Columnists

“Jobs fill your pocket, but adventures fill your soul.” – Jaime Lyn Beatty It wasn’t so long ago that Dave and I weren’t able to go on a vacation … even a short one. Owning a small business takes everything you have, including money and time. Working open to close most days had become normal.…

We are at this moment in American history hearing the story of our nation being told mostly by those with fairly extreme views. This is happening, of course, while much of the population sees itself as fairly moderate. As the right desperately clings to Donald Trump, the only possible torchbearer for American conservatism in many…

All through the fall hunting season, those of us who love to hunt waterfowl prayed for rain. The one thing you need for great duck hunting is plenty of water, and we just didn’t have it. So I have decided to go duck hunting in the spring, when the ducks start heading back to the…

Do you know how to spot a government imposter scam? We continue to raise public awareness about Social Security-related and other government imposter scams during the fifth annual “Slam the Scam” Day on March 7, 2024. Knowing how to identify potential scammers will help safeguard your personal information. There are common elements to many scams.…

We need football. Oh, we don’t need it the way we need oxygen, but we do need it for sustenance of the soul. It is a pigskin rescue for the marrow of our beings. Sure, this season has ended in a faded crescendo of distant crowds, but the significance lingers. Battles were fought. Victories were…

I have noticed that there are more skunks in the Ozarks than I have ever seen before, and I want to remind readers that skunks often get rabies, likely carriers of that disease second only to bats. If you see one during the day, or have one around your home that acts strange any time…

Financial education helps people learn about savings, credit, and loans. It also helps them prepare for life changes and the unexpected. When planning for retirement financial knowledge is essential. So, how prepared are adults in the United States for their retirement? The National Endowment for Financial Education (NEFE) conducts polls on how retirement savings affect…

I have at various points during my work as a columnist written a sports column, and I have generally reserved Pearls as a space for engaging matters of political, social or personal content. This week, I’m writing about sports. Kind of. More, I feel obligated in the wake of the Chiefs’ second consecutive win in…

A strange thing is happening out in California, where people are starting to live in caves. If you remember, I wrote about my grandfather and I staying in caves on the Big Piney River in the 60s. We found all kinds of arrowheads and pieces of clay pots, even an ivory artifact in one. I…

I was reading some poll numbers recently on the subject of people’s attitudes toward American politics. The results were far from surprising. A September survey by the Pew Research Center (pewresearch.org) noted that 65 percent of Americans express feeling ‘always or often….exhausted when thinking about politics, while 55 percent feel angry.’ Only about 10 percent…