Italians, Giant Pig and Fog

Let me see what's been going on... Oh, yeah. Thursday night we had our second dinner guests. Franco and Enrico (owners of OMV, a division of Parpas) were here visiting a customer in Asheville so they came for dinner along with Tom (he took Robert's job.) We had Franco's favorite - steak and corn. Luckily, it's corn season here and we ate corn that had been picked that morning. We had a good time. It was nice to see them. It's funny, we already had guests all the way from Italy and no one has shown up from Detroit yet. The next morning they had to head to Charlotte so we met them at 7:30 and took them to Black Mountain to see our property at Creston. We didn't see any bears. Just 3 wild dogs and 2 deer. Maybe we'll be in our new house the next time they come back to Asheville.
Saturday I decided I couldn't stand looking at empty planters around the patio so we went in search of herbs. We were driving down Lower Grassy Branch Road by our house looking for a nursery I had seen before and Robert stopped and pointed to a lower area and said, "Look at that pig." I looked down and lo and behold there was the biggest pig I ever seen. Not that I've seen too many pigs living in the Detroit area all my life but I have been to the State Fair a few times. This was a giant pig. He looked like a hippo. He was in a pen with a little shed for shelter and people were standing outside the fence looking at him. Robert wanted to go back and see him. We turned around and there was an entrance for The Asheville Haven - an animal shelter for abused and homeless animals. We drove down the driveway and parked and walked up to the giant pig and looked at him. He was laying in mud and green slime and was making pig noises and seemed as happy as, well, a pig in shit! There was also a pen with 2 goats (I think) and we saw a cat. There were more pens with animals across a bridge and there was a thrift shop where the proceeds went to help the animals. I can't help but wonder if maybe the giant pig was a victim of the roll-over on I-40 and that's how he became homeless.
Sunday we went for another ride on the Parkway, this time going south to Mt. Pisgah. Not as tall as Mt. Mitchell, but still quite impressive. We brought a picnic lunch and after lunch these gray clouds started rolling in through the trees. At first it looked like smoke then we realized we were being engulfed in a cloud so decided to get outta there. I was driving down the Parkway in the fog and then realized I was on the same stretch of the Parkway I had been on almost 20 years ago with Dan driving home from Bobbie's after Xmas. It was so foggy then we couldn't see. I guess that stretch of the Parkway is always foggy. I'll have to try it again another time.