Greenville down through Augusta are pretty bad, I've got a ton of friends there, and in the Western NC mountains :-( Hope your uncle and family get (temporarily) settled soon...
Do you know whereabouts they live? I can ask some friends how their area in general is doing, we've been hive-mind passing along info (ton of friends spread through the SE, with a bunch in the Carolinas)
I've got a bunch of friends in the area and there's almost no one that can make calls or get service still. Have a friend who works in IT/networking for a large telecom, and they have barely been able to get a hold of anyone that doesn't have a sat phone to figure out where repairs need to start.
100% they were worried about something insurance related and some sort of liability due to alcohol consumption. If it was a virtue-signaling sort of thing they wouldn't sound so much like an inexperienced teenager.
Mitch Hedberg had entire bits about how a frog is always cool. RIP Mitch. youtu.be/ywsLIV3KRRU?...
YouTube video by Mitch Hedberg Awakening
Despite living in the south for 20+ years, it's still crazy to me that itty-bitty cemeteries are EVERYWHERE. Little patches of green and huge trees in between developments. Many are like 10-30 graves, usually all the same family that owned huge tracts of land that has long since been subdivided.
Cemented my belief that Radiohead had a 90s - mid 2010s marketing strategy of teen girl indoctrination. Fake Plastic Trees? Come on man, it wasn't even my first Radiohead, but you would have had 16 YO me for life with just that.
This is why weird is apt. Not like look at that fun weird shoe. We're at why don't you own nice shoes that fit your feet? Genuinely weird in your 40s for a rich man. I have one really nice pair of shoes, some quality kicks, a bunch of fun weird ones, and zero that I can't walk in.
Why not have more favorite things in life? Def buy it and have it taken in. Every time you wear it you're gonna think about your mom telling you to just do the thing, and have a sequel to The Favorite Dress.
The simple distinction here is just “being weird about your own business” and “being weird about other people’s business.” Everyone gets that difference! Wear absurd clothes! Fill your basement with bizarre collectibles! No one cares! Just don’t be an asshole in a checkout line!!!!