Out and About Blog by Norm Stutesman

With Christmas just a week away, your time to mail your parcels, has just about run out. If you’re a procrastinator, you still have seven days. If you still need to make that trip to the post office, please note that you may have to wait in line for a few minutes. It may seem longer than that, but I …

I have always believed in fate, and that the world is small. The saying, “It’s a small world”, came true the Friday after this past Thanksgiving, often referred to as “BLACK FRIDAY”. My wife and I enjoy visiting a particular eating establishment near Constantine on Friday evenings. Upon arriving there on Black Friday, we discovered that it was temporarily closed, …

Ah, the holiday shopping season is now in full forward motion. With “Black Friday” behind us, we can now venture into the stores without fear of being trampled, stomped on, or being severely scratched. I’d like to give the ladies a few suggestions, so that when they shop for that man in their life, they might have an idea what …

Welcome to Thanksgiving week. The day after tomorrow, everyone should take a few minutes to sit back and reflect on the many things that they should be thankful for. This should be done prior to sitting down and stuffing yourself with too much food, then assuming a prone position on the couch and watching your favorite football team lose. A …

My office is a mess. I consider it my den, or it may also be considered my “Man Cave”. I use the office for several different things. I, of course, prepare my column here; I also handle a lot of Lions Club business, do a quarterly high school class newsletter, and have recently taken over preparing the monthly Lions Club …

This past weekend was another weekend spent in “God’s Country”. My wife and I attended a seminar held at the R.A. MacMullan Center near Roscommon, Michigan. We’ve both attended seminars there in the past, so we were looking forward to this opportunity to gather once again with about one hundred of our closest friends, enjoy some great food, share a …

Welcome to November and the holiday season. There are already Christmas decorations out, but they’ve been out for a week or so, so this isn’t any real news. We still have Thanksgiving to look forward to, and I have plenty to be thankful for this year. This past weekend you should have set your clocks back one hour. If you …

In last week’s column, I told about a trip that we made up north to the West Branch area, and I mentioned specifically about visiting the small town of Fairview, which was where many of my aunts, uncles, grandmother, and cousins lived during my childhood years. This trip back affected me in a way that I’ve never been affected before. …

We missed the Annual Color Tour again this year. We spent the weekend of October 13 up north near West Branch and Gaylord. We would have enjoyed the Color Tour, but the colors up north were quite spectacular, plus, we were expected to attend an Appreciation Dinner for one of the governors on my council. We had fun visiting, and …

My father used to ask for my help from time to time. I really became needed during my high school years, when I was usually busy working a part-time job or hanging out with my buddies. I generally made it to the end of the driveway, before I’d hear, “Norman, come here. I need your help.” He really didn’t need …