By Pastor Bridget Sheely Racine/Wykoff/Sumner Center UMC Spring has sprung and summer is right around the corner. What a wonderful time of year! I can’t help but feel a sense of renewed life this time of year and as I drive through the countryside all the wonderful sights only confirm my senses. Newborn calves dot the landscape, flowers are waking from their winter … [Read more...]
Peering at the Past Warned by chickens, resolved by pigs
Chickens, pigs, odor and on one occasion, even a blue butterfly – were known to help Houston County humans avoid danger. When Helen VonMoos was growing up in the 1930s on South Ridge (near the boundary between Mound Prairie Township and La Crescent Township in Houston County), she, as a child, would not venture out of the house into the farmyard without first looking outside to … [Read more...]
Love finds a way
By Pastor Mark Woodward Maple Leaf Parish Churches: Spring Valley: Faith, Cherry Grove, Fountain, Preston (and Lenora) When I was ordained as a pastor, some very talented artists from my home church made a beautiful and inspiring banner. The banner depicted a crown of holly and a crown of thorns which represented the birth and crucifixion of Jesus. Red letters … [Read more...]
There was a lot of name-calling during the graduation ceremonies
Welcome students, parents, teachers and staff of High Falutin High School. I know one of you has cruelly referred to this esteemed institute of learning as the Buffoon Factory. I say, shame on you, Principal Positivity. You students started school back when all things were unprecedented. It wasn’t that many years ago when you wanted to be a superhero. Now you’re wearing a … [Read more...]
Fresh off the Farm – What happens when you feed espresso to squirrels?
What if life was a raft? What if the waterline rose with every addition? Would we keep piling things on as the water rushed over the edge? Would we invite more into the raft if it was already taking on water? How foolish would we look if our raft was sitting on the bottom of the ocean but we were still accepting “passengers”? At some point, we’d have to realize there is no … [Read more...]
Peering at the Past Unless something was done, things were getting worse
Part three of a series “The dry years, nobody thinks nothing of it then,” said Wilfred Pohlman, who along with his father William and neighbor John Goetzinger, had attempted for some time to form an organization to prevent flooding in Crooked Creek Valley in southeastern Houston County. But 1946 was not one of those dry years. “Words cannot describe the havoc that resulted … [Read more...]
A little of this, a little of that
RIDDLE. What do you get when you put two scoops of vanilla ice cream in a stemmed tulip glass and add butterscotch sauce, chocolate syrup, pecans, whipped cream and a cherry on top? A TURTLE SUNDAE! A soda jerk at a Chicago Walgreens in l922 made the first modern milkshake when he mixed vanilla ice cream into a chocolate malted milk. My mother worked as a soda jerk in … [Read more...]
Peering at the Past: It was all downhill into Crooked Creek Valley
Part two of a series It cost 25 cents to ride the train from Freeburg to Caledonia. The train would pick you up wherever you were. Rural students could take 18-cent rides to high school in Caledonia. The train provided transportation from Caledonia to Little Miami with its the well-water swimming pool and tavern. But that all ended on June 16, 1946. It was a beautiful, … [Read more...]
Does a mother sleep or just worry with her eyes closed?
By Al Batt I’d started working a summer job at a large factory. I don’t know how many people worked there. The guy who hired me said it was about half. The day I began working there, I was accompanied by a friend who’d been hired to stack boxes. I ended up with a job requiring a safety helmet, a few basic tools and an industrial shop rag. As we entered our place of … [Read more...]
Your Flying Farmer
The closest thing to flying Do you ever just want to do nothing? Can you really DO nothing? Doesn’t the word “do” negate the word, “nothing”? I have an idea for you to try. It’s a great summer activity of doing nothing and you just might like it! I’m going to call it, “the ultimate introverts hangout”! Aka, hammocking. Doing something together, by yourself. There’s … [Read more...]