I have my eyesight checked every year. My poor eyes have been through so much. I try to keep on top of their care. I have had 2 detached retinas as well as a sceral buckle on my right eye. That is a rubber band holding the eyeball in the correct shape. A visceral hemorrhage came along with one of the detached retinas on my right eye as well. There is an extra strong lens over it to help it track with the left one.

Since I’m in the woods a lot it’s reasonable to assume that I would have more ticks get on board and use me as a meal. But the past couple of winters I have pulled ticks off every month of the year, including the winter months when they are normally dormant. That’s not right people! All of my bites have been deer tick, smaller and harder to see and feel crawling around. Now that your family is outside more with the warming weather, best start body checking yourself and the kids. Since it’s good to know your enemy, here is a rundown on the tick lifestyle.

Tennessee Department of Agriculture Division of Forestry and the UT Extension Union County office hosted an apple grafting class in Chuck Swan State Forest. This collaborative event gave participants a hands-on opportunity to learn how to graft apple tree varieties onto different rootstocks. Class attendees took home at least 3 new apple tree varieties.

The Union County Lions Club annual concert on May 18, this year featuring The Poet Voices and The Browders, has had a major change. Through an unforeseeable and unexpected circumstance, the Browders will be unavailable for this concert – that’s the Bad News! The Good News is that the Poet Voices are still onboard to perform for you AND the ticket prices have changed dramatically!

“Chiropractic care and physical therapy are among the best options we have for treating low back pain, and can help reduce reliance on treating pain with opioids and other pain medications,” said Eric J. Roseen, DC, PHD, Director of the Program for Integrative Medicine and Health Disparities at Boston Medical Center. “Guidelines released during the study period went from recommending these approaches as second line treatment, after other treatments fail, to first line treatment to be used before traditional pain medications.

Did you know that the month of April is Autism Awareness Month and we celebrated World Autism Day on April 2? As the number of autism diagnoses continues to rise there is an increase in awareness, but it seems at times that autism acceptance is a bigger issue. With the latest numbers from the CDC indicating that autism affects 1 in every 36 children, most families in the US have been impacted either directly or indirectly by an autism diagnosis. With the numbers on the rise, it is vital that we promote autism acceptance.

Being the geek that I am, I didn’t take any fun or interesting electives in high school. But my daughter Sara was more adventurous in that she signed up for the Drama Class.

I am sure that if you looked up the meaning of “insanity” in an honest-to-goodness printed dictionary that several meanings of the word would be found. There are some that would say it is insane to use a printed dictionary as it is now so much easier to “look it up on Google”.
One definition of insanity used lots in education and business is “doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result”.

I often forget how many ways a fish fliet can be prepared. Check this one out. Dip filets in lemon juice, then in a mixture of remaining lemon juice and mayonnaise. Combine Parmesan cheese and crushed potato chips. Place in shallow baking dish and bake in preheated 375 F. oven or 20 minutes or until fish flakes easily. Note: For variety, use a different flavored potato chip.

One of the most beautiful wildflowers to see in the Spring are trilliums, which are members of the Lily family. They are easy to find this time of year in rich, moist woods along rivers, streams, and in deep hollows. There are several species growing in our area, and all are easy to identify. The average trillium is 12 to 18 inches tall with a stout, erect stem. At the top is a whorl of 3 broad leaves and a single flower with 3 petals. Most trilliums have a flower supported by a stem just above the leaves (botanists call this pedicellate). But sessile trillium, also known as toadshade, (Trillium sessile) has no flower stem and the 3 petals appear to come directly out of the leaves. The sessile trilliums I have found locally have yellow petals, but some are dark red. The leaves of sessile trilliums have whitish splotches.