Rain is the big news today. It's Monday and it has been raining steadily since 6:30 a.m. I managed to finish my morning walking about 7:30 just before the heavy rain began, but after that there has really been a deluge. On Hill Street, Norris reported 3.3 inches at 5 p.m. Logan Woods reported 3.75 inches at 12:30 p.m. today; and a report on East Robert Toombs Avenue said 4 inches. Sonny Johnson in Tyrone had not read his gauge today, but said that creeks and streams in the area were out of their banks. He did report 1.3 inches for last week. At 6 p.m., it's still raining and "The Man" says 100 percent chance of rain until midnight, then cooler temperatures.

ƒ

Joanne Wheatley told me an interesting and unusual hummingbird story this week. She has a feeder that hangs from the roof overhang just outside her window. One morning she noticed that two hummers looked as if they were vigorously fighting each other. (We know they do more fighting than they do sipping.) But these two seemed to be in trouble, so Joanne went outside and discovered that a spider had dropped just one straight line of web in front of the feeder. The hummers had become entangled in that line of web when they came to the feeder, and had it wrapped all around them, confining their wings and their beaks - or are they called bills? She cut the web and gently took the frightened hummingbirds in her hands. She got a bowl and put some leaves in it and put it on a table and began to unwind the web from the two birds. She says they could not even move they were wound so tightly. She didn't know if they would survive but she put them into the bowl she had prepared and watched to see what they would do. They eventually recovered from their ordeal and testily flew away. . . . I told my granddaughter about the situation and she took the large spider and its web that she had watched on her porch and moved it to another location away from her hummingbird feeder. She's a respecter of any form of life and would not kill the spider.

ƒ

Lloyd Johnson at Master's Wildlife Services on The Square had an invitation from the manager of the Elbert County Fair to set up a display of some of his taxidermy animals at the fair last week. Lloyd set up the display and it was wellattended during its stay at the fair.

ƒ

Charlie Davidson, highly successful football coach at Washington Wilkes High School in the 1960s and 1970s, has had a new athletic field named in his honor at Darlington School in Rome. Charlie served as the school's athletic director and head football coach from 1971 to 1984. He was inducted into the Georgia High School Coaches Hall of Fame in 2005.

ƒ

I frequently see a friend in the downtown area when I am walking in the early morning. We stop and talk about various things. One day last week, she told me that a friend had just called on her cell phone and said that she went to the gym on The Square early that morning before going to work. She was on the treadmill (which is in the window) when a man came to the window, exposed himself, and did other "sick" things. She didn't have her cell phone, so she ran to the back of the gym. Shortly, another woman came in and they went back to exercising on the treadmill, until "you know who" comes again. They immediately called the police, but the man had gone and they didn't find him. . . . But they did find the 18-year-old the next day, and he's in jail. . . . Just a reminder that we need to be careful - and always carry our cell phones.

ƒ

Email from Sarah McPherson Harriman, Wilkes Countian now living in Maine, tells about seeing

Susan and Ed Pope Jr. on television Sunday night. Sarah and her husband Danny were watching "RFDTV" which carries farm programming from all over the country. On the "Georgia Farm Report" about forestry, a report showed a seminar at the University of Georgia and Sarah spotted Susan and Ed. Sarah got real excited and yelled "Danny, that's Susan and Ed Pope. I've known them my whole life. I grew up with their children." Danny wasn't much impressed, but it made Sarah's day.

ƒ

Janie Cravens at McDonald's brought me an old clipping about

Rudolph Willis who has worked at McDonald's for about 12 years, coming to work shortly after Janie and David opened the business. I remember Rudolph when he played football for Washington-Wilkes High School in the first years of integration in the late 1960s and early 1970s. He was (and is) a fine young man. The article tells about how Rudolph enrolled in Lane College in Tennessee and at the age of 20 was credited with saving the life of Eunice Cook. As a student, Rudolph had a summer job in maintenance at Poplar Apartments. Eunice Cook was a resident of the apartments and was on the elevator when the elevator stopped between floors. She smelled smoke and was horrified to find the car filling up with the smoke. Rudolph heard her cries, raced up and down stairs, tried to pry the door open, but he couldn't. He had already called for help, but time was running out, so he slammed his fist through the glass and mesh of the elevator and the good air went rushing in. By the time the fire department arrived, Rudolph had things pretty much under control. Rudolph's hand was badly damaged, but when asked to tell the press about what he had done, he said that there was nothing much to tell, that he'd just done (he shrugged) a "natural, ordinary thing."

ƒ

Whitney Dawson, daughter of Myles and Brooke Dawson, was crowned Young Miss Elbert County last Friday night at the Elbert County Fair Pageant, and also received the award for the prettiest smile. At the recent Miss Wilkes County Pageant, Whitney won the Miss Petite Miss category.

ƒ

This Friday, tomorrow, is the night for the annual football game between the W-W Tigers and the Lincoln County Red Devils. Advance tickets are on sale until 3:30 p.m. today at the high school office.