The Death of My Companion

Spoiler alert:

This post is not about Sugar.

*****

On the morning of December 27, 2017, I was tootling along in Ole Yeller on the way to work. The sun had just come up, and I was driving along, just like always, when 3 things happened in rapid succession: a loud boom-BOOM, the windshield browned out, and the car lurched up and down like something had dropped out of the sky onto the hood.

The brown back and body of something really large, like an enormous dog, lay across the hood. I could see the hair, the pattern of the hair growth, and the small tail. What was happening? This was like the twilight zone. As I watched, the animal lifted its head from where it had been hanging off the passenger side of the car, out of sight. I could feel my eyes growing ever wider when I saw a full set of antlers. Apparently as I had been driving along through a wooded area on the way to work, a deer was running for his life. It was hunting season, and there are traditional hunts that take place after Christmas. He must have leaped from the treeline, trying to clear the road, and was not expecting my little car with the quiet sewing machine engine. His front hooves must have skidded on the hood, and his body landed flat. Once his head was erect, he started flailing with his front hooves, trying to leap off the car. One of his hooves broke the passenger window, and glass pebbles showered everywhere. Then he was gone. The car was still running, and I pulled in at the community center. Poor Ole Yeller is no more. And if that deer had been six inches closer to me and the windshield, I would be no more.

The 2017 FlowerFest, Part Two

We finished up Part One at Bonaventure and Laurel Grove and ran out of time.

So, two days before Christmas, we head to Robertville for Part Two.

This was at the Robertville Baptist Church, which was formerly known as Blackswamp Baptist Church.

The above photo is of the marker for George and Phoebe Mosse that Sugar had installed earlier in 2017.

I noticed several markers that were in the next plot on the west side of the Lawton plot.

BAYNARD POLLOCK

BAYNARD POLLOCK

First son of

Dr. J.S. & Mrs S.C

LAWTON

Died

May 16th 1844

Aged 3 months

& 28 days.

CLARENCE GEORGE

CLARENCE GEORGE

Second son of

Dr. J.S. & Mrs S.C.

LAWTON

Died

June 10th 1847

Aged 1 month

& 10 days.

Mrs. ESTHER M. HUGHES

IN

Memory of

Mrs. ESTHER M. HUGHES

who died

25th Sept. 1837

Aged 65 yrs. 6 mos. 7ds.

For many years she lived

a useful member of the

Baptist Church,

And died in strong hope

of a blessed immortality.

“Blessed are the dead who

die in the Lord, they rest

from their labors, and

their works do follow

them.”

We think the last name is ROBERT.

Finished here, and we headed to the Robert Cemetery.

The poinsettia is placed across the cemetery between John Robert and his wife Elizabeth Dixon Robert.

Chipmunks? Squirrels? leave signs that they were here.

This panorama shot is another skill that I am working on. This is the entire Robert Cemetery.

Annnd we’re done. See you next year!

In Which Things Are Complicated

I have been locked out of my blog for over 2 weeks.

There’s a thing called an update. WordPress wouldn’t let me comment or write new blog posts unless I updated. So I updated.

I got locked out.

It was complicated trying to get back in. And there were complicated things going on at the same time, as in a deer was leaping from the woods across the road and misjudged the difference and landed on the hood of my car while I was driving it.

He also shattered the passenger window.

The good news is that, after a series of emails with WordPress, I’m back in.

And I have a new car.

I miss Ole Yeller.

But I’m baaaaack.