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(2008/09/07)
Area fans of old cars are in for a treat: The nation’s largest annual antique auto tour will be right in your back yard.
(2008/09/07)
Donald Zimmerman of Onalaska certainly has a car that would qualify for the AAA Revival Glidden Tour, but he’s not all that keen on putting a lot of miles on it.
(2008/09/07)
“Jennifer is so lame. She has no friends. Everyone hates her.” Imagine your 12-year-old daughter’s reaction — not to mention the long-term effect on her self esteem — if she discovered those words on a Web site created by other students at her school, a widely circulated e-mail or a text message forwarded to several dozen of her classmates.
(2008/09/07)
When Holmen’s Dan Marcou wrote his first novel about the exploits of a Wisconsin police officer, he wasn’t sure if he wanted to write a second. To Marcou, the book was kind of like a message in a bottle and he wanted to see if it would produce any responses.
(2008/09/07)
Just when it seemed that we would never get out of the constant cycle of muggy warm weather, a pleasant blast of cool dry air made the final weeks of August a pleasant surprise. With night temperatures in the 50s to the 30s in some places, we could leave our windows open and hear the sound of crickets again.
(2008/09/07)
How many times do we find an author we enjoy, voraciously read everything written by that author and then it’s back to the old drawing board looking for a new voice to catch our imagination and take us on another great ride? As a library employee, I am often asked for suggestions by patrons who have run out of books by their favorite authors.
(2008/09/07)
What happens when you pray for rain and, instead the sun shines?
(2008/09/07)
Scratch. Scratch. Scratch. Is your child’s feeling really itchy. Could it be head lice? Fall will soon be here, children have returned to school and the topic of head lice often returns.
(2008/09/03)
Two annual events this Labor Day weekend pack in a lot of horsepower, and we’re not talking Thunderstox. The Wisconsin High School Rodeo Association two-day rodeo and the Northern Chapter Wisconsin Pony of the Americas show will bring a small army of horses and young equestrians to the area.
(2008/09/03)
As an entomology professor at the University of Arizona at Tucson, Gordon Waller was known for knowing an awful lot about bugs. In fact, he was an nationally known expert on bees, but he was bugged by his lack of knowledge about his own family history.
(2008/09/03)
When Father Robert Schaller was in college, he spent a summer in Germany, in part because he was studying German. More importantly, he said, “there was something in me that wanted to see that land that my ancestors came from.”
(2008/09/03)
There’s a new book out about perhaps the Coulee Region’s most famous native son. “Hamlin Garland: A Life,” only the second biography of the novelist, writer and essayist ever published — the first came out 40 years ago — required almost a decade of research and writing by its author, Keith Newlin.
(2008/09/03)
August brought more sightings of great blue herons, at least for me. Especially when visiting Goose Island, which is not far from my La Crosse home, more of the big birds were visible from the roads. As I’ve mentioned before, it is often worth the wait to park and watch the herons as they wade around and stalk prey.
(2008/09/03)
Our grandchildren Allison, 4, and Ben, who will be 3 soon, were absorbed in play on the floor in our living room during their visit last week — Ben with a puzzle and Allie with a wooden train that her mother and uncle once played with when they were small.
(2008/09/03)
As a parent, you and your children are engaged in very important interactions — where your child is learning, doing and growing, and as a parent you are trying to help your child learn, behave and grow in appropriate ways. This is called guidance/discipline, according to Kenneth E. Barber, Washington State University Extension family life specialist.
(2008/09/03)
Here’s a dilemma for you Christians awaiting the rapture: How are you going to leave instructions for your less-religious next of kin?
(2008/09/03)
In January 1899, a resolution was introduced in the Assembly to prohibit tight lacing of women’s corsets.
(2008/08/27)
It was a friend dying in his arms while waiting for an ambulance that spurred Ron Kane to bring emergency services to Brice Prairie back in 1983.
(2008/08/27)
Four years ago, Brian Schroeder was a phenom, a prodigy, a 16-year-old Holmen High School sophomore who recorded and released a CD on his own that sold out its printing of 1,000 copies in a matter of weeks. He also was wowing people with his soulful vocals and prowess on piano and guitar in live performances at a variety of venues.
(2008/08/27)
A close-up glance of Pope Benedict XVI capped off three exciting weeks of winter in Australia for 18 area youths from St. Patrick’s Catholic Parish in Onalaska.
(2008/08/27)
A natural bonus for finding wildflowers or watching your own garden is the sight of butterflies visiting the flowers. Some gardeners plant certain flowers and shrubs specifically to attract the colorful insects. But however you find them, butterflies are a treat to watch.
(2008/08/27)
More than half a billion dollars have evaporated from the Wisconsin landscape like dew on a summer morning. That’s the amount of wages lost to the Wisconsin economy in 2007 based on the number of paper industry jobs lost in the last decade.
(2008/08/27)
As your child heads off to college in the fall, you may be wondering what am I going to do now that the kids are gone.
(2008/08/27)
Has your teen had his or her annual physical yet? Did you know that the Academy of Pediatrics recommends that your child see his or her provider every year for a complete physical?
(2008/08/27)
In his new book, “So Brave, Young and Handsome,” Leif Enger beautifully blends friendship and adventure in a tale rivaling those featuring Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn. It is a story of a wonderful time gone by where outlaws look like winking Santas and stories are as big as the West.
(2008/08/27)
In August and September, millions of young people will be moving from the security of their homes to a new destination. Some will attend college while others will move to new adventures.
(2008/08/19)
Elvis Presley died 31 years ago this Saturday, but a talk with some of the area’s biggest Elvis fans makes it clear that his music and his life still resonate strongly — even if those fans were just children when he passed on.
(2008/08/19)
Restless Heart is out to prove it’s never too late to mend fences.
(2008/08/19)
Growing up as one of 10 kids, the Rev. Kevin Jacobson didn’t necessarily dream of a globetrotting lifestyle, but his parents always encouraged the children to get to know all kinds of people “and to open our eyes to the world and let the world influence us.”
(2008/08/19)
The elderly in La Crosse County need a lot of help, and Joan Beebe has been volunteering to provide some of that help for more than 10 years. For that, she (and the people she helps) has her mother to thank.
(2008/08/19)
The rain garden, a new type of garden springing up in yards across the country, can improve quality of lakes and streams and protect drinking water supplies — while adding an attractive, low-maintenance landscape feature to lawns and gardens.
(2008/08/19)
The town of Holland will host a hands-on rain garden workshop from 8 a.m. to noon Saturday, Aug. 23, at Holland Town Hall on Highway MH.
(2008/08/19)
While sitting on a wooded knoll overlooking a bend in the Kickapoo River, I couldn’t help but think of the rocks underneath. I knew that the sandstone bedrock had been exposed by the cutting action of the river below and presented a scenic cliff to canoeists and hikers viewing it from the river itself. A few moments earlier, I was exploring a section of that same cliff, located in the Kickapoo Valley Reserve in Vernon County.
(2008/08/19)
Sometimes when I’m in a reflective mood I try to picture my grandmother and my father sitting together at a kitchen table in a house before my time. It’s a house my grandfather converted from a small barn that he moved onto a foundation on what was then the outskirts of Albert Lea, Minn.
(2008/08/19)
The numbers of people uninsured continues to rise nationwide, but Wisconsin is bucking the trend with the success of its BadgerCare Plus public health insurance program. But while BadgerCare Plus is widely available, many of those for whom it was designed aren’t yet aware they are eligible for coverage.
(2008/08/19)
Have I got a couple of great reads for you! I just came back from our family vacation and, since it was over eight hours away, I finally had some time to catch up on some of my favorite authors’ newest books.
(2008/08/12)
Last spring, Jacob Rybold pulled into the parking lot of Westby High School with his immaculately restored 1964 1/2 Ford Mustang. And like you might expect when a 17-year-old shows up at high school in a show-quality car, it attracted a big of attention.
(2008/08/12)
When Ken Cvikota wants to ride in style — old style — he’s got plenty of options. He could drive a 1960 Thunderbird, a 1962 Thunderbird Sport Roadster convertible, a 1972 Buick convertible, a 1930 Model A coupe or a 1930 Model A Phaeton.
(2008/08/12)
It was a sad time last week for some area men. Dave Holthaus, a barber since 1960, is taking down his red, white and blue pole, unbolting the vintage swiveling chair and calling it quits.
(2008/08/12)
Every week during the summer there is a fishing derby of some sort along the Upper Mississippi River. Most of them target bass or walleyes but once in a while something different comes along. Last week, Tuna’s Bar in Genoa, Wis., held its second fishing derby for 2008, but the target fish was the sheepshead rather than its more famous river relatives.
(2008/08/12)
Gretchen emerged from the head-high canes of our blackberry patch, her hat slightly askew, her basket brimming with glistening thimble-sized berries and a long scratch across the back of her picking hand oozing a thin line of red. She smiled as she shooed away a mosquito.
(2008/08/12)
Oh, how I loved my ’82 Volvo. It was a beautiful cream color and had only 500 miles on it when I bought it in 1982. Friends teased me about driving the aerodynamic equivalent of a shoebox, but it served me well and I thought it was gorgeous.
(2008/08/12)
We have not had many people preserving home-grown produce and meats over the past decade, but with recent increases, many people think that they can beat rising food prices by growing and preserving food at home. Food preservation may save money for some, but not necessarily everyone.
(2008/08/12)
In today’s fast-paced world, it seems that as soon as people overcome one obstacle or achieve one goal, they’re onto the next. They lose their first five pounds and immediately shift their attention to the next 15 they want to lose. They clean their cluttered basements and move onto the garage. Or they get a much-coveted work promotion only to fix their eyes on the next one.
(2008/08/12)
If I were a gambling man, I would guess that most of us at one time or another lived in an apartment complex. Some of us will spend the majority if not all of our life living in these buildings. There’s nothing wrong with that as long as the building and fire protection systems are being maintained in good working order.
(2008/08/06)
Ladies, lace up your skates. Roller derby competitions are making a comeback. After an almost 35-year hiatus, women are taking to the rink to play a new version of roller derby.
(2008/08/06)
a wide variety of participants By JO ANNE KILLEEN Staff writer For ice hockey fanatics who can’t wait for the season to begin, there’s a new league in town. The new roller hockey league is rolling to a successful inaugural season at the Onalaska OmniCenter.
(2008/08/06)
Matt Kline scored a home run off a low and inside pitch to kick off a new season on a new team. Sounds like a sports story, but it’s not — it’s a love story.
(2008/08/06)
Last Friday was like “Christmas in July” for Onalaska native Lynzi Zettler — a special day, complete with Christmas music, as she danced to “The 12 Days of Christmas” and “Let Christmas Shine” in the Radio City Rockettes Summer Intensive Student Showcase in the Beacon Theatre in New York City.
(2008/08/06)
For the second time this summer I saw a brilliant yellow shelf mushroom growing at the base of a tree near the west boat landing on Goose Island. This time it was a different tree, but it was the same kind of fungus — the chicken or sulfur mushroom (Polyporus sulphureus).
(2008/08/06)
For all of my 40-some years in journalism, I have had a connection, of sorts, to lignin. It’s a component of newsprint such as you are holding in your hands as you read this. In fact it’s the component that causes newsprint to yellow in time. But that’s about all I know about lignin except that it’s part of the cell walls of plants and the term comes from the Latin word for wood.
(2008/08/06)
In traveling to and from the La Crosse Interstate Fair, I was thinking about what to write about in upcoming news columns. I know it is normally shortly after the fair that the first “back to school” specials are advertised.
(2008/07/30)
Camp Decorah, a nationally certified Boy Scout Camp on the Black River north of Holmen, has been drawing praise this summer from Scouts and Scout leaders alike.
(2008/07/30)
After 33 years of working in architectural design, Joyce Diveley thinks it may be time to give it up for a different kind of architecture. So welcome to the potting shed.
(2008/07/30)
One adventure I always look forward to every summer is a visit to the sundew patches in Jackson County. Most people would probably look at the same place and see grass-like sedges, huckleberry bushes, sphagnum moss and any number of other plants and wonder where all the sundews were.
(2008/07/30)
So I decided to take the summer off. From TV, I mean. Then I figured cold turkey was no way to live, and I let a few hours leak back into my weekly schedule. After all, the last time I gave up television, I got all antsy and twitchy and couldn’t wait for the week — yeah, it was only a week! — to end.
(2008/07/30)
“Audition” couldn’t be a more perfect title for Barbara Walters’ candid, graceful memoir.
(2008/07/30)
According to the National Fire Protection Association, in 2005 U.S. fire departments responded to an average of 20,900 home structure fires involving electrical distribution or lighting systems. These fires resulted in 500 civilian fire deaths, 1,100 civilian fire injuries and $862 million in property damage.
(2008/07/22)
Anyone who’s ever had houseguests overstay their welcome can sympathize with the plight of architect Willum Cubbert in Lary Shue’s “The Nerd.”
(2008/07/22)
Over the last few weeks, I have seen a lot of the purple to pink flowers of the crown vetch (Coronilla varia) along our roads, highways and in many fields around the Coulee Region. The plant blossoms every year from May to August and they present vast fields of pretty color.
(2008/07/22)
High winds and storms kept us off the water last weekend in the Boundary Waters. But I still count the long weekend as a huge success because we recovered something old and found something new.
(2008/07/22)
A few weeks ago, a writer named Chris Nashawaty wrote a column for “Entertainment Weekly” entitled “Superheroes: Why I Hate ‘Em!” The title is a little self-explanatory, but his basic thesis was that superheroes have killed summer movies. And, to be fair, the guy has a point.
(2008/07/22)
Are teens and credit cards a risky mix leading to debt and financial woes? Or do teens with credit cards have an opportunity to gain money management experience and a good credit history?
(2008/07/22)
Working and properly maintained smoke alarms are the most important pieces of electronic equipment in your home. Only smoke alarms are able to save your life in the event of a fire.
(2008/07/16)
While classmates are vegging out or working summer jobs, Onalaska High School Marching Band members are charging full speed ahead into a new year of music.
(2008/07/16)
A year after opening, the addition to the OmniCenter has not only hit its stride, but is outpacing projections. After a long nine years of planning, fundraising and building, the second building at the OmniCenter was finally completed and has substantially increased business and added to profitability.
(2008/07/16)
The Red Pines Bar and Grill has the bait that reels in hungry diners, with walleye cheeks as appetizers and catfish, walleye and sunfish platters and sandwiches, or half-pound burgers, chicken, pizza or fish sandwiches and entrees.
(2008/07/16)
Some of the participants in this year’s Breast Cancer 3-Day might have a lot of training to do to get ready for walking 60 miles in three days. As triathletes, though, Kati Wypyszynski and Barbie Midtlien have a head start.
(2008/07/16)
A person needs a pretty good reason to walk 60 miles, and Mary Lynn Sinclair and her husband, Rich, have got it: They want to fight breast cancer, and for them it’s personal.
(2008/07/16)
Often, I feel rather like a kid while chasing a frog or butterfly to get a good picture. I did much the same thing when I was 9 years old and I’ve been doing it ever since.
(2008/07/16)
On June 20, I noted that in six months, it would be Christmas. Yikes! And then I recalled that one month from that day would be the last day of the 118th La Crosse Interstate Fair.
(2008/07/16)
I found that an 8-inch cast iron frying pan works best, but you could use an 8-inch cake pan or an oven-proof skillet if you don't have an iron skillet.
(2008/07/16)
I love this time of year, admiring the time and effort that people have put into their bright green lawns and colorful flower beds, germinating vegetable gardens and blooming baskets. But how depressing to drive home and sigh at my own lawn bed of clover. Nurseries and retail garden shops are beginning to look picked over and the July heat puts everyone on alert to make watering a must, but there is still time to jump into the growing season.
(2008/07/16)
It was a beautiful summer morning, cool for early July. The early morning sun was warm on my back, but there was a breeze that washed across the parking lot where the farmers’ market had been set up.
(2008/07/10)
Now that the children are out of school, it won’t be long — if it hasn’t happened already — before they are complaining they are bored. Just in time, SimplyFun party planners are hosting game parties for kids and their parents to try out new games together.
(2008/07/10)
The Tennis Industry Association, U.S. Tennis Association and the trade magazine Racquet Sports Industry have recognized the La Crosse Country Club in Onalaska as one of the top 50 tennis welcome centers in the United States.
(2008/07/10)
Two Onalaska homes were winners in the La Crosse Area Builders Association’s 2008 Parade of Homes.
(2008/07/10)
Two area students, Elizabeth Justice of Holmen and Mark Trautmann of the town of Onalaska, have won prizes in the Kohl’s Kids Who Care contest that recognizes youths for their volunteer efforts.
(2008/07/10)
Employees of the county’s sheltered workshop for people with disabilities at the Lakeview Health Center in West Salem are hoping they will get the chance to help out area businesses in the Coulee Region this summer — and maybe earn some spending money in the process.
(2008/07/10)
If you have walked outdoors much lately you might have seen some frothy masses of bubbles that resemble spit attached to the stems and leaves of a number of plants. In fact, the creatures that make them are called spittlebugs. Out of curiosity, I inspected a juicy wad of the foam to see what was inside.
(2008/07/10)
Popular media creates the notion of instant and romantic relationships. Even though we all know they don’t happen that quickly, most people hope for satisfying relationships in their lives.
(2008/07/10)
In the coming weeks, I will report about an eating experiment my husband, Dave, and I and four friends are trying. We have jointly purchased a half-time share in a CSA or community supported agriculture.
(2008/07/10)
Air travel is not what it used to be. In years past, airline travel was considered a luxury with thoughtful flight attendants looking after sophisticated passengers. Today, airline travel conjures images of cramped cabins, delayed flights, lost luggage and correspondingly grumpy travelers.
(2008/07/10)
Wisconsin is an outdoor lover’s paradise, with rivers, lakes, forests, prairies and beaches around every corner. The book “50 Hikes in Wisconsin” by John and Ellen Morgan is just the book you need to find the trail that is suited to your needs.
(2008/07/10)
Since its discovery, fire has had a mesmerizing effect on humankind. Fire has a powerful emotional impact and meaning for most people. Any force so wonderful yet so destructive can easily be misunderstood and therefore misused.
(2008/07/10)
Wisconsin consumers need to be prepared for a new twist on a phone scam, warned the Wisconsin Bankers Association. The current scheme involves an offer to lower interest rates rather than previous scams that warned of compromised accounts.
(2008/07/10)
Jon Sheehy and I often talked about playing tennis together sometime. He would be making a deft adjustment to my glasses while we talked about tennis and other topics. Sometimes he would ask about something I had written in my column, a question, perhaps, about how my son was doing in Colorado or something about our mutual connection to eastern Wisconsin: Both he and his wife of 30 years, Cheri, grew up in the Reedsville area and Gretchen grew up in Brillion a few miles away.
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