Judith Sutherland

“The irrigation fight broke out soon after we got our cows. July was hot, the creek was low, and there was only half a head of water coming through the ditch…each ranch, all the way down (Bear Creek) had rights to so many running square inches of water. Unless the creek was very low, there was enough for everyone to take his full measure.”

As Colorado farmers worked through drought and water issues in the early 1900s, an 8-year-old boy named Ralph Moody was living it alongside his father.

A few months ago, I received the pleasant surprise of a message from a fellow who had gone to school with my daughter. I had lost track of where Jordan Martin had ended up, and it was wonderful to read a nice note from him.

Discover the power of letting go, embracing life's craziness, and finding quiet perspective in the non-judgmental space of the barn.

My childhood was common as dirt in every possible way, and I always figured every kid lived as we did.

My hometown of Jeromesville is a small but mighty village. I speak with pride when I say it only stands to reason that it was chosen in the Ohio Heritage Tree Project, setting off a celebration this past weekend.

Civil War reenactors march past a historic home at Century Village Museum in Burton, Ohio on May 24. (Paul Rowley photo)

(Photo courtesy of The Library of Congress) The siege of Knoxville, November-December 1863. Notice the photographer on the right.

Photograph of the War in the West. These photographs are of Hood before Nashville. Continuing his policy of the offensive at any cost, Gen. John B. Hood brought his reduced army before the defenses of Nashville, where it was overthrown by Gen. George H. Thomas on December 15-16, in the most complete victory of the war. If the date borne on this photograph is correct, it was taken in the course of the battle. (Coonley, J. F., 1832-1915, photographer)

Every Sunday morning, further back than the days my memory can reach, my mother dressed us in our finest and pointed the car south on our country road.