Weird Animals and More

I can hardly believe the end of July is here. This week begins the last week of summer vacation for the kids.

WEIRD ANIMALS. It looked to me like VBS was a big success. I think our average attendance was 175. All I really know is that we had weird animals all over the place!

We departed from the norm slightly this year in that our VBS ran from Monday (the 14th) through Thursday with family night last Friday night (for the last several years we’ve begun on Sunday night and had family night on Thursday). This seemed to work well and gave Vicki some extra time between church and the start of VBS to work out those last minute details.

Another departure from previous years is that we had family night at Kilgore Park rather than at church. This was a lot of fun but almost got rained out. It got to drizzling so much that after the hamburgers and hot dogs were served we almost decided to cut the festivities short and go home. Thanks to smart phones and access to local radar on the Internet we decided to stick it out and let a fun evening run its course.

WHEAT THRESHING. The next day we got up early and drove to Adams for the Threshermen’s Show. We got there in time for the parade and the first wheat threshing of the day. Then we ate lunch and wandered around a bit before heading home to de-decorate the church from VBS.

COOL WEATHER. The Friday night of VBS family night (the 18th) was not only rainy, it was also unseasonably cool. I’m not sure if the temperature even made it to 70° making the day a good 20° cooler than normal for this time of year. I saw several folks sporting light jackets. This persisted into the next day making the Threshermen’s Show very pleasant this year.

The weather has since returned to more seasonable temperatures, but overall this has been a very pleasant summer, if dry. Jenna’s garden sure could use some rain. There’s only been a couple of days where I walked out the door and the humidity seemed to take my breath away so I’m not complaining at all. We’ve also seen very few mosquitos since early June. I sure don’t miss them.

BEES. Speaking of insects, the guy who painted our roof pointed out to me that we had what he thought was a nest of yellow jackets in our front yard. It turns out that we’ve got a hive of bees to take up residence in one of our front porch columns, the same one where there was a hive of bees when we moved in back in 1995. I’ve called a friend of mine who is a beekeeper and he has rigged a system to prevent the bees from reentering the column, forcing them to move into a portable hive which he has placed on the porch next to the column. It’ll take a couple of months for them to move, but when they do we’ll be able to safely clean out and repair the column. And maybe we can keep the bees nearby so they can do their job.

GETTING AWAY. I’ve allowed myself to be sidetracked with the weather and the bees (but not the birds) so I’ll get back on track now. Right after church and lunch last Sunday Vicki and the kids headed out for a week of fun with the Jones family in Georgia. They came back Friday. This has become an annual trip for Vicki allowing her to unwind after all the summer activities. I know all the girls went shopping a couple of times and they also played tennis a couple of times, but other than that they stayed around the house cooking, eating, swimming, and playing games. As a matter of fact, thanks to the Internet Nate and Zachary are continuing some game they’ve been playing.

MEANWHILE, BACK AT THE RANCH... I was unable to get away due to preparing to start school at work so Mom and I wound up doing things together most evenings. One night we went out to eat and drove all over the country returning dishes where neighbors have sent her something to eat.

Thursday night we went to the Cross Plains Heritage Commission meeting. It was a potluck dinner so I stretched my cooking skills and took salad. Our featured speaker was a retired history professor from Vol State, Dr. Stephen Driver, who has compiled a book of Facebook posts he’s made about interesting historical facts. His Facebook page had become so popular with friends and former students that he decided to compile the book. He was certainly knowledgable and entertaining.

DENNING REUNION. We all went to Orlinda after church today for the annual Denning reunion. Unfortunately, I do not know this branch of my family all that well, but it was nice to see the people I do know. Pete Denning, Mom’s first cousin, told a story on my grandfather, Jerry, that I’ll share here because I don’t want to forget it.

Jerry was actually my grandfather’s nickname. His real name was Andrew Benton (making our son his namesake). Pete referred to him as Uncle Benton. Pete’s dad was Jerry’s older brother, Joe. Jerry had a reputation for being a very fast, very efficient worker. I’ve heard people say they could hardly keep up with him, even when he was older and his contemporaries were slowing down. Pete’s story hinges on knowing these things.

What Pete recalled was a time when they were cutting tobacco (Pete remembered details like which fields they were working in, etc.) and Jerry was helping them. Pete’s dad had a black man working for him named George. They were about to get started for the day and two wagons were loaded with tobacco while the rest that had been cut the day before was still on the ground waiting to be “hung” on the stick. Joe decided he would take the loaded tobacco and the crew to the barn to house it, leaving Jerry and George in the field to hang what was on the ground.

Jerry had never worked with George before and based on a first impression was concerned that George would not be able to work fast enough for them to have another wagon loaded by the time the crew at the barn needed it. Joe tried to allay Jerry’s fears by saying that George would work hard and do all he was capable of and that if the rest of the crew needed to come back and help them hang the tobacco they would. This didn’t make Jerry feel any better, but he and George got started while the rest went to the barn.

Pete said when they got done housing tobacco and came back to the field Jerry and George were working in two separate rows about as far apart as “the length of this room” (say, 40 feet). Joe complimented his brother saying, “Well Benton, you’ve almost lapped George there.” To which Jerry replied, “Lapped him heck, I’m this far behind!”

Joe