News For the Week of April 22, 2015

I hope everyone is enjoying the beautiful spring weather we have been having. Many have been hunting mushrooms, fishing, turkey hunting, or like me, just enjoying the beautiful scenery and warmer weather.

I would hunt mushrooms but that is all it would be, is hunting them. I have a hard time finding any. It's not that they aren't there, I just can't seem to see them. I love to play hidden object games on the computer and it seems that might help me with the mushrooms but they are the ultimate hidden object for me.

Lots of people have been suffering with allergies and it makes spring a little less enjoyable than it could be for them. Bob has allergies but they are taken care of with over the counter meds. I know several that have to take shots. Thankfully I have never suffered from spring allergies.

The Bradleyville Screaming Eagle Band under the direction of Chris Sprague received a “1” for their performance at the All-State Large Ensemble Contest recently. The band always does an awesome job whether it is at a contest or a concert at the school or the pep band at a ballgame. If you haven't heard them you should make an effort to hear them.

Some of the members of the FFA made a trip to Columbia last week and stayed a few days for competitions. Grandson Hayden said they had a really good time.

In the next few weeks this column will change hands. I am no longer going to be writing the news for the Bradleyville area. I feel like I can't devote as much time to writing it as I should and I really am out of the loop. My grandchildren take up a lot of my time and that is the way I like it right now. Tanya Rogers is going to start writing the news for this area. I am sure most of you know Tanya. Tanya works at the Bradleyville Post Office and is the granddaughter of Junior Lawrence and the late Marie Lawrence. I know she will do a fantastic job.

Birthdays for the coming week include: April 23: Misty Harmon: April 24: Brad Combs, Courtney Laughlin; April 25: Gayle Blair, Debbie Combs, Jesse Pollard; April 26: Austin Adams, Mitch Cummings; April 27: Sam Clemans, Jerilyn Day, T.J. Day; april 28: Andy Adams.

Anniversaries for the coming week include: April 24: Sam and Nona Norwine; April 26: Raymond and Jeanette Johnson; April 28: Tom and Kathy Tilley; April 29: Denzil and Lila Roberts.

News For the Week of April 8, 2015

I'm sorry if I gave everyone the idea last week that a mountain lion was skulking about our farm devouring our livestock. It has been only speculation. We have not seen any sign of a mountain lion. Bob did find some kind of footprints but it was muddy and they weren't clear and could have been a dog or any number of other animals. It was earlier in the year that our two calves disappeared, before the reports of dogs going missing and may or may not have been the victim of a cat, they just disappeared. They may have died and the buzzards had a feast or been rustled for all we know. We did have a large calf killed several years ago and it had marks on its shoulders. We always wondered what might have killed it but we really don't know. We have had reports of sightings of mountain lions and bears here and on our neighbor's farm but we have never actually seen either one.

Our daughters and their families all came to our house for Easter dinner on Sunday and of course we all have a wonderful time when everybody is there. Our son David and his wife, Amy will be coming home for a visit later in the week so there will be a few more dinners and visiting this week. We all try to eat together when David comes in so we can just be together. We want to use the fire pit and be outside some if the weather will just co-operate with us. The forecast is for severe weather later in the week. And of course, if the mountain lions and bears stay away. It's beginning to sound like I have landed in OZ. We just need some tigers. Oh my!

Easter services at New Mansion Church were well attended on Sunday, with a good message and several special songs. One was a video presentation with a song on the video sung by Lindsay Marsh and Koleder Ross. A very touching presentation that brought tears. Cindy Todd sang “Amazing Grace (My chains are gone).” Vicki Blair sang “ When He Was On the Cross, I Was On His Mind” and had help from her twin nieces, Laramie and Mesa who came up with her when she sang. Then Vicki played the piano and sang along with Belinda Wyman and Melanie Whittaker. They sang “I Bowed on my Knees and Cried Holy.” They always do a great job on that song. Of course there was an egg hunt after service and all the children had a good time hunting eggs, even though the temperature had dropped several degrees from when we first got to church.

I saw pictures of the sunrise service held by the Bradleyville Church of the Nazarene up on the Cunningham's hill on the bluff and it was a beautiful place to see the sun coming up and to worship. Looked like they had several at the service and more at church for regular service later in the morning.

A few people have been finding some mushrooms, mostly the red ones but I have seen pictures of a few of the smaller black ones. If it turns as warm as forecast this week they may be popping up everywhere. It won't do me any good because I am awful at finding them. I guess it's a good thing I don't care that much for them. I like them but can take them or leave them.

Birthdays for the coming week include: April 9: Amy Case, Tyler Hankins; April 10: Shirley Hall, Sharon Maggard, Beverly Smith; April 11: Ryan Elizabeth Flanigan; April 12: Kelsie Thomas; April 13: Sonny Guerin, Brandon Maggard, Cole Thomas; April 14: Levi Baker, Justin Chaney, Toby Davis, Hayden Day, Max Powell; April 15: Susan Mooney.

Anniversaries for the coming week include: April 14: Mike and Nancy Howie.

News For the Week of March 31, 2015

It seems to be a normal spring so far, back and forth between hot weather and snow flurries. It is hard to plan for anything this time of year if it involves the weather. I usually keep my computer turned on but this time of year I always unplug it before going to bed after having a couple that were fried by lightning.

I am looking for my first hummingbird this spring. I haven't seen any yet but it's about time. I didn't feed them last year because things around my house were too hectic to remember to fill the feeders but I am looking forward to feeding them again this year. I love to sit outside and watch them and have them zooming around feeding and fighting. I'm going to have to invest in some new feeders because mine sat out all winter in the weather and I'm pretty sure all the little flowers are falling off.

Remember that New Mansion Church will have an Easter Sunrise service starting at 6:30 with breakfast to follow at 7:30 and then regular services starting at 10:00 with an egg hunt following services at 12:00. Everybody is welcome.

Bradleyville Church of the Nazarene will also have Easter Sunrise service on the bluff up Cunningham Road a couple of miles north of Bradleyville. They have had it there for several years. They will also have coffee and refreshments back at the church fellowship hall after sunrise service. Everybody is welcome to this service also.

The Faith Home Orphanage Mission Trip fundraiser over the weekend raised over $4000 to help with their trip to Honduras this coming June. The money they raised will be used to help with other projects at the orphanage in addition to the planned activities they will be doing. Everyone on the mission team appreciates all the help they have been given.

Seems that several of the neighbors have had dogs go missing the past week or two and some have also found large tracks, possibly belonging to a mountain lion. Bob also found large tracks around our old corral and we have had a couple of calves disappear. Our neighbor to the south says they saw a mountain lion right outside their yard, so everyone needs to keep a watch out. Makes us wonder. First the bear sightings made me not want to pick blackberries and now a possible mountain lion. I won't be wanting to get out of the house for anything.

Birthdays for the coming week include: April 2: Dawson Deroo, Noel Shortt; April 3: Linda Combs, Tom Tilley; April 4: Josh Isaacs, Scott Lawson, twins, Dawson McHaffie and Sawyer McHaffie; April 5: Tampa Rogers, Kelvin Whittaker; April 6: Carole Gott, Nick Norwine, Samantha Rogers.

Anniversaries for the coming week include: April 5: Buddy and Kathy Compton, Don and Robyn Whittaker.

News For the Week of March 25, 2015

We had a big family get together Sunday afternoon to celebrate our grandson's birthday. Garrett turned four years old and had a party at his Grandpa Ivan's Saturday night then celebrated with us on Sunday and will have another party at his Grandma Carrie's house next weekend. He really knows how to celebrate. He had ordered a barn cake from me so I spent Saturday evening getting it decorated. Like an actual old barn, it was trying to fall down. I am glad he got to see it and we got to eat it before it collapsed! The weather was so pretty so the kids enjoyed getting to play outside.

I saw on facebook where someone else was enjoying the nice weather. Noah Blair had picked his Nana, Ann Blair a big bouquet of daffodils. If she is like me she loves those bouquets the grandkids bring, even if it's out of our flower beds.

Congratulations to Bub Blair and Tony Todd for winning first place in a fishing tournament over the weekend.

The Faith Home Orphanage Mission Trip team will be having a chili feed and auction at the Bradleyville School on Saturday, March 28. They have lots of items to be auctioned off and for silent auction also. The dinner and silent auction will begin at 4:30 and the regular auction begins at 6:00. All donations for auction are appreciated. All proceeds will go towards the mission trip which will take place in June.

New Mansion Church will have an Easter sunrise service starting at 6:30 Easter morning with breakfast to follow at 7:30. Sunday school and worship will start at the regular times of 10:00 and 11:00 and an egg hunt after worship. Everyone is welcome to any and all services.

Bradleyville Church of the Nazarene will also be having sunrise service up at the Cunningham place where they have always had it at 6am Easter Sunday morning then coffee and refreshments at the church after. There is a beautiful view of the sunrise on the bluff there and everyone is welcome.

Birthdays for the coming week include: March 25: Buddy Compton Jr., Danny Flannery, Clessie Hurst; March 26: Leon Combs; March 27: twins, Laramie Jo Silvey and Mesa Mae Silvey; March 28: Kent Day, Eric Guerin, Sherry Guerin, Natalie Mooney, Sara Ridings; March 29: Andrew Lovelace; March 30: Sherry Henning, Elijah Nelson, Hailee Norwine; March 31: Noah Blair, Kayla Combs.

Anniversaries for the coming week include: March 25: Tim and Ann Blair; March 30: Richard and Shirley Gott-Stoecker.