Opinions

Recently I was having a conversation about how to approach vacations. Some people plan ahead, maybe going so far has having an hour-by-hour itinerary. Others like to roll with it, just figuring what each day brings sometime after they get up and maybe have some breakfast.

This coming week is our county fair and the heatwave is right on time since it always feels like county fairs in Kansas are held during the hottest weeks of the year. This begs the question, why would anyone let their children spend an entire week during dangerously hot weather mostly outside without air-conditioning?

Something I've been noticing for a while now is the surprisingly high level of polite conversation in public when absolutely no amount of polite talk is called for. It's a thought to ponder.

For those of us at the newspaper, Fair season lasts all summer. We start early each June, getting ready to publish the Sedgwick County Fair Guide.

A few months ago, I registered my two children for two weeks of swimming lessons at our town’s pool. Registering my 8-year-old daughter for lessons was nonnegotiable. She needs to continue learning skills that’ll help her keep her head above water while also gaining strength as a swimmer. My son, on the other hand, had a choice of taking lessons or not.

Savvy Senior Dear Savvy Senior, My wife and I had our estate plan – including a will, power of attorney and advance directive – drawn up about 10 years ago but have recently read that our plan should include a digital will too. What can you tell us about this? Almost 80 Dear Almost, If you or your wife spend much time online, adding a separate digital will document to your estate plan that provides a list of your digital assets would be extremely helpful to your loved ones when you die, not to mention it will help protect your privacy.

Paul Rhodes | Publisher & Editor You can lead a horse to a concert, but you can't make him enjoy the music. That statement might need a little explanation, but it does sum up one small portion of my grandson's annual summer visit.

Random Thoughts I don't have many hard-and-fast rules in my life. Generally, I go by some basic principles, such as try to be nice.

Savvy Senior Dear Savvy Senior, Can I stop my Social Security retirement benefits and restart them later to get a bigger payment? I recently got a nice unexpected inheritance, so don’t need the money from Social Security right now. If possible, I would like to suspend my benefits and restart them at age 70.

Insight Getting the hay wagon through the gate was always a challenge when taking bales off a field to be stored at a yard. All of the gates were constructed prior to the invention of round balers and therefore the openings were generally snug when trying to sneak a trailer through loaded with 10 bales.