Poor posture affects the whole body, but can be easily fixed with a few adjustments. The average American adult spends more than three and a half hours looking down at a smartphone every day. Looking down or slouching for long periods of time can not only cause chronic pain in the back, neck and knees, but it can lead to more serious health issues like circulation problems, heartburn and digestive issues if left unchecked. However, a new national survey finds that too few Americans are concerned with the health effects of bad posture.

I'm sure you've noticed the Union County Opry signs posted at the Maynardville city limits. I know I have, and we're not the only ones. Middlesboro resident, William Isom, who drives to Knoxville to work each weekday, noticed them also.

Country Connections by James and Ellen Perry
I first met Chubby Beeler during my freshman year 1959/1960 at Horace Maynard High School in Maynardville, Tennessee, the county seat of Union County. Chubby was a phenomenon at school as he was a very good guitar picker and had an easygoing personality, as we called it back then. He hasn’t changed over the years even after all his success as a guitar picker displaying his great talent from Union County to the Grand Ole Opry and many places in between.

This year, Plainview will celebrate 28 years as a city. The establishment of the community and city itself was a huge task tackled by dedicated community members.
John Seltzer was a mail carrier beginning in 1948 in Knoxville. Later, in 1973, he became postmaster in Maynardville and retired at age 67.

My favorite part of the chicken or turkey is the dark meat. Most people prefer the breast. I find more flavor in the drumstick and thigh. There are more than a few ingredients in this recipe, but it's worth the effort. The leg sections seem to dry out during roasting. That won't happen here. The thighs cook in a nice gravy and are a delight to eat. I like gravy on my mashed potatoes, too.

Arbor Day is approaching for our local states (Tennessee March 6, Kentucky April 3, Virginia April 24), and it’s a worthy recognition of the importance of trees in our lives. Here in the mountains they are omnipresent, with every scenic vista tree laden. Every home is full of tree stuff, from bananas to the roof trusses, and every breathe we take has some tree air in it. What follows is some quotes and a little poetry spoken by wise people on the importance of trees.

Continuing from, "From Hearth And Hoe": "A favorite story in the early days of the Camp TVA-22 related to some of the men from the North who encountered a sow and a litter of piglets. When the sow attacked them, the men killed her, caught the piglets, returned to camp, and reported that they killed a bear. The southern boys said that the Yankees did not know the difference between a sow and a bear. Malcolm Patterson, assigned to Camp TVA-22, recalled: 'The Yankee men did not know how to fell a tree.

March is the first month of spring and the fish know it.
How, you might ask, does a fish know when it is spring? Every fish has an Apple watch to tell it when it is spring! Just kidding, sort of, fish actually have something better.
They have an external que called the spring or vernal equinox. Spring is determined by the length of the day and night. The first day of spring is when the darkness of night is equal to the light of day. In other words, 12 hours of both on the same day. This annual event always occurs on March 19, 20 or 21.

I found inspiration for this week’s article in a conversation with my most capable administrative assistant. We were discussing what we had done over the weekend, and she said that she had participated in a Rainbow vacuum cleaner sales demonstration.

What did I do to deserve this? Have you ever thought that? I did a few years ago and I still remember my stinky ordeal to this day.
It started early one morning a little after 5 a.m. when my husband Tim went out the door to go to work. I was still lying in bed. Suddenly he burst through the bedroom door.
“Get up! You’re gonna have to help me get to work. My truck battery is dead!”
Lord help, he was going nuts until I threw on some clothes. No way was I riding in my pajamas.