Sugar Grove
By Paula Mitchell
With Halloween looming in the air, there are some cat folklore to share with the readers. Cats definitely win the prize of having more superstitions associated with them.
The well-known incorrect saying that cats have nine lives bears examining. Cats can make long leaps and climb all over the place, and when they fall, they are able to twist their body until they land on all fours.
Another belief is that it is bad luck were one to look into a cat’s eyes for too long.
Some other beliefs are as follows:
- Kittens born in May will have special powers.
- Put a cat into the empty cradle of newlyweds, and a baby will soon arrive.
- Rubbing a cat’s tail on the eyelid will cure a stye.
- If a cat sneezes three times, someone will catch a cold.
- If a cat washes its face, a visitor will soon arrive.
- If one kicks a cat, they will get arthritis in that leg.
- If a cat lies with its back toward the fireplace fire, a huge storm is on its way.
- A cat having three different colors in its coat will protect against fever and fire.
- Dreaming about a white cat brings good luck.
- Letting a family cat into a new house first will bring good luck.
- If a cat eats grass, rain will be in the forecast.
- Witches can take on the form of a cat to roam around the countryside without being recognized.
- When a cat washes its ears a lot, it will rain.
- Hearing a cat sneeze will bring good luck.
- A cat that sneezes near a bride will bring good luck on her wedding day.
These cat connections associated with good luck and bad luck have been around for centuries.
Life’s instructions for making life better include the following:
- Find time to play.
- Hug often.
- Don’t do anything that wouldn’t make one’s parents proud.
- Do at least one good deed every day.
- Marry the right person, as this one decision will determine 90% of a person’s happiness or misery.
Sunday morning temperatures of 26° was quite a hard pill to swallow. But then, it is that time of the year. Mornings have definitely taken on the fall season of cool mornings and evenings. That allows one to put up the windows and have a wonderful restful night of sleep. “Leaf peepers” are sure enjoying the fall colors that Jack Frost has been hastily designing.
This week’s quotes are as follows:
“I wish that every day was Saturday and every month was October.” — Charmaine J. Forde
“It is better to be silent than to dispute with the ignorant.” — Pythagoras
“Loves cures people – both the ones who give it and the ones who receive it.” — Karl Menninger
“Great things are not done by impulse, but by a series of small things brought together.” — Vincent Van Gogh
“Take diplomacy out of a war and the thing would fall flat in a week.” — Will Rogers
It is far better to sit by the fire to hear the “Talk of the Grove.”
Wesley, Ben and Nathan Puffenbarger went to Buckingham, Virginia, for youth bear hunting day. The hunting party bagged a nice bear, harvested by a 7-year-old girl. Nathan enjoyed watching his dog start and finish the hunt. Becky and Emma Puffenbarger enjoyed a mother/daughter day of shopping.
Visitors in the Tom and Paula Mitchell family home were Martha Trisler of Clinton, Tennessee, Michell Guilliot of Fayetteville, Georgia, and Elise, Landon, Levi, and Lincoln Wilson of Huntsville, Alabama.
Nice to see the West Virginia state road crew continuing to mow along the roadsides. This certainly enhances clearer visibility to motorists.
It appears that the hummingbirds are well on their way to their southern homes. Be sure to clean out feeders and store them safely for next year’s returns.
The annual Sugar Grove Pumpkin Contest has its finalists with Benjamin Mitchell’s 221-pound pumpkin placing first, and Rick Adkins’ 122-pound pumpkin placing second. Congratulations to these two winners!
Rhonda Nash enjoyed attending the History Alive! Program Saturday at the Pendleton County Library. Actor/educator James Froemel portrayed the famous cartoonist Charles Schulz, creator of the iconic characters of the Peanuts comic strip.
Clickety-clacks for the chin waggers are as follows:
- Basketball is the only major sport that is completely American in origin.
- Like fingerprints, no two leopard skins are identical in their markings.
- Sloths spend nearly all their lives hanging upside down, often in a single tree.
- Queen Elizabeth I had more than 80 different wigs.
- The first magnifying glasses were glass globes filled with water.
Concerns for this week are many, and they are as follows: Charles Anderson, Lonnie Arbaugh family, Lynn Beatty, Jack Bennett, Bill Brackman, Jeff Evick, Ina Evick, Lee Roy Evick family, Margaret Ferrell, Ron Gilkeson, Lola Graham, Marlene Harman, Steve and Armanda Heavner, Starr Hedrick, Gary and Jackie Hills, Virgil Homan, Jr., Charlee Marie Hoover, Keith Hoover, Lorena Hoover, Myrtle Hoover, Enos Horst, Doris Hull, Bob and Cynthia Hurry, Alice Johnson, Kim Kline, Richard Judy, Melissa Lambert, Robin and Kitty Lambert, Robert Lambert, Rex Landis, Angela Lung, Linda Malcolm, Betty Mallow, Roger and Skip Mallow, Yvonne Marsh, Neil McLaughlin, Naomi Michael, Gloria Moats, Joe Moats, Lincoln Moore, Ernie Morgan, Shelby Morrison, Aaron Nelson, Ken and Ruth Nelson, Bennie Nesselrodt, Cheryl Paine, Sutton Parrack, Alda Propst, Betty Lou Propst, Kathy Propst, Sheldon Propst, Verla Puffenbarger, Pam Rexrode, Donna Ruddle, the Estyl Shreve family, Annie Simmons, Barbara Simmons, Erin Simmons, Eva Simmons, Robbie Sites, Ona Smith, Stanna Smith, Patricia Swecker, Rosa Tichenor, Sandra Vandevander, Jack Vogel, the Roy Warner family, Ron White, Judy Williams and Larry Wimer.