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“Ray, Me and the Sheriff” Ray and I were best buddies growing up, indeed we still are good friends, but hardly ever get to see each other, due to the vagaries and busyness of life.  I was privileged recently to be present at Ray’s mother’s funeral, Edith Petty. Growing up, being only a few months [...]

“Edith Petty” Yesterday, August 29, 2018, I went to be with my friend Ray and his brother Eddie as they buried their 94 year old mother.  Edith died this week of dementia, after a prolonged struggle against the growing darkness. She was the twin of a sister, in a family of eight daughters, from Edgefield, [...]

“Three Young Women” Yesterday, around 6:00PM to be exact, three young women arrived at our front door.  After politely knocking, they waited for me to open the door.  I went to our door to greet our guests, and quickly invited Dorothy to accompany me when I saw who they were. To my surprise, upon opening [...]

“The Wages of Sin…”  (A Daily Meditation) August 6, 2018 “The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life though (in) Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Romans 6:23 NKJV) This verse at the end of Romans, chapter 6, is preceded by several important verses: 20) “For when you were the servants [...]

“Bizarre Times” Lately, I have been set to wondering why we as Americans are abandoning what in the past were our core values:  the rule of law, respect for the rule of law, the belief that every person has a right to be heard, to be given equal treatment under the law, and respect for [...]

“My Love Affair with Chickens” Having returned recently from American Samoa and Samoa (Savai’i and Upolu), I have come to appreciate more and more early morning roosters. Most roosters crow in the mornings at 4:00AM to around 5:30AM, more or less.  In Samoa, particularly American Samoa, these roosters crow starting at 2:00AM.  I am a [...]

“A Bale of Hay” Riding home tonight, I passed through a section of Anderson County which is not yet urban.  So many areas now simply hold ubiquitous subdivisions. Other former green pastures for cows are new home construction.  But I rode through one area tonight in which farms are still supreme.  Across these pasture lands [...]

“In Remembrance of Benjamin Lee Mellon” My nephew, Benjamin Lee Mellon, affectionately known to all simply as “Lee”, passed away Sunday, March 26, 2017, in Lexington Hospital, Lexington, South Carolina.  He was 36 years old. I remember Lee’s death vividly, as Lee is the only son of my sister, Laura Ann Wilson Watts. Laura is [...]

“Climate Change and Emerging Infectious Diseases” There is a provocative article in the May, 2018 Scientific American by Lois Parshley, in the section entitled The Future of Medicine 2018, beginning on page 58, which traces the El Nino episodes and the La Nina episodes in our weather to the emergence of Rift Valley Fever.  The [...]

 There were no animals, birds, or other creatures harmed in any way in the writing of this story. This weekend past, my wife and I were visiting my son, David, who is about to be married to a lovely woman, Christy.  They both live in the foothills of north Georgia, near Cummin County. It was [...]