Columns

This past week our nephew Bill and his wife Kris came down from Stockbridge to spend a few days with us. Bill lived with us for several years back during his teen years, so he’s practically one of ours, and Kris is a delightful addition to the family—funny, sassy, and sweet, all at the same time. Fortunately, she’s a dog lover. Our Charlie had her trained in less than a day. When he begged, she’d take him out to play ball. He kept her running the whole week. He wasn’t so sure about Bill’s character though because Bill lost his tennis ball. What kind of man would do that? [Full Story »] 

I sometimes turn on one of the liberal talk shows just for entertainment. I mean these clowns really are serious about the things they talk about. They also believe the rest of us are as stupid as they are. Of course, they do not know they are stupid and this is what makes watching them so much fun. They remind me of the story of the Grasshopper and the Ant. The liberals are grasshoppers. They want the government to take from the worker ants and divide the spoils among the grasshoppers. Meanwhile, the ants do for themselves while being forced to support the grasshoppers. [Full Story »] 

Saturday afternoon was so beautiful that we spent the most part of it outside. Temperatures hovered in the 70s and for the first time this year, Fall really made its presence felt. I’d even donned a sweater that morning when I took Charlie out to take care of his early morning canine business. Saturday afternoon, Larry and I suddenly found ourselves involved in assorted chores that we’d been procrastinating since summer’s heat set in. Once temperatures soar, I tend to forget the yard except to mow the grass and water my flowers. All those other chores have waited patiently though. No elves have done them while we slept, so we set in even though we hadn’t consciously planned to. [Full Story »] 

There are more health gimmicks today than you can shake a stick at. Vitamins from the Jurassic period like dinosaur bone extract, ginko biloba and even palmetto berries and ten thousand more things for health.
Back when I was a boy all we had was SSS tonic, Tanners Painless eye water and turpentine. [Full Story »] 

It was Homecoming at First Baptist this weekend and with it came reunions with old friends, great singing and preaching, a look into our past, and mountains of good food. You can’t find better food than that prepared by our own Southern cooks, and we ladies always want to be sure we have enough. Did we ever! We could have fed several other churches after we all finished. Tables the length of our stage were covered in luscious cakes and pies. I was tempted to start there, but common sense made me go through the meal lines first. I was full long before dessert, thank goodness. I won’t go into the specific foods; it would take up the whole column to list them. Suffice it to say that everything I tried was delicious. [Full Story »] 

Some people hate dogs and some people hate cats. Some people hate other people, but I was raised better than that, so I just hate cats. Every whisker, fluff of dander, claw, fang, litter box and scratched up sofa is an abomination as far as I am concerned so when Polar, my golden Lab, took to killing cats, I didn’t mind. [Full Story »] 

This Wednesday, October 10, will make three weeks since I sent that package to Josh in Richmond, Virginia, and he hasn’t gotten it yet. That same week, Calvin sent me a package from Atlanta—Georgia, that is, and I haven’t gotten it yet. I’d like to know what’s going on with the United States Postal Service. That $11.00 I paid was for delivering the package; it was not a charitable donation, or at least I didn’t intend it to be. And did I keep my receipt? Of course not. I trusted the postal service. My mistake. [Full Story »] 

PELELIU ISLAND, September 15, 1944.

The first wave of Marines of the 1st Marine Division and soldiers of the 81st Infantry Division hit the beach at the Japanese held island of Peleliu at 0700 hours. Pfc. Tommy Williamson of the 1st Marines came in just a half hour later with the second wave. He stated, “All I could see were dead bodies of my buddies floating in the surf and more bodies all over the beach. I knew we were in for it.” [Full Story »] 

After we made an assortment of preparations, Friday morning found us Atlanta bound. Jakey, our grandson, was turning eight on Friday and we had a birthday to celebrate. They couldn’t come down here to celebrate because big brother Trey and his school chorus were singing the national anthem at a ballgame Friday night. When they can’t come to us, we go to them. We don’t love Atlanta, but we love some folks who live up there, so we went up in time for Trey’s performance, too. Then we celebrated Jakey’s birthday the rest of the weekend. [Full Story »]