Beech Tree News Network

I watch and read the news – I guess I have a need to know. Some recent articles caught my attention. These articles were about financial and social aspects of our society. The following information is unrelated and in random order.

I arrived home from the festival Saturday night with my memory card full and in high spirits. It took roughly half an hour to transfer the image files from the camera to my external hard drive. Being so excited to work on the photos, I found myself in editing until around 2:30am. I then wrote a small bit, perhaps only the first 500 or so words of the journal entry. I found myself heading off to bed around 3am. I had no trouble falling asleep.

CARE LESS: There is a phrase that I personally wish people would just quit using, it is the phrase “I could care less!” First off, most people that I have heard use this phrase are saying it wrong. When you absolutely do not care about something, either a person, situation, subject or outcome, then the phrase is, “I couldn't care less!” yet 75 to 80 percent of the time, I hear the first version being used in such situations.

We went to visit our daughter, Nikki, and her husband, Thomas, a couple of weeks ago.  They just bought a house in Covington, Louisiana, about 30 minutes north of New Orleans.  They have a nice big backyard for their two dogs and one rabbit, as well as a side yard, where Thomas built a small raised garden.  He and Nikki fussed over it every day we were there, and I had to smile to myself, because recently I found something Nikki had written when she was eleven years old.  It reads: “I think it stinks working on a farm.  You always have to feed cows and horses, work in the garden, shuck corn

These are my experience-based accounts of day 2 of the 2016 Green River Catfish Festival.

I arrived home sometime around 10:30pm on the first night of the festival. I had only 316 photos to sift through, so the process of transferring the files to my external hard drive was relatively quick. I edited on photographs until roughly 1am when I decided to sleep for the night.

We find a very interesting writing located on almost every headstone in every cemetery we visit. On every headstone, between the dates of a person’s birth and death is a dash. This short line represents the time one has lived upon this earth. Yet, more than this, the dash represents our actions, words, spouse, children, grandchildren, goodness, love, mistakes, sins, missed opportunities, successes, failures, etc. The impact I have made upon my little corner of the world in those few years is represented in this “dash.” Yes, a great deal of meaning is associated with this “dash”.

This week I continue my county series.  I will dip my toes into Bath County, KY.  Bath County was founded in 1811.  As of 2014, Bath County population was 12,206.  The county has an area of 284 square miles. 

As I may have mentioned, the Fourth of July is one of my favorite holidays. Although most of my time is spent with family and friends that day, I appreciate the Catfish Festival and those who make it possible. It is an amazing effort for a small town. My favorite things about the festival are the catfish plates, the children’s games, and the fireworks.

The ordeal of CHANGE.
    It is said we can never be really prepared for that which is new..  “it needs inordinate self-confidence to face drastic change, without some measure of fear.” 
We are afraid of the new- we don’t like it.  My daddy, Luther talk of the time when his grandfather, Charlie Locke- whom I remember quite well- saw his first automobile.
They were sitting on the front porch visiting, when a model-T Ford came down the road.

My father had an eighth-grade education, so did my stepmom.  My dad was proud of that fact.  My stepmom was embarrassed about it.  My father was proud of his lack of education because of everything he accomplished in spite of that fact.  My stepmom was embarrassed about her lack of education, because that lack got her very little in life.