What are solitary bees?
Not all bees live in a big community with a queen and workers. Some bees live alone and, although they do not produce honey or beeswax, they are important…
Author: Rick Good
Rick Good spent ten years in the newspaper business, including with The News & Observer (Raleigh, NC) and The Greenville News (Greenville, SC). He co-wrote, with Melinda Coleman, Rutledge to Riley: Governors of South Carolina, 1776–Present (Published by The Greenville News), and is the author of Mind Games Trivia #1 (Amazon). He has recently spent 15 years creating original trivia content through Sounds Good Mobile Entertainment and continues that with his new company, SGME Software. He edits The Smart Reader's money, real estate, and business coverage.
Egg, chicken prices rise
If you have noticed the shocking rise of egg and chicken prices lately, the problem is not merely inflation: Bird flu is back. Since start of the outbreak…
Best annuals to attract pollinators
Pollinators like bees usually prefer herbs and garden perennials to annuals, since most annuals have been bred for showy flowers instead of pollen and…
Protect your backyard birds
Bird flu is back — not among humans, thankfully — but our flying friends are passing it around, and one likely hot spot: backyard feeders. A nationwide…
Make a solitary bee house
They sound lonely, but they’re really not. Solitary bees are excellent pollinators and you can encourage them to set up shop in your backyard with a…
Quote: Dad debates
Dad debates “In debates, our father’s word on a topic was dispositive…He loved expounding on matters, and, given his broad erudition, we considered him…
Give that mower a new lease on life
If your lawn mower is a few years old and not running as it did when it was new, don’t give up on it yet. The average life span of a mower in the U.S. is…
What the ocean does for your head
You may love to go to the beach, but it isn’t so much what you do there as what it does to you. The beach boosts mood. That may sound a little obvious…
Happy Father’s Day! Today’s dads are present and caring
A wonderful thing has happened to fathers since the day of the “man in the gray flannel suit.” That was in the 1950s and 1960s when kids were expected to…
Fireworks use ingredients from many places
What goes into the brilliant flashes and displays of fireworks? Ingredients from many places, according to American Geosciences. Among them: Gunpowder for…