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Chris isn’t an ordinary name for a dog, but Stacey Staton Elam’s poodle mix isn’t an ordinary dog. Elam named the small black pup after her husband who died in 2020. So, when Chris slipped off his leash while on a walk in Hayden, Alabama, back in February, she was devastated. “Chris got me through the most horrible time in my life, and when he got lost, it was like I had lost a connection to my husband,” Elam told McClatchy News....

So you’ve run out of eggs. There’s no time to go to the grocery store. Now what? Or maybe you need to make a dessert for someone with an egg allergy, or a vegan baked good for a potluck. There are a lot of reasons why you might need a substitute for eggs while baking, but not all replacements are created equal. Depending on what you’re making, from meringue to brownies, it’s important to substitute eggs wisely in baking, as they serve many important roles, from acting as a binder to leavening baked goods....

Love beer? Love pups? Then do we have the contest for you. Budweiser recently released their annual holiday cans (pictured below), with one in the lineup featuring their classic Dalmatian puppy. But that beautiful pup isn’t the only dashing dog out there, and to that end, the beer brand wants to surprise its fans with a customized beer can label spotlighting their own four-legged friend. To make that happen, they’ve teamed up with social media phenomenon, WeRateDogs, to create quite the festive contest....

Amber and Andrew Phillips were watching an online Easter service when they started tracking the weather on Sunday morning. As one of 80 tornadoes that pummeled the South that day approached their home in rural Moss, Mississippi, Andrew instructed her to grab their two children—ages 2 and 6 months—and get into the safe room. He told the Associated Press that he saw the funnel cloud outside, and then grabbed pillows from the bedroom before rushing back to shield his family in the small room built from concrete blocks that doubles as a closet....

The North Carolina animal rescue group inundated by hand-knitted nests after their plea for help caring for orphaned baby birds went viral last year is paying it forward in a big way. Carolina Waterfowl Rescue announced this week that they are digging into their surplus of nests to send several thousand of them to animal rescue efforts in Australia amidst the catastrophic bushfires. They also asked volunteer crafters to pitch in once again....

My wife, Judy, hates dandelions. Every morning, she scans the lawn for their telltale yellow flowers and digs up any she finds. “Why are you so fervent about this?” I ask. “Because,” she replies. “they’re weeds. They’re not supposed to be there.” Let me hazard a guess. You feel just like Judy does. Dandelions must be exterminated. How come? You must admit their flowers are beautiful. And what kid hasn’t enjoyed picking a puffball of seeds and blowing them through the air?...

10 a.m. Fuel Up at Jolene’s The best way to start your day in this historic town is with a cup of locally roasted java at Jolene’s Perk Avenue Cafe & Coffeehouse. Choose the signature blend ($3 for a bottomless cup), or splurge with an Almond Joy ($4), a toasted almond latte with coconut and whipped cream. 111 West Jefferson Street; perkave.com or 706/342-2562 11 a.m. Hobnob with History Now that you’re perking, pay a visit to the Madison Welcome Center....

Every self-respecting Southerner has eaten deviled ham at least once in their life. As a kid growing up in Georgia, deviled ham was as much a part of my lunchtime routine as I’m sure it was yours. My mother would find creative ways to dress up the homestyle spread to serve on crackers, or sandwich it between two slices of white bread for a quick after-school meal. Personally, I haven’t opened a can since high school, but more and more cookbooks and restaurants are featuring the creamy, pink potted meat in everything from bite-sized starters to delicious entrées....

Are you sabotaging your dishwashing efforts by relying on those oh-so-handy dishwashing pods? According to The Kitchn there’s a chance these colorful pods could be preventing your wares from reaching squeaky clean status — and burning a hole in your pocket. Faith Durand, who penned The Kitchn’s article titled “The Dishwasher Mistake Almost Everyone Makes (and How to Quit)” was frustrated with the growing number of drain clogs and a “roughness deposited on some of our glasses....

A Tennessee bus driver was in for the ride of his life when heavy winds caused his school bus to turn onto its side while he sat inside. On Monday morning, Don Robinson was warming up his bus outside his home before pick up when a storm rolled in seemingly out of nowhere. The heavy winds were part of a storm system that caused six tornadoes in Middle Tennessee. “It just all of a sudden, the rain come real hard and then the wind, then the bus started shaking right then....

One of my least favorite games to play is called “What’s That Smell?” This game—you can play it alone or with others—usually takes place in the kitchen at our house. After getting a whiff of something especially rank, participants wander around, sniff audibly, and try to locate the source of the smell. Usually it leads to the trash can. Other times, it’s the garbage disposal or something that’s gone off in the fridge....

If you’re in the mood for a Florida getaway, set your sights on a destination that has something for everyone. Jacksonville, also known as Jax, is a laid-back city on North Florida’s Atlantic coast, and it’s the best of both worlds: a vibrant city that’s also a beach escape with plenty of places to have fun. It’s made up of personality-filled neighborhoods that are packed with restaurants, cafes, and breweries and enjoy close proximity to surf, sand, and outdoor adventure....

As much as we love the Butter Taper Candle Holder, Golden Girls Shot Glasses, Shower Wine Glass Holder, and Santa Spatula that were circulating at the annual white elephant gift exchange, a Kentucky woman has us beat. She walked away from a competitive white elephant party with $175,000. It all started when Lori Janes attended her office holiday party, where she and her coworkers were taking part in the age-old Christmas tradition of a white elephant gift exchange, local NBC affiliate WLWT reported....

I was born to be a mom. However, over the past year and a half, I have learned so much about motherhood that I was not prepared to face: from the lack of showers to the complete exhaustion to the sacrifice of almost any social life to the question of “Whose body am I in?!” to the amazing discovery of how deeply I can love someone I just met. Becoming a mother can look different too....

This year is a big one for Loretta Lynn. 2021 will see the release of Lynn’s 50th studio album as well as the 50th anniversary of “Coal Miner’s Daughter,” the song that became a book, an award-winning feature film, and solidified her place in popular culture. To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the single that launched her five-decades-long career, PBS is airing a new a documentary film that “lets Lynn be the storyteller of her own remarkable life....

Reba McEntire marked the one-year anniversary of her mother Jacqueline’s death with a music video for her song “You Never Gave Up on Me.” The black-and-white video, released Monday, begins with Reba’s acceptance speech for the Female Vocalist of the Year award at the 1984 CMA Awards—an honor she dedicated to her mama. The moving tribute contains roughly four minutes of vintage McEntire family photographs and video clips spanning Reba’s childhood in small-town Oklahoma to the heights of her entertainment career....

Here’s an easy test to see whether you need to improve your soil. Take a round-headed shovel, place its tip on the surface of your planting bed, jump high into the air, and stomp with your feet on the blade’s flat end. If you briefly lose consciousness, as well as some fillings, your soil could use some improvement. Rock-hard soil could mean a couple of things. You could be digging in rock....

Hearing the National Anthem before a sporting event is common practice. But it’s not every day you see a player taking the mic to perform the song. On Tuesday, Eleanor Bangle, a senior captain on the Austin High girls’ basketball team, had a real High School Musical moment when she belted out the “Star-Spangled Banner” before rejoining her team to win their playoff game. Emerald Amen, the team’s coach, said Bangle is the “heart and spirit” of the Lady Maroons and was voted captain by her fellow players....

It’s easy to fall into the camp of those who believe that freshly cooked rice is the only rice worth eating, and we get it. Warm, fluffy, moist rice really cannot be beat, and the refrigerator only seems to turn it into a dried-out, stale version of what it once was. The ultimate side dish seems to be the perfect option for a meal prep, but it doesn’t keep as fresh and soft when stored as one would hope....

Leaving flowers on the graves of loved ones is a special practice. Many times, when we tend the graves of those we’ve lost, we leave arrangements of flowers we think they would have liked or flowers that we know were their favorites in life. It’s a meaningful way to honor those who’ve passed, but there is also a special significance to the flowers that we leave. Each and every plant has a history and a host of symbolic meanings that convey something deeper....