A new neighbor's surveyor says Walt's 47-year-old fence is five feet over the line, and the only proof Walt has is a hand-drawn 1951 survey in a coffee can, pointing to a corner stone that someone has just dug up.
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The people and places of Calder County, Ohio
Fiction · A Pine Hollow Story
At the Calder County sale barn, a mud-covered old cowboy outbids a struggling young couple for a "guaranteed sound" bull he knows is lame, and has until the bull is loaded to prove it.
Fiction · A Pine Hollow Story
When a $22,000 kitchen repair threatens to close Dot's diner, her grandson finds the cigar box of IOUs she never collected, and the town decides to pay her back without asking permission.
Fiction · A Pine Hollow Story
During the first big snow of the season, Hank hears a faint call on the CB emergency channel from an elderly couple stuck in a ditch with no cell signal, and no idea where they are.
Gentle, fact-checked medical guides verified with leading US health authorities.
Can you balance on one leg for 10 seconds? A 7-year study of adults 51 to 75 found it says a lot about your health. Try it safely.
Still taking daily aspirin to prevent a first heart attack? What the USPSTF says about starting after 60, bleeding risk, and stopping safely.
The USDA's 2-hour and 4-day rules for Thanksgiving leftovers, and the cooling habit 3 out of 4 Americans get wrong.
A sudden wobble or blurred vision can be a stroke warning. Learn B.E. F.A.S.T., what to do, and why every minute matters.
Ten minutes of shoveling pushed healthy 32-year-olds to 97% of max heart rate. What that means for you, and how to shovel safer.
Norovirus spreads fast at winter gatherings, and hand sanitizer isn't enough. Here's what works better, from handwashing to cleanup.
Simple seasonal tips, heating safety, and old-time woodworking from the garage.
Most chimney fires start with creosote, the black buildup from smoky fires and wet wood. Here is how to keep it from building up, the warning signs, and what to do if a chimney fire starts.
A full cord is 128 cubic feet, and anything sold as a face cord or a rick can mean almost anything. Here is how to measure what you bought and how to tell if it is dry enough to burn.
Wood burning, or pyrography, was a parlor hobby a century ago and it is easy to learn today. Here is which tool to start with, which woods to use and avoid, and a simple first project you can finish in an afternoon.
Fact-checked archival records from the Library of Congress and National Archives.
The line everyone learned isn't in any of Revere's own accounts. What he did that night, in his own words, is a better story than the poem.
The teddy bear began with a hunt in the Mississippi Delta, a guide named Holt Collier, and a bear that did not survive the story.
On Christmas night 1776, about 2,400 men crossed an icy Delaware River. They were hours behind schedule by morning. What Washington and Knox wrote about that night, 250 years ago.
Every story is published in full (Part 1 & Part 2)
Fiction · A Pine Hollow Story
A new neighbor's surveyor says Walt's 47-year-old fence is five feet over the line, and the only proof Walt has is a hand-drawn 1951 survey in a coffee can, pointing to a corner stone that someone has just dug up.
Fiction · A Pine Hollow Story
At the Calder County sale barn, a mud-covered old cowboy outbids a struggling young couple for a "guaranteed sound" bull he knows is lame, and has until the bull is loaded to prove it.
Fiction · A Pine Hollow Story
When a $22,000 kitchen repair threatens to close Dot's diner, her grandson finds the cigar box of IOUs she never collected, and the town decides to pay her back without asking permission.
Fiction · A Pine Hollow Story
During the first big snow of the season, Hank hears a faint call on the CB emergency channel from an elderly couple stuck in a ditch with no cell signal, and no idea where they are.
Fiction · A Pine Hollow Story
A copy of *Treasure Island* checked out in 1961 comes back to the Pine Hollow library with a $100 bill and a note: "This book saved my life." Ruth Ann sets out to learn how.
Fiction · A Pine Hollow Story
A $14,000 barrel mare has put three trainers in the dirt and is headed for the Saturday sale, and the only person she has never hurt is the 12-year-old girl who loves her.
Fiction · A Pine Hollow Story
A retired postmistress gets a call from her "grandson" in jail, in a voice that sounds exactly like him, and a courier is coming to pick up $9,000 in cash.
Fiction · A Pine Hollow Story
Walt is hired to tear down a rotten barn and burn the wood, until he smells the beams and realizes they're American chestnut, a tree that has been nearly gone for 80 years. A dealer from Pittsburgh is already offering the owner $5,000 to haul it away.
Fiction · A Pine Hollow Story
For three nights, Walt's old beagle won't stop barking at the woods. On the fourth night, the neighbor's five-year-old goes missing in those same woods, and everyone has given up on the half-blind dog.
Fiction · A Pine Hollow Story
The old church bell that warned the town in the 1937 flood has been silent for years, until it starts ringing at midnight by itself.
Fiction · A Pine Hollow Story
Tyler modernizes the diner with data, and the numbers say the old men at the "Liars' Table" are costing money. So he moves them. Then one of them stops showing up.
Fiction · A Pine Hollow Story
Grady is one signature away from his biggest deal ever: selling the old glass works for a warehouse that will bring 200 jobs. The catch: the last building has to come down Friday, and inside it is a wall with the names of every glass worker since 1951, including his father's.
Fiction · A Pine Hollow Story
The VFW post is headed for a county tax sale, its youngest regular member (besides the chaplain) is 71, and the one man who could help is Walt Brenner, who has paid his dues for 50 years but never once walked in the door.
Fiction · A Pine Hollow Story
A nursing student is about to quit school because three shops have quoted her thousands for her late grandfather's old pickup. Hank listens for ten seconds and goes pale: it's a $40 part, and one shop told her it was safe to drive.
Fiction · A Pine Hollow Story
In 38 years of teaching, Ruth Ann held back exactly one third grader. Now he has written to say he's coming home to tell her what she did to him.
Fiction · A Pine Hollow Story
Clay spots his own 1981 championship buckle in a pawn shop window in Marietta. He gave it away in 1988. The pawn loan is due at 5 p.m. today.
Fiction · A Pine Hollow Story
Somebody has stolen eleven trail cameras from hunters along Hollow Creek, and two old brothers are about to go to war with their neighbors over it.
Fiction · A Pine Hollow Story
Every Tuesday a stranger in a suit drives ninety minutes to Dot's, orders sour cream raisin, eats half, and takes the other half home. He never says why.
Fiction · A Pine Hollow Story
For 45 years, a small handmade rocking chair has appeared on the porch of nearly every new baby in Pine Hollow. Nobody knows who makes them. Ruth Ann, writing the town history, sets out to find out.
Fiction · A Pine Hollow Story
An ice storm knocks out power to all of Calder County the night before Thanksgiving. Dot's 1978 gas range still lights with a match, so she opens the diner. Then the care home's generator fails, and 22 frail residents need somewhere warm.
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