The new goal for the real estate offices is to offer one-stop shopping.  Our RE/MAX Advantage Realtors office at 1507 East Race in Searcy Arkansas has a mortgage originator, a closing company and a Post Office! As we scurry back and forth from one office to another we can't help passing by Stacy, who is at the front office of Executive Closing and Escrow.  But she changes!  We do a double-take every few days as we walk by.  She goes from looking like this with hair flying in every direction to looking like this. So we say, "What happened to your hair?!" She says, "It's natural.  My hair is this curly." We say, "How lucky you are to have curly hair!" The next time we walk by we say, "What happened to your hair!!" She replies, "I flat-ironed it this morning.  I was in the mood to have s... 07/30/2009

    Driving along minding my own business! OOOOPS!!!  What happened here?? The Person Furniture building is gone!! Wiped out!  The place where 90% of the furniture in my house was bought has been wiped out by someone. The block has been swept clean while I wasn't looking!    The whole block is visible.  It's easy to see this old Sears Roebuck house that is now used for kids to come and socialize.  This building was at the corner of N. Gum and Market Streets.  The property was sold to a church and will now have a church building and a parking lot.                      And you can see all the way across the block to the big English Tudor that is obviously getting a new roof.  When another building bites the dust it makes us appreciate the progress of our town but it also makes us long fo... 07/27/2009

  I've had to visit our White County Arkansas city of Kensett several times lately because I've been sent two REOs in the small town. Kensett is a city in White County, Arkansas, United States. Located adjacent to the east side of Searcy, the city is the hometown of noted legislator Wilbur D. Mills, who was influential throughout the 1960s in the United States House of Representatives. The population was 1,791 at the 2000 census. It was a successful little railroad town and still has lots of train traffic through the town.  Here's one of the tracks that shoots off the main tracks and leads to Searcy.   All the once active stores are closed now.  This picture shows what used to be the bank.  This branch was closed not too long ago.  Note the scenic water tank.  Remember when kids who we... 07/27/2009

Hubby stopped by the docter's office the other day, sauntered in and approached the receptionist and said probably, "Hello, there, Honey.  I'm Rodger Duncan.  Do you know who I am?" (small town where everyone supposedly knows everyone else)(Honey pronounced hawney,Southern Speak) Blank stare back from receptionist. So he says, "I'm Barbara Duncan's husband.  Do you know her?" Big smile, dimples, and an "Oh, yes, she's the real estate lady!" She realized this old car-dealer who called her "Hawney" was actually harmless. It wasn't always this way. What a change since I've been in Searcy Arkansas.  As the picture above shows, we girls once had no identity of our own.  The pictures don't say our first names and last.  We were Mrs. Rodger Duncan, etc.  This was in the 70's.  Look at the new... 07/26/2009

We could see the signs going up on one end of our building at 1507 E Race St, Searcy Arkansas.  Signs indicated that a US Post Office was being installed. I rushed to the broker and said, "What's going on down there!" "We're putting in a post office, contract office." My reply, "Hallelujah!  Is it one of those that you have to pay extra for service?"  "No, it's full service with no extra fees," he assured me.  "It is actually going to be taking the place of the one that was so popular at the entrance to River Oaks Subdivision.  The lady who ran it retired and had no relatives who wanted to take it over." EVERYONE IN SEARCY LOVED THAT POST OFFICE BRANCH!  She had about a dozen daughters, so it seemed, who helped her run it and we'd drive out of our way to go there and avoid the big main ... 07/25/2009

Do you ever feel as if you've just discovered something? All of a sudden you're driving from the new subdivision with beautiful new houses with lawns that are perfect and flower beds that don't have to have the leaves blown out and you can take perfect pictures of the houses for your MLS photos. Then you move to a 30 year old subdivision and you can hardly take a picture because of the trees that have become so big that they cover your view. Then you go to a 50 year old subdivision and the picture is impossible. Fergit it!! So here comes the brilliant observation!!!  Ready!!!  Drum-roll please.THE BIGGER THE TREE THE OLDER THE HOUSE!!!  Today I went to our little railroad town of Kensett Arkansas.  Notice the old house above with the railroad track right in the front of it!  Two blocks... 07/22/2009

On the left in this picture the old Rialto Theater in Searcy Arkansas is shown.  It has had major changes since opened in 1923 as the Grand Theater.  In 1929 it had the name changed to Rialto.  In 1949  it was remodeled to include the addition of a 67 foot high neon marquis.  Searcy Arkansas and White County have enjoyed the Rialto for about 86 years.  There is a movement right now by some residents of Rose Bud High School led by Liz Clark and Julie Chism to take it on as a project and assist in trying to raise funds to make needed repairs to the old building. An article by Warren Watkins, Daily Citizen writer, reports that the Rialto, once owned by the Lightle family, was given to the city by the Lightle Family in the 1980's.  In 1994 it was leased to Victor Weber for $175 a month.  We... 07/19/2009

To the three or four people who may have been following my husband's tomato growing, I guess I'm making my last report. From the tomatoes on the right, guess which two were grown by my husband.  Yep, the bottom two.  I'm not sure why he brought them into the house unless he wanted to brag or have them featured. His tomato growing has been a continued story of #$%$!!^%! and new methods of outwitting the deer and worm population. He did bring in two lovely tomatoes on the 4th of July and we thought he'd won. I think he's given up the battle.  The #$!!^%!! deer got into them again when the rain washed off his seven-dust (whatever that is) and I saw a golf cart out beside the four little plants and I believe I saw a couple of golfers doubled over laughing but I can't be sure since I didn't ... 07/17/2009

When is a tree not needed?  Right now.  The tree in front of Searcy's historic Legion Hut keeps a person from noticing the historic structure nestled in between two other buildings. Legion Hut was built of native stone in 1934 and was reportedly about 3000 sq. ft. in size.  It's on the North side of the Court Square facing busy Race Street where vehicles whiz by at all hours of the day.  At the time it was built, however, traffic was light and the building was the hub of a lot of city and county activity.  It has housed the mayor's office and been the scene  of lots of social activities. Square-dancers once held their functions there.  My husband remembers it being a teen center where the kids could spin records and dance. The Historical Society plans to make improvements to it since i... 07/12/2009

I can't remember who loaned me this picture.  Was it you Anita? But is is so lovely.  I think they are probably sisters.  Observe the slightly heavy chins and determined look on the face of each one.  The costumes are great with shoes looking very chic and fashionable but just a little dusty.  Also notice the ice-cream chairs.  They used to have these twisted wire chairs in ice-cream parlors, I believe. The backdrop is obviously painted so the girls can be posed in front of it.  Note the excessive amount of twigs on the floor, however, so perhaps it was placed outside for photos to be made in front. Why is the picture deserving a blog. It's history, folks, showing how far we've come. This picture was possibly taken before women were given the right to vote in 1920 and encouraged to mak... 07/10/2009

My daughter lived in San Francisco and had learned to survive.  Her brother, 5 years younger was trying to figure out how to live in Los Angeles.  She wrote him a book of recipes.  Here's one. SEAFOOD Red Snapper One medium-sized red snapper filet 1/4 cup butter Juice of 1/2 lemon Dash of bottled parsley Lemon pepper Turn on the broiler, which means turn the oven on as high as it will go.  Melt the butter, mix in lemon juice, parsley and lemon pepper.  Put the fish into a big Corningwear dish.  Pour 1/3 of the lemon/butter mixture over it. Broil for 7 minutes with the door of the oven halfway open.  Turn the fish, pour another 1/3 lemon/butter mixture over the fish.  Broil an additional 5 minutes.  Serve on clean white plate with some colored vegetable next to it for emphasis.  Throw aw... 07/08/2009

Google is my home page so I can see the news rapidly when signing on.  I saw an article about Ms. Palin that looked interested and clicked on it.  When I got there I couldn't help seeing the ladies on the right from Searcy!  One of them tells how she lost all that weight.  It has her name, her husband's name and her children's names.  She surely looked like someone I'd know!  Gotta find her and see where she lives and see if I sold her the house. The other one made me a bit more suspicious because she said she makes so much money just putting ads on google but she said she lives in Searcy too!  Go find her!  She may need a house.  My friends say that it is all a scam.  Neither lives in Searcy.  They just put the Searcy tag on the ad and whatever other city pulls it up can also claim th... 07/07/2009

My car should have a warning sign on it saying, "This car stops at garage sales and flea markets."  It has a mind of its own and will suddenly veer off the selected direction. Whether the car saw this cow or whether I saw the cow is debateable but it did screech to a stop at this garage sale near my office.  It was probably 95 degrees and all the junk was in the sun. My husband, in addition to being a golfer and a frustrated farmer, is also a "cattle man."  You can't buy presents for him because he just goes out and buys what he wants.  So sometimes I get him a little gag-gift of a cow.  I saw this cow on the table. When I got to the cow and picked it up it was just a Made-in-China plastic cow with a wood-grained look.   I didn't want the cow.  BUT!!  This lady came OUT of the house in... 07/06/2009

We are thankful for living in a free country.  July 4th, 1776 was a great day. But there's another close-by birthday that I'm very thankful for.  It's the 37th birthday of Title IX.  What's Title IX?  Younger people may not even think about Title IX but I remember it so vividly. Imagine having a 13 year old daughter who is exceedingly bright, energetic, with nothing to do! That's the way it was.  There were NO sports for girls in Searcy Arkansas and no organized games for girls in the schools or the community.  Boys had plenty to do.  In the school system there were organizations like the Key Club which allowed boys only!  And this unfair situation existed all over the country. Title IX, when passed by the Nixon administration, required all educational institutions that received federal... 07/04/2009

Once again, with REO properties you never know what or who you'll find. Walk softly and carry a big stick could be a good motto! Look who greeted me today at this new foreclosure property.  He was in the neighbor's yard doing a fine job of mowing the yard. The neighbor said he'd borrowed him from HIS neighbor hoping some of the overgrown  weeds and shrubs could be modified. I think that if he is a loaner, we could use him on this yard because even though it is in town it is a big yard. We really don't need this loaner to be a loner, however, and need to see if he has a few brothers and sisters to help him on this yard!! I think he was friendly but I didn't test him too closely.    07/01/2009

Last year I wrote a blog about Rainey, the broker's son who hangs around our office in the summer because it is boring at home. Here he is again.  He needs to borrow 30 cents again and reminds me that his credit is good.  He paid me back last year.>>>>>>>>>>>>>   Now here he is beaming at me after he has paid me back the 30 cents WITH INTEREST this year.  He actually gave me 35 cents because he wants to make sure his credit is really really good with me. <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<     And then I suggested to Rainey that he could earn a few more cents if he'd work around the office for us.  He said that he'd already straightened the magazines (he had) and he'd already loaded the dishwasher several times (he had) and he ran errands for us.  I suggested that he clean out the dirty refrigerator... 06/30/2009

Regular readers will know that my husband is a golf lover.  He played in another tournament this weekend and the highlight of the fun weekend was the dance held on Saturday night. It was the 12th Annual Todd Alan Simpson Memorial Golf Tournament with proceeds going to endow scholarships annually to high school graduates.  Todd lost his life in a traffic accident and the family sponsors this tournament each year.  They brought the energetic band from Memphis, Dr. Zarr and the Amazing Funk Monster, this year.    Their ad says this, "Grab your bell bottoms, climb aboard some platform shoes, and get ready to show off your best "Saturday Night Fever" moves -- when Dr. Zarr's Amazing Funk Monster is playing, there's no way you can resist the dance floor!" This photo was taken before everyone ... 06/28/2009

I taught school for 12 years, way back there before cell phones.  There were plenty of distractions even then.  In the "Dear Abby" column in the newspaper this morning a young girl was complaining about her fellow student's phones.  They were supposed to be turned off in classes. How'd the kids solve this problem?  The kids have such high-pitched ring tones that the "older" teachers could not hear the ring tones because of the frequency!!  Therefore the kids sit back there with innocent little faces getting text messages.  This kid in the column was complaining about the "mosquito" tones that hurt her ears and the other student's ears and wondering what she should do. Our kids today are SO smart if they'd just channel all this intelligence in the right way.  And I'm glad I'm no longer i... 06/27/2009

Right in the midst of downtown Searcy we have this little park that has been decorated.  It is between two buildings in what was a little parking area.  The city has come in and painted murals on the back wall.  I have always loved murals.  It fascinates me that they can be so accurate from a distance and then you walk up to them they're made up of broad strokes that are not so accurate at all. How much the park is used may be questionable because right now the temperature would be too hot and in the winter it might be too cold and it is not right beside a restaurant so you could sit and have lunch outside.  But nevertheless it has a charming mural that make me stare at it each time I drive by. 06/25/2009

  20 years ago Professional Escrow opened their doors in Searcy Arkansas.  The owner was a super-sharp and well-trained lady named Hazel English.  She had worked at one of the savings and loan operations that had suddenly become defunct. She knew all about closes and assumptions of loans.  She announced that her entire business would consist of closing loans for real estate companies or people selling their own homes and the office was to be in downtown Searcy. We thought she was nuts!  We snickered and said, "Well, why would anyone pay her to close a loan?  Our broker closes them for nothing!"  And they did.  The brokers made up their closing statement and had it signed and collected the monies, dispersed it and all was well. Then one day my broker said, "I'm not taking the responsibil... 06/24/2009