January 16, 2017

Ridge Spring News

Harriet Householder

The Nut House & Country Market invites you to help celebrate Mr. Joe Cal Watson's retirement from the pecan business on Saturday, January 28th from 1-3 pm at the Nut House on Main Street in Ridge Spring. Stop by and enjoy some refreshments and give Mr Joe Cal your best wishes!

So proud of The National Champions, our CLEMSON UNIVERSITY TIGERS!!!

Friends of Ridge Spring will meet this Thursday, January 19, at 5:00 PM at the Ridge Spring Library.  The meeting will involve coming up with plans and  a budget for the year.

The next Harvest Festival meeting will be on Tuesday, Feb 7th at 7:00 pm at the library.  Please encourage others to attend the meeting and lend us a hand in planning for next year! 

George and Virginia Raborn have been part of the Ridge Spring Famers' Market.  One year I gave out Virginia's and George's recipe for watermelon rind pickle among other tidbits of life on the farm through the decades.  She will be missed.

Ridge Antiques & Dry Goods is proud to welcome two new dealers to the store.  Terry & Bart Mims come to us from Jackson, SC and bring very nice, high quality collectibles and antiques.  Included in their booths you will find very nice arrowheads, Edgefield pottery shards, old cap guns, an old church bench complete with the old hymnal holders on the back, as well as Shawnee & McCoy pottery.  You will also find a couple of very nice cabinets - old kitchen pantry and display type.  Come see and help us give them a warm welcome to Ridge Spring!!!

Rene Miller, RSM Elementary School

RSM Spelling Bee contestants traveled to Aiken Middle School on January 11th  to participate in the Group 4 Spelling Bee.  The group consisted of students from RSM Elementary, RSM middle, Aiken Middle, J. D. Lever Elementary and North Aiken Elementary.  RSM Elementary participants were Zacharea Cannon and Cody Davenport.  Jonathan Story was the alternated.  Winners were first place Aubria Johnson from North Aiken Elementary and second place was Kayala Brown from RSM Middle School.

Awards Day for the first semester will be held January 19th in the gym.  8:00 AM - third grade; 8:40 AM - fourth grade; 9:20 AM - fifth grade; 10:00 AM - second grade; and 10:40 - first grade.

This is part two of the story of Pretty Boy the Butterfly by Rona Jay of Monetta.  I appreciate her sharing this with me and therefore with you.

Part II

Jimmy would come by the office every evening after work.  Pretty Boy liked Jimmy as he brought Pretty Boy live flowers several times a week.

I didn't know that butterflies could turn their head back and forth, but Pretty Boy did that for the first time after I had him for two weeks.  He was on my disk and I was talking to him.  He turned his head from one side to the other looking at me. From then on he did it often. 

One day I had been right busy but Pretty Boy wanted to stay at the counter with me.  So he stayed on my shoulder.  After things began to quiet down someone waiting for the bus to come in came up to the counter and his name was Mr. Ed Duncan from Batesburg. He said that he is a Sunday School teacher and wishes I could come to his class on that Sunday and talk about my butterfly.  He said that the lesson reminded him of Pretty Boy.  Later he called me and wanted me to read in my Bible Proverbs 30:18. "There are three things which are too wonderful for me, yes, four I do not understand. "

Mr. Ed Duncan said he could not believe what all the butterfly could co.   He watched him scratch his nose, put his foot up for me to pick him up and interact with me while I talked to him. 

Now after the photographer took Pretty Boy's picture the newspaper sent  a reporter over to see us  The young lady asked if she could sit in the office for about 45 minutes, for she wanted to observe the butterfly.  When she got ready to leave she told me that if she wrote everything she watched Pretty Boy do, no one would believe the story. 

After she wrote the story people were wanted the reporter to write more stories about Pretty Boy.  People  began calling me wanting to know if the butterfly was still alive.  Even some wanted to come visit and just watch him.  We had a couple come from Columbia and all they wanted was to see Pretty Boy.

One Sunday when I was working but the station was closed, a gentleman was standing outside the window trying to look inside.  So after a while I went to the door, asked if he needed a bus ticket or if I could help him.  He smiled and asked "Is the butterfly still living?" I told him Pretty Boy was still alive.  He certainly was interested in seeing the butterfly and, of course, I told him to come on in.  I reached for Pretty Boy and he held out his foot for me to get  him.  It was time to feed Pretty Boy so I let the gentleman watch me.  He was one happy man.  Then he said that his  mother was going to be so surprised that he saw Pretty Boy.  It would make her day.

Now I was working in the flowers the next morning, Pretty Boy was with me, I guess he was getting a little heavy eating all that sugar water, because he fell on the side walk and broke part of his appendage.  For several days he would get his the broken part in front of me at the desk and shake it so that I could see that it was broken.  Now I would rub his leg and he really liked it  He would come up to me and hold out his foot.  He  shook it to let me know he wanted me to rub it some more.  I knew I would have to cut the broken part off soon.  Jimmy left me his knife to use when the time was right.  Well, the time was right and I cut the broken part off.  Yes, it did hurt and he milled around and turned over and over for a few minutes.  Then he came over to me and held up his foot to get into the palm of my hand.  He was okay.

I have an allergy and sometimes I would rub my nose because it would itch.  Believe it or not, Pretty Boy started rubbing his foot across his nose.  He also may have an allergy, who knows.  One day he even came over and rubbed  his nose on my hand.

I decided to call the Cincinnati Zoo to learn about butterflies as this butterfly is no ordinary one.  The gentleman I spoke with was shocked at all Pretty Boy could do, and he told me that that a butterfly' brain was no larger than a pin head.  This was the first time he had ever heard about the things that  Pretty Boy was doing  He was interested in the article that came out in the paper.  Then I called  Callaway Gardens and they were also really interested in Pretty Boy.  They had never heard that a butterfly could do what I said he was doing.  They told me to continue feeding sugar water, but they couldn't believe he had lived with us over four weeks. He had now been with us for six weeks.  Every morning for a long time we expected to find Pretty Boy dead when we arrived at the bus station in the morning.

We received a letter from a 37 year-old inmate on death row who said the story in the paper was beautiful. He wanted me to write him and tell him more about Pretty Boy. We were also getting calls from people wanting to know if Pretty Boy was still living. They were hoping that more articles would come out in the paper.

Now if I should have several children in the bus station, I would let them come behind the counter and watch me feed Pretty Boy.  Thy really did like that.

Another day I came in from lunch and Pretty Boy was asleep.  When I walked by him I touched his wing to wake him up.  He threw his foot out at me to leave him alone.  Then he went back to sleep.

Since I removed his broken foot I fixed Pretty Boy a new bed.  He is now on my desk with a branch covered in soft material and I place him there every night.  He hangs his feet over the branch and will stay in whatever position I have placed him in until I come in the next morning.

Every day when Jimmy came in from work , Pretty boy would fly to my should and want to play.  Jimmy would get to the back of the office, I would stand at my desk, and Pretty Boy would fly from my hand across the room to Jimmy's hand and then return.  Now this was a lot of fun for Pretty Boy.  As Pretty Boy aged and was slowing up, he could not fly as far so we would keep closing the gap between us.

Pretty Boy would turn to me when I called his name, look and listen to me.  I could tell him to come to me, go to bed and take a nap, and  he would obey-most of the time. 

We took him to the SCE&G building one Sunday.  They had a beautiful bed of flowers and lots of butterflies.  He really seemed to enjoy being there, so we thought that we would leave him there.  Then we had second thoughts and decided to let him decide if he wanted to stay or leave.  We opened the car door and told  him bye.  Well he came right straight to the car.  He was not going to let us leave him.

REMINDERS

Ridge Spring Library hours: Mon/Tues 8:30 am - 12 pm; Wed., 8:30 – 4:30; Thurs 8:30 am - 12:30 pm; Fri 8:30 pm -4:30 pm

Ridge Spring Post Office hours:  Mon-Fri. 7:30 am – 11:30 am; Sat 9 – 10 am

Saluda County Library Hours:  Mon/Wed 8:30 am-5 pm; Tues/Thurs 8:30 am – 6 pm; Fri 8:30 am – 5 pm; Sat closed

Recycling Center Hours: Mon/Wed/Fri 1-7; Sat 7-7; Sun 3-7; Tues/Thurs closed

First Thursday of the Month:  AARS meets at 6:30, 685-5783

Third Thursday of the Month: FORS at Library at 5:00