UNCLE SAM. One of the lines in his obituary in this week’s newspaper notes Floyd Clark’s ability to make everyone he met think they were his best friend. I suppose that was because he was so open and friendly, and was so genuinely interested in others.
He was very active here in his home community, and when he and Coleen moved to Mena it was our loss and Polk County’s gain. From all reports, he was just as popular, active and admired in the mountain air as he was here in the low hills.
I’ll always think of long-legged Floyd wearing that Uncle Sam costume at Stand Up for America and other events here not so many years ago.
Peace to his family and thanks to the Almighty for putting such wonderful people among us.
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DON’T YOU WISH you had a cousin like Casey Parker’s?
Clint Parker is the relation of Nashville’s veteran police patrolman Casey Parker. Casey says that since Clint lives in Tyler, Texas, they don’t get to see each other real often.
But, thank goodness, Clint remembered that his dear Arkie cousin was a policeman.
Clint recently went to an outdoor expo and, as usual, signed up for every give-away. One of the prizes was a swell riding mower, but there was a stipulation from the vendor: The winner had to give the mower to a policeman.
Well, guess whose name was drawn.
Casey said he got a text message from his dear Texas cousin Clint telling him that he would soon be in possession of a really swell riding mower.
When questioned further, Casey told the nosy newspaper that the company was going to come up here and make the presentation and take some publicity pictures, and that he couldn’t mention the brand name or other information about the mower pre-maturely.
Let me just say that it is one of the baddest mowers a boy ever rode.
Officer Parker says he has a big yard and doesn’t currently have a lawnmower, so this was a convergence formed in heaven.
When Casey next talks to his dear cousin in Texas, I hope he’ll ask him how the Tyler College Apache Belles precision drill team is doing.
And also ask if any of the drill team member has been in a catfight with a rival Kilgore College Rangerette in an upscale Dallas mall lately. If so, does anyone have pictures to sell?
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WHERE IS HE NOW? A news blurb in the online ‘Arkansas Times’ caught my eye. The blurb was about the mayor of Shannon Hills — a town of about 3,100 folks located close to Bryant and Benton in Saline County. The mayor of Shannon Hills had announced that the town’s police chief had tragically died in a house fire.
The mayor of Shannon Hills is a guy named Mike Kemp. He’s a former Mineral Springs Hornet football lineman and he has done his time in Hell, first as a television news reporter and then as a computer expert aide to then-Gov. Huckabee.
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ANIMAL CRACKERS. Those swarms of blackbirds that cover our yards and fields when they land — what are they doing? Have they found little bitty seeds to eat, or do their wings just need a rest? Maybe they just want to poop closer to the ground?
On on one of my recent afternoon walks in the neighborhood, my approach to such a swarm caused them to take flight en masse. It sounded like a jet taking off from a carrier deck. Well, almost.
MORE CRACKERS. If you see a white jay or robin in your backyard you might not necessarily be seeing an albino. It could be leucism, a genetic condition which leaves very pale ‘colors’ or white patches. It’s an unfortunate fact of nature that animals afflicted with albinism or leucism don’t live very long. They don’t have natural camouflage, and they are more susceptible to the cold. They don’t see well, either.
According to birdsandblooms.com, that white bird you see is most likely afflicted with leucism.
A few years ago I took a picture of a white hummingbird which was flitting around a Nashville backyard. Amazing looking.
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TWO PAIRS OF IDENTICAL TWINS. They just can’t sit still for long — To & Fro and Back & Forth.
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THINGS I LEARNED from opening email: If everything seems to be going well, you have obviously overlooked something.
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HE SAID: “I love those who can smile in trouble, who can gather strength from distress, and grow brave by reflection. ‘Tis the business of little minds to shrink, but they whose heart is firm, and whose conscience approves their conduct, will pursue their principles unto death.” Leonardo da Vinci, artist and inventor
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SHE SAID: “You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, ‘I lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.” Eleanor Roosevelt, First Lady
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SWEET DREAMS, Baby
