I enjoy cooking and do a fair bit of it. One of the recipes my wife and I like is Homemade Baked Fries.

Potatoes are loaded with potassium and when I was on dialysis a few years ago I was on a low potassium diet. One trick we used to lower the amount of potassium in potatoes was to soak them in water. While this did not remove all the potassium, it did allow me to have some potatoes while on dialysis. Come to find out later, soaking potatoes in water for two hours is a key step in making homemade fries.

PreK and Kindergarten students at Luttrell Elementary School celebrated learning about the letter Rr by dressing as pirates and practicing their 'arrr' sounds. The students hunted for treasure and also enjoyed a land lubber treat.

There are pears and there are pears. By that I mean some are more desirable than others. There are winter pears, Kieffer is the one that comes to mind. They are small and hard as a rock. They are called winter pears for a reason. You must wait until after New Years to eat them.. only then will they be softened, but they are still small. By the time you peel them, there is not much left. I never could understand why anyone would want to grow winter pears. I guess there was a time in the dead of winter, when fresh fruit would be a luxury.

The other day I was reminded that perhaps I’d better write my memories of Pearl Harbor while I still can. My daddy, Dempsey Heiskell, had bought a Philco battery radio so we could hear the War news. Our house had by now been wired for electricity, and there was great excitement in anticipating the lights coming on with the flip of a switch instead of a match. This had not happened yet, so the battery that looked like a ten-pound mold of butter enabled my family to keep up with what was happening in Europe.

The 5th annual Thunder Road Author Rally on September 9th at Maynardville Public Library was a success. With 36 authors in attendance, some even from out of state, you can imagine the atmosphere that arose at having so many amazing story tellers of so many different genres under the same roof. The authors signed books, took pictures, shook hands, and had a good time getting to know some of the people that make up the heart and soul of Union County.

Eddie Perry was born and raised in Union County, has lived here his whole life, learned two trades here, and raised a family here.

So, it might surprise you to learn that there was a time when Perry was ashamed of being a Union Countian, a feeling that, with maturity, he's left far behind him.

I may not understand everything concerning what the future holds, and I'm not making a prediction of the end time or how it will happen, but I can tell you how to escape the destruction that is coming. Even if the end of time does not happen in our lifetime, you can rest assured we are all leaving this world. For it is appointed to every man once to die and after that the judgment.

Nominations are now open for Union County Business & Professional Association Man & Woman of 2017. Anyone in Union County may make a nomination. Nominees shall be residents of Union County or gainfully employed in Union County or a current member of UCBPA. Nominees may perform service as a result of their job or as volunteers and demonstrate good citizenship for others to emulate.

Last year Shirley Keaton's painting "Peaches" received "Best of Show" in the Fine Arts Exhibition for Union County Heritage Festival. Your entry may be the 2017 winner.

The Union County Heritage Festival's Art Show is a juried mixed-media exhibition open to artists 18 years of age and above. (There will be a Student Art Show for those under 18 years of age). The exhibition is intended to showcase art work produced throughout our area.

I hope most of you already have on your calendar Open House on September 30 from 2:30 to 4:30 at Historic Oak Grove School. Just in case, I'm including an invitation just for you!
In researching and preparing for the restoration, as well as, the open house, I discovered that Bertha Cox was the school cook, and she was a good one. Students loved her Raisin Squares, and if you come to Open House you should get to sample some of these cookies. Just in case you want to try a batch, here is Bertha's recipe:

Bertha Cox Raisin Squares