Tri-City Ledger -

With this Covid 19 pandemic just about everything has changed. One thing that hasn't changed that much thanks to the internet is doing family research. I've been able to continue my research at about the same as before the pandemic came about due to...

Remembering the days of playing with June Bugs tied on a string makes me know for sure we Smiths were born with gaps. So, at the ending days of July the figs were ripening full tilt. Mama was making fig preserves full tilt. We were eating figs full...

Trees are a coveted asset in the yard—that is until the trees present a hazard. Recognizing these potential tree hazards in the early stages could save a tree, as well as your wallet. Identifying Potential Tree Hazards Leans One of the first major...

Today I write a personal column about the year I got a baby brother for Independence Day. On July 4, 1953 we headed for Maw's house. We, my family, lived in McDavid, Florida. Maw lived on a farm north of Evergreen. Her address was on a route from...

Some people just click with me the moment I first meet them and if they want to be friends they must be real. Let me see who they are right off. I have had a handful of friends in my 79 years that made the cut, I mean really stayed in my heart. Real...

The Alabama Cooperative Extension System Cotton Scouting School is iconic. For 60 years, Extension scientists taught the Scouting School in person and hands-on. But the 61st Cotton Scouting School is going digital—pushed to an online version...

A few weeks ago my sister was sitting at home and getting a bit stir crazy as we all get in the age of covid-19, so she decided to take her household on a little ride along the state line. Part of her ride was around the old sawmill area of Century....

I sat down to write something wise and profound, but then decided to write something much needed now in these unsettled times. I awoke this morning to the memory of our old wood burning stove having a heavy oven door that had to be propped with a...

Snakes are found just about anywhere. Inevitably, humans and snakes will cross paths. Like everything in nature, snakes play an important role in their environments. While many people may have a fear or dislike the slithering creatures, there are...

One of the more difficult things for assertive people to do is to take a “pause for the cause.” There are times when we actually become victims of our circumstances. Events seem to rush us, press us, move us along at a pace that is injurious to...

So today I saw a post of Texans washing their prize longhorn in the local car wash. Pros and cons of comments set me to remembering my childhood and how Mama & Daddy saved time and energy by doing things the easiest way possible while letting us...

Fresh from the garden vegetables make any meal better. While many fresh garden vegetables are available this time of year, there is a way to have the same fresh selections all year long. With a few simple steps, people can freeze and store almost...

I met Alexander Hart in the year 2000. I was part of a volunteer program for prisons. At the time Alexander was in his 46th year in a maximum security prison. He was convicted at age 20 to life without parole. His crime? He was an accessory to murder...

One of the important aspects of the early history of Conecuh County was the hostilities between the settlers and the Creeks. This was a part of the larger Creek War in which some factions of the Creek nation, aided by the British and the Spanish,...

As time takes us into the future, I have been thinking about how we are destroying our future in persuit of perfection I am wondering what effects we are having on the ground water. Let me explain, hopefully some smarter than myself will have a...

Cogongrass is one of the most significant non-native invasive plants in Alabama. Not only does it invade a wide variety of habitats, but it also disrupts ecosystem function, particularly through fire regimes and fire intensity. Thrives On Fire...

This year's hurricane season appears to be developing into an active one. Now, only three days from the official beginning of hurricane season (June 1), three storms have already been named. Two named storms developed before June 1 while a third...

Emil lived in a small village in Southern France. He was employed as a stone cutter, toiling daily at the task of reducing huge boulders to brick-size stones. Steadily he would cut and chipped with a wooden mallet at the mountain of boulders,...

Most of this story about dog days is from a few years ago, but with us at the beginning of the meteorological summer that runs from June 1 until August 31 unlike the astronomical summer that runs from June 20 until September 22, 2020. I thought that...

Just now I ate a tomato sandwich for breakfast. I like my WHITE bread so fresh it limps. I LOVE Dukes mayonnaise. I was converted from Kraft by a new recent friend Sean Dietrich. He made it so tempting I went looking, found it and now I'm hooked....