Floating Fourche River with my father was especially meaningful between Middlebrook and the Wilson Hole. Both bass and catfishing were excellent on this stretch and Dad provided a travelogue of family stories and local history as we fished.
At this time of year, gardening is on people’s minds. Think at this time of year people are starved to see green growing things, not food mind you, there is the grocery store for that. Racks have been appearing in all sorts of stores for some time now, filled with small packets of flowers and vegetable seeds. When it comes to my garden, my mind takes flights of fancy. What shall we plant this year, shrubs, trees, bulbs, seeds? I find myself walking around the yard trying to visualize how different plants would look in a certain spot? Thinking just how beautiful it will all be one day when everything is in and starts to grow. One of us thinks the yard is already too full, while one believes there is always room for more of everything. We do realize there is a need for more sunlight on our small plot of good earth! A small fortune was spent last year there were watermelons, tomatoes, yellow crooked neck squash, green beans, chard (which had been a total failure), and okra. It was a bit like Jack’s beanstalks. It grew so tall Red had to stretch up as high as he could reach, and then bend it over carefully so as not to break the stalk to cut the pods off you might call it an over producer. There were bell peppers, and still more. My pride and joy had been several rows of sunflowers, planted in a huge variety of different seeds. Then did a bit of an artistic spin on planting them. Planted them all across the backyard and then curved them around and up toward the house. Planted so many different varieties of sunflower seeds, they came up at staggered intervals. They were hardy plants, and some had grown tall quickly. Then one day I was shocked to see that the ones just coming up, had been eaten off at the ground? Later some larger hardier ones had been ridden over and chewed off, leaving about 10 inches of the stalks still standing. The rest already with big leaves was withering in the sun. Talk about sick, I felt like a farmer that lost his crop. We waged a losing battle for every day more plants were destroyed. Staring out the kitchen window to the back one day I saw one of the culprits. Could hardly believe what I was seeing it was next to the biggest groundhog I’d ever seen. He was eating like he was at one of those all-you-can-eat-buffets! Off around the house I went with a broom running and hollering as I went, he took off down the hill towards a drainage ditch and disappeared. Waddling his chubby little self as fast as his short legs could go. It is truly a painful thing to lose your garden to a slow death, a few plants at a time.
Long before the days when everyone and their brother had a cell phone, serving as a humane society officer was much different. Not only were cell phones uncommon, texting and Facebook were unheard of. Fast forward, and I suppose Facebook is a help nowadays; at least as far as animal rescue/rehoming is concerned. In other ways, Facebook causes a lot of fourth grade behavior. It creates a great deal of anger, worry, fear and bad feelings. . . .not to mention a platform for insults, nasty comments and disparaging remarks. Most folks who make negative comments on Facebook would never have the nerve to say the same things face-to-face to those they are making comments about.
Mike looking online for a new electric skillet. MIKE: This one is just like the one we have.
Tale of two cities in Arkansas college basketball over the past few weeks, as the Razorbacks and the Red Wolves seem to be headed in two different directions. Just one month ago the Arkansas State men’s basketball team was one of the hottest programs in the Sun Belt conference.
I love the winter months and I love winter weather. There’s something so relaxing and satisfying about watching snow or sleet fall outside. My love for it is fading pretty fast. This makes two weeks in as little as a couple months where we’ve been forced, thanks to Mother Nature, to delay sending the papers out to our subscribers on the usual day.
City of Pocahontas Street Department appreciated I would like to bring attention to Ben Wicker and his crew at the Pocahontas city street department. Our community is very lucky to have such dedication keeping or streets safe and clear during the past few storms.
Joseph Freeman Hufstedler, Jr. was born in 1843, the fourth child of Joseph Freeman Hufstedler, Sr. and Lydia Chandler Hufstedler. Joseph, Jr. was only about 5 years old when his dad died and around 7 or 8 when his mother joined the Hufstedler clan in a move to northeast Arkansas and Randolph County.
UFOs, monsters--fun to hear about even if we don’t believe the stories. Cryptozoology is defined as searches for and studies regarding unknown, legendary, or extinct animals whose present existence is disputed or unsubstantiated by science.
Like many of you on Sunday, my church joined millions as we prayed for Ukraine. Each day I turn on the news praying that Putin has seen the error of his ways and has ordered the retreat of the Russian army. But instead, I see crying children crossing the borders to find safety. I see thousands fleeing their homeland because a bully has declared that he wants their land and resources. And not surprisingly, I see common folk kneeling in front of tanks to stop their advancement. I see athletes and beauty queens, men and women like you and me taking up arms to save their country. Their country’s leaders are not retreating into safety but rather they are running towards the fight to lead and inspire their fellow country men and women.