Columns

 I find myself in a bit of Christmas quandary this week.

See, the plan in our house this year was to try to instill the Christmas spirit in our 7-year-old son.

And I don’t mean a big tree – we’ve covered that – more lights and few extra trips to see Santa.

No, we have that part covered.

Our kids love Christmas, and they could not be more excited for it to get here. If I’ve heard “I wish today was Christmas morning!” once, I’ve heard it 50 times.

Iused to think that New Year’s resolutions were silly, a weak-minded way to make myself change.

If I wanted to change during the year, I’d just do it.

And in my younger years, I would. It was easy, I’d just implement whatever change I needed to make.

More exercise – no problem. I’ll start running today and hit the gym tomorrow.

Read more – check. I’ll just set aside an hour each day to devote to my newest book.

The tragic shootings in Charleston, S.C., last week have left many reeling in the wake of the racist/terroristic events.

I certainly am one of those.

It was an event that hit a little too close to home for me.

Some of you may know that my wife and I attended school in South Carolina. Not in Charleston, unfortunately, but in Columbia at the University of South Carolina. However, we both spent a good deal of time in the Holy City.

It’s a unique place. We always described it as so much more.

Small stalks, small ears, poor kernel development… does this describe your corn crop this year? Or maybe the raccoons absconded with the crop!

If this sounds like you there may be several factors at work. Drought at the wrong time can stunt your corn crop and cold damage can stunt corn. If you put your crop out early you could see a little stunting from a late spring cold snap. And poor drainage and poor soil fertility, especially nitrogen, can stunt the crop as well.