Articles by Shannon Bardwell
Possumhaw: Four bits — read all about it
“I asked the Lord to help me wake up earlier every morning and He gave me a paper route.”
Cindy Webb, former paper carrier
Possumhaw: A thousand generations depend on you
On Saturday, Sept. 22 at 8:45 p.m. the autumn equinox will occur and yet already school supplies fill the stores, fall catalogs arrive daily and traffic builds around college towns. While spring brings a season of cleaning, fall brings a season of sorting.
Possumhaw: A bushel of tomatoes and a peck of peas
“Every gardener I know is a junkie for the experience of being out there in the mud and fresh green growth. Why? An astute therapist might diagnose us as codependent and sign us up for Tomato-Anon meetings. We love our gardens so much it hurts.”
Possumhaw: Dog days of summer
“The library in summer is the most wonderful thing because there you get books on any subject and read them each for only as long
Possumhaw: Why I’m giving up plastic straws
My good friend, we’ll call him Richard, caught up with me at church. “Girl,” he said, “did you see this issue of National Geographic? It’s about all that plastic ending up in the ocean.”
Possumhaw: Everybody’s got a snake story
My neighbor, Allene, lives over on the creek. “Have you seen more snakes this year than usual?” she asked.
I was a little surprised because, yes, I had seen more snakes lately than I’d seen in all my years. I was hoping it was a fluke, but maybe not.
Possumhaw: Catch of the day, no ketchup
After about the fourth time a frozen baggie of crappie fillets fell out of the freezer and onto the floor, I figured we needed to find some different recipes to use up some crappie fillets.
Possumhaw: Make your bed
“Make Your Bed,” by Admiral William H. McRaven (U.S. Navy, retired), lay on the coffee table.
Possumhaw: And then there was rain
Early spring brought lots of rain. Prairie lakes were full; spillways flowed like streams. Daily Sam checked water levels of local creeks and lakes. He checked Grenada Lake where crappie grow large and plentiful. High water levels are not conducive to spawning crappie.
Possumhaw: Things to notice
There’s some things I notice and some things I don’t. Sam suggested I notice things like if there’s water standing somewhere where it shouldn’t so I can let him know. We need to find out where the water is coming from, especially when we are in the season of drought.
Possumhaw: What about these squirrels?
The birds we love empty the feeders about every half hour, with a little help from the squirrels. Once we had no squirrels, but lately there’s been a buildup.
Possumhaw: Healing power of planting
In the last few days I’ve been speechless, and I can only blame it on the profusion of beautiful flowers in and around the yard.
Possumhaw: The only good snake
“Brumation” describes the hibernation of reptiles and amphibians; it’s not exactly deep sleep.
Possumhaw: New every morning
Spring comes every year, and yet it’s new every morning. Sam left before dawn, headed to the fishing hole. With fishing it’s important to be first to the hole. I roused slightly, saying our goodbyes, then dozed off again until I heard the birds singing.
Possumhaw: A bird, a bee, a butterfly
My neighbor Joe stopped and asked if I had my hummingbird feeders out.
Possumhaw: Catkins, midges and galls
There are few things cuter than a bunny rabbit munching on a newly-sprouted dandelion. Between the days of rain and warm sunshine the yard has exploded with yellow dandelions, green clover and tiny white flowers, for which I have no name.
Possumhaw: It’s worth celebrating
We were sitting at the breakfast table lingering over bowls of oatmeal when Sam read out loud, “DeWitt Jones is a National Geographic photographer who has used his profession to celebrate what’s right about the world.”
Possumhaw: Here today, gone tomorrow
I rather vowed I would not discuss closet organizing or capsule wardrobes or anything like that for my Lenten commitment. After only four days I realized it was a terrible commitment because we are right in the middle of a season change where one day it’s a chilling 30 degrees and the next day it’s a warm 70 degrees.
Possumhaw: A trace of history
Little over a week ago we joined the Bulldog Nation headed to Nashville, Tennessee, for the SEC Tournament.
