Tidbits - May 18, 2023
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- Category: Archives
- Published on Tuesday, 16 May 2023 20:46
- Written by Ralph Shealy
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TIDBITS by RALPH SHEALY
BETTY CROCKER, NOT
It had been awhile since I’ve eaten Red Lobster cheddar biscuits, but Thursday night I got the urge to bake some for supper.
I poured the box contents into a bowl, then went to the fridge to retrieve my bag of grated cheese, specifically purchased for Red Lobster baking.
I withdrew the bag and quickly noticed the orange cheese had turned gray. If I had thrown the cheese into the backyard, it would have walked away.
Now, what? I had some cheddar slices. Do I break them up?
Then the thought hit me. I had some pimento cheese left over from my “Trio” from Judy’s Wednesday. I’d use that!
I stirred the pimento cheese in with the water, and Red Lobster flour, spooned up the experimental biscuits, and put them in the oven.
When the baking time was up, I was so excited to try the biscuits, I grabbed the end of the baking sheet with my right hand covered oven mitt, then, without thinking, I grabbed the other end with my bare left had. I didn’t hold it long!
“Stupid is, as stupid does.”
I created a two-inch burn mark on my left hand, iced it down and put on some ointment. It stopped hurting after awhile.
It’s been a long time, since I’ve gotten burned. Most have been accidental.
I’m sure we all as children had been told not to touch the stove, then touched it just to make sure we were being told the truth.
My dumbest experience in my youth occurred when we were returning from selling Uncle Sam Holstein’s peaches door to door in Newberry.
Daddy had borrowed Uncle Ed’s pick-up for the adventure, and I was seated right in front of the cigarette lighter. I pushed it in and it soon popped out.
I knew Daddy’s lighter didn’t work in his truck, so to find out if Uncle Ed’s lighter worked, I did what any naturally born idiot would do. I stuck my thumb to it.
It worked! It hurt! I didn’t have any ice for the journey home.
For weeks, the end of my thumb looked like the eye of a stove.
Oh, I forgot to mention, my pimento cheese biscuits were good!
SEINE STORY
I mentioned seining in my tribute to Mike Lake last week, and how people loved Mike’s hushpuppies.
I also said I didn’t know if the seining group was started by Uncle Jake Grigsby or his son J.L.
Robert Herlong, a long-time member of the seining club, said Uncle Jake started the group.
He also gave a background on the “Red Horse Bread” Mike cooked.
The recipe was created by John L. Able and Watson Padgett. Mike carried it on.
REVERSED FORTUNES
A few weeks ago, Clemson’s baseball team was struggling and Carolina’s was near the “top of the world.”
Now, the fortunes have been reversed. Clemson is playing “lights out,” and Carolina stinks.
The Gamecock and Coastal Carolina are both ranked in the Top Ten, but Clemson kicked the Chanticleers the other night, and is currently the best team in this state.
Carolina’s collapse began with injuries to the infielders, with three of the starting four missing days or weeks. All three of them are power hitters.
You play the cards you’re dealt. The good starting catcher was moved to third base, and other players have attempted to fill the other positions. Consequently, at times the Gamecocks have looked like the Bad News Bears defensively.
Coinciding with the lack of offense and defense, the pitching has gone bad, too, It’s unusual for all phases of the game to go at once, but the Gamecock’s have managed it.
As of Thursday, the Gamecocks announced Friday starter Sanders would not pitch against Arkansas, and with Sunday starter Noah Hall still out, it looks like the Carolina decline will continue.
But, the Tigers keep rolling on.
The Gamecocks playing out of position reminds me of the old joke about a piccolo player visiting a church.
Soon after he began his concert, someone near the back of the church yelled, “The piccolo player is a jerk.”
The preacher stood up and admonished the heckler, and asked him to stand up. Nobody stood.
So he asked the person sitting next to the person who called the piccolo player a jerk to stand up. Nobody stood.
He kept going down the line, next to, next to next to, etc. Still, nobody.
Finally, one man stood up and said, “I’m not sitting next to the man who called the piccolo play a jerk, or next to, next to, or next to. What I want to know is who called that jerk a piccolo player?”
WE’LL MISS
So many I’ve known have passed away recently.
Ann Hughes was married to Russell Hughes and they were both retired teachers.
They joined in the cause of preserving historic Spann United Methodist Church in Ward. Ann would promote all the special events at their church through this newspaper.
She even invited our Emory choir to sing there at a revival. We all found Spann was special place.
Spann became her final resting place May 3. She served the Lord and his special little church well.
I met Ron Ross after he married Beatrice Yarbrough.
Every Tuesday, they would come by the Sentinel office and buy a paper.
I always enjoyed talking to him.
I look back and realize many of those in the Tuesday afternoon traffic jam at the newspaper office are no long with us.
Mrs. Vinetta Nicholson was well know around town. For many years, she and her husband ran Nicholson Furniture Company on South Main Street.
After they retired and her husband passed away, I would see her at the Post Office in her vintage Chevrolet car or truck. They both still looked brand new. What a sweet lady she was.
Mike Crouch and I were the same age and intertwined through 4-H and little league. He always had a good sense of humor and was fun to be around.
Mary Lynn Trotter worked at many area schools, and also worked at Parkman’s Pharmacy, where she fit right in with the personable staff.
Finally, I did not know 13-year-old Carson McDonald of Ninety Six, but like many followed his heartbreaking story on Facebook. He and his father, mother and brother were in a terrible automobile accident coming home from the mountains.
The father, mother and brother were all injured, but Carson suffered serious brain injuries and never regained consciiousness.
Each day people were asked to pray that Carson be restored. Finally, his parents had to make the horrible decision.
A sign in Ninety Six, read, Carson McDonald, Fully Restored, May 5, 2023.
His parents made the decision to donate his organs, so Carson will provide new lease on life for many others.
I pray for this family and all who mourn.