YES, I AM STILL HERE peeking out my window on Main Street, and I am following the college baseball championship as a part of my duties as #1 Fair Weather Razorback Fan.
We are doomed to come up short again, but Wooo Pig Soooey, anyway.
I fully expected we’d lose in the Regional tournament to Creighton University which is a small church school located in Omaha, Neb.
I expected to lose because of the lingering influence upon our town by a Blue Jay alumni — the late, great Larry Renard.
I’m not sure if his wife, the late, great Ann Renard, was also an alum, but she probably was. The two of them had enormous impact upon our town — if the hospital, the Children’s Center and the chamber of commerce are important to you.
I’m sure Mr. Renard was spiritually rooting for his Blue Jays in this tournament though the Renards had a passel of kids get degrees from Hog Land.
Another Creighton connection — the late, great Eddie Sutton made basketball important at Hog Land.
Giving me many chances to be disappointed.
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THE GOOD EARTH. A part of the Good Earth of the Sahara Desert will be dumped on us this weekend and next week. It’s from a dust storm in the Sahara. Events like this happen occasionally.
Folks with allergies and asthma are forewarned.
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CONGRATULATIONS to the City of Mineral Springs for putting on a ‘Juneteenth” celebration in the city park.
One of the three keynote speakers, I notice, is Skip Bell of Lockesburg who is high on my Hero List.
The MS celebration will actually take place (for convenience sake) on Saturday, June 14, beginning at 11 a.m.
The REAL ‘Juneteenth’ is on Thursday, June 19, which is a federal holiday commemorating President Lincoln’s announcement of the end of slavery. It is sometimes called Emancipation Proclamation Day. It actually commemorates the arrival of Union Troops in Galveston, Texas at the end of the Civil War and the subsequent proclamation that the slaves were freed.
These days I celebrate St. Paddy’s Day, Columbus Day, Cinco de Mayo and Juneteenth just like a good American should.
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ANIMAL CRACKERS. This is either ominous or celebratory.
For a couple of weeks I’ve written about watching as a pair of bluebirds set up housekeeping in a previously-unused birdhouse on my patio fence.
In fact, during a recent heavy rain I watched as Mom and Pop Bluebird made trips through the aforementioned rain to feed the chicks which I imagined were snuggled warm and dry inside the birdhouse.
But Saturday morning I returned from my walk at about 6:30 — daylight was firmly upon us. I emptied a large cup of coffee without seeing the parents. And I was watching closely.
I was gone for about a half-hour to shower. Returned to my spot with another large coffee. Probably sat there for a good 30 minutes without seeing the parents.
Either their checks are fledged and gone, or something bad has happened.
I’m afraid to peek into the box. I have learned from other bluebird watchers that the chicks grow up and fly off quickly, so I’ve got my hopes, like the return of Bluebird Mom and Pop and another brood.
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OKAY, I COULDN’T resist.
Anyone else happy to see Elon gone? During the time he ingratiated himself in the White House he did enormous damage to many institutions. There exists such a thing as False Economy and his army of ‘experts’ apparently didn’t know everything about the agencies they were taking apart.
I really hate to see what Robert Kennedy, Jr., is doing to medical science and research.
You should only worry if you’re concerned about cancer or Alzheimer’s. Maybe there’s some other animal medicine that Alzheimer’s patients can take.
I’ll rely upon science and real medicine any day before I resort to quackery.
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MORE THINGS I LEARNED from the Universal Classroom of Life: “The pessimist complains about the wind. The optimist expects it to change. The realist adjusts his sails.”
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WORD GAMES. Distant relations: Hot and Bothered.
Time to chill out. It doesn’t do any good to get all Hot and Bothered about the Razorbacks in the NCAA baseball playoffs.
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HE SAID: “The evil that is in the world almost always comes of ignorance, and good intentions may do as much harm as malevolence if they lack understanding.” Albert Camus, philosopher and Nobel Prize winner
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SHE SAID: “Remember, if you ever need a helping hand, it’s at the end of your arm, as you get older, remember you have another hand: The first is to help yourself, the second is to help others.” Audrey Hepburn, actress and humanitarian
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SWEET DREAMS, Baby
