Years ago when I had a big garden, I tried to “put up” as much as I could. It seemed that if I had a full cupboard of home canned fruit and veggies, the winter would go well. If my cupboard was meager, the winter usually meant hard times for my family. It happened often enough to warn me to be prepared.

The piriformis muscle is located deep in the buttock. It reaches from the pelvis (sacrum) to the upper part of the thigh-bone (femur).

There are times when this muscle goes into spasm. The cause is often related to the spine or sacroiliac joints, or from overuse. If the muscle is in spasm it can cause neurological symptoms such as pain, numbness, pins and needles, tingling and weakness due to compression of the sciatic nerve. This is called piriformis syndrome.

The results are in and the winners are the citizens of Union County. Why? This election was decided on the issues; the important issues facing all of Union County.

Did you vote on August 2nd in the Primary Election? I did. They say all politics is local. I agree and the Primary Election is where you can make some of the greatest differences. My dad was a stanch Democrat. I remember as a child listening to FDR giving his Fireside Chats. My dad always voted. He said he didn't have the right to complain if he didn't vote. Boy, oh boy, could he complain. He instilled the Democratic Party's ideals in me that remain today.

Tip Sams had twins, an’ a razorback sow, Two dogs an’ a mule an’ a one-room house, An,’ a wrinkled little woman, as mute as a mouse.

TIP raised tobacco, trafficked in skins, Had seven sons in addition to the twins, And every mother’s son, an’ little Jimmy Jude Smoked a pipe all day, an’ the twins both chewed.

BUT TIP kept a-diggin,’ never lost heart The dogs chased rabbits, an’ caught a right smart, The mule an’ the filly both pulled a plow, And they all lived off the milk from the old roan cow.

Have you ever loaned someone a few dollars and not expected it back? Most of us have at one time or another. This incident took place at a fast food restaurant on Broadway in Fountain City.

A fast food place is ideal for someone to start out or start over. It is at or near the bottom of the work ladder. If you have never worked before, and your education is minimal, you might begin your work history here. If you are retired and have fallen on hard times, they will hire you, too. If you are fresh out of prison or re-hab and especially if you're a woman, this is it.

Hello, everyone. Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Oak Grove. I am a two-room school building in the Sharps Chapel area of Union County. Let me tell you a little about myself.

If you were to search for records on me, about the oldest you would find are from the registers kept by teachers. These registers were and continue to be legal documents. Still in 2018, registers are often used to verify a birthdate for a former student who has no birth certificate and needs proof of birth for social security, disability, and other benefits.

The way a turtle is put together is pretty much the reverse of ours. I mean look at it: we have soft body parts protecting a hard-inner skeleton. Turtles have a hard-outer skeleton protecting inner soft body parts. The most common turtle you'll run into around here (and one you probably aggravated when you were a kid) is the eastern box turtle (Terrapene carolina).

One advantage to living out in the country: chasing bugs. When I was a girl, I was fascinated by anything that flew. That’s why I spent most of my childhood running across my papaw’s fields in pursuit of butterflies or lightning bugs.

My husband liked sliced tomatoes. When it came his time to serve in World War II, tomatoes were out of season. In those days if something was out of season, it was unavailable to most folks; not like today. Fresh fruit and vegetables are flown in from exotic places such as South America and India. Restaurants, back then, did serve what were called hot house tomatoes. They were grown in greenhouses. Such tomatoes were a pretty red, but flavorless.