Possumhaw: Memories of the Christmas tree

We don't quite have our Christmas decorations up yet, but we're thinking about it. Some years we cut a native cedar and other years we stop by a box store that sells Christmas trees. The store-bought trees are easier to decorate with their slender limbs and smooth needles. It's possible they are dyed. I've hauled them to the woods, and by spring they are still green.

Ask Rufus: A story of early Columbus

It is always interesting when different early accounts and stories merge into a single narrative.

Slimantics: A voice crying in the bewilderness

A press release delivered to The Dispatch earlier of this week alerted us to a community meeting Tuesday where Kerr-McGee/Tronox issues would be discussed.

Possumhaw: Home is where the hearth is

Thanksgiving has come and gone, as have pre-Black Friday and Black Friday sales, along with the family members who graced our home for the Thanksgiving celebration. We had many things to give thanks for: reasonably good health, plenty of warmth and sunshine, and more good food than should be legal.

Partial to Home: Miracle in New Hope

Monday afternoon Bill Cole sat on a barstool in the empty bay of a metal building that houses Dixie Towing, the New Hope business he has owned and operated for 30 years and looked out across the road. Cole was wearing pressed jeans, cowboy boots and a black long-sleeved shirt. His swept-back white hair gives him the look of a country music star -- think Charlie Rich.

Ask Rufus: Happy 200th Birthday, Columbus

This coming Friday, December 6, 2019, will mark the bicentennial of Columbus' official recognition as the Town of Columbus.

Possumhaw: Let's get personal here

Many of us are preparing for our holiday feasting and perhaps how to manage our consumption for the least amount of damage. Last year I gain several pounds, and well into spring they were still hanging around. So, this year I am trying to do better and help my guests to do better as well. It's not as easy as you may think.

Partial to Home: Gestalt gardening

On a recent weekday morning Vernell Taylor was putting the final log on a stack of wood almost too pretty to burn in the fireplace of the living-room-like interior of the Plymouth Bluff Conservation Center.

Ask Rufus: Thanksgiving

It was 400 years ago that a group of settlers from England landed in the New Word and with a ceremony of thanksgiving gave thanks to God for their safe arrival and their new settlement.

Possumhaw: Early preparations for winter

Just when I was busy flipping closets from summer to fall, hanging the door wreath and pinning orange, red and yellow silk leaves to the cedar lapboards, all in an effort to welcome in the autumn season, winter hit overnight. Temperatures plummeted to 15 degrees by morning.

Ask Rufus: Charles Wilburn's 'Go Gettin Gal'

I remember Charles Wilburn of Artesia as a top notch bird dog trainer who had been a pilot in World War II. Like so many others of the greatest generation I had no idea of all he had done or his adventures in the "Go Gettin Gal."

Possumhaw: What a wonderful day

Fall has been particularly lovely this year, perhaps because it came so quickly as a much-needed break from scorching temperatures. Now it appears fall is "leaving" just as fast as chilling temperatures arrive early.

Ask Rufus: A Seabee's Story

Over the almost 10 years I have been writing this column I've told stories of many local veterans.

Slimantics: The life cycle of the Mississippi Cicada

If politicians were insects -- and I'm not saying they aren't -- they would likely be cicadas.

Possumhaw: Just me and Willie

Lately I've spent a lot of time driving back and forth along Highway 82 and Highway 45 between Columbus, Starkville and West Point. From West Point, traveling south toward Highway 82, on the crest of a hill I could see a fair distance to the next rise. Along that stretch I counted 12 large trucks -- 18 wheelers.

Partial to Home: How Elvis bought Graceland

This past Sunday Ed Rice, Bobby Manning and I were headed north on Wolf Road when Bobby for no apparent reason launched into a narrative about his family history.

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