The Wandering Goat

A picture of the famous wandering goat of Plantersville with, I think, Kelly Monts. I understand that this goat's lady friend is also wandering around town.

The lady whose home was invaded by the goat and whose picture was on the Weather Channel was Susan Williams, don't know her married name.

Eddie Shumpert

Sympathy to the family of Mr. Eddie Shumpert. I didn't know Eddie, but I remember his father very well. The Shumpert family was related to Doris.

Got Her Goat

Carole and I turn on the Weather Channel in the morning so Carole will know how to dress for work; imagine our surprise this morning before seven when we saw a story with video about a goat breaking into a lady's house in Plantersville, Mississippi.

I didn't see anything online in the Journal about this incident; can someone expound on this intriguing story.

The Big 70

It has been an eventful week; I turned, if that's the right verb, 70 on Monday spending part of the day attending the funeral of a dear friend; we celebrated with the kids Monday night and later Carole became ill; I thought it was either from too much rich food or from the idea of being married to a seventy year old; however, this morning I've come down with the same thing so suppose it was a virus. You turn seventy and you fall apart.

Rock Pentecostal Apostolic Church

This morning's Journal reported that the Rock Pentecostal Apostolic Church located on Highway 6 in Plantersville was destroyed by fire.

I'm not certain where this church is located.

Outstanding 4-H Volunteer

Congratulations to Karen Balint, leader of the Plantersville Pals 4-H club, who was recently named the outstanding volunteer for the Northeast District during the State Volunteer Leader Conference held on the campus of Mississippi State.

Bad Week

Last week was a sad one for Carole and me. I posted about Barry Hannah who died of a heart attack last Monday. On Tuesday, I received an e-mail with the obituary of Bill Sugg who lived in Atlanta but who grew up in Tupelo. Bill and I graduated together in 1958 and attended Ole Miss at the same time. His father and step mother were in my mother's Sunday School class at Calvary Baptist. And then on Wednesday, we learned that the man who has been helping us around the house for thirty five years and who became a good friend suffered a massive heart attack. The doctors give him no chance of surviving.

All three of these men were in their sixties.

Fever

“To the living the times always seem bad. In most eras voices cry out against visible decadence; of every generation . . . the world is going to the dogs. Much of this can be attributed to biological and cultural realities, in every era some things are, in fact, dying out.”

The above is one of my favorite quotes which helps me understand why as we become older we tend to become nostalgic and reminisce and do things such as create a blog that looks backward to what we imagine was a better time. However, the author of the passage above points how that while we do lose some things, we also gain others.

It is human nature to remember the good and forget the bad. A recent discussion with a friend reminded me of what was not so wonderful growing up in the 40s and 50s.

Some of you will recall when comic books featured information explaining to us how to avoid Polio, and there were three or four boys in Plantersville, I don’t recall any girls, who were bedridden for months with a fever, was in scarlet or rheumatic?

While our grandchildren can’t roam around freely as we did, at least Polio, scarlet and rheumatic fever aren’t the threats they once were.

I think I know three of the boys who had the fever, but since I don't trust my memory, I'd rather someone confirm the names.

Barry Hannah

Mississippi writer, former Clinton resident, and Ole Miss Professor, Barry Hannah, died of a heart attack in Oxford Monday afternoon.

When we moved to Clinton in 1975, we lived close to Barry's parents and through them and a neighbor who was a close friend, Carole and I became friends with Barry. As long as his parents were alive, we saw Barry frequently, but since their death, we visited only when he was in town for a presentation as he was two years ago when this picture was taken with another close friend of ours, Dorothy Jo Sample Shawhan, who grew up in Verona and now resides in Cleveland, Mississippi.

Rest in peace Barry.