Take note of the butterflies– soon they’ll be gone for winter

I send my sympathy to Martha Hawk and family in the death of her mother Floyd Mitchell from Social Circle. Floyd was 96 and had been  in declining health for some time. She leaves behind Martha Hawk and Bobby and their two sons, Noel and five children and Neal and Heather Hawk and their two children and also her son Hal Mitchell and Kathi and four children, Ann  Bryant and Tom and three children. Some years ago a daughter Janice Burrell passed away with a brain hemorrhage. She was survived by her husband Bill and son Eric Burrell. Her funeral was at Meadows Funeral Home. She was laid to rest at a family cemetery at Social Circle.
Floyd’s mother was the sister of my daddy-in-law Macon Moore Sr. Her father was the cousin of Mrs. Moore, Lula Davis. I’ve heard Floyd referred to affectionally by family and friends as “Mama Floyd.” She was a great cook! It would have been hard to find one to match her food when she was well. Floyd was a double cousin to Macon Moore Jr.
The butterflies are fluttering here and there onto first one flower and then the other. Because of the time and season nature lets them know that soon they will be going away for the cold season. They are getting full. I have seen butterflies of several different colors and multicolored.
There is a “Miss Huff’s Lantana” that Beverly put out back of the house. I can look out my bedroom window to see it. It is so large it stretches all the way to the kitchen window. It has been so dry it hasn’t done so well lately but there is enough blooms for the butterflies to enjoy. I will indeed miss them and the blooms once the cold weather sets in. I subscribe to a magazine “Birds and Bloom.” It is a beautiful magazine in color.
The Neal Family will be at the 11 a.m. service at the Lake Oconee Baptist Chapel on November 4. On November 11 they will have homecoming. You are cordially invited to both of these services.
There will be another wrestling match at the Buckhead Fire State at a date that I do not have at this time. By next week I will have the date. Adults 12 years and up may enter the match for $7. Eleven years and under is $4. If you will bring non-perishable items for the Caring Place, $1 will be subtracted from your entry fee. One dollar of the fee goes to the Buckhead Fire Department. You all come. I will let you know the date next week.
Our grass had gotten tall in our  yard. I thought maybe (hoped maybe) that it would not need cutting again. There were clumps of the grass in the yard. The next day as I stood at the sink I stretched my eyeballs to look to see if surely not there had been a hose left in the yard. Then it raised its head. I told my husband that there was a snake outside the kitchen window. Let’s hurry. I grabbed the shot gun then he had it. Then I had it. I told him to go on down the ramp that I would come on. Lo and behold the snake was gone. We had to go around the house. The little dog squeezed by and wouldn’t come back.. She went into the tall hay grass. She probably went right by the snake. Finally she came back. The snake was in the thick grass that was cut and piled together. From what I could see it was a large snake. As to what color I know that it was dark looking but with the grass I could not tell. I will tell you this it was one of the longest snakes that I have ever seen. Here’s hoping that I don’t run into it when I am outside. The rest of the day I felt chills up and down my spine when I thought of it. I know that snakes are getting ready for winter now. You know what earlier in the summer we killed a rattlesnake out back. It was in the exact same spot as this snake. I said that was the ‘snake interstate” along there. I pray that there will be no more.
A correction on Jamie and Jenny Winters travels. They went into 20 states instead of 47. Sorry about that.
Well, here we go again. The time change comes on November 4. We fall back. It is always hard to get use to at first. So set your clocks on this time.
And oh, I was so excited about the snake I picked up the wrong shells, lucky for us. My husband had the right kind. As I said earlier the snake got away.

Printed in the October 25, 2012 edition