The Times Dispatch Blogs

Congratulations to the Arkansas State Red Wolves on their 18-14 upset win over Texas A & M last week. It was good to see them finally get a win against one of the “big boys.” Several times over the years, ASU has come close to beating a big-name opponent, but could never quite pull it off.
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Congratulations are also in order for Hoxie senior football player Derek Johnson. Derek was named first-team preseason All-Arkansas, as well as being named the preseason Defensive Player of the Year by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette in last Sunday’s edition.
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The NFL season kicks off tonight with the Washington Redskins visiting the Super Bowl champion New York Giants. It’s good to have the NFL back, but there just aren’t any real marquis matchups on the first weekend.

A couple of former Razorback players will make their pro debuts in the Monday night game between the Oakland Raiders and the Denver Broncos. Darren McFadden, the fourth pick in the NFL draft, is expected to be a star with the Raiders. Due to injuries suffered by the starters, ex-Hog Payton Hillis is expected to get the start at fullback for the Broncos.
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234 days.

That's how long it's been since we watched LSU manhandle Ohio State 38-24 (it wasn't as close as the score indicated) in the BCS Championship game, concluding the 2007 college football season. Sure, the NFL playoffs lasted until early February and the 2008 NFL preseason has been underway since early August, but it's been 234 days since we've had college football.

The long drought ends on this holiday weekend, with a schedule beginning on Thursday and continuing through Monday evening. There aren’t any blockbuster games on the schedule, but there are some interesting matchups.

Both of Arkansas’ Division I teams begin new eras on Saturday.

After decades as “Indians,” Arkansas State will take the field as the Red Wolves for the first time. “The Wolves” will be in College Station, Texas, to take on the Texas A & M Aggies. I expect Steve Roberts’ crew to put up a good fight, but I can’t see them pulling off the upset. It’s going to be hard getting used to calling them the Red Wolves. Can I at least call them the WolfTribe?

In Fayetteville, the Bobby Petrino era begins at the University of Arkansas when the Razorbacks take on Western Illinois. After a decade of Houston Nutt’s conservative run-oriented offense, Petrino brings a more balanced offensive attack to the Hogs. It will be interesting to see how the players, most of whom were recruited for Nutt’s system, will adjust to the new offense. As for Western Illinois, the Leathernecks are ranked 13th in a Football Championship Subdivision (formerly known as Division I-AA) preseason poll by The Sporting News, so this may not be the cakewalk many fans are expecting. (By the way, Central Arkansas was ranked 25th in the same poll.)

Elsewhere around the nation:

Perhaps the most interesting matchup of the weekend will take place when Appalachian State visits No. 7 LSU. Appy State pulled of one of the biggest upsets in college football history when they knocked off Michigan on last year's opening weekend. The Mountaineers won’t sneak up on the Tigers, like they did Michigan, so it’ll be interesting to see if they can keep it close.

Vanderbilt visits Miami (OH) tonight and Mississippi State travels to Louisiana Tech on Saturday, which means that the SEC could open with a couple of embarrassing non-conference losses.

In Oxford, Miss., Houston Nutt’s Mississippi Rebels host the Memphis Tigers. This rivalry usually produces close games and this year should be no different. Ole Miss fans are excited to have Nutt as their coach. Most Arkansas fans are also glad that Nutt is the Ole Miss coach.

Missouri versus Illinois is another rivalry that usually produces a good game. Mizzou brings a #6 preseason ranking into the game, while the Illini are ranked 20th.

Sunday brings a couple of good intra-state matchups, when Louisville hosts Kentucky and Colorado hosts Colorado State.

No. 18 Tennessee plays at UCLA in prime time on Monday.
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Race walking has got to be the most bizarre sport I’ve ever watched.

First, just the concept of “race walking” seems strange. A race is supposed to be a contest to see who can travel the fastest. When traveling on foot, this is usually called “running.” So in race walking, are you supposed to go fast, but not too fast? Are there speed limits?

And then there’s the way the competitors look when they’re walking. They keep their backs straight with their arms bent at the elbow, swinging from side to side. It appears that they hardly bend their knees. It’s not really walking or running. It’s more like “waddling.” Actually, they all looked like they needed to go to the bathroom really badly.

During the race I saw, there were several contestants bunched together in a pack. They looked like a bunch of penguins. Penguins that needed to go to the bathroom. I’m sure it was an intense competition, but I couldn’t help but laugh.
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Random thoughts on the Olympics:

It’s funny how during the Olympics, we get excited about sports that we couldn’t care less about at any other time. Like swimming, for example. Does anyone watch swimming any other time? I don’t. But it has always been one of my favorite events of the summer games.

I never knew badminton could be so exciting, especially doubles competition. More high schools should play badminton. The equipment is probably fairly inexpensive and it can be played indoors or outdoors.

Table tennis can also be amazing to watch. Table tennis players have got to have the best hand-eye coordination and quickest reactions of any athletes.

Is there a more boring event to watch than rowing? This is not to be confused with kayaking, which can be pretty entertaining.

There are several events that I never would have considered as Olympic events. Like trap shooting and skeet shooting, bouncing on a trampoline and walking.

The judging in boxing is even screwier than it is in gymnastics. There’s always been an element of shadiness when it came to judging Olympic boxing. Until they can come up with a better system, boxing should be dropped from the Olympics and replaced with Mixed Martial Arts. Very few MMA contests go the distance, so judging is rarely an issue. Most bouts end with a tapout or when one competitor is not able to defend himself. All you need is a competent referee.

This appears to be the best USA basketball team we’ve had in years. More often than not in recent years, the United States has been a disappointment in international hoops competition. This year should be different, though. I’ll be surprised if any team stays within 20 points of Kobe & Company.
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The 2008 Summer Olympics are finally underway. There are several events I like to watch - track and field and gymnastics are my favorites, but the rest don’t really interest me.

There are some sports (if you can call them that) that I cannot believe they have made into Olympic events. To me, they are a joke, I mean Badminton – come on! There are a few others I feel this way about, but I’ll leave it at that.

On the other side, I’ve found that I can’t stop watching the “real” sports. I have watched some of the basketball and gymnastic preliminaries, but I have really been drawn to the swimming – which I have never really enjoyed watching.

I even found myself jumping out of my seat and cheering last night as the USA men’s 4x100 relay swim team came from behind to beat France for the Gold, setting a new world record. It was amazing… especially after the French said the only reason they were there was to “smash the Americans” in this race.

Is anyone else out there watching? What are some of your favorite events?

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August is finally here and that means one thing (besides triple-digit temperatures) — football season is just around the corner. NFL teams are in training camp, while college and high school teams have begun their summer practices. There’s already been an NFL preseason game on television.

However, something is a little different this year, at least locally. There will be no Walnut Ridge – Hoxie game this year. For the past several years, when the Mustangs and Bobcats met on the football field, not only did it signify the beginning of a new football season, but also the beginning of a new school year. Despite what the thermometers read, summer was pretty much over.

That wasn’t always the case, though. When I was in high school at Walnut Ridge many years ago, the two schools were in the same conference and always played in the final game of the regular season.

Then, for a number of years in the 80s and 90s (I’m not sure of the exact years), the two rivals played each other twice each season, in the first game and then again in the final game. I never cared for that arrangement. I always felt that playing twice a season slightly diminished the “specialness” of the rivalry. One of the things that makes a rivalry game so important is that they are only played once a season. The winners get an entire year to brag, while the losing team has to wait a year for a chance at revenge.

The Hoxie senior Mustangs open the 2008 season on Thursday, Sept. 4, against Heber Springs. The game will be played at Harding University in Searcy.

The Walnut Ridge senior Bobcats open their season on Sept. 5 at Cave City.
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My little girl, who just turned seven last month, has been so afraid for the last couple of days. She has been asking me if someone will break into our home and hurt her and her younger sister.

This has been asked of me since Saturday evening when we were going to the Walnut Ridge Community Center to watch some friends dance at the Main Street Dance recital. As many know it was vandalized very badly, destroying trophies that were to be handed to the young ones who have worked so hard all year, along with numerous other items.

I think it is so awful that anyone could do such a thing and ruin the night for so many people – Miss Amber has worked so hard teaching these dancers and preparing for the recital. The dancers have also worked so hard to get each move down. Many people spent hours and hours on getting things ready for the event not to mention the expense. The night was also ruined for all the individuals who were going to watch the performers.

I hope there are not any other little girls or boys who are frightened as my little girl.

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My sister-in-law, Georgetta, called me Friday afternoon because she had a cut on her head that she thought would need stitches. Of course my first question was, “What happened?”

Well… here goes…

My brother, Blake, went out to his shop, and the door was jammed. He opened the big doors and tried to get the regular door open from the inside, but couldn’t. He asked George to help him, so she tried to pry the door open. When she stopped, Blake walked to the back of the shop – to get a running start – so he could jump into the door and bust it open.

In the mean time, George decided to do more prying and asked Blake to wait a minute. He was already at the back of the shop, though, and didn’t hear her. She was down in front of the door prying away as Blake ran and jumped into it.

Needless to say, Blake flew through the door knocking it into George.

She actually did need stitches, but wouldn’t go to the hospital. She also has some bumps and bruises, but she is okay.

It is one of those things that isn’t really funny, but I couldn’t help laughing as she told me the story … Luckily, she laughed with me.

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It’s summertime again (okay, I know it won’t officially be summer until June 21 — but that’s beside the point) and that usually means a long dry spell for sports. Actually, it’s not just sports, but television in general has pretty slim pickings. Whoever it was that called television a “vast wasteland” must have done so after channel surfing on a Saturday afternoon during the summertime.

Baseball and NASCAR are approaching the midpoint of their schedules, but those sports have long, drawn out seasons, making it tough to get too jazzed up over a single game or race. However, there are a few things going on in the sports world worthy of attention.

First, in the NBA playoffs, the Los Angeles Lakers and the Boston Celtics have each made their respective conference finals. I haven’t watched the NBA very much over the past few years, but even I would be interested in a Lakers-Celtics final.

If you don’t want to wait until September and October for meaningful (and entertaining) baseball, the NCAA Baseball Tournament gets underway this weekend. The 64-team field will be whittled down to the eight teams that will advance to the College World Series in Omaha. I don’t keep up with college baseball during the regular season, but the NCAA Tourney and the CWS usually provide lots of drama and excitement for baseball fans.

Also, the Little League World Series will be played later in the summer. If you’ve never watched the LLWS, I urge you to check it out. It’s great fun to watch the kids play their hearts out for the love of the game and a desire to win.

For me, personally, the best thing about summer is the realization that each day that passes brings us one day closer to the start of football season. The NFL preseason starts Aug. 3. Only 68 more days! And, best of all, just three short months from today — Aug. 28 — marks the beginning of the college football season!
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My aunt, Pat Melton, passed away this morning after a short battle with cancer. Although it is always hard to lose someone you love, I'm thankful that she is now at peace and won't be suffering anymore.

As a kid, I loved to visit her house. She was always smiling and made you feel at home. She made the best baked beans I have ever eaten, and they always had the best toys or gadgets to play with (and still do - just ask Briar or Brad). I actually used my first computer at her house many, many years ago.

Aunt Pat was a huge NASCAR fan; she even won the Mark Martin truck that was given away a few years ago after the NASCAR season.

She loved life and her family and lived every day to the fullest. She was one of a kind and will definitely be missed.

Others in the office were talking about nicknames today. It got me to thinking…

A nickname is a name of an entity or thing that is not its proper name. It may either substitute or be added to the proper name. It may be a familiar or truncated form of the proper name, such as Angie – for Angela.

I’m also called Ang a lot. I guess that would be a nickname for a nickname. I don’t know. In school I was called “Big Ang.” Looking at me now you would think it is because I am big… I wasn’t then, though. They called me that because I was very small.

My husband called me AJ until we got married and I was no longer an AJ, and my Granny Tate always called me Hannie.

My little brother, Blake, is better known as Possum, and my older brother, Rodney, is either Hot Rod or Cougar.

Briar and Brad are #1 and #2, my niece, Kylie, is Booger, and Jarah is Tiger or JJ. My nephew Drake is Big D, and Grace, my other niece, is Gracie. I think nicknames are supposed to be shorter than the original name, so I’m not sure what happened there.

Anyway, you get the picture.

I’ve shared some of mine … feel free to share yours, too!

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At times while getting ready for work in the mornings, I will turn to my eight-year-old niece, Jarah, to ask how something looks - my hair, makeup, clothes, etc. She never fails to tell me how “great” everything looks.

I know that I don’t always – or ever, for that matter – look great, but I have trusted her not to let me leave the house looking like a fool. My hair is the last thing I fix, or don’t fix in my case. I’m a wash, comb and go girl. The other day, I took a towel off my head and quickly towel dried my hair. It was standing up everywhere.

I looked at Jarah and asked about my hair, I told her I was trying a new style. She quickly told me it looked “great.” Thinking I’d call her bluff, we headed out the door. Halfway to school, I couldn’t take it any more, I asked Jarah if she was really going to let me go to work with my hair uncombed.

She again assured me how good it looked. I keep a brush in my car, and was able to tame my wild tresses before entering The TD building.

This morning, I thought my hair looked about normal, and was ready to leave the house only to have Jarah tell me how horrible it looked. I didn’t even ask her opinion this time.

I didn’t have time to do anything to fix it, so I walked around all day with my horrible hair.

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Aside from occasionally forgetting that my family has moved and driving to our old house, we have settled in quite nicely. All the boxes have disappeared and everything has its place.

As a child, we lived in the “country,” and I hated it. As an adult, I love it.

We had a housewarming party a couple of weeks ago. Lots of our family and friends came and shared refreshments and visited with us. We had a great time.

We also had a opossum that visited our house for about three weeks. He would eat dog food and then go about his business. I have pictures of the animal on my cell phone and watched for it every night. My husband, however, has put an end to these visits. We have lots of other critters to take its place, though.

Briar and Brad seem to really like the new house. They have friends who live nearby, and they have been spending a lot of time at our house. We also have a bigger yard, so they have been spending more time outside.

Everything is still new to us, but it seems as if we made a good move.

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The first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament are in the books and, as usual, there were a few surprises. Four of the remaining 16 teams — West Virginia, Davidson, Villanova and Western Kentucky — are double-digit seeds.

As expected, the #1 seeds in each region are still alive. The same goes for the #3 seeds. Only two of the #2s, Tennessee and Texas, are still in it, while Georgetown and Duke bit the dust in the second round. The #4 seeds were even less fortunate, with Washington State being the only one still standing.

Now, on to the Sweet Sixteen:

East Region
This is the only region where the top four seeds have advanced to the semifinals. In fact, ninth-seeded Arkansas’ first-round win over #8 Indiana has been the only “upset” so far.
#1 North Carolina vs. #4 Washington State. It’s hard to imagine anyone beating the Tar Heels right now.
#2 Tennessee vs. #3 Louisville. I pick Louisville in a mild upset.

Midwest Region
#1 Kansas vs. #12 Villanova. The Jayhawks will put an end to ‘Nova’s Cinderella run.
#3 Wisconsin vs. #10 Davidson. Davidson beat an outstanding defensive team, Georgetown, in the second round and will face another one in Wisconsin. I’ll go with the Badgers.

South Region
#1 Memphis vs. #5 Michigan State. Memphis has too much firepower and too many athletes for the Spartans.
#2 Texas vs. #3 Stanford. I’m picking the winner of this game to go to the Final Four. It’ll be Stanford.

West Region
#1 UCLA vs. #12 Western Kentucky. UCLA survived a scare against Texas A&M in the second round. They’ll romp and stomp over the Hilltoppers.
#3 Xavier vs. #10 West Virginia. The Mountaineers will be the only Cinderella in the Elite Eight.

Final Four: UNC, Kansas, Stanford and UCLA.
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Saturday my family had a reunion at Lake Frierson State Park. We had several who were unable to attend and were missed, but overall we had a good turnout.

I was very surprised, yet glad, to see long-time family friends Delbert and Mary Gall. Having her homemade pickles and deer sausage was a big treat.

I enjoyed catching up with everyone. While talking with a cousin, I had a feeling of nostalgia, watching our children running and playing together. It doesn’t seem like very long ago when we were the ones running and playing while our parents sat and visited.

In the past several years, we haven’t had a big family get together, and I didn’t realize how much I missed everyone.

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My second favorite sporting event of the year, the NCAA Basketball Tournament, gets underway Thursday. Actually, that’s not correct. The tournament technically starts Tuesday when Coppin State and Mount St. Mary’s play in the ‘play-in’ game for the right to get blown out by North Carolina in the first round.
Random thoughts on each of the regions:

East Region
This region has more potential upsets than any other region.
If the “good” Arkansas team shows up, they will beat Indiana. Heck, if the Razorbacks play like they did Saturday against Tennessee, they could give North Carolina a run for the money in the second round.
George Mason, Winthrop, St. Joseph’s and South Alabama are all lower-seeded teams that have a chance to pull upsets.

Midwest Region
Three first-round games stand out in this region.
The Kansas State-USC game may have the most marquee value of any first-round game. The game will feature two of the country’s top freshmen, in K-State’s Michael Beasley and USC’s O.J. Mayo.
Clemson-Villanova could be another outstanding matchup.
Tenth-seeded Davidson, playing close to home in Raleigh, N.C., should upset 7th-seeded Gonzaga.

South Region
None of the first-round games really stand out to me.
For an upset, I’ll pick 12th-seeded Temple to beat 5th-seeded Michigan State.
Looking ahead, Memphis versus Mississippi State could make for an interesting second-round contest, but the Bulldogs will have their hands full with Oregon in the first round.

West Region
Again, none of the first-round games jump out at me.
Fourteenth-seeded Georgia will try to continue its Cinderella post-season run against 3rd-seeded Xavier.
Purdue-Baylor and Arizona-West Virginia could also be interesting.
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Arkansas State University officially announced that Red Wolves would be the university’s new mascot. On Thursday they unveiled the new logo. When I saw the new logo, my first reaction was, “It ain’t got no eyeballs. Where are the eyeballs?” I must say, though, I really like the new logo. I think it would look great on their football helmets. I’ve never cared for the ‘stAte’ logo they’ve used for the past several years. The new wolf would look much better, even without eyeballs.
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Speaking of ASU, Nolan Richardson announced the other day that he was no longer a candidate to replace Dickey Nutt as head basketball coach. Personally, I can’t believe he was ever seriously considering the job.

Nolan’s a great coach and his accomplishments speak for themselves (a national championship at Arkansas, an NIT championship, a junior college national championship, etc.), but there’s no way that ASU, or the Sun Belt Conference would have provided a big enough stage for Nolan and his Texas-size ego.

One interesting rumor going around on the internet was that Nolan was asking ASU for a deal similar to the one Bobby Knight got at Texas Tech a few years ago: Nolan would coach a couple of years, then turn the job over to his son, Nolan III (a.k.a. Notes). I don’t know if it’s true or not, but if it is, that certainly would have been a deal-breaker.

Notes was the head coach at Tennessee State a few years ago. One day after practice he got into an argument with one of his assistants. Notes went to his car and got a gun and went back into the gym, looking for the assistant.

On second thought, maybe ASU should go ahead and hire Notes. It could have its advantages. For example, if I’m a referee working an ASU game, you could be assured that Notes’ team is going to get every close call.
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My family has now spent three nights in our new home. Briar and Bradley have their rooms completely unpacked and all their pictures and posters hung on their walls. Their rooms look really nice.

The rest of the house is still a work in progress. I know getting settled in takes some time, but I’m ready to have it all finished.

The refrigerator is too tall for its space. We are going to have to cut about an inch and a half off the cabinet above it to make it fit. The man we had hired to do our flooring put ceramic tile down in our bathroom. He came back Friday to do the grouting, but realized he had used the wrong stuff to stick the tile to the floor. He had to pull it all back up. He put a carpet in it so that the bathroom is functional. In a couple of weeks, he is going to redo it for us.

Hank, our dog, loves our new location. He has lots of room to roam or find a sunny spot to lie in the yard. I’m used to him following me around the house, but every time I looked for him this weekend, he was laying in the yard.

All in all, though, everything has gone pretty well.

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So we closed on our house last week. It is officially ours. Well, almost … Mr. and Mrs. Harris, previous owners, are in the process of moving out.

In the meantime, we have packed, picked out new carpeting, talked about paint colors for the living room and Briar’s bedroom, purchased new furniture, checked on different cable companies (our current one doesn’t provide service in the area in which our new home is located) and we’ve packed some more.

The only problem we’ve had so far happened while packing up things in the kitchen. It is decorated with mammies and Aunt Jemima memorabilia that I’ve collected for the past 14 years. I was cleaning the items to pack for the new house and soaked them in a cleaning solution that cleaned a little to well. It removed all the grime, but the paint came off, too. Luckily I was only doing a few pieces at a time, so most of my collection is still intact.

Moving is not an easy task, but we are really looking forward to making this house our home.

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While I am devastated by the destruction caused by this week’s storms in Arkansas, I am equally astonished at Lawrence County’s fortune to have missed the brunt of the system, which wreaked havoc all around us.

Several from here traveled to the Highland area to assist there, and undoubtedly many in the county had family members and friends in neighboring counties and throughout the Mid-South who were affected by the storm.

While we have had several severe weather incidents during my nearly 10 years with The TD, I’d say overall we as a county have been exceptionally lucky during that time. Unfortunately, as in all other tragedies of life, it cannot always be someone else.

It does make me feel good to know that we have a great in-county response team in place. They continue to get hands-on training assisting our neighbors in need, and I know when the time comes that they are needed at home they will be ready.

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Can you call it writer’s block when you don’t really consider yourself a writer? Hmmm…. Something to think about.

It’s been a while since I’ve blogged, and I didn’t realize how many people actually read the “blah” that I post until I missed several weeks.

Since my last post, a lot has happened…

Briar and Brad had the flu, and I haven’t felt well.

We are possibly buying a house, so we’ve been doing some serious cleaning at our current residence for the past couple of weeks. I have boxes stacked up all over the house labeled to go to different places. It is definitely a crazy time.

A few friends came over and watched the Super Bowl with us. I really wanted the Giants to win, but never thought they could actually pull it off. I was pleasantly surprised.

We have seen our share of sorrow, having already attended four funerals in 2008.

I don’t know what the rest of the year holds for us, but I’m sure there will be plenty of stories to share with all of you!

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2008 has been declared the year of the frog by environmentalist groups across the planet. For several years scientists have noticed that the frog population has been dying. The loss of habitat and environmental pollutants were first thought to be the cause, but even in seemingly pristine habitats frogs were dying.

The culprit has turned out to be a parasitic fungus called chytrid. The fungus is currently unstoppable and can kill up to 80 percent of the population once a habitat has become infected. It is deadly to hundreds of species of amphibians.

The Amphibian Ark was formed to try to save the worlds amphibian population. The AArk is a joint effort of three principal partners: the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums (WAZA), the IUCN/SSCConservation Breeding Specialist Group (CBSG), and the IUCN/SSC Amphibian Specialist Group (ASG).

The group believes that without immediate action the world could see the largest mass extinction since the dinosaur. In a press release AArk said without intervention up to half of the amphibians could be extinct after 360 million years of existence.

The only solution thus far has been is to isolate the amphibians from the wild. Holding environments have been created to protect and preserve a variety of frogs, salamanders and other amphibians from infection.

For more information on the amphibian crisis visit the AArk website at www.amphibianark.org.

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I have always felt blessed to be a pretty much sickeningly healthy person. I am grateful that I rarely catch the bugs that are going around and I have had no major health problems, having only been in the hospital to be born and to give birth twice.

In recent months, my gratitude for my health has increased even more. One co-worker, Howard Golden, lost his wife, Darlene, earlier this week after a battle with cancer. Another, Amber Adams, was recently diagnosed with Addison’s Disease, an auto immune disorder, which has left her sick more often than not over the past year.

It is easy to feel sympathy for people when you hear about their health problems and struggles, but when close friends or family members are dealing with problems, you begin to feel empathy. While I cannot say I know what either of my co-workers are going through, I can feel their pain and look forward to times when I can share their joy.

I know there are no guarantees in life, and I could be facing health issues myself some day. Knowing that makes each day even more precious, and I hope I can make the best out of each one I am given.

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What makes children the way they are? I am just baffled at the differences in our girls. Shelby, six, has always been pretty well mannered, never causes much reason for discipline – usually a talking to and an explanation was all it would take for her.

Now Alison, three, she is an entirely different story and has always been. We can talk until we are blue in the face, put her in time out and wear ourselves out going back and forth putting her back each and every time she would get up before her time is up. Putting her in her room does not work well unless you physically hold the door shut until she stops throwing her fit (which I personally hate). And there is spanking. I will admit I believe in spanking when it is necessary, but if you can discipline without it then that is better.

Seems whatever we do is a fight with Alison. We are not able to get through a meal without some kind of outburst from her. It can be anything from sissy sitting close, to Shelby got the plate she wanted, something was put on her plate that she does not like to her drink was put in the wrong cup.

She is always doing something to hurt Shelby like scratching her face, hitting her with a toy or pushing her out of a chair and now she has started pinching. This is something I have a hard time spanking for because it seems as if you are saying that is okay to hit.

I have wondered if what some have said about things you go through while you are pregnant affecting a child in this way are true. While I was pregnant with Alison I had to keep a child with ADHD a lot, and my dad was diagnosed with cancer and had to live with us for his last six months. In addition one of my older brothers stayed with us through my dad’s illness, and then a younger brother the last two to three weeks. Plus we had visitors every weekend for the last two to three months of dad’s life. Alison was four months old when dad died.

If anyone has any ideas or words of support they would like to share with me, they would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

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The Arkansas Razorbacks looked terrible in the Cotton Bowl, and I’m not just talking about their dismal on-field performance. For the first time in school history, the team wore all red uniforms, or more specifically, red pants to go along with their red jerseys and helmets. They’ve worn red pants before in the past, but always with their road white jerseys, and even then only rarely. Before Tuesday, they had never worn the red pants with their home red jerseys.

Personally, I thought they looked like a bunch of hot dogs. When I say “hot dogs,” I don’t mean showboaters or trash talkers. I mean actual hot dogs. Big red weenies.

Interim head coach Reggie Herring said they wore the all red unis because they wanted to do something special to honor Frank Broyles. Broyles is one of the most successful coaches/administrators in the history of college athletics. If the team wanted to honor Coach Broyles, why didn’t they play with a sense of pride and passion? They should have played like they cared if they won or lost. Instead they went out and played like, well, like a bunch of weenies.
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An estimated time of departure has been announced for the local National Guard unit. When they leave this time, they will not return before departing for their second deployment to Iraq.

Hopefully those of us who are able can line the streets and let these soldiers know they will be in our thoughts and prayers while they are gone.

The current plan is for the soldiers to leave Robert Armory at 10 a.m. on Monday morning. They will travel south through Hoxie on their way to Mississippi.

Get out your flags, your patriotic shirts and your yellow ribbons and let’s send our soldiers off right!

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