Opinions

Not to worry, folks...it’s not real...not even close...we’re going to let you in on a little secret this week...those “snow snakes” which made an appearance last time...they were frozen figments of the writer’s imagination...for all of the details...please keep on reading this...
...the “snow snakes” that were created on the hood of the world’s ugliest pickup truck were able to make their appearance thanks to a fake snake. Your writer dropped the plastic python on the April snow which had fallen somewhat unexpectedly in our little corner of the world.  The pseudo snake...
Maybe I’ll send this one to National Geographic, or, even better, the National Enquirer. Extremely rare snow snakes made an appearance last week in the April snow and cold. A pair of them apparently spent some time frolicking on the World’s Ugliest Pickup Truck, which is parked in front of our house.
That was odd, the writer who has never won a Pulitzer Prize and is not Ernest Hemingway, thought as the Canadian National freight train rumbled its way north through Union County early last Monday afternoon. A locomotive was pulling a long line of freight cars. Nothing unusual, or odd, about that....
It was a dark and stormy night...really...it was dark...and stormy...and almost night time...this is what happens when the photographer is sitting in the car...waiting to see if a high school football game in April is going to resume after being put on hold because of Mother Nature’s dramatics...in keeping with the theme for this week’s column, we’ll call this photo “the old man and what he did see.”*
Let’s start this week with something in the “don’t even know what to do with this one” category... While scrolling through Apple News headlines last Saturday morning, I ran across the following item: USA TODAY Fact Check: False claim links births of Biden, other Democrat politicians to alleged UFO...
Trilobite fossils...found in Southern Illinois, just not anywhere near a rugged mountain terrain, since we don’t have very many mountains in our little corner of the world.
Long ago, as in long, long, long, long ago, critters called trilobites wandered around on the bottom of the ocean in what is now Union County. Trilobites kind of resembled little creatures which are wandering around the planet today called sowbugs and pillbugs. Sometimes, we call them roly-polies....
The “worm moon”...almost...this image of our neighbor in the cosmos was captured Friday night, shining brightly in a clear sky over Union County. That would have been a couple of days before the “worm moon” reached “peak illumination.”
Happy April Fool’s Day. April’s Fool’s Day was yesterday. Or, maybe it’s tomorrow. Just foolin’. It’s today. Saw it online, so it has to be true. As you may have noticed (well, I hope you noticed), page one of this week’s paper looked a little bit different. Just having a little bit of fun. Hope...
Turtles...of course we had to have a photograph of turtles. These turtles were sunning themselves on a log in the Big Muddy River last Sunday afternoon.
Well, it seemed like a good idea... The Other Half and yours truly went on our latest Pandemic Date last Sunday afternoon. The adventure was kind of a mix of work and pleasure.  Well, I say “work” only if one considers taking photographs to fall into that category. Seems like what I do really isn’t...
A bright yellow ribbon happened to catch the writer’s attention during a visit to the Lincoln Memorial Picnic Grounds one day last week.
Abraham Lincoln just might have liked Girl Scout Cookies. He apparently enjoyed nibbling on gingerbread men, so Girl Scout Cookies might not be all that farfetched. Bear with me, folks...we’ll get Mr. Lincoln, Girl Scout Cookies and gingerbread men connected. Promise. As you may recall, your writer...
Signs of the time...information about COVID-19 vaccines could be seen last Sunday afternoon in front of the Banterra Center on the campus of Southern Illinois University Carbondale.
Wow. Seemed like we hadn’t seen this place in about a year. And that would be absolutely true. We had not seen this place in a year. We’re talking about Carbondale. The home of the university where the two of us met. The home of the hospital where both of our kids were born. The home of many...
Russian steppes? Nyet. Church steps. As in steps in front of the Jonesboro United Methodist Church. Took the photograph last Thursday morning, in the midst of our most recent Ice Age.
One day last week, I looked out the window and thought about heading out to the shed in our backyard and getting out the lawn mower. Just because.  Of course, there were more than a few challenges to that silly notion. For one thing, I’m not sure I could even get to the shed safely. And, if I could...
A woodpecker of some sort, on the left, was having a chat with a pair of cardinals on one of our recent bitterly cold afternoons here on Planet Earth. Sorry your writer is not more of an “expert” when it comes to identifying birds.
At the time this column was being crafted late last Saturday morning, the temperature on the front porch of our humble abode was a nippy 14 degrees.  That, I suppose, would be very nice, if we happened to be at the North Pole. Or the South Pole. Or, maybe, on the planet Mars. And that thought got...

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The Gazette-Democrat

112 Lafayette St.
Anna, Illinois 62906
Office Number: (618) 833-2158
Email: news@annanews.com

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