The event is the third annual.

I hate it when the Internet is down. I hate it for all the reasons you would expect. I can’t check, send or delete e-mail. I can’t access the Web site that has all of Townes Van Zandt’s lyrics. I can’t search Wikipedia to see if any of the folks listed as notable people from my college are actually anyone I’ve ever heard of. But more than that, I hate it because it makes me see, and confront, how much the thing we used to call, before we had any idea what it really meant, the information superhighway has changed my life.

Have you seen a turtle lately? If you come across one, be kind to the old reptile. If it’s braving a busy road, stop and help it across. If one lives in your backyard, leave a flat dish of water, some tomatoes, a peach; I’ve seen them plunge their faces into each of these.

A tractor ride raises over $900 for Samefight.

Last week, I decided to remove the deck from my riding mower to sharpen the blades.  To remove the deck, all you have to do is pull five pins.  The deck dropped to the ground with a loud thunk!  I sharpened the blades and pumped grease into the little grease cups.  What I failed to do was memorize where the little arms go when you put the deck back on. This was bad, because I lost the owner’s manual years ago. 

Jean-Phillipe Devillers’ visit to Floyd was part of his “Around the U.S. in 80 days’ trip.“

For most of her life Kristen Elliott has been the student. Now she will be the teacher.

A store along the Blue Ridge Parkway takes visitors down memory lane.

Impossible as it seems, I heard a Christmas carol playing on the radio last week reminding us that it’s less than four months until the official start of the 2007 holiday season on the day after Thanksgiving. Rather than encouraging me to hurry out and complete my Christmas shopping early this year, it reminded me of Jimmy Stewart portraying George Bailey in “It’s a Wonderful Life,” which was originally produced in 1946 yet is replayed every Christmas season.  Stewart wonders what would make his life more perfect and searches for happiness and satisfaction in all the wrong places instead of right in front of his eyes.

Look out Judge Thomas O. Jones. The Democrats and Republicans, the ones who in the spirit of bipartisanship voted for “civil remedial fees” aimed at bad Virginia drivers, are bound to head off on an “activist judge” witch hunt soon.