Monday, July 28, 2008

Is That Banjo Music?

I spend a fair amount of time defending Kentucky’s redneck image, and while it’s unfair to paint the entire state with the same brush, the truth is that sometimes our folks do some really backwards things. I think the only state with a worse tooth loss rating is West Virginia. Around here we make ourselves feel better about our low rankings on various state scales by saying, “Well, at least we’re above Alabama,” or “At least there’s Mississippi.” I’m sure the folks in Alabama and Mississippi say the same thing about West Virginia. Every now and then I get all righteous about the redneck image and spit out some words I have to eat. Such was the case Saturday.

On our way home from Louisville Saturday we breezed past a rest area just before Teen Angel alerted us to her need to pee. We pulled off at the nearest exit which consisted only of a gas station and was really in the middle of nowhere. Teen Angel started mouthing something about it being an incredibly redneck place, and I gave her the old don’t judge you don’t know these people and that’s an unfair label yadda, yadda, yadda, blah, blah, blah speech. Then I went inside to use the restroom and buy some SweeTarts and had to apologize to Teen Angel when I got back to the van. She was right. It WAS the most redneck place in the world. It wasn’t really the smell of sausage grease and stale tobacco smoke that permeated the building and stuck to your clothing. It wasn’t the hairy, orthodontia challenged crowd of men puffing away on Marlboros in the corner. It wasn’t even the ads for a variety of biker events that covered the bulletin board or the case of pimento loaf and pickled eggs near the counter. I think it was the item hanging in the bathroom that sealed the deal for me. As I finished up my bidness and turned to flush the toilet, I saw hanging from the ceiling behind the toilet a long, sticky strip of fly paper. Yes, I said fly paper. I had to blink twice to make sure I wasn’t mistaken. And since the bathroom was empty I checked the other stalls to see if the fly problem was confined to the first stall or all of them. There was a strip in each and every stall. “Good Lord, I’ve seen it all, now,” I said to myself as I walked to the van. I got in the van, said my apologies to Teen Angel and waited for Hubby to finish paying for his soda. When he sat down in the van he had a weird look on his face and said, “That was strange.”
“What was strange, dear?” I was almost afraid to ask. “Nobody asked you to squeal like a pig did they?”
“No, but the clerk tried to bite my arm.”
“Bite your arm?!”
“Yeah, she grabbed my arm and pretended to bite it. Then she pointed at my shirt.”
He had forgotten he was wearing a Joe’s Crab Shack T-shirt that said “Bite Me” on the front.
“She told me that I was gonna have to lighten’ up if I was gonna hang around here.”
Indeed.

I was still feeling a little embarrassed about the behavior of my fellow statesmen until I got an email today with this photograph of a woman at a flea market outside of the Grardendale, Alabama Wal-Mart.
All I can say is at least there’s Alabama.

*To my friends in Alabama, Mississippi and West Virginia, I’m just teasing.

7 comments:

Mike Golch said...

it is my belief that there are knuckleheads in every state in our country.and they all do dumb thing.

when you see these things on T.V. or on you tube, I think Hey,go and buy a John Deer tractor and pull your head out of you A$$.

sorry this is how I feel Hugs and Blessings.

Aoj and The Lurchers said...

Ummm....are they underpants!?

Amy said...

That is funny!
Living in Mississippi, we have seen it all....But since we are originally from Tennessee, we are not orthodontia challenged, nor do we smell like smoke.:)

We saw that picture of the lady wearing underwear in an email someone sent us....It is so funny! But the email pointed out that you could get a package of men's underwear much cheaper than a package of tank tops, so with our current economy the way it is, we may start seeing more of this look soon. Especially if Britney Spears starts sporting it.:)

Hopefully though, in the future, the women who wear this look will at least get a package of multi colored ones....That will look much nicer than gray.:)

Mia said...

So what your'e saying Amy is that this woman was just being "frugal" and financially responsible by making her husbands drawers into a stylish top?
I LOVE Kentucky!! And I have been alot of other places to make a comparison!!

Jason, as himself said...

Oh my God, that's hysterical. I'm gonna make me a tanktop like that. I even have those exact same gray Hanes briefs.

I had a dream I met you last night. You looked nothing like your picture and you so were not what I expected.

Hula Girl at Heart said...

mike-You're right. There are knuckleheads everywhere.
aoj-Yes! Believe it or not.
Amy-I'm surprised Britney hasn't already sported this look.
mia-I love Kentucky, too. It's a beautiful state full of beautiful people.
Jason-I think it's been a long time since a man dreamed of me. Perhaps you need some Ambien.

dkuroiwa said...

Okay...so first of all...get out of my head!!! As I started reading your post, I flashed on that EXACT SAME PICTURE, because I got it in an e-mail, too!!!
And I think I have stopped in that place to pee, too....or one like it in Oklahoma...Texas...Georgia...I can keep going here!!!

This one made me laugh so...I think I'm going to go and read it again...you know, 'cause it's so damn funn!!