…And Beyond

'Most everyone around here called it the Plankway, a slight widening of the little creek meandering through Gum Swamp, our small corner of the Great Pee Dee River Swamp. The old plank crossing had rotted away long before our Tom and Huck days. A mule and wagon could easily ford the small...
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When we left off in early 2005, Bubba had gone to Dog Heaven, I had retired, and now we had only one dog again. Buddy had turned into a beautiful animal, a Yellow Lab/Golden Retriever mix--the coloring and build of a Lab and the longer, wavy hair of a Retriever.
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Not long after we started spending weekends on the farm in 2002-2003 cutting and clearing, Bubba came along, a short-legged beagle-ish mutt with an infectious smile and a crippled hind leg. Before we could get the car unpacked into our travel trailer/weekend hideaway, we could see Bubba coming up the farm road from my...
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Second Dog Story Dogs were the last thing on our minds as we left South Carolina in 1970 for California, a two year old on the back seat with chicken pox and a four year old pending. Four years later, medical residency behind us, lightning struck. My rich uncle, Sam, needed an internist in...
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So far, this summer is redefining and extending the term “dog days”--at least 10 days in June with temps over 90 and more than that already in July. What better excuse to break out of my blogger's doldrums as long as the AC around my computer is working. Our shallow well water...
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So far, no one has remarked that kings do not usually come out ahead in revolutions. More often than not, their heads come out on the end of a pike. A blogger did bite on the editorial license I used in mentioning insurance costs in Revolution (Part 2), but he or she chose to...
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By Dr. Percy George I’ve had a tough time starting my follow-up healthcare article this morning, tougher than usual. I refused to listen to the talking heads on TV before and after the House bill squeaked by late Saturday night. I didn’t even stay up for the vote, and I’ve been selective about all...
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September's gone, October's here with a couple of cool fall nights already We had a late summer sabbatical, two weeks' vacation back to back—a quiet, slow one at the beach, the next not so slow in Hawaii. Yep, halfway 'cross Big Blue--The Aloha State, Honolulu, Waikiki, Pearl Harbor.
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From the tallest, proudest trees in the world to a modest pea that dives into the ground to grow, how's that for a study in contrast. The peanuts are almost all dug and this year's crop was not shabby here on the sand hill. I planted two 100-foot double rows for space consideration and...
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The Georgia brothers have come and gone, and Nana's new wooden bridge spans the Rocky Ravine in the back yard. I've pulled about a third of the peanuts for boiling, probably a peck and a half so far. Dig early, load the vines on the golf cart and find a shady spot to pick...
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I was a paragraph into this year's peanut crop here on the sand hill when I remembered mentioning redwoods and sequoias in my last blog, so back to the travelogue. With the recent rain, the goober peas need another week, anyway.
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