Every time I pass through central West Virginia, I discover a McDonald’s creepier than the last one.

It was one of those joints where eyes are on you the entire time you eat. 

Also, the Exxon station’s convenience store was a drive through window that was on the side of the motel/”Waffle Hut.”

I love West Virginia, though.

However, I spent yesterday evening with my aunt, uncle, father and a gaggle of Pittsburgh bankers in North Carolina. 

I have a dry sense of humor, but I cannot even convey how dry the jokes were at the dinner table last night.

Happy Saturday.  

Appalachian Superstitutions (sadly I believe and have seen many of these hold true)

Also if you’ve ever read The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, you may be familiar with some of these beliefs and mannerisms.

Weather:
Aching joints indicate rain.
When a bobwhite calls, it’s praying for rain.
Thick, tight shucks on corn indicate bad weather.
Killing a black snake and hanging it on a fence with its belly turned to the sun will bring rain before the next sunset.
If it rains on Monday, it will rain 3 days that week.
An owl hooting high on the mountain signals fair weather; the owl hooting in the lower lands signals foul weather.
There will be as many snows in a winter as there are fogs in October.

Marriage:
If a girl sleeps in a strange bed and names each bedpost a boy’s name, the post she looks to first upon waking will name the boy she’ll marry.
A girl won’t get married if anyone sweeps under her feet.

Dreams:
A dream about the dead means you’ll get a letter.
If you sleep in a strange bed, whatever you dream will come true.

Death:
If a cow moos after dark, someone will die.
If a bird flies against a window pane, there will be a death in the family.
If a dog howls before the moon rises, someone will die.

You’ll have good luck if you:
Find a 4-hole button.
Always put your right sock and shoe on first.
See a bluebird.
Look at the new moon over your left shoulder.
Find a red ear of corn.
Find a pin and pick it up.
Find a penny lying “heads-up” and put it in your right shoe.