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Today's News

  • Versatile, dry onion soup mix is more than just an onion dip

    Mixing sour cream with one of those dry onion soup mix envelopes was a staple at parties at our house a decade or so ago. It was a cheap and easy way to make a pretty yummy dip. And, with a bag of nacho chips and a bottle of wine, the dip would make the occasion festive.

    Then one day, I read the label on the onion soup mix envelope. The company suggested mixing their onion soup with ground beef for an onion meat loaf. It really added some zest to it. I decided to ask some friends what they used it in.

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  • Chill out and warm up by working out in the garden this winter

    For those of you suffering from an overdose of family, friends and holiday cheer, there’s another way to warm up on the short, chilly days of December. Get out and play in the dirt.

    Purists (and soil science professors) bristle at the mention of “dirt,” but “playing in the soil” doesn’t roll off the tongue. The stuff we grow plants in is soil. Once it’s under your fingernails or you track it into the house, it’s dirt.

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  • December gardening tips: Maintaining your Christmas tree

    If a lovely North Carolina Christmas tree is part of your home’s decorations this season, we have some tips to keep it looking its best:

    1) Keep the Christmas tree and all holiday plants watered and protected from hot or cold drafts. Christmas trees may take up lots of water the first day or two so keep a close eye on them. Christmas trees are not dangerous as long as they are green and pliable. If they dry out, they become dangerous.

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  • How to maintain and keep indoor plants healthy: Part II

    As a continuation of last week’s column, following are other factors to consider in caring for indoor plants:

    Humidity

    In a moderate humidity range of 20-40 percent, it is possible to grow a variety of plants; however, cacti and other succulents do well in a humidity range of 5-15 percent.

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  • Are Americans experiencing a spiritual crisis?

    All that one hears these days is a doom and gloom tale of woe, from Wall Street to Main Street and back again.

    The market is dropping, sales are down, money is scarce, foreclosures are rampant, and retirement funds are racing downward. Crisis is the word of the day and the power that fuels nightmares. Henny Penny is having a field day.

    As a result, some choose the path of avoidance and denial. They sit before a television set watching football games or soap operas, or “reality shows” that have little to do with the reality around them.

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  • Sportsmanship award is meaningful

    One of my co-workers at another paper was a West Virginia native and loyal fan of the Mountaineers’ football team. One time, when we were discussing football, he mentioned no matter what happens each season, West Virginia must beat the University of Pittsburgh. He couldn’t explain it, but, he said, he hated Pittsburgh.

    He was like millions of other college football fans who have intense loyalties to their alma mater and wish a slow death upon their fiercest opponents. With college football rivalries, nothing is sacred. Sportsmanship is a forgotten virtue.

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  • Lady Trojans defeat South Brunswick

    West Brunswick held off a fourth-quarter rally by South Brunswick to beat the Cougars 35-31 in a nonconference girls basketball game Friday.

    West led 32-24 with 1:29 left, but South rallied on a basket by Brittany Spivey with 46.2 seconds left, a free throw by Christina Deveney with 42.5 seconds left and another free throw by Shatiqua Smith with 41.5 seconds left. Those scores cut the West lead to 32-28.

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  • West’s boys split with South, North

    The West Brunswick High School boys basketball team ended a three-game season-opening losing streak by winning two last week.

    After a loss on Friday to South, the Eagles are 4-2 as they enter the conference season this week at Hoggard. West’s first home conference game will be Tuesday against White Oak.

    Below are summaries of West last three games:

    SOUTH 60

    WEST 38

    South Brunswick got its first victory of the season and ended West’s two-game winning streak Friday.

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  • West Brunswick loses conference-opening dual

    West Brunswick High School had three winners in a 58-18 loss to Laney in the first conference dual of the season Dec. 3.

    Two of the Trojans’ victories were by pin. Ted King won his heavyweight match in 22 seconds.

    Deven Raune won his 152-pound match by pin in 2:15.

    West’s other victory was by Joey Moreno at 171. In a match in which both wrestlers were on their feet for most of the time and constantly warned about stalling, Moreno won by disqualification with the score tied 5-5 in the third period.

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  • Coastal Horizons’ Brunswick facility to open in 2009

    Early next year, Coastal Horizons Center will open its new, 7,000-plus square-foot facility on U.S. 17 South in Shallotte behind Jones Ford to provide mental health, substance abuse and rape crisis services in Brunswick County.

    Coastal Horizons Center is a private nonprofit agency headquartered in Wilmington and has been in operation for more than 38 years. In 2007, the agency broke ground on its new office, with help from a donation from the Odell and Virginia Williamson family.

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