By Nancy Whitaker

IS IT IN THE WATER?

How many products do you see on the market designed to help YOU look, feel, act and stay young?

I do believe that men as well as women are continuously looking for that magic tonic, pill, drink or powder which will reverse the aging process.

There are face creams to erase wrinkles, serums to make lips fuller and colored contacts to make eyes a different color.

There are gel nails, spray tans, false eyelashes, toupees, wigs, extensions to make our hair longer, lifts for shoes and surgery on selected places which could make a woman (or a man) look bigger or smaller.

By Kylee Baumle

Every year I make the same vow – no more plant heroics. If a plant isn’t performing well, it’s outta here. With perennials alone, there are too many wonderful things available so there’s really no room or reason for keeping stragglers and prima donnas. One of the nurseries I occasionally order plants from has over 1,000 perennials suitable for our zone (5b/6a) alone – more than enough from which to choose!

Yet there they are – surviving, not thriving – and still green. If they still have green on them, they’ll be fine, right? If the sun shines in just the right way, the rain falls at the perfect time, and I remember to fertilize when they need it, they’ll make a turnaround and eventually live up to the expectations I had when I planted them.

By Nancy Whitaker

PAMPERED OR SPOILED?

Our dog, Baylee, is a spoiled little Shih Tzu. At age seven, he is still frisky and has became an important part of our family. Born with only one testicle, cross-eyed and with a double set of teeth, we fell in love with him at first sight.

At the time we got Baylee, we also had an old wiener dog named Brownie. Baylee and Brownie became best friends until Brownie hit age 19, became ill and left this earth for “Doggie Heaven.”

Since then, Baylee gets all of our attention and trust me, he knows it. He turns his nose up at his dog food almost daily and knows we may just share our dinner with him if he doesn’t eat his own.

By Bill Sherry

There is one season of the year that really warms my heart and makes me feel good all over (or at least as good as can be expected at my age); that season is spring. I have experienced many spring seasons and in my opinion this has been one of the coldest, most miserable springs I have ever experienced! But, I know that my own advice would be, “Just wait a month or two and you will be complaining about the hot weather as we enter the summer months.”

By Nancy Whitaker

Sitting on the board

I was amazed to find out how many groups and organizations there are in Paulding County and how many are ran by a group of board members. In fact, there is a list of organizations in a public online report, which includes schools, churches, hospitals, mental health facilities, senior centers, health departments, nonprofit groups and many more entities where decisions are made by a board.

Sometimes a board of directors will have as many as 12 members or as few as three. Some board members are elected and get paid but the majority give of themselves and are volunteers.

If you are sitting on any type of a board, you must take the position very seriously and be familiar with group policies.

Some of the fondest memories from childhood are centered around my father after he purchased an Argus C-3 35mm camera.

To make things even better, I was given a Brownie Starflash camera for my birthday that year. In my estimation, we made the perfect team of capturing the blended colors of nature on film.

Dad always liked matching colors in various natural settings. We took a day trip to Brown County to capture the circus-like beauty of nature’s quilt spread over the southern Indiana hillsides.

By Kylee Baumle

As Easter nears, I’m reminded of its parallels in nature. It’s not a far stretch to try and apply the miracle of Easter to the natural world around us. After all, if you believe the way I do, God has His hand in all of it. Over the years, believers have assigned religious legends to plants and several have persisted to this day.

I’m not a psychologist or a philosopher, so I won’t presume to know why human beings do this, but it’s a common thread in nearly all civilizations. Let’s look at some of them, as they relate to the Christian celebration of Easter.

When you think of Easter plants, what comes to mind? Easter lilies are likely to be the first thing you think of, but this flower is one of the newer traditions, compared to most. Its white color signifies the purity of God and the trumpet shape is said to represent the proclamation of Christ’s resurrection.

ONE A PENNY TWO A PENNY

One of the big treats at Easter time is all the different kinds of Easter candy. Some of them have been around for years and we never grow tired of them.

When my own kids were growing up, we used to wait until they were asleep and make up their Easter baskets and hide them. Those were the days.

By Jim Langham

My first garden was located in the remains of what had been a small chicken yard. It was the last week of March when I was a young child and my grandmother, who lived with us, asked if I would like for her to help me put out a garden.

With the place of high esteem that gardening held in our family, I was delighted; it was a real self-esteem builder. I could hardly wait to tell neighbors in our little hamlet where drawing well water from a pump, sharing daily with neighbors and putting out a family garden was a way of life.

It was after school on a balmy afternoon. Grandma had it all set, the process and the planting. I spaded a plot in soil that housed rich manure from having housed chickens, then broke the clods down and then, with grandma’s instruction, worked up the soil until it was fine enough to plant.

By Nancy Whitaker

ME AND JACK SPRATT

It seems like since I am older, it takes me forever to go grocery shopping. I think I am just going to stop for a few items and it shouldn’t take that much time. Wrong!

Now, since I am older, it takes me quite a while to grocery shop, as I spend more time reading labels. My husband has to watch salt and sugar intake. We both have to watch fats as well as carbs and proteins.

If I read a label on something it may be low in sugar and fat, but high in sodium. If I find a food low in sodium, nine chances out of ten, it is high in carbohydrates. It seems as if our diet and menu has evolved into chicken, turkey and fish.