Gordon Hopkins

Dispatches From The Isolation Ward

Published by gordonhopkins on Fri, 04/03/2020 - 9:04am
Most are taking the guidelines issued by the government to slow the spread of COVID-19 seriously, but not everybody. A few grumbling Guses and Gertrudes are quick to complain about the restrictions to anybody who will listen, or won't listen but can't get away. Look, nobody likes this “social distancing” stuff, unless you happen to be a surly misanthrope like your faithful correspondent. Nevertheless, I remind you that thing can always get worse. 

Items of Interest: Social Distancing Edition

Published by gordonhopkins on Fri, 03/27/2020 - 2:14pm
ase (aka: COVID-19, aka: Plague 2.0, aka: Getoutamyfaceitis) continues to warp nearly every facet of human existence, we have come to learn about, and hate, a new, oft-repeated term: social distancing. 

Neon Ghost Town

Published by gordonhopkins on Fri, 03/13/2020 - 12:22pm
As the coronavirus scare continues to, well...scare, much of the world is now in a holding pattern. Even here in our quiet little neck of the woods, events are being canceled left, right and center. I was planning on covering some of these shindigs. The Jefferson County Agribusiness Banquet and pancake feeds and sporting events are now not happening. So what am I supposed to put on the pages for next week?

Dispatches From The Hot Zone

Published by admin on Tue, 03/10/2020 - 1:12pm
Dongguan is a factory town in southern China. It’s not exactly a glamour spot. It certainly isn’t the first place one imagines visiting if you are headed to China. Shanghai? Yes. Bejing? Of course. Hong Kong? Obviously. But Dongguan? Nevertheless, that is where my friend ended up. She left her job as principal for a Midwestern school to teach English in China.
She is responsible for 14 students. After a successful, though relatively unremarkable first semester, she enjoyed a winter break of about two-and-a-half weeks.

Angels and Demons

Published by gordonhopkins on Fri, 03/06/2020 - 2:11pm
I was thinking I had just about gone as far as I could writing about my cats. It does seem like I've passed the terminus from amusingly quirky to annoyingly self-indulgent, so I had prepared myself to move on to another subject. Then a lady came into the office and said my cat columns were a “hoot.” Hey, nobody ever called by City Council stories a “hoot.” So lets give the people what they want.
So the kitties have grown since I first found them crying alone in the street just a few weeks ago.
Grown a lot.

The Best Laid Plans Of Mice And Men (And English Teachers)

Published by gordonhopkins on Tue, 03/03/2020 - 10:08am

The Orange Companions Of Prime Ministers And Private Eyes

Published by gordonhopkins on Fri, 02/28/2020 - 2:46pm
I've been reading up on orange marmalade cats, (aka ginger tabbies), since I now have one. I am interested in comparing what the “experts” have to say to my own experiences. Here are a few points I have learned:
Orange marmalade is not a breed, just a coloring and pattern, so different breeds can be orange marmalade. They can have stripes or spots or speckles or swirls. There is no such thing as a solid-colored orange marmalade cat. Archie has spots, kid of like a miniature leopard.

Marmalade

Published by gordonhopkins on Fri, 02/21/2020 - 11:39am
“In my head, the sky is blue, the grass is green and cats are orange.” - Jim Davis, creator of Garfield 
 
I was a young lad, on the cusp of manhood, living in the untamed wilderness of Omaha, Nebraska, when my family got our first orange marmalade cat. We'd had dogs for years in my early childhood. It was in my early teens when we started getting cats. We'd had quite a few. Most were black and white tuxedo cats (Momma Cat and her brood), though we did have one gray tabby with a predominant “M” on her forehead named Molly. 

Isn't It Romantic?

Published by admin on Fri, 02/14/2020 - 1:52pm
So today is St. Valentine's Day. It is the day when loved ones get together and celebrate the massacre of a bunch of gangsters in a Roger Corman flick. It is also the single most annoying date of the year for the unattached.
However, for couples (and perhaps triples and quadruples, who are we to judge?), it is the time of the years that they get to rub their couplehood in the faces of their single friends, oblivious to just how close they are to getting punched in the nose.

Meowna Loy

Published by admin on Fri, 02/07/2020 - 1:37pm
Any parent will tell you the hardest part of raising children is discipline. Even little, furry children.

Site Login

Welcome to the new website. To login to the site your first time, please use the following:

Username: Your current Fairbury Journal website username
Password: Please also use your username for the password

You can change your password once you successfully login to the site.

The Fairbury Journal-News

The Fairbury Journal-News
510 C Street
P.O. Box 415
Fairbury, Nebraska
68352

Tele (402) 729-6141

 

Upcoming Events