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Welcome, Sweet Springtime

“Why does anyone go on spring vacation? It seems odd to fly to a tropical destination at the very moment one of the greatest astonishments of life on Earth is taking place right at home.” I’m quoting now in the Wall Street Journal from George Ball, chairman and CEO of Burpee. “When friends tell me their spring-vacation plans, they mention ‘escape.’ Really? You want to escape spring? That’s like fleeing paradise.” I confess to having no desire to travel during the darkest days of winter. The weather seems to have improved over these last couple of years but who ...

Enjoy The Upcoming Baseball Season

In a couple of weeks, the smell of hotdogs will be wafting slowly past our noses, and we’ll be dressed in our mukluks, fur-lined gloves, and Inuit parkas, excited for the sounds of the crack of the bat, the roar of the crowd, the chattering of teeth, and the call of “play” from the umpires as the 2020 baseball season begins its campaign. Somebody, please tell me why baseball seems to keep starting earlier, often beginning in cold weather cities, that have open stadiums. Being a retired teacher, I was often under the constraints, if you will, of the alphabet, having begun my ...

Making The Right Preparations

The news is aflutter with updates of this new virus, COVID-19. I can’t turn on the TV or look at my phone without seeing some new update on how many cases there are or where the virus has spread to. The constant updates are driving anxiety up in our country and across the world, so much so that stores are limiting toilet paper and hand sanitizer sales. I won’t lie — I ran out and bought some extra canned goods and paper products myself. “Better safe than sorry,” I said to myself as I loaded my pantry with canned tuna, vegetables and other goods. Tonight, as I was sitting here ...

Choosing Paper Or Plastic

The recent decision by New York State to prohibit single-use plastic bags from retail stores makes it an ideal time to reexamine one of my favorite environmental quandaries. Plastic grocery bags were developed as a substitute for paper bags in the late 1970s. It was promoted as a way to save trees and prevent the cutting down of our forests. The opinion that paper is superior to plastic for the environment is not really based on science or fact. It is based on misunderstandings about the way that plastic bags are made, how a landfill works and the assumption that non-biodegradable ...

Nothing Comes Easy On The Farm

March is National Agriculture Month. This is a good time since the agricultural year is about to begin. Soon farmers will be out in their fields preparing them for new crops. For years I was deeply involved in agriculture. My husband operated a dairy farm with registered Holstein cattle. Farm life is a good life — a good way to raise a family. The family worked together. Our children learned responsibility by working on the farm. My husband used to say that they had a unique bond. They did a lot of talking as they worked in the barn together milking the cows. Many problems were ...

Making Sense Of The Coronavirus

Are you concerned about the coronavirus? I am certainly taking it seriously, but hope we’re not being swayed by overreaction. For example, news like this concerns me: 38% of American beer drinkers surveyed last week said they wouldn’t buy Corona beer “under any circumstances” at this point in time. A poll of beer drinkers was taken last week by the ad firm 5WPR and that was the consensus. I saw a funny picture about overreaction online—a place that can actually supply some good laughs on occasion, sometimes lightening grave situations. It was a picture of a beer ...