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The Office Cat
I say every week that this is probably the last week I will get any hummingbird calls to write about in this column. (Some of you may wish it had already been the last time.) But I keep getting calls or visits. I had the wrong name in last week's column when I told about the feeder with the suction cup so we can see the birds close-up. I said Allison Hayes. Not so. It was Allison Gunter HALE, Shirley and Boots Gunter's daughter who lives in Athens. I knew better! Nobody called me about my mistake. . . . Chris Townsend read the item and promptly brought me a feeder on Friday. We put it on the window in the "sitting room" Sunday night, and bright and early Monday morning, there was a hummer staring me in the face. . . . Winfred Morgan tells me that when all the hummingbirds left back in early spring when we had that extra cold snap, after about a month, he had one lone bird at his feeder. He and his mother watched the bird and a wasp "play" or maybe "fight" at the feeder before the others finally arrived. He now has too many birds to count. When Elizabeth King was looking through some of her mother's collection of memorabilia, she found an interesting school picture. The way the high school students are dressed looks as if the picture were made in the 1920s. Elizabeth has the identification of everyone in the picture but neither she nor I recognized anyone or any of the names. The teacher's name is Miss Jackson; and the principal, O.S. Dillard. Elizabeth's mother is Lizzie White who now lives at Heritage Health Care of Wilkes. She would like to find out more about the picture. Anyone interested can see it at The News-Reporter. E-mail this week from Jackie Watson tells me that one of Kermit's Easter chickens which he gave to First Baptist children in 1999 is still a survivor. Jackie's daughter Jessica received one of those chickens and named him "Petie." He is a beautiful Rhode Island Red rooster and just celebrated his ninth birthday. He lives in the back yard at the Watson home and crows faithfully every morning. He enjoys treats of tomatoes and scuppernongs in addition to his scratch feed. . . . Jessica is a student at the University of Georgia, and so is my granddaughter Molly whom I wrote about last week. Her rooster was also a beautiful Rhode Island Red. When you see the Jockey Club, you will surely agree with me that it's hard to believe that the renovation was done in two weeks. But it was, and it's beautiful. Owner John Horton says that he had a terrific team of workers and they met their deadlines. He also says that even though the interior looks much larger than it was, it actually is the same size. Improvements are being made every day, and the upstairs has also been renovated. Phyllis and Willis Lindsey's grandson, John Lindsey Jr., has won the boys tennis championship at the 82nd annual National Public Parks Tournament at the University Tennis Center in New Orleans, Louisiana. John also received the sportsmanship award. He is following in the footsteps of his dad, John, and his granddad, Willis, both of whom have won many tennis awards. Rain during the last week was just .15 of an inch. After five years in the shopping center (former Wilkes Village) behind McDonald's, Scott Lewis will be moving his State Farm Insurance Agency to 275B Thomson Road. Using a process of elimination, I decided that must be the building that was the former location of Dollar General. Scott says that's right and they will be open for business in the new location August 26. Here is another item from Bob Hill's Oklahoma newspaper telling about how certain "sayings" got started. "England is old and small and the local folks started running out of places to bury people. So they would dig up coffins, take the bones to a 'bone house' and reuse the grave. When opening the coffins, one of 25 was found to have scratch marks on the inside and they realized they had been burying people alive! So they would tie a string on the wrist of the corpse, lead the string through the coffin and up through the ground, tying it to a bell. Someone would sit out in the graveyard all night to listen for the bell; thus, the 'graveyard shift;' and the sayings, 'saved by the bell' and 'dead ringer.'" . . . Next week: "dirt poor."
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