The Office Cat
Another go-go-go weekend
The weekend was a rainy and great weekend! The rain, which began mid-morning Saturday and continued steadily until mid-morning Sunday, was very gentle but steady and went directly into the parched ground. There was very little, if any, runoff. Norris says on Hill Street he got 1.55 inches; and that Sandtown got 2.3 inches.

Buzzy Randall on East Robert Toombs Avenue got 1.8 inches; and Logan Woods had 1.8 inches. Aonia had two inches and Dr. Leonard Dupree, interim pastor at Ebenezer Baptist Church at Aonia, says he got four inches at his home in McDuffie County. Regardless of how much it was, the rain was welcomed by all.

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District Forester Cliff Hargrove says the rain that began Saturday morning was enough that the Forestry Department is allowing outside burning on a limited basis in Wilkes and surrounding counties. Anyone who wishes to do any burning should call the forestry department for a permit. Cliff also said that a Wilkes County Forestry team of three returned to the Okefenokee Swamp wildfire area Tuesday to relieve the team from Texas which had been there so that the local team could have a few days off. These three are Mark Munns, safety; Amy Treadwell, finance; and Keith Murphy, logistics. According to Cliff they are involved with the Georgia side of the fires which are on each side of the Georgia-Florida line. The fires this team is helping to control are the Knee Knocker, Big Turn Around, and Bugaboo. The west side of the Okefenokee fires got 6 1/2 inches of rain Saturday and Sunday. Other parts of the area got 3-6 inches, but still not enough to completely control the fires.

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The individual pictures of graduating seniors made during the Washington Wilkes Comprehensive High School commencement are ready to be picked up by students or parents at Mercer Harris Photography. There is no charge for the pictures. They are a gift from Mercer and India.

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Have you noticed the beautiful Golden Raintrees at the Washington City Hall? There are two large ones and this is the time of the year that they bloom. The one on the corner of Liberty and Spring streets was planted in 1988 in memory of Ruth Carney Pope and there is a plaque under the tree about the planting. The trees drop lots of little seedpods.

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Sissy Murray, dietitian at Wills Memorial Hospital, says she bought collard greens from John Carter at the Farmers Market, prepared and cooked them, and served them to patients and in the Cafe. Everybody enjoyed them very much. Sissy says she's proud of Wilkes County's farmers and is glad they have a place to market their products and we have a place to purchase fresh vegetables.

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Kay Nelms, whose house in Logan Woods is called "Hummingbird Hill," brought a hummingbird nest which she had found on the grass in her yard. It was so interesting and such a beauty. It was light as a feather and seemed to be made with something resembling hair. Around the edges were perfectly lined-up lichens. The inside of the nest was about as big as the first joint of my thumb and I have a small thumb. . . . Joyce Moore on the Greensboro Road says she has counted (with some help) 14 hummingbirds at her feeders. She puts out three feeders a day.

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Please call and tell me about interesting and fun vacations you take this summer. The number is 706-678-2636. Ask to speak to "The Cat."

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We have lots of tourists in town every week and are having more since school is out. I have noticed what seems to be young families with young children, maps in hand, and cameras ready, walking and gazing at our old homes. We who have lived here all our lives are prone to question why they come to "little ole Washington," but if you think about how many young families live in the cities or the suburbs in neighborhoods where the houses are all new, then you know that our old homes are an attraction for them. We need to keep our streets clean and our homes and yards in good condition.

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There are no more "slow" weekends in Washington-Wilkes. It's go-go-go non-stop. Even though this weekend's talk and book signing by mystery writer Ann Rule, author of No Time to Say Goodbye, about the murders of Dolly Hearn and Jennifer Corbin, had to be cancelled, Friday and Saturday nights at 7:00, and Saturday and Sunday at 2 p.m., we can go to The Playhouse on North Alexander to see the Summer Drama Campers present "High School Musical." . . . Sunday eve- ning at six o'clock we can go to the First Baptist Church to hear a sacred music concert by Joseph Baldwin and Chelsea Friedlander. . . . If that's not enough for you, check out the Wilkes County Young Farmers truck and tractor pull at the Aonia Pass Motocross Saturday at 6 p.m. This is the one that was discontinued midway by rain early in May. . . . Of course, you can always attend the church of your choice Sunday morning. There are lots of churches in Wilkes County.

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Priscilla Maxwell has found out that zip codes are used and do serve a purpose at the post offices.She received a get-well card from Guy Norman who lives in Conyers. Guy had used the right address, except he put Conyers instead of Washington. But he had the 30673 zip code and Priscilla got the card the day after it was mailed.

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Virginia Wheless and Doris Rhodes called to tell me about two items they read in "City Ink" by

Sylvia Cooper in Sunday's Augusta Chronicle. One article was about "The Girls of '57," a reunion of the last graduating class of Mount St. Joseph Academy. The article says that Mount St. Joseph Academy was founded in Washington-Wilkes in 1876. In 1913, it burned and the school was moved to Augusta. . . . The other article was about the legendary "Goat Man." Thomas Chafin has a 1964 postcard with the goat man's picture on it and an article about him that ran in The Chronicle in 1984. Thomas found the items when he was cleaning his dad's country grocery store, W.T. Chafin'sStore, at the crossroads of the Lincolnton and Metasville roads here in Wilkes County.

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