Hearsay Is Out Of This World

OK ... so Hearsay has been to some pretty cool places in the last few months, but this installment pretty much takes the cake. Here, our intrepid traveler has made his way to the Space Shuttle Launch Pad B at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The Shuttle Endeavor is currently on the pad, being readied for a potential rescue mission if something goes amiss with the next scheduled launch slated for Oct. 14.

This is Hearsay at the base of what's known as the External Tank (the rust-colored tank in the middle) and the Solid Rocket Boosters that would launch Endeavor into space. There wouldn't be much of Hearsay left if he happened to be in this spot during an actual liftoff.

Next, Hearsay is shown just outside the launch pad elevators, at the 255-foot level ...

That leads to this view, of the very top of the External Tank and the Florida coastline ...

Finally, Hearsay winds up just outside Endeavor itself, and is shown here in front of the spacecraft's Forward Reaction Control System (FRCS).

Here's an overall view of the two Shuttles standing ready for flight. It's only the third time in the program's history that two Shuttles have been on their respective launch pads at the same time. The pad that Hearsay visited is the one farthest from the camera (Photo Credit: NASA).

Harvest Festival

The umpteenth annual Harvest Festival was held yesterday in Yadkinville, and we couldn't possibly have asked for better weather. It was an absolutely beautiful day.

Our church, Maplewood Baptist, is well-known at the Harvest Festival for its fried apple pies. They tried doing things a little differently this year, fresh-preparing the pies on site. It seemed to work really well. If you've never had one of Maplewood's fried apple pies ... well ... there's always next year.

Adam and Jesse then had a soccer game. They won, and it was there that I was greeted by Kaleb and Haley Dickerson, the son and daughter of our good friends, Michael and Missy Dickerson. Kaleb and Haley had their very own home-made campaign signs, which they paraded around the soccer fields and later, the Harvest Festival.

Here's Haley and her sign ...


And here's the sign that Kaleb sported ...


It would be nearly impossible to keep Adam from this bungee jumping activity. He's jumped at the last three or four Harvest Festivals, not to mention the Dixie Classic Fair. And the higher he goes, the better.

Hearsay In Music City

Joe Estep, Rick's best friend, took Hearsay on a whirlwind tour of Nashville the other day. Here's just a few of the hot spots they hit in and around town ...

Missing Signs

It happens in almost every election ... a candidate's yard signs go missing. Sometimes, signs are removed by authorities because they've been placed where they shouldn't, such as in right a ways and so forth.

Other signs are removed by supporters of one candidate over another. It's a frustrating proposition, to say the least. At best, it's childish. At worst, it's illegal.

In the last few days, several of my signs have been removed in Wilkes and Alleghany counties, at least one more than once. As a result, I've had several people ask if I want them to start taking down the signs of my opponent in this election, Bert Greene.

No, I do not. I won't allow it. If I find that anybody in my corner has stolen or destroyed any of Mr. Greene's signs, I will personally pay for replacements. Such actions will not be condoned by my campaign in any way, shape, form or fashion.

The Boot Story

We're back home after Sid's visitation and funeral Wednesday in Red Boiling Springs, Tenn. and his graveside service yesterday in Johnson City. It has been a sad last few days.

That said, that's the last thing that Sid would have wanted. So much so, that I think it would be wholly appropriate to share one of the most infamous "Sid" stories ever told. There are at least a couple of different versions of the tale, and this is Rick's, as recounted in a column he wrote that was published in the June 9, 1994 edition of The Alleghany News following the death of Sid's father, Ronald Sidney Houston:

Ronald Sidney Houston, my grandfather, passed from this life into the next early on the morning of June 5. The first thing that struck me after walking away from that hospital room was that I'd never hear the "boot" story again.

At least not like Papaw told it ...

The story concerns my father as a young boy, my great-uncle Ben, a fishing trip and a pair of boots. It was the kind of tale that got better each and every time it was told.

The story goes like this. One of Uncle Ben's favorite sayings was that so-and-so didn't have enough sense to pour you-know-what out of a boot. If anybody -- it didn't matter who -- did something stupid, Uncle Ben would declare, with varying degrees of embellishments, this particular oath.

On this particular outing, Uncle Ben took off his boots and wandered off for some reason. Dad promptly decided that he would put Uncle Ben to the test and see if he actually had enough sense to pour you-know-what out of a boot.

So Dad ... well ... you-know-whatted in Uncle Ben's boots. And, apparently, Uncle Ben really didn't have enough sense to pour you-know-what out of his boots before he put them back on.

At about this point in Papaw's version of the tale, anybody listening would be in tears laughing. Except, of course, Uncle Ben and Dad. To this day, Uncle Ben declares Papaw should have beat the living daylights out of Dad, while Dad denies it ever happened. All the while, Papaw just kept smiling that devilish smiles of his.

RICK'S NOTE:
Dad, in the last few days, I have been by your bedside and to your funeral and burial. I still can't believe you're gone. Please know that I love you, and so do Jeanie, Adam and Jesse. Doug and I will do everything we can to make you proud.

Funeral Arrangements For Rick's Dad

Plans have been completed for Rick's dad. A celebration of Sid's life will be held Wednesday, Sept.3 at Anderson & Son Funeral Home in Red Boiling Springs, Tenn. from 5-7 p.m. Central time, with a funeral service to follow at 7 p.m. Central time.

A graveside service will then be held the following day at the Houston Family Cemetary in Johnson City, Tenn. at 3 p.m. Eastern time.