YES, I AM STILL HERE peeking out of the newspaper’s window on Main Street and I know it’s still a few days away, but I am thinking about ‘Juneteenth,’ June 19, Emancipation Proclamation Day.
When he was alive Norman Adamson used to encourage the organization of an event in the city park for Juneteenth, but as far as I know there is no planned observance these days. My friend Norman wanted kids to understand its importance.
I now know from experience that those kids must grow into their 40s or even their 50s before they can truly understand the significance of a celebration of Emancipation Day.
It’s a shame if there is no longer a local observation.
We mark the day President Lincoln courageously said “no more slavery states.” I am just a geezer and never was too smart, but I cannot really comprehend slavery and how it can happen.
I understand why black Americans should observe Juneteenth. Anglo, Hispanic and Asian Americans should, too. Every race has suffered at the hands of others; at one time or another; at one place or another.
There’s nothing I can do about that hateful time of slavery in our nation’s history.
What I CHOOSE to do in the present day is to engage persons of every race politely and respectfully. All are the Almighty’s creation.
One other thing: June 19 is also the anniversary of my joining the US Navy. I served with many fine black, Hispanic and Asian sailors, and I hope they remember me as fondly as I remember them.
I once explained to a female friend that by joining the US Navy, a Howard County boy who had never been farther from home than Eureka Springs could see Mt. Fuji, and Diamond Head, and the Grand Canyon, and the Florida Keys, and ride a cog tram to the top of Victoria Peak in Hong Kong.
Unfortunately, rumors exist that I might not have ALWAYS been the ideal representative of Uncle San’s Navy, and the Shore Patrol is apparently trying to chase me down and take away that Good Conduct Medal the Navy now say was mistakenly given to me.
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PROBLEM SOLVED. It stinks, but if will be worth the smell if the product does as advertised. Last year after a snake somehow managed to get into my bedroom, I bought some snake repellent at the farm co-op.
It smells like I got a hundred kilograms of mothballs strung out in the pool landscaping. No snakes, yet, so maybe this stuff works.
I have been told that if I just had a cat it would keep the snakes away.
My luck would mean that I wore a path to the vet’s office to get the cat treated for copperhead bites. No cat is worth a hunnert dollers.
This — shudder — memory reminds me that I can’t thank officers Parker and Vermillion enough for coming into my bedroom and capturing the snake. and not blabbing about my cowardice all over town.
I think the officers and I finally decided that it was a harmless snake. Nevertheless, we carefully dropped the snake into a large thick trashbag.
The officers offered to drop the snake off at the home of the enemy of my choosing. Thank you, again, officers. I’m glad that something good came from my encounter with the snake.
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THE GOOD EARTH. A premature pronouncement of death for my two loquat trees. Brother Mike and his trusty Husqvarna chainsaw removed the dead limbs, leaving several (as I had asked) at about chest-high. I had plans for those remaining, bare limbs.
But now, I have observed some green growth low on the base of both trees. Maybe I’ll live long enough to see them bear fruit, again.
My plan for the remaining dead limbs was to wrap each with a string of twinkling solar-powered lights. I didn’t realize that the string was about a kilometer long. I soon grew tired of wrapping the branches, so I just strung the lights between the limbs until I ran out of string.
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FAIR WEATHER FAN has one thing to say about Arkansas’s abrupt and unexpected exit from the college baseball playoffs: “I knew it was gonna happen.”
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ANIMAL CRACKERS. Drat! Once again I missed the governor’s free fishing day. I was looking forward to saving money on a fishing license, but I forgot.
There was a time when I had most of my net worth tied up in fishing lures kept in a cheap tackle box in the back of my pickup trick. The guy behind the sports counter at Walmart knew to call me when he received a shipment of lures.
And, since the statute of limitations has come and went, I now admit to more than once taking more than the limit of rainbow trout from the Little Mo below Narrows Dam. These days you can’t keep any of the fish — it’s catch and release.
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The twins: Tried and True. They are tested and reliable.
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HE SAID: “A dreamer is one who can only find his way by moonlight, and his punishment is that he sees the dawn before the rest of the world.” Oscar Wilde, Irish poet and playwright
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SHE SAID: “For beautiful eyes, look for the good in others; for beautiful lips, speak only words of kindness; and for poise, walk with the knowledge that you are never alone.” Audrey Hepburn, actress and U.N. ambassador
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SWEET DREAMS, Baby
