Musings from Marshallville Road

Here are some things about which I’ve been thinking. Please bear with me.

• I believe the cold weather is about over. I hope so. It’s been a particularly cold, wet, unpleasant winter. It has been quite a long time since I remember a winter like this one.

Back in the 1950s, Daddy’s little pond out on the Fort Valley highway froze so that I was able to walk out on it for some distance. I think Daddy let me do it because the pond wasn’t but three or four feet deep where I was walking, and if I fell through the ice, I would have gotten wet and cold, but would have been able to get out with little difficulty. My ponds didn’t freeze over this winter, but they did have ice on them.

Soon, it will be spring. There is no place prettier than Georgia in the spring. Couple the beauty with some great fishing, which I am anticipating, and I am really looking forward to the next 75 days or so. It will be really nice.

After spring will come summer. It will probably sneak up on us in mid-June, and then there will be those really hot months of July and August – and, sometimes September. At least July has Independence Day (July 4) and September has football. But, August, my least favorite month, has, in my opinion, little to commend it. By August, I’ll be remembering and wishing for some of that cold January weather and rain we had, even an “ice day” or two.

• Last week, I had the privilege of going to Washington, D.C. with a small group (nine in all) from Houston and Bibb Counties. The others in the group were Charles Richardson, Robin Hines, Roy Fickling, Tommy Stalnaker, Robert Reichert, Randy Toms, Chrissy Miner and Bob McMahon. This was a very compatible and, I think, effective group of Middle-Georgians. One of the things we did was to go to the Pentagon (the largest office building in the word with 17 miles of halls!) and visit with some of the military people.

One of the military officers with whom we visited was Four Star General, Mark Welsh, Chief of Staff of the U.S. Air Force, and, of course, is on the Joint Chiefs of Staff. What an impressive man! I said to Gen. Welsh and the group that was in the meeting that I was “in awe to be in his presence.” I also said that of all institutions in our country, I felt like our military was by far the best performing in doing what their jobs require of them.

We also visited with Kathleen Ferguson, Acting Assistant Secretary of the Air Force Installations (very impressive person) and Gen. “J.J.” Jackson, Chief of Air Force Reserve (also, very impressive).

• I wrote of going to our nations capital last week. There were so many impressive things about our trip, including the professional and gracious treatment received from our United States Senators, Chambliss and Isackson, and our Congressmen, Bishop, Austin Scott, and Kingston. They were all prepared for our meetings and gave us ample time to discuss our issues. Thanks to all of them.

Equal to how impressed I was with our Senators and Congressmen was how impressed I was with what is going on at Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport. I hadn’t been through this airport for probably a couple of years (the longest time probably going back to the 1970s), and let me tell you things have changed in the past 24 months.

First, I believe that at least one-half of the people boarding flights used their I-phone to access the plane. I wasn’t in this sophisticated group, but I did get my paper boarding pass at curbside and simply scanned it to gain permission to board the plane.

Also, going through security was very simple and quick. My ticket had on it “TSA Prechk” which must have been based on information furnished prior to attempted boarding. This allowed me to go through security without removing my shoes and was, as aforesaid, much easier and quicker. Thank goodness for this.

I was amazed with the huge number of people in the Atlanta airport. When we got back from Washington at 9 p.m. on Thursday, there were thousands and thousands of people in the airport.

Truly, this airport has to be the busiest in the world. And, generally speaking, it functions very well. It’s all rather remarkable, and it’s right here in our state. Who would have thought it 50 years ago?

That’s it for this week. Thanks for reading. I plan to be back next week. Larry

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