My friends Chris and Tara Townsend have a new

baby boy who was born Sunday in an Athens hospital. His name is Henry (not Hank) Grimes Townsend and his older brother is Garston. While the family was at the hospital, the nurse in the delivery room was Amy Lannae from Washington-Wilkes and she was wearing her Washington-Wilkes shirt! An afternoon nurse was somebody the Townsends had met at Kimberly Callaway’s wedding here – and that’s not all. The evening nurse was from Elberton and comes to Washington for Mercer Harris to photograph her children.

Apparently it’s not just a “today” thing when we’re meeting people from Washington-Wilkes in locations all over the United States – the world, even. . . . Somebody (and I can’t remember who) gave me this little item from the Wilkes County newspaper in August 1900: “W.T. Fluker returned home Wednesday from a trip through the central part of the state. He says he was never before so proud of his county; that wherever he went the people showed him great deference because he was from Wilkes County and that he never stopped at a place without finding someone who had either lived here or knew some of our people.”

Sunday, October 30, is the day we get back that hour we lost in the Springtime. Daylight Saving Time ends at 2 a.m. Sunday morning and Eastern Standard Time takes over until the spring. So before you go to bed Saturday night, set your clocks back and hour and enjoy that extra hour of sleep. That means that daylight at 6 a.m. will be like it is now at 7 a.m., and we early morning walkers won’t have to walk in the dark. . . . Darkness will arrive at 5:45 p.m. or so, and pretty soon the curtain will fall shortly after 5 p.m.

. . Fire Chief Alan Poss reminds us to change the batteries in our smoke alarms when we change our clocks.

It has been good to see Tiger Fan Billy Cofer at the last two games in Tiger Stadium. There is no more loyal Tiger fan than Billy and it was good to see him there. Ronnie and Debbie were with him.

Bill Smith brought a very good picture by of his wife Linda’s nephew, Ben Crowley, with President and Mrs. George Bush. Ben was badly injured when his humvee ran over a mine in Afghanistan. He is in Walter Reed Hospital in Washington, D.C., and that’s where the President and First Lady visited him and the picture was made. Ben is recuperating nicely but will probably lose a foot this week. Another soldier riding in the humvee was killed.

I am reminded that it was about this time last year that Marine Phil Scarborough lost his life in Iraq.

If you eat at the Pizza Hut on the next three Tuesday nights, part of what you spend will go to the Kiwanis Club for its scholarship program. You have to tell the Pizza Hut staff (or get a coupon from a Kiwanian) that that is what you want to do.

I have found a new friend through my interest in books and especially any books about Wilkes County. Susan Combs Aldrich lives in Milledgeville but her roots are in Wilkes County. She also loves any printed matter pertaining to Wilkes County and we enjoy swapping information and books. She has two cousins in Washington whom she visits regularly and who say she’s like a daughter to them. Mary Helen Thornton and her sister, Elizabeth Mantooth, are cousins of Susan’s father, the late Farmer Combs, who many will remember when he worked at the Washington Creamery with the late Henry Standard; and more will remember him as a State Trooper. Mary Helen’s son, Tommy Thornton, lives at a long-term care facility in Milledgeville and Susan helps with communication between Washington and Milledgeville for him.

Dean, Cristy, and Norris Ware had an unusual experience last week. Blake Ware, Dean and Cristy’s son, had knee surgery at Athens Regional Hospital and his family was in the waiting room waiting for news of the surgery. A doctor came out and asked for “the Ware family,” so Dean, Cristy, and Norris identified themselves as the Ware family. The doctor said that the surgery went well and asked if Cristy was Mr. Ware’s (the patient) daughter. Cristy said no, she was his mother. The doctor looked a little puzzled, but said, “Oh, okay.” Then he said, “Be sure he keeps the patch on his eye.” Shocked, all three Wares said, “What do you mean?” It turns out that Grandpa Norris Ware’s brother, Johnny Ware, had just had eye surgery, and the doctor was reporting on him – not Blake. . . . Blake is doing fine following his KNEE surgery.

I’ve never seen a fight between a squirrel and a snake, but the employees at Gunter’s (Perry) Well Drilling have. They had known for sometime that a squirrel had a nest in the roll-up shop door and that there were baby squirrels in the nest. One day last week they saw a black snake (big one) go up the side of the shop to the area where the nest was. Shortly they heard a big racket and saw the snake come out and down with the squirrel jumping and bouncing on the him, chattering all the time, and biting him. They said the snake came out of the squirrel’s nest so fast he fell about eight feet to the gound. They didn’t kill the snake but the squirrel gave him a good thrashing.

As usual, another busy weekend is coming up. Saturday is Edyee’s Ride and the Poker Run to benefit Edyee McClain and her battle with cancer. . . . There is a Halloween carnival at the Tignall gym Saturthe day night, and Sunday afternoon, Transforming Life Ministries will have a “Hallowed Be Thy Name” worship and funtime at the Third Shiloh Center. . . . Sunday night, First Baptist will have its Trunks of Treats on The Square from 6-8 p.m., with treats, live music, and other activities. . . . Wilkes Ministers United will have its regular fifth Sunday night service at the Presbyterian Church at 7:00, and Ebenezer Baptist will have a fifth Sunday night singing. . . . Ebenezer also has an 8 a.m. men’s breakfast Saturday. . . . Independence United Methodist Church at Tignall will have “Parking Lot Pumpkin Fun” Monday night at the church, 5-7 p.m.