Do you think about your landscape around your house like a compass? The sun rises in the eastern part of your property, passes through the southern part and settles on the western part of your property. The rising and setting points will change slightly each day and will only be at due east and due west two days each year, the spring and fall equinoxes. Using the compass theory helps gardeners to avoid the common problem of the wrong plant in the wrong place. For plants that require part sun, consider planting them where the morning or eastern sun exposure…
Browsing: Commentary
You may have remembered me sharing statements that used to be on the walls of fire stations, during my career. Risk a lot to save a life Risk little to save little Risk nothing to save nothing I am writing this article to the firefighters that read my column, in response to the Pineville volunteer firefighter that was killed Saturday evening. Units were dispatched to a strip mall on fire in Pineville N.C., near Charlotte. From news reports, it appears that the fire originated in the golf shop. I know very few details about this fire, except for the fact…
Hello and welcome back to the wonderful world of the Dogpound where things just continue to spin out of control. First off, before I forget, Happy Mother’s Day… Belated, but I finally remembered, and I was doing so great staying current with the holidays. Anyway, last week I was telling the story of the missing bolt and how I was kind of feeling off-center the whole week; well, things just continue to drop and I do mean “literally” drop. I was eating some Fritos last night and I suddenly felt this hard thing in my mouth. A crown had broken…
To the Editor: The letter from Mr. L. J. McCoy, Jr., President of the Chesterfield NAACP, contained a very interesting comment. He asked: “Why would any political party wish to continually reject an individual because he or she made a mistake in the past?” Being only a college graduate, I thought I understood the meaning of the word “mistake.” Referring the matter to Webster in order to reacquaint myself with the definition of the word, I read the following: “a wrong action proceeding from faulty judgment, inadequate knowledge, or inattention. There was no mention of the punishment associated with such…
To the Editor: L.J. McCoy’s letter of last week applauded Gov. McAuliffe’s recent executive order restoring voting rights to convicted felons. I agree. However, the executive order also includes the right to serve on a jury, run for public office, and serve as a notary. I can’t imagine any grieving parent or crime victim wanting to see a convicted rapist or murderer seated as a member of a jury for their case. In fact, worse case, I can see a convicted felon using jury duty as an opportunity to “screw” the system that incarcerated them. Cheryl Fox
It is Teacher Appreciation Week, and as usual I waited until the last minute to put anything together for these wonderful people. I have desperately tried for years to make cute, creative, Pinterest inspired gifts for the teachers in our life, and it stresses me out every time. As of last year, I gave up. I will buy a gift card and give you some candy, and have my children write a note about why they love you so much. That is truly about all I can handle. I try to show my appreciation through-out the year, by teaching my…
Most of us have seen or heard about the horrific, single-vehicle accident that happened in Hanover a few days ago. Every person in the vehicle was either injured or killed, when the vehicle left the road and struck a tree. Investigators believe that alcohol was a factor in this accident. When I saw the pictures of the tree, I was able to immediately draw a conclusion about this accident. The amount of bark that had been stripped from the tree told me that it was a high-speed impact, with little or no braking. You may say how can you draw…
Hello and welcome back to the wonderful world of the Dogpound…I think. I added that little tag because lately I seem to be a step behind my own shadow or maybe a better description would be…more “scatter-brained” than usual. I think it started when I found a full container of ice cream in my car that had fallen out of one of those silly little plastic bags, and it had been there all night. Not sure how I did not see it because it was on the front seat floor…and thankfully it was in one of those big sealed plastic…
To the Editor: At a recent voter registration drive at a local Walmart, we had to distribute a couple of “restoration of rights” forms. Restoring the right to vote should not be a challenging issue, but we encouraged those receiving the forms to fill in their violation dates, have it notarized, and mail it to the Secretary of the Commonwealth, then wait. The basic right to participate in our American political process had been denied to so many young, and old alike – until now. Gov. Terry McAuliffe has given an opportunity to the disenfranchised to become full-time citizens. Why…
To the Editor: At 85 years old I have been a loyal supporter of the Republican Party for many years. As of now, I feel my party has joined the Democrats in supporting anti-small business (maybe not knowingly). They have backed legislation with all kinds of rules and regulations that hold back many young people from starting their own business. Generally today, new businesses are of the “retail” kind. Insurance, rules, regulations are less restrictive. This makes it easier for start-ups, but it is the kind of business that pays employees less money. A few years back, many new small…