HEAT WAVE, OLD DRYER "DIES" & HEE HAW TV RERUNS

By OLIVENE GODFREY

Today, August 1, the National Weather Service advised people
here in north Georgia to try to avoid strenuous outdoor
activity during the hottest part of the day, from noon to
9:30 P.M. all this week. Today's forecast high of 96 degrees
will near the record high of 98 recorded almost 50 years
ago on this date at the Chattanooga airport, according to news releases. And, the heat index, or how hot it actually feels
is expected to reach triple digits. Isolated thunderstorms
are expected each afternoon and evening with lightning and
wind gusts of 35 to 40 MPH expected.

People working outside or in buildings without AC are
advised to drink plenty of fluids to avoid health related
problems. I am grateful that I live in a cool air-conditioned
house but I worry about son Barry and others who are working
hard without AC and are really suffering from the intense
heat and we hope the heat wave will break soon.

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Our trusty old Sears Kenmore clothes dryer "died" last
Sunday night. It was 17 years old and had dried clothes
almost every day of that time. I got on the phone and
called Sears'800 number and made an appointment for a repairman
to come to the house on Monday. Sadly, the repairman told
me that motor had burned out and some other parts needed to
be replaced and the total repair bill would have been more
than the cost of a new dryer. So, I ordered a new Sears
Kenmore dryer by phone yesterday and it was delivered this
morning. We have a load of laundry to be done so we will
try out the new dryer tonight when Barry gets home.

We have had to replace several major appliances during the
past year, plus having the new electric heat pump installed,
so we are hoping that we don't have anymore unexpected
expenses for a long time

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Last Saturday night, I was searching for T.V. program to watch
before my bedtime. And,for a few seconds, I thought I had gone
back in time to the 1970s as I saw an old Hee Haw show being
rerun on CMT. Son Barry did a quick check from Wikipedia, the
free encyclopedia on the web, and found the history of Hee
Haw, a long running U.S. television variety show hosted by
musicians, Roy Clark and Buck Owens. The show featured
country music and humor with rural,"Korn Field Kountry"
as a backdrop.

Although the show had respectable ratings, according to
the Wikipedia, the show was dropped by CBS in 1971.
Seems the network executives felt the show's viewers
were somewhat older and less affluent than they desired, so it had to go. The producer put together a syndicated
deal for the show which continued for 20 more years. The show
was well known for the beautiful, voluptuous, scantily
clad women in stereotyped Southern farmer's daughter outfits
and its corn pone humor.

Last week, CMT announced that it would begin rerunning
the series this past weekend. It was enjoyable for me to
watch the cast members and the music was great. My late
husband, Ralph, often watched the show and said the jokes
were so bad, they were funny.

See you next time.