5/4/2014

Interview with Ginny and Glen Nelson

(questions by Jill Anne Sparapany)

Part 1

Can you tell me a little about yourselves…

Ginny, what did you do before you retired?  Do you have any hobbies or talents (cooking, art, reading…)?  What is your favorite restaurant?  What is your favorite meal?

I worked for 29 years with Ingersoll Rand Company, a manufacturer of, among other things, air compressors, most recently the in Davidson, NC, location. I was in the accounting dept. – first as an accounts payable clerk, then as a supervisor, then an accountant. I was fortunate to retire at 55, so I have been 11 years work-free (kind of like alcohol-free!).

I love to read, I have almost every book Stephen King has written. I like to do hidden object puzzle games that I get online. And I LOVE helping my daughter when she needs coverage for my 2 grandsons, ages 7 and 14.

I love many restaurants, but both of us especially like Sauzas, a Mexican restaurant not far from us.  Favorite meal? Hmmmm, any meal I don’t have to prepare, I guess – I’m not really what you would call a cook. If I can stick it in the oven or nuke it, then I’m good to go. Otherwise, we either eat out or Glen brings home something, or we just have cereal for supper!!

Glen, what do you do for your work?  Do you have any hobbies or talents (cooking, outdoor activities, reading…)?  What is your favorite restaurant?  What is your favorite meal?

Glen has been with Ingersoll Rand since 2000. He started in assembly, then went to a special product line, then became a material handler. He is now in the dept. where they wash parts – his line of products is highly engineered and needs super-clean parts to work correctly. Glen has two hobbies he loves – one is his model train and the other is wood-working. He is a great handy-man. I think he would agree about Sauzas for the restaurant, not sure about favorite meal. We both love pizza!!

Where do you live now? How long have you lived there?

If you’ve lived other places – cities, states – which was your favorite?  What are the most enjoyable thing(s) to do where you live now?

Our official address is in Cleveland, NC, but we are equally distant from it and Mooresville (about 25 miles north of Charlotte, and 15 miles south of Statesville).  I grew up in a small town called Painted Post in NY State. Attended college at Michigan State and intended to go to vet school, until I hit organic chemistry, and realized I still had to make it through biochemistry and microbiology. I changed my major to zoology, which is not good for much of anything!

I got married right after I graduated, had my daughter Cathy a couple of years later, got divorced a couple of years after that and moved back to Painted Post, where I started in accounts payable at Ingersoll Rand. A couple of years later, I transferred to Davidson, NC, where I live now.

Glen grew up in Colorado and when he was 15, his family moved to Texas. He got married and had 2 daughters. In a moment of pure fate, in 1999, we ended up chatting online. In Feb. 2000, Glen moved to NC. We have not been apart since. His girls came up every Christmas for a week, and for 6 weeks in the summer, and he called them every Sunday.

One thing we love to do in our area is visit a private zoo, called Zootastic Park, just a few miles from us.  We love to visit there when we can, and if I were physically able, I would volunteer there. We go once or twice a year to Charlotte to see shows, including  Transiberian Orchestra almost every year. Glen loves the Lord of the Dance shows. We don’t go out much, we are pretty much homebodies.

Do you have children? How many, their ages, what do they do?

 I have one daughter Cathy, who is (gulp!) 41. How is that possible? She has the two boys, I mentioned earlier, and a wonderful husband. Glen’s two girls are Kelly, who is I think 22, and is in the Navy, stationed in Virginia. She just got back from a 6 month tour in the Middle East. She works in intelligence, so we don’t know much more!! Madison is 25, and just completed her Masters degree in biology. We are SO proud of her! Of them both!! If you haven’t guessed, there is a 13 year age gap between Glen and me. He is my boy toy!!

We know you love cats.  How many cats do you have at home?  Do you have any ‘special needs’ cats?  What are your cats names, ages…?

We currently have 3 cats, all strays that we rescued. Mickey is 8, he is orange and long haired –VERY long!! He came to us as a kitten maybe 8 weeks old – ran up to my son-in-law when he was walking their 2 big dogs. Glen and I were cat-less at the time, having lost my darling Chichi a year earlier. I myself have had as many as 6 cats at one time (mine are indoor-outdoor) which was way too many! I’ll tell you about Chichi in a bit.  

Mickey  Age 8

The second cat we got was Boots, a gray and white tabby with white feet. This was about 4 years after Mickey joined us, and she too went up to my son-in-law when he was walking dogs! Mickey was NOT pleased with our decision!! She is 4 now. 

Boots,  age 4

Our third cat Blackie (black, of course) was a neighborhood stray that was ‘sort of’ being taken care of by a neighbor across the road. That means she threw out some hard food for him and a few other cats when she thought of it….  Anyway, he decided he wanted better and started coming over to our house, where he would stand on the back porch and stare through the door at our two cats eating. When the weather is good, we often open the sliding door a little so ours can come and go as they please.  One day I saw movement out of the corner of my eye, and he had sneaked in and grabbed a mouthful of food, then darted for the door dripping food all the way! After a few occurrences like that, and with it being fall and colder, I got brave and asked the lady across the road if she would mind if we tried to make a pet out of him. She was delighted!! He wasn't, at first – had never been inside before! Anyway, he has been with us for two years now, he is about 6 years old, and he is an angel.

Blackie, age 6

My cat Chichi that I mentioned earlier, passed away at the age of 13. For the last year of his life he was blind, but we didn't realize it at first – we just saw small signs, like hesitation before jumping, feeling with his paws, etc. Took him to the vet, and lo and behold, discovered he was totally blind! Apparently he had a detached retina on one side, and had had bleeding behind the eye on the other – probably a mini-stroke. He was so amazing, he was still going outside! He was never any trouble; we just always made sure he was inside before we left the house for work. He even caught a couple of mice! But one day I heard him whimpering, and saw that he was on his side with his eyes open, barely breathing. The vet said it was probably a stroke. He couldn’t even stand, so we made the hard decision. He was an awesome kitty!!

CONTINUED ON 5/5/2014

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