Newspaper Page Text
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 2016
BARROW NEWS-JOURNAL
PAGE 5A
My helpers
While at work during the day, I’m
part of a team that knows what to do to
get the job done, get it done efficiently,
and provide impeccable service to our
patients. We are all helpers.
For my contract work done in
the evenings from home, I have
my own helpers. Three of them.
They have four legs, lots of fur,
and talk to me in the language of
purrs and meows. As expected,
their favorite place to walk or nap
is on my keyboard. While I am
working.
I have a very spacious office
from which to work, with a nice,
big desk, and a soft, comfy chair.
Since I’ve started working outside
the home during the day, I seem to
prefer working at night from my
living room on the sofa, with a
TV tray for my laptop. I hate the laptop
keyboard, so I use a peripheral keyboard
in my lap. So, I’m not really sure if the
kitties are trying to nap on the keyboard,
which kitties are prone to do, or they just
want to be in my lap and don’t mind the
keyboard being there.
Cooper is the oldest kitty, and he
sometimes likes to oversee things from
the back of the sofa, while Boo Radley
normally curls up in the floor among all
the wires and cables.
Scout is a Mama’s Girl, and wants to
be snuggled right up against me. Some
times the screen will start doing crazy
things, and I’ll find that she’s rolling
around on the mouse.
Sometimes they help me by alerting
me that someone has pulled in the drive
way. They take off like lightning out to
the office for their safe place underneath
the recliner. This is indeed helpful, since
my doorbell doesn’t work. They are very
picky about my work space, and in an
effort to keep it clean, they are quite dili
gent about pushing things onto the floor.
Whether or not I need them. When I
have to work late and get sleepy, they
sense this, and begin chasing each other
about the house, sounding like a herd of
horses pounding the floor. Knowing, of
course, that this keeps me awake.
Living alone, I sometimes don’t keep
a regularly-scheduled dinner time, just
grabbing a bite whenever I have a min
ute.
My kitties try to keep me on a good
feeding schedule by reminding me to
feed them. And they know that life is
sometimes boring, so they are always
cathy
watkins
bennett
leaving me gifts in the litter box, just to
give me something to do.
Boo Radley is forever collecting mis
cellaneous items like tweezers, hair ties,
eyeliner pencils, nail clippers,
pennies, etc., and hiding them
for safekeeping. In the lava
tory drain. This is to keep my
plumbing skills honed. Every
now and then I have to take
apart the drain pipe under the
sink and remove all the trea
sures he has hidden for me.
(His namesake would be proud
of him!)
My little helpers are all res
cue kitties. Cooper is from
Jackson County, and lived in
a foster home before coming
to live with me. Adopting him
was as much about rescuing
me as it was rescuing him, as my mar
riage had just ended and I had moved
back into my house. After unpacking
the essentials, my first order of business
was to adopt a kitty. And he for sure was
a blessing to me. I’m still not sure who
rescued who.
A year later, I adopted Scout and
Boo Radley, my polydactyl littermates,
and we are a tight-knit little family.
They keep me company when times
are lonely, and are always ready to play
and entertain me. And when I need a
little peace and quiet, they are happy to
lounge about in the office, where their
kitty toys, kitty tower, food, and kitty
potty are located.
Yes, I love my little helpers. Maybe
it’s the crazy cat lady in me, but I don’t
even mind the random cat-hair tum
bleweeds that are often seen rolling
through my house. No outfit is complete
without a little cat hair.... Right?!?
Are you lonely? Do you find you need
a helper around the house? Want your
silly knickknacks out of the way, or
your indoor plants tended? Do you have
a laser light, and not sure what to do
with it?
Do you want the sweetest, softest,
cutest little helpers ever? Contact your
nearest pet adoption center or humane
society and you, too, can have your very
own helpers around your house!
Cathy Watkins Bennett is a Bar-
row County native and a gradu
ate of Winder-Barrow High School.
Send comments about this column to
bencath@aol.com.
Low-cost spay, neutering available
Leftover Pets offers low
cost spay/neuter surgeries
at its clinic in Winder at
610 Barrow Park Drive.
September clinic days
are Mondays, Tuesdays,
Thursdays and Fridays.
Prices are $85 for a
female dog over 25 lbs.,
$65 for a female dog up
to 25 lbs., $55 for a male
dog, $55 for a female cat
and $35 for a male cat.
A $5 discount is avail
able for any surgery
patient no older than five
months (as determined by
Leftover Pets veterinar
ian).
All surgery prices
include a free rabies vac
cination.
The group does not add
fees for in-heat or preg
nant animals. Financial
assistance is available for
any low-income Barrow
County resident.
For more information
on clinic services, visit
http: //w w w.leftoverpets.
org.
Appointments are
required and must
be made by calling
770-307-3499.
A love story
jimmy
terrell
We open and close a lot of doors in our
lifetime.
Some doors we choose, others
we enter by fate and some we
enter by accident.
There are doors entered that
leave us with the feeling we
have been kicked in the stom
ach. Others leave us content,
while others leave us with a
thirst to seek more, to rise above
the ordinary, to chase new chal
lenges and new dreams.
The latter was such a doorway
I walked into my junior year
at LaGrange High School. The
time was September, 1963.
It wasn't a chance meeting
but more or less the luck of the draw. I
remember standing there in the hallway
at LaGrange High School looking at my
junior class schedule.
My next class was an English literature
class with Mrs. Lollie Love. I knew of her.
Everyone past the freshman class knew of
Mrs. Love.
In high school, word spreads quickly
about which teachers to hope for and
which teachers to avoid. The jury was out
on Mrs. Love. Some good, some bad. In
general, a tough cookie!
It didn't really matter at the time because
I had no choice. Class schedules were
rarely changed back in 1963. Maybe you
got lucky if your folks knew someone in
Washington and you were able to get an
act of Congress passed on your behalf.
That wasn’t my situation.
There was a positive side, I remember
thinking. Her son was the starting quar
terback that year on the school’s football
team. I just happened to be on the football
team and that might be the advantage I
needed.
I marched into class and took a seat on
the middle row, halfway to the front. Not
too close, not too far away, not too close
to the window to day dream. Actually,
I thought it was a good move, sort of a
neutral area.
Mrs. Love was a petite teacher who
barely reached the shoulders of the foot
ball and basketball players that joined me
in the classroom that morning. There was
nothing to indicate there was a raging fire
in her intellectual mind.
That warm greeting and feeling lasted
about three minutes.
In those three minutes, Mrs. Love, while
speaking to the new class and listing her
expectations and the class itinerary, grew
from barely five feet tall to seven feet.
Her calm eyes took on the appearance
of daggers. She had the uncanny ability of
immediately reading our faces and seeing
our concerns. “So be it”, she said, or some
thing to that effect.
At the moment, things were not looking
good!
The year was not an easy year. There
was a lot of work, sweat, a lot of prayers
before tests. It was as she said it would be.
Although it was hard work, she opened
doors into the world for the students in
that class, introducing us to the great poets
and writers, both before our time and of
our time.
As was part of the educational theory
of the time, we did a lot of memo
rizing. I was always amazed as she
quoted verse after verse of literature
without looking at the page. She
made it look easy.
More importantly, she made it
interesting. Sitting there in a mill
town classroom, she projected us
into the words and into the pages.
And, she taught us from within her
heart.
Mrs. Love pushed me in my class
work. She challenged my interpre
tations of poems and writings. She
instilled in me a desire to write and
to write from the heart. She made
me want to read the writings of others,
even to disagree with what the authors
were saying.
She encouraged me, along with my
classmates, to go into the world, looking
for the challenges, not the passes.
She was not a woman of warm and
emphatic approvals or acclamations.
Instead, she was a woman of expectations,
high expectations, and a woman who did
not easily accept failure, a lackadaisical
attitude, or performance without effort.
After high school, I had the opportunity
to see and visit Mrs. Love over the years.
Together, we have quoted the prologue
to The Canterbury Tales (still cataloged
in my memory) and, at times, we would
discuss the shattered statue at the center of
Percy Shelby's poem, Ozymandias.
We both were fans of Emily Dickerson
and, occasionally, we would talk about her
poetry. We talked about William Faulk
ner's "bear” and the trials, tribulations and
complexity of Old Ben (the bear) and the
McCaslin family from Mississippi.
Several years ago, we laid Lollie Love
to rest and her ashes were placed in the
ground by her grandson on a blue backer
of a day at the family cemetery in Gabbet-
tville (GA), just north of West Point; not
very far from the home place where she
entered this world some 90-plus years ago.
It was of her choosing.
She had prepared everything for her
final moment, even the obituary. One of
her last visitors was Dr. Stuart Gulley, a
former president of LaGrange College and
now the president of Woodward Academy
in Atlanta.
Dr. Gulley has been a family friend for
many years. Lollie’s husband, John, had
served as Dean of Students at LaGrange
College during Dr. Gulley’s tenure as the
college’s president.
Knowing she was near her final stage
performance, Dr. Gulley, speaking in a
comforting but honest manner as Lollie
was accustomed to do herself, asked if she
was ready for what was next. In straight
forward terms, one of her trademarks, she
announced she was.
Mrs. Love is gone but certainly not for
gotten. Every book I touch reminds me of
Lollie Love,
Jimmy Terrell is a retired law enforce
ment official. He can be reached at
ejterrell65@gmail. com.
September 28, 2016 ~ Crossword Puzzle
Headmaster’s
Corner
by
Steve Cummings
CONGRATS TO OUR FFA
WINNERS! - We wanted to
give a BIG SHOUT OUT to our
Middle School FFA team for
winning the Area 2 Junior Land
Judging Competition last week.
Eighth grader Mary Meagan
Kellum placed 1st overall, fol
lowed by Matt Kierulf (3rd),
Jacob Gafner (6th), and Bailee
Greene (13th).
The Land Judging Competi
tion is designed to help students
develop skills in determining
land treatment practices that
conserve soil and water. It is the
foundation for all other agricul
tural operations.
Thanks to FFA Advisor Jerry
Taylor, who came to ACS after
30 years of FFA experience in
local schools and the FFA State
Office. We’re so thankful to
have Mr. Taylor with ACS.
ATHENS
CHRISTIAN SCHOOL
“Affordable Quality Education Since 1970”
K3-12TH CALL (706) 549-7586
www.athenschristian.com
Across
1. Desk item
7. “Yadda, yadda, yadda”
10. Basic monetary unit of Romania
13. File menu option
14. Scarab beetles
16. Tramples
17. Thick cereal made with oatmeal
18. Big Conference
19. Furniture polish fragrance
(2 wds)
21. Spud leaf eater (2 wds)
25. Cafeteria carrier
27. Cap
28. Appropriate
29. Hot-air blower
31. End
33. “ we having fun yet?”
34. Human-centered
38. Same old, same old
39. Elmer, to Bugs
40. Fix, as leftovers
41. Close-fitting tartan trousers
44. When doubled, a dance
46. After-dinner drink
47. The Boston Strangler, e.g.
50. First-place winner
51. power
54. Some Bach pieces
57. Clothing
59. One who curses
60. Argument
61. Dash
62. “Raiders of the Lost ”
63. Sun god
Down
1. At a previous time
2. Network of veins
3. Soon, to a bard
4. “Casablanca” pianist
5. Boss
6. Change, as a clock
7. Relating to finance
8. Beat
9. Dental decay
10. Certain digital watch face,
for short
11..0000001 joule
12. “It’s no !”
15. Seafood entree
17. Party bowlful (2 wds)
20. “Welcome” site
21. Approach
22. One who pulls something apart
23. Rodeo ring?
24. Bumper sticker word
25. Staying power?
26. Rodent-catching dog or cat
29. Mature male red deer
30. Pistol, slangily
32. The “p” in m.p.g.
35. Acne scar
36. Drug to remedy grief
37. God with a hammer
42. Benevolent, nature-oriented
witchcraft
43. “The English Patient” setting
45. “Aladdin” prince
48. “Ciao!”
49. Disinclined
51. Not yet final, at law
52. Beethoven’s “Archduke ”
53. Amerada
(Fortune 500 company)
54. Cooking meas.
55. “I you one”
56. Brown-capped mushroom
58. el Amarna, Egypt
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