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Columns

  • Bumper crop squash not a sure thing

    You know all the jokes about people having bumper crops of summer squash?  Squash shows up in people’s cars or in public spaces because there is so much that the gardener can’t even give it away.  Well, that’s never really been a problem for me.  I have a little bit of that problem this year and I give credit to the variety and the fact that it was plated later than usual.  Others, however, have not been so blessed.

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  • Anticipation high as Williamstown students return for 2014-15 school year

    Welcome back to Williamstown Independent Schools for the 14 – 15 school year. Anticipation is high among students as well as staff for another outstanding year.
    Although we miss those who have left us, as this new school year begins, we are excited to meet and greet the many new faces we are welcoming to our schools and community.  
    I would like to express my appreciation to our custodial and grounds crews who have worked diligently through the summer to prepare our buildings and grounds for the return of our students.  

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  • Bullying isn’t fun when you’re the victim

    I was 13-years-old when my little world was turned upside down. I came from a smaller town than most can imagine, was born and raised most of my life in the south and loved it.
    My mom was a single mom of three children and the concept of meeting someone and marrying them was just foreign.
    Well, it smacked me in the face because she met my stepfather in 1998 and in Jan. 1999 they married. I was thrilled my mom had found someone that was finally going to be the man she deserved and a father to me and my younger brother.

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  • Social media: the good, bad and the ugly

    Social media can be an extremely valuable tool.
    You can keep up with that old friend from high school that you haven’t seen in years on Facebook.
    People can make lost connections with family members.
    News updates fly furiously second-by-second on Twitter.
    Photographs can be shared and even LIKED.
    However, as new social media is thought up everyday, we lose the actual human interactions that make relationships special.
    We also see that for every benefit of social media, there is a flaw that can’t be denied.

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  • The Ark Encounter sails smoothly under the Constitution

    One would expect that any project that will bring millions of dollars in new capital investment, create hundreds of jobs and be a tremendous asset to Grant County and other communities of northern Kentucky would be enthusiastically welcomed by every Kentuckian.  But because the project at issue is The Ark Encounter theme park, a few radical secularists and others are doing their best to oppose the park and misrepresent both the law and the related facts.  Fortunately, the secularists’ arguments hold no water.

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  • Crabgrass’s history reveals its multiple uses

    After the big rain we had I hit the weeds; most of which involved wrangling ever expanding globs of crabgrass.  Yes, this is the time when crabgrass rears its ugly head and begins to creep through our fescue lawns, sneak into our cultivated beds and, when we’re not looking, reseeds itself to ensure the continuation of the species. Okay, maybe a little melodramatic but my hands still hurt from all that pulling!   

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  • Dig and divide Iris, Daylilies

    Why is it that the perfect time to dig and divide your iris bed is in July at the height of the season’s heat?  For bearded iris it’s because they go through a dormant period in the summer.  This hardy perennial is a beautiful spring bloomer that is virtually immune to diseases.  But to ensure health and vigor you should divide your bearded iris every three to five years.  If they receive adequate sunlight (at least 6 hours a day) but do not bloom well then it is definitely time to divide.

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  • Amusement is a blast but I’ve had enough

    Recently some of my family and I went to Kings Island. It had been the better part of 15 years since I had been there. Two teenagers, two children and three adults. This should be fun.  
    I was excited to take a day off and go be a kid myself.
    An hour and half to get there after a breakfast stop and making sure everyone had taken a potty break. We were as ready as ever to ride the rides everyone had been talking about since we left.
    While we waited to pay our way in, everyone was jittery with excitement about what rollercoaster to get on first.

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  • Small ears may mean poor pollination

    Small stalks, small ears, poor kernel development…does this describe your corn crop this year?  Or maybe the raccoons absconded with the crop! If this sounds like you there may be several factors at work.  Drought at the wrong time can stunt your corn crop; cold damage can stunt corn (if you put your crop out early you could see a little stunting from a late spring cold snap); and poor drainage and poor soil fertility, especially nitrogen, can stunt the crop as well.  

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  • O’ death, where is thy sting?

    For me, last week began and ended with funerals.
    On Monday, I attended the funeral of Mary Zawalich, whom I’d never met, or maybe I have and I don’t remember.
    About a month ago, she called me. She told me her name and said she was 92 and she was dying, but that it was OK, that it was a “happy death.”
    She had called to say that she’s been a reader of my column and that I’ve been a “wonderful part” of her life. She called to thank me, to say that she admired me, that she has loved me.

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