By RAY POPE

I really hated for the Wilson County Fair to come to an end. The time spent there was only a blur this year as time must have been in fast forward. This is the first time that I can remember ever having a rain-shortened week. There were bookoodles of people that stopped by to say howdy at The Wilson Post booth. Many pictures were taken and even a few folks on witness protection changed their mind and let me snap their pictures which should be in this edition of The Wilson Post.

First off, I would love to thank my bank, Liberty State Bank for keeping me in roasted peanuts this year. The girls working their booth would see me coming and grab hands full of those little blue sacks of peanuts and load them into a large plastic bag, just to keep me from being embarrassed of folks that probably would have taken me for a hog. Sunday at 11 a.m. in the morning, it was time to take my booth apart and remove all traces of me and my stuff.

In the corner where the Mature Lifestyles box sat, there was a pile of peanut shells at least five inches deep and spread out over a circle of fifteen inches where I would toss them out after removing the goodies inside. Good ole Mother Earth will return their nutrients back into the soil like a compost heap would.

Most of the birding news consisted of Ruby-throated Hummingbirds. Helen Clinton stopped by to tell me she has nine feeders with five to ten Hummers on each feeder. She uses sugar water instead of those old expensive mixes you can buy at most stores.

Gary Enzfelder has been an avid bird lover since the 4th grade of school. This past year he got to see a Scarlet Tanager in the woods at his home.

Most of my wiser readers will probably remember Dr. Gallaher who was one of the first well known eye doctors here in Lebanon. He stopped by with his daughter, Diana to tell me how much they enjoyed reading about the birds and The Wilson Post in general. You can find bird lovers in all walks of life.

My old bowling buddy, Ray Cravens, along with his wife Jane, came by to say hello. James York stopped by to talk for a few minutes. James told me a story of when he got to see another member of his family, Alvin York, the highly decorated World War I hero. We will have to get together for another round of what was said and done about Alvin. Paula and David Birchett were telling me all about the Hummers at their home. It was nice to find out that I had a large bunch of folks that read “Our Feathered Friends” each Wednesday.

Rachel and Charles Warren are avid birders and it was great to meet them. Betty Marrs has Ruby-throated Hummingbirds everywhere she looks. It will get better as we go into September with all the northern birds stopping by to refuel before making the trip over the Gulf of Mexico to winter in South America.

Beverly Stacy, who lives out in the Tuckers Crossroad community, is another great bird lover with lots of different country birds at her feeders in the winter. Talyne Gregg also stopped by for a chat about our feathered friends.

Shirley Knowles told me she was up to her neck with squirrel problems. No matter what she does the furry little rodents keep one step ahead of her, and she is getting tired of it. I’m glad that I’m not a squirrel living anywhere close to Shirley. It could get painful or even worse.

Byron Burchett stopped by for a spell. I remember him back in the 1970s taking me out to his property to look for Great Horned Owls. He told me that his mother was working in one of the buildings there at the fair. I told him to have his mother stop by for a little while. It wasn’t too long before Marilyn Burchett came over and we talked for what seemed an hour. Back in the 70s Marilyn sometimes would write bird stories for the old column, “About Birds” in the other Lebanon newspaper, and I would go out and try to take pictures of whatever she wrote about. It never was easy to find the right shot for her stories. I still have some of the old clippings from the past wrote by some very classy ladies.

A good friend of mine, Francis Ferrell’s daughter, Heather and husband Dave stopped by with their two children Colby and Angelina to say hello. The young ones were ready to get on some rides in the midway.

After getting home I received a telephone call from Ronnie and Margaret Wright about a Humming bird that just didn’t look right. Their daughter Janet had taken some photos through the window, but they were not too plain to put in the article. It’s always hard to get good pictures shot through glass. I rode out to their farm on Old Shannon Road to see for myself.

There were Hummers all over the place and Ronnie and I sat down to wait on the strange looking bird. After a few minutes he came close enough for me to take a half decent picture of the little male Hummer. Looking at the bill, it seems that there is some kind of growth on the lower bill, maybe some kind of wart! You let me know what you think when you see the picture. I can e-mail you a color one if you ask.

I would love to hear from you as to what’s lurking about in your neighborhood and at your feeders.

You can write me at 606 Fairview Ave., Lebanon, TN, 37087 or call me at 547-7371 or e-mail me at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it