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Wonder if yall are having as much trouble still writing the "10" on checks & bills as much as some of us. You know one thing for sure; just about time we get used to something, they seem to change it. Guess it might have something to do with advancing age. Hmmmm! Nan Tippe Taylor (Cox) is always sending me ol’ folks’ stories, via e-mail. I get tired of them pretty quick, but in case you’ve failed to notice, it doesn’t take much to get tired of things, at this age. Ha!! Regardless of all that we’ve still been drug, albeit, screaming and kicking into yet another year. There are a lot of good things that took place last year and I’m sure we’ll still be looking at a good year to follow. We also know that a lot of it depends on the certain way you look at it or judge it. You know, sort of like the folks that look at a glass that’s half empty, while most of us would prefer to term it half full. One might imagine that if you are around the age of Daddy or Ward McKee, it’s a good year to still be around. One thing for certain is they have gotten by peer pressure.

January is an O.K. month in my books, but there are a few people that might disagree with the idea. Though it is often the most frigid month of the year, it can also harbor some fairly pleasant periods, such as we are experiencing this week. We still remember the lows of week before last and several folks are still fixing pumps, pipes, and other maladies caused by our mini ice-age. I wonder if any of the fine folks of Tennessee might have happened to call their favorite son, Mr. Al Gore, and asked him how his global warming warning was going? Lady Z had me put a heat lamp out in the wash room to keep the washing machine and connections from freezing, as well as her putting another in the opposite corner for all her lil’ kitty cats. I peeped in there the 1st cold morning and there was such a pile of cats on the rug bed one couldn’t even get an accurate count. I also suspect that we had a couple of interlopers that didn’t even belong to us. Anyhow, they surely did enjoy the warm, cozy place that she had fixed. Daddy & Jr. Goode stayed busy feeding the cows at all three places each day during the cold spell. I’d noticed that the horn on Daddy’s pickup wasn’t working very well and he assured me that it didn’t matter much as the cows were waiting at their respective gates at the appointed time each morning. Son, Will and I fed for them a few times on the weekend when it was so cold and you surely didn’t have to wait very long for all the cattle to get there after we got through the gate. There are a lot more smiles on faces of farmers & ranchers following the perfectly timed, slow winter rain we got around our fair valley of the Pecan this past week. Emmitt Lee looked at a inch in the Garvin gauge on Johnny Brown Lane and Will said Lucille measured an inch out at Sloan. The Rimes Place got about .7" on the corner at Algerita and Jr. said they got a little over a half inch on upper China Creek. The pasture roads were pretty muddy & you could surely tell if any of the hunters came in for the last weekend of the spike & doe season. I think we have about one weekend of duck season left and then have to wait ‘til April for Spring Turkey season for any regular hunting. Shaw & I have been planning forward for methodology on trying to trap Perch for the winter catfish season. Yellowcat Sutton did give me a hint on where and how to find some Perch bait during the winter, but we’re not allowed to tell. Guess we’ll see how it goes. I had a few other things that needed visiting on this week, but time and space don’t allow. Gene Williams is most responsible for me getting this week’s offering in the "News," so if you take exception with any of this week’s tale, take it up with him. Other than that the Mayor & yrs. truly will be taking care of our part out around——Harkeyville!!!!!!!!!!