Over the course of covering 30-plus Putnam County Fairs, I've formulated my own series of platitudes about the fair and when to really consider it in full swing. To me, the fair never officially starts until we've been rained on at least once (that's been every day so far)...

Until recently, cemeteries essentially were something I have mostly hoped to stay out of for as long as humanly possible. But on a recent visit to Boone-Hutcheson Cemetery, the beauty of the rural surroundings captivated me. The property is nothing short of beautiful to behold with a gorgeous backdrop of the Big Walnut Valley creating postcard-like photo opportunities all around...

Growing up in the Chicago suburbs, one of the great delights of my youth was listening to WLS Radio and particularly disc jockey Larry Lujack and his "Animal Stories" segments. That's where "Old Uncle Lar" would read "Little Snot-Nosed Tommy" an exaggerated and weirdly written animal-related story that never failed to entertain and always ended with Little Tommy pleading,"Is the (insert beaver, buffalo or baboon here) OK, Uncle Lar?"...

If you've been following the work of the Greencastle City Council in recent weeks, you know that its members have endeavored to right some longtime wrongs by turning a couple of perilous intersections into four-way stops. One is the no-brainer at Vine and Franklin streets, where even before Wasser Brewing Co. ...

We're right in the thick of baseball season these days as pennant races loom. And football season awaits, kicking off within the week in the college ranks. But keeping our eye on the ball here in Greencastle, we know it's really music season. As The Zombies once sang, "it's the time of the season when love runs high."...

Perhaps not since Frank Valli, his falsetto and the Four Seasons has anyone hit the high notes better than the last four mayors of Greencastle in their recent panel appearance at DePauw University. The brainchild of DePauw political science professor Bruce Stinebrickner, the two-hour mayoral event earlier this month was interesting, insightful, funny and a great reminder of how far we've come as a community and how we've gotten there...

Honestly, I don't know what it is about me and musicals. I enjoy the heck out of some of them. Others not so much. "Guys and Dolls" is an oldie but a goodie. I inherited my appreciation of that from my dad, who had me singing "I got a horse right here, his name is Paul Revere ..." when I was about nine. And betting harness races when I was 15...

In what probably should have been a foreboding admission but my "ex" never got into "Seinfeld." In fact, she acknowledged she only watched it because that's what everybody would be talking about it the next morning at work and she didn't want to be left out of the conversation...

Ad-libs, political zingers, a dash of innuendo and a few quips about our Hoosier neighbors from Carmel to Greenwood ... What could be more fun than all that rolled into a whodunit in which the audience helps determine the culprit? And no, it wasn't Col. Mustard or Professor Plum, candlestick or not...

OK, so it's not even officially winter yet, and already I'm over it. The first day of our annual winter indignation doesn't technically arrive until next Wednesday (Dec. 21), yet here we are already talking single digits and windchills and school delays...

Being a Chicago Cubs' fan has instilled in me several virtues over the course of my lifetime. Perseverance. Loyalty. Humility. Futility. Patience. Ah, patience. It wasn't bad enough that the baseball gods made us wait 71 years for a return to the World Series and 108 years to repeat victory there. But when the Cubs whittled all that frustration down to one single, solitary baseball game Wednesday night, they felt compelled to tax our patience even more...

It's been 36 hours or so now and my feet are still moving like the music is still playing. Wow, was that a great time Saturday evening on the courthouse square or what? Like R-O-C-K in the U.S.A. good ... Crash! Boom! Bang! The seventh annual Greencastle Music Festival certainly didn't disappoint...

Marvin's -- the Greencastle eatery that famously "delivers anywhere" -- has made some noteworthy "deliveries" over the years. There was that time students unfurled a "Marvin's delivers" sign on Red Square in Moscow and found themselves in some Cold War hot water...

OK, so another Putnam County Fair has come and gone for another year. So what did we learn from the fair this year? We learned that the annual big gulleywasher rainstorm doesn't always come on Sunday or Monday to make the parking a muddy mess for the entire week. It came on Thursday night this time, threatening to send several cars floating away and causing the cheerleading contest to scramble inside at South Putnam...

Once upon a time it was simple enough ordering your favorite soft drink. You had your choice between Coke and Pepsi, Dr. Pepper and 7-Up. OK, maybe Royal Crown Cola and Nehi, too. Then all that diet soda came along, followed by decaffeinated drinks and crazy flavors and Mountain Dew and now grocery stores need both sides of an entire aisle just to display all the varieties of pop...

My parents have been gone now for several years, but it never ceases to amaze me what can bring them right back to top of the mind for me. Of course, it's April 20 and that always makes me think of Mom. April 20 was her birthday, which I always delighted in reminding her was also the birthday of one Adolf Hitler. You know, I'd remind her, that astrology stuff is pretty accurate. Birds of a feather and all that...

OK, all you "Lion King" fans, sing it with me ... "It's the Circle of Life And it moves us all Through despair and hope Through faith and love." Yes, life throws you some real curveballs sometimes, not to mention the occasional change-up, slider and knuckleball. None more sweeping than the recent plunge into the Circle of Life I experienced...

Just so you all know, I don't often get sick ... but when I do, I sure wish I could blame it on Dos Equis. Yea, that certainly would be a much better cause-and-effect circumstance than what I've been dealing with the past 2-1/2 weeks. It's the ravages of the common cold, not the aftereffects of Mexican beer that have hit me hard...

Sure signs of signs are upon us. It's staying lighter out longer, even without arguing over daylight saving time. Locally Dairy Castle is open again, ushering in a flurry of activity destined to last until nearly Thanksgiving. And Donald Trump recently saw his shadow, predicting six more weeks of political cold fronts on the election scene...

Since moving from one house on 18th Avenue to another with the same numeric address on 20th Avenue in the Chicago suburb of Broadview, Ill., I calculate I have moved eight times. Eight is enough. Believe me. More than enough. I'm finishing up Move No. 8 one Jeep Commander load at a time now from one side of Greencastle to another. There won't be another move now that I have found a quaint, little brick bungalow in the middle of town. That's it, this is home now...