Slimantics: Reeves is running against himself ­-- and losing

A comedian once explained why grandparents are so much nicer than parents: "It's because they're old and they want to go to heaven."

Possumhaw: Two men and a ladder

You know, I saw a meme once depicting a man straddled across a stairway with one foot on a ladder and the other braced on the wall. The caption said, "Why women live longer than men."

Ask Rufus: The Sugar Famine of 1919

Few people have heard of the sugar famine of 1919 and its impact on Columbus, but 100 years ago a headline in the Columbus Dispatch read, "Sugar Famine Strikes Columbus."

Slimantics: State candidates are backed into a corner on taxes

One of the interesting things about watching candidates for statewide races is how they have to tiptoe around the issues that continue to face our state. From roads and bridges to education to the tenuous condition of our rural hospitals, every candidate who isn't Tate Reeves thinks we have serious problems.

Possumhaw: Do you see what I see?

Two weeks into fall and walking across the yard feels like walking on potato chips.

Partial to Home: Squalid indifference

Ask Rufus: Outline of Early Columbus History

As we approach the upcoming bicentennial of the official recognition of the Town of Columbus on December 6, 1819, I realized that a revised timeline of early Columbus history would be in order.

Slimantics: City council stumbles out of the starting block

On the first day of the fiscal year, the Columbus city council put itself squarely between a rock and a hard place and will soon have to choose one bad policy over another.

Possumhaw: Old dogs, children and watermelon wine

It was 1992 when a friend asked me to a Tim McGraw concert at the MSU Coliseum with free tickets. I said "Yes," having no idea who Tim McGraw was. By the time we were on our way to the concert I was outfitted in cowboy boots, jeans and a plaid shirt. When Garth Brooks came in 1992 as County Music Entertainer of the Year, I was there.

Partial to Home: An afternoon on the banks of the Ohio

When someone, who knows you well, gives you a list of sites to visit in and around his hometown and one of them is a place called Rabbit Hash, chances are, if you have the time and any curiosity, you're going to give it a look.

Ask Rufus: Sam Houston's Columbus Visit

"Gen. Houston, Late President of the Republic of Texas ... arrived in this city on Saturday evening last, in the steamer Victoria, from Mobile." So began a newspaper article in the May 21, 1839, Southern Argus of Columbus.

Slimantics: Three chords and the truth: Burn's documentary is pitch perfect

On Wednesday evening, the final segment of Ken Burns' epic documentary "Country Music" aired on PBS. Eight years in the making, the 16-hour, eight-part series chartered the birth, growth and evolution of this distinctly American music genre from the 1920s -- when it arose as a mix of black Southern blues, immigrant folk songs and church hymns -- through 1996, with the arrival of a new wave of popular country music dominated by superstar performers and perhaps not for the better.

Possumhaw: Take the sting out of fall

It was midday and only 79 degrees; the wind was slightly blowing while clouds covered the sky. Hallelujah, a little break in the weather, though the earth was still dry and desert-like.

Partial to Home: Simply messing around in books about boats and rivers

Awhile back I included in an emailed invitation to a friend to go paddling on the Columbus Lake near the lock and dam a quote from Kenneth Grahame's classic "The Wind in the Willows."

Ask Rufus: Aberdeen and its beginnings

It's often the unrelated and unexpected finds made while researching a topic that turn out to be the most interesting.

Slimantics: A useful lesson from a curious Swede

Curiosity killed the cat, but it does not appear to have done Ulf Nils Rasmusson any harm.

Best of the Triangle 2019

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2019 Dining Guide