Historic Union County

Spreading the good news of Union County

he meaning of ‘The Last Days’
What does the KJV Bible mean by the term “The Last Days”?
Digging into the “last days” term we find a few other similar terms the KJV uses: like “Latter Days” and “end of the days;” “time of the end;” or “day of the Lord,” all of which indicate a promise to come after a length of time. The Old and New Testament authors are very particular in how these “last days” terms are used, so as to make a clear distinction between a longer period of time, as opposed to a single last day.

Unlike most kids, my favorite Christmas song wasn’t “Santa Claus is Coming to Town” or “Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer.” Nope. It was “Walking in a Winter Wonderland.”
Does that sound strange? Being the imaginative kid that I was, I created my own version of a winter wonderland in my head.
Every time I heard that song, it transported me there. In it were snow, talking snowmen (of course), and Christmas trees full of colorful sparkling lights and shiny ornaments.
In other words, it was a perfect place full of adventure.

The recent bitter cold spell we just lived through may have converted a lot of people to become thermophiles (those who like heat), and don’t want to read about cold right now. But stay with me on this one and perhaps you won’t be so down on our own winter weather.

Soon, people working sedentary jobs will be able to take advantage of an innovation created to prevent troublesome back pain — researchers have created a prototype of an office chair that activates deep muscles and improves trunk stabilization.

Research shows that many people spend almost 80 per cent of their working day sitting and at least half of that time in the same body position. The prolonged and invariable sitting posture is associated with lower back pain due to impaired musculoskeletal control.

Have you ever loved a TV show so much that you planned your schedule around it?
My mother loves the classic Christmas TV shows from the 1960s and 1970s: “Rudolph, the Red Nosed Reindeer,” “Santa Claus is coming to Town,” “Frosty the Snowman,” “The Little Drummer Boy,” and (my favorite) “A Charlie Brown Christmas.” When these shows came out on VCR, she bought them in a pack. When they came out on DVD, she bought them again.

My father was a reader. But during the Great Depression books were hard to come by. We didn’t live near a library. Gas to go there was expensive when he only earned forty dollars a month working on a farm, doing the milking and field work. But there was some reading material available at a low price. The pulp Western novels, costing ten or fifteen cents, filled the bill. We couldn’t even afford a newspaper subscription.

What do you do when you need croutons for salad or a dressing? Do you shell out good money for toasted stale bread at the store? You don't have to do that. Croutons are easy to make. You can use any kind of bread you like. Let's face it, the bread you buy is at least a day old when you buy it. Open it and it's on its way to being too stale to use for anything other than toast or croutons. So you do have stale bread at home. Don't throw it out. Make croutons. You might add some dried spices for different flavors.

Modern living tends to make us too busy to relax, and I’m not the first to tell you that’s not healthy. Humans of any age need to play and let those stress generated hormones that make the heart race and adrenaline flow get out of our system. To many this may involve some form of exercise through various sports, but another way is to just get outside and become more attuned to what's around you. It focuses you to live in the now, with no thought of past or future concerns. A connection with nature has been proven to be healthy and therapeutic, yet severely lacking these days, especially with kids. So let me encourage you to resolve in 2023 to get outside a little more, to be still a little more, and enjoy and learn more about this wonderful place we live in. Here are some possibilities

‘Twas a few days before Christmas, on a chilly evening, when a local family showed up at the Union County Farmers Market Pavilion like Santa Clause. They backed up their truck and dropped down the tail gate, revealing bags upon bags of toys, coats, bicycles, and more. For this generous family donated nearly $500 worth of goodies to children in the community who needed a delivery from Santa Clause.

Mindfulness based stress reduction (MBSR) and cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) may prove more effective than usual treatment in alleviating chronic low-back pain, according to a new study funded by the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH), part of the National Institutes of Health.

Have you ever come across anything that made you feel like a child again? Was it at the fair or maybe a playground? For me, it’s the grocery store and Christmas stockings.
Did you furrow your eyebrows at that combination?

Back in the day, when we lived on the farm, if I wanted to prepare a Sunday chicken dinner, there was a lot of prep work to do. We only did this if we had company coming. We couldn’t go to Food City and select a package of chicken parts from the meat counter. Nope! Na! Na! No way! In fact, in those days the only chicken I might find at the meat market was a sorry looking whole chicken. Separately packaged breasts or drumsticks were far in the future. I prepped my own.

What can you do with the masa harina flour you see on the grocery shelf? I know mass farina flour is used to make tortillas, so that is what I do. It's different. Try it next time you need flour tortillas

By now you have no doubt heard the obligatory Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer song ten times on the radio or department store sound systems. The assumption is that because Rudolf is depicted with antlers that he’s a he, and that may be correct. But if you will allow me some natural history holiday fun, it’s possible that Rudolf is a her.

By Helina Bailey
Christmas is fast approaching. Stockings are hung and the lights are up. Many families have begun to fill up the space beneath their Christmas trees with all the gifts from their children’s lists for Santa...but some children in Union County won’t wake up to gifts on Christmas morning. For many, this has been a tough year. Some families in the community are facing food insecurities this holiday season and lacking the means to put gifts under the tree.

Have you ever had a conversation with somebody and you wondered if you two were speaking another language?
It was December 1982. I was so excited since it was my and Tim’s first Christmas together as a couple. When he picked me up one evening, his friend Steve was with him. Tim had to stop at a store. Running in, he left Steve and myself in the car.
Trying to start a conversation, I said, “Mom and I are going shopping for a tree stand tomorrow.”
“You are?” I heard the surprise in his voice. “Who’s it for?”

I never drink a glass of iced tea that I don’t think of my brother, Russell Stimer. He passed away over twenty years ago. Gone, but not forgotten. Russ died of throat cancer. A doctor had told him not to smoke cigarettes, but that small cigars were ok. Not true.

Cream style corn goes well with mashed potatoes. Of course, the other ingredients in this recipe help. We have potatoes at almost every meal at our house. If your meat entree is a little skimpy or not their favorite, these potato cakes will make up for it.,

By Steve Roark
Volunteer, Cumberland Gap National Historical Park

Since childhood I have always enjoyed Christmas carols, preferably AFTER Thanksgiving, and especially the old ones. Some go back to the 1600s, and sometimes have some obscure language that may not make sense in our present era. So, I thought it interesting to check a few out. 

Union County Business & Professional Association named Martin Shafer and Donna Riddle as Man and Woman of 2022 at its Annual Banquet on November 12 at Maynardville Fellowship Church Fellowship Hall. The dinner was catered by Pete’s Place with coffee provided by Ridge and Valley Coffee House. Brenda Sweet greeted guests and collected tickets, and Rev. Matt Cooke delivered the invocation.