Johnny Micheel started his forestry business 20 years ago, but he really got his start in forestry long before that. Johnny’s father was a soil conservationist; when Johnny was young, his dad purchased a woodland. Since Johnny could walk, he’s been in the woods, nature’s classroom. Both Johnny and his brother Bob decided to go into related conservation fields — Johnny into … [Read more...]
Why Did the Vulture Cross the Road? Because the Chicken Didn’t Make it
I’ve never done much trick-or-treating. At Halloween, I dressed up in an old sheet with holes cut for eyes, or wore a fragile, plastic mask with elastic strings that broke quickly. I wore my costume to the school where I got candy – everybody got the same candy and traded it with others. We bobbed for apples, which gave everybody the chance to catch the latest illness going … [Read more...]
Be Sure to Keep a Fur-Lined Necktie in Your Winter Emergency Kit
When meteorologists talk too often of freezing temperatures, I break out the book Winter for Dummies. This book, which exists only in my mind, covers scary things from the good old days that were done to prepare for the bad old winters. Many of them involved cars, affirming the importance of automobiles in our lives. Jumper cables (booster cables) were put in a trunk as part … [Read more...]
Elvis Presley bought a pink Cadillac from Harold Williams
He had run a good race. His name was Dr. Harold Williams. He was a pilot, professor at Auburn University, operated a charter fishing boat (catching salmon and halibut), owned a sporting goods store, and served on the board of the American Bald Eagle Foundation in Haines, Alaska, with me. Actually, I got to serve with him. He had a PhD from the University of Colorado. Some … [Read more...]
A Clothesline is a Deluxe Tanning Bed for the Laundry
By Al Batt In a strange and distant land, in the long-ago year of 1962, a man asked Bob Dylan how he should dry his laundry. Dylan answered famously, "The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind. The answer is blowin' in the wind." Dylan turned that answer into famous song that posed a series of rhetorical questions about peace, war, freedom and laundry. There you have … [Read more...]
Peering at the Past – Being Wary of Wolves in the 1850s
By Lee Epps Part three of a series In his second day in Minnesota Territory in 1852, teenager Sam McIntire was teased, that unless his hunting marksmanship improved, the wolves in the valley might catch him off guard and make a meal of him. That may have been said in jest, but under certain circumstances, wolves were feared as evidenced by one recollection McIntire described … [Read more...]
If You Want to Find Something, Look for Something Else
By Al Batt I had decided what I was going to wear for Halloween. My costume will be a gas pump. That will throw a scare into anybody who provides profits for the petroleum industry. The truth is that I haven't gone as anything other than myself at Halloween in eons. I figure I'm frightening enough. Not having to decide on a costume left me with time to do something I'd … [Read more...]
What an Extraordinary Journey a Mustard Packet Provides
I had fixed a leaking sink. I had retrieved items from tall grocery shelves at the request of two shoppers. I had easily opened plastic produce bags to put my apples in one and tomatoes in another. How did I do those incredible things? The sink repair was due to experience and luck. Success requires good luck. I grabbed the items from the tallest shelf because of genetics. … [Read more...]
If This Isn’t Nice, I Don’t Know What Is
By Al Batt Now that I'm the youngest I'll ever be, I've become a person with ambition. I did some minor sink repair, which required me to get down on all fours. I've realized that I've reached the age where I don't kneel without a plan to get back up. Did my reaching the pinnacle of human achievement by fixing the sink impress my wife? No, but it surprised her. The small … [Read more...]
Houston County Sixth Graders Day at Winnebago Springs
Winnebago Springs welcomed 210 students for the annual Sixth Grade Environmental Day on October 15. Nestled in the hills just outside Caledonia along Winnebago Creek, the scenic venue offered students an ideal setting for hands-on environmental learning. “The best classroom and the richest classroom are roofed only by the sky.” -Margaret McMillan Janice Messner, Root River … [Read more...]