By RAY POPE

Anytime you listen to the weather, you will always hear the weatherman say, “It’s 98 degrees, but it feels like 107 degrees.” Why can’t they just give us the temperature without factoring in the humidity? Our minds will compensate for the higher amount and actually make us feel like the higher of the two.

This weekend at the Wilson County Fair has been HOT with capital letters. The large white tent where you can find yours truly is like a giant oven. There are people coming in that look like they have been tossing water balloons at each other. I do not want to scare you away, but it would be great to hear from you, so come on down.

Guess who is king of growing Roma Tomatoes this year at the fair? I couldn’t believe my eyes, but I won first place with a blue ribbon for those juicy red orbs. Next year the competition had better keep their eyes on me because I am going to plant some of everything on the list of entries so just maybe the odds will be in my favor.

A very good friend stopped by to talk about his Purple Martins and the success he had with them this season. Of course, I am a tad bit jealous since my thoughts of raising them this year didn’t bear fruit. I did have a pair that checked out my eight-room condo, only to be dive-bombed by Grackles. The grackles don’t realize how much I would like to have Martins, so there might be some situations they don’t want to fall into, if you catch my drift.

Anyone that buys a Martin house should realize that it is quite a commitment that shouldn’t be taken lightly. There are many nest inspections to ensure that everything is going alright with the babies. If you add new housing there will be almost twice as many the next year to take care of.
My good friend asked to be left anonymous so I will keep his name hidden. This past Martin season there were 52 eggs laid with 51 eggs hatched and a total of 51 young that fledged, or took wing and flew with the adults at his location. There is always a problem with House Sparrows and sometimes even Owls. I find Martin houses all over Wilson County in disarray where people place them out and then forget about them.

Take the ones out at the Don Fox Park: there were several families of House Sparrows raised there the past several years. I don’t know who put them out, but they should take care of what they started. Maybe we could find people with Martin houses that would let some of us adopt them and move them where we can take care of them. I guess I had better get off my soap box before I step on some toes.

It was nice to talk with Mary Snowden at The Wilson Post booth. Most of my readers that stopped by talked about all the Hummingbirds at their feeders. It shouldn’t be too long before we start seeing them in greater numbers as they start migrating from their far northern range. I’m still getting e-mails and phone calls about how to correctly make the Hummer Juice. It is one part sugar to four part hot water and remember, NO RED FOOD COLORING. I can’t stress that enough.

Martha Crawley stopped by my booth with Zach and Ashleigh Green in tow. She is trying to make bird lovers out of them. I believe they were more interested in jumping on some of the many carnival rides at their disposal. I can’t really blame them for that. When my brother and I were at that magical age, our mother would give us three dollars each to spend at the fair. We could ride most everything and still have a little to spend on the crane machines, which I was pretty good at.

Sunday morning I heard again from Carole Young telling me she had to stop her car for a covey of Bobwhite Quail making their way from one side of the driveway to the other. She said that there were between 15-20 birds in the covey. It was just a couple weeks ago that I tried to whistle them up at her home. I believe Carole will always keep her property in a wild state that will keep the Quail living there for many years to come. Atta-girl, Carole!

Don’t forget to visit me at the Wilson County Fair where The Wilson Post booth is located. If you are not camera shy or on some king of witness protection deal, let me take your picture to go on our “Seen at the fair “ page in The Wilson Post.

I would love to hear from you as to what’s lurking about in your neighborhood and at your feeders. You can call me at 547-7371 or write me at 606 Fairview Ave., Lebanon TN, 37087 or e-mail me at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it