I hate mushrooms.

Ugh! I can taste the smallest fragment left behind on a slice of super-deluxe, double-deep-dish pizza. Every single one of my Chinese food orders ends with the phrase, “No mushrooms, please.”

I’ve tried them raw, sauteed, baked, and deep-fried stuffed with cheese. No sir, I do not like mushrooms.

At least not to eat.

I’m starting to like these foul fungi for another reason. It turns out that some of them, including the one whose splendiferous name graces the title of this article, can actually eat plastic.

Farmers have one job and one job only: feeding the world.
To choose such public service as a profession is an honorable feat in and of itself, now more so than ever. The world population is growing at a faster rate than ever. In the next 20 years, the population of the world is expected to grow by 2.2 billion people (United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs).

February is walleye time on Norris Lake—big walleye.
Many fishermen reported catching walleye last month and it will get even better in February. According to the Moon Phase Calendar, the full moon this month in Maynardville will be on Sunday, Feb. 9 at 2:33 a.m. In case you did not know, three days before and three days after the full moon are typically the best days to fish in any month.

Many of you Faithful Readers know my good friend Roger Flatford, presently the principal of Sharps Chapel Elementary School. Roger stood up with me at my wedding. He told me that if the ceremony hadn’t been at Loveland Baptist Church, and if he thought he could have gotten by with it, he would have had the then-popular song “If You’re Going Through Hell, Keep on Going” played at the rehearsal dinner.

A little tug here. A little yank there. Growing up, that was my life and it was so irritating.
I was a little tomboy who was around two southern belles—my momma and my Mamaw Girdle/Myrtle. No, they didn’t attend cotillions or wear the large fancy dresses, but they both were big believers in having impeccable manners and following the unspoken dress code of the south.
In our family, this dress code was alive and well.

“Browse” as a wildlife term is used as a noun and refers to food in the form of woody twigs and buds found on trees, shrubs and vines. Since more nutritious and palatable food is available during the growing season, browse is usually only consumed during the leaner winter months, which makes it critical in maintaining a wildlife population. Animals that utilize browse in our area include deer, elk, beaver, rabbit, mice and others.

Meet Marissa Hickman. She is a senior in the Union County High School Class of 2020. She is active in her school and community and has recently decided to turn one of her passions into a local business, pet sitting.

Marissa has a deep love for all kinds, colors, and sizes of animals. She has three chickens and eight cows in addition to her four dogs, two of whom are sister Malinois Shepherds named Mercury and Arya. She also has a Chihuahua named Toto and a mixed breed, Mack.

My heart still flutters at the memory. Christmas 1982 was special for me in many ways. For one, it was the first Christmas Tim and I experienced as a couple. Second, he gave me the most precious gift and I still have it.
Tim was so excited about his present that he couldn’t resist giving me little hints about it. Actually, he gave me a few too many. My friends and I figured out his present was some kind of jewelry. They thought it may be an engagement ring, but I knew it was way too early for that. After all, I was a senior in high school.

“Close, But No Cigar”

The expression “close but no cigar” is used to indicate that someone has fallen just short of a successful outcome and failed to secure any reward, or is just plain wrong. But where did this, and other colloquialisms originate? Let’s explore.

With today’s growing emphasis on quality care, clinical outcomes and cost effectiveness, spinal manipulation is receiving increased attention. The epidemic of prescription opioid overuse and abuse has also led to wider acknowledgment of the benefits of nondrug approaches to pain.

Spinal manipulation is a safe and effective nondrug spine pain treatment. It reduces pain (decreasing the need for medication in some cases), rapidly advances physical therapy, and requires very few passive forms of treatment, such as bed rest.