I am going to take a break from my series “From the Engine to the Truck” and address an issue that will hurt or kill some hunters this season. I do not know the statistics in Virginia or across the country, but I know my personal experience with a tree stand during a black powder season, as well as some incidents involving others and tree stands. Many hunters have taken to the woods with the start of bow season. November will mark the beginning of black powder season, leading to the regular gun season. Some hunters will choose to keep…
Browsing: Commentary
Hello and welcome back to the wonderful world of the Dogpound. Now I have nothing against change, change can be good, but at the same time, while you are adjusting to that change it can be a real pain. For example: when I go shopping at my local grocery store, I know where every item is and I can walk the store from right to left and perfectly get everything I need without any fuss or muss. Now our grocery store has decided to change everything around. The spring water for my fish used to be on the first aisle…
I was 12-years-old when I rode a train for the first time – Cincinnati to Morgantown, West Virginia. Not only was it my first but I was alone. Although I do not remember how long it took, if I ate railroad food or if the train was clicking and clacking. All I remember was that I had the time of my life. I believe my mother must have told the conductor to keep an eye on me. There are no conductors on freight trains nowadays, but they still roam the isles of passenger trains today. Old movies make train travel…
As I lounge on my couch, in my comfy clothes, legs stretched out on my husband’s lap; I am weary while watching the news. I am exhausted, I am heartbroken, I am disgusted, I am sickened, I am tired of this world that we live in, what in the world has happened to humankind? We are, without a doubt, on a dangerous path. We seem to be numb, we are gunning each other down in mass shootings, and we do not even blink an eye, the ocean is devouring our coasts with each passing storm, we keep denying climate change.…
To the Editor: The August editorial titled Great Idea, Poor Execution and subsequent Comments are relevant to the important upcoming Board of Supervisors and Planning Department meeting October 20 at 6 p.m. about the Comprehensive Plan – Bikeways and Trails. The plan has been studied and reworked several times over too many years. Now is the time for Chesterfield County, with the leadership of the Board of Supervisors, to approve the plan and execute it in the coming years to promote a healthy and vibrant community that attracts millennials and business. Is the Comprehensive Plan perfect? No. Will there be…
To the Editor: The “center” (turning lane) of Route 10/West Hundred Road has been narrowed quite a bit, as well as the other four traffic lanes to make room for two bicycles lanes. To make room for bicycles, they should have bought up more right-of-way. Driving west, I make a left turn on to Petersburg Street. I can just barely get my car into this turning lane. With real heavy traffic, cars and trucks are passing me in both west and east lanes, barely missing me by inches. There I sit, in “dead water” with “white knuckles,” waiting to be…
My time as a firefighter was truly a journey from start to finish. I became a volunteer firefighter in 1976, as a member of Fire Station No.1 in Chester. Many things would happen over the next nine years, as I began to learn about a calling on my life. My volunteer days in Chester were an introduction to working on an engine company. While in the Coast Guard, I served as a firefighter, on an engine, at Coast Guard Station Cape May. I then joined two volunteer stations in North Carolina – Hatteras and Buxton. This period simply strengthened my…
Hello and welcome back to the wonderful world of the Dogpound. Yes, it is that time of the year again when we check the obituaries and if we do not see our name, then that is the green light to celebrate. Of course at my age, which will go without saying, celebrating is a bit milder than my younger years. My plan right now is go out to lunch with a friend of mine who has the same birthday as I do, and attend a football game. That’s about all the excitement I can handle these days. Speaking of age,…
Bill said to his neighbor, “Did you hear Jonsey’s place, down the street, was broken into?” “Yeah, I read it in the police blotter, but they never got in, they only cut a screen,” his neighbor, Clyde, said. Bill, who lives on the cal-de-sac, bought the latest alarm system, complete with motion detectors inside and out. It included a sign that read “Protected by Electronic Alarm System” stuck in the landscaping at the entrance to his home. His system also included five security cameras that monitored everything on the outside of his home even the squirrels and Bill’s cat that…
The FDA recently strengthened the warning on a group of the most commonly used prescription and over-the-counter medications. These drugs, known as nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, or NSAIDs, include popular painkillers like ibuprofen and naproxen. NSAIDs have carried warnings for years about potential risks of heart attacks and strokes. The new warning comes in light of new safety information on both over-the-counter and prescription forms of the medications and the FDA determined that the risks are greater than originally believed. The risk applies to even short-term use of these medications and it’s true for people with or without heart disease. The…