• Sleighing on an old car hood
• Leather caps with ear flaps
• Knickers
• 5 cent Bab Ruth
• NO Barbie dolls
• Quentin McHale
• Dave Garroway
• Milking the cow
• Birth of a kitten
• 10th of May (Off go the shoes and long-handles!)
• Riding a rumble seat
  
• First day in high school
  
• Cafeteria food
  
• Sliced light bread
  
• The toboggan (sled & hat)
  
• Dick Tracy's Wrist Radio
  
• Hog killing time
  
• First stone bruise
  
• Showing off by rubbing yourself with poison oak (stupid)
  
• Wheeler's hamburgers
  
• Getting stomach ache from green apples
  
• First cigarette
  
• First chewing tobacco
  
• First dip of snuff
  
• Branch's Grill on Highway 11
  
• First kiss
  
• Last kiss you remember
  
• Latest person to say "I love you"
  
• First watch
  
• First potted meat
  
• The disgust you felt when you found the potted meat contained tripe,which was the lining of a cow's stomach!
  
• Muleburger at the Green Shutters
  
• Fuller Bus Line, running daily between Bristol and Saltville
  
• Riding from Glade to Saltville on the N&W Railway
  
• Nip Eller, the Conductor
  
• Train Depot at Plasterco
  
• Plasterco Post office
  
• Clinchburg Post Office
  
• War Bonds

• Frog legs
• Pearl Harbor
• Dead-Eye's Grill
• The first McDonald's
• First CB Radio
• Breaker! Breaker! Channel One-Nine
• The Edsel
• The Western Flyer bicycle
• The Columbia bike
• Blue Horse Notebook Paper
• Saving the Blue Horse Logos for prizes
• Selling Garden Seeds
• Saving box top
• Charles Atlas Body Building Course
• Hot Water Tank on the cookstove
• Holding the sack on a Snipe hunt
• Serenading newlyweds
• Killing the fryer for supper
• Potatoes baked in a campfire
• Camping out
• The car you learned to drive in
• Your first date
• Falling in love with a teacher
• Speaking in front of a class
• How good tenderloin was
• Your first job
• Your first rabbit hunt
• The single shot Remington .22
• Your first shotgun
• Registering for the draft
• The first beer you bought using the card for proof of age
• Your Learner' Permit
• Radio Flyer Wagon
• Saving Defense Stamps sold in schools WWII (If you've never seed them, I have some)
• The fountain pen
• Personal fireworks on the Fourth
• Parsnips
• Crowder Peas
• Joe Namath sport shirts
• 41 Ford Coupe

This afternoon was spent in the wellfields of Saltville, in Southwest Virginia. This time of year the birds, all kinds of birds, are all congregated in this marshy, water covered area on the southwest end of town. Baby ducks and geese are hatching. Swifts are building their nests, and redwing blackbirds are quite numerous.

I saw something this afternoon that I had never seen before. I have seen gulls and terns there many times before. Don't ask why they are so far inland because I don't know. Long-legged wading birds are often seen. An occasional bluebird appears to excite the average bird watcher. The area is filled with exotic flora and fauna which changes from season to season.

Today I saw a giant swizlehackler. They are rarely seen by anyone! Then suddenly, one appears in Saltville. The sighting of a swizlehackler is a once in a lifetime thrill. I regret that my wife was not along to witness the sighting.

For those of you who are not familiar with the swizlehackler, let me try to explain the creature. Its scientific name, Swizlehackleri thatsastrangelokensmacktevisora,is rather odd and almost unpronounceable. It is a relative of the dodo bird which has long been extinct. The swizlehackler is a survivor of the ice age. It is a mammal with wings like those of the bat. It is much larger that the largest bat. It has a seven-foot wingspan and weighs something over one hundred lbs. Its weight is determined by the type of diet it has had over its lifetime. Carnivorous swizlehacklers tend to weigh several pounds more than the herbivorous swizlehacklers.

This mammal emits a high-pitched whistle as it flies. If you stop hearing the whistle, be on your guard. The swizlehackler is getting ready to attack! The meat-eating type loves the ears of its victims. The human ear is especially tasty because of its crunchy nature. If you are lucky and get attacked by a herbivorous type of swizlehackler, you don't have to fear for your life. It will circle and if you are not a vegetarian, it will go away without causing physical harm.

The avionic beast I saw today was not a meat eater. However, it did attack the reflection of a dogwood tree in my back window. I am pleased to report that there is one fewer swizlehackler flying loose in the skies of Poor Valley tonight. I have sent a request to the Department of the Interior, seeking permission to have it mounted and displayed at the Saltville Overlook and Hot Dog Emporium, condiments extra.

Artist's rendition of what a Swizlehackler might look like.

This report filed by Don Morgan, Staff Ornithologist.