By Loretta Humble/Around the Town
Not a whole lot of new stuff happening in Loretta World this week, so I’ll just try to catch you up on some stuff I’ve already been talking about.
Bingo, our little blind dog that went wandering, who was returned to us by the kindness of neighbors we didn’t even know, is doing fine. Larry and Martha Samples were the real heroes in his rescue, going out looking for him after he was lost for the second time, and then taking him to the vet and giving him much tlc until we finally reunited. I sent Martha a copy of my column about the whole traumatic adventure, as well as a copy of Bingo’s picture that was posted on Henderson County Now. She sent me a really nice letter back saying how much she enjoyed Bingo’s stay with them, and that she was going to put his picture in her album. The Samples are great people.
Remember my telling you about the wonderful dry creek bed that is happening in front of my house? My friend Roy Clay, who recently purchased Malakoff Trading Post helped me plan it, then sold and delivered me a lot of beautiful rocks to do it with. They came in great big white reinforced plastic bags, leaving it up to us to get them out of the bags and into the right place. That has taken a while. But nearly all of them are spread now, and the ones that aren’t are waiting for my next move. What we have out looks very beautiful.
The next move involves 16 tons—really, 16 tons of washed river rock from King Sand and Gravel. These are to cover up all the surrounding sand that is not supposed to look like dry creek bed, but which needs covering up. (I have a lot of sand.) They were supposed to come today, but I put them off till tomorrow. These will come in a big dump truck, and the plan is for the dump truck to spread them as much as possible for us, raising his tail gate a little and letting some out as he moves along. If this doesn’t work, or if he can’t get the truck where I’m thinking he can, I will end up with a big pile of gravel and have to figure out something from there. I’ll let you know next week.
Monday Don Odom, the birdhouse man, and his friend and landlord Glen Helm, invited Carl and me and some other friends over for lunch. Glen got out his best china, and it was great. Then Don sent me home with three more birdhouses. To refresh your memory, Don was paroled from prison to my place last year, where he proceeded, with Carl’s backing, to set up a sawmill and start making cedar chests. But the parole people over here made him move to Tyler, to an apartment where he had nothing to do but read and play on the computer. Don wants to work, and it was driving him crazy. So we set about equipping him with some tools, and some kind people contributed him some wood, and he is making birdhouses now. He gets better with every batch. Also, he is learning how to make some fast so he can sell them for less. We were surprised to find he is nearly out of wood. So if you have any old wood—or new wood—laying around, please let me know. We’ll come pick it up and take it to him.
In the meantime, I’m going to be leaving a couple at Cedar Lake Home Health and Hospice, where you can take a look at his work. He says if you tell him what you would like, he can make them to your specifications. They are priced at $15 and up.
Speaking of my family companies, if you haven’t been out visiting Cedar Lake Nursing Home lately, you should. Just because you should—lots of folks out there would love to visit with you. But also, you should see how pretty our flowers and shrubs are. Shelly Fugitt, she of the big sign that helped us find Bingo, has become our part-time gardener. She is really making the place look wonderful.