Clinton, South Carolina, Friday, October 4, 2017, 12:06 p.m.

The forecast says the heat wave is ending tonight. It might rain late next week. Actually, it might rain a little tonight, hopefully not when I’m walking the sideline of a high school football game. Three weeks ago, it didn’t rain in Simpsonville, but nearby lightning strikes delayed the Laurens-Hillcrest game for about an hour and a half.

A year ago, the South was being washed away and the West was on fire.

Could the craziness of the weather and the craziness of the rest of the world be related? It seems as if there is eerie synchonicity at work.

People tweet and post so much, they can’t talk to each other face to face. The country – hell, the world, too – is divided into technologically warring camps.

I’m not sure whether spending most of my time within the boundaries of Laurens County is a good or a bad thing. My three best recent days have all been at Furman University in Greenville County, but maybe that’s just a coincidence.

Lately, the best part of the job has been taking pictures of cute kids running around at community festivals and the like. I’ll get that chance later today – it’s Squealin’ on the Square weekend in Laurens – if not too many people got arrested and I can get out of the house in time. From the Square I’ll go to the stadium, and I like writing about football games, too.

What goes up / Gotta come down / Spinnin’ wheel / Spinnin’ ’round.

I thought baseball died with the Red Sox, but I’m still watching baseball, or at least it’s on TV while I’m working. Spurred by the Paladins of Furman, I’m deeply into college football, but for some reason consciously unknown to me, I haven’t been able to get excited about the NFL. I keep seeing what’s on TCM. I enjoyed The Wheeler Dealers, with James Garner and Lee Remick, yesterday. There’s a programming void where the Red Sox were. The Country Music documentary filled in the blanks for a while.

Ah, hell, this blog ain’t no count. It’s all about me. I am only important to the extent that my experience resonates in others. That might be my problem. Not enough people are like me.

I reckon it’s therapeutic, though.

If you become a patron of mine, you’re supporting writing like this as well as my mostly NASCAR blogs at montedutton.com. If you’ve got a few bucks a month to spare, click here.

Another way I cobble out a living is with my books, a wide variety of which is available for sale here.

 

My eighth novel is called Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.

Lightning in a Bottle is now available in an audio version, narrated by Jay Harper.