Ode to a Mule

Late one afternoon while sitting on the porch, shadows getting long, a song came on the computer. It was a pretty song by Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazelwood and released in 1966.
The first line lyrics were, “Strawberries, cherries and an angel kiss in spring.” The name of the song was “Summer Wine.”
While listening to the song I drifted back to 1956 and the summer when I turned eleven years old.

Is there a fireman in the house?

Just as surely as a purple finch is crimson, the stories I share with you in this article are true to the best of my ever-aging memory.
I was probably about 12 years old. I was visiting with my sister Ruby’s family at her house in East Knoxville. Ruby was actually my half-sister, the oldest daughter and second child from my father’s first marriage.
Ruby’s husband was Alfred John “Buddy” Foulks, Sr., a captain with the Knoxville City Fire Department. They had four children, though the first three were older than me, grown and living on their own.

Poisonous snakes in our area

Humans seem hardwired to fear snakes, and it is useful to help us be cautious around poisonous species.
But most snake species found in our area are harmless and perform a useful service of keeping rodent populations in check.
There are two well-known poisonous ones in our woods where caution is advised, though.

Welcome friends to Tennessee with a hillbilly lei

I bet you’ll never guess what my favorite jewelry was when I was a girl. Here’s a hint: it could be rather itchy at times.
When I was kid, we mainly played outside. No smart phones or computer games. Just us and the great outdoors. This was especially true at school where the schoolyard was blessed with little wildflowers. At the time, we didn’t know their names. All that mattered was the fact that we could make jewelry out of their blooms.

Scratch my ears, please

2 Timothy 4:3 KJV
[3] For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;
Have you ever scratched a hound dog behind its ears? Dogs just can’t seem to get enough ear scratching. I can recall countless times when my boyhood hound dog Sam would cozy up to me, nudge my hand and encourage me to scratch behind his ears. Seems like Sam especially enjoyed this if I told him he was a “good dog.”

Teen calls for churches to stabilize foster care system

Imagine you are seven years old and you have just been awakened in the middle of the night, maybe by police officers or apologetic social workers, and ripped from your parents’ arms.
If you’re lucky, you’re handed a trash bag to toss your entire life into. If not, then you may find yourself arriving empty-handed to a state office where a frazzled, full-time employee will try to wash the lice out of your hair in the bathroom sink, then stick you under a waiting room chair to sleep for the two days you’ll most likely be there.

Crypto Currency Creates Local Job Opportunities

Visiting the company website GRIID.com, you will learn that they are an American infrastructure company that procures low-cost, renewable energy to build, manage, and operate their growing portfolio of vertically integrated bitcoin mining facilities. Hansel further explains that they are a blockchain data center, blockchains being the crypto part of cryptocurrency that verifies the transaction and keeps it secure when transferring from one entity to another. Those shipping container-looking units are full of computers crunching numbers for encryption such as crypto coin.

UCHS Lady Patriots Rule Division!

The UCHS Lady Patriots are only one of 8 teams left in AA softball in the state of TN to advance to the state tournament.
Coming out the Division I AA District softball tournament as runners-up behind Gibbs High School, the Lady Patriots traveled to Alcoa High School on Monday, May 17th and beat Alcoa 4-2 to advance to the Regional Championships where they would face Gibbs High School again. This time the Lady Patriots beat the eagles 7-6 to become the Division I Regional Champions.