Out and About Blog by Norm Stutesman

Monday was Memorial Day, a day to remember those who paid the ultimate sacrifice in service to their country. There were several parades in St. Joseph County, which, hopefully, many of you attended. The parades, by tradition, or respect, were silent, which means that you shouldn’t have heard any sirens. In Three Rivers and Mendon, there was an honor guard …

This Friday is our tenth anniversary. This will not make the front page of a newspaper, because being married for ten years is nothing compared to someone being married fifty or more. I mention this because we’ve both been married before, so we realize what can happen if you don’t consistently work together to make the marriage a success. I …

I wish that I were more of a reader. I read about two books a year, which is something that I’m not proud of. I receive several magazines monthly and I usually end up adding them to a stack of other magazines, with intentions of reading them later when I have more time. What I should do is set aside …

I recently attended a Saturday morning meeting in Lansing. The trip usually takes a little less than two hours, so I planned to stop for a quick breakfast at a diner near the intersection of M-60 and I-69. I usually allow myself a few extra minutes for breakfast, because you never know how busy the place is going to be, …

I’m sure it was more than a couple of years ago that I mentioned the fact that Bowman Park, on North Main Street, doesn’t contain a single bench. Lafayette Park, which is also located on North Main Street, across from Hoppin School, has at least two benches. I mention this only because a reader asked me why this was the …

It’s becoming more and more difficult to tell the difference between the makes of cars these days. Back in the Fifties this problem didn’t exist. Back then there were no KIAs or other many other foreign cars here in the USA. General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler dominated the automotive market. Now, it’s next to impossible to tell the year of …

I’m at that age when my list of goals isn’t all that large. I’ve done about as much damage as I can and have tried to live a life that my parents would be proud of. I still strive to be a better person than I was ten years ago, and I do that by surrounding myself with good people. …

Beware, for the Tax Man cometh. If you haven’t met with your tax person yet, you might want to make arrangements soon. I applaud those who have submitted their tax information and paid what they owed. I also envy those who are getting money back. The latter is getting harder to do every year. I try my best to let …

Welcome to the month of April. We’ll have to see if “April showers will bring May flowers”. My how time flies. This month marks ten years that I’ve been putting this column together. I’ve loved every minute of it, because the column gives me the opportunity to share my thoughts and adventures with you readers. I’ve learned a lot about …

We set our clocks ahead one hour over two weeks ago, we celebrated Palm Sunday, Good Friday, and Easter, so this has to be spring. It’s one of my favorite times of the year, because I can usually leave the house without a jacket and not have to worry about scraping the ice off my car windows. On the subject …