Today, I dedicate this space to two important events—one, a reminder of the program Monday night at the Historical Society and two, about guessing how many dog biscuits fill a huge glass jug.

The two are not related.

If you are not a member of the Historical Society, you are always welcome as a guest. Perhaps then you might be swayed to join. Mary Alice Butler Cullifer, 94, will be guest speaker, and she will recount her days growing up in a rural farm in the vicinity of Cairo and Calgary. She might even tell about the time her mother ran a boarding house in Climax, long before any of us arrived.

At the urging of her grandchildren, Mary Alice has written an autobiography that includes remembering in detail her childhood years growing up on the farm with her parents and brothers and sisters. She has an excellent and detailed memory of many of her childhood events, sharing the good times and the bad times of living a rural agrarian existence of the 1920s and 1930s, when depression of the economy was something of an everyday subsistence.

Her autobiography is a reminder to all of us that it is important to document ones family history, recording events and people so future generations can appreciate and understand their genetic roots. We most times think that family histories are comprised of who beget whom, but what makes them more colorful is adding the human and environmental elements, placing oneself into the history of the times.

What was it like growing up in your particular environment, what was it that formed your character? Who where the people who influenced your life?

Join us Monday night at 6:30 p.m. at The Charter House Inn for this program. Non members please call for a reservation either to J.B. Swicord at 246-5753 or Jim Smith at 246-8803. Leave messages if no one answers. It’s $15 for dinner and wine. Membership is $15 each or $25 per couple. You need not join to be our guest, but please come.

Now what about dog biscuits.

It’s a fund-raiser for the Humane Society, and you can have some fun with this one.

There is a big glass jug circulating among businesses until Mother’s Day. The jug is filled with a variety of sizes of dog biscuits. All you have to do is guess how many biscuits fill the jug. Chances are $1. The jug ends up at Godwin Jewelers in May, and this also is the location where guesses will be audited and winners announced. Guesses do not have to be exact. Winners will be selected as to who gets closest if not right on the money (or biscuit).

Here’s what you can win—top guesser wins a $75 Wal-Mart gift certificate donated by the Junior Mall, close runners-up will receive a $50 gift certificate from Godwin Jewelers, a $50 Macy.Com gift card donated by Cat’s Pajamas, a gift item from Southern Trading and Pawn, and a Bible from The Book Nook.

The big jug will be at The Book Nook through March 9, then travel to Southern Trading and Pawn through March 23, next at Kimberly’s Pet Salon and Country Kennel through April 6, and finally at Godwin Jewelers until the auditing on May 8 and awarding of prizes.

Now this is something to ponder. Gaze into the jug, figure the jug is so high, so round, so stuffed. Read how many dog biscuits are in a box, and ponder how many boxes it would take to fill the jug. Oh heck, I forgot. There’s several different sizes of dog biscuits, so guessing could be more challenging.

But I have solved the mystery. My guess is 6,734 biscuits based on my most exacting mathematical calculations. (Please consider math was one of my most difficult school subjects).

Have fun guessing, and remember it’s for a great cause.

Com’on folks. It’s only a dollar a guess.