March is a crazy month in the mountains. On one hand, you can have 70-degree days with flowers and trees in bloom. On the other hand, you can have massive snowstorms – the March 1993 storm left 36 inches on the ground! It is also the month for the NCAA Basketball Tournament known and promoted… Read more »

Numbers can tell many things. For example, what exactly does 276 for 130 mean anyway? Is it $276.00 for 130 somethings? Or 276 for $130.00? Last Friday we had our Annual Read Virginia day at Wise Primary. At the end of the event, several of our folks stayed behind to hand out books, pencils, coloring… Read more »

One of my weekends this past month was rather simple. I began that Saturday working in the office (my rotation day) and had a customer visit. We caught up and I learned a lot about what was going on around town, especially with housing. After we closed the office, I ran to Walmart to pick… Read more »

In the early days of Zoom (and Microsoft Teams), we often joked about how we all looked like the Hollywood Squares game show or even the Brady Bunch. We would look through a meeting’s attendees and figure out who we wanted to call Marcia, Greg, or some of the stars from Hollywood Squares. We would… Read more »

“The most beautiful..” “The funniest…” “The weirdest…” We have all seen the headlines for list articles as we read the news or scroll social media on our phone or computer. I recently came across a list I had never seen before – The 47 Most Unlikable TV Characters of All Time. Rather than spoil the list… Read more »

In the early 2000s, 24 was a top-rated TV show. The protagonist, Jack Bauer, was a federal agent whose job usually came down to saving America and protecting the President from attacks and terrorism attempts often involving high explosives (like an atomic bomb). To complicate matters, Jack had to do all of this in 24… Read more »

Often, we think we know a lot. Then sometimes we have an experience and learn how little we may know. Over the holidays, Tammie and I watched the movie, Elvis (highly recommended even if you are not an Elvis fan). I was aware of his music, his marriage, his outfits, and his unfortunate passing. I… Read more »

New Year’s Day, like most holidays, comes with traditions. Having some Scottish ancestry, I know of certain traditions like – Cleaning the house for a healthy new year Gifting salt for health and coal for warmth in the new year Having a black haired stranger be the first to enter your home in the new… Read more »

Christmas, in a child’s mind, is a magical and amazing time.  Santa. Gifts. Candy. Candy Canes. Candy Corn. Syrup. However, my best Christmas was my family’s worst. The winter of 1964 was an especially cold, dreary, and snowy one. My dad had lost his job (coal mining cycle). Mom was pregnant with my youngest sister… Read more »

Well, here I go again… my continuing rant about checks. Beyond the theft risk (here, world, is all the information you need to rob me) and fraud risk (lets go to Wal-Mart and buy a color printer to create fake checks), the greatest negative impact of checks is on poor people. Don’t believe me? Last Wednesday, we… Read more »