Smoke Signals and other news
Our hummingbird friends should be sending out scouts this month. If you have feeders, please use only plain white sugar in your mixture with 1 part sugar to 4 parts water. This mixture is most similar to actual flower nectar. Most of the red-colored liquid sold in stores is toxic. Change the sugar water every couple of days, especially during high temperatures. These entertaining little birds will thank you with their antics while feeding.
I hope your neighborhood is safe. My neighborhood was peaceful, and no need to worry about criminal activity. I am “in the country” with cows as my neighbors. At almost any time of day or night, I can hear gunshots nearby while sitting on my porch.
Spring brings the dreaded fire ants hills popping up throughout the yard. I’ve already had one bite, thanks to my seventeen-pound dog bringing one in on him.
Red-tail hawks, who constantly patrol the skies for potential food, bring a warning to owners who have small dogs in the area.
Almost one year ago, one picked up my little dog one of the few times he was outside without someone. This time, I had to let him out before leaving for a funeral. I let him back in before I left, but my husband called and said something was wrong with Charlie. At the time, he was a ball of fluff and it was hard to determine if he was badly hurt. I checked him when I got home and he seemed to have a few cuts, but I thought he was ok.
After a few hours of yard work, I examined him more thoroughly and determined there was more to it. Off to the emergency vet with him. He was trembling and much more clingy than usual when they took him back for a closer look. He needed immediate surgery. I could wait or come back for him the following day. I waited. They brought him out almost totally shaved and with forty staples. Somehow, he had escaped the hawk’s talons and from becoming lunch. By then, it’s one o’clock in the morning. Prescriptions were filled at an all-night pharmacy only to be called the following day to be told they had filled the drug with a medicine that could kill Charlie. He had only had one dose. But back to the vet. A year later, he is fine and has not been back outside alone. However, I can yell “hawk,” and he will run back to the porch as hard as he can. Recently, a neighbor's small dog disappeared; we fear he has met the same fate. Shoot the hawk, you say? It's a federally protected bird with a jail time of two years and a $1500 fine.
Has anyone ever wondered how to make stained glass? The first six people to sign up can find out on March 25 from 10 a.m. To 12 noon at the Old High School Auditorium. Patterns, glass, and tools will be furnished. Register at KathyStull@gmail.com. The cost is $35 per person.
HISTORY MOMENT: The Hicks came to Byhalia with the Myers and others from Anson County, North Carolina, in about 1845. The Hicks settled on Strickland Road, where Charles and Eliza Lou ultimately built a frame plantation-style home. They had four children. Eliza Lou Hicks died September 7, 1846. Charles Hicks married again, this time to Lucy Hawkins Ingram. Robert and Lucy's uncle, Robert Morris, were one of two signers of the Declaration of Independence from Pennsylvania.
Share your news with me at jchwagg@gmail.com or text or call 901 246-8843. You can message me on Facebook as Clair Wagg, as I have created a new account.