A very strange thing happened to me a week ago, while on my way to get some info on three We Care/Helping Hands fundraising events.

I was in "Goldie," driving on Franklin Street and approaching the Exchange Milling Co. Suddenly, like in a split second, something white crossed in front of my windshield. Then it was gone as suddenly as it appeared.

What the*&%$&? I thought. But I couldn't see anything. I had no clue what it was. The thing was too close to Goldie for me to see by looking over the hood.

I glanced into the rear-view mirror as a car was pulling up behind me with a woman driving. I motioned to the woman, trying to get her to back the car down the hill just a little. I guess she thought I was crazy.

Not many people used to have medical insurance, so a trip to the doctor was relatively rare. I mean, you had to be just about on death's door or at least very badly hurt.

Home cures were common, and a lot them worked.

But few people knew much about medicine or the causes of illnesses, and I guess that's why it was always fascinating to hear about the various maladies that hit people.

Well, it wasn't fascinating at the time. It was often scary. As I learned when I got older, though, the story often didn't fit the reality.

I remember Aunt Bernice telling about what happened to her father.

Your wishes for rain certainly have come true over the past couple of days. A strong low pressure system from the south was able to tap significant Gulf of Mexico moisture and give most of Franklin County a soaking rain yesterday. Now, on the heels of yesterday's system, we have yet another strong storm system and cold front that will be on our doorstep as early as this afternoon.

As of this writing, computer models have different opinions as to exactly how much rain we will see from this second system later today into Saturday.