August 12 '06

                                                    

Volume 532

                   


Zot Boom A Lightning Strike

Oak Tree Stripped of BarkI don’t seem to be able to get enough sleep through the week, so I like to nap on Sunday afternoons. On the last Sunday afternoon in July, I was awakened by a sound I couldn’t identify, though it roared and subsided much like a line trimmer or what most of us call a weed-eater.

My neighbor, Bill Knight had been using a pressure washer earlier in the day, but the noise that awakened me was not that of a gas powered pressure washer. By the time I got good awake, I simply had to know what it was that had awakened me. Looking through the blinds of a bedroom window, I saw Bill in his front yard, trimming limbs off one of the oaks near the street. If one’s not familiar with a pole trimmer/ pruner, then there are two basic types, gas powered and manual. I have the manual type that extends about thirteen feet, and it works well enough for the light trimming I need to do, plus, it keeps me from having to do tree-limb-trimming work using a ladder propped against a tree. Bill’s brother-in-law has the gas powered type, which Bill was using.

My curiosity satisfied and being "wide awake," I stumbled into the living room and told Barbara it was time for us to make our rounds to the nursing homes to see Aunt Jo and Barbara’s mom, and Miss Opal.

We were saying our goodbyes to Aunt Jo when we heard a clap of thunder. Pontotoc County has been in a drought for several weeks, so the thunder held the promise of rain.

"That sounded like thunder," I told Aunt Jo. "Did you hear it?"

To my surprise, she said she had heard the thunder, though Aunt Jo’s hearing isn’t too great these days.

"Maybe we’ll get some rain," she replied.

Barbara and I drove to visit those at our second nursing home stop and didn’t encounter any rain along the way. Neither did we see any evidence of rain as we returned home. As we passed by Bill Knight’s house, I noticed something different about the oak tree beside his driveway but didn’t mention it until Barbara was cooking supper.

"Did you see what Bill Knight did to his tree beside the driveway? It looks like he took his pole saw and trimmed off all the bark from almost ground level to about eight feet up the trunk of the tree."

The next morning as I left for work, I glanced at the tree, still wondering why Bill wanted to kill the tree.

"If he wants to remove the tree, why doesn’t he just cut it down?" I thought.

That evening, Barbara mentioned she had talked to Bill.

"Bill asked me if I knew I almost lost a neighbor Sunday afternoon. I didn’t know what he was talking about, but he explained that lightning struck his tree while he was outside. He said he felt the electricity from the strike, though he was more than fifty feet away," she shared. "He said he thought for a moment he had been struck and killed."

Later Bill told me he had no idea a cloud or lightning was in the area. In fact, Bill doesn’t remember any other sounds of thunder, and it surely didn’t rain a drop. Thus, the thunder we heard while visiting Aunt Jo was likely from the lightning that struck our neighbor’s tree.

What had first appeared to me to be the handiwork of my neighbor was actually the result of a lightning strike. As I left for work Tuesday morning, I stopped to make a picture of the tree. Only while up close, could I see the cracks in the trunk of the tree created by the lightning bolt. Tree bark lay in small sections all around the tree, with some small pieces as far away as the edge of my yard. What I found so amazing was not that lightning had hit the tree, which is not the tallest one in the yard and not that bark had been torn away (I have seen other trees struck by lightning), but it was how the bark had been stripped that captured my attention. The nude section of the tree was as neatly de-barked as if done by the careful hands of a craftsman.

Upon close inspection of the hairline cracks in the trunk, I could see splinters up to two inches protruding outward indicating that the explosive force came from within the center of the trunk and not merely down one side.

With its loss of bark and no way for nutrients to traverse from roots to leaves, I expect the tree will die of malnutrition. Bill Knight is in no immediate danger of suffering from malnutrition, though if I were him, I’d keep a watchful eye for signs of threatening weather.


JoAnne Retires PEPA For Forty-One Years

Too many of my friends are retiring. I’m beginning to think there’s something wrong with me, as I hope to continue working for a few more years. I don’t plan to stop working altogether when I do retire, though I expect to work a lot less. I’m afraid I’ll meet the grim reaper sooner than expected, if I take up sitting in a rocking chair.

JoAnne Roberts Bradley was honored with a retirement reception last Tuesday by her employer of forty-one years, the Pontotoc Electric Power Association. Forty-one years is quite an accomplishment in a day and age where job tenure is often measured in months, not years.

JoAnne was a grade ahead of me in high school, and while I knew who she was even in junior high, it wasn’t until we had study hall together or perhaps when we worked on the staff of the high school newspaper, "The Pow Wow," that I got to know her.

After graduating from Ole Miss in 1965, I returned to the same college campus the following summer to work on course requirements for a teacher’s license. By then, JoAnne was married to Jerry Bradley, a fellow student in my astronomy class. Jerry was having trouble with the math and JoAnne told him to seek my help. Jerry and I became friends and have maintained contact throughout the years since our meeting that summer.

In the early seventies, I had the honor of briefly tutoring Jerri Lamar, the Bradley’s daughter. She didn’t really need the tutoring and most likely was merely going along with friends who were all trying to "ace" their math course.

JoAnne probably won’t be found in a rocking chair anytime soon, either. Her dad is at the same nursing home as Aunt Jo, and her mom’s health is deteriorating. She’ll just have more time to devote to her family, and, hopefully, she’ll still be writing her column for the Pontotoc Progress, our local newspaper.


Welcome Ryan Fuoss VISTA Worker For Habitat

On Friday evening, July 28, Wayne and I went to Jackson, taking with us Rayanne, Merilese and Katherine to attend Sheila Hess's organ recital at Northminster Baptist Church. That same evening Ryan Fuoss was arriving following a three-day orientation in Atlanta. Ryan will be a VISTA worker with Habitat for Humanity for a one-year assignment in Volunteer Coordination. VISTA (acronym for Volunteers In Service To America) is a part of AmeriCorps. Pontotoc County Habitat For Humanity agreed to assist in finding housing for Ryan, but everything was still in limbo upon his arrival.

Bro. Joe Steen responded to Ryan's phone call and met him when he arrived. He and Father Pete Peterson provided housing for Ryan that night. On Saturday I went to the worksite and found Ryan and Bro. Joe. We went to lunch and made plans for Ryan to come over to our house later in the day to stay with us until we could make other arrangements.

A National Leadership Conference was on schedule for Wednesday through Sunday in Charlotte, NC, and Ryan and I were registered to attend the many workshops on the agenda. So, on Wednesday we left for Tupelo and flew to Memphis on our way to Charlotte. Habitat for Humanity, in addition to the conference, was celebrating the 30th Anniversary of the Christian housing ministry.

The first two weeks of Ryan's stay here in Pontotoc is supposed to be spent in orientation to the area, the local Habitat Affiliate and to Habitat for Humanity International. The Conference was a good way to orient him to HFHI, and it was a good way for him to meet other Affiliate staff and to learn about volunteer management. The entire trip was very fruitful.

I was able to see friends from the few years I have been working with Habitat for Humanity, and I was also able to introduce Ryan to some of the folks he will be working with through other Affiliates and HFHI. The new CEO of Habitat for Humanity International was present for the conference and made several outstanding presentations, including one concerning the Housing Report for America for 2005, which was an onstage interview/ discussion with Nick Retinas, a Harvard Professor, who is also the Chairman of HFHI Board of Directors.

We were treated to two receptions with heavy hors d'oeuvre, three luncheons, and one evening meal, which were all amazingly good for convention-type foods. There were 1,200 people in attendance, so getting that many people fed a tasty meal was quite a feat. I probably gained another five pounds on this trip.

The Conference didn't actually end until around noon on Sunday, but because our flight back to Tupelo was at 7:05 a.m., we missed the Habitation Service that was held on Sunday morning. Neither Ryan nor I are early-morning people, but somehow we managed to get up, get packed, and meet in the lobby at 5:30 a.m. to head for the airport.

Needless to say, I was tired when we rolled into Pontotoc around 11:00 a.m. on Sunday. I went inside to finish up the lunch that Wayne had started before he left for church and turned on the TV to watch the worship service from First Baptist Church in Pontotoc. It sure felt good to be back home, but we still had to face the challenge of getting Ryan's housing worked out.

First Methodist Church graciously agreed to allow him to use the mobile home that the church owns and has parked across the street from their main church building. On Monday morning we got his rental agreement worked out, and on Tuesday he got his utilities all turned on. After spending some time cleaning the unit, which had been vacant for a while, and then getting some of his belongings moved in, Ryan is now at home at 11 Green Street.

Ryan is a recent graduate of Taylor University in Upland, Indiana, and will be spending his time here prior to continuing his education, hopefully, in law school. I have suggested maybe the University of Mississippi, but I think he has his eyes set on some other school.

If you see Ryan around town, please welcome him to Pontotoc. He seems to be making a remarkable adjustment to his work assignments, and if you know any young adults we can introduce him to, please let us know. All our friends are probably boring to a young man just out of school and with more energy than we seem to have available.

By Barbara Carter, Executive Director - PCHFH


Bodock Beau Leno On Castro

Jay Leno: As you know, the elderly Fidel Castro is recovering from surgery in Cuba. It was pretty serious. I understand he was rushed to the hospital on Donkey One.

A message delivered on Cuban Television today said that Fidel Castro's condition is listed as stable, which in Communist countries means he'll be dead by Friday.

In a speech in Florida President Bush praised all the contributions Cubans have made to America: catching, hitting, outfielding, shortstop. These were all major, major contributions.

As you know President Bush is currently on vacation in Texas. He said he's going to try and do absolutely nothing for the next ten days. His advisors think this is the best way to bring his approval rating up.

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