Dear Ken: What was Clint Eastwood’s first appearance in a western?
Eastwood, 81, who co-starred in the TV western “Rawhide” from 1959 to 1965, made his debut as a cowboy playing Tom, a ranch hand in “Star in the Dust,” which was released in June 1956. For the role he didn’t even receive a screen credit.

Two months later, he co-starred as a U.S. Cavalry lieutenant in “The First Traveling Saleslady” and received his first screen kiss from Carol Channing. Two years later he co-starred in “Ambush at Cimarron Pass.” It was while on break from “Rawhide” in 1964 that he made his fourth film western, “A Fistful of Dollars,” which turned him into an international star. This first in a series of three spaghetti westerns that the actor made with director Sergio Leone was not released in the United States until 1967. While making “Fistful,” Eastwood wore the same boots he wore while playing Rowdy Yates on “Rawhide.”

By  RAY POPE
Walking around in the backyard, I noticed a quietness that seemed a little strange, almost like when the cicadas finished their business and went on their way. What was missing? The beautiful singing behind my house. Where have the Purple Martins gone? They finished their brood raising and now are flocking together away from the nesting boxes.

The ones at Sellars Funeral home have packed up and left along with the ones at Jackson Enterprises down on South Maple Street. They will hang around in a flock till the small alarm bell inside their heads says its time to head south.

Right now I still have the usual species around my bird feeders, with the most prevalent one being the House Finches. There is one feeder that is just outside my kitchen window, and sometimes a few of them will sit and watch me just on the other side of the glass as I do the dishes. This past Sunday, I slowly opened the window and reached out and rubbed one little female on her back before she couldn’t stand it any longer and flew to a low limb a few feet away.