Hey everyone, it's valentine's week! You are supposed to buy a box of chocolate for your sweetheart this week! To my new friends that told me they were reading the ramblings for the first time: let's quickly review. Since the first of the year, we have had a courtship going on between Mary Lou and Johnny. However: this story has had more turns and switchbacks than a goat trail in the Boston Mountains of Arkansas. more

Welcome back to another week and another chapter into how I got here. When we left, I was going to college, where I would get my associate's degree in teaching. more

Hi everyone! Are you prepared for an exciting adventure this week? If not, you need to get ready! O K more

How much wood could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood? more

While reading the answers from the helpful people at Burrell Behavioral Health for my article this week, I was reminded of a quote in a book I recently finished. Since I home-school, I read a Pocahontas biography out-loud to my children. Far from the fairy tale ending of the Disney movie version I grew up with, this interpretation included real-life, gritty details. more

Welcome back to this week's edition of Writing Gorilla. As I mentioned last week, I would go over my life leading up to being a writer for the mail. I promise I won't go over every detail, just some highlights. So how did I get here? more

Not long ago, I did a piece and a follow-up regarding resolutions. Afterward, I started thinking and looking at myself. I reflected on what I had been through and what goals I needed to set. It was not easy reflecting on myself. As a human, it's easy to point out the flaws in others or think we do not need to change anything about ourselves. more

This week, I decided to have a little fun and give readers a peak at what streaming services I use when doing my movie and show reviews. Of course, these are my personal favorites, the old reliables. So, without delay, here, in no particular order, are my top five streaming services. more

Just when you think you’ve got it all together: bills paid, groceries in the fridge, closets cleaned, dishes done every day for a week (that’s a really big accomplishment at my house), house cleaned from fire (thank you Amanda for your help), laundry caught up-you know all the crap that goes into being a mom/wife/housekeeper-the kids can have a way of making that all look not so spectacular. more

Let’s be clear: Knowing European starlings have the unique ability to imitate human voices, car alarms, barking dogs and a variety of other sounds is probably not going to change the negative opinions most people have of this non-native bird. A starling’s talent for mimicry is simply a case of a fascinating trait of a bird that no one more

The Marshfield Blue Jays boy wrestling team hit the mats at the 55th Kinloch Classic on December 30, 2022. The team took 6th place overall with a score of 192.50. more

We're Rearranging more

As the new year starts, many people will set impossible goals for themselves, while some will put little effort in. What is the point? We have all year the phrase new year, new you and most of us have rolled our eyes. It's just another year. And honestly, it is easy to dwell on the negative things that happened last year and the past. From politics to celebrities, plagues to prices, it's hard to think there is any light at the end of this deep dark tunnel that we call life. more

Hope gives us energy, fortitude, initiative and stamina, things needed for a productive life doesn't it? Through hope we can visualize our way out of bad times, it's something we can hold onto. If I have hope I can start something with confidence, I have the energy to pursue a positive thought. But if hope alludes me and I am unable to imagine myself in better times, my condition then becomes my reality and replaces the primer of success, ambition. I get frozen into a strange mold of some sort of limitation.Right now, at the end of 2022 and the beginning of 2023, I think we Americans find our condition in decline. Our great American educational system is forced into a four day week. Prices are steadily increasing with no end in sight, in many cases straining our budgets to the point of having to choose between two unpleasant outcomes. At the same time the traditional American liberty and now the freedom to express ourselves seems to be under some sort of unbelievable attack with hardly any of our elected officials willing to go to bat for us while China remains more important to the leaders of Congress than you and I.But for me, the worst of it all has been the depressing reality in what I sense from the truth of the last election, and that is that my fellow countryman, for the most part don't seem to care.I expected the 'Red Wave', a reaction to the senseless policies of the extreme left but that didn't happen did it? No. Now the condition of my hope for a better life for my son has all but vanished. Spending, perversion, censorship and control seem to be ascending to the forefront of national policies and call me crazy but the social and cultural circumstances that cause schools to have to reduce the number of days they can provide for the education of our kids is a pretty reliable source of our condition. That should never happen. As a nation we are sick. Yep, sick puppies. Right is wrong and wrong seems to be winning but we don't email, call, or visit our representatives do we? What's the condition of your hope? more

For the second year in a row my family and I packed up the day after Christmas and headed to Gulf Shores, AL. more

It seems early to think about, but this issue of the Marshfield Mail is indeed the last one for 2022. It has been an exciting year, allowing us to welcome the New Year by setting goals or resolutions for ourselves. Whether you do or do not set resolutions, it is good to set goals for yourself. Just remember to be honest with yourself and to not set unrealistic goals. more

Closing out our non-traditional holiday movies is a stop motion film that started off being somewhat underground to a modern-day holiday classic to most. But, of course, I’m talking about the 1993 film The Nightmare Before Christmas. more

Over a year ago, I unexpectedly accepted a position at the Marshfield Mail. more

With the holidays upon us, people want to watch Christmas movies. You know the classics, Rudolph, Frosty, the entire catalog of Hallmark. So this year, might I suggest a few films to break tradition and perhaps start something different? more

You don’t know this but three months ago the great minds that make up the Marshfield Mail had a heart to heart. It started with me complaining. more

This past week the world of comics was at a loss. News broke out that on the evening of Nov 10, Kevin Conroy had lost his battle with cancer at the age of 66. Conroy was… an actor who made appearances in shows such as Cheers as Darryl Mead or Dynasty as Bart Fallmont. But perhaps his most famous role was in 1992 as the capped crusader in Batman the Animated Series. This show introduced Batman and DC comics to many people like myself. more

In recent years the horror genre has seen a renaissance, from new films like Smile and Nope to television shows like Strangers Things and Chucky. Literature and comics are no different, with one artist in the manga world getting some attention Junji Ito. I consider him very similar or another famous horror author Stephen King. Both men constantly tell horror stories, and both have mastered the page-turner. The "I really don't want to turn the page but I have to know what happens." The only difference is one uses pictures to help tell his story. Ito constantly makes ordinary circumstances into a pure nightmare, much like King. Check out Ito's works like Uzumaki, Fragments of Horror, or Smashed, and you will see what I'm talking about. It's downright terrifying. What I'm trying to say is this. If you like Stephen King and want to try a different medium, consider visiting the Manga section of your favorite bookstore. Then, give Junji Ito a read; you will be glad or terrified if you do. more

Giving deer one less reason to congregate is a good way to slow the spread of Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD); a disease that’s spread by deer-to-deer contact. That’s the rationale behind the regulation prohibiting the feeding of deer that’s in effect in parts of Missouri. more

I’ll tell ya what, I have spent all morning thinking about what exactly I wanted to write for this piece this week. When I finally sat down (an hour and a half late of my deadline) I still had no clue. I decided I’d just touch on each of the things on my mind this week. more

It’s Halloween weekend, and you are hosting a party. The food is prepared, and the decorations are top notch with a 12-foot-tall skeleton standing outside to greet the guests, but what’s this? There is no music? Oh no! What will you do? Fear not, imaginary person I came up with. I have a list of songs you can play to get the heads rolling. In no particular order, here are five songs to get spooky! more