Looks like little George got “All Shook Up," put on his “Blue Suede Shoes," picked up his Japanese friend and headed for Graceland.

His dis-approval rating in Washington has gotten out of hand so bad he had to take his friend to a more popular site to get the attention of the news media.

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Remember when we had Rainbow bread, Purity bread and Kerns bread? What happened? Where did they go? I remember one time a few years ago, Ewell Balltrip, brought me a loaf of Bunny Bread from somewhere in Tennessee, and I thought how wonderful it was to see that bunny again. You reckon he might have got it in here and pushed all the others out?

Everywhere you go now it's Bunny bread, and I'm sick of it. The worst thing about it is the fact that we don't never hear why. Personally, I think there can be too many brands of stuff like that and it just knocks them all out. I've always thought that we were getting too many fast foods in the county and there's not enough of us eating to keep them all going, but I'm kindly fooled there, because we still have the most popular ones.

Burger King didn't make it, neither did the chicken place in Baxter. Krystal Burger tried it twice but failed. The Boardroom closed after many years of good eating. Of course, we have to remember that our population has dwindled down toward the 30,000 mark.

I like to think about the good ole days when everything was in town and the only time we was out there on what is now the bypass is when we were going to Virginia to get married, where you didn't have to wait three days.

If you were in town and hungry you had plenty of choices - Ackley's Cafe, The Court Cafe, Lloyd's Cafe, Pop's Cafe, The Krystal Kitchen, Creech Drug, Green Mill, Howard Drug, The Gem Store, The Bus Station, Townsite, The Green Parrot Scotts ten cent store, Newberry's and places like the Dairy Bar, The Coalhouse and Ken's down in Baxter, plus some drive through windows here and there.

One good thing though, ole Ken got washed out of Baxter, but he let us know he's here to stay and he went from heifer burgers to black angus steaks, and they are great.

Of course, we had all the good clothing stores, furniture stores, or just about anything you can mention, we had it. Now we don't have all that to offer those that never got to know the good ol' days, but I've written about it many times, and I will continue to pass it on long as I live.

I'd love to live another 25 years just to see if Krystal ever tries it again, which reminds me of something else - Krispy Kreme Donuts. I don't see them any more. I once heard a rumor that they were coming to the Krystal site, but I later saw where they were involved in bankruptcy, so I guess that all hushed.

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I heard a little something about they might be going to crack down on people selling fireworks in Kentucky. WELL I CAN'T SEE THAT. We're going to have fireworks every July to celebrate Independence Day and that is for sure. What is important is how we get them. Let's go back to when Tennessee didn't have a lottery and Kentuckians were laughing all the way to the bank with that Tennessee money every day until Tennessee wised up and got them a lottery and kept that money in the state.

Now, why are we so ignorant that we can't legalize fireworks and keep all that Kentucky money that is going to Tennessee, and I mean plenty of money. It's no problem to get them every year except for a little gas money going to Tennessee, but look how much money we're giving Tennessee that we need to keep right here.

How simple would it be for our legislature to pass on something like this that is so important economy wise. You might notice the increase in places throughout the county that is selling now, but everybody could do better if it were legal. I guess they're afraid to load up too heavy because of the threat of being closed down. Let's all give this some thought and knowing we're going to have it anyway, make it legal. We can't compare this to legalizing other things like pot smoking or liquor etc. After all, this is just a once a year thing really.

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I forget how long ago that we had legal fireworks, but I do remember buying them in stores. The 4th of July meant so much to us kids back then.

Remember the old Hirco Ice cream truck coming through the coal camps delivering ice cream in the gallon cartons with that hot ice steaming out the truck? We had real ice cream, not what we buy today. Also, what was the 4th without the Smith Bottling Works' strawberry, lemon, orange and grape pop. We still liked our RC's and things all the time, but on the 4th it had to be the fruit drinks, or it just didn't seem like a holiday and, naturally, we had the watermelon in a tub with the 50-pound block of ice. In fact, while I was shopping today for the 4th, although it's only me and the wife at home, I just had to pick me up some cans of grape, orange, strawberry and peach pop. That can won't be like that Smith bottle or Nugrape, but it will serve as a reminder of old times.

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Well, the 4th is over and I'm ready to close my speech on this 5th, and I did drink a grape pop, a strawberry pop and a big dish of ice cream and cake, plus a little foolishness called food.

I missed the watermelon, and I guess it's because it's just too hard to make room for it in the refrigerator to keep cold, and we don't get those blocks of ice to keep it in a tub, nor do we have a tub, so I guess that is the reason we don't have watermelon for the 4th.

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I'm sorry that it rained about the celebrating time with fireworks, but it did quit in time to fire some.

I didn't get rained out, because it just so happened to be church night and I chose the latter. Me and Lewis Blakely started school together here in Ages a few years ago and we're in church together at 79, but he is right now in Holston Valley Hospital with problems, so let's pray for him to have a speedy recovery.