RUSSELL HIVELY: Do you consider yourself a Boulevardier?

I am going to have to dig out some light colored or white T-shirts to wear as I walk along Wildcat Boulevard each morning. It is dark at 6 a.m. now, and I like to wear things that can be more easily seen than the black T-shirts I like so much.

My mind wandered from subject to subject as I walked along the other morning. The first thing I thought about was how I was going to ward off the big horse flies that have started bothering me down by the tennis courts. I might just start carrying a fly swatter. The pests like to get on my back and bite.

I did not notice any blue tailed skinks on this particular morning. They seem to be more prevalent than normal this year. I am particularly impressed by their ability to climb walls. They seem to be harmless creatures that I enjoy watching. I have never attempted to catch one to see if it really can live without the end of its tail.

My mind drifted off to thinking about Glen Crumbliss, one of my fellow Neosho Lions members. He turned 87 a few weeks back. What is cool about that is that he still works and has his Dixon mower business. I guess work will keep a person young. Neosho seems to have its share of older workers. I know one lawn-mowing man who is in his mid-90s.

Speaking of Lions Club, a few weeks back the speaker told us that about 50 percent of nursing home residents are there because of strokes. That is quite a statistic. She was there talking about ways to avoid strokes and heart attacks. Hopefully, everyone listened intently. 

Whoever prayed for a hot summer certainly got his wish. It has been so hot that a friend sunburned the tops of his feet. He was wearing Crocs one day out in the hot sun, and the skin under the little holes in the tops of the shoes got sunburned. When he told this, he slipped off a shoe to show the sunburns. The little red spots looked like measles.

I recently read that scent, or smell, is the strongest memory sense. I guess that is why we can recognize a scent we have not smelled in years.
I understand that scent also affects taste. I guess that is why food tastes different when you have a cold . The mind also affects taste.

Have you ever thought you were going to take a drink of 7 Up when it turned out to be tonic water? By the second swallow, the memory yells, “This is not right!”

Another article I recently read was about the Missouri Department of Transportation’s recycling attempts. In early July they achieved the highest recycling possible when they destroyed a bridge near Kansas City and recycled one hundred percent of the debris.

Someone recently sent a new word they thought I should learn: “boulevardier.” Its meaning is “a man about town.”  

Take a walk, drive the speed limit, watch our for pedestrians, enjoy trivial facts, get out and about town, use those signal lights, and see what you notice while passing along Wildcat Boulevard. I guess you could also try to be a “boulevardier.” Maybe that’s what I am.

Russell Hively writes a weekly column for the Daily News.