What do a dentist, a sanitation worker and an acrobat have in common? Besides giving you the feeling you just stepped into a Stephen King novel they join 40 other scarecrows standing guard and entertaining passersby on Main Street in Thomson. These scarecrows were lovingly constructed by businesses for a contest sponsored by the Thomson Chamber of Commerce. According to those in the know, the idea came from a meeting held to discuss acquiring donations for the annual Halloween Festival. For a $10 fee a business can join in the fun by constructing a scarecrow for its business. The idea took off and the characters took on a life of their own. On each side of Main Street scarecrows are front and center attracting more people downtown and much more foot traffic for the businesses that participated. It is really a sight to see. The scarecrows are original, well done and, I promise, they will bring a smile to your lips. Of course I do not know how long they will remain after Halloween but it would be worth the trip just to see if they leave them up. Another well-kept secret in the Thomson area, at least I didn't know about it, is Thomson Ponds. What a magnificent place. Acres and acres of water, woods and wildlife so serene that if you had stress or worries upon arriving there are none while you are there. All I could think about was casting a line into that water and picturing a huge bass clamping down on the other end. Of course that did not happen, we were not prepared to fish when we went, but we came away with less worry and a lot of giant pinecones.

A new Walmart ad states: If you purchase just one of these pre-packaged Asian meals a month you will save $450 a year. I checked. I could not find any pre-packaged Asian meal that cost $37.50 in the whole of our Walmart store. Campbell's Soup, in a commercial, states that there are 32 feet of noodles in every can of Chicken Noodle Soup. I intend to measure all the noodles just to see.

When I was very young my mother would pick one or two days a month for fish sticks, grits and slaw. I spotted fish sticks in the store and memories came flooding back so I bought them. What a disappointment it turned out to be.

Same brand but now the sticks are the size of French fries and I was hard-pressed to find or taste the fish. Guess that old adage is true: You can't go home again. At least the slaw and grits were good.