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It is hard to believe that winter is right around the corner. If you are a horse owner, you should already be preparing your winter hay supplies. How do you estimate the amount of hay you will need? If you have mature horses at maintenance level, you want to feed a mainly forage diet. The estimate would be similar to a 1,100-pound horse eating 2 percent of its body weight. That equals 22 pounds of hay per day. Feeding for 120 days, December through March would equal 1.3 tons of hay per horse. You can do a few things to make the best of your hay inventory. A feed test is a...

I love tournaments and competition in general. Eight years ago, with the help of some others, I started a cornhole tournament for the NIBROC Festival. Four years ago, I looked around and noticed that NOBODY was planning 3-on-3 basketball tournaments anymore. I thought that was a shame. I felt as though people still wanted to play. So, I started the NIBROC 3-on-3 Basketball Tournament. This year, we had a record 23 teams that participated and it just keeps growing. The competition gets better every year. It’s great. I love playing board games. It’s my favorite hobby. So I wanted to do something in my own town to really cultivate a culture, I hope,...

Lady beetles are widely recognized as beneficial insects. In the fall, they congregate to spend the cold winter months in sheltered sites: rock piles, tree holes, etc. However, the multicolored Asian lady beetle has a nuisance side. It is attracted to prominent terrain features, such as a vertical rocky outcropping. Following this visual cue leads many beetles to homes and buildings. After landing, the normally helpful insects crawl around searching for cracks or crevices to enter before settling for several months of inactivity. Some enter via gaps around windows, doors, and through ventilation openings. They will stay there during the winter and will remain active in the warm surroundings. Adult Asian...

Providing full-time care for an older loved one is a selfless job many of us would readily take on if needed, but it comes with its own set of challenges and frustrations. A recent report from the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine said caregiver recognition and support is one of the most significant challenges facing the U.S.’s growing older population and their families. About 18 million Americans provide care for a relative 65 or older. Many of those caregivers sacrifice their own personal health and finances to adequately care for their loved one. In some cases, the caregiver puts their career on hold. The National Academies report that...

Well, we did it again! We couldn’t help ourselves. The News Journal’s Secret Phrase game is back. People wanted it. So we’ve delivered. It’s pretty simple really. Go to page C-8 to see all the details. A list of the sponsors who make this contest possible are also displayed there. Make sure you thank them and patronize them for their support. They deserve it. The way this works is simple. Every week, there’s a secret word hidden somewhere in the News Journal. The game started last week, so this week will be the second word. Altogether, the words will make a phrase. But here’s the catch ... we aren’t giving you the words...

I think we would be better off without the Internet. Grant you, I have not made any study of this, it is just an opinion based on several factors. To start with the Internet is a cesspool for social interaction. Certainly there are many excellent exchanges on it, but it also is a chief weapon for spreading hate and misinformation. I wonder if terrorists groups such as ISIS could be organized so effectively without the Internet. I don’t believe they could. It is a powerful weapon for recruiting followers and spreading harmful information. I’m sure an argument could be made for the many great developments that have been made because of the...

“Membership has its privileges.” That ubiquitous line became popular when credit card company American Express used it regularly on TV and elsewhere to sell their product. If you became an American Express “member,” you got some perks to which no one else has access. Growing up in southern Indiana, we always had a septic tank around which the grass always grew a little higher than the rest of the yard. We didn’t have city sewer. A water deliveryman would come late at nights every few weeks to fill up our cistern so that we could drink and take showers, flush the toilet and wash our hands. I remember my dad going...

Do you know that your driver’s license has expired? My answer was “no” to the clerk at city hall. I may have read that they no longer send out cards reminding you that it is time to renew your license, but if I did I forgot about it. Hey, I’m 77 and I forget things and I never look at my driver’s license. For people my age we need to be reminded. It just so happened that my wife and I were changing our license from our address in Henderson when I found out about the expiration. It happened on the last day of my grace period which meant I...

Yet again, we are reporting this week about an unprovoked attack by a pit bull dog in our area. When will people ever learn? It’s no accident that, over and over, when this newspaper reports on a serious dog bite case it almost invariably involves one of two breeds: pit bulls and Rottweilers. Usually pit bulls. In the wake of this, there will be no shortage of people who will defend this breed of dog as friendly, wonderful family pets that are just “big babies” around their own relatives, friends and children. There will be plenty of people hyperventilating over the mere suggestion that there is something genetic about these animals that...

Looking for something to do this weekend? Well, you have a couple of good options Saturday right here in Williamsburg. The Whitley County Historical & Genealogical Society will be holding its annual Heritage Day from 10 a.m. - 2 p.m. Saturday at the old L&N Railroad Depot in Williamsburg. The day will feature crafts, demonstrations, tours, model trains and lots of interesting local history. I've been to this event several times. The historical society has done a good job with the facility and there is a lot to see there. If you have an interest in history, local history, trains or genealogy then there is a good chance you will have a...