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November 17, 2014 Issue v3#11

11/17/2014

Brrrrrrrr!! - part 2
Ok, who said we could go right into the depths of winter? Wow, we didn't even get a practice snow to condition us... oh well... we had our outdoor stuff pretty well taken care of and I even had the snow shovels in the entry way before the blizzard. Oh, and by the way, I did find my long underwear (I just had to ask my wife where they were!) You know, sometimes I think she takes my stuff from where I put it and moves it so that when I need it she is the hero and knows where to find it... just a theory I've been working on during our 21 years of marriage... I have no solid proof, but I'm sure it can't be me!

"Bits" & Pieces

Bad Son
I would like to wish my Mother a Happy (belated) Birthday... from your horrible, horrible son. Yes, everyone, I forgot my Mother's Birthday this year. Please don't send me any hate mail - especially you Mom!

Glasses
Ok, my wife is loving this... since I met her 25 years ago she has worn glasses and contacts while I bragged about my "perfect" vision. Well, about six months ago I started to think that all the fine print in the world was getting smaller - some sort of conspiracy or something... turns out "perfect" isn't the word for my vision anymore. I now have my first pair of reading glasses, which I keep misplacing... and my wife seems to always find... hmm, there's that theory again.

CarTalk
I just wanted to take a moment and say how much I have enjoyed CarTalk on NPR over the years. As some of you know, Tom Magliozzi, one half of Click and Clack, passed recently.
While growing up on our small farm, I learned a lot about mechanics and just how things go together from my dad, who is a do-it-yourself kind of guy. As a young boy, I was the one swatting mosquitoes off his back while he was hunched over an engine, or I was searching for the illusive 1/2" deep well socket, or - the most important job when working on something at night - holding the flashlight at just the right angle. As I got older, I was the one getting my hands greasy, too, and we would theorize about exactly why something broke or what was needed to correct a problem. That is why CarTalk is one of my favorites. The problems that they discuss with a healthy dose of humor and wit have entertained and enlightened me for years. You will be missed, Tom.

QUESTION of THE WEEK
"What is the difference between your classified ads and your Free4Sale ads?"
We started our original free reader ad program (Free4Sale) as a thank-you to our many valued readers for picking up our paper and taking it into their homes to read and share with friends and family. For your ad to be listed free it has to follow these guidelines.

1. It must be a private party submitting a SINGLE ITEM
FOR SALE, under a single phone number.
2. The item must be owned by you.
3. No commercial businesses or services may use
the Free4Sale program for readers.

If your item qualifies, we will list it free for up to four weeks - that's an $11 value. Want ads, commercial businesses, second ads with the same phone number and multiple item ads are considered classifieds and would require $2.75 per week.
If you are not sure if your ad would qualify, contact me for more information. 605-541-0110 or email Sean@LakeAreaTidbits.com
As of this issue we have also separated the regular classified ad blank and the Free4Sale ad blank to help clarify.

Have a great week and be a safe out there!

Sean Athey, owner/publisher
sean@LakeAreaTidbits.com • www.LakeAreaTidbits.com

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November 10, 2014

11/10/2014

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Brrrrrrrr!!
   I don't know about you, but I had to look pretty far back in the closet for the winter jacket... and I still haven't found where I put the long underwear last spring. I suspect my search will become more intense as the temps drop!
I always looked forward to the changing seasons as a kid growing up here in Northeast South Dakota. Winter was especially fun - not for the cold, but the eventual snowfall that seemed to give a new life to the same location. Where I grew up on my folks place we had lots of hills, so the snow was welcome for the sledding, snow fort building and snowmobiling... not so fun for the driveway that went uphill and curved slightly to the right. Just getting out some winter days was an adventure. I remember my sister and I sitting over the wheel wells of the two-wheel drive van we had, bouncing up and down while mom slowly tried to crawl up the driveway. I am not sure we were helping all that much... I think a sack of potatoes weighed more than I did as a kid! But, we always made it... one way or another.
   The slippery, winter roads are going to be upon us so please be aware and drive accordingly. Remember... getting there is the point.

Question of the Week...
"How many trees did you kill putting out your paper this week?"
   Well, last I checked timber is a sustainable natural resource. Properly managed timber harvest is good for the forest, good for industry and good for jobs. Forest management and removal of underbrush keeps the wildfire possibility lower and makes it easier for our brave firefighting men and women to save homes and lives. Nearly all the companies I looked into have a robust replanting program.... some of them plant two trees for each one harvested. Plus, we have many private organizations that work at planting and sustaining trees that help lessen erosion and emit oxygen... I am not sure about you, but I am kind of partial to oxygen - you know what they say - you can't live without it.
   As I stated last week, our pickup rate for Tidbits is around 90%. This is an important number to us because we hate waste. Our own recycling we do in our home reduces our landfill contribution to an average of less than one bag of garbage per week.
   So, Lynette and I encourage recycling of all kinds. Now, recycling this Tidbits paper doesn't mean just taking it to your local recycling center once you've read the articles, checked out our sponsors and advertisers, did a puzzle or two, laughed at a joke (or groaned!). You can recycle it by sharing it with others, repurposing it for painting projects, peel potatoes onto it or my favorite... make giant paper airplanes out of it and see who's flies the farthest before you send it to recycling.
   I also wanted to tell you a bit about the ink used to put these words and pictures on the paper. It is soy-based ink created from... drum roll, please.. soy beans! I don't have to tell people in this part of the country where soy beans come from. We feel good that we are doing something to help support a market for a locally produced product. Soy based ink is also more easily recycled than petroleum-based inks, which, in turn saves energy and resources.
   Another way we do our best to avoid waste with our paper is the way we distribute Tidbits. We are constantly working to bring our product
to as many business locations as possible to make it as convenient as we can for you to pick up during your weekly travels.
   There are two main reasons for this. Number one is that we want to give people a reason to stop into our local, main street businesses. They need the foot traffic. It is no secret that our friends and neighbors that own and operate small businesses have it tough these days fighting the internet retail giants and the big corporate box stores.
   The second reason we distribute Tidbits the way we do is this... it may come a shock, but some people are just not "readers". If we used the "shotgun" approach of tossing one in every yard or filling up every mailbox, and then tried to claim that "100%" of the people are reading Tidbits, we would not be telling the truth and smart people would know it. But, when our papers are picked up and taken into someone's home, we know they find value in what we are doing and they are reading our product.
   We also have a set of readers... this includes our friends traveling through the area... that enjoy the paper while at local businesses. For them, they can read and enjoy our paper, without having to figure out where to recycle it or throw it away, because we have the respect to come back and pick up that 10% of our papers the next week.
   Does our distribution system work? Well, if you are reading this right now... mission accomplished.
   Now, for the die hard "greenies" out there that tell me you don't have any waste because you do everything digitally. Hmmm... did your device/computer/tablet grow right out of the ground? No, it was produced through an industrial process with plastics, metals and chemicals, most likely made in some foreign country. Here's a statistic for you...
   In 2012, we generated 3.412 million tons of e-waste in the U.S. Of this amount, only 1 million tons or 29.2 % was recycled, according to the EPA (up from 25% in 2011). The rest was trashed – in landfills or incinerators.
   Hopefully, the trend of recycling e-waste continues to climb in the future and I am going to do my best to do my part. We need to continue to increase the recycling of electronic devices, partially because of a thing called "Planned Obsolescence". What is that, you ask... here's the definition.
   "Planned obsolescence or built-in obsolescence in industrial design is a policy of planning or designing a product with an artificially limited useful life, so it will become obsolete, that is, unfashionable or no longer functional after a certain period of time."
   In a nutshell, that means creating something with a weak link so it fails and the consumer must repurchase that item. I have a fan in my garage that was made in the 70s that is still working fine... I have yet buy a new fan that lasts more than two years. Another personal example is a dehumidifier we had that worked perfectly until one day, it just stopped. I couldn't figure out why, so I started looking at the warranty paperwork... amazingly the warranty ran out 34 days prior... hmmm, just food for thought.
   Now, I don't want to sound like a hypocrite... I am typing this on a computer that is sitting next a printer and I also have an iPhone in my pocket. We do encourage people to read Tidbits on our website (www.LakeAreaTidbits.com)... using their tablet, computer or smartphone. The current issue, and the last few papers, are always available 24/7 for your enjoyment - with no subscriptions or fees... plus extra jokes, events, clickable links from our advertisers and any other "Tidbits" that we find interesting.
   The tools we have to communicate in this modern world are awesome... the quality of what we communicate is a whole different subject for another Publisher's Corner.
   Please enjoy this issue, share it with your friends and neighbors... THEN RECYCLE IT!
            Sean Athey, owner/publisher
            sean@LakeAreaTidbits.com • www.LakeAreaTidbits.com

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November 03rd, 2014

11/3/2014

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Howdy everyone!
   Sorry, I haven't been able to get some words down in the past few weeks. Lynette and I have been extremely busy bringing Tidbits to you and prepping for the coming winter. We also have been developing a ton of new stuff to bring you in the coming year!
   We did get a chance to go over some of our numbers and thanks to you, our valued readers, our average pick-up rate is over 90%. That's nine out of every ten papers we produce are taken into your homes and shared with family, friends and neighbors, plus a large amount of the pickups from our businesses have been read... and we know that because the puzzles have been done or the coupons are cut out. So we just can't say it enough - THANK YOU - to our readers and our businesses that help us bring Tidbits to you each week. Be sure to thank our fine businesses that allow us to place our neat publication in their establishments - they appreciate hearing it.
   Well, we are officially done with this year's gardening effort. The very last thing we did were 20 quarts of a potato/carrot combination with a little onion added. I had someone ask me why we do the gardening and canning, doesn't it take a lot of time? Yes, it does take time, but what a great reason to hang out and visit, while also accomplishing something at the same time... idle hands are the devil's workshop!
   There is also another simple reason... money... let's do the math for the 20 quarts mentioned earlier. First off, we have invested in the jars and equipment over the years so we already had that part taken care of. Now for the produce, 25 lbs. of locally-grown potatoes from a farmer's market $8, bag of carrot seeds - $2.89 and a tray of onions sets, $1.99. We collect rainwater in three barrels, so we had no investment in watering. Ok, so that brings us to $12.88, with the only other investment being time. From that we got 20 quarts, which is 4 servings per container for Lynette and I... so, 80 servings of homegrown, pesticide and chemical free food for 16¢ per serving that can last up to three years on the shelf... how can you go wrong?
   I find a lot of satisfaction in being as self-sufficient as possible because the alternative is to be at the mercy of others who may not have your best interests in mind.
   Well, it looks like I'm running out of space here so I will have to answer the Question of the Week in the next issue... someone asked me, "How many trees did you kill putting out your paper this week?"... oh, boy...that's a good one and I cannot wait to let you know my thoughts on that.
   Please enjoy this issue, then share it with your friends and neighbors!
Sean Athey, owner/publisher

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November 17, 2014 Issue v3#11

November 10, 2014

November 03rd, 2014

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