By Richard G. Biever Pioneering aviator Amelia Earhart is remembered most for how her life ended. Her tragic disappearance over the Pacific while trying to girdle the globe in 1937 remains a mystery that still evokes a sense of wistful sadness and loss. But her most endearing legacy, especially at Purdue University where she was… Continue reading.

Chris Chastain’s first experience with an electric cooperative was as a “fuzzy” — a nickname the linemen and outdoor crews gave to college kids hired as summer interns. “I suppose that probably derived from the peach fuzz still on our faces,” Chastain says. But, what the Rose-Hulman electrical engineering student saw at his hometown electric… Continue reading.

By Richard G. Biever On or about April 8, 1952, an 18-year-old baseball player with an unusual swing packed a small travel bag for his first road trip. He hugged his weeping mother; waved goodbye to his dad, siblings, and coach at the train station; and was off to join his first professional team for… Continue reading.

Pike County is named after Zebulon Pike, the Western explorer for whom Pikes Peak in Colorado also was named. But the person from Pike County to scale the loftiest heights was baseball star Gil Hodges. Hodges, the former Brooklyn Dodger and manager of the New York Mets who died suddenly 50 years ago April 2,… Continue reading.

Location, location, location is the mantra in real estate, but is also applies to your yard this time of year when you want to lower energy bills and create curb appeal. Positioning the right combination of plants and trees can yield shade, beautify, and unearth energy savings. Such smart or energy-efficient landscaping, claims the U.S…. Continue reading.

In fact, the U.S. Department of Energy estimates that the typical family spends up to 18 percent of its utility dollars on water heating. Good news: It’s simple to lower that cost. Here are six tips: Get rid of your old showerheads and bathroom faucets.  They pump out way more water than you need to… Continue reading.

Saving energy isn’t difficult, but it’s not automatic. You need to plan to buy energy-efficient appliances and to develop energy-wise lifestyle habits.  Here are 15 easy things to do around the house to save electricity and pare down your energy bill: Adjust your thermostat. Even one or two degrees can add up to great savings. … Continue reading.

I’m a sucker for household hints, those tried-and-true tips designed to help you clean up, tidy up and make your home a better place to be. Anytime I can save time or money, or cleverly repurpose something I never thought I could, is a great time as far as I’m concerned. So, just in time… Continue reading.

I remember eating dirt as a preschooler totally oblivious to the fact that it was, well, dirty. And, in the not-so-distant past, though I certainly washed my hands throughout the day, I rarely used disinfectant wipes and hand sanitizer. I would, I suppose, when I wasn’t near a faucet before digging into my French fries… Continue reading.

By Richard G. Biever Between a drought and a lack of pollinators, the Community Share Gardens at Lebanon’s St. Peter’s Episcopal Church had little harvest to share in 2013. But help soon came from above — on the wings of … not a snow white dove … but honeybees. From the church’s small but active… Continue reading.

Jay County, which sits along on Indiana’s eastern edge with Ohio, is a portal into significant passages of Indiana geography, history, and culture. To name three: The Wabash River. Indiana’s official state river enters Indiana through Jay County. The river’s origin is just over the state line, and the Wabash meekly flows in along Jay… Continue reading.

If your garage doubles as a catch-all room for junk you haven’t gotten around to getting rid of, your house has a its own den of hazardswaiting to happen. If you want your garage to be safe for your family to park cars, retrieve sports equipment or even root around for lost stuff, clean it… Continue reading.