January 20, 2014

Chris and Joe Capps both have January birthdays; hers is the 11^th and his is the 31^st. The tradition has been to have a “get together” sometime near the 31^st to celebrate both birthdays… until this year. Chris realized her birthday, January 11^th was on a Saturday and decided to throw herself a party. She invited Joe, their daughter Carmen Nerren and her daughter Helena (who’s 9 going on 29). She also invited two of Joe’s brothers and their wives, Donald and Billie Jean Capps; Kenneth and Ginger Capps; her “English” friend, Isabelle Hardy and her best friend from their home country of Germany, Brigitte Stachurski. Gerrysue Williams was also invited; she is Chris and Brigittes’ personal hair dresser.

In place of a traditional birthday cake, Chris made an authentic German cheese cake just like her mother always made for her while growing up in Germany. She said it’s better than Sam’s and NEVER put a topping on it; that would be an insult! Chris said the attendees were made up of mixed cultures and religions: There were 2 Germans; 1 English and rest Americans; there were Baptists, Methodists and Catholics and all participated in a toast with wine or ginger ale to everyone’s birthday in 2014. The party lasted all afternoon with the guys watching ballgames and the girls solving all the world’s problems and everyone agreed it was the “best party” of the year.

Cooper Horton, 7-year-old son of Kellie and Rayburn Horton rode his first bull at a Bull Riding event sponsored by the Cross Timbers Church and scored 77 points. Way to go Cooper! Loree Olson came in to buy lime for her garden and shared she got a nice 15-point buck this season. Melvin Linton, Sr. sat at the round table while having new tires mounted on his “mule”. Bill Dean Yates was in getting electrical parts when we learned he celebrated a birthday on the 18^th. Butch Parish was buying local honey. Jan Allbritton, who teaches at St. Cyprians and also writes a column for The Free Press, was in getting a flat repaired on her car. Jimmy McCall came in to buy hen scratch for the hungry birds around his house.

Three guys came in the store that we’ve never seen. They were passing through and decided to stop and see what “The Everything Store” had to offer. They were Merl Dickson, Ed Honeycutt and Richard Perot. Of course when I learned they were from West Monroe, Louisiana, I had to ask if they knew the renowned Duck Dynasty family. They did know them and Mr. Dickson who is a commercial salesman for Ryan Auto Group was involved in filming the episode where Willie’s son, John Luke, wrecked his dad’s pickup and they came to Ryan’s Auto to rent a pickup. During the filming in his small office, Mr. Dickson said there were 32 people, 5 cameras and 2 makeup artists for 8 hours to film a small segment of the 30 minute episode. He said they would film for about 30 seconds, stop, redo makeup, change clothes and film another 30 seconds or so.

Merl, Ed and Richard were all very familiar with the Robertson family and told me about Phil Robertson, the father, who attended Louisiana Tech on a football scholarship. He was a quarterback starting ahead of a guy named Terry Bradshaw but wouldn’t show up for practice. The coach told him to choose between football or hunting; he chose hunting! The saying around Monroe is “Terry Bradshaw went for the bucks; Phil went for ducks.” It was not all rosy for Phil back then. He owned a bar and was pretty bad when Mrs. Kay suggested he visit with a preacher. Phil says, “I was blown away by the story of Jesus Christ, his teachings and resurrection from the dead”. It was after becoming a Christian and getting his wife and family back together that he offers his two suggestions to a good life: 1) Love God and 2) Love each other because “at the end of the day, you’ll be “happy, happy, happy”.

Angelina Animal Hospital will be hosting a Rabies Clinic here at The Everything Store this Saturday, January 25^th, in the parking lot from 2 until 5PM. All dogs must be on a leash.

Vintage Blooms located in J.R.’s Party Barn is a new venture for Teresa Pouland. The Party Barn has been remarkably transformed into a gift shop with unique items and antiques, a flower shop and a beauty shop for now. Coming a bit later will be a sandwich shop and Roho plans to have boiled crawfish and shrimp in the back. The flower shop is taking orders for Valentine’s Day. Stop by or call 829-5556.

It’s not too early to begin thinking about gardening and getting ready for spring. Don’t forget we want to be your garden store so; come see us…’round the table.