Pardon Me Sir...Did You See What Happened?

Patrick saying "Don't Look Ethel" to me today got me thinking about something funny. I think it's funny, anyway.

Mr. Smiff is from a little town in North Carolina called Reidsville. It's about 30 miles out of Greensboro, a hop, skip and a jump from the Virginia line. It's a sweet little town, somewhat Mayberryish, full of really good, hard working people. Lots of those good, hard working people are of the church going lot. Most of them work at one of the nearby hosiery mills, Miller Beer or one of the ciggarette factories. Father In Law Smiff retired from P. Lorillard and now spends his time playing music in his old-time string band.

Reidsville boasts a great little barbecue joint, that's been there forever, called Short Sugars. Upon arrival when they go back "home", one of the first things the In Law Smiffs do is head to Short Shugahs to get their barbecue and Chili/Cheese Dog fix.

Probably the most excitement that's ever hit Reidsville is the time, way back in the 70's that they had Santa Claus parachute in to the parking lot of Pennrose Mall (everything in Reidsville has the "Penn" name attached to it. I'm guessing the Penns were a rich bunch). While Santy Claus was aiming for the parking lot, he missed and hit the bank and broke his leg. No doubt that traumatized lots of little children who are still recovering from that.

You catch the drift...Reidsville is a fairly quiet, little southern town. This is why I was so shocked to discover not long ago, that there is a nudist camp there. A nudist camp with nekkid people running all over the place.

In Reidsville, of all places. The Bar S Ranch is the place to be, if you live in the Piedmont area and wish to disrobe and participate in various leisure activities. Why, in just a couple weeks, they are hosting their annual 5K cross country race. Who knew there was such a thing as nude running? Where do they put their race numbers???

This ain't the first time there's been people running around Reidsville nekkid. Back in the 70's, a 16 year old Mr. Smiff, Cousin Danny (now a mortician), Cousin Bobby and Cousin Alan O'Bryant (now of the Nashville Bluegrass Band) with Brother In Law Smiff driving the get away car...they decided they were going to get in on the streaking craze.

They didn't just streak the Hardees,with shouts of "Don't Look, Ethel!" by the patrons...no, they went into one of the nicer restaurants in town, proud as they could be of their anatomies, moving on to the Holiday Inn, where they waited...and waited on Cousin Bobby as he made his way through the lobby. They thought for sure he'd been caught when here he came hollering "The security guard's after me!"

The final streakin' stop was the home of Bill Monroe's older brother, Charlie. He was pretty elderly at this point and knowing he wouldn't appreciate such foolishness, Cousin Danny got up on the porch, dancing around in all his glory. They noticed the blinds being peeked through and then they heard the howl of hound dogs. Charlie had sicked (sp?) his dogs on the juvenile delinquents...as he should've.

Life in a small town....