Wilson Post Blogs

It is a crapshoot. Who knew if we will even have enough to shoot last Saturday? They humble you in that way, too. Uncertainty.  They come out of the sun, pretending to be Japanese Zeros. They twirl, dart, and hit the afterburners when the wind is right.

We are expected to hit them?

By ANGEL KANE
Wilson Living Magazine

WE are on a diet.

Because WE are going to the beach in five weeks.

And WE need to lose 15 pounds.

My husband and I have been having this discussion each and every Sunday evening for the past 15 plus years. And yet, every Monday morning, I find him in the kitchen, eating Cocoa Krispies with our children, as if WE were not dieting.

“WE are supposed to start out diet today!” I say in the most un-shrewish wife voice possible. (No really, I have a very pleasant voice. I’ve been told it’s very soothing.)

To which my husband responds, “Who is stopping you?”

Well that just sets me off, and of course, there is no way I can diet after being spoken to in that manner!

Dear Ken: Did swashbuckling cinema star Errol Flynn have any children?

He had four children. Born in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia, the son of a biologist-professor, Flynn was married three times. By first wife actress Lili Damita he had a son, Sean, a photographer who disappeared in Cambodia in 1970 during the Vietnam War and was presumed dead. By second wife Nora Eddington he had daughters Deirdre and Rory, and with actress Patrice Wymore, he had daughter Arnella Roma, who died in 1998. Flynn died of a heart attack in Vancouver, British Columbia, in 1959 at the age of 50. Daughter Rory has penned a book about her father titled “The Baron of Mulholland,” and her son, Sean Flynn, recently appeared as Johnse Hatfield in the miniseries “The Hatfields and McCoys” and co-stars in the new film “Return of the Killer Shrews.”

The predominantly orange clad crowd in the Georgia Dome exhaled a chorus of relief after Tennessee toppled N.C. State, 35-21, in the season opener for both teams.

Vols Coach Derek Dooley’s seat cooled considerably while N.C. State’s Tom O’Brien’s seat was noticeably warmer than when he arrived in Atlanta.

Preseason expectations were high in Raleigh. Their fans were banking on a strong secondary and the play of senior quarterback Mike Glennon.

In Knoxville, expectations ran the gamut. Truth be told, no one knew how their heroes would play in the season opener, much less beyond that.

Dooley has taken a lot of heat, but reasonable fans were willing to watch this season play out before rendering judgment.

After the Vols had picked Glennon off four times and receivers ran by NFL cornerback prospect David Amerson, Vols fans were breathing easier.

What a week we had at the Wilson County Fair, with all my friends coming through to chat and have their pictures placed in The Wilson Post on the "Seen at the Fair” page. Usually the weather will play a part in the comings and goings at the fair, but this year we had a little rain to start the fair run, and the rest was cooler weather than usual which played a large part in the crowds.

Shirley Manaley stopped by and as soon as I saw her, I knew she was a bird lover. Shirley was decked out in a beautiful blue shirt loaded with pictures of some of my favorite birds. We had a nice talk and I found out that she lived in Nashville.

Taking a trip through Fiddler's Grove brought me to the old popcorn stand that used to sit on the Lebanon square next to the old courthouse. Set up next to the popcorn was an old friend, Marty Rush, who has a passion to work with injured animals. Marty was known for starting the Wildlife Rescue and Rehab Center in Mt. Juliet. She is another that has worked with me at the old annual Wildflower Pilgrimage that took place in the spring at the Cedars of Lebanon State Park. They will bring different animals to show others what they look like in person.

By BECKY ANDREWS
Wilson Living Magazine

My children have very different personalities. The oldest is kind, considerate, extremely unorganized and forgiving to a fault. Some of these traits he inherited from his mama. The youngest is cautious, focused, type A and if he’s wronged, he holds a grudge.

Proof of this was when he played baseball a couple of years ago.  A little boy from an opposing team ran on the field.  My child turned to me and said, “That’s the boy who took the ball away from me when I played soccer!”

He then walked past the kid, stared him down and gave him the universal sign for, “I’m watching you.”

This may not seem like a big deal ifJacksonwasn’t referring to the one season he played soccer when he was 3!

He inherited these traits, especially the grudge thing, from his dad. My husband still talks about a friend from elementary school who tore his Bo Derek poster, and even though he hasn’t seen this person in more than 30 years he insists that kid should be punished.

Dear Ken: Tell us something about actor Colin Farrell, star of the “Total Recall” remake.

Farrell, 36, was born in Dublin, Ireland, where his mum was a housewife and his dad a professional football player with the Dublin Shamrocks who also owned a company that imported and exported canned goods. Farrell studied at the Gaiety School of Acting before getting the role of Danny Byrne in the BBC series “Ballykissangel” in 1998. He got his first film lead role in 2000 in “Tigerland” and hasn’t looked back. Among his other movies are “American Outlaws,” “Daredevil,” “Phone Booth,” “S.W.A.T.,” “The Recruit,” “Minority Report,” “Intermission,” “Alexander,” “The New World,” “Miami Vice,” “In Bruges,” “Crazy Heart,” “Fright Night” and “Horrible Bosses.” Whew, is he busy or what? Later this year, he stars in “Seven Pyschopaths.” The father of two kiddos was a friend of Elizabeth Taylor and read a poem that she had pre-selected at her funeral.

We got our shad below the dam with a cast net. About 15, was all we could keep alive and we carried them up the hill in 5-gallon buckets

That is comparable to running three marathons back to back.  We were young and strong then. The ideal shad was about five inches long and we hooked them through the lips.  The rig was a ½-ounce egg sinker above a swivel. The shad was on 18-inches of line below that.

I don’t know about you, but this year’s opening week of college football is the most exciting I can remember.

In the SEC alone, there are a handful of games that will serve as trendsetters for the rest of the season.

Locally you have Vanderbilt hosting No. 9 ranked South Carolina at a Vanderbilt Stadium. The stadium has undergone the most off-season improvements since the early 1980s when Maryland opened the Commodores home schedule. It was an electric night capped by a Vanderbilt win.

Tonight you will see new lights. A state of the art scoreboard. New field turf. It won’t take fans long to notice.

ESPN is televising the 6 p.m. start tonight. A blimp will be hovering overhead.

South Carolina has designs on winning the SEC East. A loss to Vanderbilt tonight will toss the Gamecocks out of the hen house.

Friday night in the Georgia Dome, Tennessee takes on ACC member N.C. State.

Play audio file above to hear the call of the Northern Flicker

Wilson County Fair time is here and if things keep going like this past Saturday night, it could be another record breaker. I did get a booth this year and found out about it Friday night through an e-mail from Zack Owensby. Talk about cutting it close, it was more like a shave, as to getting things set up in time for yesterday's crowd to come through. If you have the time, come by and talk to me at The Wilson Post booth located in tent #1and I will put your picture in our award-winning newspaper.

My first birdfriend at the fair was W.T. Nolen who was working the Immanuel Baptist Church booth. W.T was telling me about his Bob-white Quail covey that came out of his garden in his back yard. Bob-whites are getting pushed farther and farther out with all the people moving out into the country. Old farms are being bought where they are being made into subdivisions that take the wild factor out of the area. Mr. Nolen is also an avid beekeeper with several hives at his home place and also mentoring several students at the Wilson Central High School in the field of beekeeping.

Dear Ken: How many TV series did Andy Griffith star in besides “The Andy Griffith Show”?

After leaving Sheriff Taylor and Mayberry behind, Griffith starred in “Headmaster,” “The New Andy Griffith Show,” “Adams of Eagle Lake,” “Salvage 1,” “The Yeagers” and “Matlock.” He was also in the miniseries “Washington: Behind Closed Doors” and “Centennial.”

Dear Ken: What happened to the actress who played Chevy Chase’s wife in the “National Lampoon” movies?

That was Beverly D’Angelo, who played Ellen Griswold, mate to goofus Clark Griswald in four feature films. The native of Columbus, Ohio, 60, has continued to work in film and TV. She had the recurring role of Rebecca Balthus in “Law & Order: SVU” from 2003 to 2008 and most recently starred as Barbara Miller on “Entourage.” She has three movies coming down the pike: “I Heart Shakey,” “A White Trash Christmas” and “Popcorn Ceiling.”  D’Angelo was in a relationship with Al Pacino from 1996 to 2003, which produced twins in 2001.

By ANGEL KANE
Wilson Living Magazine

If you were to look in Webster’s Dictionary for the definition of the word despondent you would find the following:

Des-pon-dent (adjective) - a feeling or showing of extreme discouragement, dejection or depression.

If you were to look even closer, under the word, you would also find a picture of Brody.

It started innocently on Monday morning when we were all rushing out the door to work and school. And we heard him call out, “Has anybody seen my phone?”

“It turned white overnight.”

Those were the first words I heard that early September morning. I lay back on my cot in the tent and pondered just what Paul Brown meant. Then I studied the sagging roof of the tent and knew exactly what he meant. It had snowed. We had scouted hard yesterday and found plenty of elk sign. Now, I knew it did not mean a thing.

I swung my aching, aging legs over the side of the cot and sat up. At 58, the climbing we had done yesterday had reminded me I was no longer 25 and bulletproof. Even though we had been able to drive the truck to the tent camp, yesterday involved plenty of up and down walking. Snow was not good, aching legs or not. Snow would move the elk down and we were up. Our tent camp was at 10,500 feet and smack in the middle of elk country. But that was yesterday and yesterday was gone.

The storm had blown in overnight, dropping about four inches of the lovely (cussed) white stuff. Today we would have to hunt down and across a wide valley to get into the no snow country where the elk had surely gone.  First, we had to make sure that was what happened.

Breakfast over, such as it was, we slung packs and bows and started out in the dark. At daylight, we cast bugles in all directions. Not a sound. Yesterday, the Colorado Rockies had been golden and green with the just changing aspen leaves and elk had been on ever knob and in every meadow. Today, we figured they were below and across from us, feeding in the patches of oak brush and browsing on the open side hills. No way to drive to them. No horses to ride to them. Time to go footback, down, across and up. Sheesh!

In an hour, we were still in the snow but it was not as deep, mostly just a heavy dusting. We had not shed much clothing. It was still in the 20’s even down that far. We stopped on a rocky out cropping and Paul set up the spotting scope. I get nauseous when I use one, so I just started working open areas with my 10X Binoculars. We picked the open slopes to pieces where we had expected to find elk. No elk. None.

From far below us but on the same mountain, a bugle floated in on the rising thermals. Faint, just a whisper but definitely a bugle. We quickly got back in the snow-covered aspens. I pointed where I thought it came from and we discussed strategy. We both thought the elk would move up and stop short of the snow. How far up we did not know. Then it came again, closer and followed by a lot of chuckles. Time to pick up the pace and get under the snow.

Thirty minutes later panting like a dog in hot weather, we broke out above a beautiful lake. It was a mirror in the mountains with aspens standing snow free on the far side. It was time to take another break and see if we could coax another bugle. Paul bugled and I cow called and broke some branches. When you are elk hunting, sometimes you have to make noise. Elk are not quiet animals. Bang! Pow! A bull bugled behind us and another fired off in front of us. We were between two bulls. It does not get any better than that.

I took the bull in front of us and began trotting and sliding around the lake. There was a fresh trail muddied with dozens of tracks. Once on the far side of the lake, I set up. In a grove of aspens on a sight rise, I picked my spot and went to work. With each cow call, the bulls answered and challenged each other. The air was ringing with bugles.

Mine was coming in and coming fast. Then, I heard an elk running on the far side of the lake and he was tearing up anything in his way. My first thought was that Paul had stuck him.

Then, I did not have time to think. I had a bull 25-yards to my left, coming at a trot. When he hit a small opening, he ran right into my sight pin and I let the arrow go. Time to rendezvous.

I had blood, plenty of it on the ground and on the trees. Paul had hit a branch and the arrow slid over his bull’s back, just smacking him with the shaft. We started trailing my bull. I felt sure the shot was good but the trail kept going. An hour later and a whole lot closer to camp, we found him, piled up in the aspens. The shot was perfect. He was just a tough animal.

Time to go to work. We shed another layer of clothing and went at it. With two of us skinning and quartering, it didn’t take long to get him naked and on the pack frames. The snow was gone but for some reason, the mountain seemed a lot steeper than it had yesterday. Two trips and we had everything back at camp.

Dinner that night was elk fillet mignon with macaroni and cheese and green beans. Under the front seat of the truck, Paul found a nearly full bottle of Wild Turkey and we toasted our success. The next day, as I cut and wrapped elk meat, Paul killed a fat cow and the hunt was over.

Back at the main camp, Carl, the owner, asked us where we found the bulls. The answer was short. “Under the snow”.

Contact JOHN L. SLOAN / This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

This is a special time of the year.

Football is in the air and Friday night, Lebanon High christens its new football stadium against Franklin County.

The Blue Devils would rather forget Week Zero (I will never understand that math) against state powerhouse, Mt. Juliet.

There is nothing like the first game in a brand new stadium. The popcorn tastes better. The band has some extra pep in its step. It’s a great spot to run into friends you haven’t seen this summer.

The new Lebanon High School has a lot of similar features that Mt. Juliet used when it built its new school. If only the Blue Devils football program could become as competitive as Mt. Juliet’s.

Football isn’t the only thing to get excited about around Middle Tennessee.

Goodlettsville’s Little League team is undefeated in the Little League World Series, the first time since 1974 an area team won its first two games in the event. Their next game is Thursday against Texas, also winners of its first two games.

Vanderbilt baseball coach Tim Corbin attended Sunday’s game against California and it was as good a game as you can find. Goodlettsville had to rally to take a 9-6 decision.

Corbin said the atmosphere surrounding the Little League World Series is similar in a lot of ways to the College World Series.

He also said if you are a baseball fan, the Little League World Series should to be on your bucket list. I would agree.

I remember how important playing Little League baseball was when I was that age. Every time it looked as if that day’s game was going to be rained out, I watched the sky closer than any certified meteorologist ever did.

If it was rained out, my whole day was ruined. I had to wait another week to play a game.

We never got to Williamsport. We did travel 15 miles or so to Erwin to play their All-Stars. My buddy Johnny Leach hit a home run as a train was passing just beyond the outfield fence. Spectators claimed the ball landed in one of the coal cars and I always contended it was the longest home run hit in Little League history. Think about it. He hit a ball from Erwin to Kansas City, or wherever that car came to rest.

Moving to Hendersonville, Steven Fox captured the U.S. Amateur crown at Cherry Hills CC in Colorado Sunday, winning a 36-hole match-play marathon that required an extra hole before engravers were cleared to put Fox’s name on the Havemeyer trophy.

It didn’t come easy for Fox, a senior at Chattanooga. He was the No. 35 seed in the 36-man field and dodged a number of bullets to reach the finals. He becomes only the second player in history to win from that position.

Down two holes with two to play, it looked bleak for Fox. But he would record back-to-back birdies to catch Cal’s Michael Weaver. Weaver could have closed Fox out with a 5-foot birdie putt on No. 18. It appeared to be destined for the cup, but it spun out.

Even Fox gasped when the putt failed to drop. He finished Weaver off on the playoff hole with yet another birdie putt.

So Middle Tennesseans have had a lot to cheer about. And we still have a full football season ahead of us. 

Contact Sports Columnist Joe Biddle at  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

We were a little late getting to the dock because we had to stop in Hendersonville for donuts and chocolate milk. It didn’t matter. The fish were waiting.

I can still hear her first squeal, “I got one daddy, I got one.” Her blonde ponytail bobbed and she almost reeled the fish right through the end of the rod.

With baseball season on the wane, it’s time to get interested in a little football here in Wilson County. Before you know it, the nights will get a little cooler and the stadium lights will shine brightly, inducing flying insects to bathe in the bright glow of the artificial sunshine. That is the time for one of the members of the Goatsucker family to take flight, almost like the saying, "strike while the iron is hot." Dinner is in the air, just waiting to be eaten.

Dear Ken: How many actors have played G-man Dick Tracy in the movies?

Since Chester Gould debuted his comic strip in 1931, only three actors have portrayed Tracy in film. Ralph Byrd portrayed the police detective in four serials starting in 1937, in two movies in the 1940s and in a 1950-1951 TV series. Ralph Conway played Tracy in two 1940s flicks, and Warren Beatty played the flatfoot in a 1990 film. There is talk a new Tracy flick may be coming in a couple of years.

Dear Ken: What has happened to Stephen Collins, who played Rev. Eric Camden on “7th Heaven”? 

Collins, 64, a native of Des Moines, Iowa, plays Dr. Dayton King on the ABC sitcom “No Ordinary Family” and earlier this year appeared in “The Three Stooges” feature film. A rock ’n’ roll musician before he became an actor, he has released a couple of albums, including “The Hits of Rick Nelson.” Among the names of the bands he played with are Tambourine Charlie & The Four Flat Tires, The Naugahyde Revolution, The Flower & Vegetable Show, The Housemen, The Mustangs and The Trolls. He also has written a suspense thriller titled “Double Exposure.”

By BECKY ANDREWS
Wilson Living Magazine

I’ve been cheating on Angel. And by cheating, I mean working on call for a Nashville news station. From the beginning, she thought it was a bad idea.

“Where is the station?”

“Nashville.”

“As in Davidson County? Can you work from home?”

“No. I can’t work from home. It’ll be okay. I’ll train and if I can’t break away from work here, I don’t have to go in.”

When the training started, so did the complaining...from my husband and Angel. For two people who don’t like to text, I received more typed messages from them than that of two 13-year-olds.

With each passing Major golf tournament, the odds of Tiger Woods passing Jack Nicklaus as the all-time leader in Major championships grow longer.

This is not the Tiger that once had the PGA Tour by the tail.

This is not the Tiger Woods that, when he showed up at a Major, everyone in the field didn’t think they were playing for second. They knew it.

Woods has been possessed with becoming the all-time leader in winning Major tournaments.

There are only four a year – the Masters, U.S. and British Opens and the PGA Championship.

This year, Woods failed to register a single round under par on weekend rounds in all four Majors.

By PATRICK HALL
The Wilson Post

It’s never easy making a sequel, a storyline has to move forward and balance enough of what worked in the previous installment while delivering something new, but unfortunately, ‘Bourne Legacy’ does neither.

Directed and co-written by Tony Gilroy and starring Jeremy Renner as government super-agent Aaron Cross, ‘Legacy’ intertwines with events in 2007’s ‘Bourne Ultimatum,’ during which Jason Bourne (Matt Damon) finds closure and escapes his government tormentors.

Since the operations “Treadstone” and “Blackbriar” that spawned Bourne have been exposed, the Central Intelligence Agency is trying to cover its tracks by dispensing of other agents, including Cross. When they try to kill him, he goes on the run and action-movie stuff ensues.

Pulling the strings is Eric Byer played by Edward Norton, who we never really learn anything about, but is just like all the other baddies in the previous three films. He spouts platitudes about protecting America and the usual “spy” lingo.

Running with Cross is genetic scientist Dr. Marta Shearing (Rachel Weisz) who is the film’s most unique character and its most interesting.