Ponderings by Dan Ponder

It is late October with a definite chill in the air.  Over 80,000 people have come to Auburn, the Loveliest Village on the Plains for a matchup against the 10th ranked, Ole Miss Rebels.  Actually, the team has not been the Rebels since 2003.  Many sports fans cannot immediately recall the next official mascot of…

I confess that after writing some 600 columns I never thought that I would write about a pedicure, must less have one.  This past week I finally bit the bullet, so to speak, and joined the tiny minority of men who have decided to give their feet some attention.  It was not an easy decision.…

This past week my wife and I enjoyed the Lantern Tour at Pine Hills Cemetery, Auburn’s oldest burial ground.  Pine Hills holds the remains of many of Auburn’s earliest settlers, including its founder Judge Harper.   In fact, Judge Harper’s son, William, is the oldest marker in the cemetery.  The younger Harper died in 1838…

I could profess to have some credibility in this area.  My brother, Ernest, and I built, owned, and operated 38 Hardee’s Restaurants.  Many might say the best thing about Hardee’s was their breakfast.  Most specifically, their “Made from Scratch” biscuits.   I will not argue with that. However, Hardee’s was founded in 1961 and its…

  The hot mineral springs were discovered when the Sealy brothers were drilling for oil in the 1920s just below Cottonwood, Alabama, my boyhood home.  They did not find oil, but they did find something of tremendous value, at least for the time.  The hot mineral springs that flowed out of the ground at 110…

I always put a note card and a pen in my shirt pocket when I head to church.  I might jot down the name of someone I met.  I might scribble a thought from the minister that seemed to be meant just for me.  Sometimes, I just write down a thought I hear from the…

The Auburn – Penn State game last Saturday was quite an experience.  My wife, Mary Lou, and I used the game as an excuse to take our first true road trip since the pandemic began.  We left a week ago traveling to Knoxville.  We woke up on Wednesday and walked all through the University of…

At the end of last week’s column, which was posted on Facebook, I asked what lessons from their childhood the readers of this column still remembered all these years later.  There was a huge outpouring of comments, both on Facebook and to me personally.  While there were many comments that reminded me of my own…

One of the things I love about our new home is grocery shopping.  The largest Kroger I have ever seen is just over a mile from our house.  There is a Publix less than two miles, another just over three miles, and one under construction just over a half mile from our driveway.  That results…

In the 11 years I have written a weekly column, I have had writer’s block less than a half dozen times.  All day long today, I have struggled with what I wanted to say.  If I am honest with myself, I do not have a writer’s block at all; I just do not want to…