The recent blanket of snow left Johnson County looking like a postcard from the North Pole. And so it seems the Christmas season is once more upon us.

Tis the season for making your lists and checking them twice, and we hope plenty of the gifts on your lists can be found right here in our community.

One of our favorite Bench Sitters asked, “What’s with these ‘wild’ turkeys around town? Don’t they know next week is Thanksgiving?”

It was an unusually busy weekend for Johnson County and Buffalo firefighters and emergency responders. The crews responded to two house fires Saturday night into Sunday morning. Thankfully, no one was hurt in either fire.

Monday morning the mercury was down to 10-below at Sven’s place. One of the advantages of living down the Clear Creek valley below town is the cold air that settles in the low spots and keeps the snow light and fluffy so it’s easy to shovel.

As the Johnson County Rural Health Care District board worked on its budget this spring, it was hoping to find cost savings. Like all special districts in Johnson County, the rural health care district’s mill levy has shrunk dramatically, and the district was hoping to balance its budget wit…

Veterans have willingly served our country, fully accepting that they could be called away from family and loved ones and into harm’s way at any time to defend our country and our way of life.

The thing about dinner is that, as a parent, you are expected to serve it nightly. Most frequently, what I lack is inspiration. My kids would eat a steady diet of spaghetti with meatballs and tacos, but I need a little more variety. Oh, and it should be easy. Preferably fast and not require …

Either in the spring or in the fall, nearly every year at least one of the Bench Sitters will have a minor tantrum over Daylight Saving Time.

The Bench Sitters, who are football nuts, are pretty excited over the prospects for the Buffalo Bison winning another state title this year. We know they have some playoff games and will probably meet Mountain View in the championship if they get there … but these old guys predict a repeat.

October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and there is much to celebrate.

Maybe I didn’t get the memo or I have never paid much attention, but when did the whole sexy Halloween costume industry take over? It appears there is no sort of guiding premise as to what otherwise innocuous costume can be sexed up. Everything is in bounds: sexy nurses, sexy teachers, sexy …

If you happened to be just about anywhere on the mountain on Tuesday morning of last week, you didn’t need a calendar to tell you it was opening day of elk season for rifle hunters.

We are pulled: tensioned between risk and reward in an inherently imprecise tabulation of pro-con, making best-information-available choices, fingers crossed, scribing out a lifetime.

How many Wyoming high school athletes sustain concussions each year? What sport were they playing when they sustained a concussion? Was it in practice or a game setting?

Tom Borgialli was inducted into the Wyoming Cowboy Hall of Fame last month. We know this because we featured him in a front-page feature story in the Buffalo Bulletin.

You can tell locals pay a lot of attention to the weather forecasts. If you happened by the dumpsters the city put at Prosinski Park to handle plant waste from local gardens and lawns, it was clear everyone in town was cleaning out things to prepare for winter.

The usual rain gauge contest was underway at the coffee shop early Monday morning of this week when the crowd started talking about how much rain fell here over the weekend.

Folks who live on the east side of the Wind River Mountains have a tradition of getting “looped,” as often as possible. This is my term for driving the spectacular Loop Road.

It appears the Johnson County School District No. 1 calendar committee sought to stake out the middle ground when recommending a four-and-a-half-day school schedule for next year. There have been strong opinions voiced on both sides of the debate over a four-day versus five-day school week, …

As we watch the ninth month of this year wind down, locals are noticing the thermometer next to the back door is having a hard time getting much above the 50s and more yellow and gold spots are showing up on the cottonwood trees.

There’s a movement afoot in Western states that would make it easier to transfer federal lands, like those administered by U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management, to state control. Proponents say such a transfer could mean big dollars for states. But it would also mean big expense…

Wyoming’s next great museum is under construction and will open next May.

The first days of this week may have seemed like summer, but the weatherman says we’ll get over that sensation this weekend. The trip from shorts to windbreakers is often only one-day long in Wyoming.

There’s good news in Johnson County.

How many old-timers are there in Wyoming these days?

At a recent meal with friends, I was made aware that a few of them get nervous when writing me a text or email. They’re not nervous that I’ll decline an invitation or cancel at the last minute. They’re afraid I’ll correct their grammar.

In Johnson County, where young children walk to school, neighbors smile and wave and serious crimes are few and far between, a dangerous stigma lingers, rooted in our way of life.

If fall isn’t here, there are sure a lot of signs it’s close by . . . cooler night-time temperatures, football games and conversations about elk hunting.