Monday, April 15, 2013

Gleaning Facebook: It's Tax Day; Yay!

I enjoy reading the Questing Parson and often find him a kindred spirit. Here's the Parson's take on paying taxes:

Click this link to read the Parson's thoughts about Tax Day.
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I'm with the Parson, [Click the Parson's Logo ] again. It helps, of course, that Sheila does the figuring and filing. But I signed the papers today.
I know that my contribution will go toward roads, schools, our military and veterans, my neighbor's healthcare and my own, toward cleaner rivers, maintaining our parks and protecting the wilderness, keeping our food safe, hunting down terrorists and counterfeiters and murderers, maintaining our judicial system and developing vaccines for the latest flu strains. None of those programs will run perfectly and as long as they are administered by human beings we will suffer a degree of incompetency and, sometimes, outright fraud.
Though we always seek a more perfect union, we the people have a pretty good system, by which I am daily enriched. I'm certainly not wealthy, but by virtue of the right parents, reasonably good health and brains, some work ethic, and a fair amount of luck, I earn well above the average of Americans, which puts me in a much higher bracket among my fellow Earthlihgs-at-large.
I would be an absolute jerk, with all my blessings, to complain about the amount of my taxes. I am wonderfully blessed and proud to be an American and am dead serious in proclaiming that I count it a joy and privilege to support my country with my allotment of income tax this time every year.
Happy, April 15th!

Comments:

Laurie Craw Thanks, Terrell. You're a true patriot.

Michael J. Sarver
"As long as those Congresspersons and Senators and state legislators remember that it's my investment and not their expense account, I'll start now putting aside gladly what I expect to contribute next year. And I'll pay those taxes again next year with the same smile."
Beckie Gurley Love the post. It puts paying taxes in perspective. And I also like Michael's comment. It is an investment I am paying. I've truly never thought of it that way before. Now time to file my return:)
Bob Doster Right there with you.
Kevin J. Lennon Awesome post

Lynne Crothers Williams I share your pride in our country and your willingness to support her with your taxes. If we would limit government spending to those functions outlines in the the constitution and leave the others to state and local government and religious and charitable organizations, we could possibly live within our means as a country and not be trillions of dollars in debt.
Terrell Shaw
Lynne, I think you and I have different views on the degree to which we the people can choose, under the Constitution, to promote the common welfare. The founders thought postal service would be a common good we could jointly finance. Lincoln thought a transcontinental railroad deserved support from all of us. Under TR we decided to protect each other from tainted meat, Ike added poultry, and Nixon, eggs. TR also wanted the people to jointly preserve wilderness, and also liked the idea of us all bearing jointly the burden of each other's healthcare, but it would take FDR's Social Security, LBJ's Medicare, and "Obamacare" to get us to the point we've reached. Ike wanted an Interstate highway system. Well... The Constitution allows those things, as affirmed in numerous instances by the arbiter of such things, the Supreme Court.
Lynne Crothers Williams Terry, I agree that many of the things you list are desirable, but desirable doesn't mean there is a federal role in promoting all of them. The Supreme Court has pushed well beyond the constitutional limits of common welfare, bringing the nation, with Congressional and Executive branch complicity, to the brink of bankruptcy. Unless we prioritize and bring spending under control, the country's ability to sustain itself and the programs you list is in serious jeopardy. We are a fiscal house of cards and the wind is blowing.
Terrell Shaw
I believe the realities of modern America mean we must finance lots of environmental protection, social safety nets, national infrastructure, and more on a national level. That will take a larger tax burden on those of us who have been most blessed by our system. I am not willing to leave those things to a confusing hodgepodge of 50 state legislatures and thousands of local governments and certainly not to Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Muslim charities or the Red Cross. It is unacceptable to most Americans and IMO impractical to reduce America to the small confederation that you seem to envision. To responsibly finance the nation that most of us want we need to accept tax rates closer to what we had before Reagan and the Bushes.
Lynne Crothers Williams
IMO continuing as we are may be the beginning of the end of this great country; it is not sustainable to continue to spend money we don' have. I was around and paying taxes before the Reagan and Bush eras and I doubt that level of taxation would be sustainable to do all that you expect to be done at the federal level. We haven't even gone into the degree of control over individual lives that goes along with multiple programs. We know have to agree to disagree, so I'll wrap up on this one with thanks for the articulate and courteous way in which you've expressed your opinions.

Gleaning Facebook: Paying With A Smile

I'm with the Parson, again. 

It helps, of course, that Sheila does the figuring and filing. But I signed the papers today.

I know that my contribution will go toward roads, schools, our military and veterans, my neighbor's healthcare and my own, toward cleaner rivers, maintaining our parks and protecting the wilderness, keeping our food safe, hunting down terrorists and counterfeiters and murderers, maintaining our judicial system and developing vaccines for the latest flu strains. None of those programs will run perfectly and as long as they are administered by human beings we will suffer a degree of incompetency and, sometimes, outright fraud.
Though we always seek a more perfect union, we the people have a pretty good system, by which I am daily enriched. I'm certainly not wealthy, but by virtue of the right parents, reasonably good health and brains, some work ethic, and a fair amount of luck, I earn well above the average of Americans, which puts me in a much higher bracket among my fellow Earthlihgs-at-large.
I would be an absolute jerk, with all my blessings, to complain about the amount of my taxes. I am wonderfully blessed and proud to be an American and am dead serious in proclaiming that I count it a joy and privilege to support my country with my allotment of income tax this time every year.
Happy, April 15th!

Saturday, April 13, 2013

Gleaning Facebook: Dumb Argument

 I get so tired of the lame arguments, straw men, demagoguery, and inflammatory slogans of the gun lobby.

"If we 'Outlaw' guns only criminals will have them"
What straw man stupidity! What national leader has proposed "outlawing" guns? None.
Get this NRA Extremists: Americans, with very few exceptions, support the right of self-protection. But we also support, in large majorities, sensible limits on the types of guns that are legal, the capacities of magazines, and the convenience of crazies to wreak havoc with them. My right and yours to self-protection is real and basic and Constitutionally protected, but it is not absolute. It is not anti-Second-Amendment or nnti-American to debate where, between atomic arms and fisticuffs, lies the limit of the right to bear arms.
And if you act on a wish for weapons to rebel against a government elected by the people, then I want you put down just as surely as Washington put down the Whiskey Rebellion and the Union put down the Confederacy.

The Gun Lobby’s Dumbest Argument



Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Gleaning Facebook: Mother's Surgery

 My wonderful mother will have outpatient surgery early tomorrow (Thursday) morning. I'll appreciate your prayers for her.

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Lots of well wishes followed. Thanks to all our friends and family who are concerned for her!

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Nora Matthews
Is she ok uncle terry

Terrell Shaw
She'll be fine. How are y'all?


Christie Hufstedler Boyd
Praying for Ruth, Terrell.


Tersi Bendiburg
Will pray, Terrell.


Robin Dean
Praying.


Gary Greene
Prayers my friend.


Terrell Shaw
Thanks all. This is supposed to be routine stuff & Mama will be fine... but, of course, there is no such thing as routine surgery when its one's own Mom! 

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Nancy Johal Singh
Prayers heading her way


Betty Smith Franklin
yes.


Rose McDonald Darby
Will do!


Alice Jeffries Keel
Naturally!


Sandy Doughty
Prayers being lifted up for your sweet Mom!


Kathy Wilson
Sending prayers your way!


Terrell Shaw
Thanks everyone. Mother came through the surgery in good shape, she is home, and I had a good visit with her this afternoon. The docs removed a very small tumor and though it is suspicious looking, they feel good that they "got it all".


Rose McDonald Darby
So glad to hear this


Tersi Bendiburg
Thankful for you and with you.


Anita Stewart
Will continue to pray for your dear mother.


Ann Gore
Glad she is doing well. Praying for her and the family, Terrell.

Tuesday, April 09, 2013

Gleaning Facebook: A Casserole of Methodists?


I enjoyed the responses to this post I made on Facebook:

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Let's have a collective noun contest. One of my old favorites is the famous "congress of baboons*". I've always felt marginalized by the term "a sprinkling of Methodists". I suggest "a casserole of Methodists" as more appropriate.

Who has some suggestions for good collective nouns for groups of:
Congressmen
Republicans
Democrats
Libertarians
teachers
fourth-graders
lawyers
reporters
meteorologists
Baptists
Episcopalians
Evangelicals
actors
environmentalists
botanists
canoes and kayaks
-or any other group that you wish to extol/persecute.
I am looking for the single most original, appropriate, incisive, creative, poetic, inventive, collective noun.
(Keep it G-rated please -- hard as that might be for the first four items above.)
To enter: write a comment to this post. One collective noun per comment. Submit as many suggestions as you wish.
Deadline: Midnight April 15, 2013 (Thus providing excellent procrastination opportunities from your tax return preparations this week.)
Prize: A virtual medal to display on the winner's Facebook page.
There is evidently a limit to the number of friends I can tag... so feel free to spread this little contest abroad.
Tagging: Kevin Myrick, Kevin Kling, Janice Shaw Crouse, Janice Butt, Tersi Bendiburg, Carol Shaw Johnston, Gregg Lewis, Deborah Shaw Lewis, Beth Shaw, Adam Stanley

Comments:

Jackson Williamson For some reason, a "flock" of environmentalists sounds appropriate.

Terrell Shaw And we're off and running....

Jane Cox Slickman Terrell, aren't you a little afraid of what the collectives for politicians might be? On the way to church, I offer a communion of Disciples of Christ ( our church at second ave & third st)


Terrell Shaw I have deliberately tagged some of my favorite Republicans. I suspect my Democratic friends can give as good as they get!

Jane Cox Slickman How about a household of realtors

Jane Cox Slickman A bray of democrats?

A lumber of republicans?

A tempest of tea partiers?


Jackson Williamson Given their predilection toward solicitation of donations, I submit that a group of Evangelicals be referred to as a "Bundle".


David Campbell Pool of Baptists, 

vinyard of Episcopalians, 

great cloud of meteorologists, 

"heard" of audiologists...


Juanita Cordle David, I was going to say a flurry of meteorologists, but I like yours,too! 

Maybe a case of lawyers?

Juanita Cordle ...an assembly of teachers? 

...a collection of bankers?


Janice Shaw Crouse Clever people!

Jaki Day a pasture of preachers...(sheep- shepherd reference)pastedGraphic.png

Terrell Shaw Keep 'em coming, I love it!


David Campbell A cell of televangelists

Christy Davis A destitution of teachers? 

A cache of bankers?

Carol Shaw Johnston I can't seem to un-tag myself.

Terrell Shaw Sorry Carol. I'll see If I can unhook you.

Terrell Shaw Sheesh... looks like Facebook would make that easy... I can't seem to delete tags. Apologies to those who may have no interest in this silliness.

Christy Davis A regret of Facebook tags?


Terrell Shaw May be my favorite so far, Christie. 

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Kathryn Neason Adams A score of tenors on the" high seas (C's)

Terrell anyone who wants to opt out of this should go to your original post, put their mouse over the arrow to the side and click "unfollow post" I've enjoyed the entries so far...

Terrell Shaw Thanks, Kathryn.

Carol Shaw Johnston No big deal, Terry - I just didn't want to get into any snarky political stuff - but it doesn't seem to be headed that way. There was an email being passed around awhile back that had some really funny collective nouns. I'll see what I can come up with.

Christy Davis A snark of pundits?

Juanita Cordle A facade of actors?

Kathryn Neason Adams a "trunkful" of Republicans.

Kathryn Neason Adams a windfall of meterologists

Adam Stanley A murder of murderers

Jane Cox Slickman This is the best post ever! 

How about a fund of philanthropists?

A wreck of drunk drivers

David Shaw A Lie of Lawyers

A Waste of Politicians

Kathryn Neason Adams In light of a discussion this morning on the news about requiring competency tests for Congressmen how about A Deficit of Congressmen.

Brannon Shaw A chatter of fourth graders. 

A relief of EMTs.

Gregg Lewis A predetermined passel of Presbyterians

a bouquet of botanists

Dale McConkey A slew of slaughterers


Ruth Baird Shaw A class of teachers

A mainline of Methodists


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* I am disappointed to confirm that zoologists actually call groups of baboons "troops".

Gleaning Facebook: Too Many Guns, Not Enough Control

The victims of criminals and nuts with guns deserve a vote... tell Graves, Gingrey, Isakson, and Chambliss.




Comments

Dawn N Luke Andrews
Of course....all those criminals with guns will immediately renounce their evil intentions due to new gun laws.....come on Mr T!


Terrell Shaw
Come on Luke. I am so tired of that lame argument. Criminals by definition defy laws. We have laws so we can make them liable for breaking them. And, in some cases, so law-abiding folk don't enable them.


Terrell Shaw
Let's have a vote. What are McConnell & Co afraid of?


Adaïr AIis

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guns


Terrell Shaw
Adair, what does your love of guns have to do with anything? The 9 out of ten Americans who want universal background checks include lots of folks who own anf enjoy guns. They just want to find sensible ways to reduce the horrible gun violence in this country. Those kids in Newtown deserve our best efforts. They deserve a real debate and a vote.


Adaïr AIis
Eh I just felt like saying it. 

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Duane Parsons
Interesting (might be an understatement) punditry starting to surface around public opinion (e.g. 9 out of 10 Americans) and Republicans and/or Democrats blocking or filibustering legislation they have not even seen. It goes something like this – if Congress is not responsive to public opinion and does not debate and vote on the current gun violence proposals, the short term consequences are unknown and uncertain. However, the long term consequences are dire and ominous in that we have lost our representative form of Government and thereby Democracy itself.

Responding to Bob Schieffer’s questions regarding a Republican filibuster on this Sunday’s “Face the Nation”, Senator John McCain said, “I don't understand it. The purpose of the United States senate is to debate and to vote and to let the people know where we stand—“ and continued “I would not only encourage it [not to filibuster]. I don't understand it. What are we afraid of? Why would we not want, if this issue is as important as all of us think it is, why not take it on the world's greatest deliberative--that's the greatest exaggeration in history, by the way--but, you know, why not take it up an amendment and debate. The American people will profit from it. I do not understand why United States senators want to block debate when the leader has said that we can have amendments.”

I am one of those that have contacted my Congressional representatives urging them to examine cultural attitudes toward violence, create meaningful federal support for mental healthcare, and pass common-sense gun laws.

Below are excerpts from their boilerplate e-mail responses:

Congressman Tom Graves
Thank you for contacting me with your support for gun control in response to the senseless shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut. It is good to hear from you.

First, let me say that the loss of innocent lives in the Connecticut shooting, and all shootings, are horrible tragedies and the actions of these criminals are reprehensible. As a father of three school-aged children, it is particularly painful to think about what the parents and families of the victims endure when these senseless events occur.

That being said, as an advocate for responsible gun ownership, I have concerns with any executive action or legislation that seeks to address crime not through punishing criminals, but through taking away the Second Amendment rights of law abiding gun owners in Georgia and elsewhere. While I am a strong advocate for gun owners and upholding the Constitution, I agree that this awful event has spurred a healthy debate on what positive solutions can be enacted to prevent such horrific events in the future. Please be assured, I am committed to participating in the conversation about increasing penalties on violent criminals and to evaluating the availability and quality of mental health treatment in America. You can be certain that as long as I have the privilege of serving you in the U.S. House of Representatives, I will continue to seek positive solutions to our nation's problems and protect American's Constitutionally granted rights. Should any legislation related to this event come before me in the 113th Congress, I will be certain to keep your thoughts in mind.

Senator Johnny Isakson
Thank you for contacting me regarding a proposed ban on assault weapons. I appreciate your thoughts, and I am grateful to have the opportunity to respond.

Sen. Feinstein (D-CA), author of the 1994 Assault Weapons Ban that expired in 2004, has introduced a new bill to ban assault weapons. This legislation would stop the sale, transfer, importation and manufacturing of more than 100 specifically-named firearms as well as certain semiautomatic rifles, handguns and shotguns that can accept a detachable magazine and semiautomatic rifles and handguns with a fixed magazine that can accept more than 10 rounds. Sen. Feinstein's bill also would stop the sale, transfer, importation and manufacturing of large-capacity ammunition feeding devices (magazines, strips and drums) capable of accepting more than 10 rounds.

I do not believe that bans on assault weapons or cartridges are the answer to ending acts of mass violence, nor will such measures pass Congress. As history shows us, the 10-year ban on assault weapons that was in effect from 1994 to 2004 could not prevent the mass shooting at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado. The common threads running through these shootings are mental health issues. I believe that more effective and sensible solutions are those that focus on background checks and mental health care, rather than restrictions on our Second Amendment right to bear arms. I look forward to working for commonsense solutions that keep our children safe without infringing upon our Constitutional rights.

Senator Saxby Chambliss
Thank you for writing me regarding the right to keep and bear arms as guaranteed by the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution. Your taking the time to contact me is appreciated.

I have always been and remain a strong supporter of the Second Amendment. While I am certain that the president's proposal is well-intentioned, it is Congress' responsibility to make sure that Americans' constitutional rights are protected. We must make certain that the rights and freedoms of law-abiding citizens are not unfairly impeded. I believe that the ability of sportsmen, hunters, gun enthusiasts and citizens concerned with their personal safety to own a gun, whether for sport or protection, is clearly defined in the Constitution and must not be compromised.

In response to recent tragic and high-profile acts of violence, there is a renewed focus on government regulation of guns. Congress will soon have an extensive and detailed conversation about all of the potential causes of these crimes, including mental health issues, depictions of violence in television, movies, and video games, and firearms

I know that dialogue regarding acts of violence will likely result in a wide range of legislative proposals seeking to address the underlying causes. As these pieces of legislation come before me in the Senate, I will keep your thoughts in mind.

Monday, April 08, 2013

Time for another commitment...


I turned 66 recently -- full social security eligibility -- and am contemplating retirement. This is very hard on me. Part of me abhors the idea of retirement. I love teaching. I love my students. I am thrilled to have captive audience for my silly shenanigans and I relish those "aha!" moments that, after 33 years teaching preteens, I can pretty well predict.

Anyway, I made a commitment in 1971 to Sheila Shaw. I am far from a perfect husband, but I have managed to keep the basics of that commitment and I love her with everything I have. That commitment resulted in promises to Brannon Shaw in 1983 and Lillian Shaw in 1988. My mistakes have been legion in the parenting department, but neither of the girls can doubt my love.

After teaching, with great enjoyment but without a permanent commitment, for 19 years, then taking 11 years off for business efforts, I reentered education, this time, on purpose, in 1999. And, this time,  I made a conscious commitment. Part of that was a commitment to love my students and to find joy in teaching them. I occasionally find myself nose to nose with some little 10-year-old miscreant, but even then I think they know I love them.

Now I face old age. Today my digital buddy, the Questing Parson, gave his goals for old age. I think I can endorse them. I too am determined to keep growing as I "grow old". Time for another commitment.

"I'm Old" by the Questing Parson

Wednesday, April 03, 2013

Grandpaw Wilkerson & Beulah


Grandpaw Wilkerson & Beulah

(A retelling of Donald Davis's Story, "Rainy Weather")


Grandpaw Wilkerson KNEW his dogs. 

His favorite, late in life, when I knew  him, was Beulah. The Westminster Kennel Club wouldn’t have recognized her lineage, but Grandpaw knew her. She was a descendant of a long line of hounds he’d raised since his boyhood days. He could trace her forebears by name through ten generations of begats. He swore her heart pumped the best hound blood in Alabama. It’d be hard to figure who loved fox hunting better, Tom or Beulah. 

When the big storm of '59 tried to blow Calhoun County Alabama off the map, Daddy and I hurried over to Nances Creek -- just south of what my family still calls Cross Plains, but folks now generally know as Piedmont -- to help Grandpa with the clean-up.

That tornado had barreled through missing the farmhouse, and the church, but it took out the big barn.

Grandpaw had built that barn right after he and Maw Wilkerson got married a good sixty years earlier. The center section was unfloored but both sides had floors of wide rough-sawn boards. The two long floors that had held the tack rooms, and corn crib, and such was all that was left. Folks from the church had already cleared a lot of the mess up, so Daddy and I got after salvaging those big yellow pine boards.

We’d only pulled up and stacked a couple of ‘em when we noticed in the dirt under the boards some old fox tracks that must have been there when the boards had been nailed down sixty years before. Well, about the time we were pulling up the last board on that side, along came Grandpaw with a jug of sweet tea and with Beulah on a leash.

“Paw, come look at this!” Daddy hollered “Fox tracks!”

“Yep, look at that. That fox must’ve trotted right across here the night before we nailed that floor down! Lordy! look at Beulah! I b’lieve that ol’ dog can still smell the critter!” 

Sure enough, Beulah was straining at her leash with her nose in the dirt, a low growl bubbling from her jowls.

With a smile in his eyes, Grandpaw unhitched that leash from the hand-tooled leather collar he'd made her. You should of seen that dog go! Lickety-split down the length of that barn, up and over the sill at the far end,  across the barn lot, sliding under the old slat fence, and into the next pasture. 

There she started zigzagging to beat the band.

“What in the world’s she doin’," I hollered as we followed after her, about as fast as you could expect in the company of an 89 year-old .

“We didn’t clear that field till after the barn was built”, Grandpaw huffed, “She must be dodging all the trees that USED to be there!”

Running straight again through the next field, her trail song washed over the valley like sunlight in the morning. She headed smackdab toward the pond. “Lordy, Grandpaw, y’all  just built that pond a couple of years ago. What’s she gonna do now?!”

Well, I’ll tell you what she did: she plunged nose first into and under that pond, and started clawing her way across the bottom. That trail song was snuffed out briefly, of course, but then air began bubbling to the surface and releasing bits of barks. She ploughed out the other side paused a second or two to shake good and headed up and across the ridge, and by the time we got around the pond and up the rise we’d lost her in the blackberry brambles. Grandpaw reckoned we might as well  head back to the house. 

We didn’t hear from Beulah the next day, or the next. And it was Saturday and Daddy and I had to head back to Ellijay so he could preach Sunday morning.

Weeks went by, we kept going back and forth to clean up at Grandpa’s a day or two every week and Beulah never came back. We thought the ol’ girl was gone for good and we could tell Grandpaw was depressed even though he’d probably never heard that word.

Then the phone rang and it was the New Orleans Police Department. A dog with Grandpaw’s phone number on its tag had broken into the Salvation Army Thrift Store in the French Quarter and “treed” a fifty-year-old, ten-dollar fox-fur coat hanging in the show window. For a hundred dollar fee the dog could be shipped to Anniston on the Southern Crescent. Grandpaw thought about that about ten seconds, then with mischief in his eyes, said he reckoned Maw would like that coat. 

“I’ll wire you twenty bucks to buy the coat and cover shipping costs. Just let old Beulah go. She’ll find a good home.”  And that policeman agreed!

Sure enough, about a week later, here came the mail Jeep crossing the Nance’s Creek bridge toward the farm. Grandpaw grinned wide and called Maw out to get her new coat from the mailman while he grabbed his cane and walked on down the road. By the time he got to the bridge he could already hear that beautiful trail song of his best friend.

And while Maw was greeting the mailman, Beulah was trotting across the bridge nose to the ground, home at last, and still trailing that fox toward the outstreched arms of Thomas Wesley Wilkerson, who, I think I mentioned, KNEW his dogs. 

Oh, by the way,  any similarity between this absolutely true story and a true story called “Rainy Weather” that Donald Davis tells, is purely coincidental. Why, if you can’t trust me on that, what storyteller could you trust? 


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Donald Davis includes "Rainy Weather" in his book Barking at a Fox-Fur Coat. He says the story grew out of one of his Uncle Frank's anecdotes. I developed my version of Donald's story recently when I remembered the picture (above) of my Great Great Grandfather Thomas Wesley Wilkerson with his hound. Is that a great picture or what? At the time I wrote my version I thought Donald's was a retelling of a traditional tale, like some others of his tales are. I now understand that this story is more of an original work than I thought. I've had a lot of fun telling it and fitting it to my family and a setting more familiar to me, but I know now that Donald Davis deserves full credit for the basic story. 





We have many Donald Davis CDs, tapes, an LP, a VHS tape, two DVDs, and several books. My children grew up on Donald Davis stories, and Sheila and I hear him in person often, including every October at the National Storytelling Festival in Jonesborough TN, including his pre-festival Wednesday night concert, at the Pike Piddler Festival in Troy AL, at the Azalea Festival in LaGrange GA, and at the Peach State Festival in Atlanta. I have attended one of his short workshops and dream of attending his week-long workshop one of these days. And I use his children's storytelling program, Make It Tell It Write, regularly.

If you haven't read or heard Donald's stories you need to check them out.