
The
Month of December came in with a roar. Extremely high winds in Southern
California caused downed trees and power lines, damaged homes and
cars. Wallace's electricity was out requiring his purchase of a generator.
Trees are beautiful, but can be a big problem in Southern Calif. When Rick
worked at DMV, he had a customer and noticed by her address that she lived
directly behind us. He introduced himself as her neighbor. She asked him if he
was the one with the fig tree. He said "Yes". She then said "
Well your fig tree is tearing up my swimming pool." When Rick
informed me, I went to the back fence and checked. The cement was buckled
around the pool and there were little fig trees busting through her yard. I
apologized and asked why they had not informed us. They offered to pay 1/2 to
have the tree removed. I had the tree removed because it was not worth the
trouble it was causing our neighbors. Now this tree was special because one of
my Home Health Patients had given it to me many years ago. Mr Scott lived in
Watts and he knew how I loved figs so one day he had dug up a tree, wrapped it
in a wet sack and told me to go home and dig a hole. Place the tree in the hole
and turn on the water hose with a small trickle and let it run all
night. In the morning turn the water off and forget it. That tree
gave me many years of big purple figs that burst with flavor. I
made fig preserves and shared with the neighbors, bugs and birds.
Tidbits: Demetrius [Mechie] Bell announces Second Annual Northwest LA. Pro Sports festival March 16-17, 2012 in Homer. For more information
on event, visit WWW.DemetriusBell.Info. Demetrius is the grandson of Daddy's brother, Tom.
He plays professional football with the Buffalo Bills. Source of
information--Guardian Journal. This question was received from Nick
Holyfield: What was Grambling College like? Thanks for your question Nick. I
started there September 1958. At that time, it was a 4 year teacher's
college. Girls and boys were not allowed near each other's dorms. There were
Deans assigned to each dorm. The great Eddie Robinson was leading the Tigers to
Championships every year. The Band was top notch and still is. Today Grambling is a State University and you can get a PHD in many
subjects. It was also segregated then but is now integrated. Most
students lived on campus, rented from families near the college or lived
near the college. Years later a bus transported students from the Haynesville
area to Grambling. Until Next Month--If you want to be happy, lower your
expectations, if you want to be great, raise them. Jean