Breaking News

Viewpoints

Honey, Nature’s Sweetener, Good For Allergies, Baking

Last week I mentioned canning with honey. We were beekeepers for years. One night after we returned from a family wedding my husband found a swarm of bees out in the pasture. He came home and told us about it. He and his father figured that we needed to capture it. Grandma and I worked on “bee proof” outfits for the men. You did have to watch out for bee stings when you worked with bees. They fashioned a type of smoker to take with them to calm the bees down. Grandpa put together a box for the swarm once they captured it. Lace curtains turned out to be the perfect head covering ...

These Mothers Are For The Birds

The bird fights to emerge from the egg. It is his world. He who would be born must destroy a world. —Hermann Hesse Who can guess whether the brooding bird is surprised by the first sensation of soft, wriggling life beneath her? It’s known that the young can begin peeping when they’re still in the egg, ofttimes as soon as two days before the hatching. The older bird replies to the egg. Some believe this might even arouse the feeding instincts in the parents. I read that rails have been seen trying to feed their egg. Once they hatch the eggs the real work begins for ...

All I Am, I Owe To My Mother

I’m a crossword puzzle fanatic, loving the challenge of completing the trifecta of The Post-Journal’s Jumble, Cryptoquip, and daily crossword puzzle, hoping I can get every circle, code, and box filled in before filing the page in our paper recycle bin. One crossword puzzle clue often used asks for a three, sometimes a four letter word given as “May Honoree.” The answer they are looking for is mom/moms, which brings us to their day of honor which we’ll celebrate tomorrow. The title above, from George Washington, pretty much says it all, when it comes to our mothers, ...

Help Us Starve Algae

Our lakes are hungry for help. We are all aware of the excessive algae and plant growth we have been struggling with in our lakes. There are many factors that can promote and contribute to algal blooms and excessive plant growth. Harmful algal blooms (HABs) can occur in fresh, salt, or ...

Ban This! No, Never Mind!

Recently, many politicians were in such a hurry to ban plastic bags. California and Hawaii banned them, then New York. Then Oregon, Connecticut, Maine and Vermont passed laws against them. More than 400 cities did, too. Why? Because plastic bags are evil, didn’t you know? “Look at the damage done by plastic bags! It is everywhere!” complained New York Governor Andrew Cuomo. A Washington state senator cited “videos of animals choked by plastics, tangled in garbage!” So what should we use instead of plastic? Cloth bags! They’re reusable! “Certainly the way to ...

Accused Deserve Presumption Of Innocence

It’s hard for those who have never been wrongly accused of something serious to understand what it’s like. Imagine that happens to you. Unless the accusation pertains to a specific time and place, and you have a convincing alibi, you may well find yourself in the impossible position of proving a negative. Imagine further that the accuser alleges the incident occurred long ago. Imagine perhaps also that since the alleged incident, the accuser has said little or nothing about it - least of all to you - and instead has in effect waited until the accusation can do maximum ...