column

From the first time I watched the “Wizard of Oz” as a child, I was interested in tornadoes. Growing up in New Richmond — the site of what is now the ninth-deadliest tornado in U.S. history — helped turn that interest into something of an obsession. When I was 6 years old,...

An 8-year-old watches his favorite National Football League team have a successful season, qualify for the playoffs, win two games on the road and narrowly fall in the conference championship game, and therefore miss out on a Super Bowl berth. The eight-year-old was dejected and...

The ice on our lake melted in a way I have never seen before this year, from the center to the shore. It was a blustery but sunny Saturday morning, so we decided to get the kayaks wet and see what was percolating in and around our little bit of paradise. New ducks had been arriving...

Every month, like clockwork, my turn comes up to write the weekly New Richmond News staff column, and every month I come up with a blank for most of the week before my column is due. I don’t know what it is, but it is always hard for me to come up with ideas for a column even though...

The transition from winter to spring this year was early and sudden. One week we were shoveling out from another snowstorm, and the next we were enjoying 50- and 60-degree temperatures. Snow was gone in an instant, and people were out and about enjoying all sorts of outdoor activities. Windows...

Who doesn’t think about it? While experiencing a frustrating portion of your job, your mind goes, “I wish I was doing something else.” I’ve done it before and without question the answer is an easy one: teacher. A little background, first. For those who didn’t read the...

How many times have you found yourself saying, boy I wish they had that back when I was in school? If you read our paper you know I recently wrote a story about the first robotics competition ever held at the Somerset Middle School. The excitement in the gym during the competition...

For the second time since I started working at the New Richmond News I am once again starting the process of looking for a house to buy in the area. The first time I started looking for a new home back in 2013, I was doing it for myself as a way to get out of my parents’ house...

I found out recently that sometimes a car crash can be a good thing. My trusty silver 2007 Chevy Aveo was never much of a car. It was a base model that didn’t even have power windows or power locks. I bought it the day after Christmas in 2006 at a dealership in the Southern California...

It is with a heavy, yet overwhelmingly excited heart, that I write my final Sarah Sez column for the New Richmond News. My heart is heavy because I’m leaving behind the News, my coworkers and the community contacts I have made; but I’m thrilled to undertake a new challenge and...

With ice fishing tournament season in full swing I thought it might be worth a quick tongue-in-cheek review of how we got to this point. Toward the end of the Pleistocene Epoch, or ice age as simpler folk call it, some 12,000 years ago, a daring band of Neanderthals, snow-boarded...

As many of you know, I have experienced a few big milestones over the last year or so, including celebrating my one-year anniversary at the News, getting engaged and turning 25. This year will see even more life-changing events take place, from getting married to moving out of...

It hurt so bad. My unhealthy level of fanaticism of the Green Bay Packers has once again cost me my sanity. In the final five minutes of the Jan. 18 NFC Championship Game, my mood quickly went from eager to anxious to ill, as the Packers squandered a prime opportunity to defeat the...

I love this time of year. No, not winter. I hate winter. What I love is when the calendar page flips from December to January. I love putting the holiday season behind me, getting back in the saddle at work and at home, and plotting a new course for my professional and personal...

I am a rural girl through and through. I grew up on a hobby farm in Pierce County where I mucked out stalls, fed the cows, cared for an army of barn cats, cut firewood, refused to wear shoes until it snowed and helped raise a huge garden. I raised rabbits for 4-H, learned how to shoot...