Last Monday afternoon on the way home, I stopped at the Haralson County Court House and did the early voting thing. It was quick and easy. I recommend it.

Isn’t it great that your Georgia Power bill will be lower since you got to turn the air conditioning off a couple of weeks ago? Don’t you just hate that “wet dog” smell of a furnace that hasn’t run since the last of the chilly weather last spring?

Speaking of a foul odor, did any of y’all smell something back around the 10th coming up from the south of town? I called city hall and found out it was a problem with a treatment plant. Some said the smell came from Auburn’s playbook.

A few days ago it was kind of a chilly morning, so I went to the closet and found a jacket that is like an old friend. Back in the days of the Morning Zoo Crew on Y-106.7 our show was more like a family than any other experience I ever had in radio. The Zoo Crew was genuine people having fun. B. J. Richardson Williams was part of our team, and one Christmas she gave me an Eddie Bauer jacket that is perfect for temperatures in the 40s. I’ve had it for about 26 years. Why is it we just can’t part with some things? Do you have an article of clothing that you simply can’t let go of?

I am teaching about advertising the past couple of weeks, and on Facebook the question was asked about brand loyalty. The number one thing I found students loyal to was Coca-Cola. Hellman’s Mayonnaise, Heinz Catsup, French’s Mustard, and Lay’s Potato Chips round out the top five in our rather non-scientific study. Do any of you buy products just because your parents or grandparents bought them?

I have a jar of Vick’s salve that has been untouched in my medicine cabinet for six years. My grandmother bought Vick’s in the 55 gallon drum. She thought it could cure about every ailment from colds and flu to constipation. Did I mention because of her Vick’s regimen on me as a boy, I haven’t had a cold or had irregularity since 1963.

Have you gotten your flu shot? A lot of giant retailers have flu shots right in the store. Getting a flu shot at Walmart somehow just doesn’t seem right. Speaking of Walmart, what do you think about the chance of a strike by some unhappy Walmart associates on the day after Thanksgiving, the busiest shopping day of the year? Last I heard, there were a lot of unemployed folks who would love a job right now. Walmart says of their over 1.5 million employees world wide, only a small number are not happy with the company.

Are any of you old enough to remember when K-Mart was the powerhouse retailer? Do you remember when your mother would get excited when the Sears & Roebuck catalog came in the mail? Have you lived in Tallapoosa long enough to remember when Tallapoosa had a Sears catalog store that was next door to Smith’s Thriftown?

I sure would like a road trip up to Asheville, N.C. I lived there in the late 70s and loved the colors of October. I once pulled off the Blue Ridge Parkway on a late October Saturday realizing that God was real because nothing else could have created the beauty of the mountains and the might of the rivers. When I lived in Asheville I was fed a breakfast delicacy called liver mush. I stopped one Saturday morning after fishing the French Broad River at a mountain road cafe. I haven’t had liver mush since they told me what was in it that morning.

Can you believe the Falcons have won six games in a row? The wins weren’t pretty, but they are still terrific. Do you remember the huge rivalry in high school football between Tallapoosa, Bremen and Buchanan? Back in those days, we didn’t have the American Civil Liberties Union kicking up a stink about a pre-game prayer. Those were the days. A fond memory for many of us was the sight of Doodle Thrower on the sidelines manning one of the side line markers on Friday night for Red Devil football games. Do you remember after a THS victory, people would gather at the Smokehouse or the Tasty Treat to celebrate?

I found out some interesting information a week and a half ago: the Tallapoosa Journal is the most read newspaper in the county. Thank you for your kind words about the paper. Editor Amy Lavender is a lot like Joseph Pulitizer who emphasized serving the readers of his newspapers with accuracy, emphasizing what is going on here.

Rhubarb Jones is a Tallapoosa native and is Director of Special Projects in the Office of Development and is a Distinguished Lecturer in the Department of Communication at Kennesaw State University. Comments may be sent to P. O. Box 6, Tallapoosa, GA 30176 or via email at rhubarbjones@aol.com. Previous columns can be found at www.tallapoosa-journal.com.