The podcast of my book “Pushing Back,” the first in the Boone series, is posting the final chapter in a couple of weeks. It’s been a lot of fun, and reading each chapter aloud and hearing the voices of Boone, Nancy, Mr. Everett, Deputy Anderson, Boone’s parents, his sister Hannah, and all the rest of the inhabitants of the book has given me a chance to reflect on what “Pushing Back” is about. I knew that Boone was one of those kids out on the fringes, invisible to most people, who is just trying to get by. There’s more to it than that, of course, as there is in most stories.

Like most people of my age from this rural area, I occasionally worked in tobacco. My start was perhaps different than most, however. I was "employed" by my school teacher father in the summers to help him measure fields for insurance companies that then may assess their worth in the event of hail storms and the like. And as a teen, I was sometimes employed by local farmers to cut or hang tobacco. As our culture has changed, so too has our production of tobacco as a cash crop. I rarely see tobacco fields now, and it sometimes makes me a little nostalgic or even sad.

Our pastor preached a message Sunday a week ago about Jonah and the whale. You Faithful Readers who are well versed in the Bible know the basics of the story. God told Jonah to go and preach to Ninevah, but this was not what Jonah wanted. He decided instead to board a ship and go to Tarshish.

You know, some of these turkey leftover recipes can be prepared and frozen for later this winter. It will be a treat then, not just a way to use up leftovers.

TURKEY – NOODLE CASSEROLE
2 cups cooked turkey or chicken pieces
8 ounces egg noodles, cooked, drained
8 ounces sour cream
2 tablespoons melted butter
1 can cream of chicken soup, undiluted
2 tablespoons minced onion
1 can french-fried onion rings

No, this is not a variation on chicken salad. This turkey treat is special. I bet you never thought of making a fruit salad with your leftovers? Here it is.

TURKEY FRUIT SALAD
4 cups chopped cooked turkey breast
1 cup pineapple tidbits, drained
1 cup seedless grapes, halved
1 cup chopped walnuts (pecans would do)
1 cup chopped red apples, peel and all
1 1/2 cups mayonnaise

Combine all fruit in large bowl. Carefully add turkey. Finally, moisten with mayonnaise. Cover and chill for 2 or 3 hours.

You learn something quickly when you move to Tennessee; it never snows on Christmas Day. Some years it never snows at all. Which I suppose is a good thing. No one in Tennessee really knows how to drive in the stuff.

Some years ago, our grown children and their families came out to visit at Christmas. The sky was clear; temps were in the sixties. It was more like early fall than Christmas. My daughter, who had come with her family the day before, ran three miles that morning—in her shorts.

In 1952, Gary Cooper starred in the classic American Western film, High Noon. During the course of this movie, a hotel clerk is heard saying,

“You’re leaving on the noon train, but your husband ain’t? It’s mighty interesting. Now me, I wouldn’t leave this town at noon for all the tea in China. No sir. It’s going to be quite a sight to see.”

Christmas is probably the most tradition packed holiday there is, and over the years I’ve enjoyed chasing some of them down to find their origin. One I’ve gone after is the Christmas stocking, which in present day has become a large, usually ornate sock shaped bag that is hung up on Christmas Eve so Santa can fill it with small toys, candy, fruit, and such.

When snow, ice and frigid weather blast into town, you should take precautions to prevent injury. Winter recreational activities can pose problems for the outdoor enthusiast whose body is not properly conditioned. Winter sports like skating, skiing and sledding can cause painful muscle spasms, strains or tears if you haven’t taken the time to warm up.

Knoxville TN: Local, multi-published author Russell Fine, Author of the Frank Carver Mystery books, has released his sixth book, The California Experiment.
The California Experiment takes place in 2025, after the democrats lose their third presidential election in a row. A California billionaire, who has used his wealth to buy the California legislature decides that California must secede from the United States and become an independent country. He makes it happen, but quickly discovers that he is not going to be able to create the utopia he expected.