I used to go to this eye doctor who would pull out his little model of the eye at the drop of a hat (or blink of the eye, as it were). “My dad has the beginning signs of glaucoma,” I’d say. Wham. Out with the eye model. “I change my contacts every week,” I’d answer. Here it comes, the eye model. “No problems,” I’d try, desperately wanting to avoid that way-too-realistic, veiny eye model. No go. “Here’s a healthy eye!” he’d say, pulling out his favorite visual aid.

And so it was with a little trepidation that I clicked on the link to “Eye doctors with photos” on Kudzu.com. No veins, please! No conjunctivitis! No gross-flip-the-eyelids-up thing (oh, no, that was just my friend Kathy Gallagher’s brother trying to freak us out!)
And much to my pleasant surprise, what I found were happy, smiling photos of very nice looking eye doctors. Ahhhh. A sight for sore eyes. If you’re an eye doctor, these are the kinds of photos to post!

Okay, at first I thought it said, “Gnomes Cleaning” and that, naturally, created an instant visual in my mind. I just read today in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution about some new lawnmowing service with women in bikinis (no requests for men thus far, but it sounds like the company would consider that as well), so why not gnomes cleaning your house? Maybe a subsidiary of Travelocity. How would I know? But then, on second look, I saw it said Gomes Cleaning. No gnomes. But 37 reviews, mostly outstanding. The lawnmowers? Tiger Time Lawncare in Memphis, TN.

Here’s one of our favorite photos posted on Kudzu … Jeff Brown, owner of High Gear Auto Care in Acworth, Ga., gets a hug from The Dog-Faced Gremlin himself, professional wrestler Rick Steiner.

A hug certainly beats getting KO’d by Steiner’s signature move: The Steiner Bulldog from the top rope! Talk about motivation to get the job done right!

Click play and hang on. He lives in San Diego, but guitar and mandolin teacher Chris Clarke grew up in Appalachia. He can really make those strings sing.