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Fence Posts

The Money Pit

Mar 16, 2024 | Dan Needles

Maintaning a home – especially a country home – is no easy feat for owners or their wallets.

We Need to Stay in Touch – But Can Community Newspapers Survive?

Nov 27, 2023 | Dan Needles

Veteran writer Dan Needles laments the loss of printed news while pondering the future of journalism.

‘True Pastry Gloves’ – Stumbling Through the National Anthem

Sep 8, 2023 | Dan Needles

Dan Needles reflects on how Canadians seem to be the only people who stumble over the words of their national anthem.

Finding Our Way Around This New Neighbourhood

Jun 16, 2023 | Dan Needles

Author Dan Needles reflects on the sudden growth of small towns as urbanites adjust to village life

The Reformation of the Township Dump

Mar 20, 2023 | Dan Needles

No longer reminiscent of a Mad Max movie set, the township dump has become something of a pleasant, well-managed place, finds Dan Needles.

Taking the Learning Curve Too Fast

Nov 20, 2022 | Dan Needles

Safely navigating the narrow, snow covered hills of Headwaters is no walk in the park, as many long-time residents attest and new arrivals quickly learn.

Suddenly There Came a Tapping

Sep 20, 2022 | Dan Needles

I live in a haunted house. It’s been haunted for at least a century by all accounts, that is, by the neighbours’ accounts.

Animal Rights in the Laundry Room

Jun 24, 2022 | Dan Needles | Back Issues

Two hundred years ago, my ancestors were tossed off the land during the clearances in Scotland and replaced by sheep, who ate less and could be sheared more often.

Learning to Visit Again

Mar 29, 2022 | Dan Needles

I seemed to have forgotten how a visit is supposed to go.

Like Manna from Heaven

Nov 29, 2021 | Dan Needles

There is a lot of waiting around with mushrooms, just like there is in the military or the theatre or government roadwork.

Road Rage Comes to Town

Sep 24, 2021 | Dan Needles

For generations the only people in Canada who had a good word to say about Toronto were the ones living there. Now thousands of them have left to live here.

It’s the End of the World … Again

Jun 22, 2021 | Dan Needles

As a scribbler I have always walked down the sunny side of the concession roads.