Feature Columnists

My alarm clock has a radio that I occasionally listen to. I do not listen to the alarm clock radio because either of where I live or where the radio is placed in my home I have difficulty tuning in the frequency that I want to listen to. When I do use the radio, I move the dial slowly to pick up...

On the stems of this buttonbush you can see what looks like powdery grey scales. These are tiny insects called grey aphids. They are native to Europe, but have made there way into America where they are often called Cabbage Aphids. They can be destructive to a fall garden, especially colonizing on...

As I write this column, I see that it is raining outside. The rain in early fall reminds me that now is the best time of the year for lawn owners to reseed their cool season lawns. Cool season lawns are made of bluegrasses, fescues, and ryes, or a combination of these. Let me explain...

"I don't care what other people think. It's my life. I'll do as I please." We hear these words often and, perhaps, we have uttered them, ourselves. What you do in life determines the regard others have of you. It isn't that you want to be a people pleaser, but there are certain ways of acting and...

The cases of abuse and efforts to hide this abuse within the Church have left its members hurting, left many of its members wondering what to do. This is a Church I love. I love it because it encompasses everyone, because it is a Church of deep mystery, a Church of love. ...

It's likely most people who read this column have never heard of the Johnson Amendment. I hadn't until a couple of weeks ago. Now, however, the president of the United States and a candidate for U.S. Senate in Missouri are calling for its repeal. What? Wait a minute! Tell me what it is first!...

This little moth is only about an inch and a half across its wings. It is a common native summertime moth in much of North America. Its name is Chickweed Geometer. Larvae worms of the chickweed geometer feed mostly on chickweed, short smartweed and clover. Pink lines across this moth's yellow wings...

Friendship is one of those things of life that you do not appreciate until you no longer have it. In the Bible, the third letter of John is an expression of deep fondness from one friend to another. John the Apostle, one who was with Jesus during his ministry, to another named Gaius. There is much...

Because this tiny frog spends its adult life on the ground and away from water, it is called a toad. It stays in or on moist soil, often in dense vegetation or rotting wet wood. This frog goes by the name Eastern Narrow-mouth Toad. It gets around on the ground much like a small toad, although it...

What does the word indomitable mean? I was driven to look the definition up as I watched a man, Cal, face one difficulty after another. I looked for a word that would describe the awesome spirit I saw displayed within him. I found the meaning of the word indomitable to mean: to never give up or...

As a real estate agent, I'm privileged to see a lot of homes -- and there are some amazing properties in this region. As president of Cape Area Habitat for Humanity, we deal in new construction, so the problem I'm about to mention generally does not exist for our Habitat homeowners...

The past few weeks have been hectic. My life has seemed like one perpetual to-do list, and there are always more items "to do." At times it has felt like I'm in survival mode, with my one goal to plow through the task at hand so I can make it through to the next one. Ideally, I'd like to feel that...

I walked by my tractor on July 29 and was surprised to see a bird fly out of it. I looked for a nest, and easily found it. It was made of dead weed stems, dead grass, small dead leaves and living moss. The nest held four small speckled eggs. Today (Aug. 19) I returned to the tractor and checked on...

Loving people who are like you is easy. In the Bible, Jesus says it does you no good only to love those who love you. To only do good to those you do good to you. Only give to others what is guaranteed to be returned. Loving others, particularly those who are not like you, is risky. The Bible...

The raccoon is one of our easiest native animals to recognize. He is distinguished in his black face-mask and ringed tail. In summertime he becomes a pest in several ways. He is much like a little black bear seeking out trash cans to turn over and investigate for a free lunch. ...

I normally choose one timely topic of timely interest to write about in this column. This is somewhat of an unusual year, weather-wise. Therefore I find there are about five different timely topics of interest. So here goes. n First I want to mention bagworms. ...

Whoever said life was boring, humdrum, not worth living, or to just be endured? Many hold this view. When someone says, "Isn't this a beautiful day?" they answer, "What's good about it?" It's true that some endure more hardships than others, enjoy fewer material possessions and experience more...

In Exodus 16, the Israelites are complaining again. They are in the desert, freshly out of slavery in Egypt, and telling God they wish he would have let them die back in Egypt. They would rather have went out as someone else's possession with enough to eat than as free men and women who are...

It was an unusual thing for a first-century C.E. Jewish man not to own land nor to have any descendants. Success in life in early Palestine was measured largely by those two mileposts. When it comes to Jesus of Nazareth, however, this is apparently the case. Landless, childless, and largely...

The butterfly seen here is common and native to North America. It is called the spicebush swallowtail butterfly. It gets its name from a native plant called the spice bush. The spice bush is the predominant host plant of the spicebush butterfly caterpillar...

Sometimes I wonder, what would the social media feed of the great men and women of history be like? What type of photos would Theodore Roosevelt publish? Would Hemingway dominate Twitter? What would Jesus do on Instagram? Would Susan B. Anthony Snapchat?...

The other day at Mass, the priest used a word that struck me: reality. He encouraged us to work towards the reality of God here on earth. I am so often used to encountering a world that says God is not reality and living in contrast to this that I forget: the God who I live for, and all of his...

An interesting way to read the Bible is to pay attention to recurring numbers in its pages. Numerology devotees will point to the numbers three (Trinity), four (Four horsemen of the apocalypse in Revelations chapter 6), seven (Seven seals of Revelation), 12 (12 tribes of Israel; 12 apostles), and...

Do you think they will never do it again? "This is the last time," you say. "I'll give him/her another chance." Then do you go on your way truly believing the deed, unseemly words, or whatever shouldn't have been, was an accident. If you have ever been a parent or have been in charge of other...

There are two sides to planning. The positive side of planning takes an idea, fleshes it out and acts on it. Like a conductor unites individual instruments into one orchestra, so you bring all the pieces of your idea together and act on them. The negative side of planning though begins similarly....

This photo shows a little "Birdhouse Gourd" growing with the flower still attached. Birdhouse gourds come in many shapes and are more accurately called Calabash gourds. The vine can grow 30 feet long or more and produce several gourds if it is watered regularly. The gourds should be left on the...

Anyone who walks in the Missouri woods during summer is sure to eventually walk into a spider web. More often than not, it is the spider I have photographed for you here: the web weaver. She is called the Spiny Orbweaver. Only the female Orbweaver spins a web. The much smaller male does not. There...

Over the last few months, many gardeners have brought me samples of plants that are not doing well. They want to know what to spray on the plant to make it better. In most cases the samples are leaves that have a lot of brown on them and in most cases the transition between brown and green on the...

There is always something to do; a favor that must be done. A deadline that cannot be missed. A call, email, or text that must be made. Work easily slips into our schedule filling every gap. Without work we cannot enjoy rest, but without rest, all we are is enslaved to work...

Happy birthday to Mildred Legrand, Charlotte Smith, Sue Crump Masters, Germaine Cannon, Marie Williams, Bobby Burks, Jeremy Chapman, Chris Robinson, Mark Robinson, Curtis Flood, Claudia Marion, Leonard Kluesner, David Lape III, Gary Kluesner, Gilbert Burkhart, Eric Cobb, Jack Coomer, Donna Fisher,...

The box turtle is a slow-moving creature. It spends more time crossing a road than any other animal its size. That means the box turtle is in greater danger of being run over than most others. Box turtles tend to be more active during summer and especially ahead of rain. Many people consider seeing...

I took this photo between rain showers the afternoon of June 24. Shown is a small land snail shell and a baby American toad. The snail shell was about 3/8 of an inch across. It was lying on the ground near the little toad. I sat it beside the toad to give an idea of how small the toad is...

The book of Jeremiah, found in the Old Testament, speaks to people who are in a hopeless situation. Their cities destroyed. Many people have been carried off by the invading army only to find themselves living in a place they didn't like, surrounded by strange smells, odd foods, and people who were...

Happy birthday to H.B. Rice, Dan Burger, Betsy Rice, Sarah McDonald, Kathy Leggett, Randy Payne, Judy Scott, Tomye Campbell, Darlene Duff, Harley Wicker, Courtney Walter, Chelsey Walter, Ashley Davis, Mark McGuire, Jack Simpson, Sandy Patterson, Ruby Dixon, David Griffin, Sarah Benton, Jeanette...

You can't really see the Junk Bug as it crawls around. You see what looks like a little collection of trash that moves about. I saw a Junk Bug for the first time as a small boy and was fascinated by it. I remember calling it a haystack bug because it looked like a little walking haystack...