Stories from Sunday, April 5, 2009

And the cat came back... Last Saturday, Terry, my husband, and I had to go out of town to help clean up our favorite campground, getting it ready for the season. Somehow, while we were gone, a door was left open. According to the boys, who stayed home, it was the work of those pesky poltergeists Ida Know and Not Me, but it was the kittens who took advantage of it. ...

I love spring, almost as much as I love a cool, refreshing fall. By April -- actually, by February -- I'm dying to be thawed out from winter. Spring is the time when I can comfortably sit outside and enjoy my coffee, as well as the forsythias and Redbuds in my yard...

Flips, dancing, cartwheels, back handsprings -- and boys. Sound like fun, or at least an adrenaline rush? If you're a high school cheerleader like Kelsey Thompson, the answer is "absolutely!" Thompson, a senior at Shelbyville Central High School and cheerleading squad captain, has earned a spot on Middle Tennessee State University's Big Blue squad...

Cascade Middle survived a tough soccer game with St. Andrew's-Sewanee Middle to come away from the patch with a 1-0 victory on Friday. Hunter Seibers came up with the game-winning goal for the Champions (3-3-1) in the second half. Goalkeepers totaled three saves to preserve the shutout for the Orange and Black...

The Community Junior High Vikings enter spring break as winners of six of their last seven games after posting a 4-2 come-from-behind baseball win over St. Paul Catholic Friday afternoon. Zack West started for the Vikings (6-3) and gave his squad two excellent innings with four strikeouts and no runs. He allowed two hits...

Webb dropped an East/Middle Region soccer match to King's Academy 2-1 in Seymour on Friday. Soggy conditions played a role as the Feet surrendered both goals to their hosts in the opening half. "We outplayed them throughout the whole game and kept it at the beginning of the second half," Webb coach Adrian Anderson said...

For better than three innings, the Cascade Lady Champions had the defending Class A state champions on the ropes on Friday night. Cascade pitcher Leigha Carter and Forrest starter Shelby Stinnett matched each other pitch-for-pitch in the early going in a District 9-A showdown in Chapel Hill...

Scorekeepers had to get creative, concession stand workers wanted overtime pay and lineup cards looked more like Morse code on paper. In typical freshman fashion, Travis Madget swung through a take sign on the second pitch he saw and chopped a ground ball just close enough to the 5-6 hole to give Kyle Mullins time to race home with the game-winning run...

"Unfortunately, I've lost my Wall." No, actor-director-producer Lane Davies isn't homeless --he's just Wall-less. Joey Waldrop, the 7-foot-tall gentle giant who played "Snout" and "Wall" in last summer's production of "A Midsummer Night's Dream," won't be coming back...

It was almost 13 years ago when the body of a 6-year-old boy, Junior, was found lying across the hood of a car in Lincoln County. He had been beaten to death. One of the investigators in the case was shaken out of her usual professional detachment by the horror of the scene. Something, she thought, needed to be done...

Tracy Blessing has seen a lot of lint and tokens for Chuck E. Cheese they days -- and even more pennies. Owner of Toddler Time day care in Shelbyville, Blessing has started a campaign called "Pennies for Prevention," in honor of Child Abuse Awareness month, which began April 1...

A tax freeze program for residents over 65 will be a topic of discussion for Shelbyville City Council next month. However, a review by an intern with the Tennessee Municipal League and Municipal Technical Advisory Service says it may be better if Shelbyville defers adopting this program...

I can think of only two TV chefs who've inspired sitcoms: Emeril Lagasse and Anthony Bourdain. Neither sitcom lasted very long. Emeril played himself in an eponymous situation comedy from "Designing Women" producers Harry Thomason and Linda Bloodworth-Thomason. The plots were silly, and they treated Lagasse as the one sane man working among eccentrics -- which seemed like a waste of the flashy, larger-than-life TV personality from "Emeril Live."...

I confessed my addiction to chicken wings a while back. Yes, I love all types, tender, crispy, barbecue, vinegar-based, etc. I like dips, salads, quesadillas and more. You say blue cheese and wing sauce, and I'm there. Yes, there. I'm there because you won't be here for wings, unless it's wing dip...