are happily doing their thing whether it be music, comedy, communications, whatever. 

Thanks for reading. All of the articles on VirginiaIngram.com are by Virginia Ingram, a freelance writer, account planner and digital strategist who is consulting in the marketing, social media and caregiving world. She writes regularly here and on Medium.com. If you would like to read something similar, choose from the tags and categories below. If you need help communicating to the people most important to you, you should hire Virginia.