Beech Tree News Network

The month of May is packed with tradition: May Day, Derby Day, Mother’s Day, primary election day, and Memorial Day. All of these cultural elements occur within four weeks.

We were going to up-grade now through a small patch of woods. Granddad didn't seem any worse for the wear; I was breathing hard and sweating. It was a couple of hours into morning and a month into summer. The sun was already hot this early. Granddad was carrying the heavy half of the house jack; I was carrying what was supposed to be the lighter half. It didn't seem that way now. I was probably somewhere around my eleventh summer. Granddad was in his seventies, but still a strong man.

Have you ever seen the Canadian comedy series, “The Red Green Show?”  It’s one of my favorites.  Red and his friends are a group of misfit men who belong to an organization called the Possum Lodge.  They have all kinds of mantras like, “If it ain’t broke, you’re just not tryin,” and, “If the women don’t find you handsome, they can at least find you handy.”  Red has a segment on his show called the “Handy Man Corner.”  The segment features all kinds of DIY projects using things you have lying around your place just collecting dust.  Many of the projects involve the “Handy Man’s Secret Weapon

Ever since John Adams, America’s second president, tried to force individual states to deport some non-citizens and punish “seditious language” unfriendly to his administration, Washington has encroached upon individual states’ sovereign power.

Granted, Adams was doing his best to help a new nation that, literally, was in survival mode. Had the Pew Research Center existed during his time, it would have offered poll after lopsided poll expressing solid doubt about whether this fledgling experiment in representative republicanism would ever make it even to the 19th century.

Wednesday, April 18, America lost an important fixture of entertainment with the passing of Dick Clark at age 82. “America’s Oldest Teenager” was born on November 20, 1929 in Utica, New York. Mr. Clark had been a radio host, television host, American Bandstand host, New Year’s Rockin’ Eve producer/host, as well as a restaurant owner. These were just several of the businesses spear-headed by Dick Clark.

Our spring weather came early this year. For me, spring means cleaning. I normally clean my house in May and June. Cleaning my house and my yard helps me to say goodbye to winter and to get a fresh start for summer.

Barry Manilow gave us the song, "I WRITE THE SONGS THE WHOLE WORLD SINGS," a few years back.

It's sad to think how empty our lives would be were it not for song writers and songs. Lines from an old Negro refrain tell us: "Without a song, the day would never end. Without a song the row would never bend . . . without a song . . ."

Song writers an singers have a sort of symbiotic relationship: you scratch my back; I'll scratch yours. Unless the performers become superstars, most song writers usually make more money than singers do. Royalties.

You know those books you see advertised in garden magazines and supplements to the Sunday paper that claim they’re going to teach you how to raise gargantuan vegetables and get rid of garden pests without using harmful chemicals?  One spring, I ordered one.  Actually, I ordered three—the original, the sequel and the follow-up to the sequel.  (I wasn’t smart enough to order just one to make sure the author knew what he was talking about.  That would have been too easy.)

“What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas” is meant to comfort those who commit big sins at Sin City’s gambling venues.

But I have a better one that’s more positive to Kentuckians: “What happens in Kentucky coal country stays in Kentucky coal country.”

Most already know that there are a lot of miners – and lots of jobs – that depend on the plentiful supply of black rock found within the commonwealth’s borders. But largely unknown – or unrealized – is how much of the coal mined here stays right here in our own state.

I think I actually sent a picture of this old homestead in a few years ago, but it is definately one of the neatest places I know of. I wish so badly I had the money to ask whom ever owns this place if I could try to do something with it. I've been told by someone that it was built in 1937. WOW!! I look at places like this and just wish so bad walls could talk. I know there had to be some great memories made in and around here. What a shame it's just falling apart.