Time from some Arko-centric news

Every now and again, I feel it necessary to torment the folks who read this little blog with a few items that are of interest to Arkansans.

Why? Well, I do like it here in the Natural State and love to pass on a bit of information about it from time to time. Plus, I've got a raging head cold and posting a few items about my beloved state just seems pretty easy right now.

So, here we go!

The City Wire

Not too long ago, The Hawg was a journalist. Prior to entering the fun filled world of public relations, I worked at The Morning News of Northwest Arkansas as a business writer (I've worked for three other newspapers through the years, but I won't get into all that right now).

At any rate, my old boss, Michael Tilley has left his job as a business editor and is now the editor of The City Wire, an Internet-based publication focusing Arkansas' River Valley area in general and the Fort Smith/Van Buren areas in particular.

And if you want to read some of my, uh, wisdom, click right here and visit The City Wire to check out some quotes from me about the housing market in Arkansas.

So, thanks for the press, Tilley, and good luck with your new endeavor!

The Smithsonian Channel takes a look at Arkansas

Apparently, yelling constantly about how much you love Arkansas will get some attention. I got an e-mail last week from Chrissie Hsu about a series her client, the Smithsonian Channel, is working on called Aerial America. That series is set to air next year and will feature aerial photography from all 50 states.

Arkansas is the first on the list and I'm glad to hear that. What better way would there be to kick off a series filmed in high definition than to highlight some of this state's great scenery? I've stuck a small photo shot in the Ozarks as a bit of a teaser. You can learn more about the series by clicking right here and take a look at the blog about what's in store for the Arkansas segment by clicking right here.

Former Razorbacks turn heads

First of all, Benton's own Cliff Lee won the American League Cy Young Award. As I've howled about plenty of times on here, I'm a Benton, Ark., native and we're all proud of Lee down here. He's pitched for the Benton Panthers, the Arkansas Razorbacks and he's coming off an impressive season with the Cleveland Indians.

And he still calls Benton home. Way to go, Lee!

And here's a little tidbit I love. Conway, Ark., native Peyton Hillis was instrumental in helping the Denver Broncos defeat the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday (he rushed for 44 yards and two touchdowns).

I've been a Broncos fan since I was seven-years-old. The fact that a former Razorback and fellow Arkansan helped Denver pull off a victory makes me like the team even more.

Mom and dad meet the insurance adjuster

As some of you know, my childhood home was mangled by a tree. How did that happen? The tree service hired to cut down some pine trees in my parents' yard managed to drop one right on top of the house (see some photos right here and read the whole sordid tale right here).

Fortunately, mom and dad have a great place to live until their home is repaired (the house is 100 years old, has a claw foot tub and features a great view of the Saline County Courthouse and most of downtown Benton).

Mom and dad met with the adjuster who insures the goons that ruined their home yesterday. He estimated the cost of repairing their home at $100,000. The company contracted to do the work got started today.

Fortunately, the company doing the work will clean everything up, repair the home, replace the furniture that needs to be replaced and even store my parents' stuff in a climate-controlled facility.

It appears that all might end well. My parents bought that home in 1976. Losing that house would be the same as losing a huge chunk of my childhood. I'm very happy my parents weren't home when the tree fell on their house.

Where were they? They stopped by my house, noticed the door was open for some reason, shut the door and played with our kitten. Thank God for sons who accidentally leave their doors open and ultra cute kittens, huh?

The All Arkie Army

If you are an Arkansan or have ties here, head right on over here and take a look at The All Arkie Army. If you like what you see, hit the "contact" link on top of the blog and say something like, "Let me join up, Hawg!"

We've got some great writers over there, and that blog allows participants to promote their own sites. Not a bad deal as the site has a growing Alexa rating -- that can help boost your blog's stats, right?

Oh, and that earlier bit of information about Peyton Hillis was posted at the All Arkie Army by the incomparable Paul Eilers over at Paul's Health Blog. If you don't visit his blog regularly, you should!