Question: How do you determine if your tires are unsafe for winter driving? Answer: Tire talk is important any time of the year, but as winter approaches it is important to double your efforts when maintaining your tires. Over the years, I have investigated numerous crashes where worn ...

My brother and I had a talk. To say we don’t see the world eye to eye would be a truthful statement, but we are still brothers. That’s easy to say but sometimes hard to live. Why is that? Why do we do it to ourselves? Is it because we live differently? Yes, to a degree but we still ...

2020 has proven to be a challenging year in many ways, not the least of which has been a less than hospitable financial environment. Events ranging from a significant bear market in stocks earlier in the year to a dramatic increase in job layoffs have put many Americans in difficult financial ...

As we travel the highways and byways of our great nation, we see constant reminders that it’s the grilling season. I don’t mean the kind of grilling that includes glowing charcoal and sizzling meat and secret blends of herbs and spices. We’re talking about the type of grilling that ...

Imagine if you are a farmer or business person that has something to sell — corn or some sort of mass-made trinkets. You want to have a quality product to sell so you can make the most money from what you have produced. In recycling, we are all supplying something to the recycling markets ...

Those days when overcast conditions settle in well before dawn provide a unique time to be outdoors, particularly during deer season. The lack of the pinks and oranges streaking overhead from the eastern horizon and lighting up the sky early makes the anticipation of first legal light even more ...

November is National Recycling Month and with the generous support of this newspaper, I will writing about recycling and trash disposal for the next four weeks. While we spend a lot of time talking about how to recycle, we don’t often spend time talking about why we recycle or for that matter ...

I don’t want to sound like a mardy guy but do you feel it? Every where I go and to everyone with whom I speak, the feeling is always present. It’s the feeling of: Mounting tension: hopefully by the time you read this the national election has been settled in a peaceful manner and ...

Dear Annie: How much can a woman take before she finally gets enough guts to leave? My husband and I are older (60) parents to 19-year-old twins. Things were OK for the first 15 years we were married. Then he got cancer, which was tough. He went through chemo and is now in remission. But two ...

During troubled times such as these, people yearn for someone they can depend upon, somebody who will be there for them through thick and thin yet won’t eat all of the Wheat Thins. Certainly a spouse or a significant other can fulfill this role. But the record numbers of pet adoptions that ...

Don your blaze orange, secure your tag, check your scope one more time and stuff a package of handwarmers in your vest pocket because the big day is just about here. Firearms deer season starts this weekend and you don’t want to miss out on the excitement that comes with “the grandaddy of ...

Question: I know that there was recently a law passed restricting cell phone use while driving and it was about time. I commute approximately 100 miles per day and have been noticing the number of drivers with a dog on their lap is getting out of control. I have recently been in 3 close calls ...

Library patron The Alan Alda book I’ve just read is “Never Have Your Dog Stuffed and Other Things I’ve Learned,” c 2005. That’s the title of Chapter 3 too, so I will start by telling you about this chapter. When Alan is 7 years old, he has polio, and his parents, who are actors in ...

“Live long and prosper” is more than a Vulcan salute. It’s an aspiration for most of our planet’s inhabitants, although it’s a goal that only a few attain. My mother, Anna, recently celebrated her 90th birthday. Mom has been in assisted living for some years due to health issues, ...

I often wonder what it’s like, to smell a million times more than what is humanly possible. When my lab lifts his nose to the northwest gusts and cocks his head ever so slightly before upping his pace into the breezes, I try to box the experience into something my limited senses can ...

It’s Halloween time! Enjoy it! It seems I say something like this about each of our four seasons: “This is my favorite time of the year.” We forget how special each season is to us and how lucky we are to have them. I’ve lived where there’s hot and humid summer 11 months of the ...

Tis the season when it’s common to see zombies and goblins roaming the streets, doing their best to throw a scare into the populace. But enough about the upcoming election. Halloween is also just around the corner, an evening when children celebrate an upcoming religious holiday by coercing ...

Some hunting seasons bring snow, cold, winds and inhospitable conditions which we as hunters prepare for in order to pursue an oft-anticipated portion of our year, and in the end find success in the field through our efforts. These efforts may start way back in spring or summer, getting into ...

It had been a while since I’d ridden in a mobile barn. OK, so it wasn’t exactly a barn. But a modern grain combine is approximately the size of a barn. And it’s much comfier than an average livestock shed. My cousin’s combine was rumbling through the field of corn across the road ...

Beyond the usual celebration of dog and bird and of field boots and swinging shotguns, this year’s pheasant opener was highlighted by another frequent autumn occurrence in the upper Midwest: gusty conditions. In the gales that topped 40 miles per hour on one stretch of my first weekend walks, ...