Don’t forget that Sunday, March 14, marks the beginning of Daylight Savings Time. It’s early this year. That means that for a few weeks it’s going to be dark at 7:00 a.m. and some of us early morning walkers are going to either walk in the dark or wait a while. We are supposed to set our clocks and other timepieces

forward an hour Saturday night and we will lose an hour which we won’t regain until next fall when the time changes again.

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Jane Davis, formerly of Washington Wilkes, now living on St. George Island in Florida, says (in a letter) that it’s uncanny that several articles that have been in this column recently were about St. Joseph Catholic Home which for many years was in Washington-Wilkes. She told me about another incident. When she and her family moved to St. George Island in the late 1980s, they met a couple who had relocated from the Atlanta area. When Jane told them that they were from Washington, Georgia, the man told them that his sister had been a nun at St. Joseph Catholic Home for many years. Jane says that they met the sister several years ago and she recalled fond memories of Washington and her years at St. Joseph’s. She is known as Sister Rebecca Campbell ... St. Joseph’s Home was in the building on Lexington Avenue now occupied by the Washington-Wilkes Parks and Recreation Department.

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Twelve-year-old Avery Hall of Rayle placed second in the Standing Position at the 4-H S.A.F.E. BB competition in Walton County Saturday. He was competing with over 100 other 4-H’ers. Avery had a score of 92 out of 100 in Standing and an overall score of 353. He is the son of Pam and Boyce Hall of Rayle.

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Casie LeGette is completing her five-year doctoral program in English literature at the University of Michigan in May and starting in the fall she will be a member of the faculty at Longwood University in Virginia. Longwood is a liberal arts institution in Farmville, Va., about 65 miles west of Richmond. Casie has had a distinguished academic career during which she was valedictorian and STAR Student at Washington-Wilkes Comprehensive High School; graduated with honors and a combined bachelor’s and master’ degree from the country’s oldest state chartered university (the University of Georgia), and is now receiving her PhD from one of the premier post-graduate English literature programs in the country. Prior to selecting the University of Michigan, she had been recruited by UCLA, Rutgers, and the University of Virginia. Casie is Sandy and Charlie LeGette’s daughter.

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The snow and sleet of Tuesday of last week didn't bring us much moisture even though it lasted for a pretty good while. Sonny had .3 of an inch; and Norris had .25 of an inch.

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I had a real serendipitous experience Saturday. I had been watching the progress of the work on the new

Gift Shop at the Fitzpatrick every morning when I would walk by. Saturday afternoon I noticed a sign that said “We’re open,” so I went inside to see. It’s another beautiful store for The Square. But the serendipity came when I noticed on the wall some beautiful drawings of special buildings and homes in Washington- Wilkes. There was the Mary Willis Library, The Fitzpatrick Hotel, The Episcopal Church, The First United Methodist Church and the classic old barn on the Jesse Mercer property on Lexington Avenue. There was also some notepaper with these drawings on them. I asked about them and the young man behind the counter gave me a brochure and a card. The card said by Michael Bailey, and I asked myself, “Is this OUR Michael Bailey?” It is. Michael grew up in Washington-Wilkes, was an honor graduate of the W-WCHS Class of 2001, and has a degree in Environmental Design from the University of Georgia. He’s a landscape architect and designer, and is the son of Elaine and Barry Bailey. He advertises his drawings – called Classic Home Portraits – as pen and ink original drawings of your most prized investment – your home. He will contract with you to draw your home or whatever you like. Call him and get the details. He’s at home in Washington-Wilkes for a while and can be reached at 706-401-1139. Be sure to go by The Gift Shop and see the portraits.

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Now back to The Gift Shop. It is a venture of Karen Carter, owner of Restore Galore on the south side of The Square, and Angie Strother, owner of Bee Southern, on the west side of The Square. So you know you’ve got a good selection of quality merchandise to choose from.

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Property foreclosures are not done with yet. The Lincoln Journal in Lincolnton has 17 published ones this week. . . . The News-Reporter has just two this week, so that’s a good thing for us.

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A Washington-Wilkes veteran of World War II who spent two years in the European Theater called my attention to a flag in distress on the Sharon Road. I rode out to see and there it was, flying high, but tattered and torn, on the former location of Clark Schwebel Fiberglass. Ironically, the sign out front said “Ruffin Flag Company.” . . . It needs to be removed and burned.

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It’s almost hummingbird time, so get out your feeders and get them clean and ready.

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Gas prices from west to east on U.S. 78 through town (as of Monday night) were $2.69, $2.67, $2.76, $2.67, and $2.74. Of course all of these have a 9/10ths on the end of them.

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We have dozens and dozens, and more dozens of Robins in our backyard and we are enjoying them.

Smythe cut and raked most of the yard (it’s quite spacious) and then the Robins came. They are very tame and aren’t spooked by a horn, or a door slamming, or any kind of noise. Our Beagle and cat are their friends. If we open the back door, they immediately “freeze” in position until they see that we’re not going to bother them, and then they resume their pecking. One of those huge flocks of blackbirds that we’ve had in town came by Saturday afternoon, made themselves at home, and the Robins just kept right on pecking.

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I had another interesting experience in Downtown Washington Saturday afternoon. Shirley Gunter had called to tell me that the first location of the Farmers and Merchants Bank was actually behind the brick wall that now is part of Boots Gunter’s Kettle Creek Sports, and not in the building where the insurance company is located. I knew this but didn’t quite know how to deal with the brick wall in last week’s News-Reporter. She also told me that the old vault is still in the building and that Boots has his library in it. Nosey me, I had to see it. I went by the store and Shirley took me back to the vault, and after a spooky, dark, walk through lowceiling little rooms, there it was. Boots has a collection of Western paperbacks perfectly lined up and ready for reading. He keeps his hardback special books at home, and says that there are some regulars who come by to get an armful of books to borrow for a few days of reading.

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James Stone will be opening Wings - N - Things in the old Rockin’ Rooster location with the grand opening set for March 19. He will be open this weekend. The location is in the parking lot between Miss Fancy Plants and Wilkes Loan and Tax Service on West Robert Toombs Avenue.

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