Sugar Grove
By Paula Mitchell
The Pendleton County Farm Bureau’s annual catered dinner meeting was held Saturday evening at the bowling alley in Franklin. Presentation of the 38th annual service award was given to Rick Gillespie…a well-deserved award. Guest speaker was Dwayne O’Dell, West Virginia Farm Bureau’s director of government affairs. He spoke of many agricultural items, and reminded everyone about the responsibility of voting. (The Eastern Panhandle had 19 percent turnout at the May primaries.) Tammy Simmons read “So God Made a Farmer” by Paul Harvey.
And on the eighth day, God looked down on his planned paradise and said, “I need a caretaker” — so God made a Farmer.
God said, “I need somebody willing to get up before dawn, milk cows, work all day in the fields, milk cows again, eat supper, then go to town and stay past midnight at a meeting of the school board” — so God made a Farmer.
“I need somebody with arms strong enough to rustle a calf and yet gentle enough to deliver his own grandchild; somebody to call hogs, tame cantankerous machinery, come home hungry, have to wait lunch until his wife’s done feeding visiting ladies, then tell the ladies to be sure and come back real soon – and mean it” — so God made a Farmer.
God said, “I need somebody willing to sit up all night with a newborn colt, and watch it die, then dry his eyes and say, ‘Maybe next year.’ I need somebody who can shape an ax handle from a persimmon sprout, shoe a horse with a hunk of car tire, who can make harness out of haywire, feed sacks and shoe scraps; who, planting time and harvest season, will finish his forty-hour week by Tuesday noon, and then pain’n from tractor back, put in another seventy-two hours” — so God made a Farmer.
God had to have somebody willing to ride the ruts at double speed to get the hay in ahead of the rain clouds, and yet stop in mid-field and race to help when he sees the first smoke from a neighbor’s place — so God made a Farmer.
God said, “I need somebody strong enough to clear trees and heave bails, yet gentle enough to tame lambs and wean pigs and tend the pink-combed pullets, who will stop his mower for an hour to splint the broken leg of a meadow lark.”
It had to be somebody who’d plow deep and straight and not cut corners; somebody to seed, weed, feed, breed and rake and disc and plow and plant and tie the fleece and strain the milk and replenish the self-feeder and finish a hard week’s work with a five-mile drive to church. Somebody who would bale a family together with the soft strong bonds of sharing, who would laugh, and then sigh, and then reply, with smiling eyes, when his son says that he wants to spend his life “doing what dad does” — so God made a Farmer.
Life’s daily instructions include the following:
- Offer to take someone’s cart back, or use it for shopping.
- When receiving an invitation, be sure to RSVP as soon as possible.
- Cover one’s mouth when yawning, sneezing, and especially coughing.
- Always say “please,” “thank you” and “you are welcome.”
- Visit an elderly person. It will make their day.
Dog Days are over for this year. The weather has made a remarkable change. Humidity has appeared to have gone elsewhere. Even so, any drop of rain would be gratefully appreciated.
The full moon – Blue Moon, Supermoon, Sturgeon Moon – are all one and the same this month. From Sunday to Wednesday morning, the moon will actually be fuller than usual. On a cloudless night, the moon will be a beauty to behold.
This week’s quotes are as follows:
“August is the slow, gentle month that stretches out the longest across the span of a year.” — Victoria Erickson
“If it could only be like this always – always summer, always alone, the fruit always ripe.” — Evelyn Waugh
“When you talk, you are only repeating what you already know, but if you listen, you may hear something new.” — Dalai Lama
“I love people who make me laugh. I honestly think it’s the thing I like most, to laugh.” — Audrey Hepburn
“The days draw out, the weather gets warmer, and it’s what we call summer, with a bitter laugh when we’ve said it.” — Stan Barstow
This week’s clickety-clacks for the chin waggers are as follows:
- The Japanese gifted 3,000 Yoshino cherry trees to the United States at the Tidal Basin in Washington, DC.
- Jacob Schick was credited for inventing the first hoe-shaped safety razor.
- Prior to being a prison, Alcatraz served as a fort to protect San Francisco Bay.
- In 1903, newspapers reported that Niagara Falls ran dry due to drought.
- Jimmy Stewart, an actor, twice received the Distinguished Flying Cross and a Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Sitting on the porch is the best place to hear the “Talk of the Grove.”
Be sure to wish Anna Sevier Mitchell a happy birthday which will be Aug. 24. She will be 96 years old!
Enjoying a scenic drive last Monday to Staunton, Virginia, to visit with Cleo Simmons were Erma Moats, Evelyn Varner, and Wanda Pitsenbarger.
The Sugar Grove Lions Club held its annual family picnic Thursday at the VFW pavilion. A nice crowd of members, volunteers, and family members enjoyed the delicious food.
St. John Lutheran Church had a picnic Sunday following worship services. Delicious food, tie-dying, slip and slide, and the jump station were enjoyed by those attending.
Mike and Robin DelBiondo of Waynesboro, Virginia, and Joel and Betsy Farrar of Lynchburg, Virginia, were Saturday visitors in the home of Willard and Judy Rader.
Helen and Rhonda Nash have had a full house recently as they hosted family from Alaska and Virginia. Robbie and Jenny Nash of Palmer, Alaska, and Savannah Putnam and daughter, Marley of Wasilla, Alaska, spent several days with mom/mamaw and Peachy at Nashland. They also enjoyed visits to Brandywine Lake and the Swilled Dog cidery before they all travelled to Fredericksburg, Virginia, for a weekend filled with various family gatherings. Later Ginger Nash, granddaughter/niece, and Justin Keller, her fiancé of Gordonsville, Virginia, came for a visit and a candle making tutorial from Peachy as they hand-crafted candles for guest favors for their November nuptials. This past Sunday, the pair celebrated Rhonda’s birthday with lunch at Cracker Barrel followed by a viewing of the film “My Penguin Friend” and a stop at Kline’s Dairy Bar topped off the evening.
It was D.J. Judy’s 22nd birthday which gave cause for birthday celebrations Saturday evening at the Mint Springs, Virginia, home of Joey Judy. Those in attendance were Evelyn Varner, Jessica and Geneva Varner, Janet Judy, Terry Harper, Joyce Marshall, Joyce Costello and Sonny and Steve Brooks.
More August birthdays include Logan McMillen, Jonathan Eye and C.C. Hotten, 22nd; Mike Jamison and Bob Puffenbarger, 23rd; Anna Mitchell and Kenny Simmons, 24th; Debbie Thompson, Greg Simmons, Pat Simmons, Jerry Snyder and Lois Jean Riggleman, 25th; Isiah Kobetic and Brenda Fisher, 29th; Lucy Shoemaker, 30th; and Kathy Bowers, Brad Kile, Kinsley Armstrong and Diane McConnell, 31st.
Concerns are as follows: Bob Adamson, Dyer Anderson, John Ashley, Roger Ashley, Mercedes Aumann, Richard Bennett, “Bo” Boggs, Marie Cole, Christian Dasher, Benny Evick, Isaac Eye, Linda Eye, Marie Eye, Mary Eye, Carl Gant, David Gillespie, Lola Graham, Patsy Green, JC Hammer, the Emma Kate Hathaway family, Marlene Harman, Missy Harrison, Marvin Hartman, Steve and Armanda Heavner, Grace Hedrick, Jim Hiner, Evan Hise, Tim Hively, George Hevener, Edsel and Mary Ann Hogan, Virgil Homan, Jr., Adalbert Hoover, Donna K. Hoover, Keith Hoover, Myrtle Hoover, Tim L. Hoover, Debbie and Enos Horst, Lisa and Mike Jamison, Jessica Janney, Alice Johnson, Richard Judy, Marsha Keller, Kim Kline, Ginger Knight, Tracie Knight, Laura Kropp, Melissa Lambert, Robert Lambert, Ronnie Lambert, Rex Landis, Roger and Skip Mallow, Yvonne Marsh, Ed May, Gene McConnell, Gary McDonald, Neil McLaughlin, Rose Miller, Bruce Minor, Tom Mitchell, Barbara Moats, Gloria Moats, John Morford, Bill Mullenax, Helen Nash, Aaron Nelson, Ruth Nelson, Cheryl Paine, Walt Pitsenbarger, Andy Pond, Janice Propst, Eldon “Butch” Puffenbarger, Alda Propst, Janis Propst, John O. Propst, Mike Propst, Sheldon Propst, Tom Rader, Brandon Reel, Charles Rexrode, Jason Rexrode, Linda Fay Rexrode, Pam Rexrode, Dennis Riggleman, Mike Roberts, Donna Ruddle, Jenny Ruddle, Mary Sawyers, Brittany Shriver, Annie Simmons, Greg Simmons, Erin Simmons, Eva Simmons, Judy Simmons, Nelson Simmons, Robbie Sites, Mike Skiles, Tina Stuben, Steve Stump, Elizabeth Terry, Linda and Larry Vandevander, Sandra Vandevander, Amy Vaus, Judy Waggy, Estelle Wagner, Mary Louise Waldschlager, Rene White, Norman Wilfong, Judy Williams, Ann and Ed Wimer and Margaret Wimer.
