The Mountain Eagle
WHITESBURG WEATHER

Fall trees aren’t as gorgeous as usual

Southern Ohio


Hello again everyone!

It seems the weeks are flying by so fast. I don’t have time to turn around until another week has slipped by!

The trees are starting to share their fall foliage with us once again. They aren’t as gorgeous as I have seen them, but you can still see beauty if you look. There’s not as much red as I have seen in previous years, at least not yet, but still the bronze and russet colors are magnificent to see.

When the leaves are all gone is what is so depressing to me. To me, summer is such a short while and winter seems to hang on forever.

I think it is time for me to do my ritual, take my last bath until spring as cold weather is here. I better stock up on perfume and all kinds of good smelly things. I had to turn the heat on so I could stand to get in the shower. I didn’t want icicles hanging where they shouldn’t be!

I picked up a few walnuts for my friend Sue Courtney, who uses them to make fudge during the winter. As I was doing this it made me long for the days I spent with Grandma Rosa Hall. This time of the year was such a special time being with Grandma as she would hunt for hickory nuts and walnuts, and sometimes she would find an apple or pear tree which usually belonged to someone else, that was hidden way on the back side of the mountain.

There were a few people who didn’t care if Grandma gathered a bag of apples or pears, but then there were some who were so stingy they’d rather see them lay and rot before they would give a person even one.

If Grandma could manage to get a cushaw from someone, she would cook it a little then bake it with a little sugar and put butter on it. Oh, it was so good. I have tried to fix this and it is not near as good as when Grandma fixed it.

Mom would bake something we called muffins, but now they are referred to as cupcakes. I believe you could smell the muffins baking almost a mile. It made the whole house smell so good, and it was served with a cold glass of sweet milk. Mom and Grandma neither had an electric or gas stove until years later.

I wish my house had a fireplace, but if I had to heat with one all the time I might be wishing for my furnace! Sue Courtney has an electric fireplace, and it is so pretty and it puts off a small bit of heat. When I figure out a spot for one, I am thinking of getting one so I can watch the flames glow. We had something similar to this several years ago, but someone thought they needed it more than I did, so it disappeared!

I still don’t have my computer fixed, and I really miss corresponding with my Facebook friends from the mountains.

Annette Akers, Green Calihan said you sent me a big hello when he was at Letcher County Day. Next year we are going to name it something else as it seems there were some questions if someone can come without being from Letcher County, and of course everyone is welcome, so we may steal the name ‘Kentucky Day.’

I received lots of good compliments about our little get-together. I hope it grows, but all I can do is make the location available and hope for the best.

I do wish I had done some things differently, such as having a birthday cake for Clarence Halcomb. A belated happy birthday wish to Clarence, who celebrated October 8. He was 92.

I had nametags and forgot them, along with some small gifts, and now that it is over, I really didn’t know if I was going to feel like going through with getting the shelter or not. I felt bad, but I was bound and determined not to let everyone down. It was worth going ahead with the plans.

Thanks to Polly Ann Maucher for picking up chicken for me. Last year I let Johnny and Ann Calihan do the running for me, as it is difficult to hold the shelter and do the running too.

I have been called a few names for going to save the shelter at five in the morning, but all I care about is not getting run off by the Harrison police. So far no one has said anything to me for going that early! I will do it again next year if necessary!

My brother Richie Hall has to go to the doctor in Pikeville for his heart and by the time you read this I will have been in the Whitesburg area, and then back to Harrison. I will be knocking on Richie and Wanda’s door sometime Thursday evening. I hope all goes well with Richie, he sounds a little bit weak to me. Thanks to all his friends and neighbors for caring so much about that brat brother of mine.

All three brothers, Richie, Robert and Jerry, are lucky to have wives who care about them. I haven’t been around Robert’s wife Ann that much. She was really good about staying with Robert when he was in the hospital at Huntington, W.Va. Wanda has been a sister to me more than a sister-in law, and it’s the same with Mattie.

I haven’t talked to Ann Calihan this week so I hope everyone is all right in their family.

Gwen Huff Farmer is missing me on the computer. I miss Gwen, too. I have been using my son Keith’s computer occasionally, and it is a little different than mine. I have figured out how to check my email mail from his and do what I need to do.

Shirley Wells, I miss hearing from you too.

I have found out one thing; if I use the time I have been spending on the computer, I can get other things done that I have put off doing, like cleaning out a cabinet.

Hello to Carl Boggs and the Boggs family. I hope all is well with everyone.

Hello Jessie Frazier. I’ll bet you are getting your camper ready for winter.

Fayette Halcomb drove a Mustang convertible to the Letcher County picnic, and when I saw the car pull up I told someone that whoever was in it could just leave the keys in it. I sure wish I had taken it for a short ride, but of course I would have put the top down on that beauty and might have forgotten to come back for a little while.

My little sidekick Bennie Wiederhold hasn’t been feeling well again, and he still isn’t gaining any weight. I took Bennie some pumpkin and ghost lights and a large lighted jack-o-lantern, which he really likes. Bennie is spoiled by his Mom-ma Rose very much. You might say I spoil all the grandchildren. I have taken care of Bennie more than the others.

I have neglected to say something: there’s a special angel in heaven that was taken from the family of Edna and Elwood Sturgill. Their great-grandson, a special little boy, was hit by a car some time ago. Edna was a sister to Polly, Doug, Michael, and Jean Ison.

I heard it on the news and cried because of such a tragedy, then later found out the connections. What was even worse, the woman who hit this precious child never stopped. Hold your little ones close to your heart, because you don’t know what lies in store for them!

I know I have not been the perfect mother to my adult children, but when I close my eyes for the last time, I want them to know I love them, and I have done everything for them that I can possibly do, sometimes probably too much.

I better get this on its way, as I have a lot to do. So until next time, Rose Ballard, 9110 Lawrenceburg Road, Harrison, Ohio email: Bluegrassmama4@ aol.com telephone 513-367-4682.


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