WOOLLY WORM: Good news from a woolly worm spied by Carol Parrett
of Rew: There was a little black at the front end and the rest was
all brown. Our interpretation? A short period of very wintry
weather followed by a mild period until spring arrives. We can
handle that!

On the other hand, we saw a woolly worm this past weekend which
has been flattened by a car. We haven’t read anything in the
weather almanacs about what that might mean, but we don’t figure
it’s good. Especially for the caterpillar.

Our thanks to Carol who seems to be the first worm-watcher to
call every October.

GAS PAIN: This past Monday, Dr. August Freda of Bradford stopped
by to report some gas prices. On Interstate 70 in Ohio and West
Virginia, the price per gallon ranged from ,3.21 to ,3.29; in
Pittsburgh, ,3.39; and Brookville, ,3.31. Just about the time we
think our prices are starting to come into line with other regions,
we get one of these depressing reports.

SAME BOOTH: Cherie Ross writes to us from Ocala, Fla.: “You
mentioned in today’s column that an Evangeline Booth, daughter of
the Salvation Army founder, came to Bradford in 1931. I live in
Ocala, Fla., and there is a retirement place here for the elderly
called ‘Evangeline Booth Garden Apartments’ that the college I work
for puts on a Thanksgiving dinner each year and has a volunteer
work day in the spring to paint, clean up the grounds, etc. I
wonder if it is named after that same person?”

We would think that, yes, it’s the same person.

LOOK UP: The Twin Tiers Pregnancy Care Center of Bradford held a
Walk for Life at Hamlin Lake Park in Smethport on Sept. 14,
releasing hundreds of balloons as part of the event. Attached to
the balloons’ string was the name, address, phone number and a
brief message.

Surprise, surprise, a gentleman phoned to say he lived in the
Syracuse, Rochester area and had found one of the balloons in his
cow pasture.

Now that’s quite a trip!

Some years ago, we used to get balloon reports virtually every
day but this is the first one we’ve had in more than a year. They
must have gone out of vogue for some reason. We’ve always been
impressed with the distances these little messengers can
travel.