Fall officially arrived last week. It was sunny and 82 degrees on September 23. Does that sound like fall y’all? Regardless of my question it will be cooler soon and early to mid-fall is the best time for planting trees, shrubs, and bulbs and dividing perennials. The soil is still warm and the moisture from rainfall is typically adequate enough for newly planted or divided plants to have time to develop a good root system before winter dormancy. Now, before we grab the shovel, trowel, or spade may I remind you that the basics of good gardening do not change.…
Browsing: Commentary
Multi-family dwellings are just as the words say, dwellings or buildings where multiple families live. The most common are apartment buildings. Most of us have lived in this setting, at one point in our lives, with only a wall or floor separating us from our neighbors. It is the close proximity of apartment living, where the actions and habits of our neighbor affect our lives, either directly or indirectly. My purpose here is to address fires or incidents that could cause you to be displaced. I have always said that when you live in a multi-family setting, you are not…
To the Editor: Now that school is back in session full swing, and everyone is busy trying to get settled into a routine. We want to take some time from the hustle and bustle to give thanks. We are a group called Guardians, who volunteer in a lot of the struggling communities in and around Chester. We help those who don’t have the resources to help themselves. This summer we were blessed to participate in a pilot feeding program for the children in Ettrick as well as the communities of Bermuda Estates, Par 3, Harbour East, and the Chester Masonettes.…
To the Editor: While government agencies seek new ways to boost the economy and create jobs, one industry is just waiting for government support in order to invest billions of private dollars into the economy. I’m talking about the energy industry – the one that has led the way in job creation and investment since the recent Great Recession. America’s energy companies are waiting on pipeline approvals so they can more safely carry oil and natural gas to processing centers. Building those pipelines will create tens of thousands of jobs. Oil companies are waiting for the federal government to lift…
Hello and welcome back to the wonderful but sick world of the Dogpound. Yeah…I got one of those annual head colds…that starts out slow. The roof of my mouth gets tender…then it spreads to my throat…then the nasal drip starts which irritates the throat and starts the coughing. Over the past week I have been able to get most of it calmed down; gargling with salt water [yuck! But effective!)…taking Dayquil and Mucenix. But now I am left with this little bit of a “cat fur-ball” itch that defies the ability to cough it out or drug it under control.…
We at the Village News have decided that we will not continue to cover Donald Trump’s run for president. Not that we do not like him, but we, like other media outlets, have been taken in by the day after day shenanigans of this guy. Sometimes we work so hard to get his latest speech in the paper that blood runs out of our eyes, we dream about building a 1,954-mile-long wall along the border with Mexico. I am a former builder, could I get that contract? We dream about refugees fleeing Syria only to be stuck in refugee camps.…
I made it through the first week of school. My darling girl bounced happily onto the bus that first day of kindergarten and never looked back. I, of course, was having an internal war that rivaled the most bloody and violent thing you have ever seen. The night before the first day of school I was an anxious, blubbery mess. I just knew that my sweet girl was going to cry getting on the bus the first day of school (I give her no credit at all). I tossed and turned and had terrible nightmares that she would be riding…
Three fires, two local and one in Atlanta, caused seven people to have to be rescued and the fatality of another. All three of these fires appear to have had the same cause, unattended cooking, though the fire in Atlanta is still under investigation, but it was stated to have started in the kitchen. Unattended cooking continues to be the leading cause of residential fires in America. This is a subject that I have written about many times, but the fires from this cause continue to occur. What are some of the things that lead to fires caused by unattended…
Hello and welcome to the wonderful world of the Dogpound. Right now I am dogged tired. I have been cleaning house all week. When I mean cleaning, I have been cleaning the outside of the house. Once a year I give the siding a good cleaning to get the dirt, bugs, bird droppings, and mildew off. I am sure everyone has seen those commercials where you just spray some chemicals on, and like magic, you have bright, clean, good-as-new siding. I have never had that experience. I have a wrap -around porch, from the living room entrance way around to…
Other than the movie, where did the term “pay it forward” come from? The concept is old, but the familiar phrase was coined by Lily Hardy Hammond in her 1916 book in the “Garden of Delight.” Lily said “you don’t pay love back, you pay it forward.” The term has been around since the great years of Athens, in 317 B.C. Other scholars have used the expression throughout history. Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “In the order of nature we cannot render benefits to those from whom we receive them, or only seldom but the benefit we receive must be rendered…