Trick Pony in park was picturesque

If we can stay married until Friday we?ll be celebrating 40 years of, as they say, ?wedded bliss.? We were married on a Thursday night which is probably an unusual day of the week for a wedding.

The reason was I had to be back by Monday to put out another edition of the weekly newspaper. Nancy says now she should have known then that something wasn?t quite right.

We?re on the ?get in with a button? circuit this summer.

First the Hillsboro Family Festival, then Chingawassa and now on to the Smoky River Festival this weekend to hear Asleep at the Wheel.

What is it about kids who want to get a mohawk haircut?

Just this week I?ve heard about a ball team on which almost every kid has one and witnessed a kid asking his mom if he could get one.

I wanted one, too, when I was that age but didn?t even ask because I already knew what the answer would be.

This item comes from the Boomtown USA blog: Each year the Kauffman Foundation ranks states on their entrepreneurial activity. This past year Montana was ranked as the most entrepreneurial with 600 entrepreneurs for every 100,000 residents (0.60 percent). The others in the top five were Mississippi (0.52), Georgia (0.44), Oklahoma (0.43) and Maine (0.42). The lowest levels of entrepreneurism were in Michigan (0.16), Pennsylvania (0.17), South Carolina (0.18), Illinois (0.18) and Delaware (0.19).

The states that have experienced the largest percentage increase in entrepreneurism over the past decade were Mississippi, Hawaii, Rhode Island and Arkansas. Those with the largest decrease were Alaska, North Dakota, New Mexico, Tennessee and Kansas.

Entrepreneurism is the key driver of future economic development in rural America. Those communities, regions and states that have it as a priority are the ones that will thrive.

With the Internet and computers and the ease of transferring information I find it odd that we still have to file claims for drug benefits. Maybe the insurance companies think we?ll forget or are too lazy to file them.

There was an earlier version of Hillsboro Hardware that occupied a good portion of the center of North Main?s west side?only a bit farther south than the present one at 121 N. Main.

It was owned and operated by John ?Hardware? Rempel and Harry Funk. Thee Bookstore is now located in the main part of that old hardware store.

I remember that they had just about anything you could want. There were big, round wooden bins of bolts and nails plus wood cabinets filled with hardware items. I know that is where I bought the wheels for a go-kart I was building in the late ?50s.