Weekly Comments Archive
Archived Issue
Wednesday, June 16, 2004
ISSUE #323
Weekly Comments: Black cherry cobbler tops reunion menu

# 323, June 16, 2004

COLUMBUS: I returned to Ohio to escape the rain, but the joke’s on me. With seven inches in five days, cicadas and lightening bugs are taking swimming lessons from the mosquitos.

John Kerry and the Democrats are looking around for a Vice-Presidential candidate. They say they want a person who knows all about foreign affairs and intelligence in the Middle East. I hope they find one, the Republicans sure haven’t. If they find one, I say let him serve, no matter which fellow gets elected President.

I promised to tell you about my week in West Virginia. First, the Weston Rotary asked me to have lunch with them. They had already heard every available local speaker twice so they brought in an outsider. Rotary is getting set for the 100th year of that fine service organization. The first club was started in Chicago by a lawyer named Paul Harris in 1905. A second club was formed in San Francisco in 1908, showing you it took California just 3 years to get the news, and they’ve been trying to catch up ever since. It spread around the world like a wild fire, and in 1989 they let women in. Their theme, one of them, is “Service above Self”, and nobody ever put service above self more than women.

Every year the folks in Weston put on a Carp Festival. (I told you about it last year.) There’s a town in Michigan that has one, too, and they kinda compete in a fishing contest to see which state has the biggest carp. Well, up to now Michigan has always won, mainly because their Festival is later in the summer and, being fishermen, the last man talking always has the biggest fish. So I suggested that to fool Michigan, they subtract about 5 pounds when they announce the winner, and then when Michigan swallows the bait and announces their catch, which naturally will be 2 or 3 pounds bigger, then Weston can spring the joke on them, and show ’em the honest weight, certified and notarized.

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Randall Reeder gives humorous talks as Will Rogers. It is an entertaining look at what life offers, and also reminds people of what really matters.     614-292-6648
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After getting in the habit of speaking for my dinner, I was invited to a family get together Sunday at Wildcat, kind of a combination reunion and Decoration Day. They told me I was welcome to eat with them, but with one proviso… that I not give a speech. That was not too much to ask since they were serving all these great country dishes, including corn bread, home-canned pork and a favorite of mine, black cherry cobbler. These little blackheart sweet cherries are unmatched for making cobbler, and they’re getting hard to find because the trees are dying off.

After eating, those that could still walk climbed to the little cemetery on top of a hill. They had American flags for the eight servicemen, including a pair of brothers, side by side, who had served in the Civil War. Here’s the amazing thing… they fought on opposite sides. One person asked, “Can you imagine the heated discussions those fellows had at family gatherings after the War?”

Just before I left Wildcat, an old cow was having trouble giving birth, so the calf had to be pulled. Now, I was not personally involved in this procedure, but I am glad to report that both calf and cow are fine.

John Ashcroft announced this week the FBI arrested some Al-Qaida terrorists for planning to blow up a Columbus shopping center. It seems the plot was uncovered in November, but they didn’t tell us till now, giving the stores a few months to get rid of their stuff. They got rid of it alright, and they got most of our money in the deal, so the only ones in the mall today aren’t there to buy, just to walk in the dry.

Historic quote from Will Rogers:

(One more quote related to the funeral for President Reagan…)

“What constitutes a life well spent? Love and admiration from your fellow men is all that any one can ask.” WA #139, August 9, 1925 (Writing about William Jennings Bryan after he died July 26.)

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