It looks like the government shutdown, otherwise known as Schumer Shutdown, has come to an end (for now); however, Congress has only temporarily fixed the budget until February 8, 2018. The American people could potentially watch our military, border patrol agents, national park rangers and other government workers be auctioned off AGAIN so the Democrats can force tax payers to support illegal immigrants and their children. Why do the Democrats care so much about granting illegal immigrants amnesty, and what needs to happen next month to avoid another possible shutdown?

Sometimes we just never know what is around the bend! Recently, while driving a Union County road re-surveying historic properties, my friend, Fern Shumate Smyre, pointed out a little late 1800s dentist’s office on Nave Hill Church Road. It was listed in the 1978 survey of the Tennessee Historical Commission, and we were glad to see that it is still there. The dentist was Doctor Ewin Shumate, the eldest of nine children of Daniel and Louisa Shumate of Claiborne County. Dr. Shumate was born February 11, 1867 and died June 14, 1910. He is buried at Andersonville.

Yesterday, looking through my scrapbooks for something else, I came across one on the death of our 32nd president, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, popularly known as “FDR.” I shouldn't have used the word, “popularly.” Some liked him, but many did not. I liked him. He was the president during my childhood years. “Hoover” had been a dirty word around my Dad. A stanch Democrat, he, among others, blamed Herbert Hoover for the Great Depression. Naturally, I followed in Dad's footsteps. I looked up to him. Isn't it the way it usually works?

On a cold winter day, what could be better than a hot blueberry muffin and a warm wool muffler to wrap around the neck when going outside to build a snowman? My mind travels to a muffin and muffler of my youth, but not the kinds just mentioned.

It is very hard to get people’s attention and even harder to keep it, especially with the written word. Our attention spans are very short, even more so in this information age, with multiple social media platforms clamoring for our participation constantly. Old time preachers used to harp against the evils of TV and how it was leading people away from the straight and narrow path.

When I was growing up during the Great Depression years, there was no cake mix, no Bisquick and no pancake mix. It was like my dad with his cigarettes; he rolled his own. We made our own. I don't have Mother's pancake recipe. Like I said before, she seldom used a recipe. Anyway, I was too young to watch and write down the measurements.

The Union County 4-H Hog Club headed to the state competition last weekend, a truckload of middle schoolers, high schoolers, and the hogs they spent the fall and winter raising. The Hog Club has been going strong since 2014, teaching students valuable skills from animal care to public speaking.

Folks like to complain about “kids these days” with their heads in their phones all the time, but would you believe that the impetus for starting the Hog Club was a teenager? Union County’s UT Extension Agent Shannon DeWitt said it started as a little bit of a love story.

The fiddler has played his last tune for the night, but Bitt Rouse will not soon be forgotten. Most people would not know of whom you were speaking when you mentioned Palmer Stiner Rouse, because nearly all his life he was known by his nickname. My sister, Dorothy Kitts, had him as a 5th grade student at the old Rush Strong School in Lead Mine Bend. Then he was called “Bitty” Rouse because he was so small for his age, but he grew to quite a tall man. The nickname was shortened to “Bitt.”

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to this Week’s Article.

Now I don’t mean funny ha, ha, I’m talking funny in terms of things which make you go HMMM!

God’s Emergency Alert System! Yep! I am trying to get your attention and so is God! In a fortuitous stroke of the keyboard last week we compared the Old Testament Prophets to today’s EMERGENCY ALERT SYSTEM. How timely this was considering the False EMERGENCY ALERT in Hawaii this weekend.

Last week I put out a call for those interested in writing their memoirs. Beginning with “It was a dark and stormy night” as Snoopy did in the Peanuts cartoon series is NOT the way to go. It is too easy to get bogged down and lose interest in the project. Plus it might be repetitious and boring. Writing in episodes is the way. Each story of about five hundred words would be about one situation. In writing the story of your life, you are painting scenes, one story at a time. This is a proven method, tested with everyday adults writing about their lives.