Roy Exum: My Garden This December

Winter does not officially begin until the 21st of this month but as I take my monthly walk in my garden, the chill sure could have fooled me. Tuesday’s thunderstorms brought cooler temperatures but not enough to bother the orchids and onions we pass out on the first day of the month. Today it is wet and chilly like Decembers of the past, but maybe the last of the fall leaves are gone.

My winter rye grass is off to a perfect start. That’s because our annual water tables are consistent and the balmy temperatures like we have enjoyed in the last week have been ideal.

So, as we gather the orchids and onions, here is what we find …

AN ORCHID to County Mayor Weston Wamp, who will preside over the lighting of a large Christmas tree on the courthouse lawn at 5 p.m. tomorrow. “We want to start a new tradition to gather together early in the Christmas season to light a community tree,” said Mayor Wamp. Choirs from Chattanooga State and Hixson High will perform.

AN ONION to District Attorney Coty Wamp for badly handling the closure of the Budgetel in East Ridge. Sure, the nuisance should have been padlocked long before but to suddenly “raid” the place, giving all occupants precious little time to get out, created an unnecessary mess.

AN ORCHID to Jim Hammond for his new book, “The Yellow-Hammer’s song.” Our former sheriff teamed with Grant Wolf to create a Christian fiction delight, based on a Roman soldier’s quest for the truth. Copies are available on Amazon and it’s an easy stocking stuffer.

AN ORCHID to the Union Gospel Mission for its presence in our homeless community and, most recently, during the Budgetel fiasco. Send Christmas donations to Post Office Box 983, Chattanooga TN 37401, and, this year, be generous.

AN ONION to the naysayers, those fair-weather football fans at Tennessee and Alabama who stubbornly refuse to see the brilliance of success in a 10-win season. Look for both SEC heavyweights to be in New Year’s Six’ bowl games – the Sugar, the Cotton, or the Orange – when bowl pairings are announced this Sunday on ESPN.

AN ORCHID for the fact Christmas will fall on a Sunday this year, which always makes worshiping on December 25^th extra special. And, of course, that puts New Year’s Eve on a Saturday night!

AN ONION to the realization that fabled actor Clint Eastwood is 92 years old.

AN ORCHID for scrappy Tyner High, whose football team will play for the Class 2-A state championship in the Blue Cross Bowl on Saturday. And add another for Baylor with its Div. II Class AAA showdown against MBA tonight at Finley Stadium at 7 p.m.

AN ONION for the “Bird flu” which is estimated to have killed almost 500,000 birds worldwide. Since March, Tennessee has confirmed 28 cases of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza in wild birds, including 26 ducks, a Canada Goose, and a Bald Eagle, according to TWRA Wildlife and Forestry Chief Joe Benedict.

AN ORCHID to Trent Dilfer, who was named on Wednesday as the new football coach at UA-Birmingham. Dilfer will still coach Lipscomb Academy in tonight’s Div. II-Class AA championship game in Chattanooga’s Blue Cross Bowl. In Dilfer’s four seasons, the Mustangs have played for three state titles, which is one reason a high school coach in Nashville is today UAB’s head coach.

AN ONION to the “desperate needs” at Howard School. Reports reveal there are 1,600 students crammed into a facility that was never designed for more than 800 and lunches are being served until 2:30 each day due to the overcrowding. The school board is scrambling for solutions but the problems should have been foreseen and corrected long before now.