Category Archives: Opinions
As the year goes by
There are scientific explanations for why the sky turns that clear, intense blue in fall, why the leaves change color and why the air can be described as “crisp.”
You may define it, analyze it and put it under a microscope to examine all the variables that make these phenomena happen. It doesn’t matter. Let’s just consider it a seasonal miracle here once again to
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God has a wonderful plan for you
If we do not learn from our trials, then our distress has been a missed opportunity. Crisis situations are occasions to put our faith and patience to work, and may we always remember that we cannot be defeated, as God is for us and 
is constantly working on our behalf.
There are times when we will suffer trauma, discouragement, or even persecution, and no doubt it will be uncomfortable, but we must eventually get back up and dust ourselves off and get back into the
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Even the best laid plans can go awry
We haven’t had any sort of family vacation for three years until last week, when we went to the beach with my brother for four days. We left Thursday and returned Monday.
When you live on a farm with animals, it takes a lot of strategic planning just to get away. A friend was going to take care of the chihuahua, we were boarding Boomer, our boxer bulldog, and a neighbor was feeding the horses and chickens and the barn cat, Mr.
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And the beat goes on
I guess it would be fair to say that your target audience as a musician has dwindled when your most faithful fan — and harshest critic — is a black and white cat named “Scooter.”
I could blame it on the pandemic, but there are probably other factors involved.
Scooter is a little harder to please than Smokey was. Maybe Smokey is still digging me from up in Cat Heaven, but it’s hard to tell.
Scooter digs some of my stuff. I can tell he’s digging it if he just hangs out on the deck with me for a while after he finishes his supper. It’s a pretty low bar — but he’s a cat.
Anyway, right now I’m feeling a little down because of his reaction to
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Goodbye to Old Man Bradford
Old Man Bradford is dead.
I call him “Old Man,” but he was only 36. He looked like an old man, though — gnarled and pock-marked. Really, he was a monster.
Old Man Bradford never should have come into this world. He wasn’t created by the Lord. He was concocted by a man — a well-meaning scientist. Like Frankenstein’s monster, this creation didn’t turn out good.
Old Man Bradford stood in my front yard for as long as I’ve lived here,
in a quiet, wooded neighborhood in Easley. He stood there for 10 years before we bought the house.
I’m not sure how tall he was, but he was much taller than most. He measured 22 inches in diameter and boasted a girth of 67 inches. He was a big boy!
I hope you’ve guessed by now that I’m talking about my Bradford pear tree, whose kind has become the scourge of the Western hemisphere,
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Courier Letters to the Editor 10-27-21
Have a safe and happy Halloween
Dear Editor,
My, how times have changed. When I was a child, children went trick-or-treating by walking the neighborhood.
Some the parents carried in cars, and I remember
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Not the right kind of witch
National Witch Hazel Day was last week. So, who was “Witch Hazel” and why does she get a whole day devoted to her? Was she a good witch, like Glinda, the beautiful witch in the Wizard of Oz, who charmed the munchkins and 
everyone she met? Or was she like the Wicked Witch of the West, Elphaba (she even had a scary name), who frightened everyone she met?
Imagine my surprise to find out that witch hazel isn’t a witch at all. It’s
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On EMS issues
I’ve been living in Easley now for almost 27 years and I’ve never called the fire department. We’ve also never called the police department, except for non-emergency things.
I’ve only called the EMS one time, but, as it turned out, they saved my wife’s life.
I imagine the odds are probably pretty slim that I’ll ever need the fire department — although I’m certainly glad they’re there. More than likely, I’m not going to need the police for any life-and-death emergency, either, but I’m thankful for them, too.
I hope I never have to call for an ambulance again, but there’s a pretty fair chance that it could happen sometime in the next 27 years.
I’d like to feel pretty confident that if we have a medical crisis, the guys who are coming to handle it are well-rested, well-trained, happy with
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The great mystery of the fitted sheet
I don’t know if this is true or not, but it may be. My theory is that there is a giant secret society in the world whose members have been entrusted with the classified information of how to fold a fitted sheet so it looks like it did when removed from the store packaging.
It’s important that this information be kept secret so that the majority of the world’s citizens who use fitted sheets when they make their beds will feel inadequate.
Those who are in the know have a special aura. They radiate
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Pumpkins, ghosts, witches and apples
Halloween is fast approaching, and ghosts have begun to practice their materializing skills, witches are dusting off their brooms and vampires are pulling their capes out of mothballs.
Halloween is a tradition that originated with the Celtic festival of Samhain. Many Celts settled in this area of the Carolinas, where they continued the old custom of lighting bonfires to ward off ghosts. Samhain marked the end of summer, which also meant the end of the bountiful harvest season and the beginning of the cold, dark winter season. But that was more than 2,000 years ago, and Halloween has
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