Out and About Blog by Norm Stutesman

I can safely say that we are all a little guilty of pre-judging people. I know that I have done it many times. First impressions can be beneficial, but they can also be detrimental. How many times have we been swayed by some well-dressed individual, who turns out to be a snake oil salesperson? How many times have we ignored …

As I get Out and About, I can’t help but notice how many friends and acquaintances are doing the same, but with much more difficulty. The other day at the post office, I met a friend walking with a cane. He thought that he was experiencing problems with his leg. His doctor informed him that it wasn’t his leg that …

Summer doesn’t actually begin until around June 22, but the “Summer Season” arrived Monday, Memorial Day. This means that gentlemen may now wear white shoes, white shorts, and black socks. Warning: If you do this, you’ll be showing your age. The ladies may continue dressing in any way they wish. They do not need any coaching. Oh, I almost forgot. …

The internet is full of remedies: everything from curing toenail fungus to preventing baldness. Some of these remedies actually work, and some are just plain crazy and could be harmful to your health. I have several skin tags on my upper body that I’d really like to get rid of. As a matter of fact, one physician in town refers …

Since returning home to Three Rivers in  1996, I’ve spent a lot of time reflecting on those years I spent growing up here in my hometown. I long for those days when things seemed simpler. The downtown didn’t have any empty buildings. There were several shoe stores, cafes, ladies and men’s clothing shops, two active movie theaters, a couple of newspaper …

If I stopped spending money at the grocery store next week, they would never even notice I was gone. If you and I were to take a small fraction of our grocery money and spend it at the Farmers’ Market, we would help a local farmer pay the rent. We might even help save his farm. Please watch this paper …

This evening (Tuesday), the community gathers at Belle Epoque to celebrate Al Heivilin. Al was chosen as this year’s Bruce C. Snook Citizen of the Year. If you do not have a ticket for the banquet, I’m afraid you’re out of luck, because tickets will not be available at the door. On behalf of the Three Rivers Lions Club and …

If it weren’t for friends on LinkedIn, I would have forgotten that this month marks nine years of doing the “Out and About” column. The column has changed a bit since the first column in April 2006, but my enthusiasm for putting it together has only grown. There never seems to be a lack of things to comment on and …

The last time I checked, we humans have five senses, sight, hearing, smell, touch, and taste. If you were to count “common”, that would be six. “Common” is probably the one sense that most of us are missing, and that is a shame. If I had to give up one of the other five, it would be a very difficult …

Parenting is probably the most challenging task a person can undertake. In most cases, learning how to parent is strictly on-the-job training. Oh, you can take classes on how to properly parent, or how to handle certain situations, but these classes and handbooks are most of the time written or conducted by individuals who have never been parents. It is …