SAN DIEGO -- There’s a couch, a keyboard and a washing machine. You can count two widescreen TVs, a dozen pieces of luggage and who knows how many bicycles. Don’t forget the three-story dollhouse. Or the pile of needles.

The collection rests on layers of tarps and clothes that likely adds up to hundreds, if not thousands, of pounds of ...Read more

RALEIGH, N.C. -- In the winning photograph, Lee Berry stands naked as a plucked turkey on his Richmond County farm, grinning like Don Juan in a baseball cap, hiding his naughty bits behind an armload of prized collard greens.

Between the rows of leafy vegetables, he practically radiated sensuality and vitamin A, so the judges overwhelmingly ...Read more

Alpha Male has won.

What happens now?

Comedian Brent Terhune has for years satirized the angry, working-class white man who rails against libtards and expresses unyielding devotion to Donald Trump. His monologues resound with right-wing rants and epitomize toxic masculinity in a character he calls Alpha Male. But the aggrieved American man now...Read more

Awards for plants come in a variety of names: Louisiana Super Plant, Mississippi Medallion, as an example, and in Georgia where I live, it is the Classic City Award given out by the University of Georgia. The UGA Trial Gardens said in a press release that the winners represent the best overall in the gardens and were ranked on a scale of one to ...Read more

You’re a planner. You have your calendar color-coded, dinner reservations booked a month in advance, and you know exactly what you’ll be doing on your next vacation, down to which café you’ll stop at for your all-important afternoon iced coffee.

You meet someone who’s all about “going with the flow,” a non-planner who would sooner ...Read more

Dear Anna,

I've been with my boyfriend for two years now. We’re both in our mid-20s. His family is honestly the most toxic group of people I’ve ever encountered, and it's taking a huge toll on me. They’ve caused nothing but chaos and drama, moving in and out of our place, causing fights, skipping bills and even trashing our house. My ...Read more

Years ago, a bona fide gourmet cook showed me how she passed off store-bought bread as homemade by sprinkling a little sifted flour on top.

From that day forward, I was always suspicious of her offerings at large gatherings, although I greatly admired her ability to economize time and energy.

Not long after, my mother tried to pull a fast one ...Read more

Dear Kid Whisperer,

We need help figuring out a logical consequence for our almost 9-year-old son who snuck into our closet (definitely off-limits) and snooped around and climbed up to the top shelf and found his big birthday present. This happened last year at Christmas and we thought ruining the surprise for himself was lesson enough, but ...Read more

Q. I wish I could say I look forward to the holidays, but now that my kids’ mother and I have split up, it just seems impossible. Thanksgiving is the worst. We used to live in the same neighborhood, therefore alternating just Thanksgiving Day worked. But their mom recently moved to the next town. The kids hate sitting in the car. I hate ...Read more

The expenses don’t end when you buy a house. In fact, they’re just beginning. Homes come with a lot of hidden costs — and chief among them is maintenance.

You might not take maintenance into account when purchasing a home, especially if you’re moving from a rental where upkeep is largely handled by the landlord. Result: surprise or even...Read more

FORKSVILLE, Pa. -- On a stormy Sunday night in late June, one of Sullivan County’s newer residents stomped his little sneakers in rainbow-ringed puddles outside his parents’ gas station in a tiny town where two clear creeks converge.

Up the road, past Forksville’s wooden covered bridge, county settlers rest in a hilly cemetery where some ...Read more

Most people know they should be saving a portion of their income, but they might not grasp all of the benefits of doing so. Saving is an important habit to get into for a number of reasons — it helps you cover future expenses, manage financial stress and plan for vacations, just to name a few.

Understanding the different merits of saving ...Read more

Pinky Winky has gone Prime! One of my all-time favorite hydrangea paniculata varieties, Pinky Winky is now being offered as Prime. This means you can now choose Pinky Winky or Pinky Winky Prime hydrangea for your landscape or pollinator habitat, as I will explain.

Your first question is what the difference is, and that would be size. It is ...Read more

Dear Anna,

I've been dating my boyfriend (36M) for five months, and recently, I found out that he had quite a reputation for sending unsolicited, borderline harassy messages to women online. A coworker of mine showed me some of his old DMs on Instagram — telling her how hot she was, and asking her out repeatedly, even though she never replied...Read more

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- TikToker Logan Ivey creates playful videos that often feature the quirks of living in Sacramento, but one of his lighthearted videos centered on the city received serious attention.

On Aug. 22, Ivey posted a video documenting the derelict state of several broken or missing street lamps in the city of Sacramento. In his ...Read more

This all began with guitars. I play the guitar, but beyond knowing how to change a string and tune one, I had never given much thought to how it worked, how it was put together. Then one day, I gave it some thought, and began watching videos posted by luthiers on YouTube, which led me inexorably from guitar making to guitar repair, which, in ...Read more

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- The weathered UC Davis Marine Laboratory looms in thick fog on the edge of the ocean near Bodega Bay. Inside, an experiment is playing out that gives a badly-needed boost to Northern California’s kelp forests—underwater cathedrals of green and gold that nearly vanished from the north coast a decade ago.

In early October,...Read more

“In your opinion, why am I still single? I want love to find me!!”

This is a text message I received recently from a frustrated client of mine.

I actually get this question more often than one might think. I replied, “This sounds like a question that can’t be answered over text. But I’ll start here: You’ve had relationships before,...Read more