Beech Tree News Network

I am typing this column with my left hand.  I had carpal tunnel surgery on my right hand this past Thursday, and I am bandaged from my fingertips to midway up my right arm.  The pre-op nurse who took my information on Wednesday told me she had had the same procedure three weeks before, and she assured me that recovery time is minimal for this particular operation.  She herself had the surgery on Thursday and was back at work on Monday, typing away, she told me.  The psychic, Sylvia Brown, believes there are aliens living among us who just haven’t revealed themselves to the general populatio

Have you ever had one of those moments when you wish there really was an Easy button that you could buy?  I would most definitely want a lifetime warranty with it!  I'm sure if there were such a thing, the easy button would be as popular as having a cell phone.

It happens almost like clockwork. Each year, right around Thanksgiving, Christians begin to get all worked up about the holidays. The main source of the frustration comes from the belief that there is a conspiracy afoot to effectively remove the celebration of the birth of Jesus from the Christmas season. This conspiracy is best seen in the use of ‘X’ in place of ‘Christ’ in the word Christmas.

Christmas traditions have been on my mind recently, helping me to remember happy Christmases past. Probably many of my family’s holiday traditions are similar to those practiced by you and your family.

How about a little YONDERING this trip? When one of our granddaughters was young, she asked, "What do you and Grandmamma mean when you say, 'over yonder?'"

Yonder is a pretty good word. You can say over yonder, back yonder, down yonder, or up yonder.

Someone said, "We can learn more from those who have gone before us (back yonder) than all the coffeehouse intellectuals and philosophers lined up from here-to-yon (yonder)."

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What Might Have Been: You’ve probably read the quote by Whittier, For all sad words of tongue or pen, the saddest are these: It might have been.  My husband, Garey, has told me, on several occasions, that if I don’t get the books I’ve been writing published before I die, he’s going to get them published after I die, and then live like a king.  This is supposed to serve as motivation to finish said books.  It isn’t working.  My extended, extended family has a history of aneurisms and heart attacks.  If relatives dropping like flies isn’t enough to get my at

Have you ever had one of those moments when it seems that there's not enough hours in the day, or the week, or even the year?  Lord willing, we all have the same amout of time each day.  Somehow we still manage to get behind, become rushed, and can't seem to fit everything in.  "Why is this?" I keep asking myself.

Dr. Seuss of the “I Can Read With My Eyes Shut!” fame once concluded: “The more you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.”

Dr. Seuss understands what too many in Kentucky’s education system apparently don’t – especially when it comes to children with learning disabilities: Learning is directly tied to reading. Much reading, much learning. No reading, no learning.

Another busy and fun December weekend is in our midst.  Saturday the 10th is the Quality Christmas parade. Perhaps “Cousin Eddie” will make a repeat appearance.  The month of December is full of meetings of friends and family.  Sunday I will be playing another Christmas song on my acoustic guitar. I’ve picked another of my favorites, Alan Jackson’s “The Angels Cried”.  

Have you heard people say they were battening down for a storm or for the winter? In this context, “battening” likely means getting ready for a storm or for winter by securing or winterizing possessions. Even though the winter solstice is weeks away – December 22, the meteorological winter is classified as December through February. So, despite what our calendars say, we are already in the meteorological winter and winterizing is likely in progress or may be completed.