For more than a decade, Laverne Cheeseboro has been caring for children at her family child care (FCC), Heavenly Made Creations. From the first floor of her home in a middle class Philadelphia neighborhood, Laverne’s days start at 7 a.m. and resemble those of many home-based early educators. The six preschoolers currently enrolled receive daily meals, engage in play-based education and learn through a curriculum built around developing social-emotional skills.

This winter, brighten your mood and surroundings by planting and growing a few amaryllis. Your thoughts may turn to red when considering this plant but now you can find a variety of colors and flower shapes. Select the color that best suits your mood and indoor decor.

Halloween is just around the corner, and many of us will soon be carving pumpkins into festive jack-o'-lanterns. Before you toss out the insides of your pumpkin, take a moment to save the seeds! Not only are pumpkin seeds a tasty snack, but they’re also packed with nutrients like fiber, vitamin E, zinc, potassium, magnesium, iron and calcium. They even offer plant-based protein and omega-3 fatty acids.

I loved the first “Smile” — minus about 15 or so minutes at the end, most of which I felt was unnecessary — but up until that, although gory, it was truly scary and a true horror movie in every sense of the word. It took something as innocent as a big wide smile and made it something horrible.

In a few short days, our nation will vote for a new president. For the last (who knows how many months), people have been bad-mouthing, insulting, tearing down, smearing and degrading “those” on the other side of the political spectrum.

Regardless of who is president, rest assured that straight, white, Christian men of means and wealth will be just fine, as always. Everyone else? My understanding is that the Spencer Reporter does not accept political endorsements. Correct me if I’m wrong. Given that, as found on American Century Investments, following are candidate priorities I support and don’t support. This is based on the recognition that our systems reward wealth over work.

The bird roared out of a patch of grass to my left in a rush of wingbeats. I whirled, shouldered my shotgun, swung through the bird and let fly.

It tumbled from the sky and disappeared into the grass. Eyes locked on where it fell, I bee-lined for my bird. I found it quickly enough, turned bird and gun in hand, raising my arms in triumph. I was 12, and I’d just killed my first upland bird, a sharptail grouse.

Warren Buffett has not had a lot to say about anything recently … being very silent since the last Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting. His more talkative partner, Charlie Munger, passed away last year. While known to be a Democrat, Buffet has not expressed an opinion on Kamala Harris. Others in his family have been vocal but he has been keeping his opinions to himself. As to the market, Buffett has said little as well but his actions speak louder than words.

You’ve probably read you should remove and dispose of insect pest-infected and diseased plant material to reduce these problems in next season’s garden. This is not as easy as it seems. Most compost piles do not heat up and maintain hot enough temperatures to kill weeds, weed seeds, disease organisms and insect pests. In many locations burning is not allowed and it negatively impacts air quality. So, what’s a gardener to do?

I have nothing against transgender athletes.

To each their own. As a matter of fact, I can’t imagine how it must feel to be born a man or a woman who feels that God made a mistake when he assigned you a gender prebirth. I don’t think they’re right. God doesn’t make mistakes. Everything happens for a reason. But what a person truly believes is their reality.

Q: Is early detection and treatment for breast cancer moving in the right direction?

Confused about our presidential candidates? Disappointed might be a better word. Words .... one candidate uses too many. The other not enough, and when she does she contradicts herself. This election is too critical to trust their words or lack of. So we must lean heavily on their records while in office.

I ask that people regard the Christian nationalist movement with caution.

Beware of any person or group who claims to have God on their side. They will justify any agenda with the mistaken notion that theirs is a holy cause. "The end justifies the means" is a useful credo, but it is not biblical. Atrocities throughout history have been committed in the name of God, misrepresenting a loving deity.

The weather has taken a turn for the cooler which is to be expected this time of year. It has been a gorgeous fall which has some risks of its own. At the time I am writing this we are in a burn ban in Clay County. The Active Burn Ban Dashboard is a website that shows current burn bans, when they were proclaimed and, when applicable, will post the lift notice.

Christians have one thing in common … faith. But the depth of their faith differs. In Matthew 17:20, Jesus says, "Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you." Easier said than done. A genuine demonstration of faith is connected to obedience.