The Rock Wall

Schell City is getting ready to celebrate the 145th anniversary of the town next weekend, Sept. 8-9. That’s 10 years older than El Dorado Springs.

Sounds like they have a lot of good times planned. We always photo the royalty coronation. There might be some other things you’d want to attend, like the smorgasbord. Story on Page 1.

– Over the weekend, Kimball and I couldn’t find much to watch on TV so we wound up watching the Ozarks Shootout on Saturday, high speed runs by various classes of boats on the Lake of the Ozarks under radar. We used to ride in some pretty fast bass boats so we just sat there wide eyed and looked a each other in disbelief at some of the speeds up to 217 mph. One boat really got our attention when it started rocking side to side at high speed. The announcer didn’t get too excited but I would have. I was pinned in the back seat once when a buddy of mine almost wrecked my boat that way. I was hollering “Shut it down” and he thought I was saying  “Trim it down.” Later I saw that the outboard motor had skinned the gel coat when it slipped up an inch and back down an inch on the four bolts that held it in place.

Saturday night on KY3 we heard that one of the boats, just in practice, I guess, got a puff of wind under it and flipped over backwards killing both of the Louisiana occupants.

We watched the next day with renewed respect for speed. Everything was pretty tame Sunday.

Also recorded the Little League World Series and watched it later. Those kids are flat good.

– I saved a clip for Kimball that I saw on Ch 3 news Monday night because I knew it would make her homesick. A lady and her team caught a little gator on the opening day of Mississippi’s season, probably on opening night. The critter went 14 feet, weighed 686 lbs. and beat the old state record by 1/8 inch. Had a head on him (or her) like a T-Rex dinosaur. You can look it up on the Internet.

– Stuff you didn’t know you didn’t know:

1. Men can read smaller print than women can; women can hear better.

2. Coca-Cola was originally green.

3. It is impossible to lick your elbow.

4. Several of you just tried.

5. The percentage of Africa that is wilderness: 28%.

6. The percentage of North America that is wilderness: 38%.

7. The first novel written on a typewriter: Tom Sawyer.

8. San Francisco cable cars are the only mobile national monument.

9. Each king in a deck of playing cards represents a great king from history: Spades – King David, Hearts – Charlemagne, Clubs  – Alexander the Great, Diamonds – Julius Caesar.

– Safety tip: Keep your car keys on your nightstand. If someone tries to break in, activate your car alarm. Keep the keys in your hand when walking to your car or going outside at night. Push the alarm button if you need help or see someone suspicious. KL