Beech Tree News Network

If you are having difficulty getting out of bed in the mornings, might I suggest the services of my granddaughter—for a small fee, of course.  I, for one, have found it almost impossible to sleep with a dinosaur in my ear.
    Most mornings, I’m up by about six, but once in a while, I get a Saturday when nothing is pressing, and I want to lie in bed.  It rarely happens.  My granddaughter is an early riser.  She shows up by my bedside with handfuls of various objects meant to persuade me to get up-and-at-em. 

Dear MTV,

Recently, I read that Linda Ronstadt has been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease and is unable to sing. Ronstadt was an outstanding singer, and her songs transport me to another time: the 1970s.

Can you still make a rolled-up fist, leave a hole, blow into it, and imitate a dove call? Boys could. Recently I saw a twelve-year-old girl in Australia that could. But it was largely a boy thing growing up. Most girls thought it was silly. My cousin Ruby Todd could do the best one you ever heard. Ruby was the one with the guts of a bank robber, but no common smarts; the one who asked a teacher to “see her sore toe”. Her sore toe resulted from her husband trying to cut her throat. It was dark and he was drunk. Fortunately he got the wrong end.

There was a program on the BBC about ten years ago called “Are You Dave Gorman?”  It was dreamed up by an Irish guy named Dave Gorman and his flat mate, Danny (can’t remember his last name).  The escapade began when Dave and Danny were playing cards one evening, and Danny bet Dave that he couldn’t find 52 other people in the world who shared the name Dave Gorman—one for each card in the deck.  Dave accepted the challenge and so the search was on.

Perhaps all of us at one time or another have heard someone say words to the effect that, “Life is too short to ….” Yes, based on the Bible’s teachings, we see that our life on earth is very brief. David said, “The years of our life are seventy, or even by reason of strength eighty, yet their span is but toil and trouble; they are soon gone, and we fly away” (Ps. 90:10). James said, “For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away” (Jas. 4:14). These two examples impress upon our minds the brevity of this earth-life.

Nearly 18 months, one lawsuit and one plan declared unconstitutional, the House of Representatives and the Senate finally passed a redistricting plan this past week during a Special Session in Frankfort.

Have you ever thought about the origins of various weeds? I chose several weeds that are common around these parts and decided to research.  Www.meriam-webster.com defines Johnson grass as a tall, perennial sorghum (sorghum halepense), originally of the Mediterranean region.  It is widely used for forage in warm areas and often becomes naturalized as a weed.  The origin is from William Johnston, an 1859 American agriculturalist.  Its first known use is in 1884.

Many times I fail to notice or I take for granted things in my environment. But, lately a couple of things have caught my attention.

Recently, our community showed support for the Ron Ingram family in various ways, including a benefit. Much effort went into the benefit, and it was a great success, raising needed money for this family. Our community’s willingness to help out when someone is in need caught my attention.

Red packed a set of long, sharp spurs, and his head was a quarter-size of a backhoe bucket. But when it got right down to a head –bustin’-new-ground-tore-up-fight, Red wasn’t there- Red was a certified coward.
Red was a Rhode Island Red Rooster, and poison mean – a sneak. Had he lived in the old west he would have been known as a back-shooter. Like all cowards, Red couldn’t face you head on, but he was still plenty dangerous.
Red belonged to Miss Fannie and Mister Tom Stabuck, an older couple who lived about a cow-hand from us over on the next hill.