Opinion

Well Mother Nature sure was teasing us with that little bit of rain Sunday or maybe I should say that little shower she sent us. We need so much more. I know our farmers are really hurting this time of year so we will just have to keep hoping and praying for some relief in the form of a slow, all day long rain. Well, we can dream can’t we. It has been so hot this past week it’s just hard to think about cooking on these hot days. I was thinking of a main dish salad meal that would be easy to prepare early in the day.

So, what’s the strangest thing to happen to you this week? I bet Bob and Netia Olvey are the only ones who can say it was waking up to a semi-truck carrying thousands of pounds of frozen chicken stuck in their driveway.

The passing of Jim Barnett caused me to reflect upon the cultural, genealogical, and historical singularity of Ingram Township. Herbert Early had it right when he declared that “there is no place on earth like Ingram Township.”

Was washing dishes and dropped a glass bowl that shattered into about 100 pieces, one slightly cutting my ankle, I screamed. Mike comes running out of the bathroom seemingly quite flustered. He leans down with his hands on his knees and said “Thank Goodness”. Touched by his concern I said “Don’t worry Baby, I’m ok.” ... “I know, I was just afraid I was going to have to take you to the hospital like this...” he said as he looked up at me with his head half shaved.

I believe I should be awarded the key to the city. After my heroic efforts I saved Pocahontas from complete disaster and ruin. A few days back on an extremely sweltering day I was waiting in line at Harp’s to get some cheap gas. Everyone was parked this way and that (can we work on this together…. everybody going in the same direction?) and everybody was in a foul mood. As I was patiently waiting my turn I noticed smoke coming out of the front end of my car. At first, I thought it was the truck in front of me but after a little more investigation I decided- nope that was smoke coming out of my car. My car was on fire!

Pictured at left are local and visiting members of the Knights of Columbus who attended the communion services held here at St. Paul’s Catholic Church. This service having been one of the highlights of the Forty-Third Annual State Convention. This picture was taken at the St. Paul’s School dining hall. This group enjoyed a delicious breakfast, following Mass at St. Paul’s School dining hall, served by the ladies of the School Auxiliary.

Everyone has heard of the ole Bait & Switch move. The conman tells you one thing and delivers another. This is my current mood with the stock market. The markets are telling investors that the best money-making strategy right now is to “hold tight,” and let the economic storms pass by. The switch is the missed opportunity in the future. If you stand pat in a volatile market, you will ride out the ups and downs, eventually. I have been having this conversation with clients a lot lately. This topic has been a non-starter for about 12 years now. It is really an amazing fact, the general stock market, comprised of the Dow Jones Industrial Average, S&P 500 Index, and the Nasdaq, increased 467%, 622%, and 1156%, respectively. No amount of stock-picking or risk management could hold a candle to those level of gains achieved by just holding the stocks within the main indices. People become complacent, they fear making mistakes, so it sounds like music to their ears when some supposed “expert” tells them to hold tight. Well, this is not the preferred strategy for our present times, unless you find yourself in a particular set of circumstances. It is an important question to restate, what makes you think that your life circumstances are the same as any other investor, and why do so many investors fall into line with a “one size fits all” approach? Your options, as today’s retail investor, are two-fold. You can either go with the crowd or make your own way. I am squarely in the latter camp, let us see what we can do with this information