Fence  vs. Tree?Chain link fences are wonderful because they don't have to be painted, don't rot, don't have termites and seem to last forever.  But this one seems to have found a formidable foe.  I found this site at a listing today and thought it very interesting because of the time it has had to take to get to this stage.The tree was probably pretty big when the fence was put in because no one would plan a problem like this.  So the tree kept growing, the fence stayed solid.......until......this situation.  It's a tough battle but I think I am betting on the tree's winning.  If I live that long!  05/06/2020

Think back, Searcy folks.....Several years ago, and I can't remember how many, the streets of downtown Searcy AR had lots of these great big planters filled with flowers.  I had the good fortune a few days ago to become the owner of four of them that were once used by a prominent downtown merchant.  The business was large enough to need four to put in front of the store.  They needed a little power washing and now they look beautiful.They are obviously made of some tough plastic to still be in good shape.  An inscription says Valley View Specialties, Crestwood ILL.Now I am curious about the beautification project that was obviously being pushed by Searcy downtown merchants.  Searcy Sleuths, do you have any memories about that period of time? 05/01/2020

Here's a challenge, Searcy Sleuths!While we are spending most of our time at home looking for things to do, we perhaps look back through old memory books or files saved.  I was doing just that when this lovely photograph fell out of the book.  I thought I knew exactly where it was.  Folks from Searcy will probably remember the old root beer restaurant which was behind a filling station on East Race.  I remembered a big white house on the same block and just knew this station was beside the house.So I drove by to prove I was right.  WRONG!  From where the filling station was to where the white house is was quite a distance with an apartment complex in between.  Dang!  So let me give you a chance, Searcy Sleuths, to tell me where it was!  It might brighten our quarantine hours to have a c... 04/04/2020

My daugher, Valerie Canepa, and I, a team, were fortunate to be listing country properties on the same day.  We went in different directions and put the listings on MLS on the same day.  My listing is great with 5 acres at 260 Oak Forrest Road in Searcy AR.  (Check it out on the internet.  MLS #20009479. Nice house, shop, fenced, and a scenic old barn that even has a chicken pen.)  Here's the picture of my scenic barn!!!What was her barn like?  See the first picture again.  Her barn is part of her listing at Pangburn AR at 379 Highway 124 and it has 30 plus acres with a barn that is on the Registry of Historic buildings.  It is a Louden Barn with so much beauty and class. Barns like the one on her listing were built around the 1930's.  (Just google it!) The MLS listing number is 2000950... 03/21/2020

While looking through old saved clippings, I came across this one.  And it is a good example of irresponsible clipping and record keeping by me.  I failed to put the date of the clipping.  It does say that the house was 78 years old and this was to be very close to the end of the lovely P. A. Robertson home at either 311 West Center or 309 West Center.  The newspaper put two different addresses for the home  It described the home as one of the finest and best preserved examples of Queen Anne Victorian architecture in the state and it was on the Registry of Historic Homes.Searcy lost another beauty with the elimination of this home but I am glad that we had photography to keep it in our memories. 03/18/2020

Ouch!  Darlin', that hurt!  Are you mad at me?  I guess there is a touch of humor in the accident that happened a day or so ago in Searcy AR.  Searcy, as you may know, was the winner in the Small Business Revolution in 2019.  Searcy has been doing murals downtown and trying to make a highly desirable small town to visit.  The building that has been injured here has Quattlebaum Music inside. Click here    https://activerain.com/droplet/5mvg    to see the front of the building and more about its history.It was built in 1860!   And the next picture shows us what a REAL brick wall is!  We REALTORS are always saying that a house has brick walls.  They really have brick veneer walls!  THIS is a brick wall.  How fortunate you are to see this view before it was covered up for security purposes.... 03/05/2020

I started reviewing some of my old blogs today.  I started blogging in 2007 and there are over 1700 blogs floating up in the cloud.  Some of those blogs are definitely worth seeing again.  I was impressed with this short blog that gives you the link to the rap tune, S E A R C Y, done my Harding students.  They filmed in different areas of Searcy and one spot looks like Art Alley before it was Art Alley.  If you have seen it, review it, and if you have not seen it, you'll find it interesting and fun.Here's the blog, dated 9/25/07. I'm not a big fan of rap mainly because I can't understand so many of the words that they are saying.  But I'm a big fan of my hometown Searcy AR and my Alma Mater Harding University in Searcy.  There's a really fun rap tune on youtube that I saw today.  Four t... 02/22/2020

Coke revisited in Searcy ARI ate a beautiful cookie and felt guilty as I did because it was SO pretty.  They were being given to guests who visited the Coca-Cola Bottling Co. Open House in downtown Searcy AR on 2/11/2020.  In years past the building (owned now by Sowell's Furniture) was an official Coke bottling Company and located at 210 W. Arch.  Here's another picture.  It was called The Syrup Room.  What's a syrup room?  Searcy Sleuths needed.The old company has been remodeled and made into offices for rentals but lots of the old building is still highly visible.  The stairs are probably still the same.  See them next.Now here's an interesting one.  Old tar.  The old building had a tar ceiling which had a tendency to leak through and now it is, if there is such a thing, petrified ta... 02/12/2020

Remember?This picture may bring back old memories of dirt roads, country areas, toy wagons, great relatives who helped with the kids and, in short, the good ole days.The lady looks too old to have children that young but she is probably baby sitting for a family member.  It really did bring back old memories (not that pleasant) of country living on dirt words with very little traffic and how often families had a little red wagon to do lots of things with.....both work and play.There does seem to be a mailbox in the background.  The "mail man" came by every day and families looked forward to his coming.  Imagine!  If he was delivering the Sears Roebuck catalog how much weight was in his vehicle.One more thing reminds me of ladies back then.  Dresses......only dresses unless you were work... 02/11/2020

Sheet Music I attended school in a tiny town in Georgia and I now think that when we gathered in the auditorium and a teacher led us in singing songs that the school was perhaps fulfilling a required music class.  When I was in college and majored in Art,  I was not required to take a music class because I already appreciated the arts.   SO......I know nothing about music.  I do not know what any of those note things mean when I see a sheet of music.  Now I wish I did because look what I have found.Othel Jones was a teacher in Searcy Public Schools.  He died and at his estate sale (he saved a lot) I bought a bunch of old papers and teaching stuff that he had.  I found this in the gathering.  It is a piece of sheet music written as you can see above by Claude H. Jones and Mary H. Eden. I... 02/07/2020

 Downtown Searcy 1980It  interesting to see this old ad that was in the Searcy Daily Citizen on 4/25/1980.  Davis Furniture now has a new owner and name, Young's Tire is no longer at that location.  The Commercial Printing Company is not there, vehicles have certainly changed and this picture makes the street appear shorter than it really is.  The Methodist Church is still highly visible in the background.BUT......Searcy AR does still have CLASS 02/07/2020

1978 yearbook picture...Harding College Searcy ARThis interesting picture is unusual in that there is snow on the ground and the kids had to be well-wrapped to get in that convertible for the Harding yearbook picture.  I found it in an old folder titled 1978 Harding yearbook ad pictures.    The house was at 609 E Race, according to the address on the building.  I remember it as a very attractive brick house that housed several businesses through the years including the Town and Country Real Estate business.  It no longer pulls up on actdatascout.com because it is no longer there. Harding now owns the lot and the lots around it.  The old car was used for advertising purposes.It would be nice if you can name the students!  And the car! 02/01/2020

Really OLD!Driving in downtown Searcy AR today is totally different.  This view of Arch Street South of the courthouse looks very wide.  Go there now and with huge pickup trucks parked on each side it does not look very wide.  This view seems to show dirt streets, antique vehicles, and a few people.  This one is dated.  1912.  So which do you think came first?  At first I thought the one in color was later but looking at it more closely I can see that the store beside Baugh's was brick in this one but appeared to be painted in the top one and the top one had more awnings.  Perhaps this lower one was before we had horseless carriages!  You tell me. 01/27/2020

A page from the past!  1959 Seniors.This is a fun old picture that has been tucked away for a long time.  This group of Searcy Seniors was to present a play on May 1 1959 at the Searcy High School auditorium.  I know several of them now but did not know them then because I did not grow up in Searcy.  I must say that the ones that I know now have not changed much.  They are still handsome folks!I wonder, after seeing this picture, whether it was a tradition for the seniors to perform a play at the end of the year.  Perhaps some of the ones in this picture can tell us.  The newspaper did not tell us the name of the play either! 01/21/2020

Mystery tissue paper order for dolls?This 4 page tissue paper copy of an order (I assume) for a lot of dolls has been in my attic for many years.  It was found in a throw-away cardboard suitcase found by me probably in the late 60's or early 70's as I made trips to the library and the park with my kids.  The box had odds and ends from the Searcy Library such as receipts for insurance payments and a response from the US Post Office saying the library  could ship books for less money and old folder dividers.  Lots of signatures are in there from important people in Searcy at the time.  E O Yancey, Ruth Fuller, Inez Bishop, Ellen Key, Wilbur Dobbins, G O Yingling and others.  Dates range from the late 40's to early 50's.But back to the subject......This old doll order does not seem to fit ... 01/13/2020

Homecoming Royalty in Searcy ArkansasHow thrilled folks were, way back then, to have their pictures in the newspaper.  This old clipping has spent many years in an attic or two (date is somewhere around 1964) so it is probably not as clear as we'd like it to be.  But it is good that the names are printed below the picture.The little boy with his hands in his pockets still lives in Searcy and owns Quattlebaum Surveying.  The little girl also lives in Searcy and is my step-daughter.  Aren't they adorable?   It is kinda sad that the newspaper business has declined and few people are subscribers anymore. Facebook may be helping fulfill the void but  I still like the historic ads and friendly photos from years ago.Here's another one from the attic.  It shows how TVs have also changed!  01/06/2020

WOW!How did they get the picture to look like this?  This was a long time ago, approximately in the 70's, when no one had tricky cell phones that do amazing things.  The young man was in the tree and another young man took the picture.  I stumbled upon it the other day and was once again stunned that this picture was made right in my own front yard by my own kids!  Looks like a snow covered tree in the still of the night....which it was not.  It is worth seeing again. 12/31/2019

What a cute card.  It certainly makes you take notice!This old card is from 1954 and has a calendar on the back.  The front, as you can see, reads "There is a difference IN SOFT DRINKS TRY C & C SUPER in the Sanitary Cap Top Can."The back of the card says, "IT'S 'SUPER' all year 'round."  Then there is a calendar for the year.  I assume this would have been to keep in your wallet in case you needed to check a date.I think it is a clever little advertisement but would it be acceptable today?      12/29/2019

Loaded downThis car has to bring memories to lots of people.  What did we call those things that covered back tires?   Hubby, the retired car dealer, says "fender skirts."  But he says he sees no seams so perhaps this car was just made that way.  And were those things  at the back called tail fins?  Yes, Hubby says all cars had them because they were the rage!  He said they all had whitewall tires, too.  And was this car loaded so heavily that it was lower in the back......or was that style?  Hubby says he thinks it was loaded so full that it made the back end hang low! This photo was found at an estate sale, unwanted by the family.  The back has this written on it, "The car just before leaveing For Columbus Ga. Ft Benning."  It should be a treasure!There is a load on the top, clothing ... 12/22/2019

Santa is Smokin'!In more than one way.  He is wide-eyed and ready to jump in the sleigh.....PLUS.....he is smoking a pipe!  I collect Santas in a small way and got this one from an estate sale a few days ago.  I didn't think much about what he was doing but once I put him in the herd, he stood out in the second way.  HE IS SMOKING A PIPE!Now many years ago, that would have been fine but in today's world, Santa would never smoke!  He is now politically incorrect!  Little kids could be influenced by our jolly-good-fellow's smoking.  Should I dump him or keep him?  12/16/2019