I think it’s hard sometimes for city-folk to imagine what it’s like to live in the country. When I tell them we have two horses out front in the pasture, they can’t imagine having that much room in the “front yard”. Then I tell them we have to drive at least 18 miles for groceries but if you want cheaper …

Have you ever thought about buying all the gifts mentioned in the song, “The Twelve Days of Christmas?” This year the cost will top $100K according to PNC Wealth Management that calculates the cost each year. They also produce an annual Christmas Price Index. Here’s the findings (pdf) this year: A sluggish economy coupled with weak demand has kept the …

I could crack some walnuts with this thing. I could break open the ice that forms in the horse’s water tank. I could threaten … well … better not. I could pound in some nails with this thing. Or I could use it for its intended purpose – to pull nails. Today, I’d just flip over the hammer and yank …

Happy Thanksgiving from the ZimmComm Team. We like Thanksgiving cards so I thought I’d share this one from the National Association of Farm Broadcasting. We’ve got a lot to be thankful for today. For starters, we can’t say enough how much we appreciate our clients and sponsors. Your support means more than we can say. We also thank everyone in …

A few months ago, we cleaned out my parents’ house that they lived in since I was just 9 months old. Without giving away my age, let’s just say it’s been a few years. In the boxes buried in basement closets, we found all sorts of things from when my brother and I were kids: flattened basketballs, R2D2, Strawberry Shortcake, …

At first glance, this looks like a funky cookie cutter. Or a toy soldier’s hat. Or a broken top off of a flour sifter. But the technical term for it is a jar lifter. (I know, I’m using big words.) Another one of the joys of canning was the hot water bath. Unless you had hands of steel for removing …

Thinking back on some of the national news events that I remember growing up, I pause to ask myself if they were as memorable as asking someone in their early 60s when and where they were when President Kennedy was shot. Some were. Take for example when the Challenger went up in flames, or Desert Storm, or more recently the …

I’m not sure if you’d rather see one of the deer we harvested or not. This is my deer hunting team as things started to wind down on the 2011 hunt yesterday. We had a great time and reduced the over population of deer in Missouri I can tell you. Fresh venison on the grill is a good thing! So, …

Our son is hooked on microwave popcorn. Or any kind of popcorn for that matter since we have an air popper, too. He knows when it’s movie night, it’s popcorn night. A 1:45 ‘bout in the microwave and he’s happy as can be. This is a photo of an old-time popcorn popper. They used to put the kernels in with …

Do you have a favorite bag or basket or box that you use in the house to carry laundry or magazines or a stack of papers to be filed? I have a linen bag inside for just that reason, and a 5-gallon bucket outside for the same. Outside I fill my bucket with weeds from the garden, leaves and sticks, …