Home Opinion Mine Creek Revelations by Louie Graves: Chasing UFOs

Mine Creek Revelations by Louie Graves: Chasing UFOs

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ANIMAL CRACKERS. Strange behavior by the pair of bluebirds that may be contemplating a move into the swell old bluebird house mounted on the side of my own house.

I have observed this over several mornings. As far as I can tell, they never spend the night in the birdhouse, but arrive early next day. Mom or Pop perches nearby and watches the front door of the house, but does not go inside. I am sitting about 10 yards away, sipping coffee. If I get up for more coffee, the movement causes them to fly off to a nearby highline. They are sooooo spooky!

They’ve been coming for more than a week. In the beginning, Pop occasionally went inside the house. But now, neither one goes in. When she’s perched near it, Mom Bluebird looks at the opening as if she’s waiting for someone or something to suddenly pop up in the entrance.

Inside there’s an old nest left over from last year, and I wonder if that is the problem.

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SORRY TO MAKE YOU worry, but I really, really feel that you need to worry. Earth is going to come into contact with the Taurid Swarm, a scary name for meteors from space debris left by the Comet 2P/Encke.

What’s scary is that most of the meteor showers we get are little grains of sand that flash across the sky. But the Taurid Swarm meteors are hard pieces of gravel and some are quite big.

In fact, the Taurid Swarm is so predictable (and recorded) that some perfessers have tracked it back to 1908. And some of these perfessers — at the University of Western Ontario — believe that it was a big piece from the Taurid Swarm which exploded over the Tunguska Forest in Siberia, leveling jillions of trees.

This summer we’re supposed to get a great Taurid Swarm show in June and July, but there’s an even bigger show predicted for a few years down the line. 

What you’re supposed to worry about is that in that far off Taurid Swarm we may run smack into another Tunguska rock. The perfessers think the best chance might be in 2032.

I don’t know how much faith to put in the perfessers at the University of Western Ontario because I’ve never heard of their football team.

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A RETIREMENT RECEPTION down at the ‘Texarkana Gazette’ for my ole buddy, Jim Williamson who is retiring from writing news articles. Jim and his brother-in-law, Gerald Stripling, purchased the ‘Little River News’ at Ashdown way back. The former owner was on the board of directors of the Arkansas Press Association, and since he no longer owned or edited a newspaper he had to leave the APA board. I replaced him.

Over the years I developed a respect and friendship with Jim.

He finally sold the newspaper, but couldn’t give up the ink, and he got a job writing 4-States area hard news for the ‘Gazette.’

There will be a come-and-go reception for him Wednesday afternoon at the Gazette’s new building. It will be my first chance to see the newspaper’s new plant. I’m guessing that Jim will live in retired splendor in Ashdown where he hopes to see the Panthers actually beat the Scrappers, some day.

One of Jim’s lasting contributions to history of SW Arkansas was his coverage of two nights of UFO sightings in Little River County back sometime in the 1980s I believe.

I used to be pretty skeptical about UFOs. But Jim’s articles and his personal recounting of the event changed my mind. The craft was seen on two consecutive nights, all over Little River County, and by many people.

The stories were backed up by my old college buddy, Joe Rice, who lives at Foreman. He saw it and had the same description as Jim.

Because he was a dauntless newsman, Jim raced along with the craft and tried to take pictures. He was unarmed except for that camera.

I am thoroughly convinced that they saw something. For several years after that, Jim would go to a UFO conference at Eureka Springs and give a talk.

This reminds me that not only are communities losing newspapers, they are losing the kind of people that would chase a spaceship.

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WORD GAMES. The twins: Creepy and Crawly. Makes me shudder just to mention their names.

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THE INCREDIBLE and Mostly Unbelievable Adventures of my secret and distant kin, Uncle Parry Normal:

Uncle Parry ‘accidentally’ drove his pickup off into a pond. He asked the tow truck operator if he could get on the CB radio and try to find someone who would clean any fish or turtles found under the seat while he left the scene in the company of officers to attend an interview down at the station.

I don’t think Uncle Parry could have cleaned fish whilst wearing handcuffs. That’s not to say he hasn’t tried.

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THINGS I LEARNED from opening (and believing) email: “Hospitality is the art of making guests feel like they’re at home when you wish they were.“

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HE SAID: “Criticism may not be agreeable, but it is necessary. It fulfils the same function as pain in the human body. It calls attention to an unhealthy state of things.” Winston Churchill, statesman and hero

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SHE SAID: “When you take a flower in your hand and really look at it, it’s your world for the moment. I want to give that world to someone else. Most people in the city rush around so, they have no time to look at a flower. I want them to see it whether they want to or not.” Georgia O’Keeffe, artist

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SWEET DREAMS, Baby