Busy busy busy time

I have, of course, found a way to make it tedious. My friends Lane Wozniak and Paula Benton and I are putting up a metal shed in my back yard. Ideally it will be done before this column comes out in the paper. Realistically, we hope to have it completed before the first freeze. It is an adventure.

I figured out how much I could afford, researched the building on line and purchased it from Lowes. On the delivery date, this humongous flat bed tractor trailer truck pulls up with this box strapped to the middle. The box was about 7 feet by 4 feet by 9 inches. The straps holding it down almost covered it completely. I also had four bags of redi mix concrete. Two delivery men took this fork lift and removed the 5 items from the big old truck and placed them in the yard.

When they were gone, Paula and I moved it all in the garage. Without the forklift.

In the first two days of working on it we have made two trips to Lowes for more materials and have nailed together 5 2X4's. I have now spent as much on all the "other" things I need to put it up and keep it anchored in the event of a wind storm as I paid for the building. So much for the budget.

I had a call from Doris Coleman this past week. She called to chide me a bit because of my reference to April 15th as the "dreaded day in April". It seems that it is not only the tax return deadline, but it is also Doris' birthday, not so dreadful, after all. Happy birthday a little late, Doris and thank you for giving me a call.

There is a bit of a mystery here on 3rd Street. After that big windstorm a few weeks ago, my neighbor, Jamie Dowdy, found a 2 quart Corning-ware baking dish in her yard. It is white with blue cornflowers on it. Last week I found a glass meatloaf pan in my yard. If you are dropping these dishes off along 3rd Street, we thank you for your contributions. If you are missing one of these dishes and would like to have it back, give me a call and we will return them. If you are hurling them out your door in a fit of anger, well call me in that case too. I want to know when to duck.

I also had a letter from Disgusted Concerned (no return address) regarding the restrooms in Memorial Park. Mr. or Ms. Concerned wanted to know if I could do something to get the restrooms in Memorial Park opened to the public. You will be glad to know that I have expeditiously taken care of that. The restrooms are opened at 8:00 am and closed at 8:00 pm or after the end of the last event in the park or ball park.

Actually I can't take all the credit for this. I can't even really take any credit for anything other than asking the question. This has been the policy all along. If you find the restrooms closed between 8:00 in the morning and 8:00 in the evening, you may go to the water office and they will get someone to open them. They are not left open at night and there are no plans to leave them open as a previous attempt to do that resulted in some pretty severe vandalism that cost the city (you and me) big bucks to have it repaired.

Francis Haas had visitors recently. Her nephew, Steve Brewer and his wife Diane came from Louisville, KY to spend some time with her. They brought with them their three sons Adam, David and John. Ms. Francis said she had such a good time with them.

I was delighted to see so many at the Chamber of Commerce Dinner last Tuesday. The entertainment and the speakers were wonderful. We had tons of barbeque from Bowden's and great, really great door prizes. We used this as a sort of coming out event for Carol Stone. It was her sort of first public outing since she moved back here and she got to see a lot of people she had not seen yet. Lots of hugs too. We all had a good time in spite of a little too much air conditioning.

Here is a little verbal snapshot of small town life. Paula Benton was working in the yard last week and my neighbor, Candy was painting some trim on her house. Pollen being what it is this time of year, Candy sneezed and Paula called out "bless you." There was a rather long silence and then, "Uh, thank you . . . . whoever blessed me." The moral to this snapshot. There is always someone nearby when you need a blessing or a hug.

Ah, well, it is time to go. Got to get back to work on that shed. Thank you for your letters, phone calls and emails. I always love to hear from you, even when you choose to remain anonymous. And I love to share your stories, so stay in touch. My address is 514 West 3rd St. Phone: (870) 595-3173 and email: porchswing@newwavecomm.net. I really love to hear from you all.

God bless our soldiers.