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Adults get in way educating youth

You might remember when the situation at Beaty was so bad that it was covered on the front page of this paper. One of the teachers appeared before the school board to report a chaotic environment — bordering on lawlessness. The problem? Lack of a consistent principal. At that point, Beaty had had two, three or was it four principals that school year. Teachers and students needed support. Halfway through the next school year, a good leader applied and was appointed. You might never have thought of this, but leaders have two kinds of power. One is the power that comes from ...

Beneath our Norway maple, vandals and thieves

Beneath our Norway maple – felons, vandals and thieves It’s garden season. All the trees, bushes and pretty flowers in my backyard look so innocent. But I have learned – the hard way – that they are out to get me. They are a well-organized crime family, with covert agents working behind the scenes. I’m out there constantly, hoping to survive the daily threat. Let’s start with the killer weeds. They hide under the flowers until they are big enough to break through on their own. I have to bend over, like an open safety pin, to tug, twist, and yank at their stubborn ...

View from Hickory Heights: A way to beat heat

Years ago, I learned how to do Swedish weaving from my grandmother and grandfather. We called it huck towel weaving. I had no idea it was an old Swedish craft. I am not sure how my grandmother got involved doing it, but she did. On a day that my grandfather did not have to work we went to Forestville to a small store that sold huck material. They had it in all colors at the time. I remember making towels of red and green with a Christmas theme. I still use them for Christmas – more than fifty years later! I also had some light green, some yellow, and white. I also made some ...

Rounding Third: Surviving Mother Nature’s hot temper

It was 92 stifling degrees when I arrived home from lunch yesterday. Humidity was in the 80% range. As predicted. I hate this hot stuff. Fuggedaboudit. I know there are people who thrive in the heat. I’m happy for them, but I will never be one of them. Ever. I should have been born in Scotland – northern Scotland. My intolerance for heat must be hereditary. I would not have made a good Bedouin camel driver or Amazon rain forest guide. When my Scottish ancestors emigrated to North America, they didn’t settle in Charleston or Richmond – not even Boston. They landed in Canada, ...

Nation is on verge of a new serfdom

“Nearly the whole of the professional, intellectual, and government class has betrayed the cause of universal human liberty in our times.” — Jeffrey Tucker. Our government forces taxpayers to subsidize those who chose not to work, lavishes subsidies on Wall Street billionaires for counter-productive Net-Zero Green Energy projects, and subsidizes illegal aliens and the Non-Governmental Organizations that brought them here. USAID funded the CIA overthrow of the legitimate government of Ukraine 2014, setting off the current Russia/Ukraine conflict which has cost a million lives so ...

View from Hickory Heights: A special visitor

About a week ago I was sitting on my porch when I saw something move out of the corner of my eye. Since I have many chipmunks, I thought it was probably one of those. Then I saw more movement. I got up to have a look. There was a fawn in my flower bed. I went inside to get my phone to take a picture. Its coat was a beautiful shade of tan and it was filled with spots. By the time I got back the little thing was on its feet. I captured a good photo of him. I am calling it a him, but I have no idea what its sex is. It was very small. It was about a foot in length and about 15 inches ...