The Rock Wall

While we were in the Evans drive up line late last week, I asked the owner, Kevin McCullough, how Donnie Levi’s book is selling.  He said they had sold out several times and had to resupply.

Kevin said, “I’ve got to read the book. I was raised on a dairy farm and milked cows until I was 18.”

-Kimball was interviewing Luella Phipps about all the Herriman Chapel Camp Meetings. She has attended (85 or 90) and Luella had one of Donnie Levi’s books. She said her farm is adjacent to the Levi farm and she knows all the people Donnie talks about in his book.

Kimball didn’t ask her one question I have: was she my 7th grade teacher? Mrs. Phipps was my teacher that year, but we never called our teachers by their first names, so I don’t know if she was Luella Phipps. I do know from Kimball that she is 94. I thought she was pretty old when she was my teacher. Of course, when I was a freshman in high school, I thought the seniors were about to drop off the face of the earth.

I remember that the prettiest girl in the eighth grade was a blonde, Peggy Carterman.  Some senior in high school had the audacity  to marry her. I never heard of her again or saw her, Don’t have any idea who he was.

• I may run into them at the Picnic this week and not recognize them.

Sounds like we might have the coolest weather for the Picnic we have had in years. That’s the only climate change that I’d vote for.

I look forward to seeing you and everyone else at the Picnic. I suppose I’ll be using my 4-W-D walker.  It helps me keep the forked end down. That’ll be  the only thing I  ride.  Everybody has a digital camera so we don’t have to load up our lights and camera stuff and go to every class reunion.

Take your camera to the turtle jump, frog race and other kids games so I don’t have to sit in the (reduced) heat for hours. The best place to get photos is the shade at the northeast corner of the tennis courts. I use a flash. We always put 1st place on the left, 2nd in the middle and 3rd on the right. For big groups like the golf cart race, improvise. This will be the first time in 30 or 40 years I haven’t braved the heat. I have an appointment with a heart specialist on July 29 to see if someone knew what they were talking about when they put in the notes that I was having a heart attack when all I was trying to do was die from a septic kidney and they wouldn’t let me. Then Dr. Wyant is going to put me into heart rehab and promises they will work me hard. He says it’s right next door to his office if it overwhelms me. I’ve talked on the phone with Brooke who seems to be in charge and she is chomping at the bit to get at me.

See you at the Picnic.  KL